Philippines Cricket Update - January 2006

Gulf Air CC (317/7 off 35 overs) beat Nomads CC (287 all out off 30.4 overs) by 30 runs

As ever, the Gulf Air tour weekend proved to be the highlight of the annual Nomads fixture list. A packed ground witnessed a thrilling game where the valiant Nomads came so close to pulling off one of the most dramatic wins in the history of the Club. Chasing down a monumental 318 to win, Patrick Lobo (107 not out) and Greg Martin (70) had the visitors with their backs against the wall - even getting ahead of the required rate of 9.1 per over - until a miraculous boundary catch on the run by Parag sealed the win, and the trophy, for Gulf Air.

Lobo picked up where he had left off the previous day - crashing the ball to all parts of the ground and recording 10 sixes and 9 fours in only the second Nomads century in recent history. His form was imperious - to the extent that certain members of the opposing side declined their captain's invitation to have a bowl at him. Martin, playing his last innings for the Club, registered 12 boundaries and timed the ball as well as he has ever done. Both men had made half centuries and retired earleir in the innings.

Nomads CC & Gulf Air CC © ICC

With eight wickets down and the score at 193 in the 25th over, the equation was the rather tall order of 124 runs off 10.3 - no easy task. Purcell battled bravely with Lobo and the score was accelerated to 236 after 28 - seven overs left and still 81 required. Martin and Lobo ripped into the bowling - the former with grace and timing; the latter brute force and timing. The ball literally flew everywhere. The Gulf captain did not know who to bowl - even if he had, they probably would not have wanted to.

Lobo's century came up with a guided boundary to the third man area and the ground erupted - not since Jeremy Smith had recorded 108* in the Ashes game of 2004 had anyone got close to three figures. A truly outstanding performance at any level of the game. It was only Parag's brilliant catch, at full tilt just inches inside the boundary, that brought Martin's innings to a close. Nomads had lost by 30 runs with four overs to spare, but had come back from the dead in a game never to be forgotten.

The valiant Martin resembled Brett Lee after the Edgbaston thriller for at least an hour after the game - but no blame could possibly be attached, his contribution had been remarkable in an epic battle.

The morning had begun with visiting captain, Mark Hartshorne, winning the toss and choosing to bat. Having come off second best in 2005 and losing the sixes final the day before, the Gulf were up for revenge. As it transpired, things could not have started better for Nomads captain, Bailey - Parag thumped a sumptuous cover drive for four off Faisal's first ball and then cut the second one straight back into his stumps - 4/1 off two balls. Sanjay played well for 19, inclusing one remarkable upper cut for six over the top of the main stand and into the house behind. His potentially damaging innings was cut short by a piece of painful boundary brilliance by Mohinani, who cracked the back of his head on the ground having safely pouched a very difficult catch.

At this point the Gulf took over - regular tourists Khalid, Sandeep and Shaffique all made accomplished half centuries - Shaffique's coming at some pace. Nabil, Veryard and Turner all contributed well as the Nomads bowling was flayed to all parts. Hartley bowled seven good overs and took 1/33, Faisal took some stick but finished with 3/48 and Mohinani stepped up to bowl at the death and took a creditable 2/38 off four overs. Rana Pal, Sanjay Sujanani and Malcolm Purcell all had days to forget - to the extent that the captain had to bowl himself for a record six overs, snaring Nabil with his cunning change of pace in the process.

A total of 317 is considered a tall order off 50 overs, let alone 35, but the Nomads camp had convistion that anything was achievable. Hartley and Martin started brightly until Hartley fell to a magnificent boundary catch by the enigmatic Khalid. Sinclair fell soon after, although the pace of the innings was well up with the asking rate at this stage. Lobo and Martin then embarked on their first partnership of the day and the next wicket was not to fall before the score had reached 126, when Faisal played around a good one from the sharpish Sanjay. Rana Pal came and went quickly and Hall got himself bowled (again). Sujanani and Mohinani added impetus up to the second drinks break, after which three wickets fell in three balls. First Mohinani was run out, then the same fate befell Sujanani. The captain faced up to his first ball and wasted no time in demonstrating that Lobo was probably the better man for the job. Purcell gave Lobo great support hit a remarkable six over cover in the process. The stage was set...

