Swaffham Showdown

Jags (102-9, Barker 31, Parrish 29, Wade-Gledhill 3-20) beat The Swaffhams (90-9, Masters 22, Yaxley 3-21) by 12 runs.

Man of the Match: 

The Jags continued their league campaign this week with a visit to the quaint village of Swaffham. The appearance of the pitch encouraged the batters initially, though rain earlier in the week brought the bowlers to ascendancy for much of the game. The team featured many of the usual suspects, with the last-minute addition of Freddie Meldal another of the Histon CC youth contingent in for a Jags debut in the place of Fardell, who it seams had made some ill-advised selection of chicken shops earlier the weekthat had brought him down with gastrointestinal issues, our thoughts are with your bathroom Mark!

Parrish lost the toss with the hosts electing to field first. Normality returned to the batting order this week, Parrish and Brolia to open up, aiming to get the Jags away to a good start. Matt got the innings off in traditional style, latching on to a full toss first up, sending it to the ropes. The batters were dreaming of what was to come for the rest of the day.

Unfortunately, the wicket began to show demons from the second over, a genuine half-tracker first up from Durrant did for Ant, who played the correct shot for any wicket with an inch of bounce in it.

Threadgold escaped parenting to come in at 3, along with Matt, they sent several loose balls to the fence. Dan fell to a top edge to square leg bringing Phillips in at 4. Ant (scoring at this point) assured the group that he would ‘film every ball because somethings going to happen’. Which he did for every delivery except the one where something happened, with Phillips dismissed. Citing a bloke reading a book as a distraction that led to his dismissal.

Coslett’s innings was alas short lived a rare slip catch in midweek cricket was well taken. Matt needed a partner to hang around on a wicket which had plenty going on. Barker, free of the constraints of A levels came in to face the hat trick ball. With no further damage done the Jags batters settled in to rebuild the innings, knowing that anything around the hundred mark would put us in good shape for the second innings.

It took a fantastically village bit of cricket to dismiss the captain, an outside edge was found, the ball goes in and out of the keeper’s gloves, dropping straight into the left hand of the slip fielder. Meldal in next, took his time to stay in, supporting Barker and accumulating valuable extras for the total. Wickets continued to fall, those of us fortunate enough to be batting in the lower order began to sit a little less comfortably.

As he began to run out of partners, Barker opened his arms to good effect, hitting 6 then 4 off Swaffham’s young bowler. He eventually fell in the final over, chasing quick runs. There was little to write home about from the lower order, the Jags finishing on a par total of 102. 

A quick turnaround is always important in an evening game, even if we were playing on the solstice. It wasn’t long before Liam had the ‘new’ pink ball in hand. The Jags were faced with the unenviable task of a right – left opening partnership, making Matt’s captaincy work extra hard. As ever, Liam bowled with metronomic accuracy up top. Alas the same could not be said from the other end. Savage struggled to find an area and was hit all around the ground, hence the swift introduction of Jake who hit the ground running far better. 

Brett made the first breakthrough; a healthy edge was comfortably taken by Matt behind the sticks. Despite Swaffham making a good dent in the total at first, the Jags recovered well, slowing the rate. Jake took the big wicket of Jordan Haynes, Cossie taking a comfortable catch at mid-on.

With wickets falling around him, the Swaffham opener returned to his shell, only depriving Liam of an eight-ball maiden with a single from the final ball. The Jags bowled well to recover control of the scoring rate through the middle overs. Morgan, also free of exams replaced Liam and took the significant wicket of the Swaffham opener, Yaxley making good use of the zing bails to send the batter packing. Savage returned to the attack aiming to recover his figures from dire to bad. The combination of the bowlers restricted scoring to make the batters take some undue risks.

A questionable single was taken to backward point. In a quick sweeping action, Jake scooped up the ball and threw the stumps down, the batter kept running to the pavilion despite some indecisive umpiring, the correct decision was made. Utter chaos then ensued when the new batter came to the crease. A short ball, wide of the stumps was hit via an under edge in the direction of Barker at square leg. As time stood still, Alan Shearer appeared before us all as his great right boot half volleyed the ball into the back of the net. The batter was unfortunate to be on his way without facing, the square leg umpire, with beer in hand, could only chuckle as he lifted the finger.

From there in, the jags bowled fairly effectively, Savage was hit into the play park to cap off a fairly dire night for him. Morgan continued to take wickets from the other end, one was bowled, the other well taken by Liam at long on.

Freddie was brought on to complete the requirement of 5 bowlers, and bowled well, claiming a wicket and keeping the batters to ones and twos. The last over arrived, Jake was left with 15 runs to play with, effective dot ball pressure led to an easy run out for Parrish, capping off another fine day for him behind the stumps. A great effort from Jake, conceding only 2 from the final set. A fairly solid win from the jags on a soft wicket saw them move to the top of the league table. Edging perilously close to promotion.

