This story opens at a cricket match as the team captain wins the match for his team; something that doesn't impress on of his team mates. Shortly afterwards he is found dead; killed by the bowling machine. Barnaby and Winter turn up to investigate and Barnaby is surprised when he recognises the man who found the body; it is Jones, his old sergeant, although now he is calling himself Morris and won't explain why. Motives quickly emerge; some villagers are determined to stop the cricket competition as they don't consider ten over matches with over the top razzmatazz to be proper cricket, there is the suspicion that the games have been rigged by illegal gamblers and there are hints that something bad happened twenty years previously. Inevitably there is a second murder; the new captain of the cricket team is impaled with a stump. Things don't look good for Jones when he is approached by people wanting to rig the game and then made team captain.
The highlight of this story was obviously the return of Jason Hughes as Jones, a popular character who left the series a while back. The cricket themed murders were imaginative without being too silly which can't really be said about the game itself; I can't imagine what was essentially a glorified village competition would have big-screen TV scoreboards, cheerleaders and pyrotechnics. Still Midsomer was never really like normal counties! There are plenty of suspects and motives to keep the viewer guessing and the ultimate killer isn't that obvious. There is a sense of danger concerning Jones; when he was a series regular we knew he wouldn't come to harm but as a guest character he is a potential victim. The guest cast includes plenty of other familiar faces so one can't spot the killer by the 'best known actor' method. Overall a fine episode that fans are almost certain to really enjoy.
The highlight of this story was obviously the return of Jason Hughes as Jones, a popular character who left the series a while back. The cricket themed murders were imaginative without being too silly which can't really be said about the game itself; I can't imagine what was essentially a glorified village competition would have big-screen TV scoreboards, cheerleaders and pyrotechnics. Still Midsomer was never really like normal counties! There are plenty of suspects and motives to keep the viewer guessing and the ultimate killer isn't that obvious. There is a sense of danger concerning Jones; when he was a series regular we knew he wouldn't come to harm but as a guest character he is a potential victim. The guest cast includes plenty of other familiar faces so one can't spot the killer by the 'best known actor' method. Overall a fine episode that fans are almost certain to really enjoy.