The Jolly Boys Cricket Club

The game's not yet begun but there's a good turn out at the pavillion/boundary (yup, hitting the pavillion gets you either a 4 or a 6 - obviously depending on whether the ball's bounced or not ! - ed.)

The more eagle eyed of you will also have noticed the strategically placed manhole cover which puts a stop to any thoughts of diving boundary saves.

Further inspection of the facilites reveal that "Wilko" and "Abby" were "Skivin Skool" on 02/04/2007.

I just hope this fascinating piece of contemporary "street art" doesn't encourage the Jollys to skive their batting, bowling and boozing responsibilities ! (not sure about the first two but there's no chance of the latter - ed.)

Back on the wicket the game's started and here's official confirmation that the Jollys, or more specifically Dave, have hit a 6 as umpire "Bubs" gives the requisite signal.

Very professional he is too when he puts his mind to it.

Oh dear. The first wicket's gone down quickly so now it's Ogs turn to take the long walk into the "cauldron of random bounce".

But expectations are high as he's been doing well so far this season. Let's see if he can keep it up !

Meanwhile, back at the pavillion, we find more "urban art" in the form of an impromptu Doctor Who collage. Oh well, at least this shows that the local "yoot" are getting out a bit.

But you youngsters can say what you like you'll never beat John Pertwee as the Doctor. Mind you the effects deprtment used quality cardboard and string sets back then and everything was filmed in that realistic old quarry. Not like today with all their realistic, digital effectery gubbins (oh do shut up -ed.)

Blimey ! An actual action shot (this must be the fourth one captured in the entire history of the Jollys -ed.) as Ogs blasts the ball away for four.

In fact by this point Ogs was holding the innings together as a veritable flurry of wickets were lost to the "flights of fancy" (fancy flights ? -ed.) being served up by the Marauders.

Similarly it was also turning into a bit of a picture disaster as the angle of the sun meant that most of the pictures were coming out too dark to use !

Over in the far corner a group of local youths are enjoying a kick about. Mind you one of the youths is obviously at big school as his head reaches over the crossbar !
Still it's good to see the little buggers playing out rather than being cocooned up in swadlling like most of tomorrows generation.

Back at the pavillion Dave and Joe have a "full and frank" discussion on the merits of Blue versus Red Pop. It was a good twelve rounder but in the end the referre made them agree on a nice glass of lemonade.

Well by this time Joe's taken over camera duties and I've managed to scrape together a reasonably respectable 13 (well reasonably respectable for an oaf anyway - ed.). So for once I'm in the frame.

Unfortunately though the angle of the sun had been confusing the camera somewhat so, in common with many earlier shots, the actual picture is slightly dark. Still I never usually get in on the action so there you go...

And joe's going in for some close up portrait work starting with a small piece of skulldiuggery as he distracts Glenn so Dave can have a quick rifle through his fags.

And with that it's the end of the innings. Having retired at 25 Ogs had just returned to the crease to bat out the last couple of overs with Baz so the Jollys end with a reasonable 107 for 9.

Right you've been asking for a competition all season so here it is.
The first person who can spot the great crested newt in this picture wins a free pint of Becks in the Old Town Hall.

All answers on a postcard to reach my fevered imagination no later than "shortly hereafter". No correspondence will be entered into and no cash alternative is available !

We'll Joe's in his stride now but so is Glen ! Just look at this splendid piece of cricket action. Left foot forward, left arm pointing through to the batsman and right arm winding up for the release.

Someone should bring the currently wayward Mr. Harmison down to see how it's supposed to be done !

Especially after yesterday when the BBCs "Ben Dirs" described his runup as being "like a Hindu deity running for a bus".

And the splendid bowling sees, not only the run rate being kept down, but the wickets falling steadily.

Not only that but this portrait of Powelly putting the bails back on after a wicket allows you to see just how close the pavillion is to the action. Stuey ignores all this as he's about to pot a difficult "pocket" red.

A defiant Maruader takes a break from being hit with the ball to wave to our intrepid cub reporter.

The poor chap really did get some bad luck with the uneven bounce and will definitely have a couple of bruises to show for his troubles. Despite all the clattering he did produce a good knock though !

"Bubs" gurns away at the camera whilst giving his best thumbs up. Batting, bowling, umpiring, gurning... it's all in an evening's work for Bubs :)

Begorrah the man's irripressible. The balls still homing in on him like a malignant magnet but he's still at the crease and is congratulated by Ogs as he reaches his 25.

Doesn't all this bonhomie make a nice change from kickball where the players spend the game either openly cheating, swearing at each other/the referee or doing their hair ?

The Jollys take a break in the action to pose for the new Freemans catalogue. All items are fo course available to buy in the club shop.

The pocket snooker fans are also keenly aware that Stuey has moved his break along and is now going for a tricky green.

Following his impressive 18 with the bat Billy also gets in amongst the wickets with some good accurate bowling whilst Ogs, Baz and I try in vain to emulate the previous catalogue pose. Of course we simply end up looking befuddled.

Hurray ! Powelly has found the great crested newt from picture 12 (which was cunningly disguised as a cricket ball) and wins the free pint of Becks in the Old Town Hall.

Baz however is as "gutted as a parrot over the moon" (tm) as he'd seen the ball but "didn't know newts went in for camouflage"

"No more publicitiy" insists Dave as the game comes to an end with the Jollys once again emerging victorious.

"Todays headlines are just tomorrows chip wrappers" (well they were in the 70's - ed.) "and we've still got half the season to play".

Not to mention the fact that our poor editor won't be able to cope with the mountain of pictures (too true -ed.).

Our intrepid reporter poses for the final pictureof the game as he gleefully informs me that I'll have my work cut out going through the 136 pictures he took.

But it was well worth it as you've had a true bumper bonanza of pictures this week. So hopefully there'll be no complaints for once (no chance of that -ed.).