Being rewritten,expanded and amended at present

Nomads Cricket Club was founded in 1903 as Hampstead Nomads. Always a wandering club, with no connection to Hampstead C.C. The original members (seventeen) lived in Hampstead or St. John's Wood and most of them had attended the former Peterborough Lodge Preparatory School. As a result the club quorum for the AGM was 15 and this became an onerous number to find once the AGM was split from the annual dinner in early 80s. The original members were mostly either graduates of Oxford or Cambridge Universities or members of the Architectural profession hence the club colours chosen were Oxford Blue, Cambridge Blue and Old Gold. 

Sidney Caulfield was a founder member and  played in the first game.Allegedly he and his brother scored the first ever Nomad run, took the first Nomad wicket, caught and dropped the first Nomad catches. He was the club's secretary for half a century or more and then President. He was  a fine slow left arm bowler and in his latter years a most eccentric umpire.For years he and his architectural office staff were dedicated to Nomads match management. His memory is toasted at the club's annual dinner.  

Records are lost of the earliest seasons but Nomads(as Hampstead Nomads) appear in  'Cricket- A weekly record of the game' before the First World War including fixtures,results and averages. In 1911 FC Bouilly took 61 wickets at the economic average of 8.50. In 1912 Nomads played the touring French club Stade Francais the scorecard of which match was recorded in the publication The Sporting Life.

  
                  Click here for larger version                        The Club Tie

1913 was not a good season for Nomads, in fact the worst so far. Only 10 wins out of 42 played and 21 losses! Many leading players were just unavailable through illness and injury and one of the scorebooks was lost so the averages were incomplete.The Norfolk CCC player RF Popham headed the batting while Sidney Caulfield took most wickets 55 at 10.34 each.

The First World War accounted for over 50% of the club’s membership and resumption was delayed until 1922. The following year, 1923, the name Hampstead, now without meaning, was dropped. However by 1925 the club was flourishing with 19 wins out of 64 games played. CJT Poole the former N'hants skipper top scored with 595 runs and Sidney's brother took 43 wickets.

Between 1926 and 1953 there are sixty entries for Nomads in The Cricketer Magazine and the fixture list became one of the most extensive of any UK wandering cricket club.

It was in  the early 1920s Prince Duleepsinhji played for Nomads and accompanied the club on tour to the Channel Islands where he played against Hallam 'Granny' Alston  who  subsequently played for the club for thirty years   in the 50s, 60s and 70s playing his last Nomads game in his mid seventies in 1983. His death triggered an obituary in the Times for the perhaps better known Rex Alston who remarked that reports of his death were premature but the accolades expressed fell well short of his worth.'Granny' (so called for predilection to drink tea rather than beer when on tour) took over 1,100 wickets and scored over 8,000 runs. 

In yesteryear there was an annual short tour of Oxford Colleges but a long annual tour of Cambridge Colleges with many of the tour players recruited from the local hostelries by the industrious secretary Sydney Caulfield including many undergraduates later to become famous cricketers like,'Duleep', PBH May,Gerry Alexander, Raman Subba Row and 'Monkey' Cameron but many lesser mortals like David Morton and Ian Crombie were recruited and played for decades.

There was likewise a long standing connection with the architectural profession and many architects were to play for Nomads including Sir Colin Stansfield-Smith. Not only Sidney Caulfield but also Roger Norton were club Presidents and praticising Architects. Likewise fixtures against the military and medical schools brought in new members. Nomads always had a 'doc' or two playing.

     
      Eric Warburg         'Granny' Alston    Tom Chamberlain

In the 50s Pat Mean scored a lot of runs with prodigious power in his shots and at electric pace. In 1953 the club celebrated fifty years with a week's cricket at the Hurlingham club all reported in the London evening press of the time and Pat Mean hit 1175 runs for Nomads in a season of 77 matches while Alston hit 1136 runs and took 135 runs for Nomads.  Tom Chamberlain nudged and prodded his way to endless runs while David Harris equally full of runs was all grace and style. 

   
                                   Sixty eight matches in 1951. 

               Many Oxbridge colleges,several  public schools, medical schools and military establishments on that 1951 fixture list. Only Leatherhead continuously and Northwood with breaks remain fifty years on. In 1953 the club celebrated 50 years  at the Hurlingham Cub. Eric Warburg played all week except Friday when he was married to Lottie from Austria who scored for the club memorably drawing little ducks as the occassion arose! The reception was  at Hurlingham with his club mates present between playing sessions. What an example to modern youth! 

