Match 42 Nomads v Romany at Shenley Cricket Centre,Radlett Lane Herts Sunday August 15th 11.30 Sponsored by Featherstone Leigh Ltd

Result:Match Drawn
Umpires:
Scorers:L Dickinson & Mrs Harison
 
NOMADS CC Innings             R  M  B    4 6
K Alexander+ bowled    Azhar  62 107 89 11 0
J Lascelles  bowled    Azhar  10  48 41  1 0
J While      run out          31  79 69  4 1
A Stokes     bowled    Lack   17  30 25  3 0
J Darraji    not out         112  91 85 17 0
A Crummy     bowled    Oliver 20  25 24  3 0
P Wakefield  c Offer b Oliver 28  30 15  1 0
R Harris     c Gray  b Sen     7   7  8  1 0
V Gavin      not out           1   5  2  0 0
Extras      (b9,lb3,wo,nb6)   18
TOTAL  (7 wkts dec,59 overs) 306
Dnb:J Ireland,M Blumberg*.
 
Fow:1-45,2-113,3-121,4-148,5-219,6-280.7-293.
 
Bowling-Nicholson 6 1 20 0,Sen 9 1 55 1,Lack 20 1 79 1,Azhar 16 3 57 2,Oliver 8 0 83 2.
 
ROMANY CC Innings                    R  M  B 4 6
I Gray      c Darraji   b Ireland    6  5  6 1 0
R Oliver    c Lascelles b Ireland   27 55 64 4 0
J Visar     lbw         b Ireland    6 10  7 1 0
T Deacon    c & b         Ireland   10 41 36 1 0
C Offer*    c Ireland   b Blumberg  55 51 49 8 2
S Kumar     c Ireland   b Wakefield 28 31 21 4 1
J Batley+   not out                 73 85 77 9 1
N Azhar     bowled        Blumberg   0  1  1 0 0
N Sen       c Darraji   b Blumberg  12 20 18 1 0
P Lack      lbw         b Ireland    9 35 20 1 0
A Nicholson not out                  0   8 7 0 0
Extras      b6,lb0,w0,nb0)           6
TOTAL      (8 wkts,51 overs)       226
 
Fow:1-6,2-14,3-51,4-52,5-11,6-149,7-149,8-182,9-222.
 
Bowling-Ireland 15 2 43 5,Crummy 17 5 47 0,Wakefield 6 0 50 1,Blumberg 9 0 54 3.

A Curious Day

This was a very enjoyable day at Shenley on a fine summer's day.However some of the cricket was eccentric and not at all to our opponent's liking. Romany's skipper Clive Offer who played in the joint match with Nomads against Kerala Veterans last summer won the toss and asked Nomads to bat."We'll chase", he said.

A pile up on the M25 East of South Mimms meant that our umpire,Wakers and Anthony Crummy were late so Lascelles opened with Alexander and struggled to score departing with 10 off 41 balls. James While, hero of the Hurlingham match, followed but he became even more becalmed playing 19 dot balls following a six hit. Despite Keith Alexander's efforts progress was very slow,74 runs off 20 overs,110 off 30. At lunch, taken early because of a shower, the score was 110 off 29.3 overs.....

It was agreed to put back the 20 overs to 6.15pm to make up for lost time and after lunch Romany tossed the ball up only for Nomads batsmen largely to resist the invitation despite the weight of batting to follow. While was run out for 31 off 69 balls and Stokes followed shortly after to an uncharacteristic swipe. Darraji and Crummy accelerated the scoring rate as did Wakers who followed so much so that Jemile Darraji hit 112 off 85 balls.

In view of the reputation of the Romany batting and that Nomads had mostly slow bowlers the declaration was delayed until 306 runs were on the board off 59 overs. Romanies period in the field was hampered by several injuries but hardly justified the level of criticism and disgruntlement it created.

Nomads opened with left arm flight and spin from Ireland and flat spin from Crummy.This duo proved so successful that Romanies were reduced to 52-4 in under an hour. Two of the wickets were 'gifted' perhaps, out of pressure, and one of the others an astonishing caught and bowled by Joe Ireland who had taken 4-34 when replaced. Anthony Crummy bowled an exemplary 10 overs for 17 by which time it was necessary for Nomads to open the game up with Wakers' leg breaks. Offer and Kumar took up the challenge with relish also smashing two overs of pace from Darraji for 20 runs. However Wakers induced a soft error from Kumar so Romany were 111-6. Batley now joined Offer and these two maintained a rate of 8 an over. Blumberg who had suffered some punishment then had Offer caught by Ireland running in from long on where he was interupted enjoying the jazz band and then bowled Azhar first ball.

At 149-7 Nomads looked to have victory in their grasp and but for two missed chances no doubt would have won but Batley batted well and was supported well by Senn, Lack and finally the injured Nicholson to draw the match. Nomads had bowled 51 overs at the close.

Despite the disagreement over the declaration this was a very convivial match and both teams when mingling afterwards looked forward to renewed contest next year. During the latter part of the match there was a Barmitzvah being held hence the jazz band and more spectators than usual at a wandering cricket club clash. Unfortunately this also curtailed our drinking at Shenley to a sharp 8.30pm but some Nomads found an alternative establishment in the village and staggered home by midnight except for Rus Mann who was so excited by it all that he stayed the night and breakfasted in Shenley.