Match 35 NOMADS CC v STRAGGLERS OF ASIA CC Ascot Park Wing Leighton Buzzard Bedfordshire LU7 OPR Sunday June 24th 11.30pm 2018
Result: Match Drawn Match Drawn
Toss: Nomads CC Nomads CC
Umpires: Nick Stevenson & Various
Scorers: VariousMike Robbins, San Gore & others
Debut:
NOMADS CC Innings
V Kandampully retired hurt 23
T Brockton* c Shales b Hunt 21
J Lascelles not out 60
A Stokes bowled Hunt 6
R Ormiston c Singh b Hooper 10
S Shawl c Shales b Hooper 28
S Vithlani bowled Naeem 22
S Wahi+ not out 3
Extras (b7,lb8,w5,nb0) 20
TOTAL (5 wickets dec,51 overs) 192
Dnb:A Marshall,C Page,ME Blumberg
Fow:1-54(2),2-60(4),3-81(5),4-126(6),5-181(7).
Bowling-Hunt 12 1 49 2(w1),Azzad Naeem 14 5 37 1,Hooper 10 1 39 2(w1),Kothari 13 0 56 0(w3).
STRAGGLERS OF ASIA CC Innings
R Style c & b Vithlani 0
W Russell run out(Kandampully/Page) 42
J Allsop bowled Shawl 21
G Singh c Shawl b Marshall 14
M Shales c Wahi b Shawl 4
C Brown bowled Brockton 0
A Hooper lbw b Brockton 40
A Kothari c & b Brockton 0
A Naeem not out 7
M Hunt bowled Shawl 0
A Trapani not out 0
Extras (b2,lb1,w5,nb4) 12
TOTAL (9 wickets,43 overs) 146
Fow:1-1(1),2-52(3),3-?(4),4-82(5),5-112(2),6-117(7),7-134(6),8-134(8),9-135(10).
Bowling-Shawl 17 11 23 3,Vithlani 5 1 14 1,Page 7 0 50 0,Brockton 5 2 13 3,Marshall 8 1 25 1,Ormiston 1 0 9 0.
Another nail-biter but this time Nomads don’t taste final over success
Nomads were back at Ascott Park for the visit of the Stragglers of Asiawho had been humbled and bowled out before lunch at the same ground the previous season. Under gorgeous blue skies and an 11:30am start Nomads won the toss and unsurprisingly elected to bat.
Naeem was impressive with the new ball, seaming it both ways, but the usual “good cricket wicket” at Ascott was not to the liking of Brockton and Kandampully with many balls bouncing alarmingly and the odd one keeping low tokeep the batters more than on their toes.
However, the pair added 40 before Kandampully went in the hamstring andhad to very unfortunately retire hurt. Lascelles joined Brockton who was then caught at 1st slip off a top edge. Lascelles was playing the good old English anchor role but others were falling around him. At lunch Nomads were 77-2, well placed but hardly setting the world alight with a brisk scoring rate.
After the lunch break (which was long and very enjoyable) Stokes and Ormiston fell in quick succession to shots they would regret, but Lascelles was resolute finding good (and fortunately aggressive) support from Shawl and Vithlani who both struck the ball cleanly. Despite both falling to onthe stroke of the declaration and Lascelles passing 50 Nomads were able to call in the troops well placed at 192-5. With the wicket still playing a few tricks this was probably worth in the region of 240.
Nomads took the field and Sajjad Shawl continued to roll back the years with the new ball, bowling with good pace and movement. This season has been something of a renaissance for Sajjad and his opening spell was full of quality. Suraj, ever dependable wheeled away at the other end with his inswingers and dismissed the dangerous Nomad Rupert Style (0) who was playing for the opposition. An uncharacteristic lofted drive resulted in a smart return catch to a gleeful Vithlani who had to turn and run to complete the catch.
Shawl bowled Alsopp with his trademark toe-crushing Yorker but Russell (who top scored in 2017) was taking a liking to the offerings form Chris Page as he moved into the 40s at the start of the 20 overs. Stragglers needed over 6 an over,and their plight was not assisted by Andy Marshall bowling an accurate spell of 1-25 from 8 overs. His wicket (Singh) courtesy of a fine one handed catch fromShawl, the only man tall enough in the Nomads side to leap and take the catch above his head at wide mid-wicket!
The game changed when Shales clattered the ball to Kandampully at short mid wicket off a Page low full toss, Russell at the non strikers end motioned forward out of his crease expecting a run, in a flash Vic had the ball back at the bowlers end and into the hands of Page and even with a dive Russell was run out for 42, inches short of his ground.
Nomads now had a sniff of victory and two new batters at the crease. Stragglers had effectively “shut up shop” and Shawl was recalled and Brockton introduced. His first ball trapped Hooper LBW and the Nomads skipper was then rewarded with the wicket of Kothari who played a rather ungainly swipe in the circumstance, the ball looping back for an easy return catch.
Shawl had the bit between his teeth and Shales was the next in the hutch,snicking off to Wahi who was looking back to his old self behind the stumps. Brockton then cleaned up Stragglers 2017 skipper Conner Brown and Shawl destroyed Hunt's stumps first ball with a big nip-backer which the batter was late on.
Stragglers had collapsed from the relative security of 82-3 to dire straits of 135-9. Wicket keeper and Michael Blumberg’s Surrey veterans colleague Trapani strode to the crease but Nomads found that Naeem (batting at no9) was no clot with the bat and he defended stoutly, rotating the strike to keep Trapani away from Shawl in particular. Nomads had three overs at the last pair, an edge was found but dropped agonisingly short of Blumberg at 4th slip.
One over left every Nomad round the bat, no less than 5 slips and Kandampully under the helmet at silly point. However Naeem was more than equal to the task and Stragglers ended on 146-9, just under 50 short of the Nomads target.
Sajjad lead the team from the field after a monumental bowling performance in 27 degree heat. In two spells he sent down 17 overs, conceding just 23 runs and bowling 11 maidens, 7 of them in consecutive overs! On another day he could have taken 6 or 7wickets.
Our thanks to the jovial Nick Stevenson for officiating.
Previous Matches
2017 Nomads won by 9 wickets
Nomads played Stragglers of Asia at the Hurlingham Club Saturday June 26th 1954. Nomads do not retain any details of the match. Perhaps SOA do!
Posted on 02/10/2017
by Michael Blumberg