Lichfield Nomads Cricket Club : Match Reports 2002

Another warm, sunny day saw the arrival of Sunseekers to Barton to play on the grass pitch. Hoddy won the toss again and elected to bat in the strength sapping conditions. Conditions of 10 overs per bowler maximum were set as Nomads had a shortage of regular bowlers. The innings opened with Gardner and Hussein due to the late arrival of Heslington who had forgotten the match ball. Hussein looked rusty after his holidays and was out for a slow 5. Nomads were maintaining a respectable 3 runs per over, with Gardner accumalating yet another good score, but the tight bowling did not allow an acceleration to occur and Pinfield and Heslington were out trying to force the pace. Higginson came in and started to dominate the bowling. Having forced the field back by hitting over the top, he tried a similar shot and was caught in the covers. This then saw the return of McGuinness who looked in good touch after his long lay-off. He ran some quick singles for a man with bad knees and pushed up the run-rate. A brief Caribbean style knock by Hoddy with 3 fours off 3 balls was brought to an end with an unfortunate run-out. The innings then subsided with new player Coleman, Greaves (golden gonad), and Pickering (gonad) quickly dismissed and only old stager Willis staying with McGuinness to see out the 40 overs.

After an excellent tea prepared by Hoddy and Jennett, the well-fed players returned to the battle. Higginson and Hoddy opened Higginson again bowled excellently with little luck although a caught and bowled in his 2nd over gave some encouragement . Hoddy was a little expensive at the other end and was replaced by Heslington after 4 overs. After a loose 1st over Heslington bowled excellently and subdued the Sunseekers. The introduction of Greaves at the other end provided a perfect foil as the batsmen were bamboozled by the flight and accuracy of the bowler. With these 2 old-stagers working their magic the run-rate fell from an early 5 per over down towards 3 per over. These two bowlers completed their overs leaving Sunseekers further and further behind the run-rate. Higginson started his second spell with 2 runs off 2 overs and this ensured that he and Hoddy had little pressure them in completing the overs to gain victory. The only mishap was a brief period of heavy rain which threatened to save Sunseekers with only 5 overs to bowl.

Gardner ct b Taylor 66        Duffil c&b Higginson 4

Hussein c&b Ashford 5         Nichols lbw Higginson 13

Pinfield ct Stewart 10         Walton b Heslington 39

Higginson ct Walters 30 Wenn b Heslington 10

Heslington ct Walters 2         Sibson ct Coleman Heslington 6

McGuinness no 21                 Taylor c Higginson Greaves 7

Hoddy ro 13                         Stewart no 23

Coleman b Ashford 2         Walters ct Hussein Hoddy 13

Greaves b Downes 0        Downes no 17

Pickering c&b Ashford 0 Ashford dnb

Willis no 1                         Hurst dnb

Extras 7                                 Extras 4

Total 157-9                         Total 136-7

Ashford 9 - 1 - 19 - 3 Higginson 10-0 -40-2
Downes 10 - 1 - 25 -1 Hoddy        10-0-47-1
Walters 10 - 3 - 31 -2 Heslington 10-3-18-3
Stewart 6 - 1 - 23 - 1 Greaves        10-0-30-1
Hurst 4 - 0 - 32 - 0
Taylor 2 - 0 - 22 - 0