The Jolly Boys Cricket Club

Having arrived early, and in a desperate attempt to learn some skills, the Jollys start the evening by watching a local inter school match.

Quite frankly in these days of political correctness and other defective mental attitudes I'm always suprised they let the little darlings near something as dangerous as a cricket ball but there you go. Maybe there's hope for the future of sport yet ?.

Now if only we'd have paid a little more attention when we were at skool...

But what's this ? A picture of the opposition batting ? Actual pictures of us fielding ? Yes indeedly it sure is as, thanks to our strong squad turnout, your humble scribe was allowed to "concentrate on his drinking" this week.

The only bad thing about this of course being that I also had to do the book which is why there are only a mere 5 pictures of us in the field (and three of those are rubbish - ed.).

To prove the point here's the only other usable picture of us in the field showing the teams coming in after the Shovellers innings. The bad news for the Jollys is that, despite some great bowling efforts, they've managed to post a very respectable total of 105 from their 12 overs.

Well we decided that we wanted to chase tonight so now we've got an excellent opportunity to do just that ! (makes a change from chasing after barmaids - ed.)

But before we go any further I have to mention something... so just look at this. Not only have we all now got some semblance of proper cricket whites but todays Jolly umpire Scottie "bubs" is even wearing a proper, "official" Dickie Bird umpires coat !

Mind you I hope it's "official" status means it's well made and warm as he might need it later on should he find himself kipping on the couch again (stairs are so hard to climb when they're swaying :)

And they're off. The Jollys are batting needing 106 for a victory and last weeks openers Jol & Ogs are determined to carry on where they left off. Mind you there are 12 overs to get through so it's not all rush, rush, rush. If there's one thing we do like to see it's some elegant stroke play.

Meanwhile, back on the boundary, my excuse of "I need to take some pictures for the website" has proved to be just good enough for me to skive out of scoring for the second innings (just as well judging by the pathetic job you were doing - ed.)

So I can now get back to looking for scoops such as this picture in which I exclusively reveal details of the Jollys new industrial diet - all part of this seasons more professional approach !

Back on the field Jol speeds a loose delivery off for four. But despite our best efforts we're steadily slipping behind the run rate which now has us needing 12 an over to win.

One thing's for sure now the pressure is well and truly on !

Sadly Ogs has now joined us back on the scoring table meaning that the Jollys have lost their first wicket of the season. Needless to say once one had gone the rest started following at regular intervals but hey, we had to start chasing the runs, and that's evening league cricket !

Well the match is progressing fast, there are more wickets down, more pints have been drunk but we're still well behind and we go into the last few overs needing something like 16 an over (he's making this up - ed.)

But despite having lost a few wickets and despite the total required our confidence is still high. John is still at the crease and looking in fine fettle, the bar's still open and we've got just enough wickets to "have a go". So can we pull off a famous upset and claw our way back to victory ?

Nope... we can't. Despite our best efforts the game ended up in the last over seeing John facing and us needing 26 to win (or was it 23 ? or 22 ? - ed.) But there was still some drama left in the game as as John hit the first four balls for four straight fours, the fifth went for a single, the sixth saw Dave being caught right on the boundary and the last two went for a two and nothing. (remember folks they're 8 ball overs in the evening league)

So once again, with the light failiing fast, the Shovellers leave the field victorious with the Jollys only able to take heart from another good performance. Now if only we'd have started hitting out a bit earlier !