Jags evade Shark invested waters

Sharks 122-4 (Pat 25*, Jeeva 25*, Brett 2-19, Barker 1-13, Kavanagh 1-15), lost to Jags 123-4 (Parrish 25*, Horner 19*, Phillips 18, Jeeva 1-12, Pat 1-24) by 6 wickets

MOTM - Liam Brett

The Sharks games are always a highlight of a Jags season and this was no different. For those of us who have played for many years they are a team filled with familiar faces and there is always a good spirit between both sides. For once captain Parrish lost the toss on a gloomy evening at Queens and Sharks (obviously) opted to bat first. We did come equipped with an excellent bowling attack though and still felt happy with our chances chasing.

Liam and debutant Ben Kavanagh opened things up for the Jags amd had both Sharks openers in a bit of trouble. The ball kept leaping up from the pitch at Liam's end and usually keeping low from Ben's. As a result early scoring was low and Liam got the breakthrough in his second over using the extra bounce to find a glove through to Phillips. Ben smashed the stumps apart in his 3rd over before Liam found the edge again in his 4th to cap an excellent opening spell.

This brought Pat and Jeeva to the crease who we know are very capable batsmen. Tyler bowled with good pace and accuracy which forced the batsmen to play slower than they usually would, whilst James H made great use of the extra bounce from Liam's end. No wickets through the middle overs but a run rate we could be very happy with. We did have one casualty though with Tobias pulling a hammy chasing the ball to the boundary. No matter where I moved him though the ball just kept following him - Credit to the man he kept on chasing the ball, palm gripped firmly around his own leg at all times.

As we moved towards the death Pat and Jeeva retired and the grey clouds swarmed making visibility for all difficult! James B and Sawyer saw us through, keeping up the great standard of bowling. In the last over Sawyer drew a hoik from the batsman straight to yours truly who lost the ball in the dark of the trees, allowed it to smash himself in the chest before promptly falling over spectularly. Drew a few laughs from all in the field, especially Sawyer who I think prefferred it to getting a wicket. Innings ended in the dark with a few drops of rain. 122-4 not usually a game winning total but with the visibility it would still take some chasing.

Sharks opened up with pace off this time but it played into our openers hands. Both Parrish and Barker made their runs quickly including a big straight 6. This prompted a change in bowling with Jeeva and Pat coming into the attack and slowing the scoring down but a lot of damage had been done with 43 being scored off the first 5. Barker had amassed a nice looking 17 before getting bowled by a beaut (aka big swing across the line to a straight one ;) ) and Parrish retired on 25 exactly, after taking a good 10 minutes to get the final retirement run.

Dan and Phillips were in charge of the middle overs, the scoring slowing due to the dark conditions and the good quality bowling but they were able to tick things over well and made use of getting their eye in. Dan eventually fell bowled for a quick 13 but Phillips prioritized partnerships batting time with both Dan and Horner. By the time Phillips was caught and bowled for 18 we looked in very good shape. Sawyer came in and didn't hang about finding the boundary 3 times and the job was basically done. Kavanagh joined for the final flourish with Horner knocking to 4s in a row to end things with 15 balls to spare.

A very good win which makes it 3 out of the so far in the friendlies. MOTM could have gone many directions as there were good performances all over but once again the choice is ball over bat with Liam's opening spell making a decisive impact in keeping the 1st innings score down. On to next week for our first league outing of the season.

Aveva Las Vegas

Jags 177-5 (Parrish 28*, Threadgold 27*, Phillips 26*, Horner 25*, Maqbool 2-38), beat Aveva 111-5 (Glass 25*, Maqbool 23*, Langley 22, Sharda 15, Benett 3-20) by 66 runs

MOTM - Tyler Bennett

Game two of the season was against familiar opposition in Aveva at the beautiful Downing College pitch. The Jags came equipped with 12 players this week which allowed debutant Fraser Christie an impressive 40 overs of keeping, donning the gloves for both sides!

