Weekend Review with your Skippers. 28th 29th May
Nomads bounced back in fine style after a ‘difficult’ weekend last time out. Our 1s,2s and 3s all taking out wins to send out important messages of intent across the Sussex League. Our 4s Captain was proud of the effort show by his team but as you will see he is calling for more concentration in the next match.
Before we get into the Captain’s Logs I just wanted to pick out a few highlights from the weekend. For the Ones Kash took three wickets and scored 48 very important runs. The skipper Nav weighed in with a not out half century. But it was young Bertie F who grabbed the headlines with 88 not out and the match winning inns.
Very young Adam Ibrahim took three league wickets for the twos and Ammad scored a neat 50. But perhaps the star of the weekend belongs to our stalwart and talented batsman (and overall bloody great guy) Oliver Gatting who showcased his obvious talent with an opening ton.
Chris Borsoi, as per a previous post, was the darling at Cuckfield when scoring a match winning ton for the threes.
Darren Hick peeled back the years to pick up 4 for 26 for the 4th team. At the other end of his career U13s Charlie Davies made a brilliant half century.
None of our teams have ‘bossed’ their Leagues thus far with all four now nicely tucked in the chasing pack. It’s far too soon in the season to get excited about league positions. However, it is time to put the hammer down and maintain that winning momentum. Enjoy your week Nomads and lets crack on with the next round of games on Saturday.
Cobo
Bertie Leads Runs Fest at Middleton 28th May Sussex PremNav’s Narrative
The 1st XI had one simple goal in mind for Saturday’s
league encounter against Middleton and that was
to win.
I lost the toss (again) and Middleton chose to bat
on an extremely flat, docile pitch. The sun was out
and so we had our work cut out. I cannot fault the
boys efforts as we stuck to our guns the for the
whole 50 overs and kept our standards. Two
Middleton batsman scored centuries and credit
must go to the way they played. We had no
answers. At the break Middleton had posted 324.
A mammoth total but we had a strong feeling
in the camp that we could most definitely chase it.
The message to structure our run chase was
PARTNERSHIPS and take it deep. That’s exactly what
happened. The boys showed skill and
determination and sure enough the runs
required became less and less.
Everyone chipped in with valuable counter
attacking cameos with Bertie Foreman anchoring
the chase with a masterful 88 not out.
To end up successfully chasing 324 only 5 wickets
down with 10 balls to spare is an absolutely
amazing effort and something I don’t think has
happened before in Nomads history!
I’m extremely proud of the boys and I hope that
this is the start of a momentum shift for us
in our League campaign!
650 runs is a fairly substantial Saturday!
Onwards we go!
By Navin Patel.
Two’s beat Buxted and Lewes Div 3 and Sussex T20 Trophy
It’s been a mixed start to our season, but we’re
now playing some good cricket and Saturday was a solid win.
OG’s ton was chanceless and well deserved.
After a tough 2021, he’s started like the OG
we know and love, threatening to score big in all 4 games
and delivering here. At the other end, young Fin looked great
on his return and they put on 90 odd for the first wicket,
before Fin had a lapse on 40. Mani contributed a very
controlled and pleasing 50, with a couple of
stonking boundaries. It got tougher to score against
the spinners with the older ball, meaning LOB’s
swift and very intelligent 30 was worth more –
with Mani they looked very much like 1s players on loan
to us. Our 246 was a little above par, I’d say.
We had a complete seam transplant from the
previous week, but the new opening duo of
Pulford (2/24) and James Amor (1/43) (on Nomad league debut)
delivered 3 poles between them. Stu struck
early twice, James got just 1 pole, but delivered
a tidy 9 overs of heavy seam up the hill. This put us
in a strong position for the middle overs. Legendary
Owen Kernan (1/36) and LOB (1/31) bowled some nice
nibble, getting a pole a piece, but each deserved more.
