Nomads make it three in a row at Springhill

Report
On a day more typical of the start of the cricket season than last year's blazing temperatures at Springhill, Nomads arrived quietly confident of achieving 3 wins in a row for the start of the season.
Hutton elected to bat after winning the toss and Gardner and Terry got off to the best start of the season so far. Scoring at a steady rate, ably helped by extras. The Springhill bowlers seemed rusty to start with but settled down and, on a slow outfield scoring was not that easy. Gardner lasted until the 17th over before his wicket was claimed by an instinctive slip catch. Weir, hoping to build on his 35 of the first match, was bowled a demon ball which lifted sharply and was adjudged caught behind by the umpire although Weir was confident that he had not hit it. Adam Hughes also did not give the scorer too much work to do being out lbw to a less contentious decision. Terry was riding his luck and could have been run-out on a couple of occasions if the home fielders had been a bit calmer. Brannigan arrived at the crease and proceeded on a typical Brannigan innings scoring quickly to try to attain the captain's target of 200 to 220 runs. Unfortunately he fell just short of his 50. Rolfe also continued his run of good form achieving 26no. Fearon and Hutton also chipped in some quick runs and the end of the inning saw Nomads debutant Niall Hooper score his first Nomad's run.
After a splendid tea, including hot dogs, Nomads took to the field reasonably confident of their 3rd victory of the season. the This confidence did not seem misplaced as the excellent bowling of Hutton and Davis ( after he fell over bowling his first ball) stifled the Springhill response. Seeing them slump to 20 for 3 after 16 overs. However Ali and Hill kept Springhill's hopes alive attacking the Nomad's new bowlers, Hooper bowled his first 4 overs for Nomads very creditably There still seemed to be little chance of an upset with 100 needed from the last 10 overs. However Saf came in and proceded to take the Nomads bowling apart with a remarkable innings of 80no, including 8 sixes and 5 fours in 10 overs. Even at the end with Hutton bowling the last over and 30 runs to win, he set Nomads nerves jangling with sixes off the first two balls. However this level could not be maintained with Nomads achieving a seemingly comfortable victory by 13 runs. An exciting contest and a fine tea were much appreciated by the Nomads

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

Date: 5th May 2019
Start time: 2:00pm
Venue: Springhill
Competition: 40 overs Friendly
Scores: Lichfield Nomads 207 for 7, Springhill 194 for 7
Result: Lichfield Nomads beat Springhill by 13 runs
Toss: XX won the toss and elected to field.
Scorer: J. Hoddy
Umpires: Fearon, Rolfe, Gardner, Weir
Report: J. Hoddy
Weather: Cold, cloudy

08/05/2019