All's well that ends well

Jags 144/9 (Dunny 34, Parrish 26, Horner 19, Purton 2-12) lost to Histon (Kukreja 51*, John Turner 46*, Brett 1-15) by 8 wickets

Man of the Match - Dunny

The season had to end somewhere, and it feels fitting that it ended here. Histon is our sister club, if not officially then in spirit, as half of the Jags play regularly for the weekend 3's team. Accordingly when the call went out that the Histon were to play the Jags at Histon, we were treated to the 1st team pitch, and it seems half the 1st and 2nd teams as well, who decided to turn out to absolutely ensure we didn't have any chance of winning the prestigious trophy for the Cambridge Business House League Division 2. 

Shortly before the game we had Ant and Dan pull out, as they had somehow not realised that they were playing football that very same evening. Cometh the hour, cometh the man, as Dunny decided to make his debut for the Jags at quite late notice.

He doesn't leap tall buildings with a single bound, but he is good at cricketing

Matt won the toss and wisely opted to bat. The light is utterly terrible at this time of year, not helped by the first possibility of rain we've seen in quite some time resulting in actual clouds in the sky. Matt and Dunny got us going, getting off to a rollicking start, treating the bowlers with some respect but also scoring well, Matt his usual ebullient self, hitting to the legside and over the top. Dunny, more cultured and restrained, scoring slowly behind the wicket with dabs and late cuts. We were also treated to an utterly spectacular piece of fielding in the ring where one player stopped a certain 4 with the underside of his boot. 37 runs from 4, 8 ball overs meant we were very much at the required rate.

Matt had scored at quite a clip and then fell edged to the keeper from a very nice bowling spell from Asad, who bowls with control and guile all whilst wearing a happy-as-you-like grin on his face that makes him thoroughly likeable. Matt's departure brought in Horner and Dunny decided to unfurl the class at this point to keep the rate up and take over from his departed partner. Two lofted cover drives were the definition of dreamy, adding runs whilst also looking very much like weekend cricket. Horner kept him company for a very much more agricultural spell, hoiking and biffing like a rumbunctious farm hand, before eventually falling caught from Prad for a usefully swift 19.

Fardell strolled out, and in keeping with my season, I streakily edged 4, clipped one, looked at Dunny for a bit to desperately try and pick up batting tips, and was then bowled leg stump 3rd ball from Savage, a middling ball, an awful shot and there ends the season. In the pub afterwards Ant invented an award and a word (Shakespeare, innit) for me, "Most Deproved Player": which I think is Ant's way of kindly saying, Mark - you were shit this year. He's not wrong, but it's still been a lot of fun.

Phillips joined Dunny, who then fell caught to a good ball from Savage for a comfortable Man of the Match 34 on debut. He did have Mr Leach to thank of Histon for dropping an absolutely dolly of a catch - the sort that the Jags would never allow to fall to the turf, such are the high standards of midweek Jags cricket.

J Barker joined the fray and Histon tried to ensure that everyone got a bowl, so we were treated to a lot of rotation. Phillips hit a glorious 4 over deep midwicket before being run out to some sterling miscommunication with Barker. He pushed to the offside and set off for a sharp but gettable single, Barker sent him back and Phillips is quick so he was alreasdy a long way down the wicket. Monsieur Fraser Christie behind the stumps was quick to react, pushing forward of the wicket and throwing down the stumps to leave Phillips well short of his ground and very much less than happy.

Cozzie joined James for a bit and hit a lovely offside punched 4 that I recall. Barker fell LBW to Kavanaugh bowling slower paced stuff that was kind of weird, some leggies, some offies and some goodness-knows-what-on-earth-that-was type stuff. He actually bowled reasonably well, but it wasn't conventional spin. Tobias joined the fray for a bit, fresh from news that he was no longer unemployed and in fact now possessed a shiny new job. Cozzie fell shortly thereafter, bowled by a ripper from Kav that dipped and then shot up to take off stump. Liam pootled out to the middle as a replacement.

There were no real partnerships at this point, but conversely we were scoring ok - despite no batsman below number 3 getting into double figures, which feels a bit weird as I type it, but the scorebook never lies. I believe Tobias fell next, bowled by a full toss that he somehow didn't cash in on. Morgan strolled out and was given the same instructions as last week; hang about chap. Liam hit some lovely 4's and then perished late in the innings trying to keep the rate up, missing a straight one from Asad whilst trying to marmalade it over long on. Tyler was 11th man and he and Morgs resisted some late tasty bowling to put on a useful little last wicket stand to get us to 144.