Pub turnout was excellent, all the members were treated well thanks to the landlady’s generosity in providing free chips. A string of home games in the weeks to come should see some higher scoring games.

Ploughing the Slope

Jags 132-0 (Brolia 28*, Threadgold 28*, Anderson 28*, Sawyer 26*) beat Sharks 130-6 (Rob 26*, Ackers 26*, Brett 3-13) by 10 wickets

This match report is written with both the benefit and the fog of a week having passed since the game was played. There may be some details forgotten, made up or enhanced for dramatic effect as a result.

We took to Fen Ditton's slopey fields in nice weather against old foes the Sharks. The Ditton track looked much better than I ever remember it looking, but the slope and the ability to lose bags of cricket balls to the Plough in Fen Ditton is, well, it's a bit of a design flaw really isn't it. The slope, granted you 'can' pretend it's like Lords and just accept it as being home team advantage. The lack of a fence, or net or well, you know anything really to stop you losing cricket balls is, well, it feels like an underinvestment from the good people in Fen Ditton. Looking at house prices there, perhaps they have no spare cash to help fund the club.

This match was something of a one sided affair, and the scorebook tells the same story, but lots of things happened that almost made it close, so I will write more anon. In the meantime this was the best ironic graphic I could come up with.

It really really wasn't this, many people did not good things on the field

The skipper was late and I was left with the coin tossing duty, and duly lost so the Sharks put themselves in to bat. Zak and AB opened for them, with Brett and Benjamin Savage taking bowling duties. Liam is on one at the moment, and thus it continued with near immaculate control and line and length making it hard as nails to score or survive. He was aided by a Reader I bought from MR Cricket, which still got the customary guffaws and laughter from the team. The issue with Liam bowling as well as this, is that whoever is bowling the other end, well they're not going to try and take Liam on, let's put it that way, hence Savage getting whacked for a few, before AB trying to go "downtown" and instead went "uptown" skying it high and deep. Threadgold made it look as though it was swirling, shifting and landing safely, itching back and forth like a man with a nasty rash, before eventually he caught it over his shoulder. I honestly didn't think from the way he moved a catch was ever in prospect until he held it. He even letter out funny "oo-eer" noise whilst trying to find the ball.

Rob stepped out for the Sharks, and he is both a gentleman and class act, playing himself in with some technically correct shots, perhaps sensing that his wicket would be very valuable to keep in the context of the narrative about to unfold. Zak perished shortly thereafter thinly edging from Liam to Matt behind the stumps, generously walking without pause. Jim walked out, a man who has devastated our bowling over the years, but not tonight. He was caught in two minds and gently pushed his first ball high to backward point, where George took an easy chance. Pat joined the fray, a man who has destroyed our bowling over the years with golf/hockey shots that are perfectly effective. I think he kept one out then edged one law, again to George at backward point, where George nonchalantly took it just above the turf with one hand, right at the last possible second. Like one handed grabs with your left hand are just a "thing".

George's actual pose a second before taking the catch

Marc came out for the Sharks and he and Rob set about keeping the game alive by, mostly, doing the sensible thing and not getting out to Liam. Jags debutant, and our first Saffer in a long long time, Chris Mailes, came in to bowl. He was little wayward at first but found his lines. Toby joined him and was a little wayward at first, then got a little bit more wayward later, but it was fine as we'd had the most ridiculous start. Liam had a 3 wicket maiden for chuffs sake.

Then something happened to our collective brains. I think the flurry of 4 big wickets inside of 5 overs, the very low score, (I think they were 3-4 at one point or something equally befuddling) and the allure of the wonderful Plough in Fen Ditton meant we collectively made a decision to field like a bunch of muppets. 

Next year's recruits turning up for training

I started things off by falling over a ball at backward square. Threadgold decided that backing up is for other people. I dived round a ball, which the laws of physics don't really allow, but somehow I managed it, and Savage dropped a real sitter. There were lots of other instances, but it's been a week and I'm trying to erase the trauma. 

To further up the scoring rate for the opposition, we decided to give Ant a go at bowling. Ant's numbers in the book are good. To watch in real life, it was not good. His first ball almost killed the batsman, Ant actually apologised within a nanosecond of it leaving his hand. His other balls should mostly have been called no balls, or wides, or just a new rule called "Ant". He was proud of his figures, he should not be proud of the highlights reel.

The batsmen accumulated gently, with Rob hitting some very nice shots to both off and legside, playing it late, good foot movement. He had clearly sensed his role and formed a useful partnership with Marc to get Sharks into scoring territory. Toby had been a bit wayward, but his wicket ball was one of the best I've seen bowled from a spinner - great length, faster that it looks, turning in and connecting with the top of off. Marc was sent back, but in truth there was little he could have done.

Sawyer then came in as, "he had bowled well before", but not this week. No sirree bob. The batsmen duly cashed in, and the only high point reached at this stage of the game was height the ball was sailing past the fielders as the length, line, pitch and everything was a total and utter mess. He wasn't aided by the fielders of course. 

