HEREFORDSHIRE Claim Triple Success on the International Cricket Stage this Summer

16 Jun 2025   |   By Richard Prime

HEREFORDSHIRE can claim a triple success on the international cricket stage this summer.

Josh Tongue – formerly of Bromyard CC – is now firmly back in the men’s international squad and played in the first Test of the summer against Zimbabwe.

And Emily Arlott – once of Ledbury CC – has become a key member of the women’s white-ball squad.

The third member of the international triumvirate, while not having quite such a high public profile, has an absolutely key role to play on match day.

Hereford-based Phil Mellish, 43, will be heading for Edgbaston on 2 July for the second Test in the England v India series where he has been appointed scorer for the five-day match.

“This will be my first Test,” said Phil. “But I did a one-day international between England and Pakistan at Lord’s in 2021.

“It’s a thrill and very unexpected.”

While this is a first Test call-up, Phil has been a key member of the local scoring fraternity for more than two decades, adding his role as one of Herefordshire Cricket’s scorers to duties with our near neighbours across the Malvern Hills.

“I’ve been involved with Worcestershire for 20 years as an analyst and, mostly, second-team scorer although I have done first-team and academy matches,” he said.

“And it’s through Worcestershire that the invitation came to score in the Test match.

“It’s been a case of meeting the right people at the right time – I started my Worcestershire career back in 2004 thanks to Damian D’Oliveira asking me to score an academy game and it was through him that I started my path with Worcestershire as analyst and then scoring.”

While Phil’s Worcestershire career began 21 seasons ago, his scoring and cricketing connections in Herefordshire go back a long way further than that.

“I started at Marden CC – I played a little, but mostly as scorer – then I moved on to Bromyard in the Worcestershire League before going up to Bromsgrove in the Birmingham League. Now I score at Shrewsbury.”

Phil will be warming up for international duty when he scores Herefordshire’s next match, a T20 double-header against Devon at Eastnor, on Sunday, June 29.