Devon Dumplings v Nomads

The Dumplings arrived for the first game of the Oxford Tour in sunshine and under blue skies, very different from the recent wet weather in Devon. Dumplings won the toss and chose to bowl on what looked like a green deck. Due to a last-minute illness Dumplings had only 10 men though Nomads were likewise reduced. 

Ashaay Dube (1-54) and Pete Hensor (1-48) opened the bowling. Dube finally hit the pitch with the last ball of his first over, and found the edge, caught low to his right by captain Harry Kandampully behind the stumps. (1-1). Hensor bowled well, repeatedly beating the bat and having several catches dropped . However, both struggled to keep the runs down partly due to missing a fielder. 

Jack Geraghty replaced Dube and was unlucky not to have the just rewards his bowling deserved. Sureshkumar (48) scored quickly, helped by Pienaar (35*), to rebuild the Nomads innings, until the spin of Harry Gribble (2-45) did for Sureshkumar (87-2). Pienaar was then joined by Ramesh as Pienaar passed his 50. Ramesh made a brisk 20 before also being bowled by Gribble (Pienaar 62*, 137-3). Soames joined Pienaar who went through the gears when Gribble was replaced by Bilston whom he hit for several 6’s, bringing up a classy 100. 

An attempt to stop the flurry of runs saw the return of Hensor and the spin of Dube, with Hensor finally having some luck to have Pienaar caught on the mid-on boundary by Bilston for an otherwise chanceless 121 (227-4, Soames 29*). Joe Poustie then replaced the tiring Henson, bowling a much improved length and was rewarded with the wickets of Soames (32 lbw), Collins (18) and Arora (19) all batting aggressively with the declaration in mind. The Nomads skipper called them in with the score 267-5. 

Jeremy Tojy and Elliot Barnes opened the batting for the Dumplings, and both started positively before Sureshkumar bowled Tojy for 7 (16-1, Barnes 8*). Bilston then joined Barnes to see off the openers. Soames the Nomads skipper then turned to the spin of Page and Arora. The latter’s ragging left arm leg spin destroyed the Dumplings middle order accounting for Bilston (1) , Kandampully (2 -hit wicket) and White (0 bowled leaving it), finishing with very respectable figures of 3-54. In between Arora’s destruction of the middle order Geraghty (20) provided some assistance to Barnes before succumbing to the temptations of Page, caught on the boundary. Dube (16) batted flamboyantly before being caught by Arora - easily the catch of the day as he dived to his right at mid-off. This left Dumplings in a precarious position at 98-6 (Barnes 45*). 

Hensor joined Barnes with instructions to try and bat out for a draw. With 17 overs play to go this was going to be a tall order. Barnes soon passed his 50 as both batted brilliantly taking the score to 160 before Hensor was bowled by Soames – 160-7.(Barnes 71*), but importantly only 9 overs remained. Poustie then proceeded to bat like a reincarnation of Jack Leach at Edgbaston in 2019 _not for a long time has a 0 in Dumplings cricket received such a warm applause from the Dumplings faithful when he finally succumbed to Chakravarty with the score 183-8 (Barnes 93*). Three overs remained as Gribble joined Barnes at the crease, playing out the remaining 5 balls of the over. In the penultimate over, Barnes then took the strike and brought up a well deserved 100. He successfully played out the last over to remain unbeaten and earn the Dumplings a draw (194-8). 

A BBQ, beer and lots of good chat were enjoyed by both teams with Whitey as senior tourist adjudging the fines for the day’s play, of which there were many, especially Dube for his endless chat in the field. Thank you to Nomads for a most enjoyable game played in a great spirit. A special thank you to those who stayed after and made the post-match social so enjoyable. Also to the groundsman and his wife for the lunch, tea and BBQ, 

Nomads: 267 for 5 dec. (Koot Pinaar 121, Goutam Sureshkumar 48 – Harrison Gribble 2/45, Joe Poustie 1/14)

DDs 194 for 8 (Elliott Barnes 100no, Peter Hensor  36 – Asu Arora 3/54)
HK