Captain Parrish won the toss and did what anyone in their right mind would do on a May evening and opted to bat. The now familiar opening partnership of Parrish and Barker headed out to the middle to face the pick of the Aveva bowlers, Imran Maqbool. The Jags bagged a swift start with a breezy 28 from the skip inside 5 overs. This was abley supported by James with some nice shots and really positive running between the wickets, keeping as at 9 an over.

James sadly fell soon after getting bowled looking to go big on a straight one from the Aveva skipper. This brought Tobias to the crease who looked in good touch, timing the ball well but finding fielders. He was however out smarted by Aveva's very own grenadier who's straight but lofty bowling was just too straight and lofty for the big swing of the Langley bat, giving debutant Ed the difficult responsibility of giving him out LBW.

Mr Chirpy came into bat and played a very accomplished knock for the second week running. Phillips played some great shots on the way to 26 retired outscoring Dan who had been there for a few overs longer. Dan would argue he didn't have much of the strike but he did hit 9 singles...which is giving the strike up voluntarily really. Plod-along Threadgold eventually got the job done booking his 27 with just two boundaries but with Fardell missing this week someone had to be 'the anchor' I suppose. In truth he batted very nicely, playing some lovely shots through point off the back foot.

We were next treated to another debutant Morgan batting with James Horner in just his second game for the Jags. The first few shots from James suggested he was not used to facing this sorta filth but he eventually realised just stop thinking and 'clobber it' which brought him to 25 with a big six through the leg side. Morgan played with a fine sense of style and grace you don't often see on a Wednesday night on our circuit but sadly chipped one up for Fraser behind the stumps for 9. The highlight of the partnership though was surely James prodding the ball back to the bowler and promptly calling yes for a quick single. Fortunately Morgan had the sense to turn down this ludacris suggestion and we avoided a run call bad enough to be run out twice. 

In the last couple of overs Liam hit a few nice twos before getting bowled by a straight one by the returning Imran. Ed kicked his Jags batting career with a golden duck middling the ball straight to short cover who couldn't believe he had caught it and suddenly with the last ball of the innings we were facing a hatrick ball. Tyler had barely got his pads on and went out with no box, half his straps undone and the knowledge that he both had to 'smash it' but also not get out on a hatrick ball. He found a middle ground and carved it for a single to end the innings. It was a dominant batting performance and one of our highest scores - 177 for 5 from the 20.

We turned around quickly for the second innings to combat the dwindling light and kicked things off where we left them with Tyler centre of attention. He bowled beautifully to be honest and kicked things off with another early wicket clean bowled. He always threatens the stumps and is turning out to be a reliable wicket taker in this format. Ed debuted from the other end and evidently shouldn't have done whatever he did to Dan in the innings break as he let two routine stops past him for 4. Dan's sabotage aside though Ed found his length and bounced back with 2 wickets from his 3 over spell, including a rarely seen T20 maiden in his last.

Morgan and Venkat took to the stage and both bowled very tightly. Any hope Aveva had of chasing the total disappeared in this passage of play with both bowlers operating with good economy without finding a breakthrough. This proved to be the case for the rest of the innings with Liam and Phillips joining the party and also logging great economy rates without the Ws. Amazingly Phillips coming the closest with numerous catches landing just out of reach of fielders.

But if you want a job done right you bring on Tyler so back on he came for his last over and he bagged to wickets. The first a clean bowled of the batsman going well on 22 and then wrapping things up on the last ball forcing an aerial shot that was snaffled up by Morgan.

Overall a great Jags game - Nice opposition, convincing win and contributions made by everyone. Close call for MOTM between Tyler and Phillips but 3 wickets midweek from Tyler clinches it.

Taking you back to the old skool

 Jags 169-4 (Fardell 31*, Barker 30*, Phillips 26*, Coslett 22*, Coe 1-28), beat Leys School 164-3 (Hill 34*, Coe 33*, Shipp 31*, Barton 30*, Benett 2-27)  by 5 runs

MOTM - James Barker

The opening game of the Jags season was a rip roarer. Playing, as we were, against one of our absolute favourite opponents, in the sunny and leafy environs of Latham Road, we put on a high scoring game of joyous fun, followed by some very solid pub attendance from both sides.

