Preston Nomads CC took some amazing preseason form into the Sussex League to produce no less than three glorious wins from four.  The 1^st team had to battle hard against a very strong Eastbourne squad at the SCMG. The threes batted extremely well at home to beat Southwick by 44 runs in Div 7 central.  Stephen and the 4s travelled to Colemans Hatch East Sussex where Mike Burney will grab all the headlines for a stunning 150 knock.  Let’s get into it all with pieces from our contributors

Navin Patel  1^st Team Skipper

The Premier league title defence for 2022 kicked off in spectacular style at the SCMG  on 07/05 against Eastbourne. They brought over a strong side boasting a handful of young  Sussex Pros so we knew we had our work cut out.

I lost the toss and we were in the field. Myself and Biz set the tone with the new ball and the team brought a lot of energy. We took a couple of early wickets and were very unlucky not to have 2/3 more due to few umpiring decisions not going away.

Throughout the whole innings on a flat wicket, we stuck to our plans and didn’t drop off 

keeping the run rate in check around 4 an over which was a great effort. We also managed 

to take all 10 Eastbourne wickets so we went into the break with max bowling points. 

Joe Musto was exceptionally tidy behind the stumps and affected a great leg side stumping off Owen.
I took 4 wickets, Owen 3, Biz 2 and Nathan 1.

With our batting Nathan raced out of the blocks punishing width and hitting boundaries at will. We were absolutely flying but then unfortunately lost a couple of quick wickets.

Harrison Ward and Aaron Phillips steadied the ship and it looked as if we were going to cruise the run chase as we needed 85 with 7 wickets in hand and plenty of overs!

However, some poor umpiring and questionable shot selection the scenario all of a sudden 

became 75 required with only 3 wickets in hand.

It was left to young Joe Musto and the fearless Dan Birrell to rescue the boys which they did. Biz counter attacked while Joe anchored, and the runs required became less and less. Biz I unfortunately got out with 20 required but Zayn joined Joe and together our two 

youngest members saw the 1st team over the line!
A remarkable performance from the unit to get full 30 points in a position that didn’t look 

likely but a win is a win!

Hats off to Joe Musto for the composure he showed on debut to score an unbeaten 30 in a 

heated run chase and see the boys over the line. 

A brilliant effort that all the boys are very proud of.

Onto Three Bridges next week!   Sussex Premier League 14^th May 2022 at Three Bridges 11.30 start.

Joe said ‘I have really the last few friendly games for the 1s and making my league debut yesterday was a great experience. I am grateful to Nav for giving me the opportunity to play at that level’

Three’s Beat Southwick at home.  Skipper Faisal Khan takes up the story

‘For weeks I was super excited for the league and competitive cricket to start, I had work really hard towards it behind the scenes and was counting every day.
Southwick won the toss and put us in to bat. Our batting line was very strong and and our tale started at no10 and I already planned that if I won the toss we would also put the opposition into bat first,
It was now a time to make a statement and prove a point, and we did exactly that with dream opening stand of 90 odd from Raynor Najiyah and Michael Englishwas later dismissed for 39 trying to smash one in the covers but was excellently caught. I then went in and tried to carry the same run flow and accompanied Najiyah. Soon Najiyah top edged one to covers and went for a brilliantly made 61. Vice captain Jim Downey came in and looked dangerous but was very unfortunate to to get run out, which sat on my mind for a while thinking it was my fault. With quick 3 wickets it was now time to rebuild the innings and in came Adam Rowland who with me settled in first and made runs where a bad ball was thrown Adam Rowland made a decent 17 and after his dismal felix Venter came in on the last 8 overs and put a lot of acceleration on the runs and made a very quick 17 before being caught on the long on boundary. Louis venter came in and carried on where his son left and hit 2 colossal 6s, again being caught on the boundary going for another. Nomads ended up with 235 which I felt was a very very decent total

Now at half time we all knew the job was only half done. Imran Hafeez and Louis venter oped up with a pace spin combination and kept things very tight conceding only 40 in the first 10, Louis also picked up a wicket in his second over.

After the 10 habib Tajik replaced imran and danyal asad replaced Louis venter. Habib and asad again bowled very tight with good areas. Habib bowled out his 8 overs in one spell picking up 2 wickets for 30. 
Sam mastu soon replaced danyal and bowled his 5 overs with a lot of fire and energy while also picking up a wicket. Last 10 overs saw Southwick needed 10 and over almost gave it up. I also bowled 6 overs for 22.

What i loved was the energy every one had on the field. It was like the t2o over again. First ball to the last ball every one was on their toes and showing energy and hunger to win.

