It was a weekend to test the resolve of the skipper!!!!   Things started to go pear shaped on Friday afternoon / evening when 5 of the originally nominated team decided that they had better things to do on Sunday afternoon- thanks lads.  All of Saturday was spent by Dobby &me trying to ensure we had a team capable of representing the Jesters against what is usually a strong Horsforth Sunday side.
The last Saturday of the league season is usually associated with a few end of season parties & the consequence of those started to be felt Sunday morning as stories of domestic disputes & drunken brawls started to emerge. When only 7 people turned up to the Sunday lunch gathering at the Old Ball, emergency phone calls were required to see who was going to make the game. Josh Reynolds from the Otley club had already been emergency seconded by Ricky but at match start time it was utter chaos as we still had only 8 men. In the circumstances Horsforth letting us bat 1^st in a 35 over match seemed sensible!
A couple of “seasoned” Jesters were in attendance; its always good to see one of the Peter Birbeck clones (Peter always seems to be at any league ground you visit on a Saturday) & when Phil Lines was spotted & asked to play he sprung into action to find us a player other than himself & Adam Kenuyn seemed keen to have a game against his home club. When Nick Walker (recruited by friend Josh Reynolds) & Dave Thomson showed up (he thought it was a 2pm start) we finally had 11 men & the skipper could take his pads off for a while!
The skipper’s turmoil at the start was not improved when emergency opener Macca hit one up in the air early but the now veteran Jesters Otley pair of Ricky & Josh Atkinson steadied the ship. Wickets did start falling regularly at one end but Josh batted magnificently & when the skipper hobbled out (sprained ankle) in the last over he mentioned to Josh that he was 3 runs away from equalling the highest ever Jesters individual score of 153 (achieved by both Graham Feather & Graham Dobson). That is still the highest score as the skipper played at his 1^st ball, missed it by about a foot & looked up to see Ricky (his umpiring is inspired by John Whitaker) giving him out caught behind!
I will freely admit it was a struggle in the field in Horsforth’s reply. A couple of pretty good batters got in on a good pitch. The seam bowlers were weary from the day (& night) before & the spinners were punished. If a cardboard cut-out had been placed in the outfield it would have fielded better than the totally immobile skipper (my apologies to all the bowlers). The match did go to the last over when Macca & Dobby took some late wickets but Horsforth were edged home by their skipper. Beers were kindly provided by the home club to help us drown our sorrows!