Sunday April 28th v Gaieties CC
MATCH 08 NOMADS CC V GAIETIES CC at Old Hamptonians Ground April 28th 1.45 pm
Result: Nomads won by 2 wickets
Toss: Gaieties CC
Umpires: Geoff Knight & Others
Scorer: Bill Rodwell
Debut(s):None
GAIETIES CC Innings
S Carter c Style b Shawl 2
S Dutts c & b Ireland 33
J Schneider bowled A Smith 31
N Cowley run out (Lamb) 0
J Smith c Ireland b A Smith 3
H Thurston* c Lamb b Ireland 12 P Bul lbw b A Smith 3
M Burton bowled Ireland 3
J Harper not out 13
D Dalzel-Job c Mann b Brockton 0
M Zorain run out (Style) 6
Extras (b14,lb3,w1,nb0) 18
TOTAL (All out,43 overs) 124
Fow:1-6(1),2-69(3),3-71(4),4-79(2),5-83(5),6-86(7),7-98(6),8-99(8),9-106(10),10-124(11).
Bowling-Shawl 6 2 18 1,Croom-Johnson 10 4 11 0,Ireland 13 3 39 3,A Smith 8 1 17 3,Vincent 4 0 10 0,Brockton 5 2 11 1.
NOMADS CC Innings
R Style c Harper b Burton 8
P Bell lbw b Zorain 7
J Lane+ c Zorain b Burton 14
N Lamb bowled Burton 10
A Smith c Schneider b Burton 4
S Shawl c Harper b Zorain 43
CR Mann lbw b Burton 0
T Brockton not out 8
J Ireland c Schneider b Harper 3
W Vincent not out 0
Extras (b16,lb1,w6,nb7) 30
TOTAL (8 wickets,33.5 overs)127
Dnb: O Croom-Johnson
Fow:1-18(2),2-40(1),3-57(3),4-67(5),5-92(4),6-92(7),7-112(6),8-123(9).
Bowling-Massod Zorain 12 3 26 2,Schneider 3 0 12 0,Burton 10.2 2 35 5,Cowley 5 0 27 0,Harper 3.3 0 10 1.
Savage Sajjad thwarts Burton fifer haul
Tom Brockton's report
A low scoring, but as it turned out entertaining match vs Gaieties was played at Old Hamptonians CC on Sunday. Tom Brockton Lost the toss and Gaieties skipper Hugo Thurston opted to bat first on what looked like a slow and low wicket. What was more baffling was that the outfield had not been cut in what looked like about 2 weeks so boundaries were going to be at an absolute.
Nomads boasted a well balanced side with plenty of options with both bat and ball. Surrey over 50s seamer Oliver Croom-Johnson bowled an immaculate line and length conceding just 11 runs from his 10 overs and at the other end Sajjad Shawl was his usual fiery self bowling with good pace, impressive on such a docile surface. The game changed with the introduction of Joe Ireland who managed to extract some significant turn from the wicket on his way to 3-39 from 13 excellent overs. His good work was continued by Andy Smith who went at 2 an over and took 3 important wickets including the prize scalp of limpet like batsman James Schneider for 31, bamboozled by Smith's sharply turning off-break. Its not often this comment is made, but Nomads were truly exceptional in the field. Rupert Style in the covers was immense, Nathan Lamb took a stonking running one handed catch at long on, Joe Ireland with a wonderful diving caught and bowled to dismiss the dangerous Shomit Dutta and Will Vincent fleet of foot and with a rocket of an arm during the latter part of the innings.
It was fitting that the innings would be brought to an end in style, by Style with his 2nd direct hit run-out of the weekend. One stump was all he needed.... Gaieties bundled out for 124 in 45 disciplined overs, with only 7 boundaries hit in the entirety of their innings. Nomads would have a small total to chase but as we all know they can be the most daunting. Gaieities started brightly removing both Style and Phil Bell cheaply. However Jamie Lane was looking in fine touch after his net sessions at Lords and the score progressed without further incident to 57-2.
