This section is undergoing reconstruction and introduction of many additional photographs.Hopefully completed by December 2010
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Delhi Agra Rathnabore Japur Udaipur Mumbai Goa |
India Centenary Tour
India Tour diary should have been updated while the tour progressed however access to the internet was sporadic and very very slow in India wherever we were so the plan was abandoned.
Hotel Vasant International
India Tour Day 1 and Marions is sans baggageArrive in Delhi and Upgraded
The main body of Nomads duly arrived at Heathrow many hours before take off as advised. Tom Reader lost his wallet en route from Ealing to Heathrow but otherwise everybody turned up in good order only Gulf Air screwed up!
The Gulf Desk 'manager' advised Veronica to queue with the hoi polloi and when she reached the front then he would book us all in as a group through the vacant business class check in area. Seemed like a good idea but when Veronica reached touch down all hell broke loose as a matronly 'check in' lady countermanded the manager's decision and so everybody checked in individually and late and had to hurry to the departure gate when other activities may have been planned.
The plane dropped us off in Bahrain well at the airport not before Lamb and Marions had mounted a vociferous complaint about the quality of the seats and more. However at Bahrain airport much of the squad found the bar and England on TV in Australia. Not a pretty sight.
Our airplane ? refuels and Keith admires the airport decoration
We then hopped along to Abu Dhabi before making the final cruise into Delhi and a meeting with Bharrat our guide from 'Holidays To Treasure'. He proved to be fantastic and of immense assistance to the tour.
Bharratji introduces himself ..everyone is a ji ji even Barbaraji.
All seemed well until Steve Marions discovered his suitcase was missing. We motored in the dusk towards our hotel and for many the extraordinary sights of India were to impound for the first time. In London you visit the zoo to see the animals, in India they walk the road like everybody else, why not?
At the Vasant Continental Hotel we were greeted by Darren Williams and Karren who had been galivanting about the desert in Oman. Everybody was garlanded with marigolds and drinks were served.Bharrat informed the leader that many of the party were being upgraded and so they were but not the lads. Some weeks later Andy Stokes was to quietely enquire why not? The first ripple of a subsequent rumble.
We arrive at Vasant Continental Hotel Japee Garlanded with Marigolds
A telephone call to the Imperial hotel found Jeremy Lascelles watching Leeds United live..he was well but their trip was not.Ugh During the night Russell Mann and Jo Ireland arrived by way of British Airways and out of the blue so did Mossie and his sons. Remarkably all seemed well.The party had arrived in freezing foggy Delhi....would Sunil and Unmish show up ?
Hotel Vasant International
Centenary India Tour Day Two
Match v Delhi Blues Lose By 3 wickets
Most of those who had not been to India before and/or couples were designated sightsee-ers on day one but nevertheless everybody except Catherine Lascelles came to the PKDP ground where we were greeted by a volume of fans not common for the Nomads Cricket Club. Of course, the main source of interest was Ben Nealon but camera men, interviewers and autograph hunters were keen to talk to everbody.
Nomads have a long association with Delhi Blues and it was good to see Gurcharan Singh still so fit at 70. Vikram Kaul was playing for the opposition as was Kirti Azad who had played for Nomads a decade ago in UK.
  
The Hon Sec introduces the Nomads. Soni TV interviews Ben Nealon and Keith Alexander, our old friend Gucharan Singh-great coach
Nomads skipper of the day Michael Blumberg won the toss and elected to bat in what was to be a 35 over match with bowling restrictions and OD wides. The innngs got off to a good start against some friendly bowling but failed to accelerate to a large total. A mean mid innings spell from former Test quickie Atul Wassan and some accurate spin from Kausik and Banadur restricted Nomads to a useful total nevertheless of 196-7.
Keith Alexander in his first knock 'back home' hit 74 including a 6 off Kirti Azad who once took a 6 wicket international haul.
After a sumptuous lunch Nomads opened with Ben Nealon and Jo Ireland. Some years previously Ben had bowled for Nomads but a shoulder dislocation since had restricted his bowling and at once he was to be the victim of a merciless assault by Kirti Azad. However at the other end Joe trundled away with great effect finishing with 5 wickets. After Kirti's demise Vikram bombarded the boundary but when he fell there was the glimmer of hope still for Nomads. However the platform established was too substantial despite wickets for Blumberg and Reader and the Dehli Blues ran out victors by 3 wickets.
This was a very pleasant ground with other facilities, though the toilets left a lot to be desired. The highlights and interviews on TV were to be shown on Sony's Cricket Masala and elsewhere for many weeks to come.
Match One Nomads v Delhi Blues Veterans at PDKP Ground December 24 2002 Limited Over Game -35 overs
Result:Delhi Blues won by 3 wickets
Toss: Nomads
Umpires:Brian Wilson & AN Otherji
Scorers: Bill Rodwell & AN Otherji
Man of the Match:Kirti Azad
NOMADS Only Innings
P Wakefield bowled Atul Wassan 19
K Alexander st MP Singh b Pradeep Jain 74
U Parthasarathi lbw b Kaul 25
A Stokes bowled Sameer Banadur 27
J Lascelles bowled Kausik 8
D O'Sullivan st MP Singh b Sandeep Joshi 15
R Moss not out 3
T Reader st MP Singh b Sandeep Joshi 0
Extras (6b,7lb,11w,1nb) 25
TOTAL (8 Wickets, 35 overs) 196
DNB:B Nealon, J Ireland,M Blumberg
FOW:1-60,2-127,3-127,1-144,5-182,6-191.