The Leys School is one of the oldest, and most prestigious of the "New Schools" founded in 1875, it has, understandably produced some of the finest people, including the current King of Bahrain and a man who Captained England in Test Cricket 15 times, Freddie Brown. It's an old school, with a reputation to boot...

Jags opened the batting with the well tested partnership of Parrish and Barker. Barker has grown into an opening role, with a glorious repertoire of shots, defence, and good footwork. The opening bowling was an absolute Forrest Gump of curiosity, with some absolutely brilliant balls immediately followed by utter filth. Barker and Parrish started at something of a clip, with Barker elegantly teasing one to the legside boundary that I recall, and Parrish (wearing his Ascot helmet) biffing his way to the offside on at least two occasions. Several overs passed without drama; the scoring pace was excellent.

Parrish fell sadly, Liam giving as umpire an LBW from Davison. Liam is a very fair umpire, and it looked very out as Matt was back in his crease and across to a full ball, so no complaints. Fardell waddled out to join Barker. Barker continued to test the field with some upwards shots, but always in control. Fardell did some gentle jogging, but didn't face any balls, or he hit dots when required to get Barker back on strike.

Barker quickly retired, not a serious chance offered to the bowling team and runs scored at pace as well. Threadhold joined the fray, and hit a few nifty shots to the legside, and most importantly encouraged the corpulent Fardell to run a bit more. Sadly his efforts proved in vain, as he ran himself out pushing a tight single, with the wicket keeper (part time, I am told), doing an absolutely brilliant job to throw down the stumps first time. 

Tobias joined the fray with Fardell and quickly hit an absolute peach of a 6, picking up the slow ball early and launching it over the short square leg boundary. After some good running and a few tasty strokes he was out bowled to Coe, full, angling in, and a touch of swing. Tobias, as ever, was trying to smash it over cow. 

Debutant Horner joined the ranks, and like all of the incoming batsmen, quickly outscored Fardell. After some nice blows and a little running, he edged one to 3rd ish slip. 

Fardell was briefly joined by Coslett. Having realised that, this late in the game, 4 runs is not enough, I had a swing and retired, in a not chanceless, innings. 

This brought Coslett and Phillips together, and oh my was this good. Both ran fast, Coslett targeted the short boundary with two lofted drives, and Phillips hit the same spot with a less regal talent. It is no understatement to say that it was lovely to watch these gentlemen both in full flow, hitting, running, hustling, and smashing their way to getting us to 169. 

It's a big total.

Leys opened the batting with a chap called Paddy. A few years ago against us, he surpassed 25 off 6 balls, and looked absolutely not bothered about the entire thing. This year he had Liam and Tyler, bowling like tyros, to keep him under moderate control - although he hit an absolute peach straight through the offside at one point to remind us that, at weekends, he played in the 1st team.

There was another opening batsman called Clark, and whilst he looked the part, Tyler did for him, tempting a shot outside off and Fardell snagged an easy catch at backward point. Tyler and Brett were bowling beautifully, both, with Tyler getting his lines right, and Brett being unfortunate not to get a wicket. One in particular, how it missed the stumps, goodness knows.

A special word here for our skipper and Will "Longstanton till I Die" Kingsmill. Both carrying quite pronounced injuries, both still here and both put a lot of effective effort in whilst fielding.  I mean, if anything is "the Jags", it's broken men still being there and doing their thing. Tobias merits a mention here for good fieldwork as well.

Tyler carried on apace, and his snarl and aggression did for Paddy, who fished outside off and nicked off. It was a great opening spell from both. Phillips helping behing the stumps.

The next 4 Leys batsmen retired. One of them looked secure, the grounsman no less, the other 3 all looked like they would nick off at any point, but somehow kept scoring. Horner bowled some good stuff, but also more debtable stuff. Coslett reprised his role of previous seasons, but the staff room at the Leys clearly took a liking to him, and made sure he knew it. One left handed six in particular was quite the sight.

They just kept scoring. Having posted a quite imposing total of 169, the Jags were staring defeat in the face. 

Then Barker stepped up and decided he was a medium pace bowler and not a spin bowler. Threadgold at the other end varied his length somewhat, Barker bowled a fella, and somehow we got home. Some of the Threadgold bowling at the end was really quite terrible, though.