Sanjay recorded the remarkable bowling figures of 1/18 off seven overs - no-one else would be particularly interested in the publication of their statistics.

This was the 14th consecutive Gulf Air tour and long may it continue. Our thanks go to Mark Hartshore and his team for providing a wonderful weekend of cricket and fun. The Club and the game were most definitely the winners.

Nomads Man of the Match : Patrick Lobo

Just as a side note to Patrick's rather dominant weekend: the first ball that he played a shot in anger at on the Saturday took the top edge and hit him square on the cheek bone below the right eye. Being one of the first on the scene in the aftermath, I can assure readers that a lump the size of a tennis ball came up on his cheek within seconds. Pat chose to bat on and applied some ice later. Given that his weekend realised 275 runs for once out, it has been decided to smack him in the face before every game...

Nomads Champagne Moment : Malcolm Purcell (six over cover)

The details of Nomads victorious 6-a-side campaign on the Saturday are summarised below:

Group Stage
Nomads 71 (Lobo 17, Faisal 23*, Martin 28*) beat Gulf II 52 by 19 runs

Nomads 47 (Lobo 42*) lost to Manila Cricket Club 61 by 5 wickets

Semi-Finals
Nomads 81 (Lobo 63*, Faisal 11*) beat Indians 54 by 4 wickets

Gulf Air I 69 beat Manila Cricket Club 59 by 10 runs

Final
Nomads 88 (Lobo 46*, Martin 13*) beat Gulf Air I 67 by 5 wickets

The winning team : Faisal Khan (capt), Gareth Cookson, Greg Martin, Rodney Hall, Jonathan Thorp (w/k), Patrick Lobo and Gary Powell - congratulations to them all.

Manila Nomads CC vs Punjabi Tigers CC - Sunday 22nd January 2006

Manila Nomads (169/8 off 30 overs) beat Punjabi Tigers (110 all out off 20.5 overs) by 59 runs

The Nomads pulled off a convincing victory on Sunday against a young, and somewhat impulsive, Tigers side.

The Nomads batted first after Bailey remarkably won a toss - but only after a rather thick "coin" had landed on end twice... Hartley (22) and Stone (25) made excellent contributions, but the early loss of Mohinani (2), Faisal (1) and an expansive Cookson (4) pegged back the home team at 75/5.

Russel McCool on full debut as a Nomads member played carefully to start, but then opened his shoulders as he accelerated towards an important retirement at 42*. He was well supported by Sujanani (13) and young Danny Harland (10) as the Nomads collectively nudged the score towards something competitive.

The Indian bowlers bowled as well as any visiting team, but the all pace attack gave them precious little variety. Opening bowler, Gill, with 1/19 together with Gaurav (3/27) and Maddy (2/33) did the damage - each bowling six exacting overs. This was somewhat undone by Harry who was very expensive at 1/57 and was the major culprit in an extras total of 43.

A target of 170 off 30 overs is not the most difficult at Nomads - it simply needs patience and application. These were clearly two qualities that the Tigers did not possess. From the word go, the bat was swinging like a demonised felling-axe, with little regard for the line or length of the ball that had been bowled. The clatter of wickets was, to say the least, regular. Faisal cashed in with 4/32 and Cookson, bowling with great width, once again excelled with 4/14. Stone bowled well, but had no luck and Hartley took a couple of overs to mop up opposing skipper, Gautam.

The Nomads outfielding was inspired - McCool took three catches at first slip, Stone took a good one in the deep and Mohinani pulled off a spectacular stop at cover that resulted in the run out of top scorer Gaurav for 27.

The last wicket went down with 9.1 overs to spare - the Tigers will have to rethink their battle plans next time.

Nomads Man of the Match : Russel McCool (42* and three slip catches)

Nomads Champagne Moment : Sanju Mohinani (run out from cover)

Upcoming Events:

Saturday 28th January : Nets from 2pm

Sunday 29th January : 0900 Junior Academy

Sunday 29th January : 1015 Nomads vs India (Henry Colley Cup)

Saturday 4th February : Nets from 2pm

Sunday 5th February : 0900 Junior Academy

Sunday 5th February : 1015 Nomads vs Manila 'Roos