Shrewsbury skipper Ed Foster has promotion in his sights as the London Roaders, boosted by the eve of season capture of highly-rated Warwickshire paceman Tom Allin, prepare to host Old Hill in Saturday’s Birmingham Cricket League division one opener (1pm).
Foster will combine captaincy with his First Class commitments at Leicestershire – he cracked a half century against a Yorkshire second XI attack spearheaded by ex-England ace Darren Gough last week – and he’s upbeat about Shrewsbury’s prospects as they look to improve on last season’s top four place.
His optimism has been further lifted by Warwickshire’s decision to allocate their talented young strike bowler Allin, who has played Minor Counties cricket for Devon, to the club.
Allin, 20, a team-mate of Rob Foster’s at Cardiff University, should be available after the first couple of weeks.
“He’s been allocated to us as the Warwickshire clubs in the Birmingham League are full,” he said. “He plays for Cardiff alongside Rob and recently took 3-50 against Hampshire.
“It’s a bonus to have got him and he will form, along with Jack Shantry, probably as good as opening attack as there is in our division.”
Foster is delighted to be following in his dad John’s footsteps by starting his first full campaign as skipper having succeeded Jon Anders midway through last season.
“It’s definitely a big honour to captain my home town club,” he said. “Some very good players have captained Shrewsbury over the years and it was always something I wanted to do.”
He feels he takes over the reins at an exciting time with Shrewsbury’s crop of talented youngsters continuing to improve. “I’m looking forward to the season and hope we can pick up where we left off last year,” he said. “We got so close to promotion last year but had we gone up it might have been a bit of a struggle.
“But I reckon we’re coming to a stage where the youngsters would be ready to hold their own in the premier division should we get there. Promotion is a very realistic ambition and it’s something Andy Barnard, our chairman, always wants us to get.”
Shrewsbury pick from a 12-man squad for Saturday’s opener against Old Hill with doubts over the availability of Mark Lascelles.
Rob Foster is likely to miss the first few weeks owing to his Cardiff University commitments while Australian ace Reece O’Connell and Jack Brydon will be available after the opening fortnight.
Shrewsbury also have a home game on Sunday when they host Harborne in the National Knockout.
Skipper Foster, meanwhile, added he was happy to juggle his captaincy at Shrewsbury with trying to forge a career in the First Class game. He appeared twice for the Foxes’ first team in pre-season matches against Worcestershire and Notts.
“I’ve just got to look to score as many runs as I can and make Tim Boon, the coach, sit up and take notice,” said Foster, who faces competition for a first team place at Grace Road from Shrewsbury School’s Jimmy Taylor, a former London Road team mate.
SHREWSBURY (from): E. Foster, D. Rees, J. Shantry, J. Anders, J. Gale, E. Green, D. Manders, W. Merrick, T. Somerville, M. Swift, M. Lascelles, W. Davies.