Lichfield Nomads Cricket Club : Match Reports 2009

Blown away by Bloxwich
What was supposed to be Bloxwich 3^rds turned out to be 3^rd only by a combination of largely 1^st and 2^nd team players, including their typically shy, quiet and retiring Australian professional.

Nomads took to the field, opening with Heslington and Forster (the latter of whom had stupidly kept quiet about his recurring bad back which restricted his action, silly old git!). Heslington’s first ball, a high no ball, disappeared over the fence, setting the scene for the first few overs in which the pro’ farmed most of the bowling and kept the score ticking along at around 7 or 8 an over. Forster suffered as two balls were deposited over his head into Walsall. Hughes replaced the openers with Brannigan and Fearon, and although Brannigan struggled with his line he tempted Mallechon into gloving the ball down the leg side to give Gardner a good catch low down. This inevitably brought down the run rate, although it remained higher than Nomads would have liked. Fearon was varying his pace intelligently but with no luck. Another bowling change brought Hoddy and Hughes together, with Hoddy, in particular bowling a good line and length, eventually removing Ensor who had accumulated 27 out of the 137 runs so far. A second wicket for Hoddy brought his lifetime total to 199, but he was thoughtful enough to avoid a third, waiting for a more auspicious occasion to begin his celebrations. Hughes tempted a number of lofted shots into the “V”, with Fearon first getting hands to a tricky chance, running to his right, then dropping a more straightforward opportunity. Finally Hughes got his reward as Edwards, who was getting a lot of action in the field, held onto a good catch at mid/long on. Edwards came on for a couple of overs at the end. He was unlucky as Passey hit Weggen with a rising drive, with Forster lurking at mid on hoping for the catch, however Weggen tried to return the favour to Passey but missed him, Forster taking a solid catch above shoulder level. After an initial onslaught by Mallechon, Nomads bowlers had recovered the situation somewhat and during tea must have harboured hope, on a good batting wicket.

What might have been hope soon turned out to be little more than blind faith, as the Bloxwich bowlers (unfairly) bowled a good line and length throughout at a fair rate of knots. Gardner got one that shot along the ground and struck his back foot, leaving them 0 for 1. Indeed it wasn’t until the fourth over that the runs started to flow. Maybe “flow” isn’t quite the right word, but by the end of the fifth runs had overtaken the over count. Stanley, in particular, was saving ink for the scorers, believing it to be more economical for them to add dots rather than numbers to the page. Having arrived in the 3^rd over, it wasn’t until the 26^th that he accumulated his second run… hope you keep this information on the website, Paul? Despite Fearon doing his best to keep the runs ticking over, once he had gone for 17, with the score on 20. Nomads struggled to make any sort of inroads on the deficit. Hughes was sweeping (for a change) and collected a few runs but his efforts did not really generate any respectability to the score, as 9 of the Nomads “batsmen” managed only 16 runs between them… thank heavens for extras! Forster began to make an early move for the Gonads trophy with his second in a row; having fiddled around last week, he tried a different tactic, but holed out to mid on, sod, damn and bugger!!! And with 9, 10, Jack usually only getting a bat in lost causes, it is up to someone higher up the order to wrest it from him…come on chaps, I can imagine match fees rising rapidly if you don’t make an effort.

Heslington 6-0-35-0;
Forster 4-0-30-0;

Brannigan 6-1-33-1;
Fearon 6-1-22-0;

Hoddy 8-1-25-2;
Hughes 8-0-45-1;

Edwards 2-0-14-1

Worgan 5-2-13-2;
Poxton 4-1-6-0;
Lewis 7-3-5-1;
Alcock 5-4-1-3;
Ensor 5-0-22-2;
Mallichan 3.1-0-8-1