22nd November - Report on AGM and Awards

Brasserie Blanc on Chancery Lane was the venue for the annual dinner. 28 Jesters turned-out and a good time was had by all. Ollie Doward once again put together an excellent and occasionally fiendish quiz.

At the AGM, Jonny Bridcut provided an entertaining summary of the season, and Chris Smith reported on the Club’s finances which remain in a healthy state. The possibility of an increase in match fees, mooted at the 2014 AGM, has been postponed for at least another year.

All committee members were re-elected with the officers unchanged. DJ Chak was co-opted on to the committee.

The annual awards were presented at the dinner:

Arnold Woods Trophy (best performance of the season) to Sarbajeet Nag (Shorbo) for his graceful and match winning century at Eversholt.

Roger Greenslade Trophy to Alex Smith for “Lostbatgate” before the Cuckfield game - calling the match manager to explain he would be late as he had spent so long looking unsuccessfully for his bat; only to discover it much later tucked inside an unfamiliar pocket of his brand new cricket bag.

Michael Meyer Award for big-hitting went to Ollie Doward for a huge blow at Warnford against the Hampshire Hogs.

2nd October - AGM and Dinner

The 2015 Annual General Meeting and Dinner will take place on Friday 20 Novembern - AGM at 6.45pm, dinner at 7.45pm.

We have managed to secure the Brasserie Blanc on Chancery Lane once again this year, where we will be hosted in the restaurant's private room. The restaurant is at the southern (Fleet Street) end of Chancery Lane, which is a short walk from Chancery Lane tube (Central line), or a ten minute walk from Temple tube (Circle / District line).

The cost is £36 - exclusive of drinks - and all members will receive an invitation by email listing the various menu choices. Please reply to Chris Smith asap.

17th September - Newdigate game cancelled

Unfortunately neither club can raise a side for the game at Newdigate on Sunday so it has been called off.

15th September - Roger Greenslade Memorial Match

It was a great day at Eversholt as we celebrated the life and playing career of our old friend Roger Greenslade.

The September sun shone, there was a great turnout of Jesters and Eversholt members beyond those actually playing, as well as Roger’s family, and the hospitality was first class.

The game itself was a cracker with an exciting finish and memorable individual performances. Match manager Ollie Doward is preparing a full report.

Jesters highlights were a graceful century from Shorbo - one of the most elegant innings you could hope to see, full of effortless timing and deft deflections - and a thundering knock from George Greenslade, Roger’s son, that ended just short of a half century. Together Shorbo and George took us to a four wicket victory.

George’s innings included one thundering six over long-on that had everyone reminiscing about his father’s batting exploits. The ball thudded into a bench on the boundary edge, scattering the Eversholt ladies who had occupied it moments before.

After the game there were speeches in front of the pavilion as dusk fell. Ollie Doward and Eversholt Chairman Dave Garrett recalled what Roger had meant to us all as they ran through the highlights of his involvement with the Jesters and Eversholt CC. There were smiles, much laughter and, perhaps, the odd tear.

Many thanks to Eversholt for hosting a perfect day.

7th September - Not so slick performance

We were beaten comfortably by SLICC losing by eight wickets having been bowled out for only 142. Hopefully a little more on this game soon.

1st September - Heavy defeat at Bray

After losses to the Jesters in the two previous seasons, Maidenhead & Bray paid us the compliment of drafting in both their overseas player and a first eleven opening bowler recently on Middlesex’s books. Against our bank holiday XI they were too strong and we lost by about 125 runs.

After decent early spells by Jonny Bridcut and Phil Berman, their overseas and another batsman put us to the sword, the overseas scoring 95 and his partner 120-odd. We didn’t bowl badly but weren’t helped by some comedic moments on the straight boundaries.

260 from 40 overs was far too many - especially as our in form batsman Alex Smith had injured himself while fielding and would be unable to bat. And we were left wondering what would have happened had we accepted even a couple of the several chances.

Our reply never really got going after their brisk opener went to work and we gently subsided to 135-odd all out. Hopefully a full match report will appear here soon.

23rd August - Chobham game rained off

Unfortunately heavy rain on the Sunday morning meant the game at Chobham was called off.

17th August - Tie at Middleton Stoney

Jesters:136 all out (39.4 overs)
A. Smith 75*, O. Selway 3-32

Middleton Stoney:136 all out (37.5 overs)
Mohammad 6-34, Bridcut 3-19

Match tied.

Match manager John Murphy describes a dramatic afternoon.

Adnan Mohammad arrived unusually early at Middleton Stoney. It was almost as if he needed the extra time to tell us about his league century the day before and his latest injury which rendered him unable to bat or bowl.

The pitch was green, but we were not disappointed to be put into bat first. Miraculously Adnan was willing to open the batting, although he was calling for a runner in the second over. We got off to a slow start and lost wickets at a steady rate.

Most found runs hard to come by, although Alex Smith was able to resume his great form, looking at ease on a difficult pitch playing several glorious straight drives. The slow outfield limited the number of boundaries, and Alex's unbeaten 75 included just five fours. His contribution was worthy of a century elsewhere.

After a partnership of 59 with John Murphy (23) the Jesters went from 120-4 to 136 all out as we tried to add quick runs before the fixed tea. This total was reasonably competitive in the conditions.

After tea, the Jesters took to the field with Andrew Short demonstrating his true all round capability by serving as our stand-in wicket keeper. Opening bowler Jonny Bridcut rolled back the years bowling with a rare combination of pace, swing and direction. He ripped through the top order, claiming three for 18 in his initial nine over spell.

Adnan did not need much convincing to turn his arm over. He took wickets with good and bad balls. R Simpson - the Mongoose-wielding destroyer of 2014 - was again the danger man but this time with a regulation willow.

His big hitting had taken the opposition to 105 for 5 when he was out-foxed by Adnan's dragged down quicker ball and the stumps were destroyed by Short. Will "st Short, b Mohammad" ever appear in a Jesters scorebook again? Many hope so.

At 115 for 9 the game appeared to be going our way, but a few loose moments and some good batting from P Cranston gave the upper hand back to the opposition. With scores level, we thought the game had gone but Adnan bowled a stunning delivery which clipped the top of Cranston's off stump and the game was tied. Adnan, who started the game claiming to be unable to bowl, finished with six for 34.

Thanks to Middleton Stoney for a great game and their usual excellent hospitality.€�

7th August - Cuckfield

We had the usual lovely day at Cuckfield in their cricket week but lost comfortably. Their 282-3 played our 217 all out. We were well placed at the start of the last 20 overs but lost wickets immediately afterwards. More soon.

3rd August - Bishop’s Stortford epic

Bishop’s Stortford CC 230-9 dec (43 overs)
Jesters 231-8 (42.3 overs)
Jesters won by 2 wickets

This brand new fixture at the resplendent Cricketfield Lane ground in Bishop’s Stortford produced a thrilling Jesters victory off the last over of the match.

Match manager Ollie Doward tells the story:

With a flat white deck baking under blazing sunshine, this was a day that had 'bat first' written all over it. Acting skipper Jonny Bridcut went against the instinct of his 10 team-mates, the injured match manager, scorer Ned Morrell, the tea ladies, the locals and their dogs by electing to take the field. Home skipper Grahame Smith's smile could hardly have been wider as his teammates congratulated him for winning the toss on his return to the pavilion.

Captain Bridcut's theory was as follows - in a declaration game, it would be extremely difficult to take 10 wickets and force a result on such a good wicket and a deep Jesters batting order would be backed to chase the target down. It turned out to be a masterstroke, just.

It was the budding Brearley who steamed in with the new ball. Wicket-keeper Ed Pearce, making his Jesters debut, took just one delivery to move up to the stumps. Neither opener lasted long, both stymied by a deadly new combination of Bridcut and the eager forefinger of Umpire Attelsey. 28-2. On came DJ Chak first change. Ed immediately took a sharp catch, again standing up. Wicket maiden. 57-3 and Jesters tails well up.

An enterprising partnership of 102 between Tom Makin (63) and Matt Rogers (67) - Stortford’s New South Wales U19 batsman - allowed the home side to wrest back control. However, when Adnan Mohammed removed both men, Rogers to a fine stumping by Ed, Stortford slumped to 212-9. A late flurry led to a declaration at 230, Adnan fighting back to finish with impressive figures of 5-38 after being hit into a marquee early in his spell.

In reply, Chris Smith went off like a train, elegantly stroking the opposition bowlers to all parts. The score stood at 89-0 off 11 overs and Chris had 61 of them. A spell by the young left arm leggie Andrew O'Donovan (5-91) then threw our reply into complete disarray.

“In a moment of madness reminiscent of Mike Gatting’s brain fade in the 1987 World Cup final, kamikaze Chris cut his dreamy knock short by reverse sweeping O’Donovan’s second ball straight to point. So well was Chris batting hat the watching Andrew Short was moved to observe that he had “just dropped the Arnold Woods Trophy”.�.

89-0 quickly became 95-4 off 18 overs. It was fantastic to see Mike Palmer back opening the batting for the Jesters, but he too fell victim to the slippery chinaman, bowled by a fizzer for an assured 26.

The recovery was launched by Jackson Locke (25) and Matt Williamson (24). Restrained at first, unusually so for Jacko, both gained in confidence and upped the run rate during a crucial partnership of 51, Matt smacking a memorable six over mid-wicket off O’Donovan. But when they fell in quick succession, we were on the ropes once again at 146-6.

Enter DJ, so often the man for the big occasion. His latest Chakattack yielded 55 off 44 balls, adding 52 with Adnan who contributed five! Victory looked assured but when DJ’s assault was ended by a brilliant catch at cow corner, 12 were still needed off the last two overs.

We were taken home by John Murphy (21*) who, second ball, smote a cathartic blow inches short of the long-off boundary and then hurtled down the wicket for several extremely tight twos, driven on by Sergeant Major Bridcut at the other end. Breathless stuff.

Hearty thanks to Bishop’s Stortford CC for their tremendous hospitality and a game played in the best of spirits, we look forward to another evenly matched contest next summer. Thanks also to the non-playing Jesters who turned up to cheer us on - Andrew Short, Robbie Hudson, Sonia Twigg and Patrick Allen€�.

28th July - Roehampton rained-off

Sadly the Roehampton game was called off due to overnight rain and a deluge the previous Friday.

22nd July - Bedouins too good for us

Match manager Chris Smith reports:

The Jesters took on the Bedouins at a sun drenched Ascott Park for the fourth year, hoping to overcome last year's batting collapse and get back to winning ways.

The Jesters batted first, which was wholly against tradition and Simon Butler was soon stroking the ball to all parts of the ground, putting on 43 for the first wicket with Andrew Short before falling to an excellent catch in the gully for 36 from 49 balls.

That wicket brought the Bedouins to life and their opening bowler proceeded to embark on a miserly spell of bowling including 7 maidens in a row. The Jesters tried to break the shackles but found it very difficult to attack the bowling, resulting in a number of wickets falling. At lunch, the Jesters had stumbled to 69-5.

Alex Smith and Adnan Mohammed (despite his broken finger) then restored order after lunch. Alex fell for 13 which brought Nick 'Moeen Ali' Mumby to the crease. Adnan and Nick played superbly crashing the bowling to all parts in an excellent stand of 60 before Adnan fell for 52 - a super innings. Nick then fell agonisingly short of 50, with a brilliant 45 from 48 balls. Chris Smith added a bit of impetus with 35 from 24 balls, and the Jesters made a respectable 217 all out.

The Bedouins' innings started in aggressive fashion and when Nick got the first wicket of the innings the score was already 62-1 in the 11th over. The Jesters looked like they might pay for missing some sharp chances. 

Two very good innings from Saj Zaib and Ben Sudell (76 off 73 and 77 off 60 respectively) took the game away from the Jesters, before Louis Harris (2-45) and Andrew Short (1-35) took three late wickets. This did not affect the result and the Bedouins cruised to a 6 wicket victory, reaching their target of 218 in just 31 overs.

It was once again an excellent day of cricket in a truly superb venue, with fantastic food and facilities. Many thanks again to Ned for scoring.€�

21st July - Jesters Golf Day, 9th August

This year's Jesters Golf Day will be held at West Byfleet Golf Club - home course of Jonny Bridcut. We will be teeing off in 4-balls from 2pm. The cost for the day will be £30.

Please contact Nick Mumby if you fancy playing.

13th July - Epic run chase against Carnegie

We chased down Carnegie’s 233-8 in dramatic style. Having been 124-6 we won by three wickets after an unbroken 59-run eighth wicket partnership between Alex Smith (63*) and Karim Sutton (27*). Hopefully more details soon.

7th July - Great win at Canford

Reports are filtering in of a Jesters victory against Canford Cygnets. We staggered to 222-9 - greatly aided by a 56 run stand for the ninth wicket between Ian Rabagliati and Rufus Frere-Smith - before bowling out the Cygnets for 134. More when we know it.

7th July - Amazing rearguard at Bryanston

Hats off to John Murphy and Andy Mortimer who batted through the final 25 overs - against a seriously good attack - to secure a draw at Bryanston. The innings scores - Bryanston Butterflies 322-7, Jesters 167-6 - probably say everything that needs to be said about the game as a contest. More details to follow.

6th July - Hampshire Hogs run glut

We kicked off the tour with an 8 wicket defeat at the lovely Warnford ground against Hampshire Hogs. Our 281-4 played their 284-2 on a slow but true surface.

It has to be said there could have been more wickets in the game as neither side fielded without blemish. But our display plumbed unique depths and could only be described as ‘heroically appalling’. Catching, ground fielding, you name it. One notable exception was Louis Harris who threw himself around the boundary all afternoon.

Winning the toss on an overcast morning skipper Rawson controversially chose to bat. He was completely vindicated as Saj Zaib (114) knocked up his second century in this fixture in successive years and Ollie Doward made his way to 87 not out before the declaration. Louis will be kicking himself. Opening up, he had reached 30 with his usual attacking intent when he picked out the lone boundary fielder with surgical precision.

282 is very gettable at Warnford but if we’d accepted even a couple of the several chances that came our way it might have been a good finish. Instead Hogs skipper Ollie Kelly and 17-year-old Harry Came eased their way to not out centuries, both playing very well.

Jonny Bridcut bowled some threatening deliveries and Andrew Short caused a few problems in a longish spell, but the one ray of hope came from Australian chinaman bowler Daniel Hayward making his Jesters debut. Gaining decent turn he was unlucky to finish with figures of 2-69 from 15 overs. No one could remember a chinaman bowler playing for the club and it was a real pleasure to witness the art in action.

Many thanks as ever to the Hogs for their excellent hospitality - and it was great to come across Jester Michael Moore now running the show at Warnford. Next year we will endeavour to bring our fielding boots.

6th July - Hurlingham

Jesters 206 all out (Smith C 70)
Hurlingham 210/3 (Smith E 70)
Hurlingham won by 7 wickets

Match manager Jonny Bridcut tells all:

The pitch looked a belter and the sun was out, so, on winning the toss, the Jesters had no hesitation in batting first. The Hurlingham Club had a couple of slippery opening bowlers, who were a step up from their attacks in recent years, and they caused our top order a few concerns, moving the ball both ways.

However, two of the Smiths, Chris and Alex, led our recovery from a perilous 54/4 with a fine counter-attacking partnership of 68. C Smith pounced on anything with width and frequently peppered the offside boundary, much to the alarm of the resident peacocks. 

A Smith continued his decent form this season and compiled an effortless 33, including a fine straight six down the ground, before cutting a wide one straight to point, with the lunch break looming.

Unfortunately, what had been 122/4 became 139/7 at the interval, as the hosts' spinners turned the screw and lured some mistakes from our middle order  C Smith eventually fell, somewhat unfortunately lbw, for a wonderful 70; his year will come.

After the break, Nick Mumby and Rufus brother of Smith played very sensibly and helped steer us towards a respectable total. Their good work was continued by Noah Hillyard and it was not long before the 200 mark was breached.

However, the return of one of the opening bowlers from the top end unfortunately cleaned up the skipper with his first ball and the Jesters walked off with 206 against our name, which we would have taken at lunch though was probably 50 short of being competitive.

A few stray full tosses from the Jesters' opening bowlers allowed the hosts to get off to a fast start, though they were pinned back when DJ Chak held on to a fine catch at first slip to reduce the score to 22/1

Out strode Ed Smith, formerly of Middlesex, Kent and England, as he had reliably informed us. If there was any further confusion as to who he was, he was the only player with his name printed on the back of his county shirt.

All this meant that, as he took guard, we were in no doubt of the task at hand. He walked down the wicket to his first ball, prompting a few oohs and ahhs from nearby fieldsmen, though went on to stroke the ball all around the ground in an effortless 70.

His partner down the other end had been lucky to survive a couple of early lbw shouts but, once he had dispelled any Shane Watson resemblances, eased his way towards a near faultless hundred (definitely beyond the powers of S Watson).

Nick Mumby, bowling very accurately despite the threat of a short leg side boundary, and DJ Chak applied good pressure with the ball but it was not enough to bring the Jesters back into the game.

With just 30 runs needed, E Smith (of Kent, Middlesex and England, in case of any doubt) tried to deposit a full Chak delivery into the car park over the bowler's head, though only succeeded in thumping a low skimmer to A Smith at mid on, who clung on bravely (and celebrated with abandon at the sheer shock of his first catch since 2009).

With the game in its final throes, Nick Mumby slyly seduced a bright young 13 year old straight into A Smith's arms, but defeat proved inevitable. Hurlingham had been too strong on the day and claimed a deserved victory, though particular mention must go to C Smith for stepping into Shorbo's pads at the last minute and keeping faultlessly (0 byes).

We would like to thank the Hurlingham Club for a fantastic day, as ever, and greatly look forward to returning to our winning ways in 2016€�

23rd June - Barnes Common

Jesters CC 209/8 (Hudson 59, Locke 41) beat Barnes Common CC 174 (Sutton 3/35) by 35 runs.

Match manager DJ Chak explains why it was such a great game of cricket:

Choosing to bat first on a warm day in SW13, the new Jesters opening combination of Robbie Hudson and Jackson Locke got us off to a flying start. Every cut shot by Robbie was matched by a screaming cover drive by Jackson. Serving as a reminder of the brave new world we live in, Jackson slapped a booming forehand over mid-off while Robbie reverse-lapped the spinner. We rocketed to 78-0 in 12 overs before Jackson departed for a run-a-ball 41. A terrific beginning and very enjoyable to watch.

Oscar Howie and Robbie built upon the start, Robbie carrying on to bring up his 50 off 44 balls. Some interesting running later, Robbie fell cutting to cover, who took an excellent low catch. He departed for a well made 59.

The dreaded Jesters wobble duly arrived between overs 23 and 26. Louis Harris and Rufus Frere-Smith were defeated by deliveries that kept low and Howie got one that took off. We had slipped from 143-2 to 146-5 when Vasanth Padaki was joined by DJ Chak in the middle.

The pitch was playing tricks, the opposition spinners were on top and we had just lost 3 wickets in 3 overs for 3 runs. Time to counter-attack! Despite the occasional scare, the pair managed to put on a partnership of 44 in quick time before DJ was clean bowled by the opposition skipper.

The partnership broken, Vasanth followed soon after - another victim to the increasingly variable bounce in the pitch. It was left to the experienced Nick Mumby and Adnan Mohammed to provide the finishing kick. They duly obliged and the Jesters had set the home team a challenging total of 210 in 35 overs.

After the tea interval, Phil Berman showed just why he has been such a reliable operator for us over the years. He bowled a nagging line and length, moving the ball just enough to trouble the batsman. Bowling his quota up front, he finished with splendid figures of 7-1-19-1. He was ably supported from the other end by DJ Chak and then Oscar "the Enforcer" Howie, who picked up a wicket each.

With the opposition already behind the rate at the half way mark, the Jesters spinners began to weave their webs of magic. Adnan Mohammed struck first bowling the Barnes number 5 who was just starting to look threatening. Karim Sutton, on Jesters debut, then took three wickets bowling his leg spinners and googlies, including a beautiful piece of bowling to have the Barnes no.4 stumped on 75.

Nick Mumby was not one to be left behind. He was entrusted with the responsibility of bowling at the death and did a fantastic job. Keeping things tight, he picked up a wicket and then a few bruises, attempting some brave return catches and his second run out of the day. Fittingly, Louis Harris, the hero of previous Barnes outings, took the last wicket to hand the Jesters a well earned victory.

“It was a great game, played in great spirit by both the hosts and the vistors and we look forward to returning to Barnes next year.€�

12th June - Sutton game cancelled

Sadly Sutton are unable to raise a side for the game on Sunday 14th June so it has been cancelled. We tried the Club Cricket Conference’s emergency fixture bureau for an alternative but without success.

10th June - Close finish against Pink Elephants

We held out for a hard fought draw against Pink Elephants after an exciting run chase. Match manager Louis Harris tells the story.

On a day such as this, one wonders where to start. The sun was beating down on the beautiful ground at St Vincent’s Square and confidence and excitement hung happily in the air. It took a mere toss of a coin for this confidence and excitement to visibly drain away. We were in the field!

However, with DJ and Noah hitting their lengths immediately the Jesters were soon chirpier than ever. After a couple of confident appeals were turned down, the Jesters rolled up their sleeves and worked tirelessly on the ball to create an old-fashioned style shine on one side. The umpires were clearly impressed and asked to have
a look at the ball.

Moments later DJ made the breakthrough. A good length ball nipped back slightly and trapped the opener on the crease and this time the finger was raised.

The old adage, one brings two, almost came true as an excellent delivery from DJ brought a great opportunity. A miscued drive sent the ball spinning towards cover. Alex Smith threatened to pull off an excellent catch but lost his footing on the sandy outfield and the ball slipped from his grasp as he landed heavily on his knee. Initially, the injury looked serious but after a few moments of contemplation and a helping hand from Jackson, Alex bravely resumed his fielding duties.

The Pink Elephants captain was keen to cash in on this stroke of luck. He unleashed a series of powerful drives and cuts and was responsible for the scoreboard effortlessly ticking over to 56-1.

Step forward Oliver Doward. Standing at mid-off, he had the perfect view of a booming cover drive destined for the boundary. Doward was having none of it and embarked on a majestic full length dive, plucking the ball out of the air with both hands. A seriously good catch. The game was now delicately poised.

Despite some excellent accurate bowling from Mohammed and Jesters debutant Oscar Howie, no further wickets were taken and after 44 overs in the field the Jesters were set a challenging 215 to win.

Opening up for the Jesters were Jackson and Shorbo. They quickly set about the task in style. Blazing cover drives and dashing singles were causing the opposition to reassess their plans. The pair had raced to 52-0 before Shorbo became the first of five Jesters to be dismissed LBW.

Jackson was the next LBW victim a couple of overs later, bringing to an end a characteristically dashing innings of 33. This brought debutant Howie and captain Harris to the crease. Howie immediately looked at ease and played a series of elegant drives and flicks.

The runs began to flow and the pair had raced to 114-2 when Harris was dismissed LBW for 38. In came Doward who looked comfortable and confident before his watch was ended courtesy of another LBW decision. Both Harris and Doward gave a wistful glance at their bats as they dutifully left the sporting arena.

At the crease now were Vasanth Padaki and DJ. Encouraged from the boundary edge by teammate’s cheers, the pair set about running quick singles and putting away any bad balls. Before they were able to threaten the boundary rope further, two more wickets fell. Another LBW and a smart catch square on the offside, and the Jesters now found themselves 160-6.

Adnan Mohammed entered the fray and looked determined to bury the demons of a recent failed run chase. Sadly, before a partnership could be established Howie offered up a return catch which was gratefully received. Howie out caught and bowled for a classy 31.

Mohammed and Hillyard continued the run chase and mixed powerful stroke play with watchful defence. The balance looked to be tilting towards the Jesters before Mohammed was lured out of his crease and stumped for a well made 17.

