Tour Costa Blanca Spain March  10-15 2005 

Shortage Of Nomads Detracts from Tour Success

This looked like being a well subscribed tour a few months before  but Nomads started dropping out like flies right up to the final morning and at that late stage it was too short notice to bring in others who were   apparently available. In view of the average price to fly down to Alicante circa £45.00 pounds this was particularly disappointing. It was also anuisance to have the Hon Sec's sachle bag stolen in the airport carpark while the car was being loaded up with cricket bags and coffins.Inside was the Nomads 'Bible'.

Our opponents were warned of our shortage of numbers and it was close to the start of their season thus there was a fair chance we would fulfill four matches and we did. Not always with 11 a side but nevertheless matches.  Nomads won two games when the batting fired but lost two matches badly when the limited top order failed.The first at Campoamor was a first for Nomads in the modern era being an afternoon 20/20 which we won with the help of some Campoamor players and afifty from simon Barter.

On another day 'Wakers' may have scored a big ton in the Saturday game and a good contest resulted.However Raymond Jones had other ideas that day  and in a short burst desposed of Wakefield and Barter for a miserly single run. Luckily his spell was cut short at 4-2-3-2. However  veteran Charlton Lamb with a polished 73 and 59 from guest Humphreys gave the innings some respectability as we chased 270 in which Graham Howe hit a good century and  David Climent 62 both retired! .

Our main problem was a depleted attack supported by a shortage of fielders and any young ones at that. Our opponents score at Alfas was always going to be 250 plus and so only if we hit a big total ourselves were we going to win.This we did on Sunday when Wakefield hit 88 and guest Wasim 99 in contrast to their total scores the day before which was 10. Sporting alfas chased the total throughout and up to the 30th over were on par with us but with the regular loss of wickets their chase fizzled out 17 runs short.

On Monday we did not do ourselves very poud despite 88 from Wakers who hit Raymond Jones out of the attack this time with a flurry of boundary fours. The rest of us, including locally hired David Climent,and  with extras only posted 76 in under 30 overs and in a declaration game. from 128-1 we succumbed to 164 all out falling to the guiles of Curness and Matthews!  Some solid time consuming occupation of the crease was sadly lacking. When we bowled Bill Curness hit 85 not out in contrast  to the paltry 7 he made for us on Saturday.He was to be punished in the autumn for this misdemeanour. After Wakers had caught and bowled Andrew Copeland for 26 Alan Fisher then added 107 with Bill to defeat us by 9 wickets our heaviest ever defeat by the Forty Club who have an irritating habit of hanging in for a draw against us usually.

This trip saw the debut appearance of Katrina Pinchin on tour and on the cricket field and she was most entertaining and definitely an exponential improvement on the usuall Barter situation. she has since toured with us in slovenia where she played again and also in the Autumn again to Spain.

Vince and Helen did join us briefly but not to play cricket which was a shame in view of our lack of numbers. So the most ever depleted Nomads touring party won two and lost two and were we to make up for numbers in the autumn ..read on.

Many thanks to our friends at Campoamor and Alfas for helping us out and personal thanks to Wasim, Shaffi, Peter Packham, Ray Ward, David Climent, Bill Curness, Harry Humphries, I Idrees, E Esses, F French and young S Crackwell for turning out for Nomads.

MATCH 6  CAMPOAMOR CC V NOMADS CC at Campoamor Torrevieja Friday March 11th 20/20 overs each 8-a-side 4 overs max per bowler

Result: Nomads won by 37 runs
Umpires:D MacLeod & Others
Scorers:Various
Debut(s):Shafiq Ali,I Idrees,E Esses,F French.

NOMADS CC Innings
P Wakefield c Essauh b Wasim  38
S Barter    retired           56
GC Lamb     run out           46
Shafiq Ali  st Brook b Wambeek 9
I Idrees    not out           11
E Esses     not out            1
Extras     (b1,lb2,w3,nb2)     8
TOTAL   (4 wickets,20 overs) 187
Dnb:ME Blumberg,F French.

Fow:1-107,2-121,3-137,4-165.

Bowling-Essauh 3 0 30 0,Bacon 4 0 27 0,Wasim 4 0 32 1,Goble 4 0 49 0,Wambeek 2 0 13 1,Potton 2 013 0,L Evans 1 0 14 0.

CAMPOAMOR CC Innings
P Brook    lbw       b Blumberg  19
Wasim Khan run out                2
P Potton   bowled      Wakefield 15
G Wambeek  st French b Lamb      42
G Goble    not out               27
E Essauh   bowled      Lamb       0
A Bacon    c & b       Barter    15
Wasim      not out               10
Extras    (b10,lb4,w8,nb0)       22
TOTAL     (6 wickets,20 overs)  150

Fow:1-20,2-38,3-52,4-100,5-100,6-138.asd

Bowling-Esses 4 0 16 0,Blumberg 4 0 19 1,Wakefield 4 0 22 1,Lamb 4 0 40 2,Shafiq 2 0 21 0,Barter 2 0 18 1.

 Paul Wakefield     Charlton Lamb               Michael Blumberg  Simon Barter

MATCH 7 Sporting Alfas CC v Nomads CC at Columbus Oval Saturday March 12th 2005 1.00pm-40 overs match ,8 overss max per bowler

Result: Sporting Alfas won by 90 runs
Toss:Sporting Alfas
Umpires:M Clarke & Others
Scorers:G Leach:
Debutant(s):Wasim Khan,B Curness,H Humphreys,S Crackwell.

