Jesters v. Merrow - Sunday June 12 2005

Having managed to secure 11 good men and true we suffered a double outbreak of flu and a misfortune (Yasser trod on some glass) on the morning of the match which meant we arrived with 8. Merrow kindly offered us 2 players.

We won the toss, put them in and at 50-0 after four overs a spell in the Foreign Legion was beckoning for yours truly. However Dodd (crafty and determined) and Oeppen (heart of a lion) bowled 40+ overs between them and pegged back the scoring - no mean feat on a lightening fast outfield. The post lunch (and port) session was taken by the Jesters and after a flurry of wickets Merrow declared on 261-6.

In reply Hudson, reunited with the bat of his youth, was soon dispatching the ball to all parts of the square boundaries and Hancock, all concentration and steel, reduced the arrears without loss to 200 by tea. After tea, a predictable Jesters collapse was halted by the indefatigable Oeppen joining Dave 'the Rock' Hancock (82). At 175-5, with 15 overs to go, the previously cock-a-hoop Merrovians went strangely quiet as defeat, hitherto discounted in their thinking, loomed large.

Alas, a couple of quick wickets took the possibility of victory from us but there was still some pleasure in watching Dodd and Porter apply their considerable experience to achieve a hard fought draw as the Jesters innings closed on 195-7.