Lichfield Nomads Cricket Club : Match Reports 2016

WMD v Lichfield Nomads

Scores: WMD CC 233 for 3, Lichfield Nomads CC 148 for 8.
Result: WMD won by 85 runs

Familiar faces - unfamiliar setting

Report: A glorious sunny September day partially offset the gloom of knowing that this was the last game of the season. We travelled to Handsworth to face new opponents WMD. It was alarming to find that they fielded doppelgängers for Forster, Cartwright and Pickering. Investigations revealed that the fixture had been in doubt until loan players had been offered. (This is permitted outside of the transfer window as none of the players are under contract.)

WMD won the toss and elected to bat. From a wealth of bowling riches, Captain Rolfe elected to start with Heslington and Hutton. The stumps had not been adequately varnished, and the bat edges had been well sanded. As a consequence, numerous superb deliveries went unrewarded. Rather ominously, the (very) few bad balls were punished. Heslington induced a leading edge that was well caught by Westwood with the score on 11.

8 bowlers were used, but the batsmen gradually gained control and increased the scoring rate. The second wicket fell at 86 and the third at 187. By this time the field was spread far and wide. Brannigan and Fearon did excellent work in the farthest reaches of a large playing area.

233 from 35 overs was always going to be a challenge, especially as the sun dipped below increasing cloud cover. Moss and Stanley started slowly against the known quantity of Cartwright and the unfamiliar left arm late swing of Khalid. Stanley chipped a soft catch to Forster. Weir played some meaty blows before being run out, having failed to ground his bat.

As the light levels fell, so did the wickets. The absence of sight screens, and the line of trees at both ends made batting difficult for the later batsmen. Brannigan worked the boundary fielders with a typical 24 from 18 balls. However, the target was already out of reach by this time. After some late hitting by Hughes, Rolfe played out the last over.

The difficulty most people experienced in selecting MVP indicates that there were many contributions, but none of them dominant. The Nomads came a deserved second to a powerful batting team. On to 2017!

[Disclaimer: any offence caused by this article is unintentional, any praise is well deserved.] 

WMD CC					Lichfield Nomads CC
	How Out	Bowler	Total			How Out	Bowler	Total
Asim	Ct Moss	Fearon	52		Moss	b	Tarab	28
Tej	C Westwood	Heslington	9		Stanley	Ct Forster	Motty	9
Aqi	C & B	Harrison	37		Weir	Run out		15
Afridi		Not out	88		Westwood	b	Tarab	11
1Khalid		Not out	7		Hutton	b	Shabaz	6
Tarab					Fearon	b	Khalid	11
Motty					Brannigan	b	Khalid	24
Forster					Heslington	c	Asim	0
Shahbaz					Hughes	Not out		16
Pickering					Rolfe	Not out		3
Cartwright					Harrison	DNB
		Extras b; lb; w; nb.					Extras b;lb;w;nb;	25
		Total for 3	233				Total for 8	148
Fall of wickets: 1-11, 2-86, 3-187					Fall of wickets: 1-35, 2-?, 3-77, 4-90, 5-91, 6-127. 7-128. 8-128
Bowling: Heslington 3-1-6-1, Hutton 5-1-24-0, Westwood 6-0-46-0, Brannigan 2-0-15-0, Fearon 5-0-24-1, Moss 5-0-44-0, Hughes 5-0-42-0, Harrison 4-0-22-1					Khalid 7-3-14-2, Cartwright 5-0-16-0,