SPORTING ALFAS CC Innings
C Dovaston c Lamb  b Kidgell    0
+D Climent retired             62
*G Howe    retired            103
JH Morgan  bowled    Wasim     45
B Marriner bowled    Humphreys 15
G Wambeek  not out             27
R Jones    not out              6
Extras    (b5,lb3,w1,nb3)      12
TOTAL  (5(3)wickets,40 overs) 270
Dnb:DP Myers,A Bacon.

Fow: 1-0,2-148,3-209,4-217,5-254

Bowling-Kidgell 8 1 44 1,Blumberg 6 0 27 0,Curness 8 0 63 0,Wakefield 2 0 16 0,Lamb 6 0 46 0,Wasim Khan 8 0 51 1,Humphreys 2 0 15 1.

NOMADS CC Innings
P Wakefield c Climent b Jones    6
S Barter    c Howe    b Jones    0
W Khan      c Morgan  b Myers    4
GC Lamb     c Morgan  b Wambeek 73
B Curness   bowled      Bacon    7
H Humphreys retired             59
*MEBlumberg not out              7
S Crackwell not out              2
Extras      (b8,lb1,w5,nb2)     16
TOTAL  (7(6) wickets,40 overs) 180
Dnb:S Kidgell.

Fow: 1-1,2-10.3-10,4-19,5-34,6-148.7-178.

Bowling-R Jones 4 2 3 2,DP Myers 8 3 19 1,Bacon 8 3 17 1,Wambeek 7 0 56 2,Dovaston 5 0 21 0,Mariner 5 0 29 0,Climent 3 0 26 0.

MATCH 8 Sporting Alfas CC v Nomads CC at Columbus Oval Sunday March 13th 2005 1.00pm-35 overs match,7 overs max per bowler

Result:Nomads won by 17 runs
Toss:Nomads
Umpires:Brian Pitts & others
Scorer:G Leach
Debutant(s):I Drees,A Hancock,M Woolley.

NOMADS CC Innings
P Wakefield st Townsend  b Bellis  86
Wasim Khan  lbw          b Packham 99
S Barter    c Townsend   b M-Smith 15
A Hancock   c JH Morgan  b Bellis  12
Shaffi Ali  not out                53
I Idrees    run out                 4
GC Lamb     not out                 5
Extras     (b3,lb2,w4,nb0)          9
TOTAL       (5 wickets,35 overs)  283
Dnb:ME Blumberg*,M Woolley,V Gavin,H Cooper.asd

Fow:1-139.2-199.3-217,4-222,5-263.

Bowling-Lewis 5 0 62 0,Fletcher 4 1 16 0,Marriner 7 0 45 0,Wambeek 3 0 33 0,Packham 4 0 29 1,M-Smith 6 0 42 1,Bellis 6 0 51 2.

SPORTING ALFAS CC Innings
P Packham   c S Ali  b Hancock   21
B Marrriner c S Ali  b W Khan    77
JH Morgan   bowled     W Khan    21
J Morgan    c Idrees b Wakefield 42
S Lewis     bowled     Blumberg   8
P M-Smith   not out              43
J Williams  bowled     Wakefield  8
G Wambeek   st S Ali b Wakefield 17
D Townsend  c S Ali  b Lamb       1
A Fletcher  not out               8
Extras      (b6,lb1,w11,nb2)     20
TOTAL      (8 wickets,35 overs) 266
Dnb: Bellis.

Fow: 1-69,2-106,3-131,4-155,5-191,6-212,7-234,8-239.

Bowling-Shaffi Ali 3 0 22 0,Hancock 7 0 49 1,Wasim Khan 7 0 46 2,Blumberg 7 0 45 1,Wakefield 7 0 63 3,Lamb 3 0 22 1,Woolley 1 0 12 0.

MATCH 9 Forty Club Of Spain v Nomads CC at Columbus Oval Monday March 14th 2005 1.00pm ,20 overs from 5.00pm

Result:     Forty Club Of Spain won by 9 wickets
Toss:       Nomads CC
Umpires:    G Gilbert & G Carter
Scorer:     G Leach
Debutant(s):K Pinchin,R Ward,D Climent.

NOMADS CC Innings
P Wakefield c & b      Curness    88
D Climent   lbw      b Brathwaite 18
S Barter    c Fisher b Matthews   16
GC Lamb     lbw      b Curness    12
P Packham   bowled     Matthews   17
R Ward      bowled     Matthews    0
ME Blumberg bowled     Curness     5
K Pinchin   not out                0
Missing Nomad
Missing Nomad
Missing Nomad
Extras      (b4,lb1,w3,nb0)        8
TOTAL    (All out(8),29.4 overs) 164   

Fow:1-40,2-128,3-142,5-159,6-164,7-164.

Bowling-Braithwaite 9 2 53 1,Jones 5 0 43 0.Curness 9.4 0 33 3,Matthews 6 1 30 3.

FORTY CLUB OF SPAIN Innings
A Copeland c & b Wakefield  26
B Curness  not out          85
A Fisher   not out          58
Extras    (b0,lb0,w0,nb0)    0
TOTAL (1 wicket,24.2 overs)169
Dnb:J Braithwaite,N Matthews and others.

FOW 1-62.

Bowling-Barter 6 0 33 0,Blumberg 12 1 78 0,Wakefield 5 0 38 1,Packham 1.2 0 20 0.

This looked like being a well subscribed tour a few months before  but Nomads started dropping out like flies right up to the final morning and at that late stage it was too short notice to bring in others who were   apparently available. In view of the average price to fly down to Alicante circa £45.00 pounds, this was particularly disappointing. It was also a nuisance to have the Hon Sec's satchel bag stolen in the airport car park while the car was being loaded up with cricket bags and coffins.

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