Histon opened with 1st teamers Hari and Kavanaugh and Jags opened with Liam and Tyler. Liam bowled very nicely early on, and Hari pushed a very tight single to get going, which was a very tight run out chance. DRS may have been in play, had Histon invested in it. Kavanaugh danced around his crease like a young man auditioning for Diversity, which eventually resulted in him scoring some runs after a brief false start that just involved the dancing, and didn't really involve his bat.

Move your feet to the beat?

Tyler bowled well to start, but after the early run out scare Hari was into his stride and demonstrated some absolutely classy strokes to get the innings going after an early slow start. Ben hit a couple of agricultural boundaries before being bowled by Mr Brett, the classic full and straight on off stump job that always gets rewards eventually. This brought a man to the crease who we recognised from his fielding endeavours with his foot earlier, although none of us knew his actual name. He pinched a couple of runs and was then bowled by Mr Bennett, eternally chasing his end of season stats.

It was very dark at this point (it had never really got light), we had a pink ball in hand, and we repeatedly checked with the batsmen, and umpires to make sure it was all regarded as safe, and turned to our slower bowlers quicker than we usually would have.

From here on in, it was a treat of a different order. J Turner and Hari put in a lovely display of top class batting, giving us an up close and personal view of the how they do things in the Histon 1st XI. Yaxley, Bennett and Barker all had a twirl, and did well, but when you're bowling at these gents, it's a thankless task. We took to celebrating the odd intentional defensive shot, and tried to keep the banter in the field as chirpy as possible. Phillips was his usual self, unfortunately, and most of the chat fell into two categories. Firstly, wave so I can see you (or any other dark themed joke). Secondly, oh that's a lovely shot. Hari was strong over midwicket, without being brutish at any point. Turner hit a Dunny-esque cover drive that was getting applause from the fielders before it even pierced the ring.

I know we're supposed to win, but these guys are friends, and it's nice to see this quality up close.

Hari retired on 51, to all round applause. Phillips came on to try and challenge Bennett in the bowling statistic stakes. His bowling spell was Fardell like in its quality, at least that is what the scorebook suggests. Someone from Stapleford Phoenix replaced the outgoing Hari (we have played them recently and he was wearing the same shirt), and despite our best efforts, and some acceptable attempts at chat, they cruised home with about 10 balls to spare. Coslett, fittingly, finished proceedings, as we took the need to slow the bowling down very, very seriously at the end.

A lot of evenings, this would have been a defendable total, but Histon had brought the big guns, so we were just all happy to be enjoying cricket so late in the summer.

Handshakes all round and some brilliant pub attendance at the Red Lion in Histon, including by some of the youngsters and our good friend Mr Steven Mann. Plans were hatched for an end of season do, and some reminiscences were had by all. It was also lighter in the pub garden than it had been at any point on the field.

So a cracking season. I think our most statistically successful with only the 3 defeats from 15 games for an 80% win rate including league cricket for the first ever time. We should finish 2nd or 3rd in the league, which is no mean achievement in our first ever season of league cricket. Mr Parrish totted up more than 350 runs, and Phillips in a fine return to form cleared 200. We had 3 50's to boot. Tyler got 15 wickets as top wicket taker, Morgan got our first ever 5fer and was a delightful addition to the roster. Phillips got a 4fer. We were also delighted to welcome Mr Horner into the team, with a useful 10 wickets, and 190 runs, plus a chipper nature and excellent ability to find the pub after every game. We also loved having Kristijan as our resident South African representative, when he wasn't playing hockey.... Parrish had a magnificent season with the bat again, but it must be said his keeping was absolute class as well, standing up and putting pressure on pretty much all the time. Ant reinvented himself as a cultured batsman. Dan did his normal thing (putting in some great fielding as well) and he seems to have taught Ant how to run between the wickets, which is nice. Also, Piers Morgan returned from the US and proder the mantra: form is temporary; class is permanent. Some great run outs, hilarious dropped catches and fairly sterling and quite crickety banter was had all round. More to come anon, but it's been a great season.