Bowling-PS Sharda 4-0-28-0,Gurcharan Singh 4-1-24-0,Kirti Azad 4-0-27-0,Atul Wassan 4-0-9-1,Pradeep Jain 3-1-18-1,Vikram Kaul 5-0-37-1,Kausik 3-0-9-1,Sameer Banadur 4-0-17-0,Murau Kartik 3-0-9-0,Sandeep Joshi 1-0-6-2,
DELHI BLUES VETERANS Only Innings
K Azad
V Kaul
S Joshi
MP Singh
S Banadur
Kausik
P Jain
PS Sharda
A Wassan
G Singh
AN Dehi Blueji
Extras
TOTAL
Fow
Bowling-
This has never been found though some stats were recovered from the umpires match notes
Another posse of Nomads not playing plus tour ladeis went off sight seeing with tour guide Bharratji
'No bare legs please in the Mosque'. the lads were soon to gird themselves in unusual garb. Thus dressed are Russell Mann, Daryn Williams and Robert Wycherley. To the right is Bharrat and just in picture is much of Barbara Stasser.
In the evening a fabulous reception was put on by the hotel with a galaxy of Commonwealth diplomats,Indian VVIPS, cricketers of noteand many elegantly attired ladies including those of the nomads' party. Atul Wasson was Master of Ceremonies and an extravagant cake was presented to Ben Nealon whose birthday it was as well as eloquent welcome to Nomads Cricket Club.This was a very smart affair indeed so Charles Fellow-Smith came in shorts and a Free Forester blazer! Mrs Lascelles enquired whether the sumptuous banquet provided was 'organic' or not!
Hotel Vasant International
Day Three-Two Matches & sight seeing Victory Off Penultimate Ball
Both teams take a photocall for press & TV before the 'great game VVIPs & Cameramen crowd the celebrities The Minister for Sport and Leisure meets Nomads & Doordashan XI and adresses TV and spectators. She wishes that the best team will win!
Mark Surridge won the toss and invited Doordashan to bat. There were over 2000 spectators so quite a change from a regular Sunday or midweek match in UK.Inspired by the occasion Nomads performed with credit apart from a couple of hiccups behind the stumps and in the slips.Doordashan began with a flourish and were well set for a big score.Then then collapsed in the middle order. As a result Doordashan XI had posted a modest total by the time they were bowled out with 9 balls to go. Surridge, Fellow-Smith and Ireland each took three wicketsand after a hseitant start Wycherley held on to four good catches behind the wicket. Despite enjoying a huge lunch and with a seriously partisan crowd Nomads maintained the required rate and finally won with a ball to go with some wickets in hand. Keith Alexander hit 59 runs off 68 balls and Robert Wycherley 41 off 33 balls including four 6s. Like Doordashan Nomads were well placed to win at a canter but then self doubt crept in and a flurry of wickets fell. However Ben Nealon already a major favourite with the crowd, just below God like status, remained steady and saw the club home to a momentous victory. The match proved to be a great entertainment for the spectators and TV audience. A stupendous occasion as befits a club's Centenary Tour.
Second Tour Match December 30th 2002 at the J Nehru Stadium Ground Delhi between Nomads CC and Doordashan XI, 30 overs each innings. Lagaan Match Picture Page
Toss: Nomads CC
Result: Nomads won by 3 wickets
Umpires:A.Bharadwaj and Anil Chaudry
Scorers:M S Rawaj and B Wilson.
Man Of the Match:K.Alexander
DOORDASHAN XI Only Innings
VR Hari c Wycherley b Surridge 40
Sanjay c Wycherley b Ireland 32
Parveen c & b Ireland 0
Sushil Bansal c Wycherley b Fellow-Smith 33
RK Khatri bowled Ireland 0
Satender c Wycherley b Surridge 0
Mahidal lbw b Surridge 0
Gopal Gupta c & b Nealon 9
Gurbachan Singh c Wakefield b Fellow-Smith 8
BP Raju c & b Fellow-Smith 14
Sunil Ansal not out 6
Extras (0b,3lb,11w,3nb) 17
TOTAL (28.3 overs) 159
FOW: 1-61,2-69,3-99,4-100,5-110,6-110,7-125,8-135,9-146.10-159.
Bowling:Reader 5 0 30 0,Stokes 3 0 20 0,Ireland 6 0 31 3,Surridge 6 1 29 3, Nealon 4 0 28 1, Fellow-Smith 4.3 0 18 3.
NOMADS Only Innings
P Wakefield lbw b Gurbachan 2
K Alexander c Gurbachan b Sushil Bansal 59
A Stokes c & b Parveen 22
R Wycherley c Gurbachan b Parveen 41
T Reader c Gopal Gupta b Parveen 4
M Surridge bowled Satender 2
B Nealon not out 16
J Ireland bowled Satender 1
D O'Sullivan not out 2
Extras (2b,4lb,5w) 11
TOTAL (29.5 overs, 7 wickets) 160
Dnb:C Fellows-Smith, M Blumberg.
FOW:1-9,2-75,3-105,4-111,5-137,6-141,7-156.
Bowling:Gurbachan 6 1 19 1,Sunil Bansal 2 0 14 0,VR Hari 3.5 0 22 0,Sushil Bansal 6 0 42 1,Satender 5 0 23 2,Parveen 6 0 26 3,BP Raju 1 0 8 0.
Although there were banners around the ground wishing Nomads well on their Centenary tour Doordashan had billed Nomads as a Lagaan XI and had expected 5 or 6 of the cast not just Ben. This was their fault not Nomads as a volume of email and letters had gone to a great length to explain and the original confirmation of the fixture clearly states the Nomads Cricket Club
While the match progressed Charlton Lamb and Steve Marians pursued their singular quest to secure sponsorship for the flights of the Lagaan cricketers and in particular a film to be directed and produced by Steve Marions.This took them to many discussions at the ground and elsewhere in Delhi when they should have been playing against a Delhi Blues XI for Nomads 2nd XI.
Dan crowns Diane.
Meanwhile at the Yamuna Sports Complex Nomads under the captaincy of Russell Mann were being slaughtered by Delhi Blues. The original match was billed as against TATA-AIG but they pulled out at the last moment and happily Delhi Blues stepped in.This time the DB youngsters not the veterans of yesterday's match but tomorrow's stars. Lamb and Marians were unavailable busy on the 'Lagaan/SM Film show and Sunil Amar had reported lame having pulled a muscle on the golf course. Therefore three DBS played for us but not as well as their reputation suggested.Randeep Singh recorded a duck.Rather like a bad day in UK,three drop outs!
