Ross 1sts XI - 257 - 5

Malvern 128 - ao

On a glorious Saturday afternoon, Ross 1st XI entertained Malvern at The Park. Malvern won the toss and Ross were put into bat on a wicket that looked conducive to runs.

Openers James Tiffen and Jack Evans started cautiously as they looked to get the innings off to a solid start but runs were soon flowing steadily with Tiffen passing 50 and the opening partnership had reached 113 when Evans chased a wide one off the left arm spin of Neil Thompson and was caught behind for 40.

Tiffen was joined by Jack Donovan and runs continued at a pace with Tiffen reaching his century before Donovan was bowled by Andrew Croft for 31 with the total on 183. Captain Harry Porter then joined Tiffen and the pair quickly added 61 for the third wicket before Tiffen’s excellent innings was ended for 120 from 156 balls.

Porter fell shortly after for 54 off 31 balls including 4 sixes before Tim Dulson and the injured Graham Howls closed out the innings. After watching the IPL before the start of play Howls pulled out a reverse sweep (much to the disgust of his father) which bought about the two runs he scored with Ross reaching 257 for 5 off their 50 overs.

After tea Harry Porter and Tim Dulson opened the bowling and Porter got an early breakthrough having Connor Walwyn caught and bowled for 17.

The overs went by and Malvern scored at a steady pace reaching 50-1 before Porter introduced spin at both ends through debutant Muhammad Arif and James Tiffen. Tiffen was quickly celebrating success when he trapped David Cox LBW for 22 and then removed Lewis Hill thanks to a sharp stumping by Stu Mair.

Another LBW decision went in Tiffen’s favour before Muhammad Arif took his first wicket for the club, having Malvern captain Anthony Arnold caught by Porter for 5. Jack Donovan then broke a stubborn partnership by bowling Andy Holmes before Tiffen then ran through the lower order to finish with figures of 6-21 from 12.5 overs as Malvern were bowled out for 128 to give Ross victory by 129 runs.

The victory sees Ross second in the table and sets up a mouth-watering clash with third-placed Harborne at The Park, in Ross-on-Wye, this weekend.