The Jolly Boys Cricket Club

The night starts with us removing the covers from the main wicket and the practice netsfrom the articial wicket.

And here's Dave himself flanked by Tom on the left and the two Wills on the right.

Obviously the Jollys have congregated outside the bar where they're clamouring for Dave to open up !

A few moments later and it's time for the toss. The two Daves however get distracted by a passing UFO but when the coin lands it's our Dave who's called it correctly. Naturally we therefore decide to bat.

Yours truly had already been down to the club last week for a practice net with Jol. And here's the proof as some poor technique led to two balls crashing into my thigh leaving a week old but still splendidly mottled black, green and yellow briuse .

But enough japery the game's afoot ! Once again Will and Tom open the innings and Will wastes no time in getting off the mark.

And Tom's keen to get in on the action too. In fact both openers made the most of the excellent batting conditions and posted good scores retiring on 27 (Will) and 25 (Tom).

Meanwhile over at the changing rooms we find an antique catching trainer - evidence of Great Ecclestonte's long standing dedication to the sport of champions !

It looks perfect for use an impromptu hammock to me ! (you're an idiot -ed.)

Will hits a mighty six into the adjoiing field and we're soon engaged in a fruitless search for the missing ball.

So with Will (Thistlethwaite) having retired it's time for Will (Rainford) to come to the crease where he starts by demonstrating excellent defensive technique.

Back at the pavillion young Ryan has taken advantage of his dad being third leg umpire by eating a whole box of blue smarties. So in a fenzy of e-number enduced giddiness he starts whipping the boundary rope into a frenzy !

And it's TOm's turn to retire on 25. This is starting to look like a good knock for the Jollys.

The Jollys enjoy the luxury of having some splendid benches, not to mention some an array of plastic chairs, to sit on. Not to mention the lovely flower beds !

Botheration. Powelly gets bowled by a good delivery and has the moment captured for posterity.

But soon afterwards the innings is over and we've managed to post a useful total of 109. And Jol (looking very managerial in his suit -ed.) is on hand to congratulate me getting a single after last weeks coaching in the nets. So now it's the Dave Walker All Star's turn to bat.

Well sadly there are the usual lack of fielding pictures but some tight bowling saw us restrict the All Stars to 82 for 9. So all that remained was for the teams to congratulate each other on an evening well spent before retiring to the bar for some well earned refreshments.