If we play the way we did and keep working as a unit I strongly believe we will see positive results coming our way’

 Burney stars in 4^th team win at Colemans Hatch.  Skipper Stephen Oliver explains.

‘4^th Team vs Colemans Hatch – 7 May 2022

4 Get Good Result at Hatch

First game of the season, away from home. At Colemans Hatch, a pitch in the Ashdown Forest, never covered, smallish, and full of potential to be unpredictable. The team gathered in high spirits to be playing in the variable sunshine. We ranged in age from Watto through to Charlie and George (both U13). Add in a lady player and 2 new members of the team – the Captain surveyed the team with that familiar sensation of trepidation and pleasure to be playing!

Toss won, spirits were high. What to do though. 2 of the team (and not the colts!) were on 6pm exits and the pitch was an unknown factor, as were the opposition who had been promoted into the division. We bat…

Mike and Graham took the task in hand manfully. Now Mike never takes the first ball (classic #2 behaviour), but once Graham has worked a single, Mike opened his account in the opening over with a straight 6. After a maiden from the other opening bowler, Mike resumed where he had left off taking a further 6 and sundry boundaries from the starting bowler.

Sadly, shortly after Graham managed to find a fielder and despite the pessimism from the home scorer, was caught. Enter Charlie. Now there is always a risk that young head versus an experienced bowler will see a misplaced shot going skywards, but Charlie was no stereotype. He played a straight bat, kept calm and looked good. At the other end Mike kept hitting the boundary, stopping only to encourage and support Charlie. Mike got to 50 (only 3 singles) and the partnership 118 before Charlie was tied up by some tight bowling and played too straight and close to the bowler. He departed for 32.

Mike “machine gun” Burney kept going and going. Phil contributed with 55, but Mike got to 100, then 150 and showing no sign of tiredness looked set to play all day until on 185 he misjudged another big shot and found the fielder. I suspect the Coleman Hatch wicket keeper was ruing a regulation drop in the opening overs…

At the match interval, the scoreboard said we had scored 310 runs – a record under this captain, the previous and very possibly for the 4^th team ever. Had we become the greatest of all time?

Colemans Hatch set about the target with enthusiasm and with the dangerous Singer at the crease the run rate remained comfortably in reach. This felt even more the case when the umpire turned down a caught behind and signalled “wide”…but the batsman had hit the ball!). Adam bowled a great 9 over spell of in-cutters (towards the short boundary!) that deceived the batsman (and wicket keeper) with regularity, but with few wickets. Then on the cusp of drinks, Phil wobbled the ball into the stumps of Singer. Colemans Hatch were 123 for 2. The game finely poised.

Shortly after the resumption Phil again wobbled the ball and the umpires decision of “run out” instead of “stumped” will clearly affect the Captain and Phil’s statistics for a long time. In this period of play, Charlie took a blinding catch – well, the ball found him like a guided missile, but he did have to get his hands (and body) behind a very firmly hit ball, but he stood tall, remained strong, and took the catch calmly (before realising quite what had happened). Any hesitation would have seen the ball go for 6.

Enter George. Bowling with deceptive speed and intelligence from an averagely sized U13, he produced figures of 19 for 3 (including 2 bowled). This was an exercise in controlled and determined bowling. Even more so given that during this passage of play, we only had 9 players on the pitch, so the gaps in the field were a larger than normal. Ably supported by Danny with 19 for 2, the team had succeeded in taking Colemans Hatch from 203 for 5 at 30 overs (and therefore very much in the hunt) to 225 all out in 35 overs.

A day of great individual performances and teamwork had led to an opening day victory.

Happy Captain!

Mike Burney told me  ‘It was great to feature in a winning start to the campaign. Was a pleasure to bat with Charlie, bubble and watto.  Credit must go to George who bowled an excellent spell to see us home’

Charlies Mum and dad said ‘ I just wanted to say a huge thank you to the club in general and particularly the 4s yesterday. Having a cricket mad 13 year old son playing his first ever adult game, batting at three and taking a catch on the boundary are days that you remember for ever. Thanks to the team for looking after him especially skipper Stephen, Danny, Phil and the beast Mike for that outrageous knock. Thank you to Kash for giving up so much time to help teach him as well.  It’s a special club and we are grateful to be a small part of the win. Roll on next week if selected!!’

Chairman Paul Hird said ‘ It has been a great start to the season and long may if continue. Big shout out for all the Coaches and Captains for creating a very positive and happy atmosphere to play cricket. And to Cobo for keeping us well informed.  (cheers Paul just doing my job) 

Whilst we should be celebrating a brilliant opening day, we mustn’t get carried away with it all.  Its time to take stock, get back on the training fields, graft and focus on the next challenge!

Have a good week Nomads!

Cobo