Jags (107-4 Alfeldi 25*, Kingsmill 25*, Bennet 13*, Humby 2-20) beat Dobblers 106-7 (Pringle 28, Mitchell 15, Robinson 3-22) by 6 wickets
MOTM - Tyler Bennet
We turned up against old friends, the Dobblers, at Kings and Selwyn College ground tonight. The evening was notable for two things at the outset.
First up, Captain fantastic had sourced some new club gear, fully branded and sponsored by Brand Recruitment, one of the many entrprenuerial ventures of Jag, and club friend, Mr Steve Mann. His barometer for entrepreneurial success is: it's a business; I own a bit of it; and it hasn't collapsed in a heap yet owing cash money to the tax man. By this criteria, it is currently a storming success of an enterprise, making enough money to partially sponsor an amateur cricket team. We felt all shiny and new, trying on our hats and shirts, named and what not. If you are recruiting or looking to be recruited in marketing, well, that's what they do - I can't tell you if they're actually any good, but click on the link and you might see something on their website that is relevant to you. Steve briefly joined us at the ground to check his new logo had been printed correctly before jetting off to the costa-del-Helsinki.
That's an interesting choice of colour, Steve
The other thing that was notable was the giant square at Kings had two tracks prepared, one at the extreme either end of the square, and neither looked to have been rolled or cut. The outfield was in a similar state. It felt very much like a village cricket pitch, and not one of the fancy villages. More like one of those villages where the village sign has been knocked over; the pub doesn't do hot food; the village shop has metal bars on the doors and windows; and caravans are for sale in the nearby vicinity.
Matt lost the toss, which turned out to mean we all got to the pub a little earlier than expected, and Dobblers chose to bat. Tyler opened at one end with a classic display of mean bowling, using the green top to good effect. A bye was conceded and the number 2 batsman did not fancy it at all, missing a couple before seeing the off peg uprooted by one with some fine lateral movement for what I believe was an opening wicket maiden. In truth, this was one of our only wickets of the night which the bowler actually deserved. More anon.
Barker opened the bowling at the other end, off a good weekend spell of bowling. However he was hit by a curse of the, erm, midweek bowling yips??, and couldn't seem to control the recently sourced and finely tailored Reader's ball, conceding a few extras and making life for the skip behind the stumps very challenging. Tyler continued with threat and verve, combined with economy, and Barker was pulled out of the attack after one over, to allow Ed Robinson to come and have a twirl. Dobbler's skipper, Sam, was in to bat and hit a few nice shots, as did the first opener.
Ed's bowling was, erm, well let's be honest, it was absolute shit. The length was all over the shop, he couldn't find his line and on another night he would have been murdered. Tonight however, it seemed that bowling badly was somehow an inspired move, as he offered a double bounce freebie to the batsman who promptly spooned it in the air to Dan on the offside. This wicket caused the other batsman to panic, and he pushed one gently inside the circle to the onside shortly thereafter, then pushed the other batsman to run a suicidal single. Mr Kingsmill, with all the time in the world, delivered the ball to the waiting Parrish to gently remove the bails.
The next batsman came in and Ed decided that, well my naff ball worked last time, so let's try that again, bowled it short and wide, and the batsman pitched it gently up in the air for Dan to catch. An eventful over, it must be said. Tyler continued to look threatening and economic, but must have also been utterly confused as to how his really rather good bowling wasn't getting any more wickets, when batsmen were literally throwing wickets away to Ed.
Perhaps sensing the quizzical thoughts in Tyler's head, Ed duly obliged with another short wide half tracker in his next over, and the batsman gently chipped it high to the offside for Kris to catch - an almost carbon copy of one of his other wickets. Around this point Phillips did a thing, stopping a ball at slip with his foot in a way that it almost looped up to the keeper. We can all imaginen what Phillips' celebration would have looked like here, if he had tried to take credit for something he had clearly not intended.
It had, in truth, been an odd series of wickets. 3 practice catches offered from some dross bowling, and a run out which was pure harakiri. Still, they all look the same in the book. Ed then decided to show everyone that he can actually bowl, putting some nice lines and much more consistency together. The result of this actual decent bowling was he got no more wickets this evening. Cricket is a confusing game at times.
