NOMADS CC vGreat Missenden Pelicans Ground;Nag’s Head Meadow, Great Missenden, Bucks 
 
Result; Nomads won by 63 runs
Toss:Nomads
Umpires; Johnny Johnston, Brian Ballard and Chris Witt
Nomads MAN of the MATCH; Guy Haynes
Debut; Chris Edwards
 
NOMADS Innings 
C Horne         c C Bailey     b Greenwood  10
K Alexander+    c D Bailey     b S Bailey    6
C Xavier        c D Bailey     b Dawes       0
G Haynes                       b S Bailey   81
M Surridge      c Dawes        b Greenwood  23
R Cairns        c Horne        b Tickler    33
C Edwards       c Greenwood    b S Bailey    9
W Tesar         not out                      4
N Nayar                        b S Bailey    0
R Mann          not out                      0
Extras         ( 1b, 4lb, 8w, 0nb)          13
TOTAL          (8 wkts dec in 41 overs)     179
Did not Bat M Blumberg*
 
Fall of Wickets; 1-9, 2-9, 3-48, 4-81, 5-147, 6-161, 7-179, 8-179  

Bowling -S Bailey 14-3-50-4, J Dawes 8-3-14-1, J Greenwood 7-0-38-2, S Neat 4-0-22-0, CT Bailey 3-0-32-0, S Tickler 5-0-19-1.
 
PELICANS Innings
D Bailey                 c &  b Haynes     10
SM Bailey                     b Nayar      31
S Ackler                      b Tesar      24 
J Winfield                    b Tesar       7
J Greenwood     lbw           b Tesar       2
SR Bailey       run out                    11
E Horne                       b Nayar       0 
S Neat          c Tesar       b Horne      11 
S Pearson                     b Surridge    0 
CT Bailey       not out                     2 
J Dawes         run out                     1
Extras        (6b,7lb,2nb,2w)              17
TOTAL          (all out in 26.3 overs)    114 
 
Fall of wickets ;1-12,2-57, 3-75, 4-86, 5-86, 6-87, 7-102, 8-108,9-110,

Bowling-Haynes 5-2-23-1, Blumberg 4-1-17-0, Xavier 2-0-16-0, Tesar 6-2-16-3, Nayar 5-1-17-2, Surridge 2.3-0-5-1, Horne 2-0-7-1.
 
 * CT Bailey played with three sons in Pelicans XI
 Nomads visitors Keith Alexander’s Father, Guy Haynes girlfriend Anna,  Chris Horne’s friend Patricia, Bob Cairn’s mate Mark Boldick. 

 Nomads bowlers secure victory

Nomads used to have the measure of Pelicans but then the generations changed Pelicans becoming a mostly youthful side who hold their catches and have beaten us on the last three occasions.

Serious match management produced a stronger side this year with a youth or two. On a damp pitch in freezing weather Mark Surridge in his first match as club captain won the toss and elected to bat. Faced with a bewildering choice of opening batsmen he settled for eccentricity and explosive experience in ‘Mad’ Chris Horne and ‘Fu Man Chu’ Keith Alexander. after a couple of explosive straight drives Alexander was undone by the pitch and hit skywards for Greenwood to take a good catch running back from extra cover. The ‘Ladies Favourite” Chris Xavier playing in his second Nomads game, equally as wet as the last one in August 2000 at Cheshunt, received a brute of a ball from left arm seamer Dawes to record a golden duck.

Nomads dashing top order was looking distinctly ragged at 9-2 off 6 overs and the visitors were soon remembering their last three disastrous visits to Nags head Meadow. However the arrival of speedster Guy Haynes once of the Bolton league put some substance into the innings starting with a string of 4s. He was particularly brutal with S.Bailey hitting him for 19 in his 7th over. Horne fell to Greenwood in the slips at 48 but by now the innings had momentum. 

Mark Surridge and Haynes put on 32 in 6 overs before the nomads skipper misjudged the pace of the pitch and off a firm forward defensive the ball ballooned up for Dawes to give Greenwood another wicket. 'Solid and evergreen'(his words) Bob Cairns joined Haynes and these two put on a further 66 runs in 10 overs. Whether by design or chance Haynes was deprived of the strike as the innings required acceleration and five overs later trying to work S Bailey for a single off the last ball of the over was bowled for a fine 81 runs.         Wolfie Tesar joined Chris Edwards and a curious stand took place involving some impeccable coach book shots but barely a run. Chris Edwards was replaced by the princely Neeraj Nayar who smote the first ball cleanly but declined to run and then was bowled slogging wildly at the next ball-a full toss. ‘Woodwind’ Rus Mann joined Tesar and playing a series of solid defensive shots so much so that despite Mark Surridge’s signal that there was one more over before the declaration Pelicans decided they wanted their tea and walked off. It was 4,30 and they had bowled 41 overs in two hours 25 minutes. Faced with this ‘fait accompli ’ by Pelicans Surridge agreed he had declared anyway. 

Pelicans started their reply with aggression in light drizzle with D Bailey setting about Guy Haynes but soon he miscued for Haynes to take a good caught and bowled wicket. At the other end Surridge opened with slow bowler Blumberg who although bowling a maiden failed to impress the captain who soon replaced him with Xavier. With a dry ball these two may have been effective but it was a ploy that went unrewarded. It was the introduction of Austrian cricketer Wolfie Tesar who bowled a very steady line and length at very medium pace who set the wickets tumbling. 57-1 had become 87 -6 with a run out (direct hit from Chris Edwards) and a wicket from Nayar who had replaced Xavier.

Neat joined SM Bailey and staged a bit of a recovery before Bailey played onto Nayar. Surridge himself took a wicket at the end as did Horne but it was another run out that ended the innings giving Nomads victory by 63 runs in the 27th over, a very welcome early end to a wet and very cold afternoon’s play.

The Nag’s Head where Guy Haynes’ girlfriend Anna, had spent the afternoon was soon to revive the spirits of both teams.