Hobgoblin Nomads 74 (Sean 16, James 9) v ELCCC 40-1. Match abandoned
After a day to forget when a double booked pitch meant the Nomads played in a fruitless and eventually uncompleted four way 15/15 tournament, the team marched on to play ELCCC at Greenwich Park. Winning the toss, the Nomads elected to bat first and try to establish some sort of advantage against the opposition, with rain forecast later on in the day. Shorn of both number two batsmen Jack and Tristan, regular opener Rory opened with Jamie, promoted from number three to opener. Within a couple of overs, the Nomads were two down. In the second over, Jamie was caught off the bowling of David, a bowler of miltary style medium pace. It was in his second over that the ball really started to talk. Sending down a slowish delivery outside the off stump, the ball dipped and swerved in off the bounce to remove Rory's off bail. The score was 14-2 off four overs.
James and Niro negotiated the following maiden over from skiddy bowler Syed and started to push the ball around in the following over until the Nomads suffered a double blow in the seventh over. James was done by a peach of a delivery from Syed which pitched on a good length a foot outside off stump. It then jagged back in off the seam and hit the middle stump, with the batsman flummoxed after taking what seemed like a reasonable decision to leave the ball. In next ball was the returning from injury Jonny 'Safe Hands' Govender. And he was invited to walk straight back as a fullish ball from Syed left him static as the ball struck him low on the pad in front of middle. 22-4 off seven overs.
Another Nomad who was also nursing an injury was Ben Crawford, who joined Niro at the crease. Earlier, the Nomads skipper had been in a conversation out in the middle with James which centred around the need to just play safe, straight and see out the overs. In trundled David, sending down a slow inswinger which the skipper saw fit to try and launch out of the ground. He succeeded in nearly giving mid off a relatively simple catch. One life gone. And with the very next delivery, he tried to clear mid off with another reckless drive and ended up in the upstretched arms of the opposition fielder. As ELCCC celebrated yet again, the feeling of disgust was tangible at the way Niro had surrendered his wicket. The squeeze was really on as Sean walked out to bat at 24-5. For the next three overs, he single-handedly raised the score to 36, when in the twelveth over, Ben was given out LBW to first change bowler Sam. Debutant Ben Isted walked in after a near seven year sabbatical from the game. Sean and Ben set about rebuilding the innings, with both men playing the ball around the park with some fine strokeplay and some clever running between the wickets. But in the fifteenth over, disaster struck again as Ben was stumped off the bowling of opposition skipper Iqbal, going after one too many tantalising loopers outside the off stump. 53-7.
Sean was then joined at the crease by his good friend Danny. Again, the two Nomads continued the slight accumulation until in the eighteenth, Sean was stumped spinner Abu's bowling. Georgie Roots joined Danny and was very soon back in the hutch after been found LBW off new bowler Sai. Alex was able to stroke five more until he became Sai's second victim as the Nomads were dismissed for just 74, off just half of their allocated overs. It was true to say that there were certainly some unwelcome demons in the pitch, with irregular bounce once again rearing its ugly head, but the Nomads walked out to defend their effort with bowed heads.
Regardless of what had gone before, the Hobgoblin Nomads resolved to try and defend their total with controlled aggression, and with attacking close fields, trying to make the opposition hit over to score. They weren't going to lie down and capitulate - the bowling and fielding of the Nomads had always been top class. After a couple of overs, the only scoring balls had been a streaky edge and byes when an edge to gully was put down by Ben I. The Nomads shook it off and were right behind their man when the 'Bloodletter' Alex McArdle finally reaped reward for aggressive, fast bowling when Iqbal played on to a finely disguised slower ball from the tall speedster. ELCCC's number three came out to the middle and struck a good pull shot to the deep mid-wicket boundary, but that was about it in terms of deserving shots. Nevertheless, they reached the thirties when drizzle started coming down. An over later, with the score on 40-1, the umpires conferred and made the only decision they could, by pulling both teams off for a rain break. It was to be the day's only rain break, as no further play was possible.
Plans were made to stage a rematch between both teams, as the Nomads replaced the square ropes and rods. The result was called match abandoned, and the Nomads walked away still unbeaten on home soil this season. The Nomads batting had been where it had gone wrong, but these batsmen are of the finest calibre and are bound to bounce back in the biggest game of them all - the Test Match...
