Good evening Nomads! Hopefully you are all recovered from a brilliant and hi tempo weekend around the SCMG where we won no less than five out of six very important Senior clashes. As the sun reigned supreme across our region cricket was allowed to progress without hindrance and hopefully you will agree even the temperatures were on the rise.  Whilst perusing what you had all got up to on Saturday (I was otherwise engaged at the Rose Bowl less said about that the better) and what I saw on Sunday it was a brilliant weekend for our batting unit.  Lots of runs were scored including three centuries. Please settle back as we try to unravel it all in this week’s round up.  Hopefully I can do this justice. Also, many thanks for the contributions, much appreciated!

Talking of Batting Mike Burney Takes out the 1^st 2023 Nomads League Ton.

Whilst this story doesn’t fit into the current weekend, I couldn’t pass up the chance to congratulate Mike on securing our 1^st League ton.  For me it’s an important milestone for the club to get our 1^st league ton under our belts and for the 2^nd season running Mike has that honour.  The feat came on May 27^th on our south square as the 4s chased a Plumpton total of 168.  Mike opened and held the inns together as both youngsters Tate Hector (32) and then Charlie Davies (21) supported well.  Mike smashed a six to add the final flourish to his not out century and claim a win for the 4s.

He said tonight ‘ It felt great to help the team over the line for our first win of the season after two tough losses.  It was a pleasure to share time in the middle with two products of the youth program, reinforcing everything the 4^th team is about.  On the winning moment it doesn’t get much better than going into triple figures with a six!’

Mike huge congrats but let’s have a couple more from you this season!!

Gatts Has Twos Purring as Dan Lategan debuts with a League Ton.   Div 3

Our Twos are flying in Division three and do not fear anyone as they took out three wins on the spin.  They travelled to Cuckfield main square and were promptly asked to get in the field under the hot sun. Gibbons, Sear and Downey all made telling contributions up top and Sam Candfield made 38 batting at 8.  However, when you have an attack with the names Khan, Amor, Kernon, Venter, B Khan, Faith and Ibrahim senior and junior at your disposal then things become a little easier for the skipper.  Kash peeled back the years to produce three for just six runs off nine overs.  Arron Phillips contributed with a pair of catches to take out the opening pair.  Hosts had to settle on a below par score of 208 for 8.

Cape Town born Daniel Lategan became an instant hit around the place as he made an 82-ball ton.  He is currently studying in Brighton and is looking to see out the summer right here with the Nomads. I am sure that we will all get to meet Dan as time passes by and he isn’t done in this bulletin either.  See below!!!

Baalaaj made a rapid 36 and Aaron continued a promising season with a 35 ball 44 not out.

Thirty points in the bag and up to 2^nd place in the league.  The lads travel to Seaford (The Salts) on Saturday looking to follow up!

Rudy Northcott stars for the Three’s with SCMG Ton.   Div 6

Fas and the lads bounced right back into Division 6 promotion reckoning with a wonderful home win against Rottingdean 2s.   U15s Nomad Junior product Rudy Northcott shrugged off 47 given away extras to secure a match winning ton off just 81 balls.

Fas with the Match Report

What a great win today guys. Jacques led the bowling attack with a great straight 8 over spell. Good support from the other end too from shishir and ombaashi. With 50 for 5 they were looking down the barrel but drop catches and extras didn’t help as I thought we could have wrapped it up under 120ish. Ziggy and Chris also bowled very decent spells and were quite unlucky not to get more wickets.
But wow wow wow when it came to batting it was a special treat to watch as we did our business with a lot of professionalism. Great opening stand from Chris Baker and Micheal English gave a good concrete pillar. But when Micheal was dismissed and the star of the day rudy Northcott joined Chris they batting with a lot of responsibility and were always on top of the Run rate. Chris was then later dismissed for a very well played 72. That’s when ruddy hit the pedal and started smashing the oppo all around the park and brought up his 100 in a style. Top top batting rudy 🔥🔥🔥💪🏽. Not to forget Ben Wilsdon who joined rudy after Chrises departure and went on with his business in a cruise control mode. Ben im still memorising the 6 on extra cover and was not out on 29* along with the man of the match today rudy 106*

Cobo said  ‘If memory serves me right Rudy was my Junior Nomad player of the season a couple of years back.  I know my cricket! well done Rudy I am sure this will be just the tip of the iceberg in your cricketing journey!’

