Lichfield Nomads beat Risley by 8 wkts

Lichfield Nomads once again found the winning formula this week by recording an 8 wicket win over Risley. Another sunny Sunday greeted the Nomads on arrival in Derbyshire and despite missing four of last weeks 'MVP's; optimism was high in the dressing room before the toss.

Captain Hutton came second in the coin flip and Risley took the opportunity to get the best use of the track by batting first, a decision which seemed a good one as opener Hawley punished some wayward bowling from Ian Hughes, that after he managed to find his length and get the ball to nick off to a fine catch from keeper Dave Rolfe in the first over. The score had raced to 32 after only 4 overs, but Hughes managed to produce another good delivery to trap Howes in front of all three. At the other End Paul Fearon was doing a good job on trying to keep a lid on the score by cleverly varying his pace. In the 14th over Hughes took his third wicket as he really began to tighten up his line and length when the left hander Statham skied one to cover where Nick George took a good catch with the score on 70. Paul Fearon then got a well-deserved wicket when the new batsman Shaw mistimed a 'heave-ho' across the line to Chris jones at mid-wicket to take a marvellous catch over his shoulder which he grabbed at the second time of asking. With the very next ball, Hughes removed Wilson for a golden duck with a plumb lbw shout to claim his fourth wicket of the day. Despite Risley being five wickets down, their run rate still looked healthy thanks to their opener Hawley, who was still at the crease and had now gone past his fifty, he seemed to be keeping hold of most of the strike, whilst taking any opportunity to power the ball to the boundary when given the slightest bit of width.

Both Fearon and Hughes had now bowled their maximum 8 overs each and Hutton threw himself and Stuey Harrison into the attack just before drinks to try and nick another wicket, but these four overs were negated by the settled opener Hawley and new batsman Esmail. Upon the resumption of play after drinks, Nick George was brought on to bowl, in the hope that it may tempt Hawley to slog, but this wasn't to be the case and he was able to pick up a few more boundaries. John Hoddy had now begun his accustomed middle overs spell, and took a wicket with his first ball by bowling the Risley no.7 Esmail. In the 30th over Hawley had now completed his century and on doing so, decided to retire himself to the shade of the pavilion. Hoddy was bowling an excellent spell and he sent back new left handed batsman Sherwin with a real beauty that turned nicely, taking his off stump. Hutton brought himself back into the attack to try and stem an onslaught from the new batsman Workman, and along with Hoddy, they managed to do just that, there was even time for a debut wicket for Adam Hughes who bowled two overs of leg spin at the death, aided by keeper Rolfe claiming his second dismissal by Workman.

A total of 180-7 from 40 overs didn't seem to daunting on a very good batting track and Nomads did brilliantly in the field to keep the Risley 1st innings total in check, it could have been a much lower score given one batsman scored over half of the total for the home side.

An unusual cricket tea of fish, sausage, chips and gravy was provided by the local 'chippy' and this seemed to work well for the nomads openers Chris Jones and Pete Gardner as the reply got underway with gusto, both players playing positively and putting bad and good balls confidently to the boundary. Some well taken singles coupled with a fair amount of extras were really helping things tick along and after ten overs; the score was on 46-0. Over the next ten overs things only improved for the Nomads as Gardner and Jones continued to rattle along nicely with the required rate. In the 19th over, the second consecutive hundred partnership in two games was brought up. It took an excellent direct hit to run out Jones for 38 to break the partnership but by now the Risley fielders looked forlorn. Debutant Adam Hughes came in at three and after Gardner departed for 39 in the 23rd over, Hughes negated any fears of a collapse by batting sensibly with new batsman Nick George. The pair looked in great form as they snuffed out the oppositions attack whilst making sure the runs ticked over towards the required total, both players hitting some boundaries with wonderfully straight bats. The onslaught of extras also continued to pile more misery on the hosts as the Nomads came within touching distance of the win and it was left to George to hit the winning boundary, fittingly off another 'no ball'.

It was an excellent all round performance from the Nomads against a side that contained a majority of youthful Saturday league cricketers. After a turbulent start to the game, the Lichfield side came back and their grip on the game only got tighter as the day wore on. Next week sees the Nomads travel to WMD in Birmingham looking to make it three wins on the bounce!

Nomads MVP - Ian Hughes (8-0-4-39)