WILTSHIRE vice-captain Ashur Morrison is hoping that the new-look young side will grasp the opportunity of playing Unicorns Championship cricket.

Following the retirement from the three-day format of captain Mike Coles last season, new skipper Ed Young and team manager Neil Shardlow have placed an emphasis on youth.

While their opening Western Division match against Oxfordshire was rained off, Morrison is looking forward to getting back into the three-day fray against Dorset at Corsham’s Station Road from Sunday.

“I always look forward to playing three-day cricket at Corsham because it's my home ground,” said Morrison, who is also captain of the WEPL Premier One side.

“Three-day cricket is so different to what most of us are used too. We don’t have players like Wes (Durston) and Mike (Coles). But it is a challenge for the younger players to get exposure to three-day cricket.

“It is so different to the one-day because you can have spinners tying up both ends for 20 to 30 overs and it is about being able to deal with that.”

Wiltshire’s opening match against Oxfordshire at the start of June, got off to the perfect start before the rain set in after they had bowled their hosts out for 95 on the opening day.

Shardlow’s side then reached 91-5 before the close of play on day one before rain meant no further play was possible.

Wiltshire will have been undoubtedly frustrated by not being able to stamp their authority on the match and gain a positive.

However, Dorset will have been even more discontented with their curtain-raiser against Devon.

After bowling out Devon for 106, they posted 328-6 in their first innings and reduced their visitors to 90-3 in the second innings only for the rain to deny them.

“We bowled really well against Oxfordshire – especially James Arney,” Morrison added. “However, when we batted, we didn’t really bat as a team and we didn’t really know what we were doing. Hopefully we can put that right this weekend.”

Wiltshire have made three changes with Devizes’ Tom Grant, Trowbridge’s Mike Reynolds and Billy Cookson missing out with Corsham’s Steve Bullen, Westbury’s Brannon Varley and Downend wicketkeeper Patrick Grieshaber coming into the squad.

Wiltshire: Ed Young (Potterne, capt), Tahir Afridi (Henley), James Arney (Cosham), Steve Bullen (Corsham), Neil Clark (Potterne), Jake Goodwin (Swindon), Patrick Grieshaber (Downend, wk), Joe King (Corsham), Jake Lintott (Clevedon), Ashur Morrison (Corsham), Brannon Varley (Westbury).