Jagex v Mills & Reeve - Cancelled

We lost this one to the weather, again. It seems to be the cursed fixture for us, as we last played Mills & Reeve when first scheduled in 2011.

It might have looked like this.

Jagex Taken Back to the Old Skool

The Leys School (145-6, W Earl 30*, S. We 29, P White 25, Morgan 32-2) beat Jagex 123 (Brett 42, McClarty 16, Coe 18-3) by 22 Runs

Jagex lost in a pleasant pre-season friendly in the pleasing environs of The Leys School. The game looked all but certain to be called off with the weather on the day, but the school runs a tight ship, and use professional quality covers to keep the square in top condition. It was very kind of the school to host us on this occasion, and this is a virgin fixture for us - having never played against them before or at this lovely historic school in the heart of Cambridge. Imagine if you will, an immaculate square, a gloriously maintained outfield, all surrounded by the imposing red brick facade of a Victorian style school on a sunny May evening.

Jagex opened the bowling and got off to a cracking start. Gibbins (or Gibbons as the scorebook has chosen to label him) managed to extract one opener clean bowled, with a decent one that turned and took off stump. In truth I felt for the batsman, as it bordered on the unplayable. Gibbins bowled decent lines for his 2 over spell, and was hard to get off the square.

Parish (or Churchy as we are calling him) started with a faster skiddy spell from the other end, and was rewarded early with an LBW, one that kept low and was certain to demolish the stumps. The remainder of his spell was tight, although his pace did mean that any hint of width was at risk. Two wickets in the first two overs, and Jagex were buzzing.

The Leys School then really knuckled down for the third wicket, and Earl and Coe played some really quite lovely stuff to get Leys back on track. I remember a genuine late cut from Coe and a couple of lovely pulls behind square from Earl - who honestly looked a class apart in his batting. There were some unfortunate shelled catches which might have made the difference. Piers Morgan dropped a really tough chance, a steepler which caught snow on its way down. I dropped a much easier one from his bowling at mid-off.

At some point Morgan bowled another over, and McClarty took a great catch on the run to offer him a wicket. Jamy was wicket keeping, and went he wasn't chirping, he did a very good job of keep the extras down to a minimum, with his new shiny Kookaburra gloves on display. He did forget to the take the field with his wicket keeping pads though...

The opener retired on 30 to warm applause, and whilst the scorebook is a total mess, it looks like Morgan ended up with 2 wickets. Cooper bowled a cheeky, rusty little over, before Brett tied up one end and Fardell tied up the other. At this point, I have no statistics for you whatsoever on Brett's bowling as the score book has all-sorts of excitement in it, but doesn't afford any clarity to the statisticians amongst us. He bowled a good spell, suffice to say, and some things happened, that probably didn't involve wickets. Probably.

At this point, a few hundred kids wandered out from recess at the school and sat around watching the cricket. In all honesty, they really supported their teachers - something you wouldn't have seen at my school. We've never had such a crowd in any form of the game, least of all a hostile one (although hostile perhaps isn't the right word - biased ).

Fardell managed to bowl one batsman with a top of off stump line. He then tied up the school headmaster at the crease for a few balls, before his last ball of the over was thoroughly biffed to the boundary, with enthusiastic cheers from all the assembled schoolchildren. Morgan extracted another wicket, somehow (score book), and bowled a beautiful death over which, forced a late run out from a suicidal call.

Only other points of note were Churchy coming back for a tight last over, Lee Maplesden on debut using his football skills in the field, and Cooper and French in some of the less glamorous fielding positions. The Leys finished on 145, and it felt like they had exceeded the par on a tricky wicket.

Fardell and Morgan opened, and the Leys bowler sported a rather interesting haircut - with his hair tied tightly in a scrunchie above his head, leading to some very confusing side-to-side flopping of his hair when he ran into bowl. Fardell played a four, then a 2, a couple of dots, and then holed out to deep mid-wicket/forward square. Not really what you want from an opener.

This brought Parish/Churchy to the crease, and he sadly perished first ball to an absolute pearler of legspin. The Jagex innings hadn't exactly got going, and even Morgan looked scratchy. Then Brett came to the crease, and spent the evening showing just about all and sundry how it is done. He had Morgan for company for a bit, before he perished caught trying to hit the ball over the tallest fielder the Leys had. Brett then had McClarty for company for a period.

In truth he had to deal with some incredible variation from one of their bowlers, with yorkers, interspersed with head height no balls and wides that didn't manage to touch the strip. He also knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that no fielders were dropping any catches tonight, so the aerial route was risky.

Brett retired on short order for 30, to warm applause, hitting a couple of lovely 4's. French and McClarty then did a firm job of stabilising the innings, with McClarty scoring behind square quite a lot, and French turning over the strike where possible. French hit some lovely defensive strokes to some of the better balls in the innings, eventually falling bowled. 

