Richard Oliver and Dan Bowen win Shropshire's two top awards

Opener Richard Oliver and paceman Dan Bowen were the two chief award winners at Shropshire's end-of-season dinner.

Shrewsbury's Bowen was named top bowler for putting an injury-plagued 2011 behind him to claim 13 Minor Counties Championship wickets at 31.61 apiece.

Fellow former Whitchurch player Oliver, who now plays for Surrey League side Reigate, was voted top batsman after making 378 runs at an average of 63.

The highlight was his brilliant 175 against Wales at Oswestry in August.

That was the second highest score by a Shropshire batsman in Championship history.

"Rich and Dan are both fully deserving of their awards," said skipper Ed Foster. "In a tough summer for batsmen, Rich shone and played some memorable innings for the county.

"The level of ability he has is frightening. I'm sure we will see a lot more from him in the coming seasons.

"I was also very pleased with Dan's performances this year, particularly following his injury problems that caused so much disruption in 2011.

"At times he bowled quickly and troubled a lot of the better batsmen in Minor Counties cricket. He's something that we've been missing in recent seasons."