Nomads lose season closer

On a glorious late summer afternoon the Nomads took to the field at Wednesbury to book end the season, after beginning at Wednesbury back in April. Nomads bowled first and after a loose first over the openers Lee and Hughes settled into a good rythm. The breakthrough came quickly and the top order fell in quick succession. Hughes removed the top three batters, Lee and Hutton pouching good catches. The other being an lbw that struck Buck on the boot. First team captain Lord quickly got into his stride and started to up the rate and Nomads tried to keep him off strike and chip away at the other end.
Mahmood took two wickets bowling Phillip and tempting Singh who was caught behind.
Lord was dominating proceedings and Hutton and Cogzell bore the brunt of the punishment. We were in danger of running out of balls by the time he reached his century. He piled on further runs as he went through his full repertoire of shots, including an attempted ramp shot.
He retired on 128 not out and Parmar continued to score at a healthy rate. He was 8 runs short of his half century when the Captain declared the innings on 265 for 7, after only 34 overs.
Even with the short boundary and the fast outfield this looked like a tall order for the Nomads to chase.
Regular opener Gardner sat out the final match after sustaining an injury in the week. Meaning he fell just 4 runs short of 400 for the season.
Faced with such a daunting run chase skipper Rolfe opted to open with Fearon and the in-form Ghosal. They quickly set about the Wednesbury opening bowlers.
A massive 6 into the tennis courts from Fearon was interspersed with some stylish strokeplay from both batters. Fearon mistimed a pull shot and the partnership ended on 48 from just 7 overs. Ghosal was out for 25 and Hutton and Mahmood continued to score at more than a run a ball, with Hutton striking two sixes. They had added 42 when Hutton was out to a stunning catch in the slips by that man Lord again. From then on wickets fell regularly as players got in and then out again. Loxley scored 19 off just 6 balls. But the Nomads innings lasted until the 28th over and they were all out for 171. Without the contribution of Lord it would have been a close contest but as it was Wednesbury ran out comfortable winners by 94 runs.
[Disclaimer: Any offence caused by this article is unintentional, any praise is well deserved]

Date: 26th Sept 2021
Start time: 12:30pm
Venue: Wednesbury
Competition: 40 overs Friendly
Scores: Wednesbury 265 for 7 dec., Lichfield Nomads 171 all out
Result: Wednesbury beat Lichfield Nomads by 94 runs
Toss: Agreement
Scorers: P. Gardner
Umpires: Keith Stanley and various
Report: P. Fearon
Weather: Warm late summer sunshine, 21c

02/10/2021