Will Ryan and Harrison Jones poised to make three-day Championship debut for Wales
Great news for cricket in the north – St Asaph skipper Will Ryan and his Denbigh equivalent Harrison Jones are set to make their three-day Championship debuts for Wales this weekend.
Both men have already featured for the Welsh one-day side, most recently in last month’s victory over Buckinghamshire, and now tackle the longer version of the game versus Shropshire at Brymbo from Sunday to Tuesday, July 9-11.
Jones has scored almost 700 runs and taken 27 wickets in league and cup matches for Denbigh’s 1st XI this season. Ryan is on 429 league runs for Premier Division table-toppers Saints.
Wales enter the business end of the season from Sunday as they open their NCCA 3 Day Championship campaign against Shropshire.
Since the Western Division was split into Division 1 and Division 2 prior to the pandemic, Wales have enjoyed a much-improved record in red ball cricket.
Despite coming close during both attempts in 2021 and 2022 it still hasn’t been enough to springboard them to Division 1 status with only one team obtaining promotion each year so 2023 represents another opportunity to do just that.
It’s a reasonably new-look line-up for Wales compared to the regular side of 2022 with no Morgan Bevans, Callum Nicholls, ex-professional Greg Smith or Connor Brown in the batting ranks.
Brown has a long-term injury which has put paid to his hopes of playing this season. White ball skipper Sam Pearce is unavailable to open up the campaign and the retirement of Aneurin Norman leaves an experienced hole in the seam department.
What has been noticeable in the Welsh management’s approach this year, is the emergence of players who have consistently performed well in league cricket in addition to the new crop of aspiring young cricketers pushing to advance their prospect in the professional game.
There will be four championship debuts in total – two for the North Wales duo of Ryan and Jones who featured in the closing stages of the NCCA One Day Trophy, one for left arm seamer Jack Harding, a regular in the white ball competitions and one for Swansea seam bowling all-rounder Tim Moses.
Experience will still be the key for Wales as they look to player/coach Brad Wadlan (his first official stint as head coach) and keeper/captain Cameron Herring to guide them.
Wadlan has been the standout performer for Wales this year so far averaging just shy of 90 in the one day trophy with key wickets along the way. He reminded everyone of his match winning capabilities in last year’s championship opener against Devon, becoming the first player in Welsh history to take ten wickets in a match and score a century.
Herring too has averaged just over 40 in the last two seasons in red ball cricket for Wales with five fifties and a century to his name.
For Brymbo, it will be a first time hosting national counties cricket as Shropshire make the short journey across the border.
Charlie Home’s side will be looking to repeat their performance over Wales last year at Oswestry which saw the game completed inside two days as 24 wickets fell on day one.
Shropshire too have some new faces in their ranks with no Graham Wagg, William Wade or George Hargrave – former Worcestershire batter Tom Fell is the county’s professional and he will look to bolster the batting.
Play starts from Brymbo at 11am on all three days, with live streaming capability expected. Admission to spectators is free.
Wales NC from: HLR Friend (Newport), CH Hemp (Swansea), SH Roberts (Swansea), BL Wadlan (Swansea), WL Ryan (St Asaph), CL Herring*+ (Pontarddulais), TH Moses (Swansea), HG Jones (Denbigh), TD Phillips (Cardiff), GT Pritchard (Swansea), JC Harding (Taunton St Andrews), SBS Jaspal (Ammanford).
Shropshire CCC: Andre Bradford (Swarkestone), Peter Clark (Shrewsbury), Tom Fell (Wolverhampton), Jack Home (Shifnal), Tim Maxfield (West Bromwich), Charlie Home* (Shifnal), Ben Lees+ (Shifnal), Luke Thornton (Shrewsbury), Sam Whitney (Bridgnorth), Sam Ellis (Wolverhampton), Ben Roberts (Shifnal), Ben Lewis (12th man).