Jags edge thriller at Kings

Deloitte 123-3 (Barclay 28*, Stewart 28*, Spencer 23*, Brett 2-7) lost to Jags 126-9 (Threadgold 37*, Brolia 28*, Horner 24, Fardell 20, Rice 5-17) by 1 wicket

Man of the Match - Threadgold

A near run thing, was how the Duke of Wellington described the Battle of Waterloo, and that is exactly what we had here in slightly more important circumstances, just squeaking home in a tight chase that see-sawed this way and that against old chums, Deloitte.

 Ant on a night out, the ladies to his left and right do not know what is coming...

The weather was still scorchio and we had been moved from Queens to Kings this week. The Kings square has been a bit of a variable quantity this year, something to do with horticulture and subsoil and drainage and the underlying chalk and clay composition dynamics of this part of Cambridge. The short way to describe it is, unpredictable, one bounce flies over your head, the other shoots towards your foot. It's not been quite as bad as some village grounds (I'm looking at you Waterbeach), but the College grounds offer a serenity and comfort that feels almost professional at times. The weather this year has been hard on groundsmen, so it's understandable if things aren't quite as road like as we've come to expect.

Deloitte turned up with a good 9 and decided to bat. We opened Tyler and Yaxley, fresh from his Michelle last week, and the early scoring was pretty rapid to be honest, with both batsmen taking a shine to Tyler and hitting 4's, helped by the pace, the length of bowling and the rapid outfield. Yaxley was more in control at the other end, using his foxing skills to control the batsmen with a combination of pace, and not so much pace, to return some pretty tasty economy figures. The contrast between the two ends was pronounced. Tyler bowled two (8 ball overs) and his third was held back for the death, with Deloitte racing to 30 from 3. 

Yaxley turned the tide with the first wicket, forcing one pushed high with a canny ball, that settled in mid on's hands (I forget who, I'll say J Barker as he likes fielding there). We were then treated to James Horner rotating on for Tyler. He had three eventful overs, the scorebook notes him as "Warner" which is close to being really threatening, and the things I recall were some larups from the batsmen for 4's, some revised threat to pull things back in, and an absolute body on the stop from his own bowling with the batsman absolutely hammering it back to him, and James getting in line to ensure it was going absolutely nowhere.

 How it might have looked

Yaxley continued for a full quota of 3 at the other end, returning some impressive figures. The top three batsmen all treated him with a lot of respect (or just swung and missed) and prefered to hit their runs from other bowling, with two retiring and one getting close with some lovely shots, including a class off drive, a square cut and a swivel pulled 4 to deep square that stick in my mind.

Brett came in next and was on one of those bowling spells where he just is on it. Tight lines, good economy, and some pretty mega pulled out celebrations - where he somehow misses the stumps or the edge and looks utterly shocked that he has not got a wicket. He cleaned up 2 with top of off jobs, cleaned bowled, and all ends up taken out, to finish on 2-7. He also managed to absolute murder a batsman in the plumbs for the second time in 2 weeks, before bowling him. It's the old rope a dope technique he loves so well.

At the midway point, Parrish decided to hand the gloves to Phillips, and starting twirling his arm for some of those magic balls. Coslett also got in on the it's slower-than-you-think action, his first was dispatched for 4 and he had an absolute meltdown that I didn't run 40 meters in 2 seconds to stop the boundary. Matt twirled with some threat, and then not so much, as Deloitte pushed towards a north of 100 hundred total, treating themselves to the buffet in front of them. 

Phillips did some fine work behind the stumps with his usual shy and retiring quiet nature in full display throughout. One dived legside stop was pretty tasty and sticks in the mind even some days later.

Phillips stopping a medium pace offside dobbler

Both Cozzie and Matt bowled better than I give them credit, but one Deloitte batsman was seeing the slower balls rather well. Tyler came back for the death over and did rather well, with Deloitte scoring some 4's through a combination of desperation and that stage of the game, getting them up to a total of 123-3. They should have pushed a little earlier, but their tail was long, they only had 9 players, and the bowling from Yaxley and Brett in particular made scoring hard, and it felt gettable.

