We played the TiTs – Tiffin Invitational Touring Side – at Shrewton CC where the hospitality was excellent. The Queries posted a total of 246 for 7 in their 40 overs – and the Tercels tied the match on the last ball of the day. Jack Grant was probably the player of the match with his super innings of 90 and his bowling figures of 5 overs 2 for 12. Other good scores came from Sumith Surendran (48), Simon Grant (father of Jack)(23) and Jonty Mitchell (23).
Here is Ollie Illingworth’s match report: Result: A Tie!
Last Thursday the Queries faced a touring Tiffins Old Boys XI with a youthful team featuring 6 Old Dauntseians. Suspicions were validated that the tour had been well lived as the mini bus turned up at 1pm (kick-off) and few were without tired hungover looks. It seems they had taken a page out of the Queries tour book when it comes to pre-game prep (if you know, you know). This made the decision to put us into bat all the more questionable, especially given 70% of the Tiffins squad were nowhere to be seen.
Anyway, at 13:25 the first ball was bowled with two generations of Grant playing out a 72 run opening partnership. The more youthful variant outscored the older edition with a fine 90, before ‘snicking’ behind for a ton avoidance. Regular wickets fell, but very handy contributions from Jonty Mitchell (23) and Sumith Surendran (48*) led us to a very respectable 246-7 after 40. We felt this was a decent score given the fast outfield at Shrewtons new ground, and we went into a very enjoyable tea pleased with our work.
The Tiffins, in response, raced to 68 off 8 overs, before the introduction of Ollie Reeve, and his slow sometimes spinning deceit sent No. 1 and 2 back (the former thanks to a diving catch from Will Hyde). Tom Morton bowled tightly in his 6 overs, but the Tiffins steadily ticked away at the target. At 195-3 with little more than 4 an over required we looked 10-20 runs short; however the introduction of Sumith and Jack G (5-0-28-1 and 5-0-12-2 respectively) wrestled the game back into contention. Requiring 10 off the last 2 overs and 6 off the last, Harry Croft Baker returned to the attack and with great death bowling left the Tiffins needing 2 to win off the last ball. Byes were ran but as they retuned for the second run, sharp fielding led to Charlie Butler completing the run-out, resulting in a tied game!
A great game played in good spirit by both teams, an entertaining end to the Tiffins tour and a fun game all round for the Queries. Thanks to Barry for umpiring, all those who played (shout out to Ben Sutthery who covered most of the Salisbury Plain on the boundary), and Shrewton for hosting us!
