Lichfield Nomads Cricket Club : Match Reports 2003

Lichfield Nomads 94 all out from 30.2 overs. (Gardner 41, Hussein 13, Samuel 4-23, Parker 3-10)
Cannock Wood 95 for 7 from 25.2 overs. (West 31, Morgan 28, Cartwright 3-24, Forster 2-7)

Even the thought of a curry is beginning to frighten Nomads, as they once again crumbled in the face of opposition they could well have beaten.
Forster won the toss and elected to open with Gardner and Fearon (Heslington taking a deserved rest in the Balearics). A good first over saw the score up to seven, with Gardner beginning to look in the sort of touch that has evaded him this season. Fresh from his riveting 67 last week the team was looking to Fearon to push the score along but it was not to be, as he chased a wide ball outside off stump and played on for a disappointing gonad, 7 for 1. Hussain arrived and appeared in little trouble, despite being dropped from a fairly easy chance, at mid on, as he moved to 13. Then, just as he was beginning to accelerate he played all around a straight full toss, 42 for 2. Pinfield soon got into his stride with a couple of boundaries but was undone by Samuels’ best ball which came in sharply to take his off stump, 58 for 3. Next ball, Higginson, having been off for two weeks again missed a straight one, 58 for 4. Pickering, promoted from number 11 after some doughty performances, began to nudge the ball around cleverly, with some particularly fine late cuts but once again the developing partnership failed to mature as this time Gardner was caught above his head, by the infant Sharpe, 76 for 5. Pickering continued to flourish, with Cartwright strangely subdued, being soon out, once again bowled, 83 for 6. wickets already falling far faster than Nomads would have liked now began to clatter, Pickering, for a dogged 8, 86 for 7, then Coleman Coleman 87 for 8. Hoddy looked like a man on a mission, unfortunately, it was mission to get to tea as quickly as possible, as he played too early at the first ball he received and was lucky not to be caught, then played the same shot to a similar ball, and was caught for what proved to be popular vote for the Cannock Wood “duck of the week” award, 87 for 9. Forster and Greaves tried to stave off the inevitable end, but it came soon enough when Greaves was bowled, 94 all out, Nomads lowest total of the season.
Another excellent tea left Fearon and the self confessed “rusty” Higginson opening the bowling. Bromley had opened and after having scored 107 in the home fixture, three weeks ago, Nomads must have feared the worst, however, Higginson tempted him into an injudicious cut from a rising ball and he was well caught by Coleman at point. An annoying stand of 50+ between Morgan and West eventually proved Nomads’ undoing with Pinfield putting one down that he should have held on to comfortably, as the score moved into the 60’s things began to look hopeless for Nomads, however, as usual they did not let their heads go down, Coleman had suffered at the hands of the batsmen as his line wavered but by now Cartwright was making life difficult for the batsmen. Suddenly, things started to go Nomads way, with Gardner taking a smart stumping, off Greaves, to remove Morgan and Cartwright beginning to get the luck he deserved. Forster took over from Greaves and removed two in his first over, but the damage had been done and Cannock Wood held out for a narrow three-wicket win.
With too many batsmen once again being bowled, seven in this innings, making 24 out of the last 36 wickets, Nomads need to concentrate on their batting if they are to get back on the “Rogan Josh trail”. However, it’s good to see Gardner back in some sort of nick with the bat and Pickering showing the benefit of selecting the right ball to hit, there are some good points. The bowling, again looked good and with another 20 or 30 runs on the board, we could well have run the match down to the wire.