The first fixture of 2023 is a good result for the Queries.
We played Monkton Combe School on 11th May and against all the odds, the weather was fine and sunny all day. 35 over game, Queries bowling first and the School, ably led by Matt Garrod, set off well although scoring too slowly. Their first 3 batters all made a decent start however two run outs for batters 4 and 5, who were both going well, were critical, and after that there was a flurry of stumpings as the tail collapsed. In a match of this length, it has to be said that the scoreboard turned over too slowly – 28 runs after 10, 85 runs after 20, 136 runs after 30. They closed on 160 for 9. Finn Grant took 3, and James Brewer and Paul Roberts got two apiece.
Our batting was a different story. David Bromley, after being dropped in the opening over, went on in masterclass style to score 84 before retiring. Francis Naumann stayed with him for much of the time, scoring 24; and after that we completely fell away with 8 batters scoring just 38 runs between them! Nonetheless with 4 overs to go they reached the target for the loss of 6 wickets. A Queries win by 4 wickets.
The Queries generally felt that the game was played in good spirit throughout. 11 dropped catches between the two sides were disappointing but there was much to write home about both sides’ performance. We welcomed new players Francis Naumann and Finn Grant, and we welcomed back Ian Wheeler. Hopefully we shall see more of all of them through the season.