Thrashed at Eastcote but finally a game of cricket in 2023!

Jesters CC 194-8 (Varma 63, Chak 33)

Eastcote 195-3

Jesters lost by 7 wickets

After losing the first three games of the season to rain, we were delighted to see some Jesters cricket, irrespective of the crushing defeat at Eastcote! The home side reached their target of 194 after 25.2 overs of a 40 over contest. Their leftie opener put us to the sword with 121*.

Earlier in the day 88-2 off 20 overs became 134/6 after 29, an almost reassuring Jesters wobble. Achal Varma's 63 was the mainstay of the solid start and it was left to DJ Chak and Sarbajeet Nag to lift us to a decent total after the skipper had been stumped second ball, taking his 'wriggle on' orders a little too seriously.

Plaudits go to debutant Mohit Pandey for a great spell on debut without luck and to Shuva Mitra's fabulous 'tip over the bar/180° swivel and dive' catch off Shorbo's rarely seen bowling arm..

And there has been some further bad news on the fixtures front... Amersham are unable to fulfil this year's fixture.

Jesters XI: A Smith (c), J Whittock, Nag (wk), Varma, Chak, Pearce, Mitra, Richards, Pandey, Mortimer, Berman