The Jolly Boys Cricket Club

Once again the squad are mostly on time but just look how gloomy it is !

So there's no time for sitting around as Dave wanders off to lose the toss. Which means that this week we're fielding first.

My word ! How quickly the Warbreck innings went as they made 96. But to give regular viewers a treat I positively sprinted off the field so I could get a full action shot of the team leaving the field. As you can see Baz is that desperate for a fag he's running off the field !

Which means it's now our turn to bat. After a quick turnaround Tom and new signing Will Rainford get the innings underway.

Back at our, now customary, spot under the trees the wind is having one good effect as it's keeping the midges well under control. The only downside being it's also rather difficult to light ones cigarillo !

Out on the wicket Tom definitely isn't holding back as he smashes another 4. The runs are positively piling on !

But it's not all good news as some distinctly heavy looking rain cloudes start sweeping in. THis is not looking good for getting a result tonight and there's no Duckworth Lewis method in this league (noone can do the maths -ed.).

The sudden chill has caused a mass outbreak of hoods, coats and shouts for brandy. Sadly for the Jollys there's not a St. Bernard in sight.

And for this weeks wildlife picture we have a lovely young thrush who has joined the Warbreck fielders.

Gah ! More clouds have now entered the arena and it really is starting to look like it's going to be rain stopped play.

Tom meanwhile is oblivious to our bed wetting weather panic and finishes his innings by retiring in style with another 25 not out to his name. This is getting to be a (good) habit !

back on the field Will (Thistlethwaite - there are two Wills in the team today - ed.) is carrying on the run chase in style and he hits another good 4 on his way to 19. Meanwhile the other Will (Rainford) has made 16 at the other end and we're coming up to Warbrecks total with overs to spare.

Well due to the fading light there were no more usable match pictures but we managed to beat the Warbreck total just in time for the first few spots of rain to start falling.

So once again here we are in the Old Town Hall where Des brings out two more magnificent trays of sandwiches (once again courtesy of Linda -ed.)

About 30 seconds after the trays hit the bar a contented looking Jollys sit admiring how well their girdles are working and another exciting episode comes to an end. So see you all same time, same place for next weeks episode.

Sadly though we have to end this weeks report with some sad tidings. It's not been a good week in the Temple of Din as Freya had to be put down following kidney failure. It was eleven years ago when Freya arrived with her brother Solomon after they had been born in amongst the rubble in a disused part of the workshop that Cannon was renting in a Blackpool backstreet. However after their mother disappeared (sadly presumed dead) Cannon eventually managed to get them into a cat basket (a fine tale in itself) after which they were whisked round to the Temple of Din - where they promptly trashed the front room before escaping to a hiding place upstairs. It was simply amazing to see how much chaos two small kittens could produce in such a small space of time !

But after a month or two spent mostly hiding in an old box they eventually decided that it wasn't such a bad place after all and that they might as well start minimally socialising with the strange bipeds that kept bringing them food. Whilst retaining her ability to magically dissapear as soon as "strangers" appeared Freya has actually been helping with my computing activities over the years - mainly by walking on the keyboard whilst I'm trying to type or sleeping on my mixing desk when I'm trying to use it.

So to bid her farewell she joins the other select members of the local cats club who have featured in the annals of the Jollyboys reports.

However the local mouse population have not joined in our sadness and, if truth be told, are quite looking forward to the rest of the summer where more of them will now get to keep their heads !