Worcester Nomads 195-8, Colwall 196-6.

WORCESTER Nomads visited Colwall on Monday and were unable to add to Saturday’s winning momentum and, despite some early alarms, Colwall gained a comfortable four-wicket win.

Batting first, Nomads were in almost immediate trouble against some accurate swing bowling from Ed Smith and Damien Berry, who exploited the conditions to maximum effect.

Berry removed both openers, trapped lbw, and Smith clean bowled Damon Gariff with a delivery that swung prodigiously.

When Berry had Geoff Taylor caught first ball, Nomads were in dire straits at 39-4. But once again Sam Roberts came to the rescue.

With Matt Ormerod (31), he coaxed the Nomads innings to some respectability despite tight bowling from Colwall’s two spinners, Charlie Griffiths and captain Mike King. Berry, back in the attack, bowled Roberts for a fine 68.

Derek Austin hit out lustily until he too was bowled by Berry for 28. Nomads finished on 195-8 in their allotted overs and Berry on an impressive 5-42.

Nomads had no intention of surrender without a fight and Mike Berry and then Ben Ford both went to Gariff. Meanwhile, Nick Panniers (35) played some classy shots until he was caught and bowled by Gariff. When Matt King was dismissed by Gariff, Colwall were in some disarray at 63-4.

However, Oliver Davey made an aggressive 53 and Ben Wheeler a rapid 26. Veteran Pete Butler shepherded his side to victory with 41 not out.

Gariff was the pick of the Nomads’ attack with 4-54. On Saturday, high-flying Astwood Bank suffered a heavy 99-run defeat when they visited Nomads.

Nomads batted first and from the start struggled with the seam bowling of Dave Freeman and Tom Harris, who extracted considerable lateral movement on a pitch still greenish from the recent rain. At 80-5, Nomads were heading for a low score. Rescue came in the shape of young Roberts who made a fine 66.

He was ably supported by Steve Walsh (36) as Nomads closed on 193 all out in the last over.

In their reply, Bank also found runs hard to find. Ben Schiffmann made the initial breakthrough having Dan Sewell well caught by Rio Swapnil.

Then Schiffmann bowled the prolific Alex Robinson with a beauty, probably the turning point of the innings. Meanwhile, the tireless Gariff plugged away at the other end, regularly picking up wickets.

The introduction of Swapnil into the attack hastened Bank’s undoing. He took 4-23 off seven overs. Gariff also claimed 4-30 off 17 overs as Bank folded on 93 all out.

Nomads’ Saturday Seconds team travelled to Astwood Bank in Division One (Second XI) of the Worcestershire Crusader League. Nomads played a hard-fought game at Astwood Bank, and ended up hanging on to a losing draw to earn themselves four points and more importantly, stopped the league leaders gaining another maximum 24 points.

Batting first, Astwood Bank made 252-3. In reply, Nomads held on to see out the last 1