The Jolly Boys Cricket Club

Suprisingly we're all presentable and ship shape early in the evening - which is just as well as Blackpool are all here and are ready to play.

The game gets off to a good start as Dave wins the toss and we naturally decide to bat.

THose of you who noticed all the cars in the last picture will not be suprised to hear that Hodgson are having a parents evening. So having booked the wicket out to us they naturally decide that the best place for the cars to park is on running track - the outermost track of which usually forms the boundary.

So it looks like it's a short boundary this evening and we'll have to be careful to avoid any broken windscreen action. Ho hum.

And they're off ! Once again Tom opens the batting but this time he's accompanied by James, rather than Will, Thistlethwatite who is standing in for the missing Ian.

And here is James at the other end where he opens his account by flicking one off his pads.

Well unusually for Tom he's been caught for 2 so it's now Will who comes in at number 3. And the two brothers are soon showing us how to bat as they make their way to 27 (James) and 26 (Will) respectively.

Making his Jollyboys debut is Dave Whalley who carries on the good work of the retired Thistlethwaites by retiring on 25.

Ably supported by another debutante, Gav Blaylock, who helps us on our way with a well put together 17 before being caught.

Which means it's Ogden burger time ! And if you blinked you might have missed it as Ogs gets a 4, a 6 and a 4 before being caught on the boundary. By this time the score had been piling up nicely and we're starting to get confident of achieving a decent total.

So on comes Jol who plays a very uncharacteristic innings as, rather than getting his 25, he manages to get caught on 2.

At this point we'd decided that, as we've got Will and James to come back in we might as well try to get some runs on the board so Dave obliges with a quick 5 before being bowled.

Which means that we've now got our second set of brothers batting together as Dave and Baz Stoddard are at the wicket. Baz managing a quick 2 before getting caught.

Sadly your trusty photographer was trying to get padded up at this point so I'm afraid the only shot we have of Dave is of him pushing a single on his way to a quick 3 not out.

Oh dear. Having come in with an over to go your trusty scribe manages a mere single before getting bowled by the last ball of the innings. Still it was "swing the bat" time so it's not a problem as the Jollys end the innings with 130 runs on the board.

But will this be enough ?

Aha ! We have a cunning plan. Dave has been doing a bit of ball finding on the boundary and we've got an array of balls to bowl tonight (who needs a "wrong 'un" or a "chinaman" when you can send down a "golf" or a "soft" ball ?). Sadly for us though the umpire's saw straight through our cunning plan and were having none of it. But we still managed to bowl well enough that Blackpool couldn't beat our total.

As usual this was the sole fielding picture taken this week so there are no shots of Blackpool making their way to 126. Which left us victorious on the night !

No this isn't a Devo revival. Having finished the match we've decamped back to the Old Town Hall just in time to sample the delights of the 3D cricket. Unfortunately though the overall effect is a bit like watching Ivor The Engine and we're soon back down at the bottom end where we can catch th action on a "normal" televisor.

Well look at this. Des and Linda are on holiday so, having been informed by Ogs that Blackpool may well come back to the pub for a pint, Simon has really pushed to boat out and has preapred 4 (count 'em -ed.) trays of sandwiches !

And not only did we get all thos splendid sandwiches but there are bowls of Dorritos and a plate of French fancies to boot ! What a spread !