Veteran Nomads thwart Kensington
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These two old farts saved the day
Three Nomads spanning some 200 years and more battled it out for nearly an hour and a half to save the day for Nomads after the top order had been swept away amidst a mix of good bowling, a difficult pitch and sheer suicide.
Earlier Neeraj Nayar had won the toss and sfter democratic discussion his leading batsmen swayed the vote and so Kensington batted first on a most unusual Barmes pitch, green and spiteful. That Kensington reached a decent total said a lot for the top order's application and the failure of Nomads' seamers to bowl line and length. There were many chances and half chances to say nothing of a little luck. There was a good contest between Singh who sought to dominate the bowling of Gordon & Sajjad. In attempting this he took several blows on the body but also punished some uncharacteristic short balls from Sajjad. Gordon did remove both Chaggar and Singh but it was his replacement by Oliver Croom-Johnson that set Kensington into mini collapse as the score stumbled from 85-2 to 110-6 including the wicket of the patient Jimmy Pickles,32 runs off 50 balls.
Kensington recoverd from this perilous state to a comanding 210-9 declared. Amit Shanker with assistance from a careful Tabby Khan and later skipper Neeraj Nayar put on valuable runs. Amit should have been out several times before he scored as he mis drove airily into space or near an immobile fielder.! Indeed Nomads were guilty of dropping several catches,Blumberg-2,Gordon-1,Curtis-1 and Jamie Lane called for a catch a step or two away from youngster Jack Hardy only to fail to make the ground required.
This was a frustrating day in the field for Nomads. A little more discipline from Gordon and Shawl together with sound catching and a little luck and Kensington should have been out for under 100.
Johnno had promised his team mates a century and briefly he commamded the crease with a swagger, smashing Shanker and Shailendra to the boundary. Then in a moment of madness, having been refused a third run he stood transfixed mid pitch, quite oblivious that Tabby Khan has a strong throw. Too late he made to regain his ground and was run out. A quite ridiculous dismissal!. Meantime Brockton was bowled by one that kept low, Peerless yorked himself and Hardy fell lbw to a straight short ball that kept low as he attempted another pulll to leg. Lane and Ward battled it out for a while but when they and a helmeted Debbie had fallen the score was a pitiful 57-8.
At this point Blumberg joined Charlton Lamb and these two batted on, over after over, in good and bad light to thwart Kensington's ambition for victory. Eventually Amit Shanker broke Lamb's concentration but Oliver Croom-Johnson was equal to the situation and so Nomads saved the match. Blumberg had batted for 83 balls and one hour twenty four minutes. He did give one chance quite early on, a powerful slash off the back foot off Khan was parried but not caught at slip and the two veterans ran an easy single.
A good evening's drinking followed such heroics. Neeraj Nayar graciously awarded Man Of the Match to Debbie Curtis for her catch to dismiss Mark Oppe and Michael Blunmberg awarded Akhish Shailendra the Cobra Special award as Kensington Man of the Match. He said it was a close thing between Amit Shanker and Shailendra but Amit had won the award last year while playing for Nomads and hitting a century.
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Jamie Lane defends Oliver 10-3-32-4. An exemplary spell Brian Ward 'An American at the crease'
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