Report by DRB

Even by Jesters standards the start to this game was farcical!  I could say that after a patchy performance against Otley the selectors retained only 2 players from that team, but that would not quite be the truth! On the previous Monday the “squad” of players for this game stood at 16. By 9pm on Saturday night that was down to 6 as an avalanche of text’s & calls informed me of player’s unavailability. The rest of Saturday night was spent by the skipper & acting vc Dobby on Dobbys phone (the skipper is on pay-as-you-go!) A tentative 11 was managed with help coming from Ives, although not able to play himself, managing to recruit some of his Barnsley team mates.
That was just the start of the problems!
The Aire-Wharfe contingent all met at Otley cc at 11.30. That is all but 1 who decided to let everybody else down by staying in bed! So in a torrential downpour we set off for the sunnier climes of Huddersfield.
Meeting the Barnsley contingent at the White Hart in Denby Dale for Sunday lunch we discovered a bit of a “situation” as stories were told of overseas visitors, strip clubs &bad hangovers causing a bit of a frosty atmosphere! (you couldn’t make this up!)
The 4 car convoy then set off for, what we thought was the near-by ground! When both my “cheep Bulgarian” Sat-Nav & Dobbys expensive one both sent us up a narrow dead-end dirt track we knew it just was not our day!
With the recently married Ives making  the trip with Louise & us been on 10 men Ives decided he would have a bat before he had to head to London on business. The resultant “domestic” that took place outside the ground led this correspondent to try & find some marriage council advice for them!
Old friend Tim Jones, captaining the home side kindly let us have the 1^st innings & we repaid the kindness by throwing away wickets like confetti. Barnsley “psychopath”  Andrew Clayton was particularly frustrated to be (correctly) given run-out by Steve “Sid” Gower. Only fellow Barnsley debutant Steve Walters & Ricky made any sizable contribution as we were bowled out in 25 overs. Sid did look in the best form of his career (just peeking at age 55!) & the skipper was particularly unlucky as he got the worst “shooter” of the day on any otherwise good pitch.
Tim also informed me that the umpire they had arranged had not been too well recently & his eyesight & hearing were poor; I thought that qualified him perfectly for the job! He was not the only umpire feeling unwell as Jamie Green had to exit the arena only 2 overs into his stint just before he vomited on the field!
After a terrific “early” tea the Jesters found defending the short boundaries with only 10 men impossible. Dobby did take a couple of early wickets but Tim & P.Pickford smashed the home side to an easy (& early) finish. The visitors were helped by Pip, the local postman’s dog who has been trained to retrieve any balls hit into the surrounding fields; Every club should have one!
Ps. On the way home my cheep Sat-Nav took me on a mile long dirt track & through a field. Just brilliant!!!!!!!!!!!