Rob the batsman duly retired and Ackers and Joe scored some runs quite comfortably against some of our bowlers. Things were very flat in the field, with the Sharks getting a decent ish total on the board. Ackers retired, various Jags tried to shout at or encourage each other to some cricketing things, and the incoming batsman Ammad took a very open stance and massive shine to Sawyer's absolute crud stuff and bludgeoned him to all corners.

Ant was replaced by Phillips, and he bowled not too bad, although a run out was missed because I embraced the spirit of the evening and decided to try and lawn bowl the batsman out. If it had hit the stumps, maybe it would have been hailed as genius. Dear Reader, it didn't hit the stumps. It was both not in line with the stumps and not quite powerful enough to either reach them or dislodge the bails had it been in line.

Now's your chance to be a hero, Marky, don't blow it...

The free hitting Amman was caught by Chris Mailes off Phillips and Brett came back to finish things. He had some insane figures at this point, and was bowling at a young tail ender, so much so that the Sharks umpires said please be nice. We're always nice. 

Liam duly obliged by giving the young man a couple of sighters outside off. Deliberately bowling a fine edge for him, and then putting a few unplayable ones outside off, pretty much ruining his figures in the process, or so he told me. Except when I look at the book, 4 overs, 13 runs, 3 wickets. Not too shabby. 130-6 to chase. 

A slightly changed opening batting partnership of Ant and Sawyer took about their work with a minimum of fuss, aided by some fairly friendly bowling it must be said. Ant in particular was in a hurry to get to Milton - no rollicking in the field for him on video chat with his lady this week - he absolutely spanked the ball, pretty much entirely to the legside to get out of their on 28* sharpish. The book doesn't record the number of balls, but it was not a lot. One clip to square off his toes was dreamy. He basically cantered off the field, said his goodbyes on the way to the car and got the second part of his evening underway quick sharp. I won't write any details about his post cricket activities here in case this blog is being carefully followed by law enforcement.

Sawyer was a touch more reserved, joined now by Dan. Both got going, Sawyer with a nice late cut and Dan with a club/bludgeon to midwicket that I can recall. The only moment of alarm was when Sawyer hit the ground with his bat nowhere near the ball and I as umpire briefly forgot the rules of cricket on hearing an appeal from the keeper, and debated giving him out - until I came to my senses and realised that he needed to hit the ball to be caught out. 

Sawyer started to look classy, and Dan was scoring without ever really looking like he had a clue what he was doing, but there were no caught chances, no slowing of the rate and nothing really of note apart from some memorable shots. The bowling was tame, other than AB who was tight and controlled.

How the bowling was V How it is supposed to be

Sawyer finished with a square cut that oozed class and a beastly pull that exuded power. Job done. George came in and quickly got up to pace, hitting a couple of 4's supported by Dan who hit a couple of nice late blows to retire. George was joined by Liam and George hit some wonderful shots, less casual with bat than when fielding but no less effective with a hook that I can recall just flying away. We lost 5 or 6 balls at the end, as the Plough boundary was peppered every other ball. George retired with a drive, leaving Liam and Toby to bring it home. Oddly the first two balls Toby faced were great, spice and venom and all that, but it was too late and we got where we needed to be.

Pub attendance and chat was great, I do love the Plough.

The Home of Cricket

Jags 163-5 (Dunn 62*, Brolia 38, Parrish 28, Panigrahi 2-17, Rodriguez 2-21) beat Waterbeach 123-7 (Jones 41, Talaga 27, Sawyer 3-26) by 40 runs.

POTM- Alex Dunn

On a sunny yet cool June evening, the Jags returned to Queens for the first home game of the year. Several absentees this week meant that the XI was supplemented with one of Histon’s most premier batters, Alex Dunn alongside much of the usual group of regulars. Mr Fardell had decided that some match at Lords was more significant than this business house 2 league game, so in his absence I, Savage, have taken honorary blog responsibilities.

We arrived to find the ground in as beautiful condition as ever, the chequered striped outfield was remarked upon most frequently by the team. Regular readers of the blog will recall the dire condition of the opposition’s, Waterbeach, ground in the reverse fixture last year. We were all thankful for the more even condition of the pitch for this year’s game.

Captain fantastic won the toss (after a 5 min hunt for a coin) and elected to make first use of the pitch with bat in hand. The seasoned opening partnership of Parrish and Brolia (our resident footgolf world cup finalist) set out to the middle to face the Waterbeach attack. Not for the first time this year, we were off the mark from the first delivery, a waist high no ball dutifully pulled away by Matt for 4.

