Old Boys teach us a lesson at UCS

UCS Old Boys 175

Jesters CC 143 all out (Chak 47)

Lost by 42 runs

Adnan Mohammed with an elaborate leave

Whilst the England test team were doing their best to dig themselves out of a hole at Lord's, the Jesters assembled at the UCS Old Boys pitches in Hampstead. The umpires were very keen to get an early start and the Hon. Secretary was whisked immediately out to the middle for the toss. The opposition skipper had already made it clear that he wanted to bat (and had even suggested that we should just agree to that without the toss) ... so it was no surprise when he won the toss and did just that. This was to be a 40 over game, but fortunately with no restrictions on bowlers. The Jesters took to the field with 10 players (albeit with an 11th who was actually on his way!) and started brightly. Mitesh Bhimjiyani and DJ Chak got us underway, with DJ snaring one of the openers for a duck. The partnership for the second wicket threatened to take the game away from the Jesters and whilst we kept the scoring to a reasonable level we never looked likely to take a wicket. The pitch was already demonstrating some uneven bounce and new boy Arjun Verma made the most of this, hitting both the bat and the body hard. Having broken the second wicket stand, we took wickets at fairly regular intervals, but none of the bowlers truly got on top of the batsmen. Chak, Arjun, Achal, Adnan and the skipper all took one wicket as UCS closed on 173 for 5.

We felt that we had let them get 20 or 30 more than they should have...

Adnan and Mitesh opened up, but neither looked entirely comfortable. Adnan was just starting to look assured when he was snared to a catch for 24. Mits and Louis Harris contributed 14 and 17 respectively, but both departed in the same way. A lot rested on DJ Chak as he and James Whittock came together in the middle. At 94 for 3 after 26 overs and then 116 for 3 after 30 overs, it looked like we might make a good go of it. Unfortunately, both James and DJ fell in quick succession as we subsided to 125 for 5 and then 143 all out. DJ played very well for his 47 but was undone by a ball that kept remarkably low and castled him.

It was an enjoyable game that was played in a good spirit (in contrast to the antics at Lords!) but it was certainly one which we could have and probably should have won.