This left the match on a knife edge. 185-8 with no number 11. Surely they would just bat out for the draw? Indeed, the captain made the decisive call while fielding on the point boundary for the opposition.

No sooner than Hillyard had taken guard, he looked up to see some frantic gesturing from the point boundary. Using an elaborate code, Harris managed to convey that the chase should continue.

Two overs passed and it was decided that the chase was too risky. Three balls later and the chase was back on. Clear, calm strategic vision.

With only 2 balls to go and 13 needed it was finally decided that the draw would be an acceptable result. The Jesters finished 203-8. A fair result and an excellent and highly entertaining game was brought to a close. The game generated memories and talking points that will last a generation.

A big thank you to the Pink Elephants for inviting us to play at such a splendid ground and for their hospitality and delicious cream teas!

A last thank you to our scorer, Ned Morrell, who does an incredible job and is such an integral part of the Jesters set up.�

7th June - Convincing win at Jesus Cambridge

Jesus College 118 all out (35 overs)
Jesters 119-4 (24.2 overs)

"Water, water everywhere
Nor any drop to drink"
(Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Jesus College 1791-93)

After last year's match was washed out by a monsoon, it was a relief to find water absolutely nowhere on a sun-soaked Cambridge afternoon for the resumption of a fixture we'd won just once since 2008.

The toss was lost which gave able seaman Murphy the chance to charge in with a considerable breeze at his back. Two Jesus batsmen were soon blown away, both snaffled by DJ Chak in front of his family entourage. The first of these was something of an eye-popper as DJ sprinted from conventional mid-off to deep mid-on to grab a huge Garryowen on the run.

With the wind in his sails, John continued to bamboozle the top order,finishing with 2-16 off his 8 overs. He was well supported by Noah Hillyard at the other end, a booming reggae soundtrack at his back from the adjacent Strawberry Fair. Noah shivered the timbers of two home batsmen in his spell of 2-30 off 10 overs. DJ, coming on first change and bowling at a fair lick, matched that feat.

Jesus skipper Dan Webster offered some resistance, top-scoring with 34, but it was our very own ancient mariner Andrew Short who ran through the opposition tail with two quick wickets of his own in a three-over spell.

With just 119 to win, swashbuckler Smith was sent in as pinch hitter. Perhaps still distracted by the women's doubles contest on the neighbouring tennis court, Alex attempted two almighty heaves at the opening two deliveries of the innings before settling down to construct a match-winning 57 and putting on 81 for the first wicket with Robbie (37).

Shortly afterwards it was 109-4 after a customary Jesters wobble. Two former Jesuans - Ros Atkins and Ollie Doward - were at the crease to navigate the good ship Jesters to a comfortable 6 wicket victory.

A hardy few remained in the college bar for many a drop to drink after the game. Thanks go to out-going Jesus skipper Dan Webster who we hope to see turning out for the Jesters on this ground in future seasons!

[Thanks to match manager Ollie Doward for this account]

2nd June - Amersham game rained-off

Unfortunately heavy overnight rain meant our game with Amersham had to be called off.

18th May - Record score at Sawbridgeworth

When the opposition score 234 you think “tough target but could be a good finish”€�. But when one opposition batsman alone scores that many the emotions are rather different.

Yes, 19 year old Harry Jerome put us to the slaughter, coming to the wicket in the second over of the 40-over game we traditionally play at Sawbridgeworth and his 234 is a new club record. Congratulations Harry!

On a beautiful batting wicket, with a short boundary down a slope, we found it difficult to avoid being hit for six or four, and in the end Sawbridgeworth amassed 371-3.

We gave it a good go in response, rocking along at nine an over as the hundred came up with no wickets down. But inevitably wickets tumbled amid the pressure of the chase and we were finally all out for 210 after 30 overs. Sahil Kher led the way with his second century of the season.

A full report will appear here soon once match manager Alex Smith emerges from his darkened room.

14th May - Ed’s Radley Thriller

Radley Rangers 206/9 dec (Chak 3/33, C Smith 3/48)
Jesters 208/7 (Butler 82, Wigmore 33, Willis 30*)
Jesters won by 3 wickets

Match manager Jonny Bridcut tells the story:

Having lost the toss on an unusually not-freezing-cold May day at the beautiful school ground at Radley College, the Jesters were asked to field first; not a problem at all, given our renowned expertise when faced with a tough chase later in the day.

We generally bowled and fielded very well in the opening session, regularly beating the edge and forcing false shots, and particular mention must go to Andy Harris' opening spell of 8-4-9-1.

However, as is so often the case, it took the introduction of DJ Chak into the attack for us to reap our reward, as, with the smell of lunch in the air, he removed both set batsmen to leave the hosts 112/4 at the interval. 

The captain tried several bowling combinations after the break, though it was the return of Chris Smith, bowling well-flighted offies into the gentle Oxfordshire breeze, that caused the most damage, as he ripped through the Rangers' middle order and helped bring about their declaration on 206/9.

Chris had the considerable challenge of filling the shoes of Adnan Mohammed, our veteran leading spinner, following the latter's unfortunate broken finger suffered the day before. However, although unable to bowl, "fingers" proved to be a lethal weapon in the field, pouching a crucial catch at square leg and running out a Ranger who had severely underestimated the wounded soldier's fierce arm.

Despite the early losses of DJ and Louis Harris (who together underpinned our innings in last year's corresponding fixture), home favourite Simon Butler found an ally in Andy Wigmore as the two put on almost 100 for the third wicket.

For the second year in a row, the Jesters looked in total command of the chase. However, 120/2 inevitably became 135/4 and, when Simon charged down the wicket only to play on to his off stump for a fluid 82, the nerves in the Jesters ranks were starting to show.

As the overs ticked by, the run rate required tipped up above a run a ball; the experienced home attack, preparing for tougher challenges to come in the Cricketer Cup, were proving hard to muscle away.

Andy Harris martialled the middle order with some incredible running between the wickets, though not to the amusement of Shorbo Nag, our graceful wicketkeeper more accustomed to DJ's languid style of accumulation, who was rumoured to have joined in the Rangers' celebrations upon Andy's eventual dismissal. 

With 44 needed off 6.3 overs, out strode our hero of the day at number 8, Edmund Willis. Playing his first innings of the season, it only took Ed a few balls before he began peppering the leg-side boundary with flicks off his toes and lofted drives over mid on. The Rangers had no answer. Ed's 30 not out (off 22 balls) took us home with unlikely ease and with more than an over to spare. 

For the third time in five years, the game came down to the last two overs, with all four results still possible. Quite remarkable. We would like to thank the Radley Rangers for their fantastic hospitality, as ever, and we greatly look forward to another closely-fought encounter in 2016.€�

1st May - HAC game cancelled

Sadly we have had to cancel the game on Sunday 3rd May as HAC cannot raise a side. Disappointing - but the weather forecast looks poor so we may well not have played anyway.

26th April - Great win at St John’s

We beat St. John’s College Cambridge by nine wickets, chasing down their 206-7 with five overs to spare.

Star of the show was DJ Chak with 102 not out and 3-41 with the ball. After a century opening partnership with Tony Crockert (retired hurt 29), DJ and Louis Harris (46 not out) knocked off the runs in style.

A full match report will appear here soon.

21st April - Fine start at Streatham & Marlborough

We began the season in style with a convincing 156 run win in Dulwich against Streatham & Marlborough CC. In a 40 over game, Jesters 274-4, Streatham & Marlborough 118 all out.

Opening up, Sahil Kher looked like a man who had been batting all winter. Shots all round the wicket and beautiful timing. With the score on 52 he was joined by Louis Harris, who also looked in fine form, and the pair rocked along at nearly eight an over.

The half-century and century partnerships came and went before Sahil reached his own century off 87 balls. He was promptly run out on the some score with Louis following three runs later for 72. 198-3 in the 32nd over.

After one meaty six from Jackson Locke, our finishers were Alex Smith (36 not out) and Ollie Doward (29 not out) who both did well to maintain the momentum in their first knocks of the season. 274 looked a formidable total but you never quite know on such a fast scoring ground.

Streatham & Marlborough made a solid start (37-1 off 10 overs) but then the wheels came off. After 20 overs they were 77-6 and there was no way back. After some bright hitting from the No.8 they were all out for 118 in the 31st over.

All the Jesters bowlers looked in decent form and the wickets were shared around, James Brown, Noah Hillyard, Adnan Mohammed and Ed Willis taking two apiece.

New member James Brown looks a useful opening bowler. He’ll be particularly pleased with the brisk yorker that cleaned up their skipper - the perfect response to a ramp shot that had just dispatched the ball for four straight over the keeper’s head.

Praise too for skipper Mohammed who marshaled the troops efficiently and resisted all temptation for exotic field placement.

So a nice way to start the season. Many thanks to Streatham & Marlborough who are always great hosts.

9th April - 2015 fixture cards

The 2015 fixture cards were all put in the post before Easter. If you haven’t received yours - whether you’re a member or candidate - please contact John Murphy.

7th April - Highlights of the new season

With the 2015 season about to begin, here are a few dates to put in your diary now.

New fixtures against Bishops Stortford - Ollie Doward’s old club - on 2nd August; Newdigate near Dorking on 20th September - regular opponents of ours until fifteen years ago: and Eversholt in Bedfordshire on 13th September.

The Eversholt match is the Roger Greenslade Memorial Game celebrating Roger’s life and his exploits - on and off the field - for both The Jesters and Eversholt where he played for a number of years.

Don’t forget the Dorset/Hants Tour in early July. Great all day games against Hampshire Hogs, Bryanston Butterflies and Canford Cygnets - on lovely grounds and with fantastic hospitality. If you can’t make the whole thing you’d be very welcome for just one day or two.

For those who think golf is a worthwhile pursuit there’s also the club Golf Day on 9th August. Probably at a course in Surrey although the venue is yet to be decided.

20th November - John Murphy takes charge

At the recent club AGM Nick Mumby stood down as Hon Secretary and was replaced by John Murphy. Thanks for all your hard work Nick - and good luck John. You can read about other committee changes and the annual awards below.

19th November - Report on AGM and Awards

Brasserie Blanc on Chancery Lane was the venue for the annual dinner. 28 Jesters turned-out and a good time was had by all. Ollie Doward should be thanked for putting together an excellent quiz, the result of which is still the matter of dispute.

At the AGM, Nick Mumby stood down as a Hon. Secretary. He was thanked by all for his service. He was replaced by John Murphy, whose previous position of Hon. Treasurer was filled by Chris Smith.

Jonny Bridcut was re-elected as Hon. Match Secretary, as were all other Committee members (Ollie Doward, Louis Harris, Robbie Hudson, Simon Rawson and Andrew Short).

Jonny provided an entertaining summary of the season, and John reported on the Club’s finances which remain in a healthy state.

The highlight of the award ceremony at the dinner was the unveiling of the new Roger Greenslade Trophy for the “most Jester-like” performance of the season. The annual awards were presented at the dinner:

Arnold Woods Trophy (best performance of the season) to Nick Gregori for his match-winning 86 against Carnegie

Roger Greenslade Trophy to Adnan Mohammad for the distinction of being dismissed caught and bowled from a delivery that bounced twice

Michael Meyer Award for big-hitting went to Jackson Locke for his enormous six at the Hurlingham Club

10th October - AGM & Dinner

The 2014 AGM and Dinner will take place on Friday 14th November at Brasserie Bl;anc in Chancery Lane. See here for full details and how to book your place.

14th September - Perfect ending at Barnes Common

A stone’s throw from the heart of sophisticated Barnes Village lies Barnes Common cricket ground, a delightful throwback to the rustic origins of the game. No changing rooms, no sightscreens, a rough looking square and a ground surrounded completely by trees.

The Jesters’ end of season pilgrimage to these sylvan groves traditionally involves a hard fought game against Barnes Common CC, and 2014 was no exception. 35 overs a side – and a bright orange ball for visibility against the trees. 

In truth the square plays much better than it looks. But a shooter or snorter is rarely far away – at least in the batsman’s mind – which produces exciting cricket as the runs need to be scored quickly before the unplayable delivery arrives.

So with Jackson Locke striding to the crease expectations were high. But sadly it was not to be as he quickly became the day’s first lbw victim. He was soon followed by skipper Louis Harris, bowled by something shooterish. Then Ollie Doward, for the second game running, was pinned lbw when well down the track. 21-3.

Chris Smith had been batting serenely at the other end and was now joined by Alex Smith for what we hoped would be the innings-rebuilding partnership. Both stylish batsmen – and left-handed, which seemed to infuriate the opposition – they put together an attractive half century partnership before Alex fell for 30.

A third left-hander, the veteran Short, then appeared. Annoyed by what he considered – probably wrongly – the opposition’s excessive appealing he was in an especially grumpy mood and took limpet-like residence at the crease. They shall not pass.

The following passage of play was a batting masterclass from Chris. He appeared to be playing on a different surface from the rest of us. But it was actually a triumph of technique over the conditions. Watch the ball. Play late. Wait for the right ball and hit it hard into the gaps.

The score had more than doubled when Chris was out for a superb 80. We were now 154-5 in the 29th over – a strong position but with late impetus needed to give us a defendable total.

This duly came from Noah Hillyard (a run-a-ball 14) and Nick Gregori (13 from 5 balls). Even Short remembered a few shots he once used to play. 203 for 7 was definitely competitive.

When we took the field it was Ollie Doward who gamely strapped on the pads as we had no regular keeper in the side. Thanks Ollie. He was faced with an opening attack of Noah Hillyard and Phil Berman.

One of the great pleasures of playing for the Jesters this summer has been watching Phil’s bowling. Week-in week-out he glides in and at no great pace baffles batsmen with cunning variations of late swing. And so he did again today, bowling his seven over allocation straight through for only 17 runs and taking two wickets, both lbw. At the other end Noah also took two, one clean bowled plus another lbw.

Barnes Common were soon five wickets down for 30-odd but with their Australian skipper still at the crease we couldn’t take victory for granted. He looked a fine batsman and struck several powerful boundaries. Our change bowlers would need to maintain the pressure.

This they did, both Nick Gregori and Nick Mumby bowling tight spells. Finding sharp turn the Hon Sec was particularly unlucky to take only two wickets. Sonia Twigg also bowled a useful spell. With one extremely flighted delivery she nearly reproduced Spedegue’s Dropper, bowling the batsman on the full toss. Sadly, in these more restrictive times, it was called no-ball.

But what gave us most pleasure in the field was our ground fielding. Or, to be more specific, our ability to throw down the stumps with direct hits (as unlikely as that might sound to seasoned Jesters-watchers). We ran out two batsmen this way and should have had a third!

Skipper Louis Harris was the first Jonty, running round from slip as the batsmen tried to sneak a single with the ball dribbling towards fine leg. Nick Gregori was the second, swooping from the covers. Phil Berman also scored a direct hit with the batsman short of his ground, but it was ruled not out as Ollie had accidentally knocked off the bails with his pads moments before. Otherwise Ollie put in a fantastic performance behind the stumps, with several terrific leg-side takes.

By now we were so totally in control – 145-8 after 32 overs – that the skipper felt able to slip himself on for a bowl at the tail. His first delivery disappeared over cow corner for four; the second cleaned bowled the batsman; while the third had the number 11 plumb lbw. Fitting reward for having led the troops so well.

So a 54 run victory. Well done everyone. A lovely game, Jester-like performances all round, and the first signs of autumn gold spreading through the sylvan groves of Barnes Common. 

As one Jester put it in a post-match email, “Perfect Ending”.

1st September - Last over drama at Bray

On a beautiful late summer afternoon at Maidenhead & Bray the Jesters fielded first in a 40 over game after skipper Adnan Mohammed lost the toss.

Late season games at Bray are rarely high scoring affairs, generally played on rather tired surfaces that have been used for the previous day’s league match. Even as few as 150 can be a tricky chase. So we knew early wickets would be important in keeping down the runs.

Phil Berman duly obliged taking three quick wickets to reduce them to 20-3. His opening partner, Jonny Bridcut, was battling the effects of a very late night and his bowling did not perhaps have its usual zip. But when Jonny clean bowled the Maidenhead number three we were in the driving seat at 40-4.

There followed a battling 50-run partnership that swung the game back towards our opponents. Skipper Mohammed set interesting fields in an attempt to finesse a wicket (or, as some claimed, to confound his bowlers) and the Jesters laid their bodies on the line in the field.

John Murphy was particularly in the wars. A massive blow on the thumb while fielding at short extra cover was soon followed by another when bowling, a tracer bullet coming straight back at him in his follow through and leaving a deep impression on his thigh.

Three quick wickets from DJ Chak turned the game yet again before an annoying 30-run partnership for the eighth wicket. Then the final three wickets tumbled in an instant and Maidenhead had been bowled out for 148. Certainly a chaseable total but far from straightforward on the slow surface. DJ finished with the splendid figures of 6-2-11-5.

Ollie Doward was playing his first Jesters game for twelve months and in the field we realised just how much we had missed him. He clung on to two tremendous catches – plus an easier third – a howitzer shell in the covers and an immense steepler on the long-on boundary made all the trickier by the ball disappearing into the sun as it returned from orbit.

In pursuit of 149 for victory, the veteran Short was dismissed for a sketchy 20 before the real batters went to work. But at 46-3 in the 15th over it seemed there was still much work to be done, especially with John Murphy perhaps unable to bat because of his damaged thumb.

Louis Harris and Ollie then chiselled out a crucial 48 run partnership, largely against a very promising young leggie who flighted the ball beautifully and a cunning slow-medium pacer who bowled his eight overs for only nine runs. Both batsmen fell around the 100 mark, Ollie amusingly adjudged LBW when yards down the pitch (the keeper later apologised for appealing). Louis scored 33 and Ollie 24.

The score was now 105-5, but such had been the difficulty of run-making that only 7 overs remained to score the remaining 44 runs. In other words we needed to double our scoring rate to win the game.

Fortunately the new batsman was DJ, batting down the order because of his earlier bowling achievements. He proceeded to stroke the ball around with calm authority and – with help from Rufus Frere-Smith and then the skipper – the total mounted. Eight from the 37th over, seven from the 38th, six from the 39th. Just four to win from the final over - and DJ on strike.

Veteran Maidenhead skipper Matt Armstrong brought up the field to cut out the easy single and DJ took up the challenge going over mid-off for the winning boundary. Unfortunately he didn’t quite get the elevation and mid-off took a comfortable catch. Five balls remaining. Still four to win. A crucial 23 from DJ.

Cue mild panic in the pavilion and rapid reassessment of the batting order. John Murphy decided he could just about hold a bat after all, and with his striking ability was sent in next. He biffed his first ball wide of mid-on for two and his second in the same direction for a single. Three balls remaining. Scores level. Skipper Mohammed on strike.

The fielders crept ever so slightly closer. A man came in to stop the easy leg-bye off the pads. Dot ball. Two balls remaining. Scores level. Skipper Mohammed on strike.

The fifth ball was slightly straighter and slightly shorter, and Adnan managed to turn it behind square on the leg side. In fact he’d struck it really sweetly and it sped away for four. We’d won! By 3 wickets. A nervy run chase in best Jesters tradition.

Many thanks to Maidenhead & Bray for their excellent hospitality. It really is a great pleasure to play on such a beautiful ground against a club who still take traditional Sunday cricket seriously.

23rd August - Rikki-Tikki-Middleton Stoney

We lost an enjoyable and hard-fought game at Middleton Stoney by 4 wickets, succumbing to a brutal assault from a Mongoose MMi3.

Match manager John Murphy explains:

“After a wet week in Oxfordshire, we were happy to be able to start on time. Jesters won the toss, and opted to bat first on a surprisingly dry pitch. We got off to a steady start, although the wet outfield meant some good shots were not fully rewarded.

“The star of the Jesters innings was newly-wed Louis Harris who made a very impressive 70. Other valuable contributions were made by Fred Price and Rufus Frere-Smith.

“It became increasingly easy to score as we approached tea, and, whilst at one stage we would have been happy with our 164, it started to look less strong as the game progressed.

“The Middleton Stoney innings could not have started better for the Jesters, with Phil Berman and John Murphy claiming wickets in their first overs leaving the opposition 0 for 2.

“An innings by R. Simpson then turned the game. Batting with a short bladed bat (the aforementioned Mongoose, Ed.), he smashed the Jesters seamers all around the ground (now with a fast outfield), reaching his fifty in just 30 balls. Adnan Mohammad and Louis Harris applied the brakes somewhat, and when Adnan bowled Simpson for 72 thoughts of a Jesters victory returned.

“With the score at 118 for 6 it could have gone either way. However, a very sensible unbeaten partnership between M. Simpson and D. Clark took the opposition to victory.

“Thanks for Middleton Stoney for an excellent game, and their usual great hospitality.”

9th August - Ashtead game cancelled

Unfortunately yet another Sunday game has been cancelled, Ashtead having managed to accidentally double book the 7th September. Always sad not to play at Ashtead as it is our oldest continuous fixture dating back to the 1930s.

9th August - Cuckfield: Rufus returns

We spent another enjoyable day at Cuckfield experiencing their usual excellent Cricket Week hospitality. This year the result went against us, losing by 56 runs after they declared with as many as 302-5.

The day was perhaps most notable for the return of Rufus Frere-Smith, playing his first Jesters game for twelve years after a spell living in the Far East. Welcome back Rufus!

Jesters won the toss and elected to chase as is traditional in this fixture. A very short boundary on the pavilion side made the ground even more fast scoring than usual and we leaked runs from the start.

Freddie Garth bowled a brisk opening spell downhill and was unlucky to take just one wicket. He was well supported by a tight eight overs up hill from Simon Rigby.

But after that the wheels rather fell off. Several bowlers struggled manfully to bowl up hill with the short leg-side boundary and their figures don’t make pretty reading. We dropped the big-hitting number three early in his innings and again before he finally went for 95. And at lunch Cuckfield were more than 150-3.

The assault continued after the break. Finally, when a second batsman was out in the nineties with the score on 282 we assumed the declaration had arrived. Twenty runs later it actually did.

It would be fair to say we set off in pursuit of this substantial target in hope rather than expectation. The scale of our task was reinforced when Cuckfield’s overseas player - Nick Beard a New Zealand “A” slow left-armer - was introduced into the attack with our score barely 30-0. 

Sakib Ikram batted beautifully for 64 but once he went we lost wickets at regular intervals without ever being up with the required run rate. Rob Dancey (29), Tom Bell (23), Rufus Frere-Smith (23) and Nick Beck (37) all started promisingly without going on to play the major innings we required.

We were finally all out for 246 when Beard castled the skipper for a golden duck. Perhaps a fitting end to a rather one-sided encounter.

28th July - Rickling Green game cancelled

Sadly Rickling Green are unable to raise a side so the game on Sunday 3rd August has been canceled.

28th July - Good victory at Roehampton

Always one of the most enjoyable games of the season, we had another very pleasant afternoon on Putney Heath against Roehampton CC.

It was one of those days when everything seemed to go right for us while the opposition were rather unlucky. Roehampton won the toss and batted, making 106. We eventually won by 8 wickets. Many thanks to Roehampton for their excellent hospitality.

Skipper Robbie Hudson shares his thoughts on proceedings:

“The clear highlight of this game was Roehampton's number eleven smacking Adnan Mohammed through long on with immense authority. A young woman was lying in the sun reading a book. Everyone shouted out to warn her. She paid no attention. The ball crashed into her bare shoulder. She barely reacted. She watched the ball roll down towards her feet and went back to her book.

“John Twigg or possibly Matt Williamson picked up the ball and chucked it back in. The woman never looked up from her book. The slip cordon couldn't take their eyes off her for about ten minutes. Would she, at least, go for a rub? Nothing. It was a very impressive display.

“Other points of interest, Jackson Locke's first spell in twenty years showed a bustly sort of hooping inswing - the missing link between Bridcut and Twigg, if you will, on the way to Andrew Short.

