Lichfield Nomads Cricket Club : Match Reports 2004

Nomads 128 for 8 (Pinfield 25, Heslington 20, Coleman 15*, Oliver 3-15)
Walsall AHA 129 for 5 (Hall 42*, Davies 36, Mohammed 20, Hoddy 2-20)

Nomads disappoint against nine man Walsall Health

The Nomads fell behind in the Captain's curry stakes after another disappointing display against Walsall AHA. Nomads were inserted and could only muster 128 for 8 off their 40 overs on a damp, slow outfield. Walsall AHA reached their victory target for the loss of just five wickets. With only nine men they were effectively 7 wickets down but Nomads failed to drive home the advantage either with the bat or the ball. The Nomads battled bravely in the field and the winning runs were hit with only two balls to spare but that was cold comfort as the Nomads slipped to their third straight defeat. MVP went to Akin Hussein who put his batting disappointment behind him to give a superb display in the field.

Mal Pinfield lost the toss and Heslington opened the batting with Fearon in the absence of Gardner. Walsall opened the bowling with the same pairing as earlier in the season. The Nomads openers looked solid and the partnership included a bizarre all run 5. Fearon drove into the covers and they ran three as the slow outfield held the ball up. A bungled throw led to another two. Fearon was the first to fall with a faint edge to the keeper, with the score on 31 in the eleventh over. Hussein's lack of confidence showed as he was bowled for 2. Heslington was involved in another run out as an attempted second run ended in disaster and he was out by two yards for 20. Ted Osborn was put down after a lofted straight drive but repeated the shot and was caught for 5. By now the score had slumped to 51 for 4 and only Pinfield was left of the recognised batsmen.

Fuzz Weir joined Pinfield and the pair tried to build a partnership and had added a useful 25 before Weir was bowled by Oliver, trying to force the pace. Weir reaching 13 for the third innings this season. Blackburn carried on in a similar vein and added 24 with Pinfield before he fell for 13. Pinfield top scored with 25. Hoddy then departed for a duck, his third of the season. The ninth wicket pair of Coleman and Pickering added a vital 18 runs and managed to ensure we batted for the full 40 overs. The final total of 128 on a slow outfield was respectable given the lack of any sizeable contributions but looked at least 20 runs short.

Mohammed and Davies opened the batting for Walsall Health and Heslington and Fearon formed an all (medium) pace opening attack for the Nomads. Mohammed rode his luck edging Fearon to a vacant second slip and offering a sharp return catch that Fearon put down. Keeper Osborn was standing up to both openers on occasion and took a sharp catch off Heslington but Davies neither walked or was given out by the Walsall AHA umpire. There was much grumbling amongst the Nomads as it was a thick edge. The batsmen claimed to have hit his pad with his bat and resumed his innings as if nothing had happened. Osborn was incensed and Pinfield acted as peacemaker to calm the atmosphere. In hindsight this was probably the key moment of the game as Davies was involved in three of the four partnerships that contributed to the Walsall Health total. 

The Nomads finally got their first reward when Hoddy had the dangerous looking Mohammed caught by Hussein. Humphries looked a bit of a phoney number three and departed for a duck and Walsall were 35 for 2, effectively 35 for 4. Nawaz also looked useful and added 15 with Davies before being caught by Hoddy off Blackburn.