Is it really 5 years ago? Clapham Nomads played no matches at all in 2020. In January we had arranged about 10 games but within a couple of months everything had changed. I'm sure you remember it well.
By June 2020, there were rumours that recreational cricket could return in late July. As soon as walking for more than an hour was permitted (I think), I strolled around the Wimbledon area looking at some of the pitches we had booked. A groundsman was busily working away on Nursery Road, while the Del Ballard Rec in Dundonald Road resembled a partially-neglected allotment - in other words normal service was resumed.
In late June, Prime Minister Boris Johnson described cricket balls as "vectors of disease" - the most damning assessment of Nomads' balls since Morden cc opined that we bought ours from Woolworth's. However, on 3rd July, it was reported that club cricket would be allowed to resume the following weekend with various caveats such as the requirement that balls should be cleaned with hand sanitiser every few overs - I'm sure certain teams I could mention just sanitised the ball on one side, gaining copious swing as a result. Most of the sociable aspects of the game such as tea, high fives, hugging, ? slip cordons and communal baths/ showers were either discouraged or banned - bit of a relief really.
Our first scheduled match after the resumption was away at Northfields on Sunday 19th July but, despite Emil's best efforts, and despite having been "cooped up" for 4 months, only 4 or 5 players agreed to play. It did not look good for the rest of the summer and I took the perhaps premature step of cancelling not only the Northfields game but also all the remaining 2020 fixtures. Of course, within a few weeks there was some kind of normality; pubs were packed and teams such as Energy Exiles were cavorting, in a socially-distanced way - on the playing fields of South-West London. Oh well.....
2021 to follow soon.