“Short's mesmeric 'seamers' dealt with two very decent Roehampton batters, and another who might have been good but went to his first legitimate ball after watching a pair of teasing wides. The idea that this could be called a golden duck practically blew Jackson Locke's mind. Their number three also went first ball, this time to Mohammed, caught Short, very sharply to his left side, at slip.

“Dan Jordan and Mike Palmer, a hockey-heavy opening partnership, looked entirely untroubled until a poor captaincy decision - the skipper reminded Palmer that the Michael Meyer trophy could be in play if he landed a ball on Dan Jordan's car and Mike instantly played a shot which would have cleared the car handily if he had connected, but he didn't and was out (for 30).

“As for the specifics: Roehampton, with a longer batting line-up than they have often had, got out pretty much every time they played a false stroke and fell to 106 in the sultry summer heat. Berman (3-31), Mohammed (3-8), Locke, Short (3-18) and Willis all bowled well, and the Jesters didn't give the very sporting wicket a chance to cause any middle-order wobbles. Dan Jordan scored the first of, hopefully, many Jesters fifties (60*). He had dropped a sitter, so he owed it.”

23rd July - Bedouins bounce back

We put in a lacklustre performance at the lovely Ascott Park ground enabling the Bedouins to gain revenge for defeats in the previous two seasons.

Performance of the day came from Saif Zaib who had bowled us to victory at Bryanston last year. Unfortunately he was playing today for the Bedouins so we weren’t able to appreciate his 88 as we otherwise might. No one else scored more than 18 in their total of 174 so it really was a crucial innings.

In reply a decent Jesters batting line up collapsed to 34-5 and after that there was no way back. Nick Gregori (34) and Adnan Mohammed (30) took us to 99-6 but we then folded to 114 all out. Not one of our better days.

16th July - Close finish with Carnegie

New opponents Carnegie gave us an excellent game on their Wandsworth ground, the Jesters sneaking home by 10 runs.

Your correspondent wasn’t present at the match. But from the scorebook it seems we owe a huge debt to Nick Gregori who smote a swift 86, rescuing our innings from a perilous position.

In a 40 over game the Jesters batted first. Mssrs Chak, Dancey, Harris and Mohammed all made double figures but no one went on to play a major innings. Wickets slipped away and we found ourselves 86-6 in the 18th over.

Cue Nick Gregori who strode to the crease at number eight. 21 overs later we were bowled out for 228, Nick’s being the final wicket to fall. En route he had walloped four sixes and eleven fours. Well done Nick!

In response, Carnegie began well. The first wicket fell at 90 in only the 17th over and the second at 149 in the 26th. After that it was nip and tuck all the way with DJ Chak taking three wickets (for 38) and Rob Dancey two (for 16). Carnegie eventually closed on 218-7 just ten runs short. The crucial over looks to have been the 39th, a wicket maiden from Rob Dancey.

10th July - Dorset Tour 2014

The 2014 tour began with an excellent 52 run victory over a good Hampshire Hogs side.

On a fresh summer’s morning at the pretty Warnford ground skipper Simon Rawson elected to bat after winning the toss. It looked a decent batting surface but with a touch of green to keep the seamers interested.

59 overs later we had amassed 258-7. The innings was built around a superb 147 run partnership for the second wicket between DJ Chak (66), continuing his good mid-season form, and Sajid Zaib who completed a commanding century, finishing on 136.

Jonny Bridcut steamed in down the hill, reducing the Hogs to 35-3 in a penetrating opening spell (8-2-19-3). They recovered to 134-4 before losing three wickets for one run and the game seemed up. But a hard hit 41* from the number nine kept the game in the balance until Will Russell took two key wickets with his leg-breaks. Having faced the first ball of the game, DJ Chak then closed proceedings in style, castling the Hogs’ number eleven.

Many thanks to the Hogs for a great day. We look forward to returning next year.

Against Bryanston Butterflies the skipper again chose to bat, this time rather more controversially on a used wicket with a large damp patch on a length where overnight rain had seeped under the covers.

The Butterflies unleashed the rapid Teddington 1st XI opening bowler who took two early wickets. The damp patch produced another and at 20-3 our rather thin batting line up was exposed. We finally crawled to 137 all out, Sajid again top scoring, this time with 37.

By now the wicket had died and was slow and low. It offered sometimes extravagant turn for Will Russell who bowled throughout the Butterflies’ innings, finishing with 3-54 from 19 overs. But the lack of pace or bounce and patient batting from the Butterflies’ top order meant the result was never in doubt. We finally lost by 6 wickets.

Thanks to the Butterflies for their generous hospitality. It was pointed out to us in the bar afterwards that this was the first time we had lost at Bryanston for a number of years, so perhaps we shouldn’t feel too bad about a disappointing performance. But we will look to play better next year.

Remarkably, the skipper again won the toss next day at Canford. This time his decision met with general approval - to bowl on what was a very green wicket. 

The Canford Cygnets were soon 40-5 and all seemed well with the world. Surely it would be no more than 120-odd all out and, with the pitch easing, a straightforward victory. But somehow we contrived to take our foot off the gas and the Cygnets even had the luxury of a declaration at 212-9. Perhaps bodies were flagging after two days (and two nights) on tour. Our bowling hero was John Murphy with splendid figures of 13-5-34-5. Liam Donaldson also bowled a couple of good spells taking three wickets.

In response we were well placed at 95-2, with 40 from Neil Weston and Sajid again going well. But then our own George Shepherd, keeping for the Cygnets, turned the game, brilliantly stumping Saj off a brisk seamer who was swinging the ball late.

That stunning dismissal prompted a collapse and we soon found ourselves 106-7. The Cygnets had a useful seam attack and it was difficult for new batsmen to maintain the required run rate without taking risks. We were eventually dismissed for 153, the end of our innings enlivened by a brisk 41* from John Murphy that included ten fours.

Sad to relate we also lost the evening’s “boat race” for the umpteenth time in this fixture. But otherwise it was a great day out and many thanks to the Cygnets for being such good hosts. Lunch, tea and the post-match barbecue were a delight.

Finally, many, many thanks to Simon Rawson for organising the whole tour and skippering so valiantly. And thanks to everyone who played. It really is a huge shame that more Jesters can’t find it within themselves to take a day’s holiday to support the club in these great fixtures. Perhaps next year.

30th June - Hurlingham success

Hurlingham 179 all out
Jesters 183/3
Jesters won by 7 wickets

Match manager Jonny Bridcut describes the day:

“The Jesters were asked to have a bowl first on an unusually green Hurlingham wicket, to which the visitors’ attack responded well despite the occasional tendency to overpitch.

“Noah Hillyard’s debut in this fixture got off to a flying start as he ripped out the off stump with his first ball, in only the second over of the match. After the first hour the home side had slipped to 45/3 after further wickets courtesy of Messrs Harty and Bridcut. However, the hour before lunch was dominated by an increasingly assured fourth wicket partnership of 90, featuring several meaty blows into the manicured Hurlingham rose beds.

“The fielding highlight of the morning session was a dogged chase by Louis Harris to the deep midwicket boundary, in a desperate attempt to aid Adnan Mohammed’s ailing bowling figures, only to mistime his dive at the crucial moment and, in doing so, trip himself up right in front of a highly amused Harris Senior. Louis never quite recovered.

“Just at the point when the hosts were pulling away, the skipper turned to the part-time slow medium of Simon Butler, who rolled back the years and removed the chief protagonist’s middle stump with his second ball. With another wicket falling in the following over, thanks to a wonderful flying grab by Shorbo Nag off a very quick delivery, the Jesters strolled off to lunch with the score at 137/5.

“Whatever DJ Chak feasted on during the interval remains a mystery. Given the responsibility of opening up after the break, he proceeded to take three wickets in two overs without conceding a run. With Andy Wigmore’s assistance from the other end, Hurlingham collapsed to 146/9. However, a spritely last wicket partnership, defying ever-aggressive field placings, ensured a slight recovery to 179 all out. DJ finished with the remarkable figures of 3-3-0-3.

“In pursuit of 180, the Jesters lost an unusual early wicket as Simon, a centurion in this fixture in each of the past three years, launched into a cover drive but forgot to thread it past the cover fieldsman. However, Louis Harris, no doubt sympathetic with the fashion of the early dismissal, and DJ carefully constructed a solid platform for the chase, before allowing Jackson Locke and Andy Wigmore to enter the arena and unfurl a wonderful array of attacking intent (if you can have an array of intent) to all parts of the ground.

“Jackson reached his fifty off just 29 balls, one of which disappeared on the full into the shrubbery beyond the pavilion, a certain contender for biggest hit of the summer and one of which Craig MacMillan himself would have been proud.

“With 8 needed for victory, and Andy needing 11 for his fifty, nothing could hinder the control that these two had on the match and, with one run required, Andy lofted a cover drive into the boundary boards to bring up his own fine half century from just 40 balls.

“Many thanks, as ever, to the Hurlingham Club for their superb hospitality. This fixture is always a highlight of the season and we very much look forward to returning in 2015.”

26th June - Pink Elephants

We recorded a great victory at Vincent Square against the Pink Elephants, winning by 6 wickets after dismissing them for just 91.

The Pink Elephants won the toss and chose to bat, but were bowled out in exactly 29 overs. The wickets were shared around: Bridcut (5-1-16-3), Chak (5-1-16-2), Noah Hillyard (6-2-8-2), L. Harris (5-1-21-2), plus a run out.

The Jesters knocked off the runs in 21.1 overs, 20 to 'keeper Sahil Kher, a classy 40* from Matt Williamson (off 52 balls, including 8 fours), and the winning runs from Rob Dancey (18* off 10 balls).

A good all round performance - and we’ve already been invited back next year. Many thanks to the Pink Elephants for their great hospitality.

24th June - SLICC

We beat SLICC by 53 runs.

Jesters 199 all out (40 overs)
N. Hillyard 52, E. Hart 24, S. Packer 4-50, P. Shepherd 3-43

SLICC 146 all out (30.5 overs)
Mohammad 4-31, Murphy 2-6, Berman 2-31

Skipper John Murphy explains what happened:

“On a glorious June afternoon in South West London, Jesters captain John Murphy had no hesitation in batting first against SLICC. His decision soon looked questionable, as the Jesters lost wickets steadily falling to 108 for 7.

“Noah Hillyard and Ed Hart then formed a superb 80 run partnership for the eighth wicket. Noah was dismissed for 52 off 60 balls, and the Jesters were bowled out for 199 from the last ball of the 40 over innings.

“Our score was respectable, but against big-hitting opponents on a fast outfield, victory was by no means certain.

“Jonny Bridcut opened the bowling delivering some unplayable deliveries in his eight over spell, claiming 1 for 23. Runs came from the other end however, and SLICC quickly reached 51 for 1. Adnan Mohammad then applied the brakes to their innings, before starting to rip through the middle order. SLICC were in trouble at 84 for 7.

“A fifty run partnership between Messrs Packer and Jenkins then brought SLICC back into the game, with the Jesters struggling to finish off the innings. Phil Berman bowled well, and was unlucky to finish with just two wickets. Mohammad (who ended up with figures of 4 for 31) and Murphy then claimed the final breakthroughs, and the Jesters won by 53 runs.

“Thanks to SLICC for an enjoyable occasion which we look forward to repeating next year.”

19th June - Emphatic victory at Sutton

Jesters 259-8 (40 overs)
Sutton 70 all out (31 overs)

Match manager Chris Smith tells the story.

“The Jesters recorded an emphatic victory over Sutton after a masterclass of an innings from DJ Chak.

“After choosing to bat first Jesters' openers DJ Chak and Jackson Locke made the most of the helpful conditions by plundering an opening partnership of 46 in no time.

“The Jesters lost regular wickets however in the middle order with Locke, Louis Harris, Adnan Mohammed and Jonny Bridcut all guilty of getting starts and then getting out.

“Particular mention should be given to the dismissals of Bridcut and Mohammed. Firstly Bridcut hit a long hop straight to the man at mid wicket who managed to catch the ball without using his hands. Then to follow Mohammed managed to hit a ball that bounced twice straight to the bowler.

“Despite all this Chak remained calm, scoring runs all around the wicket in sublime fashion as he raced his way to 121 from just 133 balls. He was supported well at the end by Robbie Hudson who hit a quick 31 in a 60 run partnership with DJ for the 8th wicket. This led to a formidable total of 259-8.

“The Sutton innings started in bizarre fashion. A fired up Bridcut charged in and slightly missed his attempted yorker, which struck the opening batsman on the shoulder (albeit it may have hit the stumps!). The batsman retired hurt immediately.

“Bridcut and Sean Oliver then set about the Sutton top order, bowling with good pace and much swing. Bridcut finished with 5 overs 1-11 and Oliver 2-12 from his 5 overs.

“The Sutton innings never really recovered from losing early wickets and Phil Berman and Nick Mumby soon had the middle order in knots. Phil's spell was perhaps the most unlucky spell of bowling you may see with edges falling short, balls looping over fielders and the odd dropped chance! His 8 overs cost just 21 runs.

“At the other end Nick Mumby bowled with guile and a good amount of spin. Nick's figures of 8-3-10-3 accurately reflect the control and threat that he provided.

“All that was left was for Louis Harris to steal the show with two wickets in three overs and the Jesters had cruised to a 189 run victory. A splendid effort.

“Many thanks to Sutton for their hospitality and we look forward to the fixture again in 2015.”

10th June - Jesus College Cambridge

Unfortunately a deluge on the morning of the game meant our match at Jesus was called off.

4th June - Amersham

We lost by 48 runs against a very strong Amersham side, our own side suffering from several late drop outs. We bowled and fielded incredibly well to dismiss them for 143 but them succumbed to 95 all out. A full report will appear here soon.

25th May - Chobham game cancelled

Unfortunately Chobham have had to cancel the game with us on Sunday 24th August. A rearranged cup game has had the knock-on effect of forcing the rearrangement of a Sunday league fixture to that date. We can hardly complain as we canceled on Chobham last year when we were unable to raise a side.

18th May - Last over glory at Sawbridgeworth

For the second week running a Jesters run chase went down to the final over. This time we held our nerve with Noah Hillyard biffing the fourth ball back over the bowler’s head for the winning runs.

In a 40 over game, our 206-7 played Sawbridgeworth’s 205 all out. Highlights of Jesters in the field were Chris Smith’s 8 overs for 17 runs and a magnificent all round fielding performance (yes, really). Highlight of our innings was a 22 ball fifty from new player Jackson Locke.

Hopefully a full report will appear here soon - and in the meantime you can see the scorecard on the Sawbridgeworth website.

13th May - Nailbiting finish at Radley

Radley Rangers: 181 all out
Jesters CC: 179 all out
Radley Rangers won by 2 runs

Match manager Jonny Bridcut reports:

“As the final over began, all four results were possible. The Jesters needed five runs to win. The Radley Rangers needed one wicket. On strike was one of the Jesters’ players of the decade, Adnan Mohammed. Armed with the ball was JWM Dalrymple, former Glamorgan captain and holder of 27 One Day International caps for England.

“The first ball was eased through the offside for a scampered two. The second a patient dot. The third was fired in flat and quicker, teasing Adnan’s appetite for a pull, before cannoning into the middle stump. The Rangers had somehow snatched an unlikely victory from the jaws of what had appeared an inevitable defeat.

“Earlier in the day, having lost the toss, the Jesters had bowled and fielded with great intensity. Wickets were initially hard to come by, despite the accuracy and endeavour of the visitors’ seamers, and the Rangers appeared well set when 90/2 a few minutes before lunch.

“However, they had not accounted for the wily expertise of Adnan Mohammed, who used all his cunning to pin Dalrymple in front of all three and then, on the stroke of the interval, have a further lbw appeal upheld to reduce the hosts to 94/4 off 31 overs in the morning session.

 “Wickets and boundaries came in equal measure after the break, and the Rangers found their way to 181 all out, with Adnan taking a richly deserved 5/35 from 15 overs. 

“Particular mention must also be made of Shorbo Nag’s glovemanship, which was lauded early in the game by Jamie Dalrymple. Lovely hands Shorbo.

“Two hours later, in pursuit of 182 to win, the Jesters had built a surely infallible platform of 126/2. The chase had been set up by a faultless opening partnership of 62 between DJ Chak and Chris Smith.

“DJ went on to score a fine 73, which included several terrific drives and cuts off an impressive home attack, and even featured a highly ambitious reverse sweep off Dalrymple (which trickled harmlessly along the floor to one of two close fielders on the offside…). 

“However, this was a position that the Jesters are well accustomed to but one which we very rarely master. Today proved no exception. Once DJ fell, with 56 to get, it was only Louis Harris that stood up to be counted with a swashbuckling 41, though just when we needed only 16 runs with 5 wickets in hand, he fell on his sword as he deposited a gentle half-tracker down the throat of deep mid-wicket in a very uncharacteristic manner. 

“Wickets then proceeded to tumble in unfortunate and mysterious ways as the pressure took hold. As the fateful final over began, all that stood between Adnan and glory was a former England off-spinner, though the Jesters’ hero from earlier in the day could not quite single-handedly carry the rest of his teammates over the line.

“Many thanks to the Rangers for a fantastic game and for their wonderful hospitality as ever.  We look forward to hopefully returning in 2015.”

9th May - HAC in the sunshine

HAC 228-9 (35 overs)
Jesters 201-8 (35 overs)

“The Jesters were delighted to return to Armoury House on Bank Holiday Monday to take on the Honourable Artillery Company. The ground looked a picture in the early summer sun, and the ground staff had done excellent work in preparing what looked a very good wicket.

“Jesters lost the toss and were sent out to field. Sean Oliver and debutant Jake Smyth started brightly, beating the bat and finding the edge consistently through the opening overs. Both benefitted from the prowess of Adnan Mohammed who took two sharp chances, and ended with two wickets each.

“Sadly a number of other chances were either spilled or didn't go to hand, and a partnership of 67 for the 3rd wicket at more than a run a ball threatened to take the game away from us. Tight bowling from Adnan Mohammed (2-27) regained some control, but we never quite managed to stop the flow of runs. A total of 228-9 from 35 overs looked a good score.

“The response started in stark contrast and 2 maidens in the first three overs sent the required rate over 7. Despite some lusty blows from Harrison Folland (19) and DJ Chak (37), we never quite got on top of their slow bowlers, who were increasingly difficult to get away.

“A useful off-spinner had come on first change and cut off our top order finishing with 4-27 from his seven overs. A fifth wicket fell immediately after his spell and with the run rate continuing to mount the prospects weren’t good.

“The arrival of Jake Smyth prompted a renewed sense of urgency and whilst he and Adnan were at the crease, it looked like we might get close. Their partnership of 70 from 7 overs, of which Jake contributed 54 (including 4 sixes), was abruptly ended when Adnan smashed the ball straight back down the wicket only for it to clatter into the stumps via the unknowing bowler's boot.

“Adnan (35) carried on the onslaught and put on 39 with skipper Nick Mumby, but by now the run rate was beyond us, and we fell 27 runs short.”

Thanks to Nick Mumby for this account.

4th May - Cambridge weekend 2014

You may be wondering why there is no Cambridge weekend this year. It’s because the students no longer want to play us on the first bank holiday weekend in May but told us too late for this year’s games to be rescheduled. In future we hope to play the games on the preceding or following weekend.

The Sunday of the bank holiday weekend has recently become a “tradition” among Cambridge undergraduates. Known as “Suicide Sunday” it is the last drinking day before exams and seems to have become a huge Cambridge-wide party.

1st May - Season opens at Streatham

The 2014 season began with a 52 run victory at Streatham & Marlborough CC in a 40 over game.

Skipper Adnan Mohammed won the toss and decided to bat on what looked a decent, if slow, early season wicket. New member Harrison Folland and Andrew Short opened.

Harrison dominated the attack from the start and looked highly capable all round the wicket. With powerful straight driving and a couple of sixes over mid-wicket he moved to a brisk half century and eventually fell for 56.

We were well placed at 68-0 but quickly slipped to 89-4. James Douse and Sahil Kher, another new member, steadied the ship with Sahil making an elegant and controlled 51. Down the order everyone chipped in with some late hitting and we eventually closed on 205-9 which seemed a good total in the conditions.

A keen student of the IPL, skipper Mohammed opened with one over of spin (himself) before bringing on the seamers.

Our third debutant, Noah Hillyard, flogged some life from the slow surface and took a couple of wickets. At the other end Phil Berman bowled a beautiful spell of controlled, late swing and finished with the remarkable figures of 8-2-15-2. Champagne moment was a slick leg-side stumping by Sahil who stood up to Phil throughout.

Alex Smith, given a rare outing with the ball, continued the good work taking 1-29 from his six overs.

We were steadily working our way through the Streatham batting line up, but it had begun drizzling after tea and we were soon bowling with a very wet ball. Cue the leg-spinner.

Louis Harris’s three overs were, to say the least, eventful and his figures were in their own way just as remarkable as Phil’s, 3-0-23-3. Unplayable deliveries, long hops, a dropped catch, full tosses, more unplayable deliveries.

One chest-high full toss gave a catch to Phil Berman at short fine leg, prompting a lengthy delay while the umpires debated if the delivery was a no ball or not. The Laws say not, but the playing conditions of many competitions - including the Surrey Championship - have been amended so that all full tosses above waist height are deemed no balls. At the time we were unaware of these subtleties, but they do seem to have been the source of the confusion.

The batsman was eventually given out. His replacement reached the crease only to discover he had left-hander’s gloves by mistake. Another delay followed while he found the right pair - only for him to be immediately LBW to a Harris wonderball.

As batsmen came and went, the Streatham & Marlborough 1st XI captain remained at the crease seemingly scoring at will. He was eventually joined by their number 10 who played a sensible supporting role that belied his place in the order. With the total ticking over the target began to seem less distant.

Order was restored by DJ Chak, cunningly held in reserve until this moment. Unleashed, he dismissed the Streatham captain caught and bowled and then rounded off the innings to finish with 2.4-0-6-2.

Many thanks to Streatham & Marlborough for their hospitality. The tea was one of the best and there was a good turn out in the bar afterwards. We wish them luck with fundraising for the new pavilion.

25th April - HAC game rearranged

The cancelled HAC game has been rearranged for the upcoming bank holiday Monday, 5th May. Same venue, same start time.

14th April - HAC game cancelled

Unfortunately the HAC ground is still unfit for play after the dreadful winter and they have cancelled all their fixtures before May - including our game on Sat 26 April.

3rd April - Roger Greenslade

Our old friend Roger Greenslade passed away peacefully last month, losing his long battle with lung cancer on 4th March. Our thoughts and sympathies are with Tamsin, George and Eliza at this difficult time.

Roger first played for the Jesters as long ago as 1986. In his younger days he was a quite brilliant fielder, and into his fifties still a handy keeper and attacking batsman.

But above all it is as a friend and team mate that we’ll remember Roger: one of the friendliest people you could ever have in your side, always up for a chat – with Jesters or the opposition – and with a huge capacity for enjoying life.

We have published a longer tribute elsewhere on this site - and you can also read his obituary in The Guardian.

There will be a celebration of Roger’s life on Saturday 12th April at Crouch End Cricket Club, starting at 3pm. I’m sure many Jesters will be there, so do join us if you can.

4th February - 2014 nets at Lord’s

Pre-season nets are booked as usual at the Lord’s indoor school.

The first is Tuesday 25th Feb and after that every Tuesday until 8th April. All sessions are 7-8pm.

Exact dates are: 25 Feb, March 4, 11, 18 & 25, April 1 & 8.

The cost is £9.00 per person per session. And the usual rule applies: if you cancel and we are unable to find a replacement you will be charged. Contact Andrew Short to book your place.

20th November - John Burmester new club President

We are delighted John Burmester has agreed to become our new Club President. John is a Jester through-and-through, having first played for the club in the late 1960s and serving as Hon Sec during the late 70s and early 80s.

