Nomads in Slovenia     

Ljubljana May 2005 

A party of ten eventually reached the Hotel Park in Ljubljana from Stansted, Paris, Vienna, Klagenfort & Tyrol at various times on Thursday & Friday May 27 & 28 and as result of the ensuing chaos over room booking two people ended up in single rooms instead of a double and so paid 68 more Euros than planned..thanks someone!!! This contingent of honourable Nomads included one umpire and one lady who played. On Saturday we had David Fish added to our ensemble but on Sunday just nine of us faced the might of Slovenia.

With the help of Tom Furness an Anglo-Slovene we found the attractive ground and waited for the changing room key to appear which delayed the start on a glorious sunny warm day, reminiscent of the Nomads/Gaieties match at Tadworth last July.

The skipper won the toss and elected to bat. Ljubljana had some useful seamers and together with the long grassed outfield this combination made runs a scarce commodity. Ten overs produced but 23 runs and 20 overs some 68 in what was a 35 overs game. Key batsmen Wakefield and Surridge fell cheaply to shots they will wish to forget. Barter with Gavin in support hit a fifty with three 6s but when seemingly set to smash some weak bowling to all ends of Slovenia chose instead to run himself out,watching the fielder throw the ball in rather than concentrating on reaching the far end safely.

Gavin and Lamb put on 37 runs whereupon the returning opening seamer Eve castled Charlton and removed the amorous Fish for a duck. Eve and Furness bowled well at the death so apart from two mighty pulls from Hudecek the innings was restricted to a mere 138-6.

A lunch of Sri Lankan soup -chilli hot or bland -sufficed to fire Nomads opening seamers Surridge and Hudecek so much so that the Ljubljana innings was in tatters at 34-6. And yet Nomads ever renown for their generosity were to grow tattered themselves as sloppy fielding and some mighty slogging from Sri Lanka Lalantha took the Ljubljana innings to within a whisker of winning. He says he was so worn out he just had to play another wild but lethargic slog and missed. The skipper claims it was a devilish flighted ball of immense skill which shattered the home team's dream of victory as Lalantha was stumped by Geoff Brown. Phew! It was close and there were still 3.1 overs to go.

By this time the changing room keys had been found and some of the party showered and refreshed, others stinking and tired, repaired to the local hostelry for a series of beers and arrangements were made for the night's entertainment. These festivitiesan ailing Charlton Lamb declined.
 Whatever the plan of Tom Furness, Rod Crawford et al to debilitate the visitors to incapacity the next day it proved fruitless as Nomads powered with adrenaline from the night's escapades soon had Ljubljana 9-4 and all out for 53 with a none too well Lamb taking the field.

Barter, keen to commence romancing our number 9, K Pinchin, set about the local bowling from the start only to get carried away and miss a straight one. Likewise a cameo slog from Geoff Brown ended with the highest hit shot of the match caught by Crawford the wicket keeper. Surridge then settled in to win the match not before hitting a six himself. After this game, mostly showered and perfumed, the Nomads and local cricketers repaired to a nearby lake to consume beer and ice creams while ogling the swans. The excellent waitress ordered the skipper to come with her ostensibly to chose his ice creams. she queried Grupenfuhrer Blumberg as to where we came from and on learning we were from London UK replied 'Cool'. However the leader's follow up was not up to form as she even then forgot to bring back his ice cream first time round. Ice creams are big as well as cool in Slovenia.

The city of Ljubljana proved to be most attractive as were its female inhabitants which Geoff Brown may know more about than the rest of us and indeed our other debutante Franco-Czech Oz Danny is planning to return to see his Miss Slovenia again.....and he did!!!!!

Nomads supped extremely well at several restaurants and drank deep at a variety of ethnic bars and British/Irish pubs outside in the balmy summer atmosphere, later capped by clubbing.
 The weather was fantastic throughout and particularly enjoyed by a reduced party on Monday which spent most of the day at Bled, swimming, boating, rowing, sun bathing and of course eating and drinking.
 Were it not for the presence of some over boisterous British stag parties polluting the atmosphere this would have been almost an idyllic weekend away.

Another visit will, of course, be made in a couple of years and it is highly recommended by Miss Katrina Pinchin to Nomads ladies,supporters and wives.