The bowling was accurate, without being initially potent, allowing Matt to keep the scoreboard ticking, while Ant reacclimatised to sport on this side of the pond. Parrish continued to score the bulk of the runs, with many 2’s scored to the wide Queens boundaries. When Parish eventually fell for a well-made 28 to a good catch in the covers, the score was 36-1 (5) – a solid start. Dunny entered the fray at number 3, fresh off a cracking 50 in the Walker cup on Sunday. He began his innings patiently, with beautiful front foot defensives, right out of the ECB coaching manual. With the new batter in, Ant capitalised on some loose bowling to advance his total with 3X4’s in quick succession. The score moving on to 73-1 at the halfway point of our 20 over innings.

The first change bowler particularly caught the attention of the team, being identified as Lumber of Cottenham CC. Fortunately he was met with Dunny’s now swinging blade, who played 2 beautiful consecutive drives down the ground for maximums.

It took a beautiful looping full toss to remove Ant, who was bowled for a swashbuckling 38(26). Phillips strode out to the middle at number 4, his stay was alas short lived before he fell in the same over to a now well pumped-up Rodriguez. Barker entered the fray and got his innings underway with 1’s and 2’s into the gaps. Dunny was rolling now, having made short work of the 30’s and 40’s, he made it to 50 with a shot over midwicket for 4. Well batted sir.

In the meantime, Ant had caught his breath following his exploits with bat in hand enough to form a love shack facetime call with his +1. A touching moment, that he chose to share while lying in a bush.

The last over of the innings arrived and brought the end of Barker’s supportive innings of 11. Coslett had the unenviable job of swinging for the last 5 balls. He was very successful in this, finding open pasture on the leg side, pushing back for the third to get Dunny on strike, he was alas run out thanks to a strong return from the deep. Sawyer entered the middle to run 5 runs and not face a ball. Jags finished on a strong 163-5, knowing that early wickets would surely make the run rate unachievable.

Brett began the innings with usual economical accuracy. With the batter unsettled, a quick leg bye was attempted. The skipper bounded forwards ripped off a glove and threw down the stumps. The batter was well short at the non-strikers and their opener was back in the shed without score. 

Tyler opened from the other end but was treated firmly by Lumber. Dot balls at the other batter ensured that the required run rate continued to add up. Liam’s metronomic accuracy allowed the batters only to milk singles to the deep, the rate was soon getting away from the chasing team. Toby replaced Tyler only to be slogged away to cow for a maximum first ball. Not to worry, T made the adjustment, flighted the ball up and got the batter down the track to be stumped comfortably by Matt.

At this point Lumber was starting to find his stride, finding the long Queens boundary with ease. Despite this, Brett came back on for his third over with a gleam of hope in his eyes. A secret council with Barker at mid-on and an apparent “wobble seam” now in his locker led to back-to-back rising deliveries to start the over. Fans watching from the Barton Road end would have seen Brett’s grin and resolute nod as he moved to the top of his run out. Lumber had played at two and missed two. The pieces were in place. We all knew what was coming. It was time for The Cutter™.

The run up was smooth and fluid, the arm slightly higher than his stock ball, delivered from a few inches wider on the crease. His fingers expertly manipulated the seam, imparting revolutions at speeds few can achieve. The lure was cast, and the fish were hungry. Lumber took a step down the pitch, seeing the ball was there to be hit. A shock of fear across his face as the ball dipped early, then cut up and in with perfect precision. All he could do was try to work it through midwicket off the splice. 

Time stopped. The most dangerous player on the team had chipped one up for a sitter. The Jags followed the ball without concern - the celebrations had already begun in our heads. The fielder stood motionless. What was he doing? Brett dropped to his knees. The writing was on the wall. The ball was on the floor. Queens went silent.

“Oh you fu… Phillips”, said Liam. Defeat in his voice.

No other words were spoken, the ball returned to the bowler. Both the non-striker and the umpire gave an apologetic shake of the head as Brett passed them by, the gleam of hope replaced by a grim look of acceptance of the reality he is now forced to face. His next ball was pumped for 4. I hope he doesn’t hold grudges.

Savage was introduced following the conclusion of Liam’s spell, bowling without great pace, drew dots and singles from good balls. The occasional shorter ball was sent to the boundary by the opposition’s strong number 3. A particularly tight single to Dunny at point resulted in the next wicket for the jags. A good throw in gave Parrish enough time to whip the bails of to send beach’s number 4 packing.

Purton completed his spell from the far end to be replaced by our leg spinning sensation, Ben Sawyer. The initial grip and spin excited the fielders. As a few extras clocked up on the board, the batter reached wide of off stump, collecting a thin edge on the way into Matt’s welcoming gloves. This brought the new batter to the crease, an U15 from Histon, who our own Liam regularly coaches. His first ball was played respectfully back to the bowler, unfortunately Sawyer’s next ball was too hot to handle as the catch was taken by guess who in the covers. Liam offering no special treatment on that one.

Tyler changed ends to tidy up for his final 2 and took the off stump of Waterbeach’s strong keeper-batter sound 41. With the victory nailed down, the field tightened for the final few overs. Sawyer added a 3rd thanks to a comfortable catch by Toby at mid-on, demonstrating to the rest of the team how to do it when he is bowling. The lower order came in and played some risky shots, finishing the match with an aerial boundary over mid-off. The jags took the victory by a comfortable 40 runs.