20th November - AGM and annual dinner

The Jugged Hare proved to be an excellent new venue - a smart private dining room downstairs from a lively pub. The turnout of only 25 Jesters and guests was a little disappointing. But a good time was most certainly had by all.

At the AGM, Robin Atkins handed over as Club President to John Burmester. Matt Williamson stood down from the committee while all other members were re-elected. Chris Smith and Louis Harris were proposed as new committee members and duly elected.

The club’s finances remain in a good state, with John Murphy having once again made heroic efforts to chase up unpaid annual subscriptions. It would make John’s life so much less painful if more members would set up an annual payment from their bank account.

The annual awards were presented at the dinner to:

Arnold Woods Trophy (best performance of the season) to Simon Butler for his century in little more than 50 balls at Hurlingham.

Jester of the Year: the award for the “most Jester-like” performance went to Jonny Bridcut for cracking two of Ollie Doward’s ribs during Club Day - following up a mean bouncer with a perfectly directed beamer. 

Michael Meyer Award for big-hitting went to Nick Mumby for the straight six he launched back over Louis Harris’s head during Club Day.

10th October - Dinner venue announced

The AGM and annual dinner will take place at The Jugged Hare on Chiswell Street near the Barbican. Please contact Nick Mumby to book your place and John Murphy to arrange payment (by cheque or transfer into our bank account). Full details are:

Date - Friday 15 November 2013

Venue - The Jugged Hare, 49 Chiswell Street, London EC1Y 4SA

Time - 6:45pm for the AGM / 7:45pm for dinner

Replies by - Thursday 7 November to Nick Mumby (ndpmumby@gmail.com)

Cost - £36 (being £32 plus service includes 3 courses - all other drinks to be paid for separately)

See you there.

18th September - Annual Dinner

The AGM and annual dinner take place on Friday 15th November - so make a note in your diary now. Full details to follow soon.

15th September - Barnes Common cancelled

Sadly our last game of the season, against Barnes Common, has been cancelled with the square too wet for play after heavy rain.

9th September - Plucky defeat at Ashtead

We fought hard at Ashtead but eventually lost by 5 wickets on a cold and damp end of season afternoon. In a 40 over game our 167 all out was perhaps 30 runs light after some careless dismissals. But we applied ourselves better in the field, bowling and fielding tightly. The difference between the two sides was the Ashtead number 3 who struck a hard hitting century. Had we dismissed him we might well have won - but we didn’t.

Highlight of the game - and possibly the season - was Sean Oliver’s extraordinary salmon leap of a caught and bowled. Hurling himself forward and to his left at the end of his follow through, he took the ball in mid-air at full stretch with his left hand. In a season of memorable Jesters caught and bowleds this was the best.

More on this game soon...

2nd September - Great win at Bray

This was one of the good days. One of those days when the Jesters looked like a highly talented bunch of cricketers and a really efficient team.

On a far from straightforward pitch we beat Maidenhead & Bray by 9 wickets, chasing down their competitive 164 in only the 29th over of what was a 40 over game. Fred Price, playing his first Jesters game for six seasons, stroked a languid 66 not out. Mike Palmer (55) joined him in an opening stand of 137.

All the bowlers put in controlled spells - with Phil Berman especially economical (5 overs for 8 runs). And behind the stumps Mike Palmer was exceptional for a stand-in keeper. 

More soon...

22nd August - Chobham game cancelled

Unfortunately we could muster only half a side over the bank holiday weekend so have had to cancel the game on Sunday against Chobham.

20th August - Good win at Middleton Stoney

We beat Middleton Stoney by 31 runs after looking dead and buried not long after tea. On a slow track we made what we thought was a defendable 143-9 but Middleton Stoney had raced to 85-1. But once we finessed the second wicket the rest tumbled. Three falling on 111. Nick Mumby had best figures of 4-20. A full account will appear here soon.

9th August - Nail-biting finish at Cuckfield

18 to win and last man in. That was the drama at Cuckfield as skipper Andrew Short and 18 year old Rebecca Silk were left to score the winning runs after a calamitous batting collapse. Men round the bat, the Aussie pro bowling offies and, from the top end, the whippy left-armer whose late swing had caused the collapse.

With a dozen overs left there was no hurry - and the tension slowly mounted. Andrew blocked - and blocked some more. Rebecca waited patiently for the ball she could hit - and hit it. There was a four down the ground off the Aussie, a nice shot through the covers off the left armer, and a low snick through the slips that scuttled away to the boundary.

Three to win and three overs remaining. All four results possible. The Aussie drops slightly short. Andrew, sensing the winning runs, goes back to pull. But it’s a quicker delivery! He’s too late on the shot and is pinned plumb lbw. So plumb that the Jester umpiring can find no excuse for not raising an apologetic finger.

It was a great end to what had been a great day’s cricket. The sun shone, the ground was a picture and Cuckfield’s cricket week hospitality as fine as ever. Jesters Doward, Harris, Mohammed and Short were bolstered by several young players from Preston Nomads cricket club, all fine cricketers who are very welcome to play for us again whenever they wish.

At lunch Cuckfield were 100-6 and we were firmly on top. Adnan opened up hill and bowled a long, containing, 15 over spell. No mean feat as the Aussie pro - Cameron Borgas - went in first. Adnan was unlucky to take only one wicket.

Ollie Deme opened from the top end and took the first wicket. He was replaced by James Silk bowling leggies, and we witnessed a fascinating contest between the Aussie and our spin twins. It was a moment of great celebration when James finally lured the Aussie down the track and the ball skewed into the safe hands of Ollie Doward at backward point. 

Half an hour before lunch Adnan was replaced by Rebecca Silk, of Sussex Ladies, who bowled her off-breaks through to the end of the innings, causing problems for all the batters and snaring three victims.

After lunch Ollie Deme struck twice early on and it looked as though we’d be chasing fewer than 150. But some late hitting took the total to 179. Surely gettable by our talented batting line up.

A brief word about the fielding which our young guests raised to heights rarely explored by Jesters sides - catching, boundary fielding, you name it. Behind the stumps, Luke Appleton kept very tidily to our predominantly spin attack which is never easy.

The Ikram brothers, Taron and Sakib, opened the batting for us and were going well until Taron was unluckily given out caught off his forearm. Sakib batted beautifully - a six flicked over square-leg stands out in the memory - and with Louis Harris in his usual dashing mode our total built steadily.

Ollie Doward replaced Louis, and put together a nicely crafted 50, using his feet to the spinners and batting well out of his crease against the left-armer swinging the ball very late into the right hander. All looked fine and dandy as our score approached 150.

At this point the left armer struck. And struck again. And again (and I think again). Late swing at a decent pace castling several of our batters. In little more than the blink of an eye - or so it seemed - we were 162-9. 18 to win and last man in...

[apologies for the vague, absent or incorrect stats in this account - all will be updated and corrected when we have sight of the scorecard]

30th July - Rickling Green game cancelled

Unfortunately Rickling Green are unable to raise a side so the game on Sunday 4th August has been cancelled.

1st July - Convincing victory at Hurlingham

Hurlingham: 141 all out
Jesters: 142/2
Jesters win by 8 wickets

“Traditionally the curtain-raiser for the season, our fixture at the Hurlingham Club was this year pushed back to late June, with the immediate benefit of glorious blue skies and perfect picnic weather for the loyal Jesters entourage who spread themselves around the boundary to cheer the visitors on. Despite the mercury levels, the Jesters won the toss and bowled, knowing that the perfect condition of the wicket and the croquet-lawn outfield may well favour the team chasing later in the day.

“The Jesters got off to a strong start, with Max Harris picking up a wicket in the second over, though the hosts’ top order battled through the remainder of the new ball without further loss and, when 75/1 half an hour before lunch, looked on course to post a sizeable total.

 “It took a gem of a delivery from the rejuvenated arm of Simon Butler to remove the second Hurlingham opening batsman for a fluent 43 and from that point the home side never quite recovered.

“Adnan Mohammed, so often a thorn in an opposition’s side, tore through the middle order with devastating effect; his cunning and guile bemused both the batsmen and the umpire and earned him the incredible figures of 6/15, including a hat-trick. Fellow spinners Nick Mumby and Louis Harris wrapped up the innings not long after lunch to round off an impressive fielding display by the visitors.

“As the Jesters’ openers strode out to the wicket in pursuit of 142 to win, Simon Butler knew it would be most unlikely that he would have enough time to make it three Hurlingham hundreds in a row (following sensational knocks of 168* and 105* in the last two years).

“However, 17 overs later, with the score on 124/1, the crowd was cheering deliriously as Simon raised his bat to all corners of the ground after a quite brilliant (and at times brutal) century off just 59 balls. He was particularly impressive when driving through the covers and down the ground, though showed his destructive best when pulling their opening bowler over the netting at the far side of the ground and almost out of the Hurlingham estate, a hit that must have gone 90 metres.

“Simon was ably supported by Ponniah Vijendran, Chris Smith and Louis Harris, who hit the winning runs bang on 4pm to record a famous 8 wicket victory in time for tea.

“The Jesters would like to thank the Hurlingham for another wonderful day at their club and we very much look forward to returning next year.”

Thanks to match manager Jonny Bridcut for this report.

11th June - Game of two halves at Jesus

Match manager Ollie Doward explains how we escaped with a draw against Jesus College, Cambridge.

Jesus College 170-8 declared
Jesters 107-9

“Two Jesters sides turned up to play the students of Jesus College, Cambridge - the first, a disciplined bowling unit backed up by one of the finest Jesters fielding displays in living memory; the second, a nervy batting line-up that never troubled a tempting target of 171.

“With the toss lost, Adnan Mohammed was entrusted with the new ball and immediately set the tone, rattling the timbers of occasional Jester Sam Grimshaw, now a seemingly eternal PhD student at the College.

“That brought their classy number three to the wicket. Having put our bowlers to the sword the previous year, he was threatening to do the same with a series of beautifully timed drives before being stifled by a ring of steel on the off side, including two short covers. A game of chess ensued and the pressure eventually told. An attempted flick to the inviting leg side gap produced a leading edge. Alex Smith stayed calm under the steepler at mid-off to spark wild celebrations. Check mate Mohammed.

“Debutant Chris Ancil bowled an excellent length throughout a tight opening spell, before making way for returning 1996 Jesus skipper Ros Atkins. Ros' last game of cricket was for the Jesters at Jesus in 2008, when he deposited his second delivery over point for six. This time the man with the golden arm made an even quicker impact - his first delivery tempted the batsman into a rash slash to Mike Palmer at point! Ros' 4-42 included a spectacular catch off his own bowling, thrusting out a palm to pluck a fiercely struck drive out the air.

“Adnan operated unchanged for 16 miserly overs, deserving more than his two wickets, the only blemish coming when a new 'magic' delivery - The Magnum - was dispatched over wide long on for a towering six.

“He was eventually replaced by Andrew Short whose 2-22 off 5 overs kept the flailing tail-enders in check and included another fantastic caught and bowled as he somehow clung on to a howitzer smashed back at him. In keeping with the excellent fielding display, Andrew's other wicket came courtesy of another crowd-pleasing pouch by the tumbling Mohammed at long on.

“What seemed a generous declaration (170-8 off 42 overs) soon proved otherwise.

“Mike Palmer nicked to slip. Robbie Hudson slapped a full bunger straight to deep square leg. Louis Harris was castled. Three big guns back in the hutch. Smith and Williamson consolidated and there were still seven wickets in hand when the final 20 overs were called, but the rapidly increasing run rate took its toll on a collapsing middle order. Adnan's defiant 30 briefly gave us hope but in the end skipper Ollie Doward battened down the hatches and blocked out the final over for an inauspicious draw.”

10th June - two tense draws

We closed 9 wickets down chasing in both games over the weekend of 8/9 June. We were a long way short against a good Jesus College Cambridge bowling attack, but in with a chance of beating the Pink Elephants until the final over. Match reports of both games to follow soon.

26th May - Victory against Bedouins

Bedouins 162 all out (Mohammed 3/15)
Jesters 163-4 (C Smith 65)

Match manager Chris Smith describes the day:

“Following a strong performance and good win in 2012, the Jesters travelled to the picturesque Ascott Park for a second year to take on the Bedouins in yet another sunny Bank Holiday Sunday all-day encounter.

“Jesters won the toss and against all odds inserted the
Bedouins with the hope that the Jesters’ strong bowling line-up could restrict the Bedouins to a modest total.

“Bridcut and Murphy shared the new ball and started well, with the ball swinging nicely and causing not only the batsmen trouble, but also stand-in wicket keeper Chris Smith, who could be seen scrambling down
the leg-side a few too many times.

“The late swing was quick to assist the Jesters, as Bridcut breached the Bedouins defences with a James Anderson style beauty. Then just as the Bedouins seemed to be recovering Bridcut produced another delivery that moved off the pitch just enough to beat the bat and trap the Bedouins skipper, Joe Phelan,in front LBW. Bridcut finished with good figures of 8/1/31/2.

“From then on the innings was a combination of accurate bowling and tentative batting. An important run-out, after good work from Nick Gregori, and a good spell from Phil Berman (9/1/27/1), meant that the Bedouins could never get away from the Jesters.

“When Mohammed (10.1/3/15/3) and Gregori (8/0/27/2) set about the lower order it was looking like a low total would be posted. However, some late hitting from Bedouins' number 9 secured a total of 162 for the Jesters to chase in plenty of time.

“Special mention should be given to Louis Harris’s excellent (and very sharp) slip catch off the excellent Mohammed, which defied logic and Jesters’ tradition.

“The Jesters’ response was good. Chris Smith and Andrew Short set the platform by putting on 80 for the first wicket in excess of 20 overs. With the big Aussie opening bowler seen off, the Bedouins turned to their 14 year old leg spinner in order to extract similar turn to that surprisingly seen from the bowling of Mohammed in the first innings. The young spinner bowled beyond his years and took 3 quick wickets including Smith for a well played 65 and Harris for a breezy 24.

“However, the damage had been done by the top order and it was left to James Williams (20 not out) and Nick Gregori (17 not out) to see the Jesters home with over an hour in the day to spare.

“Many thanks to the Bedouins for hosting yet another fantastic fixture at one of the finest grounds of the summer. Both sides will look forward to a re-match next year.”

23rd May - Sawbridgeworth

We lost a 40 over game with Sawbridgeworth by 30 runs but played reasonably well. On a fast scoring ground - one short boundary down a slope - we did well to restrict a powerful batting line up to 245 after many more seemed possible at 30 overs. Phil Berman bowled his usual cunning spell of late swing, new member Tom Bell bowled intelligently under fire, and Adnan was economical at the death. We weren’t helped by having only nine players on the ground for the first hour.

In response no one was able to play the major innings needed when chasing such a substantial total. Mike Palmer and Louis Harris looked fluent but we lost wickets at crucial times. Adnan smote several sixes in his 60 not out but their total seemed always just out of reach.

Hopefully there will a full report of this game soon.

16th May - Great win at Radley

Jesters: 218 all out (Vijendran 90)
Radley Rangers: 126 all out (A Harris 3/32, Mohammed 3/16)
Jesters won by 92 runs

Match manager Jonny Bridcut takes up the story:

“Radley College was the scene of the Jesters’ most humbling experience of 2012; chasing 257 to win on a sunny summer’s afternoon, we crumbled to 54 all out in a painful 35 overs. From the very moment that the Jesters’ team bus passed underneath the school’s Memorial Arch and slipped its way unnoticed down the drive that evening, planning had begun for atonement in 2013.

“The immediate build-up to the big day had not gone well. Losing our first choice wicketkeeper a couple of days before the game, would be sure to test the team’s inner steel.

“Having won the toss, the Jesters opted to bat, knowing that rain was forecast later in the day and therefore that the pitch might be at its best first up. Ponniah Vijendran and Simon Butler strolled out to the wicket with one aim in mind: to surpass 54.

“The Radley Rangers’ attack featured a couple of familiar faces from last year’s rout, though the wide blades of Bob and Reg ensured that the visitors got off to a flying start and overhauled last year’s total with no wickets down in only the 8th over. The only thing that unsettled our diminutive openers in their opening stand of 93 was the apparently large playing surface, as caressed cover drives would frequently result in weary threes rather than deserved boundaries.

“Reg was first to go for a spritely 43, but Bob continued to defy exhaustion and threatened a hundred before lunch, a feat not achieved since the halcyon days when Strauss and Dalrymple graced these sporting fields. However, with 10 minutes till the break, Bob unfurled one shot too many, perishing for a superb 90.  As we settled down to our scotch eggs and pork pies, we were quietly confident that 163/4 had given us a great foothold in the game.

“After lunch, the priority was quick runs to enable a sporting declaration so that our three-pronged seam attack could be unleashed before the Oxfordshire rains set in. The Jesters’ middle and lower order obliged, though surrendering a few wickets along the way; lofty blows from the likes of James Douse and Nick Mumby ensured that we reached 218 all out by 3pm.

“The opening ten minutes of the Rangers’ innings could not have been in greater contrast to the serene start made by the visitors earlier in the day. The first ball hit the batsman’s gloves, the second found a thin edge which could not quite be grasped, the third saw a huge lbw appeal turned down, the fourth a huge lbw appeal upheld, the fifth a whisker away from off stump, the seventh plumb lbw, the ninth also lbw and the tenth reared up from the increasingly lively Radley wicket into the face of the unfortunate batsman, forcing him to head to the pavilion for stitches (he later valiantly emerged to resume his innings at number 11).

“After 12 balls the scoreboard read 2/3. Amidst the fire and brimstone, the hosts number 3 stood tall and peppered the boundary on a few occasions before a beauty from Andy Harris (3/32) rattled his timbers. The entrance of James Haggie (2/18) into the attack caused further damage, and the hosts walked off for tea on a perilous 41/5.

“After the interval, some clean hitting from the lower order ensured the Rangers passed three figures, but spin twins Nick Mumby (1/31) and Adnan Mohammed (3/16) were on hand to clean up the tail for a total of 126.

“The fielding was of an exceptional standard, especially given the wet conditions, and good catches were taken by Louis Harris and James Douse. It was an all round team performance of the highest quality. A particular mention should go to DJ Chak, who did not concede a single bye in the entire innings after taking the gloves at the eleventh hour, and also to the umpires, who persevered despite the persistent English drizzle from mid afternoon.

“Many thanks to the Radley Rangers for their tremendous hospitality and we look forward to another engaging contest next summer!”

11th May - Madness at Magdalene College

Jesters 177-9 dec
Magdalene College Cambridge 178-7

Cut this game in two and you would find the word “shambles” running right through its centre.

The exception was our batting. 177-9 declared was a good effort on a low wicket and there were several important individual contributions. Most notably Tom Lee - last year’s Jesus College captain guesting for us - who top scored with a well-crafted 40. James Douse’s 30 was an intelligent knock at a time when we might have collapsed. And Sean Oliver applied late impetus blasting a quick 22 not out before the declaration.

But Magdalene had only seven players - not all in whites or long trousers. And were reinforced by several players from an entirely unrelated Cambridge-based side who drifted in during the first hour of play on spec after their own game had been canceled and they had seen an email saying the Jesters might be short of players! (unusually this season we had managed to assemble a full side).

So at tea Magdalene had cobbled together a team - and were chasing 178 for victory, which should have been far too many on that surface.

Seasoned Jesters-watchers may already have an inkling what happened next.

First we shipped extras like they were going out of fashion. Poor Adnan Mohammed, behind the stumps as we again had no proper keeper, didn’t stand a chance as the openers bowled wide.

Then the general fielding fell apart in malign sympathy. Usually reliable fielders dropped catches, there was some spectacular diving over the ball in the covers, and... well, you can imagine the rest.

One of the college’s opening bats was a handy player who took advantage of the mayhem to score a rapid 50. But we really shouldn’t have let the others get the runs they did.

Amid all this, Tom Lee (4-54) bowled his slow left armers nicely, Louis Harris (1-24) reminded us why he should bowl more often, and Adnan (2-36), when released belatedly from keeping duties, provided additional penetration. The fielding highlight - believe it or not there was one - was a stumping from Ollie Doward after Adnan handed him the gloves.

We finally lost by just 3 wickets after a late collapse. Final proof that those extras and the poor fielding had cost us the game.

11th May - The “Mighty 9” take on St John’s

Where have all the players gone this season?

After a week of hunting cricketers across the length and breadth of London and East Anglia, it was a nine-man Jesters side that took the field at St John’s College Cambridge. Nine men who did not include a regular keeper.

 “What fun” the skipper thought as he won the toss, inserted the students, and looked forward to an afternoon of creative field placing learned from his extensive sofa-based study of the IPL this spring.

Fortunately the Mighty 9 rose to the occasion and fought like lions all afternoon - and for long periods the casual observer would have been unaware we were two short in the field. On a low-bouncing wicket we slowly suffocated the college batsmen and eventually dismissed them for 149.

Adnan Mohammed bowled a long, containing spell, taking four wickets. Alex Smith, given a these days rare opportunity with the ball, showed it should perhaps happen more often, taking two. And Nick Mumby took three, these following a very effective stand-in performance behind the stumps. Curiously, one of Nick’s wickets was a catch by his replacement as keeper, Ollie Doward.

We were left with what turned out to be only 27 overs to get the runs. No one seemed particularly keen to open, so the Mighty Mohammed won promotion up the order. Again the evidence from the day suggests this is something that should happen more often as he carried his bat for a fine 61 not out.

On a low wicket it wasn’t easy to force the pace and everyone else fell in a valiant attempt to keep up with the run rate. Then with 20 needed from the final two overs, and the last (9th) man at the crease, we should definitely have blocked for a draw. But the skipper, no doubt in some IPL-fueled fantasy of last over glory against his old college, thought differently. He promptly missed a straight full toss. 

10th May - Streatham & Marlborough mauling

We came second at Streatham & Marlborough. Thanks to Adnan Mohammed, match manager, for this account.

“The Jesters were one man down because of a last minute drop-out. The skipper lost the toss and Jesters took to the field in a limited 40 overs per side game.

“Phil Berman and Sean Oliver opened the bowling with Sean bowling with good pace and carry and Phil moving the ball both ways. Sean was unlucky not to have picked up more wickets but completed his spell of 6 overs, 1 wicket for 31 (with a catch in the middle of it). Phil bowled, perhaps the best spell the skipper has seen him bowl and one which even Jimmy Anderson would be proud of. The batsman did not know which way the ball would swing and seam. Phil ended with 8 overs, 2 maidens and 3 for 17.

“The opposition was looking down and out at 83 for 6. James Douse also joining the wicket parade by knocking middle the stump out of the ground by a dipping yorker. However their number 4 and 8 had defiance written all over them. They mounted a fight back, taking advantage of the small boundary ending at 236 all out in the 37th over. A tall order then for the mighty 10.

“Jonny Bridcut was promoted to opening the batting and had a second wicket partnership with Louis Harris for 99 runs. Jonny was eventually bowled for 45. Louis continued the fight back making a fluent 58 before being caught at the boundary. With Louis gone, the run rate slowed down. Alex Smith tried to continue the run rate scoring a quick fire 21. In the end the Jesters could only score 201 for 7.

“A good early season batting performance against a good bowling attack! Credit goes to the Streatham & Marlborough young batsmen.”

8th May - “stumped Doward”

Yes, it is true. The Jesters’ scorebook now contains these words, the happiest consequence of a wicket-keeping crisis that saw three non-keepers do stumping duties on the Cambridge weekend.

Nick Mumby kept on Saturday and Adnan Mohammed on Sunday. Ollie taking the gloves when they had a bowl. Such was Ollie’s accomplishment that he also took a catch standing up to Nick.

Thank you to all three novice stumpers for being brave enough to give it a go.

