Our 1st team under the expert guidance of skipper Dan Phillips are setting the Premier League title a blaze with a series of excellent victories. The latest of these came on Saturday at Roffey.

With the hosts electing to bat they made an ok start with the top order all getting a start. Skipper Matt Davies high scoring on 39. Our strike bowlers Nav and Dan did well each taking the openers out for 37 runs. However it was spin which ‘turned’ the game with Bertie securing 2 for 32 and Adam O’Brien taking wonderful figures of 3 for 25 as Roffey had to settle for 175 for 8 off the 50 overs.

As we have said so many times this season our opening partnership of Nathan and Jake has been like a well oiled machine. As if to prove that once more they went on to make an opening stand of 105 before Jake fell at 70. Nathan went on to carry his bat 65 not out.

Its another win and with three games to go Nomads hold a commanding 33 point lead at the top of the Sussex Premier League.

Alex Hunt would have made his dad very proud with a wonderful ton as our 4th team chased a massive score of 266. He was helped by Baseer Noorzai 62 not out. Please see below a match report from the skipper.

4th team in thriller again…. Stephen Oliver

In the best tradition of this year (and 4th team cricket in general) we had a new player in our midst. Alex Hunt made his debut on a day with sunshine (it seems a rarity this year!), a fresh wicket and a well-cut outfield (thank you Dan Biz).

Having cleared the pitch of U11 players (great to see the next generation of players enjoying the Nomads facilities) the Captain lost the toss and Bolney decided to bat. The Bolney opener had scored 120 against us earlier in the season and clearly fancied another chance. Roll forward 40 overs and his appetite for PNCC was not diminished, having scored 132 with hardly a chance given. His demise by run-out was probably tiredness and lack of attention, rather than probing bowling. The Bolney number 3 scored a more typical 70 (assisted by umpiring and near misses).

Again we gifted the opposition over 30 extras, making a warm afternoon seem even longer! A final score of 262-5 looked large. Our bowlers had collectively suffered, with only 3 maidens being bowled all afternoon. Not even the Senior Pro (Jonah) had been able to summon a mis-shot, edge or LBW). An inspired over by Oscar Sheffield at the end had bought 2 wickets in 2 balls (never underestimate the value of a fast straight ball aimed at the stumps) and together with 2 run-outs had given us a hint of respectability.

Having taken tea (thank you team Terri) we unsheathed bats to respond. After 3 balls and one wicket down, a 263 target looked a long way distant. After 7 overs we had plundered all of 18 runs and Bolney were doubtless feeling comfortable.

Then slowly the game began to change. Alex hit the boundary, then again. Never taking a risk, he simply hit the boundary from every loose ball he faced. Scoring 50 in just 12 scoring shots (with a solitary single) the situation slowly began to tilt back in our favour. Supported by Carter we had a partnership of 135. Importantly at the midpoint drinks break we were exactly on target.

Shortly afterwards, Alex had scored 108 but was back in the pavilion. At 25 overs we had lost 2 more wickets and still needed 110. But impressively, the team set accumulating runs. Bolney put 7 players on the boundary, but still Baseer and then James Oliver manged to find a gap.
Never slogging, keeping the score board ticking with singles and hitting lose balls firmly was building momentum.

James was replaced by the Captain who maintained the approach (and induced a good catch from Ollie Gatting in the crowd). With physical support building and Statto (providing a commentary on social media) the run rate of 8+ was being chased. Could we maintain this for the 15 overs required?

Whilst the run rate was always more than 1 per ball, it seemed like the batsman were able to fashion a boundary whenever there had been a dot ball. We remained on target. Baseer 62* and Oscar, both colts, showed maturity and good cricket thinking to get us to the target with 2 balls to spare.

The team have had a number of very close finishes this year and this game joins those where either result was possible right until the very end. Although not at our most sparking in the field (but name check to Sam Musto who made a great effort to get to a very tough chance) we had batted together as a team. Alex had created a platform for the batting, but everybody contributed to a total team performance.

It wasn’t such a good day for our Twos and Threes who both fell in important League games. Horsham turned up at the SCMG with the bat to post a daunting 278 for 6. Tom Johnson with a ton up top. Aaron Phillips scored a very useful 41 but it wasn’t enough as we came up 125 runs short.

Jo Musto 34 and Felix Venter 23 led the Threes with distinction up top at Rottingdean but the effort petered out as the we posted 131 all out off 40 over. Ziggy took the Rottingdean opener for a duck but that was as good as it got. We came up 7 wickets short.

Huge congrats to skippers Dan and Stephen for spellbinding wins.