Clenton stars as Martins CC thrash the Nomads

Old Hill CC, our new home for the 2025 summer, was looking in great shape upon our return to the Haden Hill Ground. We proceeded to lose the toss, as Martins CC elected to bat first on a greenish pitch, which had seen 500 runs scored on it the day before Martins CC captain, Saeed, took a particular liking to the opening pair of Hughes & Lee as the short boundary took a battering; despite this they were offering the Nomads chances that just weren’t going to hand.
The run rate was ticking along as Lee had A Hussain brilliantly caught behind by Rolfe whilst Hughes cleaned bowled Rehman following a quickfire barrage of boundaries.
O’Brien & Fearon came on and quickly garnered a semblance of control with Fearon bowling with guile & O’Brien producing a fast & hostile spell which causing the Martins CC batters problems; O’Brien picked up a well-deserved wicket after Riaz gloved behind Shahzad joined Saeed at the crease as they began to accelerate the scoring. The Nomads frustrations were evident as edges & tough chances came and went; particularly frustrating were the late cuts off middle & off through the slips and gully areas, as it was becoming apparent that it wasn’t going to be our day.
Cartwright & Davies bowled well but also were on the wrong end of the brutal batting as Saeed completed a well-deserved century but opted to continue. Clenton came on and changed the complexion of the innings with a wonderful spell of bowling that brought the Nomads back into the game.
Clenton had the centurion cleaned bowled; Shahzad caught behind one short of a half century (which also gave Rolfe his 3rd catch of the innings); Khan bowled and then 2 balls later, Bilal caught at slip by Gardner. There was to be no jug avoidance as Clenton completed his maiden 5-for as he bowled Irshad & Ahmed to finish with excellent figures of 3.5 - 0 – 19 – 6.
Captain Loxley took the other remaining wicket as Gardner took his 2nd catch of the innings at first slip. Clenton’s spell had brought the Nomads well back into the game as Martins CC finished on 275 all out despite looking likely to score 300+.
Following a wonderful tea provided by Old Hill CC, the Nomads began the chase needing just shy of 7 an over. However, this soon increased sharply as scoring was incredibly difficult for the openers of Gardner & Rolfe. Some tight opening bowling from Khan & Ahmed (the later only conceding 1 run in his 5 overs), possibly aided by the fact Martins CC were using an old ball instead of a new one, was backed up by some good fielding as the Nomads simply couldn’t find any gaps. At one point, the Nomads were going at one an over as we’d only amassed 14 in the 12th over. At this point, Rolfe was caught behind, as he walked despite Stanley not giving the decision. Bastable, in magnificent form thus far this summer, also struggled.
Gardner was bowled by Shahzad and was quickly followed by Bastable, bowled by Bilal. Loxley was quite nonchalantly caught low down on the long on boundary attempting to increase the scoring rate.
This brought Clenton (who had a shaky start with two outside edges running away to the boundary) & O’Brien together; they batted beautifully in a partnership of 39 as they showed great grit & determination in a tough situation.
Clenton was well on the way towards a maiden half century for the Nomads, but his luck was out as Mohammed found a way through his defenses to clip the top of his pad then see the ball loop up to clip the bail, a rather unfortunate end in a superb all-round performance by Clenton.
O’Brien’s rearguard batting performance was also ended by Mohammed as Fearon & Hughes quickly came and went. Lee & Davies saw the remaining overs out as the Nomads finished on 112-8 after our 40 overs The 162-run defeat turned out to the club's 10th worst defeat batting second but that took a back seat as we celebrated MVP Clenton’s outstanding all-round performance; the force was with him on Star Wars Day!

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

Date: 2025
Start time: 2:00pm
Venue: Old Hill CC, Haden Park Road, Cradley Heath.
Competition: 40 overs friendly
Scores: Martins 275 v Lichfield Nomads 113 for 8
Result: Martins won by 162 runs
Toss: Martins won the toss and elected to bat.
Scorer: Tom Davies, P. Gardner and opposition
Umpires: Stanley, Fearon, Hughes, Loxley and opposition.
Report: J. Loxley
Weather: Cloudy with sunny spells.

4 May 2025