Nomads v Kingston Lefthanders 2/8-Nomads Innings

Abbey Rec played host to the latest renewal of this long-standing, always eventful fixture. The Lefthanders had warned us in June that they had some new, high-quality players who were away on a fishing trip. We did notice several unfamiliar faces on arrival and, considering this together with the slightly makeshift nature of our batting line-up, it seemed Lefthanders had a reasonable chance of recording only their second victory over Nomads in 9 seasons.
John Crossland captained for the first time this year and there was an emotional return for Andrew West, making his 60th appearance for the club.
Ben Fewson and Prasanth took guard for the Nomads. Fewson hit Chris's second ball for 4 but it was mostly stout defence against the Worcester Park CC League bowler who combined accuracy with a hint of movement off the excellent pitch. "Take it easy, Chris, it's only a Sunday game," a fielder chirped at one point. At the other end, "Meerkat" forced Prasanth to play out 3 successive maidens. Excellent ground-fielding helped this, though he was also dropped at point. 6 runs off 6 overs and the openers seemed only too aware that we were missing Mark Bradshaw, Hassan Khan and Amin. Fewson then grabbed the reins, hitting Chris back over his head for 4 in successive overs. Meerkat was inexplicably taken off with figures of 4-3-2-0 and, with several short deliveries, his replacement Johnson issued Nomads a licence to accelerate. Our lads accepted this eagerly to the tune of 23 off 2 overs, a 6 and a 4 from Prasanth in successive balls being the highlight. Johnson took revenge on Prasanth in the 14th over with the help of a massive slice of luck; the ball hit a pad well forward and rolled back to dislodge a bail. 43 for 1 and yet another solid start, of which we have had so many this season.
Former Leicestershire triallist Niall McConnell walked out, having not played for several years, but the man from Houghton-on-the-Hill looked at home straight away with plenty of time to play his shots, particularly strong square on both sides. Ben Fewson was on 36 at drinks but then raced to his half-century. He was playing as well as he has this season and was profoundly untroubled by Lefthanders' change bowlers, though the leg-spinner Dave Connett produced considerable tweak at times. It was a major surprise when Fewson got a leading edge to a short one from Adam Elliott and departed for 52. No less a figure than umpire Andrew West informed Ben later; "You should have had a century, mate."
Ajmal at No.4 was aware that, in the absence of Amin, he was "slogging for two" and he was bowled third ball. At 88 for 3 all-rounder Rob Jenkins, playing his first Nomads game for 2 months, joined his friend McConnell and the pals played out an important partnership. One side of the wicket was almost boundary-less and the pair repeatedly hit the ball deep into a patch of damp clover just short of the rope. Jenkins' innings of 34 included four 3s and an all-run 4. He was finally stumped off the wily Connett and admitted that, after running 11 in the previous over, he was too tired to make it back to his crease.
Despite the excellent batting on view, skipper Crossland appeared unsettled and was pacing the boundary wearing a deep frown. "Don't think I won't declare," he asserted repeatedly, "because I will." The consensus from the watching Nomads was that, with the Lefthanders team containing new players who were making diving, one-handed stops, a declaration at anything under 180 would be risky. That made Crossland's mind up for him. "I'll declare on 170," he decided. We should have realised that the frown was not evidence of worry, but of the cogs and pistons of a fine cricket brain pumping in overdrive.
McConnell departed, just 6 runs short of a deserved 50, caught off the excellent 13-year-old swing bowler Williams. 160 for 5. With one eye on the pacing skipper, Ismat and Lefebve kept up some momentum with 14 taken off 18 balls but, when Lefebve fell to Chris and only 2 were taken from the following 8 balls, Crossland had seen enough. "I'm calling them in," he shouted, "I'm declaring." The Kingston fielders' faces registered bafflement. "Why?" They asked. Their faces should have shown fear rather than bafflement, being sucked in as they were by a cricketing mastermind.
So an extra quarter of an hour was added to Kingston's innings. Would these minutes prove vital? You'll have to read the next instalment to find out