The team retired to the Bull, where Ant came up trumps with a solid pizza order, earning forgiveness for the ball which he decided was not worthy of his fielding.

A beautiful evening ended with the Jags going 2 from 2 in the league, moving up to second in the table. Roll on the Sharks on Monday.

School's Out for Summer

 Jags 142-9 (Parrish 28*, Phillips 23*, Brett 23, Routledge 2-17, Ledenberg 2-20) beat The Leys 123-6 Ledenberg 25*, Avery 25*, Boyd 3-23, Brett 1-16) by 19 runs.

Man of the Match - Liam Brett

For many of us, this is our favourite fixture. It's like the first cold pint in a pub garden on that evening in May when it becomes just about warm enough to enjoy without freezing your cojones off. It just tells you the good times are coming, sunshine, summer, cricket and all that good stuff. It's also often our first fixture of the year, so is a portent of the things to come. 

 Here comes the sun, little darling, here comes the sun... it's alright...

We've played the Leys for just over 10 years. They have lovely grounds, the school and Latham road are both pristine and the setting makes us all appreciate the tangible benefits we didn't get, as our parents weren't rich and none of us had a private education.

A glorious sunny evening, a perfect setting and a platter of pre-game snacks, including surprisingly good vegan sausage rolls, was delivered to the ground for the start of proceedings and the strip looked more or less perfect. Ben Savage even commented, "I don't think we'll ever play at a nicer ground", oh how we laughed, you wait, Mr Savage, for later in the season.

Matt won the toss, and opted to bat, with the tried and tested partnership of Matt and Ant opening proceedings. Scoring kicked off at a good pace, with a few extras and Ant chipping in with a spanked 4 that I can recall. Early bowling looked pretty good, and the pre-game banter with Liam made it clear that lots of the players were qualified coaches, and one lady (Carla Rudd) had played in the actual Hundred tournament for the Southern Braves.

Ant was first to depart, bowled going for an almighty hoik to the legside for 5. Whilst he didn't contribute many runs, he did manage to entertain us with two contributions for the evening. He'd actually brought his own one person policewoman fan club with him tonight to cheer him on. He also told us he was out for a few weeks now as he is travelling to Orlando to compete in the world footgolf championships, or something.

Fardell strolled out and scored behind square early and Matt struck a crisp on the gallop drive back over the bowler's head. The bowling was pretty good to be honest, not viciously fast but accuate. Banter in the field was also generally quite solid as well as the sun dipped below the high trees to one side of the ground. Fardell was dropped twice, one an unbelievably easy caught and bowled chance that was harder to drop than it was to hold. The bowler is a coach no less as well. Matt presented a very tough late cut chance that was also dropped. Fardell perished next, basically not really playing a shot to one that was on the stumps, top of middle and off dislodged by a ball from our resident South African for the evening (there is always one) Ledenberg.

Threadgold walked out, new to fatherhood, and not looking that tired at all having welcomed Charlie into the world fairly recently. He pushed Matt onto his first retirement of the season, with a lovely square drive and a hook/pull for 6 that I can recall to get the skipper back on the benches, within easy reach of the platter of food.

Threadgold and Tom Cozzie played together for a while. Cozzie looked nervous early on, but was given the boost of confidence he needed by a thoroughly mad spell of bowling from Fung, who combined wides with no balls with goodness knows what to help Cozzie through early season nerves and into his stride with a straight drive back over the bowler's head. Threadgold kept rotating the strike and scoring was going well at not far off 10 per 8 ball over. The Saffer was much harder to play and Tom then fell bowled to one where he yorked himself a bit by coming too far down the track and down went the stumps.

Phillips wandered out, his wrist fractured so badly that medical science has given up on finding a cure, and his banter still the same as it ever is. He and Dan rotated strike nicely for a bit, before a collosal mix up. Dan cut behind point, Adam called yes, Dan said no - and then they met for a chat in the middle before Dan tried to remake his ground, falling agonisingly short following some good fielding work from Rudd. The good news in this passage of play was that Dan had been run out by an actual professional cricketer, a small silver lining, but it has to count as something.

 Here she is, using the evening to add a key Jags scalp to her Cricinfo page

Barker briefly joined Phillips, scoring a little before perishing hoiking it up high. We then had debutant Jake Boud welcomed to the crease, fresh off a 50 for Histon at the weekend and raring to go. Phillips scored a very nice clip behind square for 4, and kept the running going nicely at this point. Jake was getting his eye in, before Sam of the Leys decided to rare up his medium/fast engine and put an unplayable good length top of off delivery into the mix to send Jake packing.

