The result mightn't have gone the way he'd hoped but Greg Kellett has described playing the England over-60s on home soil as one of his greatest sporting thrills.
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"It's hard to put it into words," Kellett said.
"From my perspective being the organiser, it's up there. I ran the Olympic torch and that was great. This is not far behind it."
Kellett was one of four Tamworth players that suited up for the Northern NSW side at No.1 Oval on Saturday. He was joined by Chriss Crowell, who led the side, Ben van Aanholt and Bede Maher.
Quirindi's Greg Tideman was also part of the side along with former Tamworth native Barry Everingham.
"It was a great thrill to play against them," Kellett said.
"It was very special."
The 11th stop on a trip that has taken them to Adelaide, Tasmania, Canberra and up through NSW, he said the feedback he had from the tourists was that they thoroughly enjoyed their visit.
"Talking to them afterwards they said this has been the highlight of their whole tour, which is a feather in our cap," Kellett said.
"We are now a chance to host something else."
He said they commented that the ground was as good as any that they have played on and were very complimentary of the pitch.
"They said the pitch is 30-40 per cent better than any pitch they've played on in Australia. That's kudos to the groundsmen," he said.
They certainly took a liking to it.
The original concept was that both sides would face 25 overs in the day time and then another 20 under lights but after their first innings' the Poms were well in top at 4-94 in reply to Northern NSW's 4-54.
The captain's came to an arrangement that the visitors would bat first in the second innings. They finished with 7-183, which left the home side needing to score 130 off their 20 overs to win.
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They suffered a blow during the England side's innings with one of their not out batsmen at the change of the innings dislocating his collarbone fielding, and were never in the hunt, only managing to add 20 to their first innings total.
Kellett was the best of the local contingent with 16 while former Inverell stalwart Eric Higgins made 25.
"They knew what their strengths were and they used them," Kellett said.
"I was talking to Chriss (Crowell) afterwards and he doesn't miss many. One of the guys that was bowling to him he was just moving the ball around. He played and missed half-a-dozen times."
Van Aanholt was named the Northern NSW player of the match after snaring 2-33. Kellett also chimed in with 2-40 while Armidale's Richard Cannon claimed 2-20.