1st May - A good win at Sutton

Sutton CC: 128 all out
Jesters CC: 129/3
Jesters CC win by 7 wickets

Match manager Jonny Bridcut tells the story:

“After last summer’s frequent wash-outs, it was a joy to start the 2013 season under blue skies at the picturesque home ground of Sutton CC.

“Having lost the toss, the Jesters had a chance to assess conditions with ball in hand before showing off our traditional early-season batting frailties. This approach found handsome reward as Sean Oliver and Matt Berry pegged the hosts back with early wickets, the first of which was a flying catch by wicket-keeper Sarbajeet Nag.

“Spin triplets Nick Mumby, Adnan Mohammed and Chris Smith continued to pile on the pressure, with Nick ending with a deserved four wicket haul, as Sutton succumbed to 128 all out.

“However, their total could have been significantly greater if it was not for the dynamic fielding of DJ Chak whose threat should not have been unbeknown to Sutton after his astonishing boundary catch last year as he rifled in a direct hit from short third man to leave the host’s leading scorer a couple of feet short just when he looked set to propel Sutton to a total nearer 200.

“Special mention should also go to birthday boy Matt Berry, who claimed two wickets for seven runs in his last seven overs.

“After a couple of energy drinks, DJ then strolled out to the middle to open up with Matt “the Juggler” Williamson (who had done his best to live up to his new credentials in various fielding positions earlier in the afternoon).It did not take long for DJ, the reigning Arnold Woods trophy holder, to unfurl a few trademark drives and cuts as he and Matt built an invaluable opening partnership of 72.

“DJ eventually fell for 60, allowing Louis Harris and Alex Smith to ease the Jesters home in what proved to be a commanding run chase against a decent attack featuring two of Sutton’s first team regulars. The seven wicket triumph atoned for last season’s narrow 20 run defeat and provided the perfect start to the season.

“The Jesters would like to thank Sutton for their very generous hospitality in a fixture that is fast becoming one of the highlights of the Jester’s summer. We very much look forward to hopefully returning in 2014.”

29th April - One victory, one defeat

A quick update while we wait for match reports from the first two games of the season.

We opened with a good 7 wicket win at Sutton. It was a good bowling performance all round, with four wickets for Nick Mumby and a tight spell from Matt Berry. In response DJ Chak stroked an impressive 60. The Sutton website has the full scorecard.

Streatham & Marlborough were on the rack five wickets down before a couple of young batsman took control with calculated hitting. Sixes rained over the short boundary and we suffered from both the Dil-scoop and switch hit. Their 245 in what was a 40 over game proved far too many - despite a flowing half century from Louis Harris - and we closed on 201-7.

20th April - HAC game cancelled

Unfortunately HAC have had to cancel their game with us on Sat 27 April as their outfield isn’t ready for the new season. They re-seeded a large part earlier this year but the very cold March meant the grass didn’t grow as expected. So they have called off all their April fixtures to give it a chance to catch up.

7th February - 2013 nets at Lord’s

Pre-season nets are booked as usual at the Lord’s indoor school.

The first is Tuesday 26th Feb and after that every Tuesday until 9th April. All sessions are 7-8pm.

Exact dates are: 26 Feb, March 5, 12, 19 & 26, April 2 & 9.

The cost is £8.00 per person per session. And the usual rule applies: if you cancel and we are unable to find a replacement you will be charged. Contact Andrew Short to book your place.

18th December - New book featuring a Jesters history

During 2013 a collective history of wandering cricket clubs will be published by Chance To Shine and Fairfield Books and will include a piece on the Jesters written by Andrew Short. Members will have a chance to buy copies nearer publication

17th December - Nick Mumby takes charge

Simon Cleobury is still living in New York and has stepped down as Hon Sec, feeling the role should really be UK-based. Many thanks Simon for all your hard work as Hon Sec, and before that as Fixture Secretary, We hope to see you back in the UK before too long.

Fortunately the club has an ideal replacement in Nick Mumby who took over at the 2012 AGM. Good luck Nick.

16th December - AGM, Dinner and Annual Awards

The annual dinner was again a really enjoyable occasion. Only 28 Jesters and guests made it along this year but that didn’t seem to diminish the fun.

At the AGM Club President Robin Atkins announced his decision to stand down after the end of next season after 16 years as President and 50 years’ membership of the club. Well done Robin and many thanks! He made a short speech which is reproduced here:

“My 4 year term of office comes to an end at the next AGM in 2013. At that time I would have been president for 16 years ,which will be second longest in the club’s history ( Sir Pelham Warner managed 35 years).

“I first played for Jesters in 1963 so that will make a round 50 years of involvement : as a player until 1992 and then as a part time umpire.

“The club's affairs are in good order with 130 members in the card of which I guess 40/50,a good fixture list of 25+ games, a reliable administrative set up and adequate finances with assets of c.£4000. I would like to pay a special tribute to Andrew Short and John Murphy for their good work over a large number of years,

“My only negative comment is that the club's history needs to be done for the period post 1975 before we all forget the key and enjoyable experiences . I ask the committee to tackle this project.”

Eight committee members were re-elected - Nick Mumby, John Murphy, Jonny Bridcut, Ollie Doward, Simon Rawson, Matt Williamson, Robbie Hudson, Andrew Short - and the Committee retains the right to co-opt others. Simon Cleobury is still living in New York and has stood down from the committee, with Nick Mumby stepping into his shoes as Hon Sec.

The club’s finances remain in a good state, with one slightly curious result of the wet summer being a particularly healthy financial surplus. Perhaps we should play even less in future...

The annual awards were presented at the dinner to:

Arnold Woods Trophy (best performance of the season) to DJ Chak for his century against a strong Lord Gnome’s XI (and also taking a stunning boundary catch in the same game).

Commended were Mike Palmer for his century at Sawbridgeworth and Louis Harris for his 120 from 112 balls at Maidenhead & Bray. Either of these would have won the award in another season. 

Jester of the Year: the award for the “most Jester-like” performance went to Matt Williamson - to be known ever after as “The Juggler” - for a truly spectacular piece of, well, juggling at second slip at Jesus College, Cambridge. 

Michael Meyer Award for big-hitting went to Simon Butler for launching a six onto the roof of the clubhouse at Hurlingham.

5th October - AGM and Dinner

The 2012 AGM and Annual Dinner will take place at the same restaurant as last year - now rebranded as a Brasserie Blanc - on Friday 16 November. Full details and how to book your place are here. See you there.

19th September - Fine win at Barnes Common

We ended the season with a 66 run victory against Barnes Common always strong opponents.

Jesters: 173 all out (34.2 overs)
A. Smith 40, Chak 37, S. Douse 33, Mohammed 29

Barnes Common: 107 all out (31.2 overs)
C. Smith 7-5-10-3, Murphy 7-0-32-3, Chak 5-2-5-2, Berry 7-1-29-1, Harris 1.2-0-5-1, Mohammed 4-1-16-0

It was particularly good to see Chris Smith back in action after missing most of the season with a foot injury. His spell of 7 overs, 3 for 10 has drawn rave reviews from all who saw it.

Hopefully a longer account of the game will appear here soon.

4th September - Beaten by Bray

We lost by 6 wickets at Maidenhead & Bray but many congratulations to Louis Harris on his century.

Match manager Adnan Mohmammed takes up the story:

“Jesters arrived at Maidenhead & Bray on a cloudy Sunday afternoon with 10 players. But the balance was even as M&B also only had 10. The format was 40 overs per side with a maximum of 8 overs per bowler. Our bowling was somewhat depleted with the two intended openers both injured.

“The skipper won the toss and decided to bat first thinking it would tough to bat second in failing light. The Douse brothers, opened the batting, batting together for the first time since their colts days. They saw off the new ball and posted 58 in their opening partnership. The calling for runs was often telepathic. Simeon was the first to be dismissed, receiving a good ball that nipped away and popped.

“Louis Harris then strolled out full of confidence after his recent good form. He played, initially, within himself, pushing singles with James Douse supporting him shot for shot at the other end. James was unlucky to chop one on to his stumps and was out for 29.

Alex the “General” Smith joined Louis at the crease and the two starting running lightning singles and taking advantage of the gaps in the field.

“Louis began to open up and play his usual aggressive shots. His heart would have been in his mouth on 88 when he hit one straight back over the bowlers head and was dropped on the long-off boundary.

“Alex departed for 22 with three overs remaining and Matt Williamson manipulated the strike wonderfully to Louis. In the penultimate over Louis hit three boundaries in a row and ended with 120 off 112 balls and the team on 215-4. The Captain would have been happy with 180 so 215 looked very good.

“The first over bowled by the skipper was maiden. The seamers plugged away with Matt Berry fighting injury to bowl 8 overs 1-44. Ben Shereen in his opening spell was unlucky bowling in the right spot – but the M&B opener proved too strong, playing through the line, making full use of the short boundary and hitting the ball extremely hard.

“Then our recent injury curse returned with a vengeance. Simeon Douse was struck violently on the shin at mid-wicket from a full blooded drive and had to leave the field. In the next over Matt Berry was hit hard on the arm while following through and also had to go off.

We were left with 8 fielders and the batsmen in the mood to score only in boundaries. After four overs desperately trying to plug the gaps both wounded soldiers returned to the field - well done boys!

“The onslaught continued with M&B now scoring comfortably at 7 per over. Nick Mumby wheeled away with no luck bowling 8 overs 0-55; the skipper bowled 8 overs 1-50. The only ray of light was Louis Harris whose first ball to turn significantly and had figures of 1-7 off 2 overs.

“The M&B opening bat reached 94 with 10 runs needed to win. Then their No 5 hit a boundary, leaving the young opener requiring 6 for his 100 and 6 to win. At which point the pressure told: Ben Shereen hit the top of middle stump and the bat slipped from the batsman’s grasp endeding up at the square leg umpire’s feet! 

“M&B reached 216 for 4 off 33 overs. It was a well played game and we lost to a better team. Thanks to Maidenhead &Bray for once again providing a good game of cricket.”

29th August - Pitch the winner at Chobham

We beat Chobham by 75 runs on a difficult, wet wicket after storms the day before. Neither side looked comfortable on an incredibly slow surface that “popped” throughout the game.

Our 153 was mainly thanks to a 56 run opening stand between Louis Harris and Andrew Short, and a top score of 49 from DJ Chak.

In response they were 78 all out, with Adnan Mohammed unplayable as the wicket dried. A longer account will appear here soon.

23rd August - Ashtead game cancelled

Sadly Ashtead have cancelled their game with us on Sunday 9th September. Their charity match against a Surrey Masters XI that was rained-off earlier in the summer has been rearranged for that Sunday.

20th August - Great win at Middleton Stoney

A ten man Jesters side beat Middleton Stoney by 30 runs, a great result as it is always difficult to bowl sides out on their placid track.

Put in to bat, our total was based around a 105 run partnership for the fourth wicket between Tony Crockert (56) and Louis Harris (45). A slow track, slow outfield, slow bowling and carefully placed fields made scoring difficult, and most of the century partnership came in singles and twos, an exhausting effort in 30 degree temperatures.

At the fixed 4.30 tea we had made it to 172-6, a decent score on a wicket where 150 can be defendable.

However, our bowling options were very limited. Andy Harris had dropped out on Friday evening with a shoulder injury, Mike Palmer could only stand at slip after a groin strain batting, and early in their innings Louis Harris went off with what looked like a serious shoulder injury after a spectacular dive at long-on.

To the rescue came Adnan Mohammed who bowled unchanged through the entire innings with figures of 18.4 overs, 3 maidens, 4 for 60. DJ Chak’s return was even more impressive: 5 for 42 from 13 overs. Well done both.

The decisive moment was a double wicket maiden from Adnan to remove two of their best bats. With less than a hundred needed and only two wickets down Middleton Stoney had looked set to cruise home in comfort.

But suddenly the game had changed. Nick Gregori then persuaded their top scorer to top edge to fine leg, and DJ returned bowling rapid, inswinging yorkers.

We eventually bowled them out for 142 with a couple of overs to spare, Adnan teasing out the last two batsman with cunning flight. A remarkable feature of their innings was that eight wickets were clean bowled.

A great, hard-fought game played in exactly the right spirit. Thanks once again to Middleton Stoney for their superb hospitality and exactly the right attitude towards the game.

14th August - Narrow defeat at NPL

Rumours reach Jesters HQ of a last over defeat at NPL Teddington. Their website has the scores as Jesters 168-9, NPL 169-7 but with no other details.

We await further news with interest.

10th August - Cuckfield

A young Jesters side drawing heavily on the resources of Brighton league club Preston Nomads lost by 60 runs to a strong Cuckfield team in their cricket week.

Cuckfield’s 272-6 was a typical score on this fast scoring ground. We played on the edge of the square and the short, downhill boundary towards the pavilion was particularly difficult to defend.

Best Jesters bowling came in a spell either side of lunch from Will Taylor, playing his first game in Jesters colours for several years. Bowling left arm round at a nippy medium pace he took 3 wickets and kept the scoring rate under control. He was well supported by Toby Glover’s off-breaks at the other end.

Our reply was built around an excellent 80-odd from 15 year old Ollie Deme opening the innings. Elegant driving was the most notable feature of his mature knock. We needed just 5 1/2 an over from the final 20 with 7 wickets remaining, but unfortunately the innings unravelled from that point. Both opening bowlers were recalled - one of them Cuckfield’s overseas pro - and wickets tumbled. We were eventually 212 all out, comfortably beaten but not disgraced.

Many thanks to Cuckfield once again for their splendid hospitality. And it was great to see so many youngsters enjoying Jesters cricket.

(n.b. statistics in this report may be modified when we remember to get a copy of the scorecard from Cuckfield)

5th August - Rickling rained off

A heavy local downpour on the morning of the match led to the cancellation of our game with Rickling Ramblers.

29th July - Not a victory but a triumph

Sutton: 235/6 dec
Jesters: 215 all out (Louis Harris 83)
Lost by 20 runs

Thanks to the Olympic Road Race that was weaving its way through Surrey this weekend, thereby ensuring a week's break in the league calendar, Sutton had kindly invited us to play against a composite side of all their Saturday teams, which we soon discovered included two of their Premiership 1st XI players.

Losing the toss on a sunny afternoon, we took to the field with the prospect of up to 55 overs of chasing leather (we were playing the Surrey league format - 100 overs in the day, side batting first can use up to 55 overs, and then the side batting second takes the remainder (min 45 overs)).

A couple of early strikes put us firmly in the contest, though we would have been in a far stronger position had Sean Oliver not overstepped when he had their best batsman caught behind by Dave Hancock.

With four league hundreds to his name already this summer, their number three continued to work the bowling around effortlessly, until he climbed into a vicious John Murphy short ball only to find an athletic Dhananjaya Chak on the midwicket boundary, who pouched an astonishing low catch in front of the faithful home supporters.

A Nick Gregori lbw and a sharp run out courtesy of Sean pegged the hosts back to 160/5, though from there their captain was ably supported by their wicketkeeper and they eeked out the runs to ensure they could set us a challenging total of 236 from 53 overs. A particular mention must go to Nick Mumby, whose 17 over spell for 57 runs kept us in the game on what was a flat track.

Our chase got off to a terrific start with a half century opening stand by DJ and Nick M, who both enjoyed peppering the off side. The platform had been laid for Louis Harris to remind us all of his caged talent as he thrived off the home side's youthful seamers, reaching his fifty off 47 balls. Louis was ably supported by James Williams and James Douse, and at 188/6 with 9 overs remaining we looked favourites.

However, the combination of their returning opening bowler and their wily leg spinner (who winters in Australia) was good enough to stem our flow of runs and ultimately our victory charge, despite the best efforts of John Murphy and Dave H in what was a gripping finish as we fell short by 20 runs.

Many thanks indeed to Sutton for a wonderful first fixture and we look forward to hopefully returning in 2013.

Thanks to match manager Jonny Bridcut for this report.

27th July - Horsham 80th anniversary game

Jesters v Horsham is the longest standing uninterrupted fixture for both clubs. 2012 is the 80th anniversary and we celebrated with a good 5 wicket win over a strong Horsham side.

You can see the scorecard here. Top Jesters performance came from James Silk, guesting from Preston Nomads, who bowled his leg-breaks beautifully and then stroked a confident 71 opening the innings. It turned into a classic chase with us needing six an over from the last 20, with sixes and wickets as Horsham kept the spinners on. We eventually made it home in the penultimate over.

Many thanks to Horsham for 80 years of good cricket. 

24th July - Roehampton walloped

We bowled Roehampton out for 63 and cruised to a 7 wicket victory. Further details soon.

18th July - Dorset tour and Gemini

The weather seems to get worse. We managed to play a T20 game on tour with Canford Cygnets, losing by 10 runs. But the games with Bryanston Butterflies and Hampshire Hogs were both rained off - as was the match the following Saturday with Gemini at Sunningdale School.

3rd July - Good victory over Lord Gnome XI

We beat Lord Gnome’s XI by 13 runs in an exciting 35 over game. We made 176-9 and they replied with 163-8. Star of the show was DJ Chak who scored a rapid 102* and took three catches. Congratulations DJ!.

More on this game to follow soon...

18th June - Club Day this Sunday

STOP PRESS: Sadly Club Day is cancelled as the square is waterlogged after heavy overnight rain.

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Don’t forget Club Day - featuring a match between two Jesters sides - is this Sunday 24th June in Chiswick.

If you’re not playing, do come along and watch - and enjoy a few beers in the bar. We’d be delighted to see you.

Venue: University of Westminster grounds in Chiswick. Here’s a map showing where it is.
 
Timings:
 
12 noon: Arrival and bring your own picnic lunch.
1pm: First Innings
3.30: Tea (bring your own)
4pm: Second Innings
6.30: BBQ
8.00: Ground closes
 
The bar will be open from 4pm until 8pm.

Hopefully see you there!

10th June - Easy win at Jesus

We beat Jesus College, Cambridge by 9 wickets. After bowling them out for 130, Robbie Hudson and DJ Chak calmly knocked off the runs. Although the calm was broken by Robbie’s four sixes as he made his way to another half century on the Jesus ground.

Their innings was a curious affair. Jonny Bridcut and DJ reduced them to 13-4 before a rapid century partnership threatened to take the game away from us. Then suddenly the innings was over. Nick Mumby made the vital breakthrough and their last six wickets disappeared for one (1) run, leaving both Nick and Adnan Mohammed on hat-tricks next time they play.

No doubt further details from the match manager soon. Including the identity of the Jester now known as “The Juggler” after his multiple attempts at a slip catch.

4th June - Amersham rained off

Yet more rain forced cancellation of our game with Amersham. 

3rd June - Bedouins driven from the oasis

For the second week running we won by 7 wickets, bowling the Bedouins out before lunch for 93 and then knocking off the runs by tea. Nick Mumby took 3-11 and Louis Harris 3-9 as the Bedouins collapsed from 66-1.

You can read a somewhat reflective account of the game on the Bedouins website - with a link to the scorecard at the end.

2nd June - Good win at Sawbridgeworth

We beat Sawbridgeworth by 7 wickets, our innings rejoicing in a century from Mike Palmer and half-century from James Douse. Congratulations both!

Sawbridgeworth 213-2 (51 Overs). Berman 0-24, Palmer 1-25, Mohammed 0-68, C Smith 1-40.
Jesters 216-3 (34.5 Overs). Palmer 118 not out, J Douse 55

This is how match manager Alex Smith saw events:

“An intriguing game unfolded on the Herts/Essex border, thankfully in less blood chilling conditions than at Hurlingham several weeks previously.

“Rearranging the fixture to take place early in the season paid dividends as 11 eager Jesters took to the field to face a youthful Sawbo side, the more energetic of whom were still playing football somewhere else as play commenced. The strip was in its usual position, providing the customary challenge of the short boundary to defend, and attack.

“After successfully assembling a coalition of the willing to open the bowling, Jesters soon found it as difficult as ever to defend that boundary, and at 64-0 after 10 overs we were looking at a stiff target. But Berman and Palmer steadied the ship, and Mohammed and Smith C wheeled away economically to keep the run rate down, even if wickets were rarer than a Mohammed follicle.

“With an agreed 6pm start to the 20 overs, as 4pm came and went we were expecting the declaration and tea. However the Sawbo skipper had more of an eye on his opener scoring a first century, and with the scoring rate slowing with every over, there were mutterings that floodlights might be necessary to achieve the feat. Finally, after 51 overs, it was, and the Jesters could sit down to play After You Claude with the batting lineup. A target of 213 would require rapid scoring.

“So it was then that Palmer and Harris strode to the middle to take on Mr Angry, their Dorries-esque opening bowler. To the amusement of many, a succession of hefty cuts and pulls saw to it that the volcanic rumblings continued, before Harris was out lbw to one which kept characteristically low.

“With Gregori gone having kept up the required run rate, a promoted James Douse joined the fray. It will come as a surprise to no-one that he almost ran himself into the ground to add runs to the total. But not only that, he took on a returning Mr Angry with aplomb, and when finally dismissed he breathlessly declared that he had absolutely nothing left in him. For his maiden Jesters half century he was applauded all the way back to the pavilion.

“In the meantime Mike Palmer was accumulating runs efficiently and with occasional flair, despite being bamboozled by the very flighted spin of their teenage wunderkid. A steady 7 an over was required for the last ten, and with Richie Patel and his IPL monstrosity in glove, the target was in sight.

“However boundary-side nervousness and superstition prevailed in the face of the skipper's optimism, even with Mike reaching his personal maiden century, in front of his personal maiden. Patel, though, had read the right runes, and carted the ball repeatedly to the long on boundary to seal victory, with 7 balls to spare.”

15th May - Strange, comprehensive defeat at Radley

We were absolutely walloped by a strong Radley Rangers side, replying to their 256-3 with a measly 54 all out.

Here’s how match manager Jonny Bridcut saw the day:

“This was a day when nothing quite went right for the Jesters. With none of us having bowled a ball or wielded the willow for a month, or for some not since last summer, a well-drilled Rangers side proved too great a challenge at this stage of the season.  Our heroics at Hurlingham seemed a distant memory.

“Having lost the toss on a relatively balmy May morning, the Jesters' attack fared promisingly on a typically benign Radley surface, with Sean Oliver picking up two deserved wickets before lunch with his teasing away swing. The bowlers were well supported in the field, with particular mentions for Louis Harris prowling at backward point and Dave Hancock, who didn't concede a single bye all innings. 

“At lunch the hosts were 121/2 from 35 overs and were in need of quick runs after the break to set a worthy total. Unfortunately the delicious lasagne took its toll and the standards in the field dropped slightly in the hour after lunch when a few chances went begging, allowing the home side to post a healthy total of 256/3.

“Our reply in search of the 257 to win was brief. Everything that could go wrong went wrong, and was summed up on two occasions: firstly, when Chris Smith flicked their opening bowler off his pads only for the square leg fieldsman to stick out a long left arm and pluck the ball out of thin air at full stretch; and secondly, when Adnan Mohammed, while attempting a not unusual lower order salvage job, cut a ball on to slip's foot only for it to rebound in the air to be taken at the second attempt.

“However, nothing should be taken away from an extremely disciplined bowling performance by the Rangers; their relentless accuracy meant runs were hard to come by - we only scored three boundaries.

“Nevertheless, a trip to Radley College is always a treat. Their hospitality was as generous as ever and we greatly look forward to a more competitive outing in 2013.”

12th May - HAC game cancelled

The game against HAC has been called off because the square is still unfit for play after all the recent rain.

10th May - Great win at Hurlingham

We began the season with a convincing victory against Hurlingham. Match manager Jonny Bridcut takes up the story.

Hurlingham 220 all out (Mohammed 4/47)
Jesters 226/1 (Butler 105*, C Smith 71*)
Jesters won by 9 wickets

“When Chris Smith smoked the final ball of the match over the ropes, the Jesters completed a remarkable 9 wicket win and only their second against Hurlingham since the fixture began some twelve years ago.