Jags opened with Barker and Fardell, in a change up from our usual roster (it was that sort of game). Barker perished on two balls, clipping one high inside the circle trying to sweep. Fardell edged one behind the keeper for 4, to hit the best shot he's hit in weeks. Brolia replaced Barker and with his new stance, continuing eternal confidence, and good foot movement he got his eye in, and moved his feet a lot. I was watching from the other end thinking, wow, moving you feet when batting, that seems like it might be a good idea. Maybe I should give it a go?

Ant took a particular shine to Spencer of Deloitte, after being tied down for a couple of balls, he decided to dance down the wicket, showing his best Friday night on the town twinkle toe moves, and hit 4 consecutive 4's down the ground to retire in double quick time. Threadgold joined proceedings, I continued to protect my wicket a bit and eventually hit a much more crickety 4, an offiside drive/punch that raced away to the boundary. Dan was in rambunctious form, hitting a lovely leg side 4 and a nice punch for 3 that I recall. I perished taking on the short ball from the fast bowler, having hooked one for 4, I tried to repeat the trick, it was a bit faster, went a bit higher and was caught in the deep. Still, I'll happily take 20.

Phillips and Threadgold put on a brief partnership, before Phillips fell, bowled through the the double width garage he left between his bat and pads. Horner replaced him and hit his first for a massive 4 over long off. Threadgold was into his stride now and the two rotated strike nicely, hitting 1's and 2's with reckless abandon to keep the Jags very much on the rate. 

Threadgold's retirement, brought Coslett out and a new bowler in for Deloitte, Mr Rice. He had a Yaxley-esque spell to get to his 5. Horner was extracted first, 24 and swinging wildly outside off to leave a mega gap, being replaced by Parrish. Parrish scored a little single before perishing to a really quite solid delivery from a bowler other than Rice, good length, moved away and top of off bowled.

Cozzie fell next, edged a lovely wobbling delivery to the wicket keeper - who genuinely looked absolutely shocked to death that he had held it. It's a look we know well in this team of certain nameless wicket keepers from our recent past. Brett walked out with the rate climbing and wickets tumbling and tried to push on, but was bowled moving down his wicket. Yaxley was briefly out and the instructions were, please try and stay in, but he couldn't falling to a tricky LBW delivery that slid back in masterfully. 

We had Bennett and the returning Brolia out to see things home with Threadgold our last man to return should he be needed. He was. Bennett, scored a single and then perished slapping it high, for Brett (as substitute fielder) to take an easy catch giving Rice his 5. 

This left us needing 9 off the last 8 ball over with no wickets in hand, and the opening bowler back on. It was frenetic, and it felt tense. 1, was followed by dot dot followed by 2, then pressure relived with a 4 from Dan. 3 balls left, 2 runs needed. The next ball was called wide and the bowler was less than pleased, muttering something about "desperation" to Phillips the umpire. Dan put things beyond doubt, hitting a 4 through the backward point region for a win with 2 balls and no wickets to spare.

A tight and tense game at the end, but some excellent batting from Ant and Threadgold, including nerves of steel at the end, and some good middle order biffing from Horner and a very tight and economic bowling performance got us where we needed to be. Next week, Histon are up - and I would bet they put out a spirit crushingly good side for the last game of our season.

 

Things are getting serious

Stapleford Outlaws 125-10 (Yaxley 5-7!, Horner 3-23, Kingsmill 2-22, Badcock 40, J Rigby 31) 125-10 lost to Jags 126-2 (Parrish 59*, Brolia 38) by 8 wickets.

Man of the Match: Morgan Yaxley

It was a lovely evening, the last at Queens this year, our personal home of cricket. Tonight's opponents were Stapleford Outlaws, one of two Stapleford midweek teams. Why they have two teams, I do not know, but I hope it relates to some ancient dispute and massive falling out between former club captains. I haven't managed to glean from either captain why there are two midweek Stapleford teams, nor why one is called the "Outlaws" (a cracking name), or indeed anything interesting about this odd situation - nice fellas, but the chat is a bit lacking. I am stretching the bounds of creative writing by giving such light material so many sentences, all else I will say is that Stapleford is a village near the only official hill in Cambridgeshire and it has both a great golf course and an awesome farm shop, and two teams who must, for some reason, absolutely hate each other.

