WORCESTER Nomads continue to play the vast majority of the organised fixtures and played the first eleven match against Old Elizabethans when many other games in division one of the Worcestershire League were cancelled because of wet conditions

Once again this went against Nomads with Old Elizabethans being victorious by the very close margin of one wicket. Nomads batting first were indebted to a fifth wicket partnership of 136 between Richard Lisle (83) and Kieran Rees (36); scored in only 94 minutes.

However Roger Dixon, restored to his opening spot, was the only other batsman to look comfortable against the OE bowling led by Stuart Phillips, but he was out for 16.

In reply the OEs batted more consistently than Nomads with three batsmen reaching the forties. It appeared like an easy win until Glen Collins thought otherwise and with Ian Jinks bowled out four tailenders for only two runs. Roger Silk with support from Harrison then settled down to score the winning runs; taking OEs to third place and pushing Nomads further down into the relegation zone.

Nomads second eleven visiting Droitwich Road continued its excellent run and defeated their OE counterparts by three wickets.

Andy Brown and Anton Madzarevic each took four wickets to hold the OEs to 190-8 at the end of their allotted overs.

In reply opener Chris Bland with a steadfast 45 and Blake Raymond with a brilliant undefeated 62 scored most of the required runs.

The 3rd eleven entertaining Bewdley thirds at Colwall was rained off at the tea interval but at last made a reasonable total with Chris Oakley back to form with 93.

On Sunday the Nomads were unable to force a win against either Moreton in Marsh and Fossils. However the first eleven players at Moreton saw most of the 444 runs coming from the bats of Nomad Malcolm Jones (113no) and the home batsmen John Hurrell (102) and his brother Andy (100no).

The match ended in an exciting draw with the scores level and only the Hurrell brothers and Richard Watkins for Nomads making any impression on a good batting pitch.

At Bransford the Nomads second eleven entertained a strong Fossils team and after recovering from losing both openers to the effervescent John Reynolds, never lost the initiative and reached the commanding declaration total of 224-4 thanks to Dave Pearson (83no), Adam Blain (51) and Jon Dimond (56). Fossils in reply batted competently with John Shepherd and Kevin Gilbert both reaching fifties.

Yet Fossils were never up with the scoring rate and wickets started to fall quickly in the quest for runs and the draw came with Nomads three wickets from victory and Fossils still 60 runs short. Iain Elliott (4-20) and David Pearson (2-13) were responsible for the collapse.

Nomads youth section once again carried the Nomads' banner with pride. The under 14 squad defeated Birmingham League side Old Hill in the semi final of the Bedford Trophy and then went on to win the final at Stourbridge against Belbroughton. Tom Marsh with 33 and 19no was the most dependable Nomad but the 'Man of the Match' award in the final went to Nomad, Liam O'Driscoll, with his 39 runs, two catches and three wickets for 11. This particular Nomads' squad has now won five County finals in five years.