MATCH 9  PINK ELEPHANTS CC v NOMADS CC  at Vincent Square Sunday May 20th 2007 1.00pm   

Result: Pink Elephants won by 5 wickets
Umpires:Roy Kinner &  
Scorers: Various
Debut(s): Saurabh Singh,Vivek Muralitharan,Bankaj Sharma,Poona Pavulari.    

NOMADS CC Innings
K  Thorns        bowled        Downey 33
J  Lascelles     c James     b Massey 79
K  Alexander     c Johnson   b Ireland 7
P  Pavulari      st Thompson b Ireland 8
V  Gavin         c Ireland   b Massey  1
V  Muralitharan  run out               1
P  Sharma        bowled        Buist  11
D  Morley-Clarke run out               3
ME Blumberg      lbw         b Johnson 1
GC Lamb          not out               4
A  Qawi          bowled        Johnson 0
Extras          (b1,lb2,w13,nb0)      16
TOTAL           (All out,43 overs)   164 

Fow:1-82,2-93,3-116,4-133,5-138,6-150,7-152,8-154,9-158,10-164.

Bowling -Johnson 9 1 30 2,Downey 5 2 18 1,Kemble 9 0 36 0,Ireland 10 2 22 2,Massey 7 1 35 2,Buist 3 0 7 1. 

PINK ELEPHANTS CC Innings
S James    bowled   Qawi          9
P MacMahon run out               11
S Massey   lbw    b Morley-Clarke 2
J Ireland  lbw    b Saurabh      15
G Thompson not out               77
M Milner   lbw    b Blumberg     13
J Kemble   not out               22
Extras    (b8,lb3,w7,nb0)        18 
TOTAL    (5 wickets,37.3 overs) 165
DNB:M Maloney,A Johnson,D Buist,A Downey.  

Fow:1-24,2-27,3-33,4-62,5-105.

Bowling-Morley-Clarke 9.3 0 47 1,Qawi 7 0 17 1,Saurabh Singh 5 0 30 1,Lamb 8 2 22 0,Blumberg 5 0 27 1,Thorns 4 1 9 0.

           Mid order collapse and fielding gaffes lose match for Nomads

A mid order collapse of some enormity made Nomads ability to win this match very precarious and yet had we taken several catches including Thompson before he scored 10, the match may well have swung our way. The dubious  decision to bang the ball in short with no one posted on the boundary equally hastened our trip to the pub and that just as the late introduction of Thorns at the other end was making run scoring very difficult.

Nomads won the toss and batted on an extraordinary looking pitch. The ball often kept low especially when bowled short at the start making run scoring difficult if not precarious. As a result Lascelles and Thorns took their time over an opening stand of 82.

It was two rather careless shots that accounted for Lascelles on 79 and Alexander for a disappointing 7 in view of his form elsewhwere this season.

However their demise was nothing compared to the incomprehensible way in which Nomads managed to lose 5 wickets for 14 runs.

When Pink Elephants replied  they struggled to mount any total and with a run out and some accurate bowling soon subsided to 62-4 including Joe Ireland. When Blumberg removed Milner this became 100-5 and had that catch off Thompson been held,a real sitter,then the game would no doubt have been different. 

Thompson grew in confidence ably supported by Kemble though both played and missed against Thorns.These tow put on 60 runs to win the match. A  first time for Pink Elephants over Nomads.

Previous Matches  
2006 No Play Rain
2005 Nomads won by 4 wkts 
2004 Match Drawn but Wakers scores ton