“The victory was founded upon an extremely disciplined bowling performance, with all members of the attack building up significant pressure that took its toll on the talented Hurlingham top order.  Vital wickets just before the lunch break proved decisive, as the home side slipped from 109/1 to 149/5, one of which was a swift legside stumping by George Shepherd. 

“Dismissing a side for 220 on this placid pitch was a fine effort, especially one containing three former first class players.  Adnan Mohammed was once again the leading wicket taker with 4/47, though the off spinners Nick Mumby (1/27) and Chris Smith (3/29) operated beautifully in tying up the other end.

“However, with the impressive George Brooksbank restored to the Hurlingham opening attack, and the rain clouds gathering, chasing 221 was by no means a given.  DJ Chak and Simon Butler negotiated the swinging ball with expertise usually reserved for later in the season and thwarted the ferocity of the home seamers with a dashing opening stand of 91. 

“When DJ succumbed to a Brooksbank special, Chris Smith joined Simon Butler and the two repeated their heroics of 12 months before (where they compiled 195 together) with an unbroken match-winning stand of 135.  Simon scored his third Jesters hundred in five innings off just 68 balls and Chris worked through the gears to finish with 71 off 57 balls. 

“A very early candidate for the six of the summer was when Simon effortlessly deposited a Brooksbank bouncer onto the Hurlingham club roof - that ball was not seen again.  We reached our target in just 27.3 overs, with unused firepower of the class of Louis Harris and Alex Smith still waiting in the wings.

“The Jesters would like to thank the Hurlingham for their wonderful hospitality in what is one of the fixtures of the summer and we very much look forward to returning next year.”

3rd May - Rain, rain go away

After beating Hurlingham by 9 wickets the weekend after Easter (a match report will hopefully appear here soon), all four subsequent games have been cancelled.

The game against Streatham & Marlborough and both games of the Cambridge weekend were all casualties of the dreadful recent weather.

18th April - Beamers game cancelled

The game against Beamers CC on Sunday 22nd April has been cancelled as they are unable to raise a side.

10th February - New fixtures for 2012 season

The 2012 fixture list is almost complete and should be appearing on the website soon. Potentially as many as 29 games. There are three new opponents and the return of several old friends.

The additions this year are:

Beamers CC  - which promises to be a fun early-season afternoon game against a slightly unknown opposition - it will be played at North Middlesex CC in Crouch End;

Bedouins CC - a fellow wandering side organised by Jesters Rob Harrison and Joe Phelan (www.bedouins-cc.co.uk/). The match is to be played at the glorious Ascott Park ground in Buckinghamshire;

Sutton CC - a strong Surrey Championship side who should present quite a mid-season challenge. 

Returning to the fixture list are Streatham & Marlborough CC in Dulwich and the Cambridge Weekend with games against St John’s and Magdalene.

9th February - Club Day announced

Plans are afoot for another Club Day this summer, a repeat of the hugely enjoyable event at Shenley in 2010.

The date will be Sunday 24 June and the venue is likely to be the Quintin Hogg memorial ground in Chiswick.  Please put this date in your diary now. There will be further communications with all the details nearer the time.

9th February - Golf Day

We are looking at holding a Club Golf Day on one of the weekends where there is no cricket fixture. It should be a highly entertaining day, and will be organised by Matt Williamson. More details will follow in due course.

7th February - 2012 nets at Lord’s

It’s time to dig out the kit and reach for the Ralgex. Pre-season nets are booked as usual at the Lord’s indoor school.

The first is Tuesday 28th Feb and after that every Tuesday until 10th April. There's one Wednesday - 14th March - as Tuesday 13th was unavailable. All sessions are 7-8pm.

Exact dates are: 28 Feb, March 6, 14, 20 & 27, April 3 & 10.

The cost is £8.00 per person per session. And the usual rule applies: if you cancel and we are unable to find a replacement you will be charged. Contact Andrew Short to book your place.

30th November - AGM, Dinner and Annual Awards

The annual dinner was a great success with 41 Jesters and guests - the best turnout for a few years - convening at Chez Gerard Southbank.

The AGM produced no surprises. The club’s finances have returned to reasonable health after a recent blip - and all committee members were re-elected with the office holders unchanged.

The annual awards were presented at the dinner to:

Arnold Woods Trophy (best performance of the season) to Robbie Hudson for his century at Rickling Green. Despite numerous centuries for other clubs this was Robbie’s first for the Jesters.

Commended were Simon Butler’s 164* at Hurlingham, a new club record, and Adnan Mohammed and John Murphy’s match winning, 150+ partnership at Chobham when the game looked lost.

Jester of the Year: the award for “most Jester-like” performance went to James Douse for his uncharacteristic fit of temper - and subsequent effusive apologies - after his dismissal at Maidenhead & Bray. A bat, table and chairs were all involved.

Michael Meyer Award for big-hitting went to John Murphy for a particularly meaty six, also at Maidenhead & Bray, which traveled many a country mile.

The committee also presented Simon Butler with a framed copy of the scorecard from Hurlingham as a memento of this great innings there.

8th November - David Le Shirley

The sad news has just filtered through that David Le Shirley died on 27th September, aged 90.

As older Jesters will remember, David umpired for us for many years. First via David Smith’s umpiring bureau and then for a decade or so in a direct relationship that often saw him standing in as many as 14 or 15 games a season. He retired after the 2001 season but could still be seen spectating at the occasional Jesters game as recently as last year.

A rock solid umpire on the field of play and a genial character in the bar afterwards, he was a great servant of the club and leaves behind many fond memories.

10th October - AGM and Dinner

The 2011 AGM and Annual Dinner will take place at Chez Gerard Southbank - the same place as last year - on Friday 11 November. Full details and how to book your place are here. See you there.

18th September - Barnes Common

We lost this final game of the season by 26 runs. A match report will follow. The scores were:

Barnes Common: 162 all out (29 overs)
Gregori 7-1-27-3, Mohammed 7-2-25-2

Jesters: 136 all out (33.3 overs)
Murphy 55*, Harris 21

Our total was something of a recovery after being 79-8.

11th September - Ashtead

We were unable to raise a side for this long-standing fixture so the game was cancelled. Embarrassing.

1st September - Sawbridgeworth cancelled

Unfortunately Sawbridgeworth are unable to raise a side for the game on Sunday 4th September so the game has been cancelled.

31st August - Good win at Bray

We beat Maidenhead & Bray by 4 wickets in a close and exciting game. Scores and John Murphy’s match report are below.

Maidenhead and Bray: 158-8 (40 overs)
Berman 3 for 25, Chak 2 for 19, Murphy 1 for 21, Bridcut 1 for 25, Mumby 1 for 29

Jesters: 162-6 (38.2 overs)
Mohammed 36*, Harris 24, Hudson 23, Murphy 21

“With the track partially soaked by the heavy morning rain, the Jesters were pleased to take the field first at Bray. Maidenhead and Bray started confidently, but with a damp outfield boundaries were hard to come by initially. Jonny Bridcut and surprise opening bowler Nick Mumby bowled tightly, with each taking a wicket in the later parts of their spells. DJ Chak and John Murphy put the squeeze on the middle order, with DJ finishing with 2 for 19.

“Phil Berman entered the attack and then were a few worried faces when he conceded 16 runs in his first two overs. Something then clicked and Phil bowled the perfect line and length. His fourth over began with two wickets in two balls with the opposition batsman bamboozled by late swing. He finished with figures of 3 for 25 from his eight overs, leaving the opposition with a competitive 158-8 from their 40 overs.

“The Jesters batman knew it would not be easy chasing such a score on a slow track. Openers Robbie Hudson and George Shepherd batted well against the new ball, but George fell unluckily in the ninth over. Louis Harris “ returning from holiday“ entertained the crowd with some classy strokeplay, but was caught for a run-a-ball 24 ambitiously driving on-the-up. Hudson meanwhile was setting himself up to see the innings through, nurdling his way to 23 off 70 balls.

“Sadly the traditional Jesters middle-order collapse followed and, from a solid start, we were left needing six an over for the last ten overs against good bowling on a difficult pitch in the fading light.

“Adnan Mohammed was joined at the crease by John Murphy. Spurred on by their 150+ partnership at Chobham the previous week, Adnan dug in and top-scored with a gritty 36 not out. Adnan’s determination to see it through gave John licence to play some big shots, hitting the opening bowler way out of the ground. He was spectacularly bowled next ball, leaving Nick Mumby and Adnan to knock off the final runs with just ten balls to spare.

“It was a classic game of Jesters cricket, with everyone contributing to a really good team victory”.

22nd August - The Magnificent Nine beat Chobham

Those who’ve played at Chobham in recent years won’t appreciate what a good victory this was. Chobham turned out a much stronger side than usual and, at the peak of the holiday season, we only had nine players.

The skipper’s masterplan was to bat first, get runs on the board and hope scoreboard pressure worked in our favour. Losing the toss did for that bright idea and we contemplated a long afternoon in the field in the 40 over game traditional in this fixture.

Jonny Bridcut took two early wickets but then two good young batsmen settled into a mature partnership. Our bowling and fielding held up well, but on a slow wicket we weren’t able to make a breakthrough and there were always gaps in the field for runs.

Sean Oliver bowled a fiery spell, at one point uprooting their best batsman’s middle stump in spectacular fashion - but off a no ball. Adnan Mohammed was economical. And both Phil Berman - bowling his eight overs straight through - and Nick Gregori varied their bowling cleverly, preventing the Chobham batsmen from really cutting loose. But the total continued to mount.

Nick and Adnan made crucial breakthoughs, dismissing the two best bats, but it was only with the return of Jonny, bowling the last three of his allotted eight overs, that wickets tumbled. Four in total - and it was probably only Jonny’s humanity that denied him a hat-trick, bowling a loopy off-break at the youngster batting 11. He finished with splendid figures of 6-35.

Chobham were all out for 211 in the 40th over, a good effort by the Jesters in the circumstances. But, frankly, too many the skipper thought. Especially as our nine players included only one specialist batsman.

At 35 for 3 things didn’t look any better. But then John Murphy and Adnan Mohammed embarked on what turned out to be the match winning partnership.

Those who’ve only played with John in recent seasons may not be aware what a good batsman he is. He won the Arnold Woods trophy in, I think, 2002 for a masterly innings against a rapid attack on tour. And this innings was surely its equal. If not for shear physical courage - the Chobham bowling was useful but not life-threatening - then for temperament and technique. Somewhat riled by the fielders’ “league comments”, he was well and truly “in the zone”.

Adnan did much more than simply keep John company, matching him shot for shot as the partnership passed the 50, 100 and 150 milestones. He played some beautiful off-side strokes - cuts and drives - to complement the brutal crash through mid-wicket. John was particularly strong through mid-on and mid-wicket, with a truly crunching weight of shot, and was always alive to the deft deflection to third man.

What Chobham didn’t realise was how little batting we had after this pair - another wicket and the game could have been over very quickly. But of course John and Adnan did appreciate this point which made their partnership all the more special. Measured batting of the highest order.

At 199-3 we had the game in the bag. Or so we thought. Then John fell for 86 to a steepling boundary catch, Sean Oliver came and went, and Jonny Manners was dropped at slip first ball. Gulp! Could we possibly lose it from here?

There followed a couple of nail-biting overs - including a nervous maiden at Jonny - before Adnan took us home in style with a couple of boundaries, finishing on 85 not out.

A great win. Thank you the Magnificent Nine!

16th August - Middleton Stoney

Jesters 222 for 4 
Middleton Stoney 130 for 7
Match drawn

Jesters just fell short on another lovely day at Middleton Stoney

“The combination of great hospitality, beautiful surroundings, a traditional timed game and a lovely summer's afternoon makes the visit to Middleton Stoney, Oxfordshire one of the most pleasant fixtures of the year. It did not disappoint again this year.

“The home side won the toss and invited the Jesters to bat first. Skipper Cleobury renewed his partnership with Nick Mumby. The two got the Jesters innings off to a good start before Cleobury was out caught off a leading edge for 20. Mumby and Russell Ewings continued the good start, Mumby in particular looking to take the attack to the bowlers. Mumby ended up with another 35 (see Pink Elephants). Ewings made a stylish 21 before being undone by one that kept a little low. Then James Douse, showing good form with an early clip off his legs for four, sadly misdirected the next one back to the bowler.

“This brought Pooniah Vijendran and Jonny Bridcut together. Vijendran looked in top form as started tucking into the visitors attack (in particular some generous full tosses). They both settled into their innings well and the scoreboard rattled along - the most likely mode of dismissal being a run out given some interesting calling! The pair put on over a hundred for the fifth wicket and the Jesters reached tea at 222 for 4. Vijendran finished on 79* from 79 balls, Bridcut 49* off 53 balls.

“After the usual excellent tea, the Jesters took the field knowing that they would need to bowl well to take 10 wickets. They got the start they wanted with Bridcut striking in the first over. Sadly John Murphy was not at full fitness at the other end and had to leave proceedings early. This did allow for the long awaited come back of Matthew Berry, who after a few looseners soon found that nagging line that the Jesters have missed over the last season and a half.

“The home side consolidated after the early loss and the scoreboard was ticking over for them nicely, until their skipper blasted on to Berry in the covers off Bridcut. Mumby then replaced Bridcut and took a wicket immediately, by removing their in-form opener, caught by Bridcut at mid-on. The hosts were still going for it though and their keeper was unleashing some lusty blows. It was Berry who made the decisive blow inducing a top edged pull which was pouched by keeper Cleobury. With Mumby picking up two LBWs at the other end, the Jesters had reduced Middleton Stoney to 6 down.

“There then followed an exhibition by the seventh wicket pair, sporting a number of cricketing decades between them, who played every ball on its merit. Cleobury shuffled his bowlers introducing Phil Berman, Nick Gregori and Vijendran into the attack, but the partnership would not be broken. It was only at the end that the return of Bridcut brought the final wicket that the Jesters would take. Middleton Stoney ended up on 130 for 7, with Bridcut ending with 3 for 31, Mumby 3 for 8 and Berry 1 for 20.

“As is traditional, our hosts treated us to an excellent BBQ after the game. All in all a lovely day out.”

Many thanks to match manager Simon Cleobury for this account.

9th August - Hudson batters Rickling

Robbie Hudson scored a magnificent century as we won easily against Rickling Ramblers.

Jesters: 201-1 declared (35 overs)
Hudson 102*, Chak 82, Willliamson 7*

Rickling Ramblers: 74 all out (28.1 overs)
Murphy 9-3-17-5, Bridcut 8.1-0-26-3, Mohammed 6-1-20-2, B. Sareen 5-3-10-0

Match manager Ollie Doward explains:

“All good things come to those who wait. The big story of our thumping 127 run victory at Rickling Green was a first competitive Jesters ton for Robbie Hudson. By his own admission, Robbie's three figures at the Shenley Club Day last season didn't really count, so as his hundredth run was cut backward of point in trademark Hudson style, a hugely popular century was greeted with unbridled joy by team-mates.

“Batting first, Hudson (102*, 13 fours, 3 sixes) and DJ Chak (82) made light of a sporting wicket to post a brilliant first wicket partnership of 185. DJ mixed textbook defence with some pugnacious drives on both sides of the wicket while Hudson was all cuts, flicks and pulls, including three big sixes over square leg. After DJ holed out when seemingly set for a century of his own, Williamson, looking to atone for some wayward driving at nearby Great Hadham Golf Club in the morning, guided his partner through the nervous nineties before the declaration came at 201-1 off 35 overs.

“A one-sided affair was quickly concluded in just 28.1 overs as the home side subsided to 74 all out. John Murphy rolled back the years, ripping through the Rickling top order to take 5-17 off 9 overs. There was a period of alarm as storm clouds gathered and the last two men dug in to post the highest partnership of the innings (23) to delay our retreat to The Cricketers Arms, but the first ball of Jonny Bridcut's second spell duly ended proceedings before the heavens opened. Jonny finished with figures of 3-26 and Adnan Mohammed 2-20.”

4th August - Cuckfield rained-off

With standing water on the square and heavy rain forecast all day, we called off the game at 9.30, at least avoiding a wasted drive all the way to Sussex.

1st August - Deutsche Bank debacle?

Rumours reach Jesters HQ of a 110 run defeat (approximately). More when we know it.

28th July - Horsham cancelled

Sadly we were unable to raise a side for what is our oldest fixture. Next year is the 80th anniversary so it would be good if we could put out a decent XI.

25th July - Extraordinary scenes at Roehampton

Match manager Robbie Hudson reveals all:

“2.30, on a pitch offering something to the bowlers, the Jesters were 9-4, with DJ back in the trees after leaving a ball which knocked back his leg stump, Alex Smith and Adnan Mohammed lbw and Christian Judd clean bowled by one which jagged back. At this point, one of Roehampton's opening bowlers got a side-strain, thank God.

“Three careful partnerships took the Jesters to 98-7, and some lusty hitting off the last few overs brought us to a defensible 145. The scoring was pretty evenly spread around, with everyone getting between 0 and 12, and Matt Williamson scoring 73 before being out to a loopy full-toss.

“Bridcut and Mohammed tore through the top of the enemy order, there was a recovery which saw things look pretty even for a while, but then a couple of wickets fell to the twirling Mohammed and persistent Chak (or One Chak Mind as I have taken to calling him) and Roehampton shut up shop with 13 overs to go.

“In the end, they scored 18 off the last 20, or vice versa, with Mohammed, Chak, Bridcut and Hayes chipping away manfully. But their numbers nine (looked very decent, was not out at the end) and ten looked like they were seeing the home side home for a battling draw.

“Cometh the hour, cometh the Frenchman. King Louis came to bowl the eighteenth over and immediately drew number ten out of his ground. Allez, allez. After Bridcut was dead-batted for the nineteenth, Louis was replaced for the twentieth by Adnan, who speared a startler into the young batsman's ribs, which he gloved fizzingly to Williamson in the slips.”

Roehampton were all all for 81 giving us a 64 run victory.

18th July - Gemini rained off

A deluge during the morning meant the game was called off after lunch. Thanks to Gemini for their hospitality at lunch and looking forward to next year already.

13th July - More news from tour

The final two days provided a great conclusion to the tour. We beat Canford Cygnets by 5 wickets after bowling them out for 171 (they were 120-1 not long before lunch). And won by the same margin against Hampshire Hogs, chasing 202. Full match reports to follow.

11th July - Early news from tour

We managed a good start to the annual Dorset tour beating Milton Abbey Hornets by 4 wickets on the magnificent school ground. Milton Abbey were 125 all out not long after lunch (Craig Gourlay 4-7) but against tight bowling on a slow pitch our batsmen were never able to cut loose and we were grateful to crawl across the finishing line. A full report will follow after the tour.

News is just in of a draw against Bryanston Butterflies who scored 243. Ollie Doward blocked out the last over with us on 222-9 after 6 wickets had fallen for 29 runs in the chase. Jonny Bridcut scored 61.

27th June - Pink Elephants thriller

Pink Elephants 102 All Out
Jesters 105 for 7

There was great excitement amongst the 11 lucky Jesters who played in our first ever fixture against the Pink Elephants at the magnificent Westminster School ground in Vincent Square.

Not many get to play at this beautiful ground, an amazing 13 acres hidden away between Vauxhall Bridge Road and Wilton Road, so we were very honoured to be invited. We also could not have picked a nicer day for the game - warm, sunny and not a cloud in the sky.

The Pink Elephants batted first. The Pinks' skipper Joe Ireland eased Jonny Bridcut's first delivery through backward point and it raced away for 4. Fears of a long afternoon of chasing leather in high temperatures were soon allayed though as Bridcut, later in the same over, nipped one back to have Ireland plumb in front.

Soon after Bridcut struck again with two beautiful outswingers, both to left handers, the first taken smartly by Nick Mumby at first slip and the second a fantastic diving catch low to his left by Ollie Doward at second slip (made even better by the fact that he only had two hours sleep).

Bridcut ended with excellent figures of 6-0-23-3. He was ably supported at the other end by John Murphy, who bowled a very tight spell of 8-3-14-0, an excellent effort in such hot weather.

The Jesters continued to take wickets on a pitch that was offering plenty of assistance to the bowlers. Ben Sareen (6-0-19-1) bowled an excellent spell and deserved more than his one wicket. Tim Harty found some lift in the pitch inducing the batsman to glove one to keeper Simon Cleobury, then with one pitched right up squared another Pink's batsman right up offering a chance to Doward at short cover, which again he took magnificently. Harty took a third wicket to end with magnificent figures of 7-2-18-3.

The Jesters' spin twins Nick Mumby (2-0-6-0) and Adnan Mohammed came to finish things off, with Mohammed equalling Bridcut's tally of 3 wickets, ending with figures of 3.4-1-6-3. The Pinks were bowled out for 102 and the team when to enjoy hot scones for tea!

Skipper Cleobury promoted Mumby to open the batting with him. It was the skipper that fell first to one that popped and presented a simple catch to the waiting silly mid off. Mumby was joined by Harrison and they began to build a good partnership, Mumby in particular latching onto anything short.

However, both Harrison (10) and Mumby (35) then departed, and they were soon followed by Douse, Doward and Mohammed, who both fell to the excellent spell from the young Pinks fast bowler and Bridcut fell trying to sweep the left arm spin of Ireland. The Jesters were in danger of throwing away another run chase with a most Jester-like collapse!

However, it was Louis Harris (28*) who steered the Jesters to victory, courtesy of some typically lusty strikes. The Jesters won by 3 wickets and the teams retired to the Barley Mow to rehydrate.

We would like to say a huge thank you to Joe Ireland and the Pink Elephants for the opportunity to play on such a lovely ground. We very much hope we will be invited to play again.

20th June - Radley & the Dilscoop

Radley Rangers 247/5 dec (60 overs) 
Jesters 166/8 (46 overs) (Harris 55)
Match drawn

A strong Jesters XI took on a young Rangers XI at the idyllic ground at Radley only to emerge with a frustrating draw. 

After winning the toss on a rare rain-free morning, the Jesters invited the hosts to bat first.  Despite the opening bowlers beating the bat regularly, wickets proved hard to come by as the Radley top order made the most of a flat surface to lay the foundations for a decent score.  However, the Jesters' attack showed great discipline and ensured that the scoring rate remained around 3 an over for most of the innings, despite attacking fields and Nick Mumby's moon balls. 

Perhaps aware of a certain old boy in the Jesters' ranks, the hosts batted on towards 4 o'clock with little sign of an acceleration in the scoring, though the game opened up slightly when the visiting captain called on the wiles of two underrated leg spinners; Louis Harris dusted off his right arm and claimed 2 wickets with his bamboozling combination of high yorkers, short good length balls and the occasional googly. 

Andy Harris was the pick of the seamers with his probing outswing and deserved more than the one wicket.  The Rangers eventually declared on an imposing 247/5 from 60 overs.

The Jesters' opening pair of Tony Crockert and Ponniah Vijendran built a solid platform before tea, though after the resumption the required rate soon reached more than 7 an over, and the much hyped Jesters' top 6 struggled to penetrate the defensive fields set. 

An unfortunate run out brought Ponniah's stay at the crease to an end, and from there the loss of regular wickets meant that scaling 250 became impossible.  Louis Harris carried his fine bowling form into the second half of the game with a commanding 55, though received little significant support. 

Nevertheless, the Jesters continued to play their shots, with the pick of the bunch being a perfect "dilscoop" to the fine leg boundary by Andy Harris off the Rangers opening bowler; a leading contender for shot of the season! 

After a couple of late wickets, Nick Mumby was called on to survive the last few balls to ensure that defeat was avoided, though our first victory in this fixture will have to wait until another year. 

As ever, we would like to thank the Radley Rangers for their hospitality in what has become one of the stand-out fixtures in the Jesters diary.

