NCCA Counties

Andre Bradford played the starring role to lead Shropshire to an exciting one-wicket NV Play One Day Trophy victory off the final ball of the match against Cambridgeshire today.Bradford, now into fifth season playing for Shropshire, enjoyed being back in familiar surroundings at Shifnal, his former club, as he struck an unbeaten 84 to inspire his side to their opening National Counties win of the season.Bradford, who faced 88 balls, hit two sixes and six fours as he held his nerve to impressively see Shropshire over the line, a result which sets the county up nicely for their third group match against Cheshire at Oxton Cricket Club tomorrow (Monday).Cambridgeshire, asked to bat first by Shropshire captain Tom Fell, totalled 209-6 from their 50 overs.Tom Cullen, the former Glamorgan batter, top scored with 67 while Dan Andrew (47) and Ben Claydon (42) also contributed.Seamers Ben Roberts (2-36) and Ravan Chahal (2-49) led the way with the ball while there was a wicket apiece for Joe Stanley (1-38) and Lewis Evans (1-47), with Theo Wylie bowling 10 overs for 0-35.Shropshire, in reply, were well placed at 99-2 and 133-3, but a flurry of wickets set up a tense finale.It eventually came down to Shropshire requiring 11 runs to win from the final over bowled by Cambridgeshire captain James Sykes, the former Leicestershire spinner.Bradford, who was joined in the middle by last man Roberts when Shropshire were 185-9, brought the scores level before hitting the final ball of the match to the boundary to complete his impressive match-winning innings and guide Shropshire to 213-9.Fell (31) and Harry Chandler (29) earlier chipped in with the bat for Shropshire, while Jack Loveday (4-30) and Mo Rizvi (2-47) were among the wickets for Cambridgeshire.