Liam joined Adam and we were treated to the most delightful passage of play, where Phillips found his range somewhat, and Liam introduced an air of class to proceedings, with a lofted cover drive for 4 being the highlight of this, or indeed many an evening. He scored at both pace and with class to sail us past a hundred and on target for a nice looking total. A late cut sticks in the mind in particular, and when he perished, caught, it was to a similarly nice lofted cover drive, in keeping with the nature of his evening; even his dismissal was high class.

Mr Bennett joined Phillips for the last few balls, and hit a couple of singles to rotate strike and get us nicely to a 142 total, which felt around about a touch above par. Phillips managed a creditable 23* to finish, and had kept all those around him ticking over nicely throughout so we never got bogged down on scoring.

Bowling began, as it often does with Brett and Bennett. The light was dropping quite quickly, so we get a wriggle on. One opener scored two behind square on the ground first ball, before deciding that the aerial route was preferable, and chipping a high chance snaffled by Fardell at backward square.Bennett started well, wayward in parts, but mostly solid. Batsmen 2 and 3 took some time to get going, but eventually did, with both needing a bit of time to settle (Avery and Ledenberg) before unfurling a few nice shots, one a square cut and a couple of South African bludgeons past the bowler that I can recall. Bennett managed to stop a fairly certain 4 by wearing one on the arm off his own bowling, and stepped out of the attack, saved for death over duties.

Scoring was probably behind the rate, with bowling from both openers very solid, and some very good fielding from Threadgold, Bennett and Boyd that I can recall. The batsmen pressed on gamely, and both ended up retiring. Mr Ledenberg pulled out of a shot and had some choice words from some chat in the field as well, that was off putting and not sporting. The best part about this was that he managed to pull out of the shot and still hit the ball somehow. Madness.

The professional came to the crease, and was joined by someone called "unsure" in the book, or "Juaj" or something of that nature. Whoever he was he was sporting a swollen looking knee, having unwisely chosen to practice in the nets beforehand. Practice, sounds like cheating to me. Jake bowled the pro off an inside edge, a nice ball of verve in a good spell of bowling. We then got treated to Phillips fielding on the boundary, where he managed to do this best T-rex impression, and we all laughed. He took it well.

How Phillips actually reacted to a spot of good natured banter...

Another batsmen fell to Jake, this time caught by Barker at mid on. Leys were quite behind the rate here as the sun began to settle behind the trees, casting long shadows. Savage stepped into the attack and enjoyed the finely coiffured playing surface with his left arm balls seeing a spot of traction here and there. He eventually removed another, the book says "bowled Savage, caught Boud" but I don't think it quite captures what happened. Savage bowled a mid tracker, the batsman humped it towards deep square, 9 times out of ten it's a nice four, but Boud had other ideas and sprinted to his right, slid on his knees like an 80's rockstar on stage, and snaffled the chance whilst giving a nice late shout of "got it" to stop Mark somehow messing up a very crickety moment.

Phillips came into the attack and bowled an actually pretty decent spell, a bit of dross, but some pretty good stuff. Parrish had to be very alert behind the stumps mind - as outside off and legside were in play with every ball. 

Late in the game it looked like Leys were a long way off the rate, but the number 8 (Miller, who was about 2 meters tall) joined the game and was presented with some variable bowling from Mr Barker. He smote, or smited, the ball to all corners, in an eventful over that saw the Leys get within touching distance by hitting 20 from it. He fell next over, bowled by the irrepressible Boud (a close second for man of the match in my book).

Sam Coe joined proceedings at the end, and we know from previous years (most of them) that he can be very dangerous as an opponent, so the strategy was very much not to give him much of the strike. Savage finished his spell, economic with the one wicket and it fell to Bennett to see out the end with 24 needed from the last over. It was really quite dark, and we offered spin or slow bowling to the opposition, but they politely declined and Tyler did his usual twirly thing. They didn't get close in truth, and Coe took a single, and there was a 4, before he gave his stats a boost taking a wicket last ball.

Hands were shook and attendance at the Panton was good, although the tree in the courtyard had yacked sap all over the place, so it had a sticky feel underfoot. Most of the chat centered around golf and totally legal and legitimate poker games, with a modest few minutes given to how nice everyone is at the Leys, and a tiny bit of actual cricket chat.

Jags Overcome the Stench at Milton

Jags 66-6 (Brolia 25, Ranjit 17*, Fardell 16, Perisetla 3-5) beat Milton CC 65-9 (Day 16, Brett 3-9, Ranjit 2-3) by 3 wickets.

Man of the Match - Ranjit

Cricket is back, with our earliest start ever this year in the not at all pleasant environs of early May. The weather this year has been thoroughly non-conducive to cricket, with Spring and Summer both getting themselves confused with Winter. The day before this game was due to take place there was torrential rain and a flash flood in my village, and every other skipper I spoke to had their game called off a full 24 hours before the fixture. 

