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The Jolly Boys Cricket Club"batting, bowling & boozing since 1987" |
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The Jolly Boys Cricket Club"batting, bowling & boozing since 1987" |
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Well the day started with a bit of a cock up as three of the four teams arrived in good time for the 10:00 a.m. start. However league winners Blackpool singularly failed to make a showing so we were left with no alternative but to perform the toss to see which semi final should take place first. And the bad news for Blackpool was that the coin indicated that the first place versus fourth place semi should be played first.
However as Blackpool weren't there we all decided to give them 30 minutes after which time they would lose an over of batting for every three minutes that they were late. And wait we did as just after 11:00 p.m. a representative arrived and started making excuses. Sadly though the team were still not due to arrive for at least another 30 minutes so we had no choice but to decide that Blackpool had forfeited the match.
But this stil left three teams who all wanted to play so following a bit of head scratching we decided that the fairest way to proceed would be to settle the matter with a "Round Robin" approach. A few tosses of the coin later and the order was settled. Warbreck would play Rushale first, The Jollyboys would play Rushale second then the Jollyboys would play Warbreck in the third game.
If one team beat both others they would naturally be crowned champions but if each team won a game we would either settle it with aggregate scores, margin of victory or a bowl off.
Sadly your humble scribe had made a bit of a mess with both the memory cards and camera batteries this year (failing to make space on the former and forgetting to charge spares for the latter - ed.) so I had to refrain from taking too many pictures of the action for fear of not getting the Jollys games down.
This being the case I can only apologise to the teams for a lack of pictographic evidence as it was a good game of cricket which ended with Warbreck narrowly beating Rushale.
Young Coker looks in fine fetlle for a final... not ! Let's see if he can sober up before our first game. |
Meanwhile Baz is taking the opportunity to catch some early morning rays. |
Oh dear. Coker, Dave and Stuey have been suckered into a drinking game. And it's not even 10:00 am yet ! |
But a quick wicket inspection shows that conditions are superb ! So all we need now is for Blackpool to arrive so we can get going. |
Ho hum... it's over an hour later and some of the Blackpool contingent finally arrive. However it's now simply too late for them to play so we decide to have a Round Robin with the three teams that are present instead. |
So at last the finals are underway with Warbreck playing Rushale in the first leg. |
Meanwhile Coker has now had to put his hood up to keep the sun off. He's not looking at his peak this morning... |
After a hard fought game Warbreck emerge victorious. |
And just as the game finished here comes the Terminator ! |
Closely followed by "Carpet" Col. Looks like the bar taking will be going up somewhat ! |
Following Warbrecks victory it was on to game two where it was time for the Jollys to put their beer down ready to face Rushale. Having lost their first game Rushale now needed to win by a decent margin to have any chance of being crowned champions. Once again though the omens were with us as Dave managed to win the toss and we decided to bat. And with the sun now out and outfield drying out we soon got into our stride where some good stroke play saw us race along to amass a total of 127 for 3 wickets.
Following such a score Rushale were always going to struggle and despite a valiant effort our bowlers put in a positively parsimonious display managing to restrict them to 107 for 3 from their 16 overs.
Having won the toss we're in to bat so once again out come Tom and WIll to open the innings. |
And it's not long before Will is off the mark with a cracking shot. |
Much to the delight of the massed ranks of spectators. |
And Tom's not to be outdone either as he plays himself in nicely before opening the face of the bat. |
Well Will has retired after scoring 25 so that means it Stuey Holloway coming in to face. And he doesn't take long to get into the swing of things. |
Back at the scoreboard end Tony is doing a stirling job with the book (he's one of the few Jollys that can count - ed.) |
Botheration... just when it looked like Tom would join Will by retiring he's stumped for 23. |
Still that means it's Jol to face and he plays a blinding innings before retiring on 28. |
It's Sunday, it's sunny and it's bring all the Jollyboys past and present down to the game. So here comes Chewy for a spot of relaxing cricket action ! |
Just in time to see Ian score a quick fire 9 before being bowled by a good 'un. |
So with only a few overs to go, with runs on the board, and with wickets in hand Powely decides it's time o hit out as he adds quick 7 to the total. |
With Jol having retired Dave has just time to get a quick single bfore it's the end of our innings with our total at 127 for 3. |
Benson and Matilda have strolled down to see the action. |
And the crowd go wild ! (actually they're just pleased to be drinking outside on such a nice day - ed.) |
Well they're trying their best but some tight bowling has seen the run rate steadily climbing so Terminator sees fit to start warming up for a victory jig. |
And for once this wasn't the kiss of doom as Rushale can't quite match our total which leaves us winners of the second game. |
With Rushale now out of contention it was down to the final game to decide the outcome of this years Twenty20 final. But this time the toss went in Warbrecks favour so they naturally decided to bat. And bat they did eventually posting a commanding 123 for 5. However this left the Jollys knowing that if we could emulate our first games batting performance we could win the day.
