The Yorkshire Tour party has returned. They played and won 2 matches: lost a T20 match: and sadly had one of the matches abandoned as a draw after the heavens opened.
- Match 1 (declaration) vs Yorkshire Gents CC. This is an “old favourite fixture” of a Yorkshire tour. We won the toss, decided to bat, and were in trouble before you could say ‘good morning’. The skipper Tom Shaw was out for a duck, and No 3 Simon Campbell followed him soon after. Queries 18/2 before 10 overs had been bowled. Jack Grant joined George Elliott, got their heads down, and between them they played assured, composed, positive cricket enjoying a stand of 172 when Jack ran himself out for 71. George then retired out at 101 and we were 190 for 4. Useful runs from James Wade (32) and Jack Bramwell (18) enabled a generous-looking declaration at 237 for 5. The YGs reply started badly when David O’Kelly was caught behind for 1, and thereafter wickets fell fairly regularly, mainly to catches, until they were all out for 203. When Charlie Elliott was at the crease he had the game in the palm of his hands but he walked past one from Jack Grant, to be out stumped for 27. Jack was the star with the ball, taking 5 for 46 in 12 overs. Dom Fry bowled cleverly with swing for his 3 for 28: and James Brewer and Simon Campbell took one apiece. Queries won by 34 runs.
- Match 2 (40 overs) vs The Forty Club (Yorkshire & the North East). We were at the wonderful Harrogate CC ground for this important fixture. XL won the toss and would bat much to the chagrin of those Queries who had not had too much sleep the night before! Scoring was slow in this 40 overs match. Our seamers were quite hard to ‘get away’ – James Wade 8-1-38-1, Dom Fry 4-0-17-0, Ollie Illingworth 4-0-18-1, Harry Flack 4-0-21-0 and Edd Olley 8-0-36-1 but the XL batsmen took more of a liking to the spinners Jack Grant 4-0-34-0 and James Brewer 8-0-51-1. Edd clean bowled one victim; Ollie clean bowled one and his second was a fantastic one-handed catch by Dom Fry right on the boundary rope. A run out and another catch and XL were 242 for 6 in their 40 overs. Our reply got off to a positive start and George Elliott and David Bromley kept the rate up at 5 an over. George was eventually caught behind for 23: David was getting better and better as the hangover wore off and basic instinct took over. Dom Fry scored a brisk 21 leaving Jack Bramwell at the crease with David B. Then the thunder came, the umpires took the players off – it was tea time so that was good timing – however then the heavens opened and all hopes of completing this match evaporated. David was at 56* and Jack 13* and the Queries were on 119 for 2 in their 20th over. The match was abandoned as a draw.
- Match 3 (a T20) vs Adal CC. By day three of the tour some cricketers’ spirits were willing but the bodies were weakening. We were at Tom Shaw’s old club and they were determined to put on a good show – and did so hospitably and with humour. We batted first: they bowled very straight with a used ball; and we found it hard to score runs. Tom Shaw 10, Ollie Illingworth 11, David Bromley 12. It was only when Jacks Grant and Bramwell came in at 6 and 7 that we took the attack to ADAL, and piled on some runs. Jack B retired at 50 and Jack G was stumped at 33 and a short while later the innings was closed at 151 for 6. The Adal reply was emphatic and dominating. They had notched up 100 runs in the first 10 overs for the loss of 2 wickets and none of our bowlers were able to contain them. In 16 overs they had won the match with 7 wickets in hand. James Wade and Harry Flack had taken one wicket apiece.
- Match 4 (35 overs) vs Ilkley CC. This is the second old-favourite of the Yorkshire Tour. Well – the lads certainly saved the best till last! Despite all the challenges and rigours of social nightlife in Leeds, exploited to the full, they were on top form for this ILKLEY contest. We won the toss and would bat first on a real “sticky dog” of a wicket. Runs were hard to come by initially as the top order tried to guess how the ball would behave, and in the 3rd over Tom Shaw padded a viciously rising ball to gulley. 9 for 1. David Bromley was joined by George Elliott and together they started to take the game by the scruff of the neck until David was bowled for 30. Guest star Fin Baqai joined George and the run fest began, interrupted briefly when George was caught for 54. Jack Bramwell continued the motion until he too was caught for 65; Jack Grant came and went for 7, and then Fin was caught for 56. Not much happened after that until Simon Campbell came in at 10, belted 2 enormous 6s, and we closed our innings at 255 for 8. After a monumental tea we were back in the field, opening with James Wade and Ollie Illingworth and between them they got the top 3 out for 30 runs. ILKLEY skipper Alex Bailey then anchored their innings and his middle order gave super support and together they began to pile on the runs. Sixes rained around the ground however wickets also fell at important moments. When Bailey was out for a very impressive 123, we needed 2 final wickets to secure victory, ILKLEY needed 34 off the final 2 overs, and then 8 off the last. James Wade had other ideas, and removed both batsmen with one ball to spare. Wiltshire Queries 255 for 8: ILKLEY CC 250 ao. A win by 5 runs. What a game! The ILKLEY crowd were delighted with such a spectacle of exciting cricket, the two final batsmen trudged off the field, and an excited Queries team began their celebrations. James Wade had bowled 6.5 overs taking 4 for 43. Ollie Illingworth took 2 for 23: James Brewer 1 for 59: David Bromley 1 for 18: Jack Bramwell 1 for 45. Almost one of the first post-match questions from ILKLEY skipper Alex was “are you coming back next year? We’d better get you booked in!”
