Nomads CC celebrated their centenary year with a lengthy tour of India  organized by Discover India of Rayners Lane Middlesex.  Starting on December 27th 2002 the Nomads undertook a 24 day tour of India and won two matches. 

 A substantial party of players and supporters went on this tour plus scorers and umpires. A good batting side we were short of seam bowling. The team was captained by Mark Surridge.  Unfortunately we suffered a number of cancelled matches.  Two in Delhi due to rain. One in Udaipur due to a misunderstnanding. We did not play at CCI, Mumbai, because of a double booking with the World Spin Academy  and by the time with arrived in Goa three  players decided to travel South while another lingered in Mumbai and a fifth sought his Guru elsewhere. However we did play eight games and undertook a lot of interesting sight seeing.    

 One of our tour party was the actor    Ben Nealon who had a substantial role in the cult Indian film of the time, Lagaan. It also happened that there was no international cricket being played on December 30th and the TV station Doordashan sought advice on what to fill the slot with. Luckily for us they asked Kirti Azad and Vikram Kaul for their suggestions and they proposed a match with Nomads who would be on tour plus a few more Lagaan film actors. As a result our second tour match was played before 3-4000 spectators with ball by ball commentary in Hindi and English and broadcast  throughout most of South East Asia. Quite a bonus for an amateur wandering cricket club from UK!
   

 Full Party:Michael Blumberg & Annette Tiberghien  Mark Surridge & Barbara Strasse, Keith Alexander & Veronica, Andy Stokes , Robert Wycherley & Louise Saltwell, Jeremy Lascelles & Catherine, Dan O’Sullivan, Mrs Diana O’Sullivan(Dan's Mum)& Mrs Liz Shaw, Mr David 'Dusty' Rhodes-Umpire & Mrs Hazel Rhodes, Ravi Mantha and Kavitha Mantha(Delhi to Jaipur), Charles Fellows-Smith, Brian Wilson -Umpire, M Palowkar-Umpire joining tour at Bombay, Paul Wakefield left after Mumbai, Daryn Williams & Karen - left after Udaipur, Charlton Lamb, Russell Mann left after Udaipur, Tom Reader..sleeping rough to save rupees, Steve Marians. David Alexander & Gina met us in Delhi, Ben Nealon, Bill Rodwell, Malcolm Moss and sons Richard and Simon in Delhi only, Sunal Amar in Delhi only, Joe Ireland left from Jaipur, John Behar joined at Jaipur.

Tour Summary Played 8 Won 2 Drawn 0  Lost 6 Cancelled 7

Full Tour Narrative and Scorecards