Dave Dancing in the Dark at Darley Abbey

Nomads travelled to our usual end of season match at Darley Abbey. This match saw the welcome return of Adam Hughes having recovered from his early season injury. Nomads elected to bat against what had been described as a young, weak team, some of the youngsters having come straight from football. Gardner opened with Adam Hughes and whilst extras did much of the scoring a good start was made. Gardner was closing in on his retirement at 50 when he was caught, the opening partnership falling just short of 100. Hughes took the opportunity of changing his bat and accelerated to reach 38 before he too was caught. Darley were fielding with 12 (as agreed by Nomads) and it was proving more difficult to avoid the fielders. After this everyone made a start with no gonads or run-.outs. Hutton was the best of the lower order reaching 30.

We could perhaps have scored a few more but 210 seemed adequate on the experience of previous game against Darley.

Hutton was hoping to give his occasional bowlers an outing but the opening few overs gave him pause for thought as the openers set off at a brisk pace. Hutton claimed a wicket and then Turnbull replaced him. After a misunderstanding with skipper Hoddy brought himself on to bowl. Turnbull claimed a wicket and also the opening bat retired on 50. After another couple of wickets and another retirement, the light was beginning to worsen and Brannigan, off a short run, and Pickering were brought on. The object was to allow the less prolific batsmen to stay in and not allow the retired batsmen back in. The plan worked and Nomads attained victory by 19 runs.

The match was much more competitive than the previous 2 seasons which is really what is wanted. The retire at 50 stipulated by Darley probably worked to our advantage.

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

Date: 15th Sept 2019
Start time: 1:30pm
Venue: Darley Abbey
Competition: 40 overs Friendly
Scores: Lichfield Nomads 210 for 8; Darley Abbey 191 for 6
Result: Lichfield Nomads beat Darley Abbey by 19 runs
Toss: Won?
Scorer: J. Hoddy
Umpires:
Report: J. Hoddy
Weather: Dry, cloudy, mild.

18/09/2019