Norwich & Coltishall Wanderers IIs 268-5 (A. Jones 107, T. Saunders 45, R. Humphries 27, Chubb 11)
Downham Market IIs 158 a/o (S. Alexander 3-20, J. Bunting 3-27, A. Jones 2-24, T. Saunders 2-21)
This club amaze me. Two weeks ago Rudy Kaiser was offered a Lancashire League contract, so he decided to take it up and left Norwich ( a good move for his career). On Saturday morning, Anthony Jones, of Limpopo Province, flies in from Jo'burg. Robbie Humphries drove down to Heathrow to pick him up and, with a brief stop over to pick me and a mate up from our student house, Jonesy goes straight into the match.
He came in at 101-2, after my dismissal, and promptly smashed 107 off about sixty balls with some of the biggest hits I have ever seen. His hand speed is utterly phenomenal. They had absolutley no answer to him. I have never seen such an incredible display of power. The amazing thing was he was falling asleep in the car on the way to Downham, and it was his first day in England EVER. Stunning.
It had been a relatively subdued match up til that point. I came in at three and played a few good shots but got out mistimeing a lift over midwicket (I leading edged it and it ballooned to point) which was annoying. Their attack was fairly good, but there was no express pace nor tall bowlers to utilise a bouncy pitch.
When we bowled, only one of their players proved able to handle our pace lineup, the opner, who scored a fine 75. Saunders removed their Aussie pro for just 14, and after that it was something of a procession. Our skipper Alexander bowled very well, then Jonny cleaned up the tail. Jonesy was the fourth bowler to be used. He is quick and bowls bat-rattling slighty back of a length deliveries- he is not in Rudy's class as a bowler, but is probably the better batsman.
The team we were playing against have a reputation for being a pack of pricks, and they certainly proved that. Their number 5 was the worst. He was dropped first ball and reacted later by asking the skipper why he was so fat- Stuey replied, in time-honoured fashion, "every time I **** your wife she gives me a biscuit". The next ball he edged behind, but had to be dragged off the pitch bawling at the skipper to have the guts to fight him- I've never seen anything like it. In another incident, when Jonny was batting, the bowler picked up the ball from a defensive shot and threatened to throw down the stumps. Jonny said "If you're going to do that, have the guts to actually throw it". When he bowled Jonny, he shouted "Don't you ****ing say a word to me you little ****!" and pointed him off the pitch. They had been top of the league before this and we only had ten players, so to turn them over at their place was a great effort.
As well as being a superb player, Jones is a great guy and I can't wait to see a few more knocks by him this summer. I'm going to miss this kind of stuff when I go back to Devon.
Annoying, 'cos the game that was rained-off was against a team our captain was near enough certain we'd have beaten had it been played. Why TF couldn't it have rained last Saturday instead. 
And as you know, the other loss we should've won, a dropped catch cost it. A dropped catch off my bowling, too. 
