Jamie Patrick Bowls to his Strengths to land MOM Award.

Faisal and the 3s travelled north top the beautiful, if a bit tricky to find, Felbridge CC on Saturday in a must win game in terms of Division 7 promotion.  Both teams were pumped as the Nomads were sent out to bat in the 40 over encounter.

Shrugging off a recent barren spell opener Michael English banished nerves to see out the opening salvo. In a quiet but watchful start he and the skipper (23) made an impressive 59 opening partnership. Luke Appleton (12) and Jamie Patrick (24) kept the good work going.  English really got into his stride before drinks striking crisp shots to all parts as he made an impressive 71 runs.  However in the space of 15 mins there was chaos in the ranks as five wickets fell for just 16 runs.  A mixture of poor shots and a stop start run out. It was a wobble that could have derailed the promotion tilt. However, our threes bat deep and it was the Zigster who calmly steered his team towards a very decent score of 199 off the allotted. He smashed three incredible cover drives on route to 26 not out.

Tea taken

In the huddle Fas asked his team to make every ball count and work together. It was an inspirational team talk. Openers Ziggy and Oscar Sheffield both bowled with distinction in a disruptive spell.   Ziggy took one for 8 off 4 overs while Oscar took the other opener in figures of 1 for 18 off 8 overs.  Felbridge number 3 Jack Lovell then set in for the long haul while the skipper Chris Hinton threatened to take charge. Henry Groves carried on the good work and at 100 for 4 our hosts looked in good shape.  The attack needed some fresh momentum and that was provided by a very accurate spell of military medium from Jamie P.  First, he took a fine catch off his own bowling to get the dangerous Groves.  He then went on to rip out the middle order in figures of three for 28 off eight.  The champagne moment belonged to Felix Mansour who bowled a real jaffa to take middle and off of the Felbridge number 9. Que wild celebrations from the bowler and his teammates. Felbridge never gave up as Ben Green and the number 11 Tim Heller continued to try and hit boundaries.  However, it was a step to far as Arjun Kolani kept his nerve to claim the final two wickets with the hosts still 20 adrift.

Bowman says ‘Many thanks to Felbridge for hosting at your lovely ground and good luck in the last two league games.  A very entertaining game of cricket ensued and despite some errors along the way I do think that the Nomads deserved their victory.  That batting wobble could have derailed a lesser team.  It was nice to hear from the umpire that he thought that our youngsters were high class bowlers and their manners were impeccable throughout. That’s the second time that sort of comment has been banded around after games which is great to hear.  Jamie Patrick stepped up to the plate and delivered three quick wickets mid inns which were much needed and so grabs the Man of the Match award.  You can see his interview on the club Whatsapp channel.  Faisal was very pleased and proud of his team. His interview will be available shortly.

The win takes our threes into third place and in line for a massive game against 2^nd placed Brighton at the SCMG on Saturday.  Promotion hopes ALIVE !