Jags 101-2 (Threadgold 25*, Ant 19*, Fardell 18*, Michael 2-12) beat AVEVA 100-10 (Chris 26, Timmins 14, Will 4-10, Coslett 3-19) by 8 Wickets
Midweek cricketers up and down the land do not look forward to August. Whilst for most people this heralds the arrival of guaranteed summer, time off and a break from the trials and tribulations of work, for midweek cricketers this means two things - less reliable weather and shitty light. This week featured both. It was a sure sign things were going to be challenging this week when I had text messages from several players asking if the game was on, given the extensive cloud cover, and even then got an unsolicited text from the groundsman asking if we were happy to play.
Come 6pm we were at the ground and goodness me it was dark even then. Owing to another hilarious mix-up, the opposition actually turned up at Histon Recreation Ground, not Queens. I can see how the opposition skipper could have made this honest error - given the title of the email chain for this game was "Jags Cricket - 5th August - Queens". I had sourced some more genuine Readers for this one from an even more reputable source.
Parrish lost the toss and AVEVA opted to bat. We went with a revised format, 15x8 ball overs, with no changes of end until the 7th over, to try and keep what little light was available. Ant offered to drive his car to the pitch-side and put the full beams on. It was that sort of night.
So, traditional, pink or luminous, chaps?
Opening the bowling for the Jags were Brett and Tyler. Brett put one cheeky loosener in early that the batsman shoveled to deep mid-wicket for 4. He then tightened up and was rewarded quickly with a loose edge to the waiting Parrish at first slip or so in what one would classify as a soft-ish dismissal (a squidgy dismissal?). the rest of the over was quite tidy. Tyler's first ball was absolute gubbins, short and slow and just absolute crap - so of course it got a wicket - as Tommy Hopper says, shit gets wickets, with the batsman just spooning it to a waiting catcher in the ring. Again, squidgy, much like the ground. Brett's second over would have been a maiden, had it been 6 balls, but he tossed a wide in for good measure, so it wasn't. Tyler continued with his second, and one batsman lobbed a gentle one back to him for an easy caught and bowled - but he dropped an absolute dolly. He was briefly called Teflon by me, but the name doesn't seem to have stuck...
Sap strolled into the attack in place of Brett. Cob was having a top game behind the stumps, with lots of balls being well taken having beaten the bat. One of the AVEVA openers got going a bit, pulling and punching around the ground. Sap was bowling with a reasonable amount of control, but the looser balls were being dispatched to get AVEVA moving. Sap had one caught in the end, I forget by who, but I'm sure it was well deserved. Jags were disciplined in the field, without conceding many extras through atrocious fielding, which is always nice. Sap was briefly called Tree Sap by someone, which was the high point of this stretch of the innings.
Tyler finished his 3 over spell, good bowling, good economy, a wicket and a comedy drop, but useful overall. AVEVA were moving, but not at much of a pace, and the clouds loomed. Parrish then turned to Coslett after last week, and clearly Parrish knows something that no-one else does, as Coslett was a demon. There was a customary loosener for 4, before a couple of dots and then one of the most bizarre wickets you will ever see. Coslett gave one a lot of air to the AVEVA skipper, a lefty, and it eventually hit the turf and then slowly moved towards the batsman. The batsman in turn gently propped forward and allowed the slowest ball ever bowled to subtly kiss the outside edge of his bat. The ball then ever so slowly continued it's serene path towards Cob's gloves, and gently, almost graciously settled in them. It was at once a glorious wicket and also an utterly baffling one.
Local wildlife were concerned at the pedestrian pace of some of the bowling
Coslett followed this up with a couple of gentle straight slow balls. The next batsman had clearly had enough, and decided to charge headlong at the next one, missed it by miles, and Cob removed the bails. Why he hasn't been bowling all season is a mystery. Sap continued in a similar vein, the odd wide and some better balls, before the rain intervened and sent us all scurrying off. It looked so grim, Ant decided to put his boat shoes on - I mean it was pretty wet, but it didn't feel like we would need an actual boat our there. We thought it was done at this point, but an easing of the rain and agreement between the players, and we carried on. Ant actually came back on in his boat shoes, sporting a fetching ensemble from Primark/TK Maxx, depending on how much of a budget the newly expectant father currently has at his disposal.
Sap had a comedy moment around the restart point - the batsmen had scarpered a single and were safely home, he picked up the ball and everyone shouted, "easy" to calm him down. He misread this instruction as, "it is an easy run out" and launched one towards the stumps, missing by a distance, but it was fortunately backed up well. A conversation on communication methods followed, as well as the meaning of easy in English and Americanese.
Then Coslett did his thing again, first ball of his next over was pitched up, driven firmly back, and he took a wonderful caught and bowled chance, diving across the stumps. Sap rolled out of the attack and Ant came in for an over of all absolute all sorts. I'm going to say he kindly gave the opposition some runs with his patented variation.
Will then came into the attack in his place, and boy did he attack. Will has gone into the book as "Baldy", and he used his streamlined haircut to good effect. A few dots were then followed by a peach that castled the top of middle, was deflected, thankfully, past Cob, and finished on the boundary somewhere. He followed this up with a few dots and a single, before bowling another, leg stump played on, with a cracking off stump line. Thus we had two bowlers of contrasting styles, Will being his tall fast and controlled self, and Coslett finding new ways to slow down our perception of time. Will had another two caught to finish things - one was the returning opener trying to pick up the pace and the other was caught by Cob behind the stumps. This left Will with absolutely scandalous figures of 3-4-10. Coslett wasn't far behind with 3-3-19. Open them together next week, skip.
100 all out, which should be thoroughly getable, but it was so dark we moved from red to a pink ball at this stage. Parrish and Barker opened. It was testing early on - and Parrish fell to one that stuck in the really wet pitch, skied high within the ring as he was through the shot too early. Barker stuck around for a bit with Threadgold, ticking the scoring over before he fell to the same bowler in the same way, the ball sticking in the pitch, early through the shot, flying high into the air. Steve Mann had graciously joined to spectate at just the right moment to see Parrish and Barker perish. Our good luck charm, clearly.
Dan and I then came together for a decent spell to build a partnership to get us to the total. The bowling was a mix of good and not so good, and with a total like this, it is very much a case of respect the good balls and dispatch the bad. Running was keen, and the scoreboard ticked along from 30 or so from 4 overs to 69 from 7. Dan was strong on the off side, and I managed to score a four by swiping near my nose at one point. The game was beyond doubt at this point and Sap was enjoying taking videos and photos which really have driven home to me how I have let myself go a bit in this latest lockdown.
Dan retired comfortable and untroubled, with good running and good shots all round. The AVEVA skipping was having a torrid time, bowling not that well, and showing how not to field, letting a fair few through that should have been stopped. Ant had relocated some actual cricket kit and joined the batting action, and dispatched his first for four to the leg-side boundary. I managed a mid-wicket slog and then Ant decided to finish things in express fashion, hitting 2,2,4, 2 and a 4 to finish us off in the 10th over. It was very dark at the end, so dark in fact that one of the fours he hit, it took the fielders ages to find the bright pink kookaburra ball being used.
Pub attendance was great, although no Cob this week sadly. Steve joined us and lots of good beers, food and reminiscing chat was had, inside with no masks - as this is how far everything has come now. Two games left, with Parrish still in with a good shout at 300 runs for the season.
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