Match Three at Yamuna Sports Complex Delhi, December 30th 2001 Nomads 2nd XI v Delhi Blues/Tata, 30 overs per innings game
Result: Delhi Blues won by 211 runs
Toss:Delhi Blues
Umpires:'Dusty'Rhodes
Scorers:Various
Man of the Match:Nitin Goyal
DELHI BLUES/TATA Innings
Deepak Ajmes bowled Rohit 18
Amarnect Singh c Lascelles b Rodwell 15
Nitin Goyal retired 128
Ankit Gayaska retired 106
Ashish Buttani not out 9
Vijay Uppal run out 0
Anuj Nayar not out 14
Extras (13b,1lb,5w,4nb) 23
TOTAL(5 wickets,30 overs) 315
Dnb:Manish,Madhukar,Himanshu Dhall, X Singh
FOW:1-25,2-62,3*-210,4*-240, 5-283.
Bowling:Williams 7 1 33 0,Rohit 6 0 55 1,Rodwell 3 0 34 1,Shahwat 5 0 57 0,R Singh 6 0 62 0,Mantha 2 0 37 0,M Moss 1 0 17 0.
NOMADS CC 2nd XI Innings
Randeep Singh lbw b Nayar 0
Jeremy Lascelles c Deepak b Nayar 8
Ravi Mantha bowled Nayar 5
Russell Mann bowled Manish 14
James Moss st Deepak b Madhukar 6
Rohit c Deepak b Madhukar 7
Shahwat st Deepak b Manish 1
Darren Williams bowled Manish 3
Simon Moss c & b Ashish 1
Malcolm Moss c & b Ashish 8
Bill Rodwell not out 0
Extras (0b,6lb,9w,4nb) 19
TOTAL (10 wickets 22.3 overs)104
Fow:1-0,2-10,3-22,4-52,5-74,6-78,7-92,8-94,9-94,10-104.
Bowling:Anuj Nayar 5 0 9 3, Himanshu Dhall 3 0 11 0,Vijay Uppal 2 0 13 0,Manish 5 0 21 3,Madhukar 6 1 34 2, Ashish 1.3 0 10 2.
That evening the entire tour party and friends were entertained to a grand dinner by Dehli Blues CC at Claridges Restaurant, presents were exchanged and warm words of welcome and thanks delivered.Vikram Kaul remarked during the dinner that it was a good job the Nomads cricketers had been playing against Doordashan rather than an eleven of actors as the match would not have been half as exciting!
Absolutely. Nomads Cricket Club had achieved a memorable first ever for an amateur grass roots club in enjoying ball by ball live TV coverage. It was also quite a feat to have put out two elevens on the same day on tour and in India.
Hotel Vasant International
Centenary India Tour Day Four
No Matches v NSCC & TERI XI-RAIN
Pouring rain and deep fog hung over Delhi at breakfast time and calls were received cancelling the NSCC match but miraculously the TERI match was still on as they had extensive covers. this caused disbelief form our Delhi Blues players and this game was also cancelled by 10.30. We were all invited to lunch at the NSCC and duly set off only to receive a desperate call from Vikram Kaul demanding we also go th TERI where there was a much better lunch awaiting us.
In the end NSCC won and Vikram joined us there. More Presentations.Losing these two matches was a confounded nuisance as it seriously cut the amount of cricket played before we set off on out travels.
As to the Lagaan sideshow.Steve Marions and Charlton Lamb went into deep discussions with Vikram Kaul during which a flurry of pieces of paper appeared as well as the mobile 'phone.Later Harish was to appear and a friend of Vikram rang up who was a sports events promoter interested in sponsoring a Lagaan Match in Mumbai. Harish emphasised to Michael B and Charlton L that a synopsis should be sent asap outlining the advantages to a sponsor promoting this match.
Haresh stated that he would drive down to Jaipur to meet us with the sports Promoter and bring the tour brochure for which he had found and recommended a printer.
On the way back to the hotel most of us visited the former home of Mahatma Ghandi now a museum in memory of the great man and Bill Rodwell drove off with Sunil Amar visiting among other places the Delhi Golf Club. such had been the volume of rain that it had invaded the air extraction unit and whenever the bus jolted so water poured over some of the passengers. Particularly unlucky in this respect were Diane O'Sullivan and Liz Stokes as shown below.
Clever girls they brought an umbrella to India!
On our return to the Vasant Continental it was apparent that miracles had been achieved in relocating and rebuilding the 'New Year's Eve' party.Most of the squad duly booked into this extravaganza which turned out to be a very good party, endless drink, mountains of food and a great Bhangra type band to which almost everybody danced.
The locals included innumerable stunning beauties but none seemed to fancy the Mature single Nomads in the party.....nevertheless it was a most enjoyable New Year's Eve party
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Jaypee Agra De Lux �
Centenary India Tour Day Five
Travel to Agra
More garlands on arrival in Agra plus 'Father Christmas'
Taj Mahal..always better than the photographs and the red fort
All the party at the Taj Mahal save Mrs Lascelles who stayed in Delhi
Tickets for Taj Mahal & Red fort Ravi Mantha negotiated cheaper ones for him & Kavitha
Two thousand watch Nomads �
Centenary tour to India Day Five
Match v Agra XI Lost by 5 wickets off Penultimate Ball
The party rose early and visited the Red Fort in the morning. It was foggy and the Taj Mahal was invisible to the eye.when we arrived at the Agra Stadium we were greeted with garlands and there were huge banners welcoming the Nomads.