Nomads at Hurlingham 1953 Eric Warburg Wedding & 'Fiftieth' Week
Front row Ivan Stewart,Tim Norwood,Wilfrd Picton Turbeville,Lotti Warburg,Eric Warburg,Tom Chamberlain,Dai Jenkins,Michael West
Back row Pat Meen,John Smith,AN Other,Prince Anirud Singh,Dick Strong,ANother  

Nomads played seven consecutive matches at Hurlingham winning five with two draws.Wilfred Picton-Turbeville scored a century against Lord's and Commons

In that fiftieth season Granny Alston completed the double again for Nomads 1116 runs average 36.53 and 134 wickets average 12.77

     Nomads at HE Easton Command Hounslow 1957
Standing l to r Umpire Graham Marks,Hugh Jones, Michael Penn, Con Davies,Paul Weathers,David Alexander,Umpire & Scorer.
Sitting David Harrison,Roger Norton,Granny Alston, Richard Nicholas  Hm and where was the 11th player?

The 1960s however found Nomads increasingly struggling with numbers and the fixture list became drastically pruned. Yet some fine players were recruited such as Colin Owen-Browne,John Nagenda,Syd Astle and Ossie Gooding who took over 60 wickets in a season..  

     
              Ossie Gooding             Colin-Owen-Browne                     John Nagenda

For the season 1970 a former Cambridge Heavy Weight Boxing Blue Ian  Crombie was appointed club skipper on account of his light blue sweater which was supposed to put fear in the hearts of the opposition. although individual college matches persisted the Cambridge tour was abandoned on account of changes in the university arrangements. This was the club’s last formal link with Oxford and Cambridge Universities but in 2004 and 2006 Nomads played at Fenners. 

The early 70s saw Nomads playing as few as twenty plus games  frequently presenting a formidable bowling attack with John Nagenda,Kim Owen-Browne,Zahid Shah and, of course, sometimes the incomparable Ossie Gooding removing the top order.However Nomads had a very kind skipper in Ian Crombie who would invariably take the devastators off and gently ply his flighted fiflth so as our opponents could post a competitive total which our less than adequate batting often failed to chase successfully. Nomads began to pay a series of annual visits to Brussels which found mention on a popular TV Business Soap of the day. Nevertheless John Nagenda took 7-48 at Blackheath in '71 and 9 at Hartley Witney while Crombie's guile took 7-51 at Sonning the same year. In 1975 Ossie Gooding took 60 wickets at an impeccable average of 7.23! and the club won an impressive 16 out of 30 played.The batting  helped with Mike Ghersie, David Fermont,Tony Whiteway and Zahid Shah in the runs, even Ossie chipped in with 331 average 22.00 to complement his bowling.

While 1975 was something of an "annus mirabilis" 1976 was not. "Annus terribilis" the Hon Sec David Alexander described it with but four games won out of 29 played. Gooding had been pinched by an Essex league side and there were too few appearances from John Nagenda and Kim Owen-Browne. Alston, Crombie, Willis and Michael Penn failed to frighten our opponents and seldom deceived them. And yet, this was a season of rebuilding and much social success with parties at Ken Dowd and John Nagenda(Anne) establishments. Several new faces began to appear not least the towering medic Mike Wilkins.   

More recently both Tony Whiteway and Michael Blumberg have scored over 10,000 runs for the club, Tony Whiteway at much the more impressive average. Sadly, Tony suffered a stroke, indeed several strokes in summer 1997 although he hit a 50 at Barnes CC between 'strokes', his cricket career has been on hold since as he slowly recovers.He is now the club's Honorary Treasurer. Although the President continues to bat obdurately at the tail his runs are now seldom significant. In the late ‘70s Richard Kershaw introduced via the former Radbourne Motors off Holland Park Avenue a string of cricketers from Dominica to the club. Stafford Etienne,Tyronne Etienne, Lennie and ‘Rasta’ Ernie Lecointe playing with great success.In 1983 Stafford hit 1366 runs. As a result of the Dominican influence the word Bacchanal, as used in Dominica patois, has passed into Nomads language to greet an extravagantly played boundary shot, In the late 70s Mike Ghersie, a dashing right hand batsmen who also bowled and kept wicket, skippered the club with great success.
        In 1986 Tim Bourke, hit a record individual score for the Nomads, 176 not out, against Indian Gymkhana. The next highest is 171 by Andy Hill scored against Abinger in 2002, 167 by James While at Hurlingham.  156 runs  was struck by Gerald Eiloart and 155 by Andy Brown. Jemile Al-Darraji has hit several big hundreds as has Paul Wakefield. Not always in the Nomads tradition (after all there are usually a string of other batsmen waiting to come in) Tim Bourke's knock was remarkable and only took place as 'stonewall' Maloney batted undefeated for 30 thus protecting a very long tail that day.