However Warbreck's bowling proved to be a bit harder to score off than Rushale's and it was soon apparent that we simply weren't achieving the required run rate. The overs slowly counted down, the score moved steadily up, the crowd got right behind their teams but we just couldn't get the run rate up high enough and we eventually finished our 16 overs having scored 106 for 2.
Well it's turned out nicely as the third game is the decider. Stuey and Dave celebrate the upcoming contest with a beer ! |
As do the senior Barrys ! (A brace of Barrys ?) |
This time we lose the toss so Warbreck decide to bat first. And bat they posting a total of 123. So once again Tom and Will open the innings and Tom gets straight to work. |
As indeed does Will. Sadly though he can;t continue where he left off after the second game and he gets bowled for 2. Bugger ! |
Well it's just got worse as Tom has been caught on 9. But this now means that it's stuey and Ian at the crease and with the run rate slipping early they have to chase everything. |
At this point we must also give special mention to the umpires who did a splendid job on the day. Here's Frosty expertly signalling another wide. |
And Warbreck's bowling might be keeping the run rate slightly pegged but it's not for want of trying as Ian fires off another boundary. |
The spectators are certainly enjoying themselves too. It's a packed house I tells ya ! |
Stuey's not letting Ian do all the work either as he also hits some cracking boundaries. |
Well both Ian and Stuey have retired on 28 and 25 respectively so it's now Jol and Dave at the crease. But it seems that there are going to be too few overs left for us to get the required runs. Jol's not giving up though and he tries his best to up the run rate. |
Dave too has got one eye on the scoreboard and is having a go at anything he can reach. |
But in the end it was just too much for us as we end our innings with 106, a good 18 runs short of Warbrecks total. |
And John can't believe it - it's enough to make a chap have a quick gurn ! |
Back on the boundary Stuey reveals that, after falling awkwardly on it, he'd played the last part of his innings with a dislocated thumb. Oh dear it's off to hospital for you young man ! |
The players congratulate Warbreck on their worthy victory. |
And the "rowdy crowdie" (tm) congratulate the teams on a good days entertainment. |
Once again this meant all that was left to do was for Tom to present a delighted Warbreck team with their trophy, present each of the participants with their medals and for us all to enjoy the rest of the evening with a few light ales.
In closing may we just say a heartfelt thank you to everyone who turned up for the day and we hope to see you all again next year !
So all that remains is to retire to the bar to present the teams with their trophies and medals etc. |
A delighted Warbreck accept the cup. |
Of course the only thing left todo is to decide whaat to fill it with... lager or bitter ? (the league can't afford fizzy wine - ed.) |
And Tony get's awarded the magic stump for a good days umpiring ! |
Following a couple in the clubhouse we retired to the old Town Hall... after which we retired to the Breck CLub to finish off our celebrations/commioserations ! |
Well amongst all that cricket there was no time for tea so the appearance of a small piece of fried chicken soon leads to an impromptu food fight. (It was like watching a pack of lions - ed.) |
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Midge Report: Well we might only live down the road but it was still too far for us to make the trip down to Fylde. Bzzzt. Still that did give a free rein to the Fylde midges to have a go as we do like to share our victoms about a little. Bzzzt. Bzzzt. |
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