   
Nomads wait in the VVIP enclosure then line up for the VVVIP who was the Commissioner for Income Tax in the state of Uttar Pradesh,Mark loses toss and Nomads bat, Ben signs for the fans
Match Six Nomads CC v Agra Veterans CC at Agra Stadium January 2nd 2003 30 overs per Innings Match
Result: Agra Veterans won by 5 wickets
Toss: Agra Veterans
Umpires:Surendra Sharma & David Rhodes
Scorers:Sunil Dutt Bhatia & Bill Rodwell
Man Of The Match: SK Dwivedi
NOMADS Only Innings
A Stokes bowled Raman Dixit 57
J Lascelles lbw b Harendra Sharma 7
R Wycherley lbw b Atul Chaturvedi 40
D O'Sullivan not out 28
K Alexander bowled AK Banaudha 5
T Reader run out 7
J Ireland bowled Atul Chaturvedi 4
P Wakefield not out 8
Extras (6b,4lb,15w,1nb) 26
TOTAL (6 wickets,30 overs) 182
Dnb: C Fellows-Smith, M Surridge, D Williams.
FOW:1-18,2-112,3-141,4-146,5-157,6-162.
Bowling: Harendra Sharma 5 0 20 1,Pradeep Mishra 4 0 25 0,BM Mehra 3 0 20 0,Raman Dixit 6 0 32 1,AK Banaudha 4 0 21 1,Atul Chaturvedi 6 0 35 2,Anoop Malik 2 0 19 0.
AGRA VETERANS Only Innings
Peter Paul st Alexander b Wakefield 61
Apan Dey c Sub(Nealon) b Williams 8
SK Dwivedi not out 75
Anoop Malik c Surridge b Ireland 1
Harendra Sharma run out 5
BM Mehra st Alexander b Wakefield 6
AK Banaudha not out 12
Extras (2b,3lb,8w,0nb) 13
TOTAL (5 wickets,29.5 overs) 183
Dnb: Rajeev Srivastara, Raman Dixit, Pradeep Mishra, Atul Chaturvedi.
Fow:1-58,2-117,3-118,4-154,5-161.
Bowling-Surridge 6 0 45 0,Stokes 3 0 30 0, Williams 6 0 25 1,Fellows-Smith 6 0 27 0,Ireland 3 0 17 1,Wakefield 5.5 0 34,2.
Ravi & Kavitha happy to spectate,serious stuff for Brian Wilson and Mrs O'Sullivan
Close result in the gloom excites the vast crowd but Dan damages his ankle
Press and TV were also there to interview in particular Ben Nealon who was 12th man .The ground was very wet and the start was delayed.The stadium manager asked Michael Blumberg for the match balls as Gurcharan singh had indicated the nomads would�provide them.However this was news to nomads and unfortunately since blumberg was not playing he had not brought his cricket bag and hence did not have any new cricket balls.This further delayed the start of the match as lackeys were sent into town to procure some new balls...or so it seemed for we were actually to wait for the arrival of the VVVIP-the Commission for Income Tax in Uttar Pradesh.
The teams were duly introduced to the commissioner who apologised for the weather but said it was not as bad as Glasgow where he spent a year as a student! the gentlemen who introduced the commissioner made reference to Income Tax, Lagaan , and more and so hoped that whatever the result of the match taxes would be reduced.
Because of the late start the match was reduced to 30 overs and a matt was laid for the pitch.Much of the outfield on the stadium stand side was very damp. Mark Surridge lost the toss and Nomads were inserted.The game began at 12.30.
Jeremy Lascelles fell early with the score at 18 but then Wycherley and Stokes put on 94 in 14 overs before Wycherly was adjudged lbw.29 runs later Stokes was bowled by Raman Dixit for 57 off 63 balls.
This was unfortunate as the rush to score quick runs over the last 6 overs then brought a flurry of wickets and Nomads closed on 182 probably some 20 runs short of target.Dan O'Sullivan was not out 28 off 29 balls.Agra had taken nearly 2 hours 40 minutes to bowl their 30 overs so lunch was restricted.
Agra began their innings at 3.25 pm as Mark Surridge opened the bowling. He and Andy Stokes struggled to find direction and length and Stokes in particular�conceded a spate of boundaries to Peter Paul.�The introduction of Darren Williams and then Charles Fellows-Smith�curbed the run rate and Williams secured the wicket of Sapan Dev at 58�in only the 9th over. Peter Paul and SK Dwivedi�now put on 59 runs before Paul was appropriately stumped by Alexander off Paul Wakefield bowling wrist spin.
It became increasingly apparent as the tour progressed that the Indian batsmen loved nothing better than fast medium�seam bowling,slow seam and spin presented more problems on the slow Indian wickets.
Agra were 118 in the 22nd over compared with Nomads 135 at the same point. However they had lost only 2 wickets.The introduction of Jo Ireland produced the next wicket caught Surridge,127-3.
With 6 overs left Agra needed 56 runs to win. Ireland was removed from the attack�and Mark trusted himself to finish the task with Wakers at the other end. A run out and another stumping gave Nomads a chance but two dropped catches in the deep were crucial.
With mounting excitement and deepening gloom the Agra captain ran on the field to request an early end to the match. It was too dark to play sir with a shake of the head. However the umpires persauded the Agra to persist, after all Dwivedi was still batting and the light was much worse for the fielders. At about the same time Dan O'Sullillivan who was patrolling the stand side boundaries pestered by hundreds of autopgraph hunters put his foot in a hole and badly sprained his ankle� which also gave Agra exra runs. Dan was to leave for hospital and was out of action until Bombay.
Surridge went for 10 runs in the penultimate over leaving Agra 8 runs to win in the last over�to be bowled by Wakers. It was a wide long on slap that decided matters beating the diving fielder to break the boundary.Two to win two balls to go and Dwivedi hit the winning two with a ball to spare thousands of Agra cricket fans ran on the pitch to celebrate victory.
It had been a thrilling match with the Nomads �in constant demand for interviews photographs and autographs. At the match end�appreiciative speeches were made in Hindi and English. Keith Alexander made all the locals laugh but it remains a secret to his team mates just what he said.all the players received model Taj Mahals and the club acquired a huge trophy for coming second.
Daniel O'Sullivan was taken to an army hospital and at once made friends with the doctors treating him and because of his brothers army credentials became a VVVip patient.� As a result the doctors came to dinner with the Nomads at the Jaypee Hotel.One of the doctors proposed marrying a westerner advancing the theory that there was a better gene pool in Western Europe.
