Match Report
Crusaders recorded a fourth straight victory on Sunday against Hobgoblin Nomads, but made heavy work of what should have been a more comfortable win.
With Wajih taking a mid-season break, Spud took charge of a team with three debutants. Assad joined Big Brother Ash for a full debut, having appeared only in t20's and 'The Singh Dynasty' extended further, with first games for Jaspreet and Sandhu. Nomads won the toss and elected to make first use of the Hilly Fields track.
The Hobgoblins top order were all capable of playing their shots and if it were not for some tidy bowling from Mr Taylor and the impressive swing of Sandhu, they might well have got off to a far better start. Despite the track appearing a little green, there was very little movement, nor was there any great bounce. It seemed that the quicker you bowled, the less you got out of it.
Sandhu marked his debut with our first wicket, late swing deceiving Cambage (19) and pegging back his off-stump. This brought the dangerous White to the crease (something that I have never read in an opposition report) and the tempo of Hobgoblin's batting increased. Positive running, mixed with some hefty blows, increased the score to 84, before Spud picked up a return catch to remove White for 20. Amid the congratulations for yet another vital wicket taken by Spud, there was some audible chunterings from Mike that 'the world is not a fair place'.
At this point the tide changed dramatically in our favour. Chand claimed 4 wickets in a fine spell of his particular brand of slow bowling (interestingly one of his deliveries did go above the batsman's eyeline) and Spud added a further 2. Jaspreet finished off the tail to leave Hobgoblin Nomads defending a total of 121, having lost their final seven wickets for just 17 runs.
With no Tea interval, we changed straight around, with Assad partnering Moysey at the top of the order. Hobgoblin's openers kept it tight, with only the occasional loose delivery for Assad to punish and the score meandered to 28, before Assad played around a straight one.
Nita and Darren then added a more fluent 57 for the 2nd wicket, taking the score to 85 at the twenty over point. From here the wheels did'nt completely detatch, but there were certainly some loose bolts. Ash completed a 'day to forget' with a first ball duck and then the crowd were enthralled by Danglers and G Man patting back dot ball after dot ball after dot ball....zzzzzzzzz. Apparently much later we won.
