Refreshers v Tilford

Sunday 20 June 2021

Having driven through the numerous rain showers en route to Tilford, the wisdom of proceeding with the match at all was both highly questionable and, not surprisingly, highly questioned by the XI on arrival! As it turned out, despite the showers and dark clouds visible all around us, Tilford remained an oasis of calm and sunshine as the Refreshers sought to defend the Tanner Cup once again, and provide the day’s captain, Chris Bell, with the ideal birthday present.

Losing the toss and being put into bat, the Refreshers managed 142 all out,  with James Lord striking a combative 70, and Richard Saunders continuing his rich vein of form with the bat with a fine 45. With extras contributing 13, the mathematicians amongst you will note that remaining 8 batsmen did not unduly trouble the scorer. In all honesty, we always looked 20-30 short of a competitive total.

The father and son opening pair of Chris and Harry Bell contained the opening batsmen well, but with Harry taking the only early wicket to fall, in desperation we called on Andrew Gardner who delighted us all with his flighty left arm spin taking 2-28 in a fine and extended spell of spin bowling and rare control. Despite his protestations to not being a bowler, Tom Francis nevertheless took a wicket with his first ball but sadly, despite such heroics, Tilford reached the Refreshers total for the loss of only 4 wickets with 8 overs of the remaining ‘final 20’ still remaining.

Sadly, the Tanner Cup returns to Tiford,  following 2 years in our ownership – but we shall be back next year with renewed vigour to win it back!

CB