18th June 2005 "home" to land Registry

Once again the Jolly were up against it. Seasonal commitments (holidays, Glastonbury, laziness) whittled our squad down to a mere 9 available to play. Not only this but we were singualrly unable to procure any of our home grounds. But a quick phone call later and Land Registry kindly allowed us to play the fixture on their home ground - the splendid Kirkham cricket club.

But despite the difficulties a lovely evening saw a lovely game of cricket. The Jollys batted first and amassed a lovely decent total but Land Registry were able to beat it with a lovely 4 balls to spare. So all that's left is for me to file a lovely report on this, the most lovely of summer sports (oh "Bob"... I think he's been at the Laudanum again - ed.)



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Well despite the lack of numbers those that are able to play have mostly turned up early (a remarkable turn of events). Far too early in fact so there's nothing to do but sit about waiting for the opposition to turn up. Thankfully we've got sufficient supplies of fags 'n' booze to see us through the next 5 minutes.

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And the teams take to the field. Having once again won the toss the Jollys have decided to bat first. But if you'd care to glance at the bottom right hand corner of the picture you'll notice that following on from last weeks semi nude umpring Ian has decided to bat without pants (thereby winning the "Nature Boy of the month" award - ed.).

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Newly freed from the constraints of trouserdom Ian starts off in fine fettle and the gentle breeze around his nether regions causes him to hit the ball in all directions. Crash, Bang Wallop... The bowling is being shown no respect whatsoever !

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And at the other end, despite wearing restrictive orthodox trousers, Dave's also keen to get in on the batting action as he smites another boundary. Blimey ! It's only 5 overs into the game and the 50 is up. Cunningly the Jollys clap ever so mildly so as not to alert the opposition to the phenomenal run rate.

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Alas it wasn't to last. We knew we couldn't keep up such a fantastic run rate and shortly thereafter the wickets start falling. Here the Land Registry throw their arms into the air as a chance goes begging...

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Back on the pavilion the waiting Jollys gaze intently as Scotty Bubs attempt to hide a couple of tins of beer in his pads. When questioned about the rules governing such things his only reply was "It's hot and I'm thirsty".

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Yet another example of the Jollys youth policy in action as young "Scraps" Duncan prepares for the fray. Having come down with his dad and found the team short he didn't hesitate to offer his services to the cause - especially when Si mentioned the possibility of "no pocket money this week if you don't son". Well done that man !

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And just when we were enjoying ourselves it's the end of the innings. So the Jollys return to the pavillion with a reasonable total and with a wicket in hand ! Congratulations must once again go to Mr Bell who managed not to get out.

So it's just left for me to once again make the "not enough people for fielding pictures" excuses and inform you that Land Registry got the required runs with 4 balls to spare.


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