Race for Gonad Trophy hots up at Audlem

A new fixture at Audlem saw a few old faces from nearby Woore who have scrapped their friendly side. With a players missing for the Championship playoffs, Nomads had a weakened side. Acting captain Dave Rolfe elected to bat and Nomads openers entered the fray somewhat worried by the number of tall skinny youths on the opposition side. These thoughts did not proved correct as the wicket of Terry fell with only one on the board and also saw the first gonad of the day. Nomads were struggling to score and the first run off the bat only came in the 6th over. There was soon another casualty when Adam Hughes pulled a hamstring when attempting a quick single and had to retire without scoring. A change in bowling eased the situation and Gardner, Stanley and Hooper were able to make a few quick runs bringing some respectability to the scoreline. At drinks a scoreline of 91-2 gave the captain hopes of scoring over 200. However the 22nd over saw the 2 wickets of Hooper and then Brannigan out for 0 to a good catch by the keeper. Then came the rapid fall of wickets and a drop in the scoring rate. The next 4 batsmen did not trouble the scorers, and although the opposition allowed the return of a batsman to compensate for the loss of Hughes the innings ended on a disappointing 134.
As Nomads enjoyed an excellent tea, they pondered over the fact that 6 zeroes appeared against Nomads' batsmen and only the ever reliable Gardner gave any hopes for Nomads with yet another 50 to add to the many scored in his career.

Rolfe opened with Cartwright and Hooper who bowled well but as the batsmen did not have to push things they gave few chances away. Westwood and Hoddy replaced the two openers and Westwood, making his comeback and annoyed at his needless run out in the Nomads' innings had an inspired spell taking 5 wickets Unfortunately there were just too few runs to play with and although 8 wickets were taken , Audlem attained their victory with 7 overs to spare.
Nomads could not really expect to win with 5 gonads and a retired hurt but it was felt that Audlem is a fixture worth retaining.
[Disclaimer: Any offence caused by this article is unintentional, any praise is well deserved]

Date: 26th May 2019
Start time: 2:00pm
Venue: Audlem
Competition: 40 overs Friendly
Scores: Lichfield Nomads 134 for 9 (all out), Audlem 137 for 8
Result: Audlem beat Lichfield Nomads by 2 wkts
Toss: Nomads won the toss and elected to bat.
Scorer: J. Hoddy
Umpires:
Report: J. Hoddy
Weather: Sunny spells

29/05/2019