SUFFOLK slipped to a 37-run run defeat in their opening MCCA Trophy Group Two game against Shropshire at Ipswich School yesterday.

Set 231 for victory in their 50 overs, Suffolk were going well and had reached 111 for one, but then fell away after the dismissal of Martyn Cull which ended an 86-run stand with Tom Huggins, who had lost opening partner Simon Rees in the ninth over with 25 on the board.

Cull was out in the 32nd over and Ben Shepperson followed in the very next over for a duck, before Huggins was fourth out after top-scoring with 69 off 115 balls with eight fours. The top four were all dismissed lbw.

Worse was to follow in the very next over, the 36th of the innings, when player-coach Simon Guy charged Elliott Green and was stumped.

Chris Swallow and Matt Hunn both departed cheaply, with Swallow stumped after the ball rebounded onto the stumps off wicket-keeper Anthony Parker’s pads.

Suffolk skipper Justin Bishiop took the attack to Shropshire, striking two sixes and two fours in his 30 from 26 balls before he was eighth out with the total on 167.

Archie Ogden made a five-ball duck in becoming one of Parker’s four victims behind the stumps in the 45th over.

James Poulson scored 22 at a run-a-ball with one big six over mid-wicket, while 17-year-old debutant Jack Beaumont, the slow left-arm bowler from Mildenhall, contributed three in an unbroken tenth-wicket partnership as Suffolk batted out their remaining five overs.

Suffolk had made a flying start thanks to Matt Hunn after the visitors won the toss and opted to bat first on the Ivry Street wicket.

Hunn removed Richard Oliver with a lifting ball that he could only steer to Cull in the gully off the last ball of the opening over. He struck again in the fifth over, former Nottinghamshire batsman Bilal Shafayat being caught in the slips by Rees.

Ogden then bagged a wicket with his first ball in a competitive match for the county, Huggins accepting an edge to first slip, to leave Shropshire 33 for three.

A half-century stand between Jono Whitney and Rob Foster then followed until Whitney was caught at the wicket by Guy in the 24th over.

Rob Foster’s 90-ball innings ended 11 overs later when he was caught by Cull, who then took a brilliant diving catch on the mid-wicket boundary to account for Parker in the 43rd over.

However, Tom Cox was now well into his stride and together with Alex Blofield added 58 for the seventh wicket. Ben Shepperson held a straight forward boundary catch to end Blofield’s cameo of 44 off 26 deliveries with three sixes and four fours.

However, Cox remained undefeated, his 58 coming from 75 laced with five boundaries as 68 runs were plundered in the final five overs.

IVRY STREET SCOREBOARD

SHROPSHIRE

R Oliver c Cull b Hunn 0, E Foster c Huggins b Ogden 19, B Shafayat c Rees b Hunn 2, R Foster c Cull b Huggins 44, J Whitney c Guy b Huggins 26, T Cox not out 58, A Parker c Cull b Swallow 9, A Blofield c Shepperson b Ogden 44, E Green not out 11. Extras 17. Total (for 7 wkts, 50 overs) 230.

Did not bat: D Bowen, M Barnard.

Fall: 1-1, 2-5, 3-33, 4-83, 5-118, 6-151, 7-209.

Bowling: Hunn 9-0-35-2; Bishop 10-1-31-0; Ogden 7-1-62-2; Huggins 10-1-27-2; Beaumont 4-0-19-0; Swallow 10-0-50-1.

SUFFOLK

T Huggins lbw b Blofield 69, S Rees lbw b Shafayat 6, M Cull lbw b Green 32, B Shepperson lbw b Blofield 0, S Guy st Parker b Green 8, C Swallow st Parker b Blofield 3, J Bishop c & b Shafayat 30, M Hunn c Parker b Blofield 5, A Ogden c Parker b Blofield 0, J Poulson not out 22, J Beaumont not out 3. Extras 15. Total (for 9 kwts, 50 overs) 193.

Fall: 1-25, 2-111, 3-112, 4-127, 5-127, 6-144, 7-159, 8-167, 9-169.

Bowling: Bowen 6-1-29-0; Barnard 8-3-13-0; Shafayat 10-1-38-2; Whitney 5-0-29-0; Green 10-0-47-2; Blofield 10-2-34-5; Oliver 1-0-2-0.