It was then the game was dragged back to life by Matthew Burton who took a well deserved 5 wicket haul including the wickets of Lamb, Smith and Russell Mann for a golden globe. Sajjad Shawl began to repair the innings with his own brand of cavalier stroke play (alone he hit as many boundaries as the entire Gaieties team managed in 45 overs) and his brutal onslaught yielded 43 runs in very quick time. Indeed, he had taken Nomads to the brink of victory when he was dismissed. Brockton hit the winning boundary with some 5 overs remaining when Jamie Harper drifted onto leg stump to be clipped through backward square and over the rope. Nomads reaching their target for the loss of 8 wickets in a very entertaining and closely fought contest. A glass of champagne was raised to the late Charlton Lamb, a fitting conclusion to a gritty days cricket, one I'm sure Charlton would have enjoyed.
Hugo Thurston reports
Despite a week of gorgeous, summery weather, the cricketing gods deemed that our first game should take place under leaden skies with a freezing wind. Throw in a desperately slow pitch and even more sluggish outfield and you have all the ingredients for an April classic. Your correspondent, having agreed to provide tea, was forced to leave later than planned, and soon realised, once the extremely unwise decision to leave the A40 had been taken, that the hour and a half allocated to get to Hampton in time for the 1:30 start was never going to be enough. Having tried unsuccessfully to contact the vice captain, the skipper assumed that the start had been delayed and returned to the stimulating in car discussion which had covered such diverse topics as women snogged the previous evening, Boyd Rankin's chances of an England cap, and the likelihood of Islam taking a foothold in Ireland. It therefore came as something of a surprise, not to mention body-blow, when a phone call finally arrived with the news that the toss had taken place and Gaieties were batting. The rationale that batting first was necessitated by the absence of four players was not enough to assuage the dark mood of the captain who upon arrival at 2ish stalked around the boundary chain smoking, swearing and generally cursing all and sundry before being mollified by the Chairman plying him with fizzy wine which had been used to toast the late, great Charlton Lamb prior to the start.The Gaieties innings got off to an inauspicious beginning with the early departure of Carter, uncharacteristically out for less than 70. Dutta and Schneider then went some way towards rebuilding the innings but it was slow going against some accurate bowling from the Nomads. Schneider missed a straight one whereupon Cowley, keen to put his new blade to use, promptly attempted a single to one of two Nomads fielders that Dutta had explicitly told him to take no trifles with and was run out. Dutta was then the victim of a superb catch as his low drive was held one-handed by Nomad's left arm slowie and Jon Smith top-edged a swipe against Smithy's offies from the other end. With the innings already in disarray, Bulteel was soon out LBW, and although the skipper reached double figures he was dismissed not long after. Dalzel-Job, on debut, and Burton also failed to make meaningful contributions and it was left to Harper, conjuring the spirit of his father, known as the brown fox on the village pitches of Northern Ireland, to take the total towards respectability with a series of shrewd glides and nudges. Gaieties were finally bowled out for 124 with the unfortunate run out of Masood and repaired to the pavillion to restore warmth and faith.
On resumption of hostilities, Gaieties took the field believing they had every chance of forging a win despite the strong looking opposition batting line up. Schneider, in his new guise as Steyn-esque opening bowler struggled for rhythm in a short stint but Burton, his replacement, and Masood, left arm and slippery from the other end, were soon exerting considerable pressure. Burton bowled a long spell, eventually picking up 5 well deserved wickets. Masood, after a tight opening burst was replaced by Cowley but with little success. After injury forced Burton to terminate his sterling effort, Harper contributed some very tidy medium pace and Masood returned to try and force an unlikely victory. With Nomads 8 down and needing 10 or so to win, Masood produced a delivery of extraordinary quality to clean bowl Brockton, snaking one back from well outside the stumps to take the off peg. Tragically it was a no-ball. To add considerable insult to what already looked like a mortal injury, the ball raced away to the boundary. So in the end Nomads scraped home by 2 wickets, and Gaieties trudged from the field only slightly disappointed, for they had fought hard and kept their heads up after a disastrous batting effort. We now look forward to warmer weather, better pitches, good classicists and cutting with confidence.
Posted on 28/05/2013
by Michael Blumberg