We didn't know it as we drove into the car park, but tonight for the Jags was to be a record breaking evening. We had a our first ever Michelle Pfeiffer courtesy of Histon legend Morgan Yaxley. I don't want to spoil it by the preview, but I just can't hold it in for several paragraphs. What a performance.

She's looking at you, Morgan. Meooow

 

Matt lost the toss and opted to bat. The opposition organiser pointed out to him that if you lose the toss then you don't get to choose what you do, and reversed Matt's decision. It was ballsy on Matt's part, he was very insistent we were batting, even going so far as to start putting his pads on, despite the coin telling him otherwise. Jags were bowling first.

The tried and test opening bowling partnership of Liam and Tyler were in for some difficult treatment early on as, despite bowling some very good lines, the opening batsmen were on one for Stapleford. J Rigby batted well; James Badcock was insanely good. Withing the space of 4, 8 balls overs there was not really a chance to note, and we all thought we were going to be staring down a total of 200 plus to chase, such was the measured ferocity. Badcock hit one particular legside glance/clip/tickle/oh my goodness 4 that was literally the epitome of amazing batting skill. The field was quiet: there was no chirp. The bowling was good, the batsmen were equal to it, we just all looked a bit concerned for several overs.

Then, finally, the breakthrough. Tyler sloped off after bowling well, and Kingsmill, the Lord of Longstanton Manor, came in and within the space of 7 balls, gave us hope. His previous 6 balls were, well, let's just not talk about those. His 7th ball was full, straight, and homing in on leg stump (thank God for 8 ball overs). The batsman missed it, and it hit the pads. We all went up appealing, the first noise we'd made that evening, and the umpire gave it. It was full, it was straight and it was certainly hitting leg, but a certain other Stapleford team may not have made the eminently correct decision, should we have found them umpiring this evening. LBW.

Then the chat commenced. As nice as it was seeing a top batsman playing beautiful shots with effortless ease, we were very, very happy to see the back of him. Horner came into the attack and dispensed the other batsman, after getting some tap first, he uprooted legstump with a nice full length delivery with some inswinging shape. The fielding improved from a previously lethargic effort, with Horner stopping one behind point that sticks in my mind, and Cozzie doing some sterling work at mid on that I also remember for some odd reason. Will continued with some very nice lines, James carried on bowling the ball in a legal fashion, and the insane opening scoring rate got back to "vaguely sensible".

 

We were then treated to our first outstanding catch of the evening. The new batsman hit a lovely clip to deep midwicket, so good in fact that the assembled Stapleford supporters started clapping for a certain 4. Tyler had other ideas, skipping perfectly into position rapidly and keeping his eye on the ball, he demonstrated perfect technique, steadying himself and grasping at waist height. A top contribution. 

 

Jamer Horner extracted the next batsman first ball for a slightly odd wicket. Short, outside off, looking to be slapped, the batsman tried to do a pro glide shot to 3rd man, but just popped it to Morgan in gully. Morg's first contribution of the evening. James then rather ruined our otherwise competent fielding with a hilarious overthrow for 2, checking first that no one was backing up, before launching the ball towards the stumps, and missing obviously.

 

Will extracted the other batsperson, who had looked very technically good, with another legstump uprooter. He also managed to hit a batsman in the region which causes all men to both laugh and wince at the same time, causing him to retire hurt.

 

Horner then conceded the bowling attack to Morgan Yaxley and the fireworks began. With a deft display of control, Morgan bowled the best spell I have seen as a Jag. We've had Piers Morgan bowl really well; Steve Morgan bowl some mental spells in his David Beckham shirt; and we've had Jay Atkinson bowl insanely well as one of our best South African players; and then there was this. 4 convential overs, 7 runs, 5 wickets. Let that sink in.

 

Having the tricky task of facing a left hand and right hand combo, he maintained control, composure and an almost zen like calm. Bowling mainly full, sometimes good, and always threatening, he took out batsmen 6-10. The first was a good length ball in the channel outside off that was edged to Horner at gully, high in the air, an easy catch, which James made look anything but easy. The second was a catch for the ages, the batsman hitting it low to covers, where Will lurked. Will glided, and fell at the same time, his long limbs in perfect unison, clutching the ball just above the turf. James makes easy catches look tricky; Will make tricky catches look easy. Teamwork makes the dreamwork. I'll stop now.