12th June - Narrow defeat at Jesus

“Play got underway earlier than usual on a sunny Cambridge day to allow the Jesus students extra revision time ahead of their impending finals. Having been inserted, the Jesus top order faced a stern examination in the form of Jonny Bridcut (3-51), who found some fearsome swing with the new ball, which included the prize wicket of Jesus skipper (and Jester) Sam Grimshaw. Sadly, Matt Berry suffered a recurrence of his shoulder injury after bowling just one over. It did yield a wicket though, a stumping off a wide!

“With wickets falling at regular intervals and Adnan Mohammed (4-60) turning the screw at first change, the students needed something special to drag themselves from the mire. Enter Blues all-rounder Frankie Brown who smeared a rapid 72. Fielders were posted far and wide but to no avail. Ably supported by the dogged Graves (41), he enabled the home side to declare on 191-8.

“In reply, we were cruising at 104-2 after Hudson (29) and Harris (30) put on 62 and debutant Skid Marks hit a breezy 26. There followed a dramatic collapse instigated by left-arm tweaker Brown. Wicketless and out-bowled by Adnan last year, he gained revenge by wiping out our middle and lower order to finish with 16-5-28-5. Sean Oliver (25) offered late resistance with some hearty blows but the death knell sounded when last man Berry was pinned in front playing a shot hereafter known as 'The Curtsey'. All out 170 and defeat by 21 runs, only our second loss at Jesus in a decade. Although disappointed with our feeble demise, it was fantastic to see the relish with which the Jesus players greeted the final wicket.

“Cap'n Grimshaw missed the last knockings having been whisked off to Addenbrooke's Hospital for three stitches in his mouth after wearing a Hudson top edge at slip, but was happily back in time to toast victory through a straw. And Jesters pride was partially restored when a team of Berry, Harrison, Doward and Marks put the students in their place by romping to victory in the Jesus College Bar general knowledge quiz!”.

Thanks to match manager Ollie Doward for this account.

7th June - Heavy defeat at Amersham

Amersham 261/9 (40 overs)
Jesters 170/8 (40 overs)

The trip to Amersham CC and their wonderful ground is a highlight in every season for the Jesters. Sadly for the second year on the trot the conditions were grey, damp and cold  It was decided that the competition would be limited overs with 40 per side  The Jesters won the toss and elected to chase.

Tight bowling from the opening pair DJ Chak and Sean Oliver restricted Amersham to a shade under 100 for the first 20 overs.  Though sadly a couple of dropped catches meant that the home team had plenty of wickets in hand  The introduction of Adnan Mohammed had the desired effect and he set about demolishing their middle order. 

As ever, Amersham put out a young and enthusiastic side with plenty of talent, and their batting continued deep into the lower order. Adnan continued to take wickets, but the other bowlers failed to stem the scoring from the other end - not helped by an increasingly wet ball - and the onslaught from the final ten overs brought the total to an imposing 261. Adnan finished with very impressive figures of 5 for 29 from his 8 overs.

The response got off to the worst possible start, with a mix-up between DJ Chak and Tony Crockert resulting in the latter being run out. Louis Harris soon followed, brilliantly caught in the slips by Amersham's South African pro. 

DJ kicked on and played aggressively for his 30. James Williams (33) and Matt Williamson (30) rebuilt the innings and both played some terrific strokes on what was now a very sticky pitch. By this point, however, the Jesters were well behind the rate, and needed nearly 10 runs an over from the last 15.

The wickets now began to fall as steadily as the rain as we went in search of those elusive boundaries. Late cameos from Sean Oliver (26*) and James Douse (24) added a degree of respectability to the scoreline, but in the end we were well beaten by 91 runs, finishing on 170 for 8.

Another enjoyable afternoon, nonetheless, though hopefully next year we will get some better weather! That said, there was more play in Amersham than in the test match at Lord's.

13th May - NPL game cancelled

NPL have cancelled the game on Sunday because they are unable to raise a side. Sorry to disappointment everyone, especially as we were aiming for the third successive tie in this fixture.

We reconvene at Amersham on June 5th. See you there.

8th May - Victory at HAC

We beat the Honourable Artillery Company by 6 wickets to record our first win of the season.

The wickets were shared round as HAC were bowled out for just 113. Jonny Bridcut cleaned up the tail after Jesters debutants Sean Oliver and Dan Hayes had both picked up wickets. Louis Harris top scored with 46 as we won with more than ten overs to spare.

One peculiarity was that after two months with barely a drop of rain in London the start was delayed by an hour while we waited for puddles from overnight rain to clear. 

Hopefully a fuller match report will appear here soon.

20th April - Close finish at Hurlingham

Jesters 329/5 declared (Butler 168*, C Smith 83) 
Hurlingham 219/9 (Mohammed 4/42, Mumby 3/31)

Match manager Jonny Bridcut reveals all:

“The traditional season's curtain-raiser saw the Hurlingham Club left dangling by a thread to secure a draw against a Jesters XI seeking their first victory for many years in this leafy London oasis.

“After losing the toss, the Jesters were invited to bat first on a belter of a wicket more akin to mid-August than pre-Easter. It was not long before the two Simons, Butler and Cleobury, started piercing the field with abandon and the score quickly raced past 50. When Cleobury edged one behind and the feline Louis Harris ran out of his nine lives, the Jesters were tottering at 78/2, a middle-order wobble away from a grim lunch.

“However, Chris Smith, in his first innings for the club, joined his former university captain and the pair proceeded to plunder an astonishing 195 runs. Both took heavy toll on a weakened Hurlingham attack and made use of the shorter boundary towards the endangered iconic clubhouse. One of Simon's searing cover drives over the nearby fountain and onto the croquet lawns will live long in the memory and was one of the biggest hits since the Beatles.

“While the two were together, the only concern the visitors' captain had was that a monumental total of 400 appeared on the cards. Simon powered past his hundred with a six over the sightscreen and continued to crunch the ball to every part of the idyllic ground on his way to a majestic 168 not out (which had Ned scurrying around to check whether it was a club record). His hundred came off 114 balls, with the remaining 68 off only 34 balls! (Ed: Simon’s 168 is indeed the highest ever individual score by a Jester - congratulations Simon!)

“Chris's unfortunate dismissal for a fine 83, when a century seemed certain, meant that the middle order had an opportunity to wield the willow and help push the score past 300. The Jesters declared before 3pm, with a total of 329/5 off just 49 overs.

“Although the scoreboard cannot lie, the visitors knew that the job was under half done, as taking 10 wickets on this benign surface was sure to prove a stern challenge. Hurlingham got off to a solid start, picking off a few boundaries where possible, and eased through the opening overs.

“However, a customary inswinger soon nipped back through the gate to expose the middle order to the Arnold Woods-trophy-holder before tea. Unsurprisingly, Adnan immediately found his rhythm and started to chip away at the Hurlingham line up, helped by some magnificent aggression from Max Harris at the other end. Max was extraordinarily unlucky to only finish with one wicket, which was fended off the batsman's throat to a leaping Vijendran.

“However, as the final twenty overs approached, the easy-paced surface seemed to be getting the better of the strong Jesters' attack and Hurlingham were drifting towards an aimless draw.

“Nicholas Mumby had different ideas, as his wizardry sparked a final hour flourish. First, through cunning flight he lured their star batsman to lash one down the throat of long on; then, in one remarkable over in his second spell, he span one two feet past the textbook leave of the Club's young minister of defence before surprising the next man with a quicker one that knocked out all three. This meant that one wicket was needed with three overs remaining.

“Adnan, who had already snared 4 wickets, found the outside edge in the very next over, and the victory dance was one slip catch away! However, the statesman stood next to the wicketkeeper was reminiscing over his triumphs of the last 5 minutes and could not quite cling on to the chance. The captain rotated his bowlers to maximise the batsmen's discomfort, though the hosts' last pair dug in to ensure that another year would pass without defeat.

“As ever, the Jesters would like to thank the Hurlingham Club for being such fine hosts on what was a super day for good old-fashioned declaration cricket; the art of taking all 10 wickets to win a game will have to wait until later in 2011.”

1st February - New fixtures announced

We’re pleased two announce two new fixtures for the 2011 season. The first being against the Westminster School staff side The Pink Elephants at the school's ground in Vincent Square on Sunday 26 June. The other being against Milton Abbey in Dorset on Sunday 10 July, which will mark the start of the annual tour.

Both are wonderful grounds in lovely settings. You may well know Vincent Square, but if you’re unfamiliar with Milton Abbey it’s probably enough to say that many think it an even prettier place than Canford.

31st January - Nets at Lord’s 2011

Club nets begin at Lord’s on Tuesday 15th February and continue on the following dates: 1, 8, 15, 22, 29 March; 5 & 12 April. All are Tuesdays and all sessions are 7-8pm.

To book places please contact Andrew Short. The cost is £8.00 per person per session. And the usual rule applies: if you book and subsequently cancel and we’re unable to find a replacement you will be charged. See you there!

13th November - Simon Cleobury is new Hon Sec

At the 2010 AGM Andrew Short stood down as Hon Sec and was succeeded by Simon Cleobury. Jonny Bridcut becomes Fixture Secretary. All other committee members were re-elected.

13th November - Annual Awards

The annual awards were presented at a very enjoyable annual dinner at Chez Gerard Southbank. This year’s winners are:

Arnold Woods Trophy (best individual performance) to Adnan Mohammed for taking 7-48 from 17 overs against a very strong Jesus College Cambridge side and comprehensively outbowling their Blues spinner. He narrowly pipped Louis Harris who scored an astonishing 144* off 82 balls against Barnes Common.

Most Jester-like performance - Ned Morrell for a scoring hiccup in the Lord Gnome game that might have denied us victory. The scores finished level but an extra run was discovered in the scorebook after the game. The committee also presented Ned with a print of Worcester County Cricket Ground, a ground dear to his heart, in appreciation of all the scoring he has done for us over the years.

Michael Meyer trophy for big hitting to Louis Harris for blasting seven sixes in his Barnes Common innings. 

23rd September - Streatham & Marlborough off

Streatham & Marlborough have cancelled our game with them on Saturday. Disappointing to miss the last game of the season - but 9 wins outof the last 10 games isn’t a bad record to take into the winter!

21st September - Barnes Common centurians

Jesters 306/2 (35 overs) (Harris 144*, Butler 101)

Barnes Common 202/8 (35 overs) (Smith 4/17)

Match manager Jonny Bridcut describes the action:

“Upon arriving at the ground for a customary pre-match pitch inspection, it was only the stumps that gave away where the wicket lay as the entire square blended seamlessly into the yellowy-green late summer outfield. It was therefore with some trepidation that the Jesters accepted the opposition's skipper's kind pre-toss 'suggestion' to bat first, no doubt the result of him recalling our opening salvo last season that had reduced his top order to 8/4. 

“Two hours later, after we had ruthlessly compiled a stunning 306/2 from our 35 overs, it was clear that we would not be receiving such a generous offer next year.

“The innings began steadily with the two Simons, Cleobury and Butler, reproducing their fine form from last summer's encounter to ensure that the new tangerine soon lost its shine. When Simon Cleobury was unfortunately defeated by one that jagged back and kept low, Louis Harris strolled purposively to the middle, eager to distance himself from Liverpool's impending struggle against their rivals from Manchester.

“Louis and Simon set about dismantling our opponents' attack with relish, and were soon breezing along at around 8 or 9 an over. The fact that Louis did not register a single until he was in his forties showed the brutal nature of his onslaught. Simon was the first to a very impressive three figures, in only his second Jesters innings, though fell shortly afterwards for 101 (in an almost coincidental fashion to last year), thereby ending a dominant 182 run stand between the pair.

“After a slightly nervous nineties, Louis went through to his first ever hundred, off just 67 balls. However, that did not signal the end to his fun as, in partnership with the commanding Alex Smith, he walloped a further 44 off his last 15 deliveries to finish with a lofty 144* from just 82 balls, with 7 sixes.  This was surely an effort that would threaten Adnan Mohammed's bid for performance of the season.

“It would have been easy for Barnes to have crumbled when faced with such a total, but to their credit they played out all their allocated overs for a respectable 202/8. However, the required run rate was always beyond them, and given that we had the all-conquering Adnan in our ranks, victory had never appeared beyond doubt.

“Some expansive blows from the Barnes middle order ensured they both entered and exited the Coach & Horses in good spirits, although Alex Smith rekindled the all-round credentials of his heyday with a useful 4 wicket burst towards the end.  It was a shame that we could not quite bowl them out, though a 104 run victory meant that the contests over the years were now level at 2 apiece.”

14th September - Excellent victory at Ashtead

We beat a good Ashtead side by 70-odd runs with one of our best performances of the season. Jesters who have played at Ashtead over the years may be interested to know the club is flourishing, now in the premier division of the Surrey Championship (finishing 5th this year) and with an attractive new pavilion just opened.

We played a 40 over game and arranged to bat first as several Jesters were caught in traffic. Simon Cleobury and Robbie Hudson batted with great composure against a good new ball attack who found plenty of late movement. Robbie went on to make 45, a vital innings that gave us a platform and protected our middle order stroke-players from the moving ball.

The stroke-players duly went to work. Chief among them was Louis Harris whose 72 was a well constructed innings, careful defence and good running between the wickets mixed with his usual scintillating shots. Ollie Doward and Matt Williamson lent good support against a bowling attack that never let us cut loose. Matt and James Douse finally did well to take us beyond 200.

We thought our 210 was defendable, but were mindful the Frogs had lost by 9 wickets to Ashtead the previous weekend with a similar total.

Our bowlers made an excellent start, Jonny Bridcut - playing his first game of the season after six months in Shanghai - persuading their star opening bat to edge one behind. But their other opener looked in good form, bashing a series of robust boundaries, and seemed quite capable of taking the game away from us.

The vital moment came at the end of Phil Berman’s opening spell, when he drew a big leading edge from the opener which looped up to the vacant mid-on area. We held our breath as James Douse ran round from mid-off to make a tricky catch look easy.

At this point our spinners came on and - as so often this season - kept quiet batsmen looking to accelerate. Adnan Mohammed (2-10), Louis Harris (2-39) and Andrew Short (3-19) all bowled well.

They were supported by good catching. James Douse judged a skyer perfectly on the long-on boundary, while “champagne moment” was Ollie’s catch on the mid-wicket boundary. The ball came to him flat and fast, and needed a sudden late adjustment as it dipped wickedly at the last moment.

We worked steadily through the middle and lower order and Ashtead were finally all out for 137 with half a dozen of their 40 over remaining. A good win.

Thanks especially to the several senior Jesters who made it along to watch. It’s always great to have support. It was particularly good to see former Jesters umpire David Le Shirley who is still going strong at 88 not out.

6th September - The Sawbridgeworth Seven

Our season of poor availability reached an embarrassing low point as we turned up at Sawbridgeworth - a strong club - with only seven players (despite a huge effort from match manager Alex Smith).

Sawbridgeworth kindly lent us two players, including a keeper, and we played nine-a-side. In the end it was a good game, Jesters (+ 2) winning by 22 runs, but it was all most unsatisfactory. Thanks to Sawbridgeworth for their hospitality and understanding.

In the game itself, we batted first with the 15 year old Sawbridgeworth keeper playing for us scoring a good half century. When we bowled, Adnan Mohammed wrapped up the game with another excellent 5 wicket spell (5-41).

1st September - Max’s Maidenhead marvel

Max Harris - Louis’s brother - led us to victory over Maidenhead and Bray with an unbeaten century, scoring exactly 100. Skipper Ponniah Vijendran was 65 not out at the other end as we won convincingly by 8 wickets.

Maidenhead and Bray had earlier been dismissed for 184. In a good all round bowling display, the star of our attack was 12 year old Sachin Rawson with 3-36 from 6 overs. Well done Sachin!

24th August - Chobham run us close

We beat Chobham by four wickets, but only after a dramatic late collapse had threatened to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

Chobham won the toss and chose to bat in the traditional 40 over game. Their 124 all out was worth more than it seemed on a pitch used for a league game the day before and which gave a little help to all bowlers.

After tight opening spells from John Murphy and Phil Berman (who took the first two wickets), it was spin triplets Mohammed (3-15), Mumby (3-39) and Louis Harris (2-28) who did the serious damage, all taking wickets against a predominantly young side who would have preferred to knock around the seamers.

Louis in particular will bowl much worse for far better reward, his faster ball prompting several loud shouts for lbw. It was Adnan, though, who took the key wicket - and escaped serious injury - when he clung on to a tracer bullet drilled back at him by their hard-hitting no.3.

The fielding held up throughout, which was good to see after some poor performances this season. Adnan made a catch over his head in the covers look easy; James Douse hurtled round the boundary to good effect; Andrew Short emerged with a mouthful of dirt after a successful diving effort in the gully; and Charlie Wilson - making his only appearance of the season on a rare visit from France - nearly pulled off a spectacular one-handed diving catch, the ball unfortunately dislodging on impact. Matt Williamson did a very tidy job standing up to the spinners, which is never easy.

125 to win seemed well within range, and our openers took the field with the skipper’s pep talk uppermost in their minds (he hoped) - “make sure you win it by ten wickets”. Jesters are not the only side to have a let a low target get the better of them.

Louis Harris mixed his usual exuberant strokeplay with watchful defence and Ollie Doward’s late Saturday night had equipped him perfectly to play the anchor role. Ollie was bowled for a calm 24 with the score on 72 and Louis went for 60 with the total well into the nineties. Job done, we thought.

At 116-6 we thought again. Especially as our number 11 wasn’t on the ground and we would only bat ten. Their skipper’s slow spin - 3 for 16 from 8 overs - had done much of the damage.

At this point the redoubtable John Murphy - clearly bucked by his recent engagement - was joined at the wicket by Adnan. They took stock before Adnan unfurled a couple of delightful boundaries to see us home. Sighs of relief all round.

Many thanks once again to Chobham for their hospitality. Nice place. Nice people. It really is somewhere we look forward to playing each summer.

16th August - Final over thriller at Middleton Stoney

“The local crowd were kept well entertained by a nail-biting run chase and thrilling final over when the Jesters travelled to Middleton Stoney, deep into the Oxfordshire countryside.

“On a pitch that was damp from the previous day's rain, the home side won the toss and chose to bat first. Jesters debutants Andy Harris and Ryan O'Sullivan started proceedings. Left-armer O'Sullivan found some excellent swing back into the right handers and struck in his first over. The hosts then consolidated - Harris and O'Sullivan continued to bowl well but a few chances were missed and soon the hosts were up to 50.

“Finally there was reward too for an excellent spell from Harris to get the much needed breakthrough. With Harris' accurate pace bowling from one end and Nick Mumby's off spin at the other the home side's innings was checked for a while. They lifted the tempo again, though, and it needed the introduction of Adnan Mohammed to break the partnership, when he got one to turn and bite to give a sharp chance to skipper Cleobury at slip.

“Middleton Stoney's opener was compiling an excellent innings with some very big hits into the surrounding trees. He was eventually cleaned up by Mohammed 16 short of his century. The scoreboard continued to tick over, but Mohammed also continued to take wickets, including one with a brilliant catch by keeper Matt Williamson. Mumby was unlucky not to take a wicket at the other end as he found some turn and was flighting it nicely. His replacement Louis Harris got some turn as well and chipped in with a couple of late wickets. At tea the hosts had reached 171, leaving the Jesters an hour plus 20 overs to chase the runs down.

“The Jesters got off to a solid start through Cleobury and Harris, with Harris in particular playing some excellent attacking shots through mid wicket. He couldn't keep it going though and was out to a shot he would rather forget. Russell Ewings was up next but played round a straight one that kept low. Cleobury and Mohammed then started to build a platform, but always found the going tough. Acceleration was difficult due to some accurate bowling from Middleton's skipper at one end and good off spin at the other.

“Skipper Cleobury was out trying to force the off spinner for 41. Mohammed and Williamson then built a good partnership and were going well, albeit slightly behind the rate. The pressure told though, and they were both out soon after, Williamson for 20 and Mohammed for 38. Andy Harris and James Douse continued to go for it and through some aggressive running from Harris the Jesters were just about staying in touch.

“When Douse was out O'Sullivan continued the good running until he was run out going for a third. Harris struck some lusty blows and an excellent reverse sweep to keep the Jesters in the chase.

“The final over arrived with 13 still needed by Harris and Nick Gregori. A dot and a scrambled bye was not the start they wanted. However, Harris struck the next ball for four and then hit two twos off the next two deliveries. So it was 4 required off the last ball. There was no fairytale finish as Harris was unable to get the ball away so the game ended as a draw.

“As always, Middleton Stoney fired up the BBQ and we all enjoyed the beautiful early evening sunshine. We even participated in Middleton Stoney's fines court - Louis Harris continuing his earlier generosity by stumping up a fine for his dismissal!”

Many thanks to match manager Simon Cleobury for this report.

8th August - Rickling Ramblers

Another victory! We notched up 194 on a tricky, slow surface at Rickling Green. Louis Harris, Simon Cleobury, Matt Williamson and Mike Palmer all made good contributions (Mike smashing a tile on the pavilion roof). Tim Harty did the damage with the ball in a superb five wicket spell (5-28), ending the game - and claiming his fifth wicket - in the most satisfying fashion, knocking out middle stump. They were all out 120-odd.

The match manager is working on a full report which will appear here soon.

7th August - Two wins in a day at Cuckfield

It’s not often you wake up on the morning of a match to hear the place you’re playing singled out on the Radio 4 weather forecast for its record rainfall the day before. Haywards Heath, next door to Cuckfield, had had 48 millimeters of rain in just one hour!

Yet there was no call to say the game was off. So we made the long drive to Sussex wondering what we would find. 

Fortunately Cuckfield is on chalk and the ground dries quickly. We arrived to find groundsman John Mole working on a very damp wicket but one that was just playable. The storm had hit at lunch the day before, a river of water running in front of the pavilion from the direction of the car park and flowing out through the nets. It was the worst deluge any of the Cuckfield members could remember at the ground.

The wicket may have been just playable but it would be a nightmare for the side batting first, and mean almost certain defeat. So to salvage better entertainment from a Cricket Week fixture the captains took the unusual decision to play two, back-to-back twenty-five over a side games under T20 rules. As it turned out this worked really well with both sides full of younger players.

To cut a long story short, we won both games! We chased 120-odd in the first game and set 150 or so in the second (which was reduced to a 20 over game). First up the strip really was a pig to bat on, fully justifying the novel arrangements.

Match details have already faded into the mists of time, especially as there were very few regular Jesters on display. But Louis Harris was the star of the first game, bowling his five over spell for just 15 runs and striking a calm 43 not out to see us home. Those who think Louis is a slow bowler should have seen the bouncer he bowled at Cuckfield’s Sri Lankan pro!

Another novel feature was the first example (I think) of the Dilshan scoop in a Jesters game, played by the pro (he was caught at fine leg). This provoked memories of the first time a Jester scored a boundary with a reverse sweep - Brian Pote-Hunt at Cuckfield almost 20 years ago. Brian won a bottle of champagne that day - put up as a prize for precisely this feat by Richard Johnson. This made us wonder if any modern-day Jester would be prepared to sponsor a similar prize for a boundary from the Dil-scoop?

Many thanks, once again, to Cuckfield for their splendid hospitality - and especial thanks to John Mole for getting the square playable. A really heroic effort.

On a final note, we were delighted to welcome veteran Jester Dick Nelson who came along to watch proceedings. Dick played his last last game for the Club so long ago that it was even before the Hon Sec’s time. Dick and his wife are flourishing and send their best wishes to all who remember them.

3rd August - Deutsche Bank succumb

Thanks to match manager Patrick Allen for the following match report.

 “We agreed to play a 35 over a side game. Deutsche Bank won the toss and batted. But after two wickets in the first ten balls the Jesters were on track for what turned out to be a resounding 7 wicket win.