There were power cuts periodically at Agra and the hotel switched to its own generator. However this did not apply to the internet server which remained down for most of our stay.
In the evening a telephone call was made to Gurcharan Singh to thank him for arranging the Agra match but also to ask him about Jaipur where there was a potential problem with Dr Surana.Gurcharan said he was on the case but had so far failed to reach Dr Surana.
As to Lagaan sideshow.Charlton Lamb had been on the mobile phone most of the day fighting against the voluminous Hindi commentator who shouted for nearly 6 hours at an astonishing pitch of perpetual excitement. CCI was contacted but what they said about our booking there was either not heard by Charlton or not thought worth passing on.
Whatever was achieved or not Steve Marions and Charlton spent the whole day on and off the phone and deep in their endeavour much to the quizzical interest of other members of the party.
During the match Bharrat took the ladies and some non players on further trips to� a centre of enbossed embroidery and also jewelry. Liz 'modelled' the priceless museum pieces and Brian Wilson photographed this fantasy.
After the match the bus made an unsheduled stop at the hotel before taking the party to see� a marble factory with beautiful inlaid work but� most were glad on their return �to hear the tour leader had made it to the lobby 'loo' in time. He was by now not the only tour member to be the victim of persisting tummy trouble!
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The Pink city with its extraordinary astronomical gardens
We arrived in the evening at the rather quaint heritage Halevi Hotel which was rather elegant in a minature and intimate manner, very different from the large international
Jaypee rectangles in Agra & Delhi.
We were originally scheduled to play the Surana Cricket Academy but Dr Surana had come up with the staggering fee of £440.00 to play the game.As a result Gurcharan Singh and Sukumar Pathak had been put on the case.However the combined efforts of Gurcharan, the hotel owner(via Sukumar) and Keith Alexander with the Jaipur Eaglets proved to no avail and so our match was posponed until our return to Jaipur from Ranthanbore. As a result the party went on an interesting conducted tour of Japiur's city palace and other places of interest.Tom Reader led a posse elsewhere to ride camels and returned to tell the tale.
  
Hotel Halevi
Day Seven Match v Jaipur v XI Cancelled
  
     
Jaipur Street Three Leos..who'd've guessed? Internet access outside the Halevi Hotel Cows in street Andy found a special pal Rickshaw
Nomads at Trigonometry
Hotel HRH Hunting Lodge
Centenary tour to India Day Eight Travel to Ranthambore Tiger Reserve via Amber Fort
Hotel HRH Hunting Lodge Ranthanbore
Day Nine-TIGER Trot twice round wild life reserve
My goodness it was cold when we set off to see the tigers at 7.00 am! Russell wrapped up and also Liz Stokes with Jeremy Lascelles
  
Half the party saw this Tigress and then her two large cubs.They then walked across the road in front of the vehicle and each turned and looked at the Nomads as if for a photo cue. Robert Wycherley captured this on video which was shown later on the hotel TV.
Half the party saw a tigress and her cubs
  
The girls enjoyed their lunch! Rathnabore Hunting Lodge Nomads at practise in the warm sunshine after lunch
Back to Hotel Halevi
Day Ten-Long journey then Game Lose To Modi CA by 5 wickets
The party rose mighty early at Ranthanbore in order to reach Jaipur in reasonable time for the cricket match.
The Neerja Modi School turned out to be very new, very grand and half way through its construction. There were two full size cricket grounds, one complete, the second still be worked on. The Modi Cricket Academy was the dream fulfilled of Mr Modi the father of the proprieter of the school and he was determined to create cricket grounds as he had seen them in England, surrounded by trees and shrubs. There were plans to build a pavilion/clubhouse. We were greeted again by a posse of local press and TV reporters with cameras.
Nomads failed to accelerate at the appropriate time and despite some fine shots by skipper Surridge the total was always 20 runs short. When we bowled although Stokes intimidated one opener who was soon out for a duck and Surridge dismissed number 3 with a beauty there were a lot of wides bowled. Stokes,Surridge and Nealon gave away 23 wides while Williams,Blumberg and Fellows-Smith bowled none.With a low total to defend wides are a luxury no team can afford. True the opposition gave away 23 wides as well but that is no reason to follow suit. So we lost!
Match Seven Nomads v Neerja Modi Cricket Academy at Neerja Modi Cricket Ground January 7th 2003, 40 overs per Innings match
Result: Neerja Modi CA won by 5 wickets
Toss: NMCA
Umpires:B Wilson & ANOji
Scorers:Bill Rodwell & Numbersji
Man of the Match:Abhinar Chaturvedi
NOMADS CC Only Innings
P Wakefield run out 23
K Alexander st Bhatt b Khan 23
B Nealon bowled Gupta 27
R Mann c Meena b Gupta 0
R Wycherley lbw b Khan 16
J Lascelles st Bhatt b Khan 5
A Stokes st Bhatt b Khan 0
M Surridge not out 22
C Fellow-Smith not out 1
Extras (0b,9lb,23w,2nb) 34
TOTAL (7wickets,40 overs) 151
Dnb:D Williams, M Blumberg
Fow:1-59,2-98,3-103,4-106,5-124,6-126,7-131
Bowling:Manoj Meera 2 0 13 0,Prabakhar Srivastava 4 0 16 0,Aman Deep Singh 4 1 18 0, J akir Khan 8 0 40 4,Mukeh Meena 7 3 11 0,Puspendra 2 0 15 0,Dinesh Najar 7 0 22 0,Mohit Gupta 6 1 5 2.
NEERJA MODI Cricket Academy Only Innings
A Chaturvedi bowled Fellow-Smith 53
A Kishore c Alexander b Stokes 0
M Meena bowled Surridge 4
AD Singh c Wycherley b Fellow-Smith 25
M Gupta run out 9
R Bhatt not out 29
P Srivastava not out 6
Extras (0b,2lb,23w,0nb) 25
TOTAL (5 wickets,34.2 overs) 152
DBN: D Nayar,P Pendra, J Khan, M Meera.
Fow:1-8,2-39,3-104,4-109,5-129.
