Jagex Mauled by Sharks

Sharks 132-4 (Connors 25*, Woodward 23*, S Morgan 2-20) beat Jagex 131-6 (Fardell 27*, P Morgan 27*) by 6 wickets

Jagex lost to Sharks again this year, but the game was much tighter than last year. We won the toss (which, I think, is the real victory we all wanted). Jones opened the batting with guest player Eddie Ashfield. They put on a couple before a Charlie Chaplin style mixup resulted in the guest departing on 3. Jones’ second run out in two weeks.... This brought Jones and Lamble together again, keen to repeat their heroics of previous weeks. Lamble hit a lovely 4, but unfortunately then chipped a catch to the backwards point fielder.

Colledge and Jones manage to put together a decent partnership, before Colledge was caught out. This welcomed Piers Morgan to the crease, and wonderful return to batting form. He combined a lovely pull, an offside drive and a whallop through midwicket with some excellent nurdling. When Jones fell, he found a willing runner in Oliver Smith, and the pair combined to put a couple of bowlers to the sword. Despite this, Jagex were still a little behind the run rate we might have expected given the conditions. Oliver Smith departed and Jon Lee helped keep things moving until Piers retired.

Fardell walked to the crease with only just over four overs remaining. He had clearly eaten his Ready Brek™ before this fixture, as technique was set aside in favour of good old fashioned lower order biffing. 27 runs came up in what the scorebook indicates was 12 balls. Runners J Lee and Matt Biss pushed hard to help keep the score ticking along for Fardell, with the former losing his wicket pushing for a tight second. I hope Tino Best was watching. Biss and Morgan saw out the remainder of the innings, adding a handy 10 runs in the last over.

Jagex finished on a respectable 131-6, when it looked like 110 was beyond them with 4 overs to go. Jagex opened the bowling with Lamble and Morgan. Morgan managed to extract an opener early on with a peach into the top of middle stump. Lamble was wicketless but economic in a four over spell. The Sharks number 2 and 3 did really well for a good period, taking a bit of a shine to Fardell in particular (hitting one massive 6). S Morgan replaced Lamble, and bowled an absolute spanking set of overs, including bowling one well set batsmen, and inducing an edge behind for the second week in a row.

All of Fardell, Biss and Lee had a twirl with the arm, and all were smashed about the place. Some top quality fielding from  a few Jagexians, including Piers, Biss and Lamble helped try and slow the carnage. Sharks were well ahead of the rate, and Jagex didn’t have any form bowlers left in the tank. Despite this, two Sharks batsmen had a right falling out towards the end of the chase. It’s a good thing that they were 22 yards apart at most times.

It all got a bit too much for Fardell at the end, as Sharks closed in he managed to misfield a simple chance, and then threw his hat and glasses on the floor in disgust. Sharks claims the victory with 10 balls to spare.