Jags put new Threads to good Use

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.

Jags in a League of their Own against Cambourne

Jags 172 - 4 (Parrish 56, Phillips 52*, Threadgold 23*, Humphreys 2-18) beat Cambourne Midweek Bombers 94-8 (Zacharia 22, Thompson 18, Alfeldi 3-18) by 78 Runs

Man of the Match - Adam Phillips

Organising midweek cricket involves a combination of: administrative skills; some ability to influence your fellow man to want to play cricket; dealing with finances; insurance; league administration; website managment; writing match reports; finding players out of thin air at the last minute; talking to opposition Captains; and dealing with groundsmen who are prone to cancelling games based on weather forecast, current weather conditions, or just because they don't want to get the mower out. 

On this day, the weather forecast was grim and it rained most of the day, but the groundsman at the CASS centre, after some discussion, was amenable to allowing us to play, and I was confident we could play what would turn out to be our first ever game of actual league competitive cricket, 11 years after we were founded. 

However, when the weather forecast looks even slightly suspect, as the organiser you get a full on boat load of emails, text messages or even phonecalls from team members, fans, opposition captains etc all day, normally whilst you are trying to hold down a semi-respectable job - asking, "is the game on", "surely it has been cancelled", "I'm not going to come just in case it is cancelled" and the like. I've had this for years and years and it still amazes me that people do it - the rules are and have always been - the game is on, until it is cancelled. It is cancelled when I say it is cancelled. Not before. Not by anyone else. If you see sheet lightning in Ely, if the dykes have burst their banks in Wisbech and if a cow swims past your house in Milton - the game is still on until I tell you it is not on.

This week, I had a slightly new variant on this theme. Jag Tyler Bennett told the group that it is not going to stop raining until 6 (start time) and then for good measure he sent me, just me, a video from the window of his house showing it raining in his garden at about 3:30. T - see above, the game is on, until I tell you it is not. I don't care if it is raining in your garden: we're not playing in your garden.

This week we had to contend with our first ever league fixture, in the Business House League Division 2 against Cambourne, and the late loss of Ant. We welcomed Histon friend Kristikan Alfeldi into the fold in his stead - and having a South African accent, we thought he might be good. He could of course be one of the 3 or 4 South Africans in the entire world who is not good at sport, but the odds were ever in our favour. Matt was late so I did the toss and won, hoorah, opting to bat (the only ever sensible decision). The opposition skipper was quite excited at this, declaring on returning to his team - "good toss to lose, chaps, we're bowling" and they actually cheered. What is that all about?! New rules for league, free hits, no retirements for batsmen, and an increased level of seriousness. We also only had 10 players. Thanks Ant.

Parrish and Barker opened the batting. Barker is well known to Cambourne as he turns out for them and I think might live there, so they gave him plenty of good natured ribbing. It had stopped raining when we started, but quickly started drizzling and was soon quite possibly chucking it down. Parrish initially found scoring tricky, with the opening bowler putting in a peach of a first over and rain obscuring his view. Matt found the second bowler more to his liking, and spanked a huge 6 on his way to a rapid fire start for the Jags in this 15-8 format game. Barker kept ticking over, gently, but we had to come off a couple of overs in for rain. We then agreed to go back out despite the rain being essentially the same.

Roughly how it looked at this point

Barker was finding scoring tough, Matt less so, enjoying his not having to retire on 25 he biffed the ball to all corners, lots of back foot gusto and wallops and general fun times were being had. The second bowler was taken to the cleaners, going for 44 off his 3 overs. Sadly he managed to tempt Barker, James closed the face and was caught to short square. Horner joined the Parrish biffing session, and scoring was coming openly and cleanly - with Matt still doing most of it in quite brutish fashion. He eventually fell just past 50, one biff too many going high to deep backward square. Almost as soon as he was out, it decided to stop raining - Parrish had clearly brought the storm with him.

Fardell briefly joined Horner, scored a couple and was bowled playing round a straight one. Phillips then walked out - and having seen Parrish thought, that'll do pig. Seeing the ball from the off, he played out a couple of nice actual genuine defensive shots, and once he had his eye in, was lashing the ball all over the shop. Phillips this season is a man reborn, having been the wrong side of shite for us in previous seasons, but ever present (which is something), he seems to have discovered how to make the wood and the ball connect in quite miraculous fashion this year.

Horner fell caught and Threadgold Jr ambled out to the crease. Phillips and Threadgold were dressed for the dark, damp cold weather we had experienced up to this point, so of course the clouds opened and sunshine magically appeared. Phillips removed his jumper and Threadgold just looked roasting throughout, beads of sweat accumulating in his helmet. Ripe. 

