In our 1st post tour game the Jester jokers travelled to the east coast of England & the town of Bridlington for a friendly cricket match against some ‘colourful characters’ at Sewerby. A town that, locals claim in having ‘never seen so many fat people’ reside in one place.

The Kia Rio set off with the team captain, his 'acting' deputy and the Aussies in toe. Lack of commitment from the jokers meant that two hours prior to the scheduled start time, we were unsure if we were able to field a full team.

Belly showed some intelligence in noting that the sheep were laying down in the fields we passed because they were tired.(somebody always falls for it - ed) However was put to shame when he missed, according to RL, the biggest sign pointing toward the direction of the ground, and as such, took the wrong roundabout exit whilst on the phone (hands free if any pc's are reading)  again trying to organise 11 men to take to the field. RL seemed frustrated, as it added an extra 10 miles to the trip…apparently!

It was imperative the players were energised and well hydrated prior to the commencement of play. The Ship Inn provided pints of Fosters and a plate of 'flies' with a side of a Sunday roast beef dinner. RL was not impressed.

The clouds started to close in and eventually the rain gave in. It was hammering it down and left us Aussies to wonder, where is this summer you all speak of? It wasn’t until the rain began to ease, that we noticed our hosts decided it would be best to put the covers over the pitch.

It got to 2.10pm and the Jesters were four players short – obviously all still recovering from a big night out. This was evident when one Mark McEneaney kissed the pitched when he reached his half-ton. The arrogance got the better of him, being caught at point the following ball by ace Sewerby fielder M. Platts.who also took a jaffer to hand Graham Dobson a unique failure.

Collectively, the Jesters had years and years of experience over the young Sewerby team, and they didn’t seem to have much chance after losing their two openers with the attack of Dale Winterbottom and Scottie (who had recently replaced his old ‘Tom Graveney’s with some new boots purchased off Ebay).

Keeper Matty McCallum was so bored, he thought it best to keep on his knees up to the stumps. This made it difficult to take any of the stumping opportunities that presented themselves with the young players.

Debutant Carl McCallum wrote his name on the catching leaderboard with a magnificent textbook catch at mid-off. Without knowing much about the catching competition, one had to wonder about the rules. It seems only fair that if a catch (‘sitter’) was not taken, one catch should be subtracted from the players scorecard. Therefore, after today’s play, Belly would relinquish two catches from his total, and Dobby one catch after being caught dancing away to the ‘YMCA.’ Apparently the ball hit an ‘air pocket’ mid-flight, which raised it out of his reach. In actual fact he was up to the ‘A’step of the ‘YMCA’ and the ball travelled over his head and under his arms, eventually going for four.

Therefore after today’s play, the catching competition leader board finished at:

 2          MarkMcEneaney

    2          Dale Winterbottom

1          Carl McCallum

            -1         Stewart Dobson (misjudged catch, caught dancing)

                  -2         David Bell (slow reaction time) (she's a tough judge - ed)

A celebratory pint was downed at The Ship Inn on completion of the friendly. Macca walked away with some cuddly toys to keep him company on a cold, lonely night!

Meg acts as agent of the Jesters CC and contracts strictly without personal liability