Concorde v Nomads

Match Report

SUPERB EFFORT IN THE FIELD UNDERPINS BIG WIN
Over the years Nomads have always been one of the stronger sides we play. They play well over 100 fixtures a year and have among their membership several players with first class experience and although on a couple of occasions, they have overwhelmed us, we have also done the same to them several times. What is certain is that if we want to beat them, we have to play very well.

It was encouraging therefore, to approach this game with what looked a strong side and although we lost Monte Lynch the day before due to a painful tooth extraction, we still looked sufficiently strong to be confident of giving a good account of ourselves. Monte was replaced by a new recruit, Richard Ingham and another debutant was my Son in Law, Tom Barton, playing his first game for about 10 years.

On winning the toss for the first time in many weeks, I had no hesitation in asking Nomads to bat on what looked a slightly green wicket with a hint of dampness about it. There was nothing damp about the Nomads openers who confronted with the pace of Dukie and Brandon got off to a flying start by using the pace to guide the ball to third man for a succession of boundaries and 40 came up in what felt like the blink of an eyelid.

However, a change of length and a straighter line by both bowlers plus the imposition of a third man fielder slowed scoring right down as did Dukie’s effort of bowling the opener off his pads for 21 and then taking a caught and bowled to dismiss the number 3 for 7. Adam replaced Brandon and Nikhil replaced Dukie and the scoring rate declined still further as these two probed relentlessly resulting in two wickets for each for not many runs. This included a superb catch by Dukie running in from long off and diving full length to take the catch inches off the ground, a catch that Jordy would have been proud of.
Adam, unfortunately, was suffering a shoulder injury sustained the previous day so he came off after a spell of 2 -8 from 5 overs and this seemed a good moment to give Tom Barton a try out. He did not disappoint bowling with pace and, not surprisingly with his 6′ 5″ height, gaining a lot of very awkward bounce. He bowled the number 7 batsman in his second over and then had a very good overhead catch taken by Brandon at extra cover to finish with 2-20 off 6 overs. His valiant attempt at a very low caught and bowled brought birds rising from the trees, a chorus of baa’s from the neighbouring sheep and a significant reading on Richter scales around the world!

The coupe de grace to the Nomads innings was administered by young Thom Griffiths who, with the exhortations of his Skipper to pitch the ball up ringing in his ears, did just that and was rewarded by bowling the two final batmen and finish with 2-5 off 1.4 overs.

The Nomads innings which had started in a rush of runs had subsided somewhat alarmingly to finish on 115. This was the result of a truly professional bowling and fielding effort. The ground fielding was superb throughout with Josh, Adam, Brandon and Thom leading the way and it should also be noted that Nick Freeman did not concede a single bye.

The Concorde innings was opened by Josh, fresh from his 82 last week, and Nikhil who has also looked in good form without quite translating this into a big innings recently. Against a very good seamer who took 6 wickets against us last year, they began carefully but Josh left his leg stump exposed and was bowled for 3 with the score on about 12. He was replaced by Richard Ingham who, though rusty, showed enough to indicate that he can be a very useful addition to the middle order. He and Nikhil continued to bat watchfully on a wicket that was a little uneven and never easy until Richard, to the surprise of most observers, was given out LBW for 9 though looking to most of us to be a long way down the pitch.
When Nikhil was bowled a few overs later by a spectacularly good yorker a couple of overs later, 115 was beginning to look a long way off but we need not have worries. Brandon batted as though the pitch held no fears at all driving cleanly straight down there ground and when joined by Nick Freeman, these two took us coasting to the target with no further alarms. A seven wicket victory without entering the final hour was a resounding and well merited win.