It was super dark at the end. We had a lot of fun. Lots of people came to the pub. All of this is a win in my book!

Jags Fixtures 2022 - More or Less Confirmed

 

W/C	Date	Opposition	Ground	Home/Away
25th April	Wednesday 27th April	Nets	Leys
2nd May	Wednesday 4th May	Nets	Leys
9th May	Tuesday 10th May	Leys School	Latham Road	Away
16th May	Wednesday 18th May	AVEVA	Downing	Away
23rd May	Monday 23rd May	Sharks	Kings	Away
30th May	Tuesday 31st May	Cambourne Midweek Bombers	CASS	Home
6th June	Tuesday 7th June	Dobblers	Kings	Home
13th June	Thursday 16th June	NCI	Queens	Home
20th June	Thursday 23rd June	Stapleford Phoenix	Queens	Home
27th June	Wednesday 29th June	Waterbeach	Waterbeach	Away
4th July	Wednesday 6th July	Deloitte	Queens	Away
11th July	Thursday 14th July	Qualcomm	Queens	Home
18th July	Thursday 21st July	Sharks	Kings	Home
25th July	Monday 25th July   Thursday 28th July	Bluntisham   Dobblers	Bluntisham   Queens	Away   Home
1st August	Wednesday 3rd August	Stapleford Outlaws	Stapleford	Away
8th August	Wednesday 10th August	Deloitte	Kings	Away
15th August	Wednesday 17th August	Histon	Histon	Away

Brave New World - Jags are Upgrading

So, since last year, COVID has ceased to be a thing, largely as Boris Johnson declared it to be so. It also seems Downing Street was a popping party venue for quite some time - come on chaps, invite the Jags on down and we will bring all the prosecco in bin bags you could possibly need to help you run the country.

The death of COVID has meant we are hitting a full planned season for the first time in a while - with 16 Fixtures planned for the season ahead. We've lost a couple of players from the squad - Sap, much love and sadly departed to return to the US will be a big loss. We've also lost Tommy Hopper, the legend, who has moved full time to London, although he could probably throw a ball from his garden (assuming they have those in London), and hit my house in Histon, so he could possibly participate remotely. We have also lost the hirusute Cob, who after about 3 years of application, pandemics and waiting is moving to the good old US of A with his work. 3 big sets of spikes to fill, I'm sure you'll all agree.

We've also tried to do a few things this year which we hadn't done before. The most notable of these is that we have entered the Cambridge Business House League, Second Division. The genesis for this idea was pretty much that the team met for Christmas dinner and drinks at the Cambridge Brewhouse, beverages were consumed, and a plan was hatched that we would compete for something, and play some new teams by entering a league. All seemed in favour, so the motion was carried.

Now, I love a bit of admin, and those who know me will tell you that I really do love admin, but the administration skills required to get this off the ground might have stretched Elon Musk's administrative support team.

First we had to the affiliate to the Cambridgeshire Cricket Association. This involved a lot of forms, and ticking some boxes, and promising to get insurance, and criminal checks for key staff members of our club.

Insurance was duly sought, with more forms, payment, and generally faffery - although we are grateful to N R Daws for agreeing to insure us despite the full and frank disclosures I had to give them in order to get insurance. TL:DR, they almost wouldn't insure us unless we agreed to remove Ant from the roster. Ant is now a "special consultant" for the Jags, and we are insured against slips trips and falls.

We then had to affiliate to the Cambridgeshire Cricket Board. For reasons which I'm sure better people can explain, Cambridgeshire, a modestly sized county, requires two cricket associations. 

My dearest hope is that this is borne out of some sort of ancient rivalry similar to when rugby union and rugby league split into separate sports - but the answer is probably more mundane than that, sadly.

How it might look at annual association review meetings.

I then passed, with flying colours, a criminal records check that means I can safely work with children.

The upshot is, we are now affiliated to two associations, we have insurance, at least one of us isn't a  known criminal - and we're entering a brave new world where teams may destroy us, but we will continue to bring our valued brand of stuff to the Cambridge Cricket World.