Nomads v Morden - 12/7/09 - Morden's innings

It was back to Raynes Park again as Nomads looked to continue their excellent record against Morden CC. It was clear straight away that something was amiss on Planet Morden, particularly amongst their most senior players. Little snippets of news about the game; the fact we were playing out on Pitch 2 and our lack of a scoreboard were met with histrionic sighs, eye-rolling and muttered oaths. It was fortunate we didn't see their reaction to the pitch. Like many of Merton Council's it looked eccentric - a pitch of two halves; one half verdant, the other parched. Having said that though, it played very well.
The potential for showers dictated a 35-over contest. Emil Todorow inserted Morden and shared the new ball with Amin for the first 12 overs. Morden's young top order negotiated some accurate bowling, particularly from Amin who slipped one between bat and pad to make his breakthrough. Todorow was marginally more expensive but induced a false shot to have one of the openers caught by Ben Fewson off a skier.
After 12 overs the score was around 50 for 2. Morden continued to accelerate with good hitting through point and straight, especially off Ajmal, though the young paceman got a few to lift, one of which was snapped up by keeper John Crossland. Assad also bowled with good pace and, like Ajmal, went for 5 an over and took one wicket, a coolly-taken catch in the deep by Ben Fewson.
With 4 down and about 85 on the board, elder statesman Del Ballard came in and, after starting very shakily, began to use his feet well, particularly against Riaz Khan. As Ballard nudged and nurdled his way through the teens and 20s, skipper Todorow brought on the debutant Gopi who, being shortish in stature and quite animated, was quickly nicknamed Murali by a couple of Nomads (despite being a Medium Pacer and having a conventional action.) Gopi made an immediate impact. The man from Hyderabad rattled the stumps in his first over and bowled 2 further players in his subsequent 4 overs. There was no mystery to his success; he simply proved the virtue of bowling straight on a slowish pitch against batsmen who were looking to force the pace.
Gopi's efforts meant that, with 2 overs to go, Morden were in a spot of bother at 141 for 7 and Nomads were able to afford the luxury of Nick Lefebve bowling the penultimate over. After a dodgy start including a couple of wides, the veteran round-arm lefty produced the expected comedy with his third legitimate ball; a decent length but very slow floater which almost stopped when it pitched but retained just enough momentum to loop over the bat and nestle against the base of the stumps, just about dislodging a bail. The bewildered batsman stood his ground, shaking his head for a few seconds to the indignation of the bowler who retorted; "It spun, mate." Two further wides were followed by a rank long-hop which new bat Dave Goss hit straight to mid-on where it was dropped by Ben Fewson. To rub it in, Goss hit the last ball, another short one, for 4. The final over, from Gopi, was rather more accurate but less eventful and Morden closed on 156 for 8. A total which we rather take for granted achieving against Morden, though without Mark Bradshaw and Hassan Khan nail-biting was anticipated.