It was back to Morden Park for one of our favourite fixtures against a team who have been the opposite of a bogey team for the past few seasons. On a warm day, skipper Todorow won a useful toss and Nomads openers Mahesh Vyas and Nissar Khan took guard. Halfway through the first over, Morden's opening bowler, who had bowled 2 successive leg-side wides, took a long look at the match ball and asked whether it had been bought at Woolworth's. Now you know the Nomads; there is no way they would buy important equipment from such a shop. After all, Woolworths ceased trading months ago. The matter was amicably resolved when Morden rummaged through their pavilion stores, produced a higher grade of ball and the match resumed. Morden's fielders were a mixture of the youthful and the very very experienced but things looked ominous when the most experienced of all swooped majestically to within an inch of the turf and caught Vyas, who had looked in good form, for 9.
Sadly for Morden, this was highspot of their fielding and they proceeded to drop a minimum of 15 chances, a total which surely even Nomads have never equalled. Jim Ferguson was No. 3 and punched it around nicely before holing out on the off-side for 20. This brought Hassan Khan in and he made his intentions clear with two quick 4s. His attitude rubbed off on Nissar Khan who cast aside caution with a towering 6 before being adjudged LBW, though very well forward, for a solid 18.
79 for 3 was the pivotal point of the innings but Morden continued to drop Hassan regularly and, with Ajmal scoring even faster, the innings began to slip away from them. Ajmal departed for 24 with the score on 131 and Abdul went soon afterwards but Prasanth proved an excellent partner scoring 28 and outpacing Hassan in a partnership of 49. Un uncharacteristic knock of 17 (which included 15 singles) from Riaz Khan helped Nomads well into the 200s but it was the final over of the innings that provided the tea-time talking point.
Hassan was on 93 but at the non-striker's end. Emil Todorow struck the second ball deep into the off-side and the pair took 2 comfortably. Hassan called for a third (which the square leg umpire later confirmed was definitely attainable,) but was turned back by his partner. Perhaps piqued by this incident, Hassan then declined a regulation single off the 4th ball which would have given him 2 balls to score the 7 runs needed for his ton. Six of one and half a dozen of the other for the blame, but it is a shame Hassan didn't achieve three figures. He is likely to have further opportunities; against Energy Exiles next week would be nice.
After the Tea of the Season so far, Morden set about the 253 required for victory. It looked a tough call with a fairly inexperienced-looking batting line up, and opening bowlers Todorow and H. Khan bowled their usual economical opening spells early on to send the required rate up approaching 8 an over. A couple of early wickets were followed by two good partnerships where some of Morden's younger players got on top of, particularly, Ajmal; but a fine direct hit from the deadly arm of Abdul Khan restored Nomads' ascendency. Wickets were fairly evenly shared out - Riaz Khan holding sway with 4 - and there was a stumping from John Crossland to savour, which capped a fine display from the glovesman. Nomads dismissed Morden for 127 in 35.4 overs to complete a 125 run victory and continue our excellent record against these opponents.
Man of the Match was Hassan Khan once again for a 93 Not Out which could easily have been a century. Honourable mentions go to Riaz Khan for a good all round performance. Fielder of the Day was Abdul Khan with John Crossland close behind.
NOMADS 252 for 8 from 40 overs
Vyas, 9
N. Khan, 18
Ferguson, 20
H. Khan, 93 Not out
Ajmal, 24
A. Khan, 3
Prasanth, 28
Darwin, 1
R. Khan, 17
Todorow, 2 Not out
MORDEN 127 from 35.4 overs
H. Khan, 6-1-15-1
Todorow, 6-0-20-1
Ajmal, 6-0-35-0
R.Khan, 8-1-26-4
A. Khan, 6-2-18-1
Darwin, 3-1-5-1
Prasanth, 0.4-0-3-1
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