Lichfield Nomads Cricket Club : Match Reports 2012 |
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Blythe Bridge Vikings v Lichfield Nomads
Hughes ‘injury’ saves Nomads.
Like Suarez and
Wellbeck (allegedly), Hughes’ dive to head the ball ultimately saved Nomads from
defeat.
There was a certain
déjà vu about this match. Just as last week Nomad’s opening bowler shattered the
stumps, second ball and, just as last week, an opposition player notched a
century. Similarly the opposition posted a potentially daunting score that
Nomads struggled to match. However, this week a few factors conspired to let
Nomads off the hook.
Despite having a
potential 14 or 15 players to choose from, Nomads somehow arrived with only 10,
after some late withdrawals, Fearon was also delayed, so Nomads were pleased
that Vikings sportingly lent a fielder to bolster their nine until Fearon
hotfooted it onto the ground after eight overs or so.
Heslington opened
with a hostile spell, off his long run (for the first time this season),
removing Heathcote immediately, but bringing century maker Downie to the crease.
At the other end Hughes was also getting considerable movement, troubling the
batsmen with away swing. Finch and Downie were attacking hard so Hughes was
particularly pleased that Caygill hung onto a good head-high catch at point to
remove Finch. Nixon, though scored slowly and his 9 came off far too many balls
with only a couple of hoicks to leg getting him runs as the bowlers continued to
pin him down to defensive shots outside off stump. Hughes got in the way of a
Gardner return, stooping and letting the ball through his hands to strike him on
the eyebrow, leaving him with the darkening ‘badge of honour’ round his right
eye. The five minutes taken for Hughes to leave the field potentially proved
vital in the end. Blackburn was pressed into bowling a full eight overs,
eventually removing Nixon, who looped one back to him. This may have been
Nomad’s downfall as Barlow joined Downie in attacking Nomad’s bowlers and the
tiring ten-man field. Despite this Nomads did well in the field and although
Weir put one down at mid-wicket the damage had been done long before. First
Barlow, on 71, then soon after Downie, on 100, retired but not before they had
attacked Gardner and latterly, Caygill, who had been called on to make up the
overs. Returning to the fray Hughes first three balls could all have brought
wickets, the first he parried over the bar, the second saw Heslington under a
ball with snow on it falling from the grey sky in a strong and swirling wind,
before Forster held on to the third, looping but not quite so high, at gully
with the heavy foot-fall of Blackburn jr advancing from ‘keeper in his ears.
A stupendous tea,
which saw Forster promoted to open (for the first time ever – surely Heslington
had lost his mind!) with Gardner. The pair had put on 69 in good time, keeping
Nomads up with the rate, when Forster played a little too early at a full toss
from Heathcote, followed shortly by Gardner, caught. Weir and Pinfield took up
the attack adding a further 48, but throughout Vikings were spending lot of time
discussing bowling technique and failing to hurry between overs and this, along
with Hughes injury proved vital to the outcome of the match. Weir was caught on
20, heralding a clatter of Nomad’s middle order. Caygill, having struck a good
boundary off his first ball, attacked with a powerful shot and set off on a
suicidal run as the ball went straight to the fielder who returned it before he
could regain the five yards he had made down the wicket, Blackburn jr and Fearon
both fell to gonads and Hughes despite running hard to try to up the scoring
rate, soon perished. Throughout Pinfield nudged and pulled, and although lucky
to avoid falling to the nominal BBV female, who dropped a straightforward chance
at backward square, held Nomads together. The sky was darkening as Heslington
arrived and it was evident there would soon be a downpour, yet still Vikings
failed to hurry. Then, just as Nomads were about to launch their assault on the
59 runs needed to win off the last over, the heavens opened and the players
could only dash for the shelter of the pavilion.
So, in this
shocking summer for cricket, another fixture falls to ‘abandoned’. The talk in
the bar was not of the plans Pinfield and Heslington had for that last over
assault, nor of the quality performances seen through the difficult season, but
of who was most likely to win the ‘Church Lane’ (gonads) trophy. Suggestions
that Blackburns snr and jr should open the batting along with Hoddy at 3, will
undoubtedly heap pressure on Heslington who will need all his diplomacy to avoid
raising the tension for this most sought-after trophy. [Disclaimer: any offence caused by this article is unintentional, any praise is well deserved.] |
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Lichfield
Nomads |
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Blythe Bridge Vikings
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How Out |
Bowler |
Total |
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How Out |
Bowler |
Total |
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Gardner |
c |
Heathcote |
27 |
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Finch |
c
Caygill |
Hughes |
13 |
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Forster |
b |
Heathcote |
28 |
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Heathcote |
b |
Heslington |
0 |
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Weir |
c |
Frost |
20 |
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Downie |
retired
out |
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100 |
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Pinfield |
not out |
|
43 |
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Nixon |
c
Blackburn P |
Blackburn P |
9 |
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Caygill |
run out |
|
4 |
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Barlow |
retired
out |
|
71 |
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Blackburn G |
c |
Frost |
0 |
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Newbury |
c
Forster |
Hughes |
2 |
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Fearon |
c |
Frost |
0 |
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Brereton |
not out |
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9 |
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Hughes |
b |
Frost |
5 |
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Bridgett |
not out |
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5 |
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Heslington |
not out |
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8 |
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Extras w16; nb6;
b11; lb1 |
34 |
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Extras w, nb; b;
lb |
19 |
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Total for 7 wickets |
170 |
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Total for 6 wkts |
228 |
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Fall of
wickets: 69; 76; 124; 131; 137; 138; 148 |
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Fall of wickets: 0; not recorded |
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Brereton 6-1-20-0; Bridgett 6-0-40-0; Heathcote 4-0-14-2; Hollins 7-0-20-0;
Frost 8-1-29-4; Brereton 2-0-8-0; Nixon 5-0-18-0; Finch 1-0-8-0; |
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Heslington 8-0-38-1; Hughes 8-1-47-2; Fearon 8-3-22-0; Blackburn P 8-0-43-1;
Gardner 7-0-60-0; Caygill 1-0-12-0 |
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