A family affair: Newmarket Cricket Club fields full XI with the same surname

A fanatical cricketing family has fielded an entire team using only blood relatives.

Newmarket Cricket Club was set up by captain Jimmy Jolland so he could keep playing sport with his family once he became "too old" for football.

The team regularly plays with seven or eight Jollands on the team list but after finding themselves a couple of men short for their match against Thurlow and Old Mill Greenians, they were given an unmissable opportunity.

For the first time, the entire team sheet was filled by the Suffolk family. Dads bowled, sons batted and brothers fielded. Even Grandad Jolland was on hand to fill one of the three umpiring positions.

"It's great fun to play with your brothers and your kids," said Jimmy. "That's why I started the club up, so I could play with my boys.

"I couldn't play football with them because I got too old. Cricket was the answer. It's worked really well."

For Jimmy's youngest son, George, it was his first chance to step on to the field in a competitive match.

Captain Jimmy Jolland, umpire Grandad Jolland, and youngsters George, Henry and Freddie Jolland Credit: ITV News Anglia

"It was my first game so I was a bit nervous," said the recently turned 13-year-old. "But I did get two wickets so that [made me] happy."

Opening bowler and Jimmy's brother Mark, who was the oldest teammate, admitted family gatherings could get a little "feisty" with so many sporting sons but insisted they got along surprisingly well.

"As a group, we've always played," he added. "Always came out on holiday, cricket bat and ball on the beach, wherever we were."

For matches, captain Jimmy aims to mix up the batting and bowling orders to give everyone a fair chance and try to prevent too much direct competition between family members.

The match produced a score sheet that will take pride of place in the family album - not least because the Jolland XI also recorded a comfortable victory.

"We hope to do it again," said Jimmy. "But with the boys, a lot of them at at the university stage, and Henry's going to American for a football scholarship, so I don't know ... but we will try."

The score sheet made for an amusing read when Newmarket Cricket Club took on Thurlow and Old Mill Greenians during a mid-week match. Credit: ITV News Anglia

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