Both ran well, and hit some nice shots, I recall very few dots at this point, and a fair few 2's and boundaries. We also had the fun of a couple of free hits for height based no balls - a novelty for us it must be said and one where we don't entirely know the rules other than - if you're the umpire, swing your arm in the air in a circle and say "Free Hit". The weather meant the pitch was cutting up badly and bowlers were struggling to find their footing a little.

Threadhold Sr playing for Cottenham also kindly misfielded a shot from his son to allow him to get off the mark, which was very nice of him. Cambourne fought hard but could do nothing to arrest the scoring with the Jags getting to a whopping 172 at innings close. If we can't defend that, then we may as well switch to morris dancing.

Our new kit if we lost from this point (Spoiler, we didn't lose)

Brett opened from one end and Bennett from the other. The track was a bit sodden, the sun was helping but bowlers finding their stride was tricky. One Cambourne batsman, none other than Mr Threadgold Sr was getting the rough treatment from both bowlers, and was mainly running for his partner as he survived until the 5th over or so without scoring. Brett was generally quite on the money, but with the odd wide - demonstrating that in league cricket, even the friendly umpires take it all very seriously. He also enticed an edge from a brutishly fast ball that flew through the 1st slip region where Ant would have been stationed if he'd have turned up.

Bennett was bowling nicely, but one opener managed to play some quite immaculate square shots to score some boundaries. Chasing in the field was good, and Will had kindly turned out to play us despite not having finished the full course of physio he needs to bowl yet. 

Scoring was slow, and with a mammoth total, something had to give as the batsmen pushed hard to make runs when boundaries were at a premium. Brett bowled one that was tickled round fine leg, the batsmen eager to get a 2 dared to take on Tyler the Tyro. He swooped in the field, put a pinpoint throw over the top of the stumps and left Parrish with the easiest of tasks to dislodge the bails. It was a quite phenomenal piece of fielding. Cambourne gently accumulated some runs, but were far behind the rate at this point.

The next wicket fell soon and was quite amazing as well. Tyler trotted in to bowl his second over to the standout Cambourne bowler (Humphreys, although most of their bowling was good in fairness). He pressed to the covers and started running for the single, stopped, and Kristijan summoned his inner Jonty Rhodes to throw down the stumps with a direct hit, leaving the batsman well out.

Bennett held one of his 3 overs back in the tank for the death, should it be needed and Kristijan was sent in to show us if Saffers can bowl as well. They can. His first ball was an absolute peach, good length, pitch on off and moving slightly back in to middle, removing the beaten and bruised Mr Threadgold Sr. He then bowled a few lovely balls, before removing another, this time top of off, on off and held the line. Some good fielding here by Tyler, Liam and even Phillips I can recall - although his tiny T-rex hands means he should never be stationed deep in the field.

Phillips' new club shirt Design

Horner came in for a cheeky bowl, and one of the batsmen took a bit of a shine to him, hitting 6's and 4's over the short square leg boundary. It mattered not as the game was long gone at this point really. Horner eventually got his revenge on the biffer, removing him bowled. One Cambourne batsman put up some brief resistance, scoring in a variety of places, before pushing hard at one from Kristijan and the ball plopped up high to Mr Threadgold Jr at mid off.

The umpire said to me at this point that we should bring some spin bowlers on - I simply said we had none - and he pulled a bit of a face. I don't know what to say chap, if we could recruit some bowlers, we would.

This brought the modestly sized Cambourne wicket keeper to the crease, and Phillips and Barker were our change bowling pair. Phillips' first over featured some variation, which clearly unsettled the batsman as he pushed at the fifth one and saw himself caught and bowled. By Phillips. Adam. Phillips. He threw the ball high in the air with a look of delight on his face, convincing no one that he did things like this every single game. 

Barker bowled at the Cambourne keeper, and after getting the better of him, he saw Will take a catch at mid on. This prompted a large shout from the balcony of, "he's only 12 you bastard". Laughs all round. The rest of the innings proceeded with little to note, the game long since lost. The only point to highlight was that Tyler was desperate to return and get a wicket, I think he has an eye on the end of season stats, and he got his wish, bowling to the numbers 9 and 10. The number 10 popped the last ball of the innings ever so high and gently to Liam at backward point, where he shelled an absolute dolly. We all laughed, except Tyler. Liam owes him a beer, when he is old enough to legally be bought one.

Our first league game, a strong win and lots of contributions. Phillips pips the man of the match award for a 50 not out and a wicket, and making us all laugh with his hilarious throwing. I was also most pleased we stayed the course on this one - we could have cancelled owing to weather, but we didn't and it was a good evening in the end, even if we did play in sub-optimal conditions.

The CASS centre has improved in recent years. I remember playing there 10 years ago and it was an utter dirge of a pitch, a nice pavilion, but not fit for cricket at all. It seems to have bedded in nicely now, and we all enjoyed a refreshing beverage on the balcony overlooking the scene of our first league triumph.

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