The Jolly Boys Cricket Club

Col starts the match by pointing out how hard wearing the "Sponsored By Walter & The Knobheads" shirts are. "You were wearing those last time I played and they haven't even shrunk in the wash".

Well it must be a special occasion tonight as Jol has even turned up before the game has started !

Tom and Will are this weeks openers and Tom's soon into his stride.

Play is temporarily suspended as one of the Arnold masters brings his plane in for a landing on the skool airfield.

Which inspires Will to make like a WWII machine gunner and start peppering balls at the plane.

Take that you fiends ! Wills gun placement reenactment almost gets the better of him as he fires one straight up into the air. Good job for us their fielder put down the chance.

Sadly Tom was not so lucky as he was well caught after scoring a quick 8. But this means Ian's entered the fray and he starts looking for boundaries.

Well one result of Wills spate of skyward blows is that he's managed to retire having scored 25. Well done Will !

A relaxed Jollys enjoy the evening sun.

Botheration. Ian fires a mighty blow towards the boundary but he's just short and is well caught on 10. Just when he was looking like building a big score too.

With Dave having come in for Will it's now Dave and Jol at the crease and Jol is soon playing some nice cricket strokes.

Dave and Ian are bemoaning the skool no drinks policy and, without their customary refreshments being available, have resorted to taking cover in the shade.

Gah ! Dave has only got 2 when he gets tricked by the random bounce as the ball pitches in to take out his leg stump.

So in comes Coker who hits a lovely 4 before seeing his middle stump taken out.

It's time for Col ! With two wickets having gone cheaply Col strides to the wicket ready to shake off 7 years of rust.

Disaster ! Having not been warned about the wicket markings (there were two possible crease lines - ed.) umpire Frosty harshly gives Col run out before he's even faced a ball. The fans will not be happy.

Of course we're now in panic stations and I manage to miss new signing Keith losing his wicket to the very next ball. Even worse I manage to get my pads on and man the camera just in time to see Dave bowled for 0. So we've now lost 4 wickets in succession without adding a single run to the board.

Oh my word... It's getting worse as Baz only just manages to get off the mark with a quick single before he too is bowled.

Good job Jol is still at the wicket as he manages to get a quick single to retire on a well worked 25.

But there's no time for Jol to sit about as your humble scribe has managed to get a quick single and a couple of leg byes before being comprehesively bowled. This is a disaster (especially for Jol who only just managed to sit down before having to return - ed.) Still at least this means Will and Jol are both now back at the wicket with 4 overs to go.

Thankfully Will and Jol manage to put on a few runs before a suicidal last gasp effort sees Jol run out. But despite our collapse we've managed to score 135 with the vast majority of runs coming from Jol with 54 and Will with 34.

Having given EVH an acheivable target we needed to knuckle down and after some excellent strike bowling from Coker, not to mention EVH also having a bit of a batting nightmare, we managed to win the match with a few overs to spare.

Which means it's all back to the Old Town Hall where Si is amazed to see the tray levitating it's way towards us under it's own power ! (we couldn't wait to be served so Tom decided to reel it out from the cellar with some of Cols fishing line - ed.)

Having come to investigate the spooky goings on Kirsty first finds the fishing line before asking "have you seen the bruise on Cols finger ?"

Ouch ! She's right as after narrowly missing catching a bit of a rocket Col has indeed been left with a cracking bruise on his finger. That's the dedication of the Jollys !

Well we're not sure why Ogs was unavailable this week ? but the following publicity shot, which mysteriously found it's way into our in tray, might be some sort of clue... I wonder what it can possibly mean ? (it means your image editing "skillz" are not even as good as a three year old goat - ed.)