Jagex Biffed by Bidwells

Bidwells 138-2 (Bennett 29*, Stanton 28*, Watt 28*, Scott 26*) beat Jagex 136-6 (Morgan 28*, Fardell 27*, Edwards 17*, Watt 20-2) by 8 wickets

Jagex returned to Queens for the first time this year, and boy was it a welcome return. A pleasant evening, a spiffing ground, and the promise of a lovely tea. Our opposition on this evening were Bidwells, a team who are famed smashing all and sundry before them. I feel a bit like the nerdy kid at school being asked to participate in UFC 2014 when contemplating facing them.

Jagex won the toss and opted to bat. Colledge and Fardell got things off to a decent start, with an opening stand of 31. Fardell scored behind the wicket, including a deliberate guide to 3rd man, which prompted Jamy to cry, "really good crickety stuff". Richard was in fine form, scoring in the midwicket and long-off zones with a couple of cracked 4's.

Sadly the partnership was ended when Fardell, having being tied in knots by the slow bowler, decided to call Richard through for a suicidal single. Sorry Rich. In fairness, his bat got stuck in the ground as he tried to slide home, and Gibbins gave it - with umpiring not his strong suit.

Fardell was joined by P Morgan, who showed fine fettle to get the game crackling, using some splendiferous biffing techniques to send the ball everywhere. Fardell then retired on 27* with his first ever 6, over the square boundary. The fielder jumped and then clapped at the same time.

Morgan was joined by Brett for a spell, and managed to keep scoring commendably, including scoring 3 consecutive 4's down to fine leg. Not to be outdone, he also finished on a 6 to find himself 28*. Brett and Edwards then pootled along for a while before Brett was bowled by something of peach, splattering the stumps.

We had our substitute fielders in on the action, and Piers Morgan dropped an absolute dolly of a catch to give Bridle another life. He tried to redeem himself by scoring an almost direct hit run our of Jamy. Easy Piers. Not to be outdone, our other substitute fielder, Brett, tried to do exactly the same thing a few balls later. Lee Maplesden understood the role of a substitute fielder better, and dropped one catch early in the innings. Piers, Liam - take note.

Bridle and Jazzy Edwards kept things moving, with Bridle on debut dealing with some tough stuff but keeping the scoring rolling in the manner of a nuggedty opening batsman. Jazzy hit some nice shots, before he retired with a groin related injury - he's clearly not seeing enough action in that area.

McClarty stepped in, but was sadly felled first ball by a decent one. Bridle had Nigri as company for a spell, before falling run out trying to up the scoring rate. Parish strolled out, and was adjudged to have edged behind first ball, adding to his burgeoning duck count for the season. Lee Maplesden strolled in and spanked a four right at the end, but was then sadly run out. This gave Jagex a decent, 136-6, although it felt as though 150 plus was warranted on a very sedate track.

Parish opened the bowling and had a very decent spell, economic and testing with a cracking first over. Gibbins had a not so good start, not being helped by the brutish batsman at the other end, and was rotated out of the strike with Morgan brought in. Morgan did fantastically well. With both putting on pressure, Piers eventually induced and edge behind, which bald wicket keeper Jamy held onto well. The first 5-6 overs, and Jagex looked well on course. Then the wheels came off.

Brett, usually Mr Dependable, got the yips, and bowled an entire over of half track stuff, which Bidwells gobbled up gratefully. Gibbins recovered to come back for a spell, but Bidwells kept scoring, gleefully at times, and with swashbuckling strokes, biffs, and no wickets falling. 

Some decent fielding from Bridle, Fardell and McClarty did help to arrest the rate, as did Brett in the deep. One catch was agonisingly just over Jazzy Edwards' head. He then came in for a spell and ramped up the pace, putting Jamy through his paces behind the stumps.

The game was all but lost though by about the 12th over, as we just couldn't stop them scoring, no matter what field we set. Colledge bowled well, and saw a wicket when Parrish caught an absolute stinger at short cover, which he quickly through upwards, no doubt to help with the pain.

Bidwells cruised home with a few overs to spare, and could have easily put on 170. In truth, they batted so deep, that we would have needed 20 immaculate overs of bowling, and another 30 runs scored ourselves, to even have a chance.

Chicken skewers were back this week. Ah Yeah. I know I'm somewhat obsessed with these, but honestly, come along to one of our games and you'll see who. 

We spent a bit of the early evening trying to convince Jamy that the cricket term "Yorker" was in fact "Yorkie". I don't think he bit. We also were quite generous in our provision of 2 substitute fielders, and I take full responsibility for wanting to ensure the game is fair and even.