The Jolly Boys Cricket Club

Baz takes the edge off his hangover with the first Warsteiner of the day whilst Ogs has a quick micro snooze.

Meanwhile young Joe and Shannon have been out blackberrying and Joes juice covered hands have attracted the attentions of one of the club houses resident "Daddy Long Legs" (actually adult crane flies usually feed on nectar or not at all - ed.).

Our genial host Dave Walker has arrived early (i.e. he's been here all night !) and is preparing for the day's action by having a quick pre match snooze.

Despite the evidence of this photograph, there's a great view of the action from within the confines of the bar as a thirsty Jollys watch a strong Rushale side manage to beat the hastily arranged "Coalition All Stars" team.

With the first semi final over it's now our turn to play which means the ever dependable Tom & Will lead us out to bat.

Following the morning rain it's turned out rather well as the Sun puts his best Panama on for the afternoon !

Tom's soon into the swing of things as he once again uses his "crab" shot to great effect on his way to 12.

Hooray for our side ! Jollyboys stalwart Scotty "Bubs" comes along for the game.

Back on the wicket Will gets a wicked bounce and can only watch on horror as his top edge goes straight to a fielder ruining his day out with a mere 1 to his name.

There's a good crowd forming outside the bar now though.

So on comes Ian who wastes no time before getting into a good partnership with Tom eventually being unlucky to get caught for 24.

With the mornings rain making boundaries hard to come by Tom and Ian are forced to keep the score going with some well run twos and singles.

Before Tom gets a grubber that knocks his stumps flying (If you look closely you can see one of his bails directly above his head against the trees in the background - ed.)

In comes Jol who plays a captains innings on his home ground.

Back at the pavillion excitement is peaking. And not only with the onfield action as the youth squad are also indulging in games of kickball and rugby !

Well you'll have all heard cricketers talking about the famous "cow corner" And here at Great Eccy there really is a cow corner which Shannon goes to investigate.

Back on the wicket Jol has retired having scored a splendid 27 which got the momentum of the innings going again.

So on comes Powelly who gets a quick 4 before being caught behind off a slight edge.

Which means it's "Cockney" Stu's turn to bat. And he starts well with a couple of good shots.

Back at the other end Ogs has the spectre of the Pedro trophy hanging over his head so he takes a huge stride out of his crease to make sure he gets some runs on the board. And get some he did with a creditable quick fire 8.

Botheration. Stu gets an unplayable ball, and despite some good shots, is bowled with a mere single to his name.

Out comes Dave who has a fine innings before being unluckily run out for 8 whilst chasing to try and force the last few runs out of our innings. Sadly nobody took over camera duties for your humble scribes batting but I too managed to get a quick single thereby avoiding becomg the proud owner of the Pedro trophy.

Chris and Tony enjoy an after game pint and flask of coffee (the perils of driving !) Once again we didn't manage to get any photographs of ourselves in the field but a quick summary of proceedings is that Blackpool batted well and managed to beat our total with 2.4 overs to spare.

Well another of the bars residnet "Daddy Long Legs" has come looking for Blackberry juice but they won't find any on Tonys trousers !

So all that's left for us to do is for us to enjoy the game as Tom umpires the final. Which proved to be a good game as Blackpool narrowly beat Rushale to become this years champions. Well done to Blackpool and a big than you to Great Ecclestone Cricket Club for hosting this years finals day !