Ljubljana CC are hopeful of securing a better ground with practise facilities within the city soon. If a 4th club can be created then an Association* may be formed which automatically qualifies cricket for substantial state funds. If so our next visit will require 11 players and the presence of those who sadly dropped out for family, business and even an international conference in Tashkent, Uzbekistan would you believe-Olivier, Lascelles, Mann and Hodd you missed a great weekend!
 
 * They have achieved this and Slovenia is now an Affiliate member of ICC and recognised by the Slovenia Sports Council

MATCH Ljubljana Cricket Club v Nomads Cricket Club Saturday May 28th 2005 1pm,35 overs match 7 overs max per bowler

Result:      Nomads won by 2 runs
Toss:        Nomads CC
Umpires:     D MacLeod & others
Scorers:     D Hudecek and others
Debutant(s): D Hudecek,G Brown,S Fish.

NOMADS CC Innings
P Wakefield c Eve      b Furness  5
S Bater     run out              56
M Surridge  c Furness  b Lalantha 5
V Gavin     not out              45
GC Lamb     bowled       Eve     11
S Fish      c Crawford b Eve      0
D Hudecek   c Crawford b Furness  9
M Blumberg  not out               1
Extras      (b1,lb2,w4,nb1)       8
TOTAL      (6 wickets,35 overs) 138
Dnb:K Pinchin,G Brown.

Fow:1-10,2-23,3-86,4-123,5-123,6-132

Bowling-Furness 7 0 212,Eve 7 0 17 2,Halford 0.1 0 0 0,Howland 3 0 16 0,Lalantha 5 0 27 1,Conn 3 0 22 0,Archer 3 0 20 0.

LJUBLJANA CC Innings
S Conn     c Brown  b Hudecek 4
R Crawford lbw      b Hudecek   11
D Ibbotson c Brown  b Hudecek    0
B Eve      c Brown  b Hudecek    0
D Halford  c Gavin  b Surridge   1
R Howland  c Lamb   b Wakefield 13
T Furness  c Brown  b Surridge   3
M Oman     bowled    Wakefield   9
L Lalantha st Brown b Blumberg  60
D Archer   c Fish   b Blumberg   0
R Post     not out              12
Extras    (b6,lb3,w11,nb3)      23
TOTAL     (All out,33 overs)   136

Fow 1-11.2-12,3-16,4-22,5-30.6-34,7-46,8-86.9-113,10-136.

Bowling-Hudecek 7 2 17 4,Surrisge 7 1 16 2,Lamb 7 0 44 0,Wakefield 7 0 27 2,Blumberg 3 0 13 2,Barter 2 0 10 0.

Match Ljubljana CC v Nomads CC Slovenia Sunday May 29th 1.00pm 30 overs bowlers 7 max

Result:   Nomads won by 8 wickets
Toss:     Ljubljana
Umpires:  D MacLeod & others
Scorers:  Various
Debutants:None

LJUBLJANA CC Innings
D Halford   bowled    Surridge  3
D Archer    lbw     b Blumberg  7
R Post      c sub   b Surridge  2
L Lalanthe  bowled    Hudecek   1
I Makej     lbw     b Wakefield 0
R Crawford  bowled    Blumberg 24
P Townnsend bowled    Wakefield 0
T Furness   c Gavin b Lamb      4
A Green     not out             3
U Urban     bowled    Blumberg  0
Extras     (b3,lb1,w5,nb0)      9
TOTAL     (All out,26.1 overs) 53

Fow: 1-6,2-8,3-9,4-9,5-38,6-43,7-45,8-45,9-53.

Bowling-Hudecek 6 1 10 2,Surridge 6 1 11 2,Blumberg 6 2 8 3,Wakefield 6 0 15 2,Lamb 1.1 1 0 1,Barter 1 0 6 0.

NOMADS CC Innings
S Barter   bowled       Archer  23
G Brown    c Crawford b Urban    7
M Surridge not out              17
D Hudecek  not out               2
Extras    (b0,lb0,w5,nb0)        5
TOTAL     (2 wickets,9.3 overs) 54
Dnb:V Gavin,P Wakefield,M Blumberg,GC Lamb,K Pinchin.

Fow:1-16,2-37.

Bowling-Urban 2017 1,Furness 2 0 10 0,Archer 3 0 7 1,Halford 2 0 9 0,Green 0.3 0 9 0.

 Ljubljana Cricket Club                                                                   Katrina top half at Bled