Rome wasn’t built in a day and the three’s promotion charge will take longer to build than just this win. 30 points has lifted them into 4^th place, but they will need to follow up at Keymer.

Fours on the March.  Adam Rowland 62 not out at Ardingly    Div 9

Ours 4s are rapidly turning a corner in division 9 after a brilliant team performance in Mid Sussex and the pretty surrounds of Ardingly.  Ian Jones took five wickets while Adam scored a magical 62 not out as 155 was taken out just 5 down.  Skipper Stephen Oliver had a bounty of players to choose from and he stepped out of the team to leave Malorie as stand in skipper.

Mal said

Sweet as game for the 4’s today.
🏏 Tate 40 runs
🏏 Adam 62*
🏏 Jonah 5 wickets!!
🏏 Great spells from Taylor, Will and Charlie 💪
🏏 Stephen dropped himself and umpired the whole game
🏏 Lewis scorer (little legend)
🏏 Gary great catches (even if he poached one 😆)
🏏 All round decent effort ❤️

Stephen said ‘The sun shines on the 4th team in Ardingly.
A determined bowling display was the cornerstone of a victory on Saturday. The toss winning skipper decided that bowling was the best form of attack and inserted Ardingly at their home pitch. Then handing over match duties to Mal, he proceeded to watch from the umpires perspective.
Mal duly decided that she was the person to open the bowling down the hill and with the wind assistance, using the colts and their youth up the hill. During the warm up, the bowlers were asked to have definitive plans on bowling tight lines and this was certainly demonstrated as they gently strangled the opposition and Mal secured the opening wicket by forcing the batter into hitting his own wicket! Ardingly 9 for 1 off 5 overs. Will Hutch, Taylor Cox and Charlie Davies all followed their plans and kept tight lines. In the 18th over Charlie induced the batter to hit the ball in the air to Adam Rowland. 58 for 2 and Nomads were delivering a very tidy pre-drinks session. 2 balls later and Ian Jones found the leading edge of the opener and Gary Hector pouched. 62 for 3.
The good run continued after the break with Charlie taking 5 balls before a straight ball hit the pads. In an unexpected choice, we had seen the mechanical limbs of Ian Jones bowling up the hill into the breeze. Maybe this was the cause of a rare breakdown in the Jones machine with 25 runs coming off his next 2 overs. Under “warning” from Mal about his generosity to the opposition, he then took 2 wickets in 2 balls including an excellent catch by Gary who “poached” it off Adam who was well positioned with little movement!
The steady progress continued, with bowling lines re-established at both ends. At 118 for 9 after 31 overs, Nomads had great control. However, the opposition had potentially held back some betting experience and batted through to 39 overs and 154 all out.
In response, Nomads opened with experience (Watto) and youth (Tate Hector). Graham was unlucky to find the keeper, but then Charlie and Tate came together and played with great poise. Tate making a good 40 making sure that when the bowlers were not on tight lines, he helped himself to runs. Charlie was very watchful until the last ball before drinks! 84 for 3.
After drinks, Adam Rowland worked with the 2 Lukes (Griffiths and Owen) to guide us towards the target. Cautious to the straight ball and then taking runs from when looser lines were bowled, he took a very calm 62* with Gary getting the winning 5 runs at the end.
The bowling display had been the decisive improvement on prior weeks and we reduced the “extras” column and backed this with some good fielding. With a little more killer instinct we could well have had Ardingly on a lower score. So well played all but no room for complacency. It was worth the sun burn for the umpires view!