Mani did a decent job, but young Adam Ibrahim was
the pick with his first wickets for the 2s, taking 3/42
and imposing himself on the game with some big turn
each way. Buxted’s last pair put on 55, and looked pretty
good for it, but while it made the game look closer in the
scorebook than it felt, we had too many runs.
Sunday saw us head to Lewes for a T20. A different look
team from Saturday, but another good mix of youth
and experience. We were stuck in. It was a really tough
place to score runs, a low and slow green seamer
with an outfield that felt like velcro. None of us enjoyed
our bat, but Jiyah (39) and Jez Green (21) managed to
stick away 6 boundaries between them, both going at
over a run a ball. The rest of us chipped in and ran hard
(hat tip to Ombaashi for running a bye to the keeper last ball),
ending up on 133/8. Which actually felt like a decent total.
So it would prove… Despite having some heavier seam in
Ombaashi and Felix (on 2nd team debut), we kept pace
off with the new ball, Ziggy’s tidy 4 overs split into 2
spells as Mani (1/20) and Muadh (a very miserly 1/9),
then Ravi span us most of the way. Ravi took some tap
from Ahtesham Ali (3 consecutive massive 6s) in his final
over which wrecked his figures (1/43), but that brief scare
was ended when Felix’s short one got a bit high on him
and the resulting skier was well judged by Mani. Felix
would end with a quite savage 2/3 off 2 overs! Ombaashi
would close out his 2 overs without scare.
A good performance in the field, even if a few missed
chances could be tidied up.
Special mention for Mani who is a force in the field
from point, effecting 2 run outs in both
games (4 total) this weekend – players who bring that
kind of energy to a fielding unit
(we have others too, e.g. Jiyah) make more
difference than their stats reveal.
Now to try to carry some momentum
to the seaside at the Seaford…
By James M
28 May 2022
4th XI vs Copthorne CC – a tough day at the office Div 8.
The regularly changing team, 5 debuts in the team,
gathered at Fulking to face Copthorne.
The opposition captain called correctly
(an unfortunate trend for this year) and the Captain
decided to lead from the front with Jim Downey who
was revisiting the ground and team against whom
he had crocked himself last year!
A chipper opening partnership was constructed until
both openers neglected to use their bats against the
bowling. Jim did at least offer his pad as a form of
defence, whereas the captain used an extravagant
air-shot. 59-2 off 11 overs.
Young Charlie Davies (u13) took to the crease.
After some early attempts at copying the openers,
he remembered the purpose of the wooden bat in
his hands and started to deploy in textbook fashion.
With good maturity and patience, he began to pick
off the loose balls, showing timing and skill,
he accumulated runs. The rest of the team supported
in sporadic patches and ultimately Charlie got 50 –
before trying to take on a big shot and being caught.
We were all out after 33 overs with exactly 150 on the board.
Copthorne bowled medium slow and with sufficient,
although somewhat random, accuracy that when asked,
the umpires provided a fair LBW decision.
After the break, Copthorne faced the Nomads seam
attack of Habib and Mal. Frustratingly, the early
breakthrough was denied. Adding additional
swing and pace from Milo and Dylan, we
were again frustrated and half chances in the air
did not fall to hand. At 108-2 the game looked
to be heading for an inevitable conclusion.
Darren Hick got hold of the ball and started to cause
some action. Stumped Oliver, bowled Hick is not a
common combination of dismissal, so was repeated twice
(even if on occasion it took more than 1 attempt by the
keeper to remove bails with the soundtrack of
Mal laughing at square leg!). But the decisions eluded us,
catches went to ground or being carried over the
boundary rope. George Sowerby (u13) supported
well and got close on more than one occasion.
Together they held back the opposition and turned 129-3 into 149-6 but the challenge in front of them was too much.
Whilst I am proud that we played in the ‘Nomads’
right spirit of the game. But as a team we need to
bat, bowl and field with a little more focus and concentration –
the Captain included.
By Stephen O