Nomads prevail At Hastings

On a warm, sunny day, Nomads travelled to Ashby to take on their development side in front of a large group of fans including Dave Forster who had travelled from Wales to officiate. Facing young opposition , Nomads also fielded a couple of younger players, D Sayle who had previously played for us and M Thakur, a debutant. . Both were to have a big say in the game. Nomads won the toss and Rolfe elected to field. The usual duo of Mahmood and Lee opened and were as efficient as usual both claiming a wicket, Lee taking an excellent catch off his own bowling. Having a surfeit of bowlers, Rolfe rang the changes bringing on newcomers Thakur and Sayles. The former bowled quickly with a low skiddy action but bowled a few wides and failed to claim a wicket. Sayles was more succesful by being slower and steadier and claimed 4, two being lbw. .Cartwright was brought on but looked rusty from his lack of cricket, only having 3 overs before being replaced by Hoddy. Moss claimed 2 wickets from the end where all the Dans bowled from and after a delay due to a model car invading the pitch Hoddy polished off the tail.

An Ashby score of 191 in a 35 over match looked respectable, however with a fast outfield and a wealth of batting talent, Nomads were optimistic.
Gardner opened with Sayles who was keem to improve on his last innings when he was out on a golden duck. Gardner was disapponted to be out on 9, guiding the ball to the square leg fielder. Sayles was proceding at a good rate and saw Mahmood come and go for 22 in 8 balls. Turnbull never got going , suffering a slight injury, and was soon replaced by Scurlock who had his best batting performance of 47. Thakur replaced Sayles and scored 43 before being out to an extravagant, attempted reverse sweep. Nomads were well up with the run rate but kept losing wickets, keeping Ashby interested. When Lee was out cheaply and then Moss to the worst ball he had faced things got a bit tense. But with the threat of Hoddy padded up, Cartwright and Rolfe saw Nomads over the line with 3 well struck boundaries.
A first ever win over Hastings kept Nomads in with high hopes of a winning season.



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

Date: 20 August 2023
Start time: 1:30pm
Venue: Ashby de la Zouch
Competition: 35 overs friendly
Scores: Ashby Hastings 191 v Lichfield Nomads 192 for 8
Result: Lichfield Nomads won by 2 wickets
Toss:
Scorer: J. Hoddy
Umpires: D. Forster, various
Report: J. Hoddy
Weather: Warm, sunny

30 August 2023