Nomads go for a Burton

On a blazing hot day Nomads took on opponents that they had not faced for several years. Some late replacements and hangovers did not favour the Nomads, however we won the toss which gave a little more recovery time when we put our opponents in to field. Trentside were struggling to field 11 and only ended with 10 men plus a loan fielder. Gardner again looked in fine form going for better than a run a ball, but was dismissed by a fine catch by the bowler off a leading edge. The catch was so low to the ground that Gardner needed confirmation that it was valid. George was deceived by a slower ball off the same bowler to be dismissed without scoring and to finally achieve an average for the season of 72 after 2 innings previously not out. A new Nomad, Turnball, started to knock the ball about, hitting one big six, but was dismissed by another good catch at long off. Stanley came in and steadied things down. The watching Nomads were wondering if Terry would retire in the heat but he was finally caught just shot of his half century to let Hutton in to bat having recovered somewhat from the day before. He along with Fearon pushed things along in the final overs to give a respectable total of 188-5.

The total looked a little short in this summer of high scoring matches. There was talk of this perhaps being a season of most 200s scored by Nomads or maybe highest aggregate scores over the season.

With the pitch being, surprisingly, slow and no new ball, Hutton opened with Hoddy and Cartwright who were successful in keeping the scoring down. Hoddy even took 3 wickets in 6 overs for 14 runs. Unfortunately this let in O'Donnell, who had also opened the bowling ending with 2 for 16 in 8 overs. He went on the attack and Hoddy's next 2 overs went for 27 runs. Turnbull and Hutton came on but O'Donnell rode his luck giving glimmers of chances without anything being taken until Hutton caught a skyer off his own bowling. However the damage had been done and the remaining batsmen were capable enough to keep the score ticking along with singles and the occasional 4 to reach the required target in the 36th over for the loss of 5 wickets.

As often occurs with a club playing League cricket some of the better batsmen are held in reserve so taking early wickets is not always an advantage. With only 10 players including a couple of very junior players, Nomads were not far from being in with a real shout. The early wickets of Gardner and George probably slowed things down so that yet another 200 total eluded us. A final word must go to the hospitality of our opponents who provided an excellent tea and also jugs of beer and lager in the dressing room at the end of the match.

Nomads MVP - M. Hutton

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

Date: 8th July
Start time: 2:00pm
Venue: Trentside
Competition: 40 overs Friendly
Result: Trentside won by 5 wkts
Toss: Lichfield Nomads won the toss and elected to bat.
Scorer: J. Hoddy
Umpires: Fearon, Rolfe, Hutton, Gardner, George
Weather: Sunshine, very hot.