Cheshire keen to press on

Andy Hall is eager to see Cheshire extend their winning start to the 2008 campaign

Cheshire captain Andy Hall is hoping his team to build on their winning start to the season.

Last year's Minor Counties champions beat Bedfordshire by six wickets on Sunday in their first group match in the MCCA Knockout Trophy.

This Sunday Cheshire, who reached last season's MCCA showcase final at Lord’s, take on Shropshire at Neston in their second group match.

And with Shropshire's opening group match against Oxfordshire last Sunday abandoned due to heavy without a ball being bowled, victory for Cheshire would see them pull clear at the top of the table.

"We need to win at least three games to qualify, so hopefully we can keep our run going," said Hall.

"We had a good win against Bedfordshire. We let them score too many runs at the end of their innings, but we batted well to chase down a difficult target.

"It's still very early in the season, but we want to keep winning and make sure get some momentum behind us going into the Championship campaign."

Opening batsman Danny Leech, who topped the Minor Counties batting averages last season, has been included in Cheshire's 13-man squad.

The Oulton Park left-hander missed victory over Bedfordshire because of work commitments, but is keen to play a key role once again this season as Cheshire hope to repeat last year's memorable success.

Neston youngster David Hurst also keeps his place in the squad having filled in for Leech against Bedfordshire.

"Hopefully we can carry on where we left off last season," said Cheshire team manager Sandy Scrimgeour. "We've started with a good win, but we must build on that."

Cheshire 13-man squad: Andy Hall (captain), Danny Leech, Warren Goodwin, Ben Spendlove, James Duffy, Nathan Dumelow, David Hurst, Jason Whittaker, Matt Dawson (wicketkeeper), Danny Woods, Adam Syddall, Guy Emmett, Daniel Berry.