This week our opposition were a new team on the roster, Milton CC, who through some miraculous drainage, new covers, and general positive attitude, managed to get the game on in the surrounding gloom of a miserable looking evening. As an organiser I knew what was coming when the skies are grey, text message after text message - is the game on, are you sure, it looks grim outside, let's just go to the pub etc etc etc. Midweek evening cricket is on, until it is off. Them's the rules. If you have to turn up and shiver waiting for it to be called off, that is the price you pay. It's a thorough credit to Milton that we went ahead (even if most of them didn't turn up till 6 o'clock and the keys to the facilities were awol), with most of Cambridge under water and the weather looking grimmer by the minute, grey, and drizzly and miserable as we started.

Milton is a new venue for us, and we even have some players who live there. I managed to offend them by mentioning the Milton Pong on the what's app chat before the game - a local phenomenon that is so well known it made it onto the village Wikipedia page.

 "Milton; it's more than just an open air sewage plant" - The Milton Tourist Guide

This week saw two debutants, Mr Toby Purton and Mr Sabin Ranjit. The former a recruit from sister club Histon, and the latter an actual genuine Jagex employee. For 5/6 years now we've reduced the number of actual Jagexians in our ranks, so finding more talent in the ranks at Jagex we hope is a new thing.

Matt lost the toss (idiot), the opposition put themselves into bat, and we chose a 12 over 8 ball format to keep things short with the weather and light nature presented to us this week. There was a tiny teeny little blue gap in between the clouds, but thankfully for Milton it settled over the square for their innings. Opening the bowling our side were unemployed/career break/sabbatical Brett and Mr Benjamin Savage. We used a pink ball and the damp and clouds meant Liam had a riveting opening spell, proving almost impossible to get away and threatening most balls. Runs were slow and at a premium to start with. Savage bowled his languide left arm style, Brett was all fired up with verve and aggression throughout. Parrish behind the stumps started without a helmet, but decided to bring one on in the end to allow him to stand a little closer.

Some fielding happened, I can't recall much of it other than James Barker doing a textbook long barrier, and Phillips saying some things that were less offensive than his default. Perhaps it will take him a few games to get back to his obnoxious best. Ant sat down on the boundary boards right next to a bin full of dog poo. He'd do anything for a rest that lad.

The breakthrough came when Liam took a thoroughly deserved bowled, with a ball that I think ducked in a little bit from outside off to castle the opener. The first few batsmen tried to punish Savage more than Brett, purely as Brett was proving impossible to score from. Savage gamely partnered Liam to no early reward. Brett then removed the other opener, who tried to unleash a vicious shot, but ended up tickling it through to Parrish behind the stumps. He looked a bit bemused to be given out, but he was the only one in truth who didn't really understand that he had to go.

Toby Purton came in to bowl with a nice off spin style, very controlled and promising on debut. He wasn't trying to turn it much, more just accuracy and control. Things did happen in the field. Fardell stopped one at midwicket, Savage chased a boundary down and Coslett, sporting his best Headmaster jumper, stopped a couple here and there. Ant mostly just tried to find girls on Tinder, although I think the app has blocked him now as he has been through all of the content. 

Toby put one quicker ball down in his spell, and it took the batsman entirely by surprise, giving a certain LBW low, skidding and tough to defend in front of middle. The Milton skipper came out and immediately upped what had otherwise been a slow scoring rate. Brett then claimed his third wicket of the evening, the batsman trying to up the rate and pushing it high to Mr Phillips in the circle at midwicket. 

James Barker came in to replace Brett and looked twirly and threatening, but also a little loose at times, so some batsmen took a little bit of a shine to him. As the batsmen unfurled, Toby put a loose one in that was dispatched, but quickly bowled a batsman shortly thereafter with a fairly standard wicket to wicket ball that he just missed. Barker gamely pressed on and eventually bowled a player, although whether the ball did anything or the batsman just had a mare, I can't recall.

Sabin came into the attack for one over. It was eventful. Slow fairly accurate and quite skiddy spin meant it was hard to get away. The Milton Captain had scored a fair few and tried to take him on. Sabin then bowled the slowest ball I can recall seeing in cricket that wasn't also loopy - and the batsman took the shot on, got all the way through it and fell over in a twirling heap a good 3 seconds before the ball got anywhere near him. It then gently passed his prone frame on the ground and plinked the stumps. The only wonder was that the ball was so slow, I thought the bails might not actually come off. It was the epitome of village cricket.

I chipped in with some comedy fielding, diving over one ball, and then turning round to a skied chance, ran all the way to it (maybe 6 feet from me) and didn't make any effort to catch it. Barker had covered some 25 meters to get close, and probably didn't take it as I got in the way. I'm here to make a contribution fellas, but it's often more for comedy value.

Savage returned for the last over and Sabin bowled another batsman, before Savage chipped in with the all important last wicket to leave Milton on 65-9, all out as they had only 10 players. Mentions go to Parrish behind the stumps keeping things pretty tight, and to the pitch, which had the least consistent bounce I can recall of any season.

At the turn, we would have been pretty confident with this total. 

