Century stand helps Nomads win at Hampton

Nomads are in winning streak!
It was one of those chilly and cloudy summer days! Traditional full sleeve jumpers were on, and we all were set to enjoy a good day's cricket at the picturesque backdrop of Hampton in Arden village ground.
We lost the toss again and have been asked to bat first at a very bowling friendly condition.
Ian Terry joined Pete Gardener in opening the innings. However, due to tight wicket to wicket bowling display by Hampton's two young opening bowlers we were restricted to 5 runs in 5 overs but more importantly by losing two wickets!
Rana Ghosal had another chance to make his comeback to cricket after nearly two decades memorable and joined Ian at the crease. Both of them were looking solid and confident; but it appears that Rana would need bit more luck as we were down to 26 for 3 at 16 overs. Ever-cheerful David Rolfe then joined Ian at the crease and both of them displayed some fantastic cricket to build a century partnership! We were at 126 after 36 overs when Ian got out after scoring his first half century of the season. Subsequently, skipper Marc Hutton joined Dave at the crease and accelerated the scoreboard to reach a respectable 162 at 40 overs. David Rolfe remained unbeaten with a fantastic 57* while Marc was caught at the last ball of the innings at 16.
Hasan Ramzan for Hampton was the most succesful bowler by taking 3 wickets for 28 runs in 8 overs, while Waseem Ramzan appeared to be the tightest bowler by conceding only 9 runs in 8 overs!

After a fantastic tea in the Hampton's sports cafe Hampton started their chase under cloudy conditions. Though their opener Umar Mohammed was posing a threat to us through some good cricketing shots but John Hoddy made his stay short-lived by taking a wonderful catch at point in Marc Hesslington's tight bowling. In quick succession we were taken back to 'Caught Marsh bowled Lillee' era as Dave Rolfe took two fantastic catches behind the stumps as skipper Marc Hutton released two deliveries that were destined to kiss batsman's willow! After losing three wickets in quick success, Hampton were looking to build up a big partnership but Darren Catwright and John Hoddy were not in any mood to allow them to score runs easily!
Once again John displayed some fantastic bowling performance by taking 3 wickets in his 8 overs by conceding only 16 runs!
Though everything was appeared to be in our favour, but we had some concern as we were short of one bowler. So the question was who could be our 5th bowler and here comes our secret weapon David Pickering. With his unusual bowling action David bowled Hampton's 8th down in a delivery that might remind you the famous under arm delivery of Trevor Chappell. Soon after, David tempted Hampton's last man to go for a big hit and eventually he concealed Nomad's victory by taking a splendid return catch! Nomads won by 57 runs!

Afterwards we celebrated the win with few beers at the sports cafe where David Rolfe has been considered as Most Valuable Player of the match for his unbeaten 57 and fantastic wicket keeping.

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

Date: 28th April 2019
Start time: 1:00pm
Venue: Hampton in Arden
Competition: 40 overs Friendly
Scores: Lichfield Nomads 161 for 5, Hampton in Arden 106 for 9 all out
Result: Lichfield Nomads beat Hampton in Arden by 55 runs
Toss: Hampton in Arden won the toss and elected to field.
Scorer: J. Hoddy
Umpires:
Report: R. Ghosal
Weather: Cool, cloudy

2/05/2019