Lichfield Nomads Cricket Club : Match Reports 2004

A close game with the Nomads needing 4 off the last ball to win. Blackburn and Pickering could only manage a single and the game ended in a draw. The match was played in an excellent spirit and 8 bowlers were used on both sides.

From memory the match went something like this, apologies if some of the numbers are slightly incorrect! ....

Heslington took a wicket first ball of the match.
Excellent run out by Pete Blackburn with Ted flicking the ball onto the stumps.
Amazing flight from Graham Coleman who tantalised his way to three wickets.
Good spell from vice-captain Hemmings but with no luck, despite wearing his amazing dancing shoes.
Solid spell from Paul Fearon who bagged an lbw and a caught and bowled in a season's best 2 for 17.
Good spells from Forster and Hoddy. Greaves and Blackburn were more expensive as the tail wagged at the end and added about 20 more runs than thy should have. The Bugbrooke youngsters showed their more experienced colleagues the way to do it and went from 66 for 6 to 156 for 7.

Heslington and Fearon opened the batting with an earlier partnership of 32 off 5 overs against Norton Selly Oak being recalled prior to the innings. Things were different this time as nagging line and length from the Bugbrooke openers saw runs hard to come by. Fearon cracked his bat and after swapping to the trusty club Gunn & Moore started to up the rate.  Both batsmen rode out the opening spell and laid in to the change bowlers and the boundaries started to clock up. The score was 66 when Fearon was given out lbw for 34. As ever, he was convinced he was not out.
Ted Osborn played his natural game and took an instant liking to the bowling and the short boundaries and fired a rapid 29 before being bowled. The momentum was really in the Nomads favour now with less than 5 an over required and 8 wickets in hand. But wickets always seemed to fall at the wrong time. Hemmings and Heslington (34) both perished in the pursuit of runs and Pinfield (15) added some impetus before departing.
Hoddy departed for a duck, bowled off-stump, first ball, by one that came down the hill. Pickering came to the crease and came back down to earth after his stunning winning runs against Beaudesert two weeks earlier. With no pace to work with, he was struggling to hit the ball off the strip, never mind the square.
Forster tried manfully to dominate the innings but he too perished, for 19 and Blackburn took up the mantle. He played his natural positive game and kept the run chase alive. With three overs to go, 13 runs were required with three wickets in hand and Pickering on strike. The team were praying for an early single to get Blackburn to face but Pickering batted out a maiden to pile the pressure on the Nomads batting. Blackburn kept the dream alive with some astute running and some lusty blows. Eventually it came down to the last ball and four runs required. Blackburn struck towards mid-wicket and only a single could be completed before Pickering was run out, leaving the Nomads on 154 for 7 and the match drawn.