     
   176*                171                167          150 & 151

 The club's highest score in UK in the modern era 327 v East Molesey and the lowest 14 v Beaconsfield, both made in the early 50s. The late Michael Penn who played in both these matches reported that at Beaconsfield Nomads had reached 8 without loss before collapsing. In 1989 Nomads chased 318 to win at Brook in an afternoon match.Curiously Blumberg was facing the first ball of the last over.He scored one and James Drayton then hit some sixes for us to win. In India in January 2003 Nomads scored 358 in a match lost for which Paul Wakefield hit 145. In Spain in 2004 Nomads hit 341-6 against Sporting Alfas in 40 overs.

Tony Whiteway(several times) and Stafford Etienne have scored over 1000 runs in a season. Charles Penn(1980) and Blumberg (1988) were a couple of boundaries away from this figure. In 1980 Charles Penn hit over fifty 6s, in 1982 he hit 13 in an innings of 135* v Albury. Tim Bourke,Steve Hambleton and Roger Kinsella were three Kiwis who scored a lot of runs for Nomads into the 1990s and bowled well too.Later on Paul Wakefield(Cheshire CCC & France) has been the best batsman of recent years while Jeremy Lascelles has scored the most runs. Andy Stokes, James While and Jemile al-Darraji have all enjoyed an exceptional season as well as big hundreds. 

In 1984 Michael Blumberg took 8-64 against Ditchling and in 1991 Roger Kinsella 8-17 v Hampshire Mercenaries.The best bowling figures were recorded in 1951 against Chelmsford,G Cruwys-Williams recorded 16.3 7 13 10. Michael ‘Doc’ Wilkins was the club’s most successful bowler though the late 70s and 80s. Blumberg, Wilkins, Tony Smiley, Tony Clark and Ossie Gooding have all taken over 60 wickets in a season. At Princes Risborough Blumberg was hit for 32 in an over-the third ball was caught but the fielder stepped back over the boundary. For a decade into the mid eighties Nomads had a formidable battery of fast and fast medium seamers. Mike Wilkins a very tall man who seemed to bowl off the wrong foot was fearsome and tireless. John Nagenda over two decades was quick aggressive and also tireless.Ossie Gooding  was a supreme artist with the ball as well as bowling very fast.Steve Scowan ripped many sides apart once demolishing a strong Indian Gymkhana with 7-14 off 9 overs including legend has it two hat tricks. Bill Wilkins an allrounder bowled well taking 6-11 at Hurlingham.Two work horses were Tony Clarke and Tony Smiley. For a few years Charles Penn also bowled menacingly and occassionally David Macvicar added his skill to the fray.

In recent years a great bulk of the bowling has been undertaken by club veterans with flight,filfth and guile  with only occassional  bursts of the quick stuff from all too few appearances from Mike Thewlis (Northumberland CCC),James While, Ilija Krunic and James MacDonald among others.

Over the years the club has had many members from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Two of the club's most successful captains in recent years have been Kiwis-Tim Bourke and Steve Hambleton. Before them John Nagenda from Uganda was a mercurial skipper and leading personality in the club and because of him many cricketers from East Africa, African, Asian and European have been members. Both he and Sam Walusimbi, another Nomad, played for East Africa in ICC World Cups. Kirti Azad played in the successful 1983 India World Cup side and subsequently for Nomads.  Playing in the 1999 ICC World Cup were Aravinda de Silva and Ajay Jadeja both of whom played for Nomads as teenagers.

Jack Hyams is our oldest playing member at 88. It remains his ambition to score a century in each of his eight decades playing club cricket. In all club cricket he has scored over 121,000 runs, reputedly more than any one else ever. Another  ancient is retired Professor John White who wicket keeps at 75 and he only took up that position aged 70! He has retired now from the fray but another stalwart of the club Charlton Lamb(Durham CCC) plays on in his 70s.