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.