Bowling-Stokes 7 1 29 1,Surridge 8 0 37 1,Nealon 3 0 22 0,Williams 6 1 20 0,Blumberg 5 0 18 0,Fellows-Smith 5.2 0 24 2.
Nomads play at the Modi Academy
Nomads were very well looked after and warmly welcomed by Miss Modi the Principal of the school. Later we returned to the Halevi hotel. That evening the printer arrived with the tour brochure.Ugh 1He had printed it 'perfect bound' when the whole thing was layed out for saddle stitch. All the proof reading that had been done by Annette,Daryn Williams and MB as we flew to India had been ignored! Every copy stank of printing machine solvents! What's more he insisted on being paid there and then. This was a slight problem as the Treasurer Brinde Collins and husband Simon Collins had refused to transfer the funds from the Nomads account until we had produced an official invoice. This was apparently the result of a misunderstood instruction from the Club President Richard Kershaw who had mentioned receipts! All of which was not very helpful when in the middle of a tour of India. In the event a whip round by Steve Marions from the tour party for part payment of their sweaters(two thirds of the price was paid by the club) and all MB's tour spending money paid the bill. What should have been a stunning brochure thus became a disappointing venture. Harish and sponsor come to see Charlton and Steve about a Lagaan Match???
While en route to the Amber Fort who do we bump into but some members of Calthorpe CC..see you in April and we did.Nomads rode the elephants and inspected the Amber Fort.Charlton Lamb and Bharatji studied the Fort very seriously.Click here for Nomads on the Elephants
  
More pics and info on Amber Fort
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HRH Shikiathur Hunting lodge
Centenary tour to India Day Eleven
Fly to Uadaipur & Look Around
Arrive in India's Venice .
We were delayed by fog and arrived in Udaipur in two posse-s.Some by jetair second some by Air India. Only one bus was sent for us and the driver informed the first group."You may wait for your colleagues or we can go now and return for them but they must pay for the second journey"
As the bus was quite obviously incapable of taking the whole party and its luggage Tom announced " Drive On" and so the driver did.There had been much revolution and moaning and grumbling at Jaipur airport..'Vee Voz Robbed' and its Anglo Saxon equivalent rose and fell amidst a plethora of false data, bad arithmatic and silly innuendo so the tour leadership decided to have a get together when were at Sikarbhadi.
However when everybody arrived at this beautiful place and settled down to drinks by the pool we discovered John Behar was now with us and his laid back relaxed manner obviously invaded the wild emotions of the revolutionaries and all seemed happy. So the 'get together' was abandoned..or postponed
The pool at Sikarbhadi which had such a calming effect on the hot head faction in our party...for a while!
Hotel Shikarbadhi Hunting Ldge
Day Eleven Lots Of Runs Match v HRH Udaipur XI- Dramatic Victory
Match Eight Nomads v HRH Udaipur XI at Shikarbhadi Cricket Ground on 9th January 2003,40 overs match
Result:Nomads won by 3 runs
Toss Nomads
Umpires:Ajat Shatru & D Rhodes
Scorers:K Raju & B Wilson
Debuts:None
NOMADS CC Innings R B
J Lascelles bowled KK 4 17
A Stokes bowled Ranveer 126 83
R Wycherley c Ranveer b Amit Bhatt 36 40
J Behar lbw b Hemant Mali 1 7
M Surridge c H Mali b Rupesh 52 49
T Reader bowled Rupesh 25 26
S Marions not out 8 16
D Williams not out 7 6
Extras (b3,lb7,w12,nb3) 25
TOTAL (6 wickets,40 overs) 284
Dnb:C Fellows-Smith,ME Blumberg,W Rodwell.
Fow:1-32,2-119,3-152,4-170,6-241,6-265.
Bowling-Ranveer 8 1 40 1,Atul Bhatt 6 0 60 1,KK 8 0 60 1,Hemant Mali 8 0 36 1,Amit Bhatt 4 0 29 0,Puneet 3 0 31 0,Rupesh 3 0 18 2.
HRH UDAIPUR XI Innings
A Arun st Wycherley b Fellows-Smith 39 29
CV Singh bowled Williams 33 34
A Bhatt bowled Surridge 8 16
H Mali not out 88 83
R Ranveer c Reader b Williams 11 15
KK c Lascelles b Williams 34 37
RH Shaki-Singh c Marions b Blumberg 9 11
A Bhatt bowled Blumberg 36 15
R Rupesh run out 0 1
Extras (b8,lb5,w14,nb0) 27
TOTAL (8 wickets,40 overs) 281
Dnb:P Puneet,S Satish.
Fow:1-51,2-62,3-106,4-118,5-180,6-211,7-278,8-281.
Bowling-Surridge 8 0 47 1,Fellows-Smith 8 1 52 1,Behar 8 0 30 0,Williams 8 0 40 3,Blumberg 6 0 71 2,Stokes 2 0 28 0.
Hotel Shikabadi Hunting Lodge
Day Twelve- Wakers hits 145 Match v Udaipur XI Lost by 23 runs
This was a match of great scoring with an extraordinary number of sixes hit.Tariq hit 177 for the opposition and Wakers despite his hobble struck an heroic 145. There was some indifferent fielding by Nomads in the match including one youngster who sat on a wall over the boundary for much of the Udaipur innings with the result that he failed to stop a string of square hit boundaries!
Had the designated opening batsmen been ready to start the Nomads innings we may well have won as then Keith and Ben would have been coming in at numbers 5 & 6...but on tour it was ever thus......
Match Nine Nomads v Udaipur XI at Shikarbadi Cricket Ground January 10th 2003 40 overs each match.
Result:Udaipur won by 23 runs
Toss: Won by Nomads
Umpires:Brian Wilson & AN Otherji
Scorers: Bill Rodwell & AN Otherji
Man of the Match :Tariq
UDAIPUR XI Only Innings
BK c Alexander b Behar 43
Amit lbw b Stokes 16
Tariq lbw Williams 177
Ranjit Singh st Alexander b Behar 61
Nazmul Singh c Blumberg b Surridge 5
MK Lakshyaraj bowled Williams 47
RK Shakti Singh not out 4
Anil Mathur not out 2
Extras (0b,8lb,24w,0nb) 32
TOTAL (6 wickets) 382
Dnb:Rupesh,Manoj,Munawar
FOW:1-41,2-100,3-216,4-227,5-357.