“With a partnership of 85 for the third wicket by Gold (53) and Fahad (32) the Jesters struggled until the advent of spinners on drying wicket enabled them to re-assert control. After a good opening spell from Adnan Mohammed supported by Manget Singh with his nagging medium pace and Simon Rawson’s bustling swing bowling, the Deutsche Bank side capitulated against some excellent spin bowling from the versatile Adnan who finished with 3-17 in his seven overs, leg spinner Louis Harris with 3-36 and Will Taylor 2-19. They were bowled out for 165 off the final ball of the 35^th over.

“Some good catches were held in what was fine team effort. Eleven-year-old Sachin Rawson gave an excellent exhibition of ground fielding having come in as a late replacement.

“On a pitch still moving around, and after a watchful beginning by Tom Bodeker (22) and Ponniah Vijendran (44 not out), a couple of quick wickets were lost before Vijendran was joined by Louis Harris (41 not out). Their unbroken stand of 85 brought the Jesters home in style in only the 24th over - an excellent victory.”

3rd August - Victory at Roehampton

We beat Roehampton by 2 wickets in a thrilling finish after finding ourselves 78-7 chasing their 180 (Adnan Mohammed 4-19). Dave Hancock (48*) and new Jester Alex Brookes (53) rescued us with a century partnership.

Despite this epic ending, the game will go down in history as the first time a lady took the field for the Jesters - John Twigg’s daughter Sonia. What’s more, she took two wickets! Congratulations, Sonia.

22nd July - More injury woe at Gemini

Our injury hit and poor-availability season reached a new low against Gemini at Sunningdale School. With match manager Ollie Doward out of action with a broken hand, we did well to scrape together eleven players. However, one was 11 year old Sachin Rawson and another John Murphy, not his normal gazelle-like self after putting his back out the previous weekend.

We won the toss and put them in, only for calamity to strike less than half an hour into their innings. Wicket keeper Simon Cleobury put his back out and we had no one with any keeping experience to replace him.

Our response was innovative - if not a little foolhardy. Our best bowler, Adnan Mohammed, took the gloves and Ollie Doward - complete with two broken bones in his right hand - came on and fielded one handed for the rest of the innings. In the circumstances, their 130-odd for 2 at lunch was not a bad effort on our part. Adnan even pulled off a stumping!

Over lunch, skipper Simon Rawson revealed he had been a wicket-keeping prodigy until the age of 13 and so would take over from Adnan. His subsequent performance did nothing to dispel this claim as he put in a very tidy performance.

We fought hard after lunch but Sunningdale School is never the easiest place to bowl with short boundaries and aggressive batsmen keen to rekindle memories of school days by hitting the ball as far as possible. Their 279 was a big score but perhaps not that many more than we would have expected to concede with a full strength side.

Several Jesters batsmen got in but no one went on to play a match winning innings against a good attack. Their secret weapon proved to be a number of full tosses from their unusual 6’ 7” leg spinner. As so often in a really tight spell, it was these balls that took the wickets as we sought to break the shackles. Andrew Short was our top scorer with 48, poking around for what seemed like ages before unleashing a series of front foot drives against their fastest bowler and then holing out to the leggie off a full toss. We were eventually all out for 200 or so, Ollie making a brave, one-handed appearance at number 11.

So another defeat. But an eventful one - and one where we didn’t disgrace ourselves. Many thanks to Gemini for their first class hospitality during and after the game. This really is one of the highlights of the Jesters season.

20th July - Dorset Tour 2010

We nearly made it a clean sweep on tour, winning two games and having the opposition nine down in the third.

There were great deeds all round: we successfully chased Bryanston’s 304, Ollie Doward broke a hand in two places on day one yet played on through all three games, and there was a legendary batting performance from Matt Berry.

Many thanks to Ollie for this account of the action:

Bryanston Butterflies 304-7 dec (49 overs)
Jesters 305-8 (46.4 overs)
Jesters won by 2 wkts

On a beautiful Blandford morning, Richard Rostron (pro at Salesbury CC) and Joe Rawlinson both struck early, Rostron extracting considerable life from a bone dry Bryanston pitch. Marshall (51) led a mini Butterflies recovery but three quick wickets just before the interval, including the dangerous Jim Denning (this was the diving catch that broke my hand) meant the Butterflies lunched at 115-5.

After lunch, the other Denning brother (53) and Freddie Strange put on 134 for the sixth wicket. Strange launched an astonishing assault on the bowling, smashing 113* off 58 balls (16 fours, 3 sixes). The declaration was greeted with some relief by a bewildered Jesters - wickets were shared round evenly, two apiece for Rostron, off spinner Stephen Brown and tour skipper Simon 'Highlights' Rawson.

Disastrous start to our reply. 0-2 became 15-4. Any prospect of chasing down 300+ looked dead in the water. However, Ollie Doward and Richard Rostron led the fightback, putting on 165 for the fifth wicket. When Doward was run out for 60, Rawlinson (40) supported Rostron as he powered to a breathtaking century and a scarcely believable victory was suddenly a distinct possibility.

In a frantic finale the final equation was six runs to win off the final over with two wickets in hand. We got there with two balls to spare sparking wild celebrations on the pavilion balcony. A shattered Rostron finished unbeaten on a magnificent 159 (24 fours and a six).

A sensational game of cricket with over 600 runs scored. After we chased down 286 last season, their skipper joked afterwards that he would never declare against us again!

Jesters 133 all out (40 overs)
Canford Cygnets 77 all out (23.1 overs)
Jesters won by 56 runs

Something of a contrast to the previous day's run fest. Blazing sunshine was replaced by dank gloominess and it quickly became apparent that run scoring would be a real challenge. The top order inevitably succumbed to the powers of Canford's pantomime villain Ben 'Ironman' Pearce whose four early wickets helped reduce us to 57-5. Thereafter Rob Long (23), Ian Riley (27) and Rostron (36*) rallied to help us post a less than imposing 133 all out.

There then followed an extraordinary session of cricket. Rostron steamed in for the first over and had an enormous caught behind appeal turned down off his first delivery. Disappointment turned to delight three balls later as the same batsman had his stumps demolished. Wicket maiden. At the other end, in-form Adnan Mohammed pinned the other opener lbw first ball before grabbing a second wicket of the over by beating their number four all ends up with a quicker one to rattle the timbers once again.

With the score at 2-3, Canford's Tom Blackburn then played an extraordinary shot to the first ball of Rostron's second over, launching a fast good length ball into orbit for a mind-boggling garryowen of a six which went as high as it did far. We were later to find out that while we were gorging sandwiches and cakes at tea, gym bunny Blackburn was pumping iron in preparation for his innings!

Adnan followed up his first over with a wicket maiden and Rostron kept his cool to trap the young tyro lbw for 12. 14-5. Canford skipper and occasional Jester George Shepherd steadied the ship along with Marsh (27) but the introduction of Brown nipped any resistance in the bud. His 3-16 included Canford 'teawatchman' and BBC cricket commentator Mark Mitchener for a golden duck, the last of a remarkable eight ducks in the match. Fittingly it was Ironman, having cleared the ropes with his first scoring shot, who holed out to long on to seal a 56 run win and hand Adnan his fifth wicket (5-34).

As usual we enjoyed the Cygnets' generous and at times hilarious hospitality after the game, even managing to hold our own in the various traditional beer challenges.

Jesters 207-8 dec (56 overs)
Hampshire Hogs 168-9 (49 overs)
Match drawn

After a heavy night at Canford and back at base in Bournemouth, it was a ragged looking Jesters who turned up at Warnford on Wednesday morning. Much like last year, overnight rain had turned the wicket into a sticky dog. Not a toss you want to lose, so Simon duly did for the third day in a row.

Once again, we were quickly in a hole at 27-3. It needed someone to drop anchor and that man was Matthew 'Tavare' Berry (28), our injured opening bowler turned opening batsman. Matt's 95 ball epic spanned 35 overs before he was trapped in front attempting to sweep his first ball from wily old fox Chris Bazalgette. Momentum was provided by cameos from Doward and Rawlinson but once again it was left to Rostron to dig us out the mire. His rapid 81 and some classy hitting from Brown enabled us to declare on 207-8.

The Hogs were also in early trouble at 29-3 after early Rostron and Rawson wickets and a brilliant improvised run out by the latter. Relieved at being dropped at second slip, Hogs number three Foot neglected to plant his feet back in the crease and had his wicket thrown down by Simon's bullet throw from first slip. A stand of 84 between Tennant and Aldridge (47) ensured the game was finely poised going into the last hour with 112 needed and seven wickets in hand. However, once the partnership was broken by Rawson (17-2-46-2), wickets tumbled at regular intervals. When Tennant was seventh out, bowled by Brown (4-50) for 84, the Hogs decided to shut up shop. Two more tail-enders were eked out to set up the theatrical ending we'd all hoped for - Hogs legend 'The Gette' was required to block out the final over to save the game.

He did so with aplomb, thus bringing to an end a fantastic tour on and off the field. All three matches ebbed and flowed and we played some exhilarating backs-against-the-wall cricket. The games were played in great spirit and thanks must go to Bryanston, Canford and the Hogs for once again being perfect hosts. Thanks also to former Jesters stalwart Roger House for his unstinting support on all three days.
 

11th July - Second best against Captain Scott’s XI

Match manager John Murphy produced a near miracle getting eleven players on the pitch in the face of widespread unavailability (it was World Cup final day) and injury.

It wasn’t, however, our strongest ever eleven and we were hammered by a a powerful Captain Scott side. In a 35 over game they smashed 270 - not helped by a uniquely poor fielding performance - and our 180 owed much to late hitting from new Jester Nic Gregori (67 from 45 balls). Definitely a day to forget - although a fuller account may appear here in due course.

4th July - Exciting draw with the Gnomes

We had a cracking finish against Lord Gnome’s XI in Oxford on the lovely Queen’s College ground beside the river. Three were needed from the last ball with our last pair at the crease. But with men back on the boundary we could only manage a single finishing on 200 chasing their 201.

At one stage it looked as though we would be chasing many more as their top order laid into our seam attack. Runs flowed. But skipper Matt Williamson was up to the job, turning the tables with his decision to take pace off the ball. Slow men Adnan Mohammed (5-68) and Andrew Short (3-56) bowled through the rest of the innings.

Louis Harris gave us an electrifying start in response, a dazzling array of shots taking him to 63 off only 52 balls. A pretty much flat six pulled through mid-wicket sticks particularly in the memory. After Louis went the pressure of the chase told. Several Jesters got in but no one went on to play the match winning innings. As wickets tumbled we kept going for the runs, even with last pair John Murphy and Ben Sareen at the crease. But in the end victory lay just tantalisingly out of reach.

28th June - Radley Rangers

Radley Rangers: 232-8 declared (44 overs) F. Moynan 68, J. North 34, J. Stanton 34, M. Harris 3 for 60, Hamad-ul-Hasan 2 for 40

Jesters: 161 all out (39.2 overs) A. Mohammed 37, Hamad-ul-Hasan 32, J. Stanton 4 for 44, C. Stoop 2 for 20, J. North 2 for 20

Radley Rangers won by 71 runs

“On a stunning June day, the Jesters played the Radley Rangers on Smithson’s Field. Although this is effectively the College’s third pitch, it is almost certainly one of the best tracks the Jesters will play on this season. The wicket was a batsman’s paradise, with pace and bounce for the quicker bowlers, and the outfield was well-cropped and fast.

“Winning the toss, the Jesters took to the field. Max Harris and Adnan Mohammed bowled sharp opening spells, with the latter trapping the Rangers’ opener leg before. Jesters guest Hamad-ul-Hasan (who debuted for Peshawar over the winter) then commenced a fine spell of off-break bowling, which included two wickets in two balls. The Rangers’captain, Henry Bailey, had started confidently but he was unlucky to play-on against the bowling of John Murphy. A good early performance with the ball left the opposition struggling on 71 for 4.

“Hamad continued to wheel away (he conceded just 40 runs in his 14 overs), but the Rangers batsmen dug in well and after playing themselves in Messrs J. North and Stanton added 91 for the fifth wicket. Moynan went on to hit 68 and his innings included six straight sixes off our other slow bowlers. Harris claimed three quick wickets at the end of the innings and when the declaration came we thought we were in with a good chance.

“Unfortunately we did not bat to our full potential. Wickets fell at a steady rate and with the exception of Hamad (who made 32) our top order struggled, with the other top six batsman scoring just 29 runs between them. We collapsed to 81 for 7.

“Simon Rawson and Mohammed batted together and both were keen to preserve their wickets. Rawson unfortunately fell for 22 and we another quick wicket fell, leaving us 129 for 9 with 10 overs to go before the close. Last man Murphy and Mohammed then dug in to try to save a draw. Both men looked comfortable and the pitch remained an excellent surface on which to bat. Then, in the penultimate over, Mohammed was trapped plumb in front to the only ball of the day to keep low.

“Credit must go to the Radley Rangers for setting us a tempting target and bowling a side out on such a decent track.”

Thanks to match manager John Murphy for this report. And thanks also to John for his untiring efforts to get eleven players when so many regular Jesters were unavailable.

14th June - Victory at Jesus College, Cambridge

We finally recorded our first win of the season in Cambridge yesterday, beating a strong Jesus College side by 7 wickets. Jesus have recently won Cuppers - the inter-college tournament - so this really was a good result

Thanks to match manager Ollie Doward for this match report:

Jesus College: 191 all out (52.2 overs)
Jesters: 194-3 (37.3 overs)

“On paper, this game was one of our tougher assignments of the season. Jesus, fresh from winning Cuppers the previous day, fielded a full strength side including Blues and Nottinghamshire left arm spinner Frankie Brown. However, we had Adnan Mohammed, more of which later...

“After a heavy deluge overnight, Jesters won the toss and elected to field, hoping to make the most of a drying wicket on a hot Cambridge afternoon.

“Max Harris and Ben Sareen bowled exceptionally tight opening spells without luck but were up against the formidable pair of sometime Jester and Mallard Sam Grimshaw and James Waters, our nemesis from this fixture in 2006.

“The unusually subdued duo had reached 61-0 when spin twins Mumby and Mohammed were called upon. Mumbers made the crucial breakthrough, bowling Waters before A-Mo took a vice-like grip on the game. He frustrated and bamboozled a series of talented batsmen as Jesus collapsed to 99-6.

“There was late resistance from Brown (46) and skipper Duncan Allen (43) but the final total of 191 all out had spanned a hefty 52.2 overs. Adnan's fantastic final figures were 7-48 off 17 overs.

“With so few overs available to bat after tea, chasing down their total looked like too tall an order. But Robbie Hudson, having finally dispensed with his decrepit blade from university days, kept his w(h)its about him, thrilling the watching picnickers as he slashed and pulled his way to a swashbuckling 61 off 49 balls.

“He was supported by fluid knocks from Matt Williamson (28), Max Harris (49*) and Adnan (28*, including three sixes). Max finished the game off in some style, flaying a six over extra cover to seal a surprisingly comfortable seven wicket win with six overs of the last hour to spare. Brown finished with figures of 0-32 from 12 overs.”

14th June - Captain Scott’s venue announced

Our game with Captain Scott’s XI on Sunday 11th July will take place at the Christ Church sports ground in Oxford - just over Magdalen Bridge from the city centre. This is an opportunity to play on one of the best grounds in Oxford, one that has regularly hosted minor counties cricket.

John Murphy is our match manager so contact him direct if you’d like to play.

24th May - Carnival in the sun

Our club game at Shenley was played on the hottest day of the year so far. Far too hot for some.

Two Jesters sides faced each other, the “Rawsonites” batting first against the “Cleoburyites”. Highlights included Robbie Hudson’s century for the “Rawsonites”, 50s from Adnan Mohammed and Dave Hancock, tight spells of spin bowling from Adnan and Nick Mumby, and Russell Ewings’ spectacular direct hit from cover to run out Ponniah Vijendran. Simon Rawson’s team talk also deserves special mention - a blood-curdling piece of oratory in this “friendly” game.

The match ended in a draw, so still no Jesters victory this season!

12th May - NPL game cancelled

Unfortunately NPL are unable to raise a side so have called off the game on Sunday 16th. One of their players is getting married “up north” the day before with many of their side attending.

8th May - HAC game rained off

After heavy overnight rain in London our game with HAC was called off in mid-morning.

2nd May - Magdalene College, Cambridge

Rain descended on Cambridge not long after the St John’s game finished, continued all night and into Sunday morning. The game was called off first thing.

1st May - St John’s College, Cambridge

We made it three defeats from three games this season with a tight, one wicket loss to St. John’s. The college put out a slightly stronger side than in recent years while we resembled the Old Crocks XI with several players carrying injuries. Their captain made a point of asking if Jonny Bridcut - our Cambridge destroyer of recent seasons - was playing and was delighted to learn of his absence in Shanghai.

With the bowling attack mostly stuck behind an accident on the M11, we had no option but to bat on winning the toss. Unfortunately our top order then all fell to occasional subterranean bounce at the University Library end - the one that got Louis Harris literally rolling along the ground. Alex Smith led the fightback with a mixture of watchful defence and his usual silky boundaries.

The students bowled very straight and fielded athletically throughout the innings. And with defensive fields scoring was never easy. Nor did a funereal over rate of only 37 overs in more than two and half hours help our cause - and at 168-5 we had little option but to declare to make a game of it. Alex finished on 66 not out and had been well supported by Ollie Doward and Matt Williamson.

Their innings was a curious affair - and probably shows just what you can sometimes achieve if you actually go for the runs. We learned that most of their side were due to attend the Benefactors Dinner in Hall and so were keen to get away early if at all possible, batting much more positively than they might otherwise.

At 105-7 we felt we had the game won. But down the order they had a number of players who clearly weren’t regular cricketers, but were very good sportsmen. They hit cleanly and straight - and under pressure we dropped a number of crucial catches (I think five in all). Their number ten - a hockey player - played a delightful cameo, hitting his first ball over mid on for four, then taking two steps down the wicket and driving through extra cover (possibly the shot of the day), before flicking one off his legs for another four. Number eleven came to the crease with 14 needed - and he looked a genuine cricketer. Under his guidance the approach became a little more conservative, singles and sensible placement taking them to victory with one over remaining.

Our bowling attack held up pretty well under pressure, but we lacked a cutting edge. Ben Sareen was the pick with 3-41 and Adnan Mohammed bowled a long spell of slow left arm, also taking three.

It’s always disappointing to lose. But what more do you want than a really tight game in beautiful Cambridge surroundings? The skipper also realised it was almost exactly 30 years to the day since he first encountered the Jesters, playing for the college. Taking none for plenty and blocking out for a draw - so little change there then.

28th April - Amersham

It can be tricky playing good league sides in April. At that stage of the season they tend to be lean, mean, fighting machines in preparation for the new league campaign. Whereas we, to be frank, aren’t.

And so it proved against Amersham where we came unstuck in a 40 over game, losing by 91 runs. Amersham 202-7. Jesters 111.

We began well with tight opening spells from Tony Duckett and Matt Berry - and after nine overs they were 24 without loss. But after that they eased up smoothly through the gears, culminating in a final over that went for 19. Matt went for only 20 from his eight overs, and Tony took 3-23 from his.

After nine overs we were well placed at 30-1. But we just couldn’t accelerate after that, and although the second wicket didn’t fall until the score had reached 69 we were now in the 20th over. Against a strong bowling attack, our attempts to step up the scoring rate then produced a clatter of wickets, and with one of our players unable to bat with conjunctivitis we fell a long way short.

We’ve had a series of tight, high-scoring games with Amersham in recent years, so perhaps we should look to play the game in September once again.

22nd April - Catchee watchee winee matchee

We began the 2010 season by coming second at Hurlingham. But it could perhaps all have been so very different. Match Manager Simon Cleobury takes up the story:

“It was glorious weather and the magnificent setting of the Hurlingham Club that welcomed in the new Jesters season. The Jesters welcomed back Robbie Hudson from injury and gave debuts to Max Harris and Eddie Binns. Unfortunately the Jesters performance was not as glorious or magnificent as the weather or the setting.

“Hurlingham won the toss and elected to bat. There was still some early morning dew around and the pitch was green although very hard and dry. Tony Duckett bowled beautifully from the top end and was unlucky not to take a couple of early wickets. Hurlingham's left handed opener was dropped off the other opener Max Harris and he gave a very hard chance which was put down behind the wicket off Tony Duckett. Those misses were to prove very costly.

“There was a deserved wicket for Tony Duckett and with the introduction of Eddie Binns some control was exerted. Another chance went begging when a good piece of fielding in the covers from Simon Cleobury should have led to the opener being run out. The two Hurlingham left handers were soon seeing it very well indeed, and began to cash in on the excellent wicket and short leg side boundary, particularly with the introduction of the spinners. Hurlingham's left handed opener marched to a stylish century well before lunch and at lunch the Jesters were on the rack with the score at 181 for 1.

“The skipper switched Adnan Mohammed to the far end following lunch, which bore fruit when he removed both left handers in quick succession. Their opener had scored 50 off 57 balls, 100 off 83 and ended on 140 of 110 balls. There followed a period of consolidation where the run rate was checked. Not for long though as some hefty hitting kept the scoreboard ticking and Hurlingham moving towards the 300 mark. Mention must go to Tony Duckett who bowled for over an hour in the first session and returned for another long spell after lunch - his figures of [1 for 91] did not reflect how well he bowled. Adnan Mohammed also did well to come back after a bad start to end with [4 for 80]. There was also a wicket for Max Harris, who was restricted to only 6 overs due to a dodgy toe, in his second spell. Simon Rawson's five overs were tight in the context of the game. Hurlingham declared their innings on 291 for 6.

“The Jesters' reply was started by Ponniah Vijendran and Louis Harris. Ponniah looked in good touch and it was a big blow when he was run out attempting a second off a misfield. The Jesters were unlucky to lose Eddie Binns soon after. When Paul Durban went soon after that things were not looking good. Louis and Ollie Doward were able to steady things until tea. Hurlingham's opening bowlers were Ben Thompson (ex Warwickshire and Gloucestershire 2nd XI) and George Brooksbank (ex Hertfordshire). They continued after tea as they had done before and scoring was very difficult. Harris and Doward looked to be digging themselves in for a decent partnership before Doward was run out and Harris fell to the off spinner. Simon Cleobury and Robbie Hudson briefly promised a partnership of old, but it was not to be. Adnan Mohammed, Simon Rawson, Max Harris and Tony Duckett had a hit at the end. However, the Jesters ended up on 142 and were well beaten by 149 runs.

“So a lovely day was had, as always, at Hurlingham, but as Confucius would surely have said if he played cricket, "catchee watchee winee matchee". The Jesters were really made to rue those early misses. Early season fielding practice needed next year.”

15th April - Mallards game cancelled

Unfortunately the Mallards have had to cancel their game with us planned for 6th June. We are trying to find an alternative. Please let Simon Cleobury know if you have any ideas.

19th January - Increase in annual subs & match fees

At the 2009 AGM we voted to increase the annual subscription to £20 and match fees to £7.00 per game. Life membership increases to £110. This is the first increase for many years and is necessary to cover the cost of our cricket. We have lost money for the last two seasons.

Would all playing members please alter their standing orders to £20. It would also be a great help if those who haven’t paid by standing order in the past do so now. John Murphy can give you our bank account details.

17th January - Nets at Lord’s

Pre-season nets are booked at Lord’s from early February to mid-April. All sessions are on Tuesdays, 7-8pm, except for the first session on 3rd February, and that on 31st March which are on Wednesdays (again 7-8pm).

Dates are: 3rd & 16th Feb, 2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd & 31st March, 6th & 13th April.

Contact Andrew Short to book your place. The cost is £7.00 per person per net. And the usual rule applies: if you drop out too late for us to find a replacement you will be charged.

Note to Match Managers:

If you let Andrew Short know about results of matches, brief details will appear here. Scorecards - if available - will link from the “Result” column on the fixtures page.

News Archive:

News from previous years is now stored on a series of archive pages: 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003