 It turns out our confidence was perhaps a tad misplaced

However, Milton had decided to bring a lot of bowling, and they had also arranged for the small patch of blue sky that had loitered over the square to disappear, and to be replaced by some dreary drizzle instead. Parrish and Ant opened the batting and honestly, it looked very tough from the side. Parrish never really settled after offering a fine edge to the keeper first ball, and Perisetla from one end was bowling like an absolute demon, perhaps aided by the conditions, but still it was a brilliant opening spell. Ant looked a little more certain, he ran a single and then took a bit of a shine to the other opener, biffing a 4. Parrish fell shortly thereafter to a really tough ball, trying to score he saw middle and leg demolished.

Ant was joined by Phillips and decided that attacking the other opener was the right thing to do, he plundered two 4's and a 6 from an over to get us going to almost 30 after 4 overs. The other opener maintained his ridiculously high standards, and bowled Phillips with what I might call an inducker - full and hard to defend. Fardell then joined Ant for about ten seconds, before Ant perished hoiking one high into the deep. He'd looked in fabulous touch, playing on a different pitch and against different bowlers to pretty much everyone else, and had even given me some tips in the middle. The rain was coming down and the bowlers were bringing the pain - and suddenly a modest target felt a long way off. 

Cozzie joined me, kept out a few balls, before he fell bowled to a pretty good full ball with the score having not advanced. Barker then joined the fray to face the comically unplayable Perisetla. He kept out a ball before being bowled by one that shot low, trying out a lovely looking drive that didn't quite make contact. The opposition laughed at this, and offered that perhaps he had thought this pitch would play like the pristine ground at Histon. No gorgeous cover drives are suitable for a Milton pitch, apparently!

Sabin joined me on debut, we were 30-5 and, appropriately enough given the venue, quite clearly in the shit. The rain continued and Sabin and I set about trying to not get out in contrasting fashion. Both of us just tried to get bat on ball, Sabin with technique and me with hand eye coordination. The Milton team were very very chirpy at this point, and there were a lot of dot balls, but having wickets in hand was key. Sabin took a leg stump guard and we tried to manipulate the ball through gaps in a packed infield, but the long grass and good bowling hampered the boundary rate, with dots and singles being the order of the day. I almost played out an 8 ball maiden in pursuit of us not losing another wicket. It was a war of attrition.

The other thing that hampered the scoring rate was Sabin failing to bring spikes - on a sodden pitch having not played in a while, he managed to turn 2's and 3's into singles, and comically fell on his arse on at least 3 times I can remember trying to turn around for the next run. On one occasion he fell so hard, half the opposition team crowded round to check he was alright, as his feet slid forwards, his body stayed still, legs went up, bat went flying and he hit the ground hard enough to cause a noticeable thud and a dent in the ground.

Sabin stealing a cheeky single

The weather continued in miserable fashion, and sawdust appeared to allow the bowlers to continue. As we ticked along to 40 then 50, slowly slowly, something changed in the mood, and a couple of full tosses in the 10th over allowed us to hit a couple of 4's to relieve the pressure coming into the home straight. The 11th over was tight for 3 runs, and we got to the last over needing 6 from 8 to win. We started with a two, and as we were within sight, with players in the hutch, I tried to finish the game with a big hit, and missed, being bowled off my pads. The bowler game me a right good send off, which was funny, but also oddly nice as it suggested I'd done something cricket worthy in not very cricket like conditions.

Brett joined the fray and 4 runs were taken from 3 balls to get us where we needed to be with 3 balls to spare. It was very tense, not aided by the weather, the bowling and the ice skating performance of Sabin's footwear, but we got there. Despite the low score, it was one of those tense games which flipped massively during the Milton fielding stint, not least owing to the utterly ridiculous Perisetla figures of 3-0-5-3 and it felt like we'd recovered from a very difficult position mid innings.

Off to the Lion and Lamb went many for food and beer. The game was live scored, something of a novelty for us. Ant didn't make the pub, perhaps someone swiped right when he was sat next to the dog bin?

Fixture List 2023

I'm late to the blog this season, as we already have one fixture under our belts. I have done all of the important things though, not least insurance, cricket board affiliations, grounds and all that jazz.

We have 14 fixtures this year, a combination of league and friendly, and the roster looks as below.

 

Date	Opposition	Ground
Wednesday 10th May	Milton	Milton
No Fixture
Tuesday 23rd May	Leys	Latham Road
Wednesday 31st May	Deloitte	Queens
Thursday 8th June	Waterbeach	Queens
Monday 12th June	Sharks	Queens
Wednesday 21st June	Swaffham	Swaffham
Thursday 29th June	Dobblers	Queens
Thursday 6th July	Madingley Mulch	Queens
Thursday 13th July	Qualcomm	Queens
Thursday 20th July	CTS	Queens
Thursday 27th July	Cambourne Bombers	Queens
Wednesday 2nd August	Histon	Histon
Thursday 10th August	Sharks	Queens
Thursday 17th August	NCI	Kings (to confirm)