Bowling-Stokes 7-0-73-1,Fellows-Smith 8-0-43-0,Behar 8 0 63-2,Wakefield 3-0-33-0,Williams 5 1 41 2,Surridge 6 0 82 1,Blumberg 1-0-18-0,Nealon 2-0 21-0.
NOMADS Only Innings
B Nealon c Munawar b Tariq 5
K Alexander c Manoj b Tariq 5
A Stokes st Munawar b Mathur 65
P Wakefield bowled Mathur 145
R Wycherley c Ranjit b Manoj 62
M Surridge st Munawar b Lahshyaraj 25
J Behar run out 0
R.Mann not out 9
D Williams c Munawar b Tariq 1
C Fellows-Smith not out 10
Extras (10b,6lb,11w,4nb) 31
TOTAL (8 wickets) 358
Dnb:M Blumberg
FOW:1-10,2-10,3-165,4-256,5-329,6-336,7-344,8-347.
Bowling-BK 8-0-66-0,Ranjit Singh 3-0-25-0,Tariq 7-0-61-3,Manoj 4-0-47-1,Mathur 8-0-53-2,Lakshyaraj 7-0-49-1,Rupesh 2-0-24-0,Hasan 1-0-17-0.
The two teams line up before the match
Shikarbadi Hotel Hunting Lodge
Centenary tour to India Day Thirteen Excursion and Sight Seeing @ Gala Dinner
A depleted party set off for the Kumbhalgarh Fort which was much recommended by the locals.Others used their time for more time in and around Udaipur itself .
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This lunch was by general acclaim the best of the tour, unfortunately the tour leader had to sit this one out having suffered a serious indisposition while visiting the fort. However from hereon in he was to feel much better...
Thirty miles of walls and we walked to the top and down.Dan as usuall attracted his own train of local followers and Charles shook his head and mumbled 'most impressive'.
For futher information about this redoubt of the Mewars..just click here
A reception at the Palace with HRH the Maharana was scheduled for the evening followed by dinner at the adjacent Shiv Niwas Palace Hotel. Unfortunately the Maharana was held up in Delhi and so a message was sent to the Hunting Lodge that the reception was postponed until after the cricket match the next day.Doubly unfortunate was the fact that this message came to Tom Reader who rushed round telling everybody that both the reception and the dinner were off.
Luckily a phone call to Sabina Bailey clarified the situation but nevertheles a breakaway body did their own thing which apparently was very nice although Russell Mann was moved to unusuall wrath by the habitual moans of one Nomad tourist. The rest of us were entertained by members of the Mewar family in a stunning courtyard with fountains of the Shiv Niwas Palace...drinks, canapes and a sumptuous dinner to the accompaniment of local musicians. Everybody received their official royal invitation to the reception the next day including members of 'the missing party'.
Hotel CCI Brabourne Stadium
Centenary tour to India Day Fourteen Tea wih His Royal Highness
Our flight turned out to be in the evening so a third match was arranged and everybody including HRH ,his son and brother and Sabina Bailey thought the match was on .However the guy delegated to raise the team did not and so we had a rest day. Ugh! G Charlton Lamb was due to make his debut in this match and so ended up not playing at all all tour!
Before we left Udaipur we visited the Palace for tea with HRH Maharana Arvind Singhji Mewar 77th in line and at great time was enjoyed by all and even the ladies received an HRH tie.
Tom Reader was of special interest to HRH as his daughter had been at school in the Isle Of Man which he had visited often.
HRH Arvindh Singji greets Nomads..for more pictures click here
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After this glittering affair the Nomads departed to the airport and so to Mumbai while Charlton for reasons most mysterious flew back to Delhi and Steve Marions travelled to meet his spiritual guru somewhere else!
On arrival after some searching we discovered our coach and set off for the CCI. Keith Alexander gave a detailed commentary about everything we were passing although most of those at the back of the bus could not care less and almost drowned his interesting observations about his home town.Disaster was yet to take place ..indeed near outright revolution and a great deal of condemnatory language was used but perhaps people were tired.
Anyway Keith pulled off a miracle and most of the party ended up at the Taj President...5 Star double deluxe for a pittance. Some people thanked Keith....but lots vented their fury at a meeting held in their new luxurious surroundings.
Meanwhile Ben Nealon,Bloomers and Annette bedded down in the 4star dluxe nelw reburbished part of the CCI complex while Wakers and Charles F-S did the same in the CCI Chambers. "I don't care if you have booked us a room in the f...ing Ritz we're in bed and staying here retorted Charles F-S on the news that he should decamp to the Taj President.
Hotel CCI & Taj President
Day Fifteen
Match v CCI Cancelled
We were due to play the CCI on this day.Then they took a booking from the World Cricket Academy and so the ground was not available.They said they would play us at the Bombay Gymkhana but that never materialised and although they had promised to arrange three matches they did nothing which was a pity. Had we known earlier Keith Alexander could most likely have arranged another game.
So those at the CCI met the WCA chaps including Prasanna, Bedi and Ralph Middlebrrok amongst others and one of the young players learning to bowl spin and play spin better turned out to be Master Terence Howe -a Nomad.
For those who stayed at the CCI there was the great pleasure of evening drinks on the ground..
here are 'Bloomers', Charles and Annette enjoying the whicker chairs and the Brabourne ambiance.
Others ventured into town and did a lot of shopping.
Charlton Lamb remained mysteriously in Delhi although Steve Marians steadfastly refused to join Ben Nealon in the plush bedroom he had all to his own in the Club house-equally very intriguing!
Hotel CCI & Taj President
Day Sixteen Match v Bombay Gymkhana Lost by 32 runs
Despite a taxi driver who did not know where the Bombay Gymkhana was and took the CCI party to the Police Gymkhana instead in the end we made it there.Whew!
