DORSET are faced with a fight to claw back lost ground as Shropshire moved into a commanding position on day one of their Unicorns Championship Western Division clash at Shrewsbury.

After winning the toss, hosts Shropshire coasted to 219-2 from 68 overs with bad light bringing an abrupt end to proceedings following a rain delay after lunch.

Luke Webb's men have enjoyed superb recent limited overs success after qualifying for T20 finals day last weekend but found the transition to three-day cricket tough going as Shropshire's batsmen all made meaty contributions.

After seeing off Dorset's pacemen, captain Joe Carrasco and Alex Phillips eased to 80-0 before Jigar Naik (1-42) tempted Alex Phillips (38) into an error, Alex Eckland pouching an important catch.

Carrasco (41) then sat back and watched new batsman Ollie Westbury compile 22 of their 28-run stand before the skipper perished to Brad Currie (1-47).

At 108-2, Dorset had the door ajar to make further headway but the fluency of the hosts' top order soon regained control.

Westbury (68no) notched his half century and was followed by Warwick Fynn (61no) as Dorset's bowlers toiled with the exception of Naik, whose 23 overs cost just 42 runs.