The team are nicely moving up the league and now have the comfort to perhaps start looking north rather than over their shoulder. But as Stephen suggests there can not be any complacency as they host Staplefield 1s on Saturday.

1^st Team Nurse Back-to-Back Losses.  Sussex Premier League

Despite aggressive runs from the skipper 46 and Biz 43 the Nomads had to settle for 212 all out.  Against the Premier League surprise package Cuckfield it wasn’t enough as Marshall, Thornhill and Rogers calmly steered our visitors to the summit.

Obviously amongst this otherwise cracking report we do need to address this situation.  Unfortunately for two weeks running our brilliant top order have failed to ignite.  The top six have contributed around 100 runs between them which is never going to cut the mustard.

It’s a certainty the boys will be working hard to address this issue as they go into a week of training.  Another poor showing against EG at home on Saturday will derail our whole Sussex League Title tilt.

Thrilling SCMG T20 Cup Exploits!

Ones Lift Gloom with Three Bridges Win

Thorn Parks and Conor Golding looked as though they would take the game away with a sparkling 57 opening partnership.  However, it was our Overseas, Josh Clarkson who made a very important breakthrough.  A couple of dropped catches weren’t punished as first Biz then Nathan took superb pouches out deep as the Bridges effort stalled.  Arran Brown made a breezy 20 off 13 before that man Clarkson stopped him in his tracks.  Bridges settled for 143 off the allotted.

Jaedyn made a quick fire 20 at three before it became the Zach 49 not out and Jonty 73 not out show.  Both lads paved the way forward with perhaps the most powerful Nomads partnership of the season thus far.  There was no slogging across the line or reverse sweeping just 100 balls of proper cricket shots and keeping one’s head.  They made batting look very easy and perhaps produced a blueprint for the season as Nomads cruised to victory.  You can follow their reaction to not giving their wickets away on the wattsapp media group.

While Jonty and Zach batted with distinction and will get all the headlines for me this match was turned much earlier as Josh steamed in to take our first wicket.  It was an important moment in the match and season you feel.  For that reason, Josh receives my coveted Man of the Match award.  Additionally, just wanted to add that I believe that Josh is the real deal here at the SCMG and a gem of a find. He fits like a glove here at the Nomads and there is a lot more to come from him. I hope he is enjoying his 1^st season here with us.

I spoke with Nav after the game an interview which will be on wattsapp soon.

Dan Lategan Ton Completes Stunning Debut Weekend.  Twos smash Crawley

Skipper Ollie Gatting continued our fabulous batting tilt with a wonderful 27 ball half century, but it was Dan who will take all the headlines with this second not out ton in 24 hours.  The SCMG was in full awe as Lategan made the score in just 57 balls. I promise to catch up with him soon and introduce him to the media streams.

Crawley did try to make in roads to the 215 target but Amor, Kernan and Ziggy were just too good as the Nomads sauntered into the next round.

I caught up with Ollie after the game an interview you can see on the wattsapp stream soon.

 

Extras Watch (League Only)

1^st Team  week 1 19 week 2 18 week 3  26  week 4 30

2^nd Team week 1  23 week 2 18 week 3  15  week 4 32

3^rd Team  week 1  39 week 2 35 week 3  19  week 4 47!!

4^th Team week 1   12 week 2  26 week 3  34 week 4 24

Guys, it’s been a hugely disappointing week in this regard with 133 runs being given away.  We need to thank our batters for getting us out of this problem. Let’s make a huge collective effort to get these numbers down next week.  I am sure we can get this figure down to 60 or less.  This week’s award goes to the 4s.

Well, there you have it.  A brilliant and exciting weekend both at the SCMG and away. The club are starting to motor through the gears but as always, we all need to work hard at our games in order to maintain the push.

Finally, I just wanted to, on behalf of the players, send a massive thanks to all our wonderful back-room staff who are working extremely hard behind the scenes. With out these guys and they know who they are this great club wouldn’t be able to function as it does.

Have a great week and make sure to work hard at training.

Cobo  5/6/23