Herefordshire face daunting task

Herefordshire face a tough battle to save their Minor Counties Championship match against Cheshire at Nantwich after the home side made 454-9.

Herefordshire skipper Chris Boroughs rued their missed chances to dismiss Cheshire's Chris Tipper who made 219.

"We dropped him twice, once when he was on five and then when he was on 60 or 70-odd," he said.

"Obviously that would have made a difference if we had caught him but these things happen," he added.

Tipper is a member of the Lancashire academy and his class told as his excellent knock was compiled at a rate of almost a run per ball.

He received good support from wicketkeeper Matt Dawson who made 61 while South African opener Warren Goodwin chipped in with 48.

Faisal Shahid was the most successful of the Herefordshire bowlers in claiming 3-116 in 21 overs, while Chris Boroughs took 2-71 in 17.

When you come in after going around the park for 450-odd then you are on a bit of a downer Herefordshire captain Chris Boroughs

Boroughs agreed it was a daunting total to chase, but he told BBC Hereford and Worcester there were mitigating circumstances.

"Because the ground is small the game does progress quite quickly so that is maybe an over-emphasised score," he said.

"Having said that, when you come in after going around the park for 450-odd then you are on a bit of a downer.

"But we only had 17 overs to bat tonight and we are 63-1 but hopefully if we can take it in stages we can get somewhere near," he added.

Herefordshire had to make changes to their side for this game and Boroughs admitted they were missing the former Gloucestershire bowler Will Rudge.

Rudge had made an impact in the matches against Shropshire and Cornwall and Boroughs feels he would have been a useful weapon in Herefordshire's armoury in this game.

"Will had made commitments before he signed for us so that was a big loss because I think he would have made a massive difference for us," he said.

"The way that he has bowled in the last two games on unresponsive pitches and I think he would have been a handful here with the new ball.

"But a young lad called James Shackleton has come in and he might only have picked up one wicket towards the end but he certainly caused problems for their top order."