Nomads hit by WMD

For the third week running, The Nomads played an away fixture in glorious early summer sunshine as they made the trip to the grounds of King Edward School in Handsworth to take on West Midlands Doctors.

Feeling confident in their batting line up with the return of Tom Scott and Dan Moss, Marc Hutton duly did what any other self-respecting captain would do on a hot sunny day, win the toss and bat first. Pete Gardner and Tom Scott strode out to open the innings and to try and make a repeat of their opening partnership from two weeks before. But any ideas of a steady start were allayed when Tom Scott was clean bowled in the second over. The incoming Weir only lasted a few balls before being well stumped which left Nomads in a little bother at 23-2. Dan Moss came in at number 4 to join Gardner who looked to be continuing his good start to the season, and the pair went on to give the Nomads a solid base. Both batsmen were playing sensible cricket, taking few chances whilst punishing lose balls. After Moss past his superb half century, he was struck by a ball that reared up off a length and hit him on the ear, leaving him with a nasty cut. Skipper Hutton ran on with the first aid box and left the doctors to do their job. Moss took the wise decision to retire hurt with batsmen still in the hutch. Adam Hughes came out to the crease, but the Doctors had to wait until the 27th over for another wicket to fall when Gardner was caught off the bowling of Asim for an excellent 59. Hutton was in next but looked to be suffering from a lack of time in the middle as he missed a straight dipping full toss from Asim, this after Hughes had pulled up with a hamstring tweak and was limited to boundary hitting, culminating with him being trapped LBW for 10. With the score now on 134 for 5, Moss declared himself fit to bat again, and came out in belligerent mood, looking in even better nick than he did before the blow to the head. New batsman Dave Rolfe was also doing a fantastic job, making positive quick singles with ease whilst putting some lose deliveries to the boundary. By the end of the innings, Nomads finished on a creditable 210-6, Moss finishing with a scintillating 84 not out, Dave Rolfe with a well crafted and hard earned 22 and Darren "Dazzler" Cartwright also claiming a customary 'red inker' (1*)

After Tea, Nomads began their defence, and they had the dream start as Lloyd Taylor took three wickets in his first four overs. Hutton was also opening up with a fiery spell at the other end and trapped Jawad LBW to leave WMD on 37-4 from 7 Overs. Amongst this glut of early wickets, it was clear that the Nomads would need to remove the dangerous looking opening batsman Humayun, who seemed to be stylishly hitting the ball at will to the boundary. Darren Cartwright was brought into the attack and removed Josh to leave the score 71-5 after 14 overs. The Nomads could now smell blood and maybe felt as if they could bowl around the now well settled Humayun to take enough wickets to bowl WMD out. New batsman Asim Joined Humayun at the crease and seemed to settle quickly and match his team mate's hitting range. The game then seemed to ebb away from the Lichfield side as boundaries continued to flow at an alarming rate. The scoreboard was rattling along but not without offering up chances for Nomads to break the partnership, Humayun seemingly living a charmed life being put down three times by the Nomad fielders. This was to prove decisive as the two batsman continued to put the bowlers to the sword. Humayun completed his century and Asim smashed 80* as the winning total was reached with 8 overs to spare. A lesson of 'Catches win matches' if there ever was one with two batsman scoring 180 of the required 211 target.

Date: 27th May 2018
Start time: 2:00pm
Venue: King Edward VI Handsworth School
Competition: 40 overs Friendly
Result: West Midlands Doctors won by 3 wkts
Toss: Lichfield Nomads won the toss and elected to bat.
Scorer:
Umpires:
Weather: Sunshine, very hot.