'Weak/medium’ Jesters team gets the job done at Brentwood
Brentwood Victorians 170 all out (Dheeraj 2-15, Mumby 2-19)
Jesters CC 173-3 (Chak 61*, L Harris 48)
Won by 7 wickets
After our original opponents Amersham cancelled on the Friday before the game, fixture secretary Ollie Doward had swiftly arranged a 40 over match against Brentwood Victorians. An alarmingly relaxed looking Jesters XI descended on the picturesque Old County Ground in Essex, on a pleasant May morning.
The free and easy feel to the day was perhaps summed up by (normally) dependable Jesters wicket-keeper Ben Sudell, who announced over WhatsApp at 11:32: “Sorry skip, I’ve left and got on the Elizabeth Line without my keeping gloves, or any kit for that matter”. Having wanted to set the tone early, this wasn’t quite what the doctor ordered - nothing shows a team means business more than stumbling into the home dressing room before the game and begging to borrow some keeping gloves.
The Brentwood playing strip looked to be a dry and used surface, or a ‘crumbly road’ as Jesters debutant James Maby put it. As the captains went out to toss, the sun began to blaze, and the Jesters players made themselves comfortable on some cricket-themed pavilion benches...
To the surprise and bemusement of his teammates however, skipper Sachin Rawson won the toss and elected to field first. It was suggested that with the final round of Premier League matches being shown in the Brentwood Bar at 4pm, avid Arsenal supporter Rawson may have had this in mind when opting to bowl first. He protested that he would never dream of putting his own personal interests above the cricketing interests of the Jesters CC. Such protests fell on deaf ears.
The Jesters reluctantly took to the field with Max Lewis and Dan Hayes taking the new pill. It quickly became clear that Max was going to be a real handful, as he repeatedly beat the bat with some late shape away. Hayes was characteristically miserly at the other end, and runs seemed difficult to come by. Spin twins Nick Mumby and Maby joined the attack and both immediately appeared to have it on a string. Brentwood’s middle order had few answers to Mumby’s changes of pace as he finished with a tidy 2-19 off his 8. Maby wheeled away from the other end, sporting a vibrant pair of multi-coloured shades which dazzled both the opposition and his own teammates in equal measure. Spirits were high and the slip cordon grew in numbers with each passing edge, as drinks were taken with Brentwood 33-5 from 20 overs.
It was at this point that Brentwood’s fixture secretary summoned the Jesters skipper to express surprise at the strength and quality of the Jesters team. He alleged that the Jesters Fixture Secretary had sold us as a “weak to medium side” and so they had picked their team accordingly. For legal reasons it should be noted that our Fix Sec refutes said allegation to this day, maintaining that he never commented on the strength of the Jesters line up. Make of that what you will.
Some generous bowling changes and field settings saw Brentwood begin to creep up to respectability. Ed Atkins took his first Jesters wicket amidst an eventful spell of 2.5 overs, 1 for 37. Congrats Akky. Some excellent bowling from Dheeraj in between the chaos eventually resulted in Brentwood being 170 all out from 37.5 overs.
Louis Harris and DJ Chak opened up with the blade for the Jesters and were quickly into their work, with Harris in particular peppering the legside boundary at will. Progress was serene as DJ looked intent on grinding down the Brentwood attack, and the pair passed 50-0 untroubled. Brentwood mixed up the bowling and the introduction of spin saw the scoring rate slow somewhat, as both players began to accumulate with singles. Harris had reached 48 when he requested a drink of water from the sidelines, with 16 overs having now lapsed in the heat. This request was cruelly denied by the Jesters skipper, however, who urged his batting pair to bat on until the 20 over mark. Needless to say, Louis was trapped lbw in the next over, perhaps a mixture of tiredness and thirst seeping into his game. A good knock nonetheless from Bomber, who looked close to his best and struck the ball nicely throughout.
By now DJ was seeing it pretty well himself and began to show his undoubted class, bisecting the fielders with ease and counting to six with unerring effectiveness. He combined with Rob Harrison, Sudell and Atkins to pile on the runs, as they motored towards the home straight. DJ finished on a composed 61 not out, as we reached our target from 31.3 overs for the loss of just 3 wickets. This completed a dominant Jesters performance all round.
We stayed for a few drinks as Brentwood vowed to give us a better game next year, now they know we are better than a ‘weak to medium’ outfit. An enjoyable day out, thanks to the new faces who turned out and thanks to Ollie for finding us a fixture at such short notice.
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