With the Otley club kindly hosting a fixture at short notice the Jesters finally (after a few close misses) took to the field in their 51^st season. Surly the latest we have ever started!
As usual things did not start off smoothly with Dobby discovering he had a hamstring that he could tweak; luckily Josh Reynolds was hovering about & again agreed to help us out. Sunday lunch was a bit disjointed with Dale managing to find the Black Horse pub in Askwith instead of the one in the middle of Otley! (D-for Dale?) The carvery for £5 seemed to be the best option for most of the 7 present!
After winning the toss & electing to bat (no surprises there!) on a red hot day the 1^st 3 (all debutants) of Charlie Davy (Burley cc), Steven Brown (Lepton cc 1^stXI skipper) & Mark Harrison (Burley cc 1^st XI skipper) all cashed in on some wayward bowling & a couple of dropped catches (not mentioning any names Vinny!). The 2 Burley lads both retiring to let others have a bat, which everybody ended up doing after both Winterbottoms were adjudged plumb LBW! With the fast outfield, we ended up with what could possibly be our record highest total. (The oracles, messers Carter & Coates will have to be consulted for confirmation.)
A bar-b-que tea was provided by Otley club chairman (& Aire-Wharfe leg-end) Chris Smith with not to much assistance from his trusty helpers (see photo below left!).
One of the main advantages of Sunday cricket friendlies is to help players find some form so with Ricky Halloran needing some bowling, it was decided by the skipper that he would open the bowling against his brother-in law; star Bradford & Bingley all-rounder James Davis (who also made a Jesters appearance when he was about 13). Fortunately for us Ricky got more practice than James!!!!!
After that “big” wicket the skipper was able to let everybody (apart from the 1^st 3 batters) have a spell & mentions must be made of ginger mopped Joe Dunston (from the Lepton club( who picked up a 3-for which included renowned “hitter” Andrew Rhodes & 14 year old Ben Griggs, son of Jester Richard (it’s hoped that they will soon both play in the same Jester team) who bowled a very tidy but unfortunately wicket less spell. The skipper & vice-skipper mopped up the last 4 wickets with the former getting closer to his career target 100 wickets (it’s only taken 26 years so far!!!!)
& finally it’s thanks again to Otley skipper Chris Keddle & the Otley club for finally getting the Jesters moving in 2011.