Lichfield Nomads Cricket Club : Match Reports 2011 |
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Lichfield Nomads v Wallhouse
Result: Wallhouse won by 3 wickets
Nomads contrived to lose a match that, half way through the Wallhouse innings,
appeared almost impossible to lose.
Hughes elected to bat on a warm but breezy VE day. Gardner and Heslington began
well, reaching 50 from the first ten overs, including a mighty six from the
latter and some cultured glances from Gardner. The opening partnership had
reached 91 when Gardner played a little too loosely and dragged the ball from a
good 18inches outside off onto his stumps. Collins jnr, having scored a superb
120+ in his last knock on this pitch appeared confident, however a ball from
Thomas that ‘came back two feet’ (?) left him staring unbelievingly at his
shattered stumps. Weir seemed a little out of sorts and soon departed, so it was
left to Hussein to try to get the score moving again, with Heslington. A measure
of debate surrounded Heslington’s dismissal; with a full toss around waist
height umpire Forster asked Gardner at square leg for confirmation but received
only an apology of ‘not sure’. Perhaps Forster should have applied the benefit
of doubt to the batsman, rather than the bowler (but realistically it would have
been somewhat awkward to call a no ball ten by the time the ‘not sure’ arrived
and close to 20 seconds after the catch had been taken ~ sorry Ross, maybe I
should have just called it anyway). Fearon struck some solid blows, and Collins
snr added some quick runs. The final over was almost farcical, with first,
Blackburn jnr being bowled, then Blackburn snr calling Collins snr for a
kamikaze run, having only pushed the ball back to the bowler, then Forster
arriving for the last ball aiming a ‘big yahoo’ at a ball that kept low. However
188 looked competitive and was Nomads highest score to date.
An
excellent tea left everyone in good spirits, as Nomads took to the field.
The
opening pair of Fearon and Forster kept the scoring rate down, Fearon was
unlucky not get an lbw decision with his first ball and several others went past
the edge. Forster was particularly frugal, bowling (or at least trying to) a
good line and length with the opposition batsmen seeing demons where there was
none and merely defending, so his 8 overs cost a mere 7 runs with the added
bonus of two wickets although three further edges from various batsmen failed to
find Gardner’s gloves. So after 16 overs, there was only 38 on the board and
Nomads were well on top. Unfortunately the change bowlers couldn’t exert the
same degree of control and although the score had mounted to no more than 80 after 24 overs there appeared
to be a measure of panic amongst the Nomads fielders. A couple of near misses
and a considerable amount of ‘heaving to cow corner’, which was not sufficiently
well-policed until it was too late, meant that the Wallhouse batsmen quickly
upped the scoring rate, bringing their target within sight. 70 were still needed
off the last 10 overs, but the heaving continued and boundaries arrived at the
rate of 2 an over. Then at the point where Nomads could easily have given up,
things started to happen. Heslington had by now gained enough freedom in his
shoulder to be back at his best as he removed first Crutchley, for an excellent
71, then Morris, two balls later. An excellent throw from Fearon at mid-on
removed the other thorn-in-the-Nomads-side, Patel, for an almost equally
well-struck 64. Collins then bowled Yarnold and for a fleeting moment it seems
like the Nomads phoenix might rise from the ashes…..but no… not quite. Just a
little too late for miracles!
Five-nil down now and the excitement of Shugborough to come on Saturday. Shame
you’ll be missing it Kev.
[Disclaimer: any offence caused by this
article is unintentional, any praise is well deserved.] |
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Lichfield Nomads |
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Wallhouse
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How Out |
Bowler |
Total |
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How Out |
Bowler |
Total |
|
|
Gardner |
b |
Patel |
37 |
|
Lythe A |
lbw |
Forster |
2 |
|
|
Heslington |
c Morris |
Morris |
46 |
|
Zamon
|
c Collins K |
Collins K |
22 |
|
|
Collins C |
b |
Thomas |
0 |
|
Brown |
lbw |
Forster |
4 |
|
|
Weir |
b |
Patel |
2 |
|
Patel |
run out (Fearon) |
|
64 |
|
|
Hussein |
b |
Zamon |
24 |
|
Crutchley |
b |
Heslington |
71 |
|
|
Fearon |
c Eccleshall |
Zamon |
21 |
|
Morris |
b |
Heslington |
0 |
|
|
Hughes |
c Thomas |
Eccleshall |
2 |
|
Sparks |
not out |
|
1 |
|
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Collins K |
run out |
|
11 |
|
Yarnold |
b |
Collins K |
0 |
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Blackburn G |
b |
Zamon |
0 |
|
Lythe S |
not out |
|
4 |
|
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Blackburn P |
not
out |
|
0 |
|
Thomas |
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Forster |
b |
Zamon
|
0 |
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Eccleshall |
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Extras w31; nb4; b10; lb2 |
47 |
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Extras w9; nb6; b5; lb1 |
21 |
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Total for 10 wickets |
188 |
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Total for 4 wkts |
189 |
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Fall of wickets: 91, 92, 104, 141 ….not recorded |
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Fall of wickets: 6, 12, 48, 184, 184, 185, 185 |
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Lythe S 8-0-40-0; |
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Fearon 8-0-29-0; |
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Web page prepared by Paul Fearon (c) Lichfield Nomads Cricket Club 2011