Two Dobblers strung a partnership together for a bit, one batsman was wheezing rather a lot and calling for water or a spliff, which seemed an odd pairing. The other batsman looked pretty technically correct, and they started to grind out something like a respectable score. Threadgold was tossed the cherry for a bit, and there was a very notable contribution in the field from Kris, chasing one down on a short boundary and hauling it back. Matt also did his best to hide me in the field, although hiding a Mr Stay Puft lookalike is quite hard in a field, Matt.
I ain't afraid of no ducks...
Threadgold was bowling pretty well in truth, and he was partnered at the other end by Mr Phillips, who was bowling an erratic line. Threadgold eventually winkled out the top scorer, he hit it past the bowler, but Brett was equal to it, diving forward at short mid off to take a good catch just off the turf. Barker replaced Phillips, who went wicketless, and kept the extras coming.
Barker eventually saw off the more technically correct of the decent batsmen, who was through the shot a little too quickly, and gifted it to Tobias at mid off. The partnership had got Dobblers within touching distance of 100. They had one, how shall we say, non-player, and one bowler/wicket keeper in Askew batting at the death. Askew took a gift from Threadgold, a half tracker, and dispatched it over square, then pinched the strike for the last over, bowled by Liam "Offspin" Brett, and they clawed their way to 106/7. Anything sub 120 is very very hard to defend. Stranger things have happened though.
Given the total and in our eagerness to make sure all Jags get a decent go, Matt opened with Brett and Kingsmill. Brett hit a nice 2 and was then bowled leg stump to a very nice early ball from one opener. Will was then joined by Kris, and both set about flaying the ball all about, Kris hitting a couple of straight 4's and one lovely legside 6 that I recall, and Will hit a very nice offside 4 that I recall. The game was quickly beyond the Dobblers, as Jags were 52/1 from 7. Kris retired and Fardell waddled out - and found scoring difficult. I was facing the same bowling as Will and Kris but I was playing it a touch more, respectfully, perhaps?! Will then bludgeoned a couple of 4's on his way to 25 not out - two he hit to the deep square fielder, the skipper no less, who allowed both to go over the rope. One was eminently catchable, but it wasn't to be and Will got his first 25* for the the Jags in, maybe ever.... not sure, I'll need to consult the annals of Jags history.
Tobias joined Fardell, and in the spirit of proceedings was there for a good time. He hammered a ball back over the bowler's head for 4 and did a great spot in mastering the trick of being left handed, so confusing the life out of the Captain and fielding team. Some decent running and a couple of more legside swipes saw Tobias accelerate to 18 off 12, before one swipe too many saw his off peg pushed back with a good cross body ball.
Phillips strolled out and Fardell and he managed to try and make the game interesting by basically building a short partnership on the solid foundations of: not scoring much; and trying to run each other out. 9 overs, 71 runs scored, and no danger, so why not?!
Fardell was out spooning one to mid off for 12 off 16 balls and Phillips managed to see out 7 consecutive dot balls. Tyler, elevated up the order, joined Phillips. Tyler slashed one over the backward point region and didn't get out for a bit - but Phillips scraped 4 off 11 balls, eventually pulling one to the Dobblers skipper, who finally held onto one - well done Sam.
Threadgold and Bennet saw us home, with Bennet scoring a couple of 4's and Dan pushing the running. A wicket, some good bowling, sealing the win and his top ever batting score - Tyler was an easy MOTM pick - although Kris and Will both had respectable shouts too.
Afterwards we retired to the Red Bull for pizza and beer, as is tradition - but found the beer garden (on a glorious sunny evening) had been taken over by a pub quiz. One pub quiz round was themed, "Lesser known facts about Royals" and another was (honest to goodness) themed, "9/11 Facts". It felt like the Samaritans switchboard was going to get some calls later that evening.
I won't be hitting their pub quiz any time soon - although the pizza remains good and it's always nice playing the Dobblers.
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