Phillips held up the other end with some solid bowling all rounder stuff, such is his role in life nowadays. Morgan then bowled one top of middle, and Will held a much less dramatic, much more regulation, catch to get him to 4. History beckoned, albeit a tiny slice of history, but Jags history, so important to those who find themselves reading this blog.

 

Scoring had slowed incredibly at this point, and Matt did a fantastic legside stop that I can recall behind the stumps. The final over saw Morgan get the 5th with some pressure and a precision ball, full length, top of off to leave Stapleford all out at 125 with 2 balls to spare. We celebrated like it was New Years' eve in 2000 and everyone (*except Tyler) waited for Morgan to walk off with the match ball as both teams clapped with his parents looking on. It was a very nice moment, one of the things that makes me very happy to be organiser in chief of this ragtag crew.

Matt and Ant opened the batting, chasing a run a ball total, and decided that getting ahead of the rate was the best strategy for ensuring we got to the pub in time for pizza. Both hit some glorious shots, Matt was very ground based, hitting a lovely on drive and a lovely off drive that I can recall. Ant was very good as well, clubbing to the on side, moving his feet extremely well, and keeping ahead of Matt in the scoring. The running was great as well, I cannot recall a single chance being offered and Ant was particuarly good at running and rotating the strike. Those are words I genuinely never thought I would write in that order.

 

Ant even ran out of his wicket, having been briefly tied down for a couple of balls, to hit a single to the offside from the very good spinner they had. We all languidly enjoyed from the sidelines. They were 75-1 from 6, and we got to 77-0 from 6.

 

 If you know, you know

 

The serenity of the biggest opening partnership in Jags history had to end, and thus the spinner saw Ant depart for a very well crafted 38, a full and faster ball from the spinner didn't get up, and hit him plumb in front for LBW. Cozzie joined Matt, hit a nice boundary, and then swiped wildly at one that was not to be swiped at, seeing his stumps uprooted. George Anderson made his Jags debut, and hit a nice couple of offside 4's, and generated some odd controversy when he was given not out stumped, mainly as he hadn't left his crease, but the wicket keeper was very animated, as though some great cricketing injustice had just occurred. Not a single other soul appealed, so it was proper weird.

 

There was just enought time for Matt to get his second Jags 50 of the season, before we cantered to the total with the best part of 3 overs to spare.

On any other evening there would have been several man of the match candidates. Skip got a 50, Kingsmill got two wickets, an amazing catch, and crucially extracted the top Stapleford batsman. Tonight there was no vote necessary. Tonight belonged to Morgan.

Piers came Back!

Jags 141/6 (Coslett 33*, Piers Morgan 25*, James Barker 25*, Humby 3-13) beat Dobblers 129/6 (Callum 27*, Mitchell 19) by 12 runs

Man of the Match - James Barker

We had a blast from the past tonight, Piers Morgan has recently returned from the US, having lived there for 6 years, and living within an hour of the game he was able to make a fixture. Piers is a founder member of the Jags, scoring 25* and bowling 4 good overs in the first ever game back in 2011. He was a stalwart for many years and won at least two player of the season rewards that I can recall. Despite living in the US for 6 years, his ability to be ace at all sports continued in its normal vein tonight.

 The number 1 film on the day the Jags first played a game with Piers - yep, we're getting old.

Matt won the toss, opted to bat and told his team that he would be switching stuff up this evening, with lots of new bowlers and a changed batting order. Top Bantz skip. Opponents were our friends the Dobblers in the pleasing environs of Queens and we get about our work with the not at all tried and tested partnership of Will and Liam. Early bowling was tasty, and it was hard to score. Will and Liam hit some mega 4's before both eventually falling caught. Will for a sprightly 12 and Liam for a more anaemic 8.

Cozzie and Ant shared the middle for a bit. Tom, fresh off a Golden Duck earlier in the previous week looked a bit sketchy to start, but eventually started to find his range. Ant was straight into the attack, hitting some lovely 4's and looking for all the world as though he was going to set a scoring rate record for the Jags. Such was the aggression on display, he popped one up and was caught. Jags were scoring and getting out at quite a rate. T Bennett at the heady heights of 5 joined Cozzie for a while - a long while. 10 balls in fact. 9 of them he played the same shot to - swing with a cross bat outside off and hope it connects. It didn't. He did score 2, which meant he wasn't the lowest scorer this evening. Eventually a giant miscommunication saw Tyler run out - with Cozzie surviving on his way to a 25 not out retirement. 

