Lichfield Nomads Cricket Club : Match Reports 2005

Woore think it's all over...

Nomads won the match comfortably after a shaky start. Woore pressed the self-destruct button and were dismissed for 75 thanks to some inspired catching. Dave Forster picked up 4 wickets and two catches and Pete Blackburn took a hat-trick of catches. Dan Moss and Mark Heslington steered the Nomads home for a 9 wickets victory. Woore wreaked their revenge by winning the 10 overs beer match.

In sweltering sunny conditions, opener Belfield hit a four and a six off the first two balls to immediately put the Nomads on the back foot. He reached 25 off only 13 balls and threatened to take the Nomads bowling apart before tamely lobbing a wide full toss to Forster at mid-off. As it turned out, a third of Woore's total came off the first 15 balls.

None of the other Woore batsmen reached double figures as most of them tried to emulate Belfield and score quick runs rather than show patience and build an innings. Woore's cause was not helped by some outstanding fielding as the Nomads pouched 8 catches with only one sharp chance being spurned.

There were two wickets for Fearon, four for Forster who felt hard done by as a caught behind was not given, three wickets for Williamson and one for Coleman. Woore were dismissed for 75 with only 21.5 overs taken up. One of Forster's four victims was TV's Nick Hancock, famous for hosting the hit BBC comedy sports quiz "They think it's all over" and "Room 101".

Some accurate bowling and a difficult wicket saw the Nomads cautiously advance towards their target in a somewhat dour struggle. Weir eschewed such tactics and scored six before departing but Heslington and Moss were watchful and despatched the rare bad balls when they came. Credit to Roy Wild and 'Druid' Owen who stuck to their task despite the inevitable Nomads victory. Belfield showed he was useful with the ball as well as the bat but Heslington (28*) and Moss (30*) were undefeated at the end to ensure the Nomads won by a comfortable 9 wickets with more than 11 overs to spare.

The 10 overs a side beer match was ultimately more entertaining as the batsmen took the wickets and the bowlers scored the runs. Pinfield took a wicket from the first ball and wickets fell in almost every over as the Nomads restricted Woore to 52 off 10 overs. What seemed a gettable target proved too much. The Nomads failed in the last over after some comical running and overthrows ended up with Weir run out just short of the fourth run.