Lichfield Nomads Cricket Club : Match Reports 2013 |
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Lichfield Nomads v Draycott & Hanbury
Nomads' rain dance fails
Well it was certainly warmer than it
has been of late, a full 10oC warmer than yesterday, but a strong
wind blowing across the ground made it still feel like early February rather
than the start of the cricket season.
New captain Hoddy lost his first toss
and Nomads were asked to bat on a sticky wicket with an outfield that clung to
the ball like glue. Nomads openers Gardner and Heslington struggled to keep the
score ticking over as the Draycott bowlers kept a fine line and length, indeed
it wasn’t until the fourth over that the score finally overtook the over count.
Even so, the openers were sticking to their task of seeing off the first-up
bowlers and began to raise the tempo to the dizzying heights of 2.5 per over,
when disaster struck and Heslington put one low to the point fielder who took a
good catch off his bootlaces off the wily spinner Hardwick from the pavilion
end. Hardwick was making it difficult and picked up the wicket of Caygill, again
giving a catch to point, before bowling Gardner for a hard-fought 29. [Forster
was in his element, umpiring at the far end, calling a no ball for ‘three behind
square’.] Thereafter, Nomads batsmen continued to struggle with the consistently
good bowling, even from the youngest bowler, Douglas, at only 10, apparently,
who showed a good variation of spin. George and Jones showed some classy strokes
to little avail and Scott plugged away but the scoring rate gradually slipped
back to under two an over. Bourne came and went in the twinkling of an eye,
self-proclaiming his first ever ‘golden’ (now known as The Bourne Dismissal –
soon to be a film trilogy [walk to the wicket; miss first ball; walk back to
pavilion]) and Hughes quickly followed in the same over uncharacteristically
trying a heave to a straight ball! It was left to Pickering, with deft flicks
and nudges and Forster to keep the bowlers out for the last couple of overs to
avoid total capitulation. Fortunately Nomads’ reliable twelfth man, ‘extras’ had
done its usual job, coming in as second highest scorer but 86 looked barely
enough to worry the Draycott batsmen.
A heavy rainstorm during the tea
interval saw Nomads looking for a reprieve from what looked like a disappointing
defeat, but unfortunately (or so it seemed at the time) the wind blew it away
and Draycott got under way. Heslington quickly removed one opener with an
uncharacteristic full toss as both he and Hoddy, struggled with ‘the mattress’
of a run up and both missed the ideal good length on several occasions. Hoddy
was lifted for two straight sixes by Gardiner but otherwise shipped only four
runs from his five overs. However, scoring at almost five an over, the Draycott
batsmen were finding it easy going and didn’t push ones into twos or twos to
threes – a habit they were to regret. Jones, looked for the ‘early bath’ as he
dived head first onto the ground but even that didn’t liven up Nomads spirits.
George and Hughes replaced the Nomads openers and things began to slow down and
shift in Nomads direction. George removed Gardiner and Bloor, the latter with an
excellent caught & bowled and also got rid of Ashmore and Norris in a fine spell
of bowling that left Nomads with a sniff of a chance. In this productive spell
Hughes bowled two more batsmen as Nomads feared to hope for the miracle.
Eventually George and Hughes having bowled through their full eight were
replaced by Heslington, returning off his short run, and Forster for his first
bowl since the 2011 season. The latter was clearly rusty and let go of a couple
of loose wides but also collected a couple of lbw decisions. With the last pair
at the wicket things were tense and a drop from a slight nick by the otherwise
reliable Gardner caused some concern, however a couple of balls later Gardner
made up for it by taking a low catch off a bottom edge while standing up to the
wicket.
It’s true that most Nomads could
scarcely believe their luck, having been virtually down and out, they had
managed to scrape themselves off the canvas and come back for a fine win, thanks
largely to the bowling efforts of George and Hughes, now somewhat glad that the
rain dance had failed them!
Disclaimer: any offence caused by this
article is unintentional, any praise is well deserved.] |
Lichfield Nomads
How Out
Bowler
Total
How Out
Bowler
Total
Gardner
b
Hardwick
29
Elshout
b
Heslington
4
Heslington
c
Hardwick
13
Gardiner
c Gardner
George
24
Caygill
c
Hardwick
2
Bloor
c George
George
16
George
c
Locker
1
Norris
b
George
1
Scott
c
Cotterell
7
Locker
b
Hughes
3
Jones
b
Locker
5
Cotterell
lbw
Forster
2
Pickering
not out
7
Ashmore
lbw
George
0
Bourne
b
Ashmore
0
Hardwick
b
Hughes
5
Hughes
b
Ashmore
0
Eldon
lbw
Forster
7
Forster
not
out
2
Jackson
c Gardner
Forster
6
Hoddy
Douglas
not out
0
Extras w7; nb1; b9; lb3
20
Extras w2, nb2; b; lb
4
Total for 8 wickets
86
Total for 10 wkts
72
Fall of wickets: 39; 46; 49; 56; 73; 77; 77; 80
Fall of wickets: 4; 37; 48; 48…not recorded
Cotterell 8-2-12-1;
Heslington 8-0-21-1;
Draycott & Hanbury
Ashmore 8-4-5-2;
Norris 4-0-20-0;
Hardwick 8-2-12-3;
Locker 8-2-10-2;
Douglas 1-0-6-0;
Gardiner 1-0-4-0;
Jackson 2-1-5-0
Hoddy 5-0-16-0;
George 8-2-10-4;
Hughes 8-0-17-2;
Forster 4.4-0-8-3
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Web page prepared by Paul Fearon (c) Lichfield Nomads Cricket Club 2013