Ensors toasted by Bread

Jags 184-2 (Brett 28*, Hopper 28*, Parrish 25*, Phillips 23*, Aniskowicz 1-12) beat Ensors 104-5 (Gus 33, Aniskowicz 30, Sap 2-26) by 80 runs

This week saw us back at the home of cricket where Ensors joined the Jags at Queens. Despite a promising forecast the game began with some ominous looking clouds above our heads as Parrish stepped out for the toss, which ended up being 'which hand is the blade of grass in' as it's 2021 and noone carries coins anymore. After (another) successful choice from the skip we elected to bat with Barker and Parrish opening things up.

The early bowling was tight and The Jags poundland cricket balls were hooping about in the wind making it tricky to get away. The openers opted for a tap and run strategy early on to keep scoring at around a run a ball. Both bowlers were replaced after 2 overs a-piece bringing on solid set of change bowlers. James was finding his rhythm and picked found his first boundary of the day. Sadly this ended up his last contribution, being bowled by the excellent spin of Ensors captain Aniskowicz. Parrish retired shortly after on 25 with just two boundaries and a lot of singles to his name.

Tommy Hopper joined Ant at the crease and begun to form a new partnership. Both bowlers were once again hooked after two and Ensors started to really embrace the spirit of inclusivity of midweek cricket bringing on two more fresh bowlers who perhaps had a little less experience. Ant got to business quickly hitting two powerful 4s but then got a Threadgold-esque leading edge that was caught by the bowler. If that wasn't bad enough he was left with a parting gift from the bowler who smirked at him and said 'Guess you're not as good as you thought you were' and blew him a kiss. Clearly Ant made quite the impression out in the middle and must have inadvertently been giving off arrogant vibes. Less flexing at the crease please Mr Brolia.

With a big thank you to the Ensors scorer this brought newly named Liam Bread to the crease. Pressure was on as his form with the bat has been a little stale but today he looked fresh and ready to go. Bread looked a little uneasy early on though with a couple of slices down the off side. Unlike your favourite poppy seed loaf though this bread got better with age and a few well hit 2s he was on a roll! 

Ensors continued their conveyor belt of bowlers, even switching out their keeper so he could have a go! Liam and Hopper negotiated a barrage of extras, finding enough balls straight enough to hit and both retired with consecutive boundaries. Bowling extroadinaire Phillips hit the crease with Harry Wilde who both continued to score at a high rate. Ensors ended up bowling 10 different bowlers in the end and Jags cruised to a (record breaking?) 184 for 2 after 20.

Off to the field and Will, our usual opener was isolating so couldn't do the honours this week so we went a totally different direction. It just didn't feel right opening Bread without Kingsmill...

Tyler and Hopper opened up and bowled very tightly. Naturally Tyler didn't meet his own high standards but impressed the opposition with his opening spell. Hopper got the first wicket (who else!?) to much applause and celebration from the Jags, aside from Liam who was seen pounding his fists into the ground in the outfield. 

We decided to try and match Ensors for total amount of bowlers so Hopper quickly made way for Sap bowled a very tidy first 11 balls of his spell before being smashed for a big 6. Barry Wilde joined the action with some masterful long hops luring the Ensors skipper into a false sense of security before bowling him with a peach. He was unlucky to be taken off but with the start of the Ensors players coming in without cricket gear we thought he might be a bit too good... Naturally Parrish and Phillips were the more appropriate combo for the situation.

Phillips graciously bowled them a load of rubbish and was hit beautifully for 6 by the new bat. This might have been stopped if it wasn't for Liam Bread's downright refusal to follow the captain's insturctions and get on the fence. Parrish (Gareth) managed to sneak in a couple of overs relatively unharmed whilst Phillips' yielded a lofty 22 from his 12 balls. 

The end of the innings saw Liam and Ant join the attack with some pretty attacking fields for T20. This actually prompted what was probably the best cricket moment of the day with Liam finding a genuine edge to second slip, caught by Parrish. James saw things out with a maiden giving the Jags 9 bowlers on the day so Ensors were worthy winners in the total bowlers category. Cob took back duties behind the stumps trading blows with Ant throughout the innings. Fortunately he wasn't hit in the head this week but he did take one on the helmet....sadly it was sitting on the floor at the time and cost 5 runs though.

At the end of the game both teams went off to the Red Bull, Jags the victors by 80 runs this week. Noone wanted to keep hold of the match ball, which had basically split in two by the end of 40 overs!