Someway through Bombay Gym's innings along came Wakers dragging his cricket bag behind him so as they had 12 we batted Wakers instead of Bill Rodwell.
The four lbws did not enamour umpire PS Patang to the Nomads. It was a pity that Stokes did not bat higher as he played brilliantly to give us an outside chance of reaching our target being caught on the boundary on 105 off 79 balls. It was a pity we conceded 30 wides!
Match Twelve Nomads v Bombay Gymkhana at Bombay Gykhana January14th 2003 Limited Overs Match 40 overs 12 a-side 11 field.
Result: Bombay Gymkhana won by 32 runs
Toss: Bombay Gymkhana
Umpires:David Rhodes & PS Patange
Scorers:Brian Wilson & Asilata Patil
MAN of the Match:Andy Stokes
BOMBAY GYMKHANA Only Innings
Sunil Tamwani run out (Marions) 26
Vikrant Rambia c Nealon b Surridge 34
Varun Nayadu retired 68
Shishir Hattangadi retired 56
Sameer Patkar c Blumberg b Stokes 18
Rakesh Khanna bowled Fellows-Smith 4
Navin Kewalramani c O'Sulliavan b Blumberg 16
Murtuza Ayaz bowled Stokes 5
Deepak c Surridge b Wycherley 14
Nikhil not out 10
Javed Khan not out 2
Extras (0b,1b,30w,0nb) 31
TOTAL (9 wickets*) 284
FOW:1-61,2-84,3-183,4-224,5-230,6-252,7-252,8-263,9-280.
Bowling-Reader 2-0-25-0,Surridge 10-0-50-1,Fellows-Smith 10-75-1,Blumberg 7-0-55-1,Stokes 7-0-40-2,Nealon 1-0-13-0,Rodwell 2-0-18-0,Wycherley 1-0-7-0.
NOMADS CC Innings
DPB O'Sullivan lbw b R Sagar 14
R Wycherley lbw b V Rambia 7
K Alexander bowled S Hattangadi 49
P Wakefield lbw b S Hattangadi 5
A Stokes c Murtaza Ayaz b V Rambia 105
B Nealon bowled V Rambia 20
M Surridge run out 7
T Reader lbw b R Sagar 8
C Fellows-Smith bowled V Rambia 4
S Marians run out 2
ME Blumberg not out 0
Extras (7b,9lb,9w,6nb) 31
TOTAL (All Out 39.2 overs) 252
FOW:1-26,2-54,3-73,4-98,5-161,6-196,7-212,8-246,9-252,10-252.
Bowling-Varun Nayadu 10-0-77-0,Vikrant Rambia 9.2 2 27 4,Rahul Sagar 10 o 55 2,Shishar Hattannadi 6 0 30 2,Sunil Tamwani 4 0 47 0.
The remaining squad after the match with Bombay Gymnkhana.
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Hotel CCI & Taj President
Day Seventeen Match Cancelled
Well had Chris England and the Lagaan lads joined us in Mumbai this was a match scheduled to include all of them whether or not it was for charity and if they did not make it then another match for Nomads pure and simple.
In the event CCI had not arranged another match and although Bloomers and Keith made serious attempts to arrange one it did not come off so another day was spent shopping in Mumbai or lounging round the swimming pool at Taj and CCI.
Wakers was due to leave on Monday evening but missed his flight so he turned up next day at the Bombay Gymkhana and stayed on frightening Charles when he returned to a supposed empty room.."halo said Wakers" in the dark and Charles jumped out of his trousers!
Here is Wakers enjoying the CCI and gosh don't those mouldy buildings behind look in need of Charlton's wonder sterilising product.
Hotels CCI & Goa Jaypee De Luxe
Centenary tour to India Day Eighteen Travel For some tp Goa
The tour splits with some going on to Goa while others lounge around the CCI pool or go shopping before leaving for London
Hotel CCI & Jaypee Goa de Luxe
Centenary tour to India Day Nineteen Some leave Mumbai for London others lounge around in Goa
Day18/19
Hotel Bogmalo Beach
Day Twenty Match v Goa XI Cancelled
In the original plan it had been hoped that Steve Marians and Charlton Lamb would be with us in Goa as well as Tom Reader and Andrew Stokes. For our match we hoped that both Mark Surridge and John Behar whatever the quality of their romantic sojourns in South Goa bamboo huts on the beach they would still travel north to play. That would have made us 10...and of course had the Lagaan plan come off some of them may have been around.Well it did not work out like that.
Bill Rodwell, Keith Alexander,Robert Wycherley,Bloomers and three umpires made the trip to Goa plus three ladies and that's no cricket XI. This much dismayed our Sita guide who greeted us at the airport. He turned out to be playing in the Goa club KO final which Mike Palowker went along to watch.
Robert played some beach cricket to add to his experience at Rathnabore.But many of us did see, once again, Nomads in Delhi on TV-Sony Cricket Masala. Indeed it was a pleasant few days relaxing after the arduous programme of the previous weeks.
Hotel Bogmalo Goa
Day Twenty Two Relax,Feed, Sunbathe, Swim & vist a Spice Farm
  
Eating in Goa was very good and a serious matter.Here on the beach at Bogmalo are Hazel, Brian, Bill and Nompere Hulot alias 'Dusty'.
The famous three at a spice Farm and a sight to remember on the beach.
En Route
Centenary tour to India Day Twenty Three
Travel pm to Mumbai & London
Back to blighty..a rich and wonderful report ..or a trip to hell..watch this space
Charlton Lamb re-appeared at Mumbai airport Waiting for luggage from Goa
As compiled from the scorebooks
Top or bottom-all good tourists
Tour Averages and Stats
We are waiting for the Delhi first match scoreheet of the opposition innings.
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Tour Brochure
The tour brochure is on Acrobat in a pdf file.When I crack this it will appear in full somehow on the website
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India Tour Frontispiece
Nomads & Elephants Amber Fort Jaipur