Lichfield Nomads Cricket Club : Match Reports 2005

Nomads won another close contest against Walsall Health by 4 wickets with 2.4 overs to spare.

Fearon and Hoddy opened the bowling for the Nomads and Fearon struck third ball as Fell fell for a duck caught by Heslington at point. The bowlers hit the right spots and the batsmen found the going tough, scoring only 10 off the first 10 overs. At this point Rob Coleman had to leave the field feeling unwell and dizzy. Luckily there was plenty of medical assistance in the ranks of the opposition. The doctor asked Rob how long he had felt unwell to which Rob's reply of "two days" was met with great amusement. However, it was no laughing matter as Rob had to sit out the rest of Walsall Health's innings and was ably deputised by Richard from the opposition. Hoddy spurned a sharp chance as Davies edged to first slip and the openers were replaced by Forster and Heslington. Davies and Chamberlain had added a valuable 46 before Forster got Chamberlain (17) to top edge one and he was caught at fine leg by Fearon who took a tricky catch on the move. Forster then bowled Nicholls (1) to reduce Walsall to 55 for 3.
The middle order all added some impetus to the innings. Richard dropped a sitter off Forster on the backward square boundary and was threatened with a double fine. Forster bowled Davies for 44 to notch up his 100th wicket for the Nomads. Oliver (A) was starting to look dangerous. An attempted stumping had raised the shackles somewhat before  he was bowled by one that deflected off his belly, triggering some banter with the unlucky batsman. The fielding was somewhat patchy as more chances went down or were refused. Jarrams and Oliver (T) pushed the scoring rate on to glean a useful 173 for 5 off what turned out to be 41 overs.

Gardner and Hussein opened the Nomads reply. Jacob was bowling accurately and left armer Slim was finding some late swing. Hussein was bemused to be out bowled for only the second duck of the season. Pinfield came to the crease and as they have done so many times for the Nomads the pair held the innings together and kept the Nomads in the hunt. They had added 51 when Pinfield was out. Ted Osborn played some cultured shots before being dismissed by a blinding diving catch at mid wicket. Gardner was relishing the task and was starting to hit the ball cleanly, the asking rate never getting above 5 an over. He claimed his first half-century of the season and was immediately bowled by the stalwart Hall. Fearon joined Heslington and they mixed powerful attacking shots with some deft placements and keen running. Heslington was bowled for 18 by a straight one that kept low. Fearon started to dominate the bowling and saw off Hall and with the help of Fuzz Weir they chipped away at the run rate. As the rate came down the pair were able to pick off the ones and twos to take the pressure off still further. Fearon finally went for 31, slapping a wide full toss straight to the cover boundary fielder. Rob Coleman joined Fuzz and the pair made light work of the remaining runs. Weir looking impressively confident and striking two fours to bring the scores level. The winning runs came courtesy of a leg bye but the Nomads were happy to have paced the innings to perfection.