McClarty managed to defy the laws of physics, cricket and common sense, by using his box (assuming he had one in) to gently tip the ball over the top of the bails - by about an inch. In truth, everyone was so shocked at what they had just seen, that no-one appealed for the absolute dead certain LBW. He eventually fell caught, after chipping in with a useful little 16.

Jamy came in for a spell, but was sadly bowled off his pads without getting going. This brought Lee to the crease on batting debut. He chipped in with a useful 5, and contributed some enthusiastic running between the wickets, before falling bowled. We were then treated to the sight of a Gibbins duck, going big no less.

The failing May evening light saw the introduction of the pink ball. Cooper was in for a spell, and was joined by the returning Brett. Brett hit a magnificent six, and Cooper helped rotate the strike nicely. There was a small possibility of the game being won in the final over, but it would have required something really special. Sadly a little mix-up saw Brett run out pushing for 2. He finished on 42, with Jagex all out for 123.

Everyone retired to the Panton afterwards (sadly the school doesn't seem to have a bar), for nibbles and drinks.

A respectable pre-season friendly. We're grateful to the Leys School for kindly hosting us in a good tempered and enjoyable game, made all the better for the introduction of a crowd.

If we’d held a couple of the catches that were shelled, and got off to a slightly brighter start, I think we would have had the better of that time. Likewise, if my aunt was called Steve, she’d be my uncle.

Still, a good all round performance, with everyone involved at some stage. It’s also the first game I’ve ever turned up to where we were joined by a blind dog in the pub afterwards.

Chicken Skewers are Back!

Last year the fine staff at the Jagex canteen catered for our cricket team. To some of us, in fact most of us, this was the highlight of the season.

I can now confirm, gleefully, that chicken skewers are back this year. They might look a little like this.

Nazi Cricket

I was passed this rather wonderful piece by one of our team - a recent article on BBC News chronicling a Worcestershire Gentleman's Team visiting Berlin in 1937 to play 3 fixtures organised by the Nazi Party hierarchy.

I won't try and comment too much as I think the article stands wonderfully on its own merits - suffice to say it's quite an interesting story. Perhaps the most interesting aspect is that Germany, Germany, had a cricket team.

Also, a great postscript - apparently the German team captain punched members of his own team if they dropped catches when he was bowling. Perhaps I should learn a lesson there.

It could be worse, we could be these guys...

No matter how things go for us, it could be worse, we could be these guys.

All XI players were bowled out for 3 in a senior match. Worse still, 2 of the runs were leg byes, and the only one from the willow was scored by the number XI batsman.

Fair play to them though, taking it on the chin. Cricket can just be like this sometimes.

I'm glad to see that they are enjoying their new found fame - with reports as far afield as Australia celebrating the achievement.

Jagex CC - Start of Season - 2014

Another year, another season for Jagex CC. The sunshine has started to peak through the clouds, the IPL is in full swing, and we've just completed 10 full weeks of nets, so we're raring to go for our fourth season of Jagex CC 20/20 evening cricket.

Jagex is a computer games company based in Cambridge, UK. We are a friendly bunch around the office and accordingly we have a number of social sports teams. The cricket club is one such enterprise. We play 20/20 evening cricket against a number of local businesses and do our best to chronicle the highs and lows of the season with photos and this blog.

We're very much a social cricketing team - with an emphasis on sportsmanship, sledging and beer drinking - as opposed to say, you know, being actually good at sport.

Sadly we've lost some former stalwarts in between the end of the 2013 season and the start of 2014.

Love Verma is no longer on these fair shores - having gone back home to India. We will miss his lightning quick, skiddy, bowling and innovative batting technique.

Simon "Milky Au" Lait has departed Jagex for some other enterprise in a nearby village or hamlet. His fast bowling will be missed by all - although our wicket-keeper and the wide column in the scorebook may both see less action than before.

Kris Jones, the man with the most vociferous "NO!" at the crease has moved all of 100 yards away to work for another business in the sunny environs of the science park. 

Everyone else is present and correct, and we've acquired Mr Matt Parish, as a new recruit - very much in the Piers Morgan mould. Also, Lee Maplesden has crossed codes, moving over to join the cricket team for his first season, whilst also remaining a fairly decent footballer.

12 fixtures are ahead of us, which will no doubt be punctuated by a start of season curry, a mid season curry, and the all important end of season curry. So, without further ado, watch this space for updates.

Cricket Season Ends, Football Season Begins

With that, the cricket season is at an end.

If you'd like to follow Jagex FC playing the altogether more ungentlemanly sport of kickball/football/soccer - check out our latest blog here.

That's all folks!