Lichfield Nomads Cricket Club : Match Reports 2007

Brannigan half-century seals Nomads victory

Gardner and Fearon opened and Fearon departed straight away for his first gonad of the season. Swatting a short pitch delivery straight to mid-on. Moss
looked on a mission to get on with things and he added 39 with Gardner. He was dropped twice before being caught for 11. The runs continued to come freely, helped by a generous selection of wides and no-balls. The wides were particularly costly as several went on to the short boundary behind the keeper. Gardner reached his fifty before he was caught off the bowling of Martin for 54 in only the 12th over. The hundred came up in only the 16th over. Pinfield's quickfire innings was ended as he advanced down the track and was stumped for 23. Hussein succeeded in steadying the ship but found it difficult to get the ball away. The pitch was proving hard to read with variable bounce and dust causing problems. Hussein fell to an excellent caught and bowled by Whitehead for 10. The Sutton Police bowlers were starting to slow the scoring rate and Pinfield paid the price for trying to press on and was stumped for 23 to reduce the Nomads to 131 for 5 in the 26th over. The big total that seemed likely seemed a lot less likely all of a sudden. The next partnership of Heslington and Brannigan was crucial and Brannigan who was dropped early on dominated the crease with some big hitting including three sixes, ably supported by Heslington. When Heslington was bowled by Russell for 34, the pair had added an impressive 76 off 10 overs. Hughes was also bowled by Russell for 7. Brannigan went on to post his debut half century and was eventually bowled by Whitehead for 64 runs with just eight balls to go. Steve George and John Hoddy added 3 for the ninth wicket to post an impressive 254 for 8 from 40 overs, which included a mammoth 60 extras. This was only the seventh time that the Nomads had scored over 250 runs in an innings. Click here for more details.

There was a quick turnaround with no tea as there was a barbecue arranged for the end of the match.

Heslington and Hoddy opened the bowling for the Nomads and Sutton Police failed to make the start they needed as the pair bowled accurately and gave nothing loose to hit. Heslington was looking for his 500th career wicket but it was Hoddy who was soon into the wickets, bowling both openers and extracting good turn from the dry pitch. Heslington knew it wasn't going to be his day when Fearon spurned a chance at silly mid-on. He bowled his eight overs right through and ended wicketless with 0-17. Hoddy was replaced by Steve George who also bowled economically. The dangerous Davies was playing a destructive innings and he had started to get the opposition back into the game when he played an over confident shot to a straight one and was bowled by George. McLaughlin was calmly runout by Fearon after a mix up between the batsmen. Moss then dismissed Hazlewood thanks to a good catch from Heslington that was in the air a long time. Moss also trapped Martin caught behind and the opponents were struggling at 99 for 6. Malcolm had other ideas as he played an expansive innings. His first four being greeted by a cry of "'AVE IT". Fearon then bowled Carpenter for two. Malcolm then unleashed some powerful hitting, striking 24 off a single Fearon over including 3 sixes. Two of which cleared the netting and bounced into the Tennis Courts. Blackburn persevered with Mr Angry and he had Malcolm caught on the boundary off the first ball of his next over by Moss, who suffered a suspected broken finger in the process. Fearon then trapped Russell lbw two balls later to secure the victory for the Nomads and ensure a winning season.