Nomads comfortably beat a youthful Springhill

Luckily the earlier showers had passed over as we arrived at the Springhill ground with its panoramic views of the Shropshire hills. Captain Rolfe won the toss and put the opposition in to bat on a fairly green wicket.
A Riley started confidently, hitting Dan Lee’s 4th ball for 4. The other opener (D L ) was finding it difficult to get off the mark ,with Taran Singh’s quick left arm bowling getting lift. Lee’s 3rd over proved to be decisive. His second ball bowled Riley. Nomads feared the worst when Ali came in and drove his first ball for 4 ( He had scored a quick-fire 50 against the Nomads last year.) But Lee’s next flighted delivery crept under the bat and Ali was out.

R Patel played some stylish shots before being bowled by Lee for 10. Singh’s tight bowling, meanwhile, was tying down the other end. At the end of his spell he had bowled 6 consecutive maidens - a club record. (The record for bowling dots without conceding a run is 41 by both Mark Heslington and Chris Rowland. So this was the longest completed spell without conceding any runs - Ed)

When Kalpesh bowled D L for 14 the top order had effectively gone. Mangukiya, Clenton and Cartwright bowled accurately to dismiss the tail-enders. Etheridge batting at eleven made 7 not out at the end.

Several Springhill players were unavailable due to injury, meaning that some of the lower order were young, inexperienced players. But they applied themselves well with bat and ball and were applauded off by all at the end in the spirit of Sunday cricket.

Nomads started their innings fairly cautiously against an accurate opening attack knowing that time was not an issue. Bastable, batting at number 3 with his usual flair and attack upped the momentum with 6 boundaries in his 30 not out, with Nomads reaching the target of 51 in the 14th over.

A strong all round performance from the Nomads bowlers had set the agenda for this game. All 10 Springhill wickets were clean bowled. It could have been a different story had they not claimed the wickets of the top order cheaply.

M.V.P.
Dan Lee 7 ( 8 - 2 - 29 - 4 )
Taran Singh 2 ( 6 - 6 - 0 - 0 )
Rich Bastable 1 ( 30 not out)



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

Date: 17 May 2026
Start time: 1:00pm
Venue: Springhill
Competition: 40 overs friendly
Scores: Springhill 50, Lichfield Nomads 54 for 1
Result: Lichfield Nomads won by 9 wkts
Toss: Nomads won the toss and bowled first.
Scorer: D. Cartwright, Springhill
Umpires: T. Singh, C. Parsonage, Springhill
Report: P. Gardner
Weather: Light cloud with Sunny intervals.

19 May 2026