Nomads back to winnings ways

Ashby Hastings had pulled out of the fixture against us as they were struggling to raise Sunday teams, however a fixture was found via the web site “Sundaycricketer” and so we travelled to play new opposition, Sherwood Casuals, originally based in Nottinghamshire but now playing at West Hallam, Ilkeston. Eventually arriving at a lovely ground which was next door to an Industrial Estate but, with the views, could have been in the heart of the country. Nomads lost the toss and our opposition elected to bat. Luke Turnbull, playing his first Nomads’ match of the season, opened with Daz Cartwright. The openers struggled to score and eventually the opening bat was put out of his misery having taken some 7 overs to score 1 run. John Hoddy took over from Luke and claimed an lbw in his first over, however this saw the arrival of Myles who hit consecutive fours off Hoddy. His intent was clear as he then tried to hit every ball to the boundary. Kalpesh then removed the other opener in his first over. Some of the younger players arrived at the crease and John Hoddy nabbed another 2 wickets. Tony Jordan, with his bamboozling slow bowling, had replaced Kalpesh and midway through his spell either dropped a catch off his own bowling or deftly diverted the ball onto the stumps to run out the batsman backing up. Opinions differ on the merits of the fielding but it was definitely the Champagne Moment. The batsman, clearly not believing what had happened, reluctantly walked off. Myles, having reached 50, retired not out and Nomads pondered the policy of keeping the 2 batsmen in so he could not return. However these batsmen were no mugs and Nomads bowlers like taking wickets and so Paul Fearon dismissed batters 8,9 and 10 for not many runs. This saw Myles return with a no.11 bat at the other end who was clearly better than that , having switch-hit a 4 early in his knock. However Myles had injured his shoulder trying to hit the ball so hard and in attempting this aginst the returning Luke Turnbull lost his grip on the bat which went nearly as far as the bail when the ball struck the wickets. In the end a score of 166 was reached which could have been over 200 if the last 2 had hung around.

Casuals had been a bit of a mixture in their batting so it was difficult to predict what the bowling would be like. One or two looked as though they might be able to bowl a bit.

The bowling was started off by some of the younger element and proved rather erratic and Nomads galloped off the starting blocks with Dave Rolfe looking in particularly fine fettle. He was very annoyed with himself when he gloved a widish ball down leg-side into the keeper’s gloves. This brought in Sags to partner Pete Gardner and the bowling continued to be dispatched to all parts of the ground. The one tall, young lad who looked as though he might be a quick bowler having signs of shining the ball on his trousers came off 2 paces and was no threat after all. Sags completed his 50 just after drinks and Pete a little later and both retired. Our young guest Arthat Mangukiya saw out the innings with Paul Fearon and scored 2 not out in the process completing a victory for Nomads by 9 wickets.

Sherwood Casuals were a mixture of good and bad and young and old. I thought that they made things easier for us by giving everyone a go and perhaps holding back players who might have been better but I may be completely wrong. With the excellent facilities a fixture worth considering again.

[Disclaimer: Any offence caused by this article is unintentional, any praise is well deserved]

Date: 10 Aug 2025
Start time: 1:00pm
Venue: West Hallam White Rose CC
Competition: 40 overs friendly
Scores: Sherwood Casuals 166, Lichfield Nomads 167 for 1
Result: Lichfield Nomads won by 9 wkts
Toss: Sherwood Casuals won the toss and elected to bat.
Scorer: John Hoddy, Sherwood Casuals
Umpires: Keith Stanley and Various
Report: John Hoddy
Weather: Hot and sunny

12 Aug 2025