Piers then strolled out and it was like he had never left. No helmet. He didn't take a guard. No matter, he still hit the ball. An all action display, rolling back the years and biffing, one over cow, one behind square and a funny one to deep midwicket where there was a fielder waiting, who ran all over the place, back and forth and round and round and then threw a token hand out to pretend he wanted to catch it. He didn't. He really didn't. Ably supported by Tom, it was nice to see, with Tom retiring shortly after Piers had biffed a couple. A well timed knock from Cozzie.

I walked out at 7, knowing full well what was coming. Honestly, you could put me down at 12 at the moment and I'd still somehow managed to get out in stupid fashion, and probably injure myself in the process. It's either a slump, a rut or my last few steps towards playing retirement at this stage. I turned down an easy 3 for Piers. I hit two dots, a dubious single, then stuck around just long enough to see Piers hit a 6 to finish, say hello to James Barker, and was then bowled by a full straight one that I didn't really try and do anything with. I don't know how I have offended thee cricket gods, but I will make sacrifices in your honour. The only notable thing about my innings was I didn't face a ball for 3 overs in the middle - so it was at least nice to remind myself what the middle looks like for a bit.

James Barker was joined by James Horner in a Team James reunion. Barker was playing like an absolute tyro, free footed and swinging well, not a false shot I can recall, a lovely off drive, a club over square, and the champion strike rate of the evening. His 13 ball 25 was all the more impressive given that the bowling stayed high quality throughout the innings and that Jags looked a little light on runs before he decided to get busy. He retired not out, Horner hit a nice 4 to the funny corner hedge in the ground that James Horner seems to like hitting it to, and was then run out. I cannot recall how. 

Parrish popped out at 11, true to his word of changing the order, and Jags looked ok, but 20 more runs would be good. Cozzie returned to action, and stole the strike from Parrish. We all thought this might be a bad decision, but Cozzie hit two 4's and coupled with Matt's 11 off 5 balls - it puts us at a possibly defensible 141.

Tyler opened the bowling for the Jags, and had the batsman out LBW first ball. Except he didn't as it wasn't given. So he repeated the trick second ball - full straight and leaving the umpire no choice two balls in a row. Liam started the other end and both proved hard to get away. As the batsmen were struggling to score, a few chancy singles were had - and Will then produced the outstanding piece of fielding of the evening - the batsman pushed one down to mid off, called and ran to the danger end. Will - sensing the non-striker had failed to heed the call quickly, target the batting end stumps rather than the easier bowler's end, and castled a direct hit run out. The batsman was not amused with his batting partner, but honestly if he'd taken the call he would likely have made it.

Barker twirled for a couple of overs, followed by Horner and Will (the economist of the evening). Horner saw one caught, Coslett ran out another out when a suicidal run out beckoned as the asking rate climbed. One batsman then had to retire hurt, as he'd pulled something. P Morgan then twirled the arm. He was rustier bowling than batting, but was still solid, and managed to extract the remaining opener with a delightful top of off jobbie. Ant snarled into the attack for a bit before Matt removed the gloves and gave them to him and beckoned Fardell and Cozzie to give it a twirl before Matt had a go. Tom's over was eventful, going for 9. Mine was easily the worst over of this, or any evening. 3 no balls (two head height and one a double bounce) and a missed run out opportunity saw it go for 12. It was definitely better than my batting though, such it is the state of the nation at the moment. Tyler even decided to try and bait me mid over about how bad my bowling is - in a sure sign that he has not really mastered comic timing yet.

Ant did ok behind the stumps, a position which requires economy of movement, and Ant certainly has that. Matt bowled a couple of medium/spin overs which were actually perfectly respectable, before Tyler saw things off at the end with the Dobbs getting close, but not quite.

In a sign of how my personal cricket evenings are going despite everyone else having fun, the Dobblers actually stole my pizza at the pub, and with the kitchen closed, that was it for my evening. I will put it down to a misunderstanding over how generous I can be.

It's still very enjoyable, watching Piers in full flow, J Barker batting like a demon, seeing some of the variable bowling in our team, and another spiffing direct hit run out - it is a shame the cricket season is so short.