Annual meeting - 11/12/11

Nomads had our annual meeting last Sunday. As usual, it was at the Chatkara restaurant opposite Clapham South station. Incidentally, if you live in Clapham or Balham, you should go there; their food is really nice. Are their curries getting hotter or am I getting older?
We had a good chat and then club captain Emil Todorow turned up near the end, fresh from his latest chess tournament, to add some gravitas to proceedings.
Awards were as follows;
Fielder of the Year - Abdul Khan
Bowler of the Year - Hassan Khan
Batsman of the Year - Mark Bradshaw
Player of the Year 2011 - (they were just too good to be separated) - A share between Mark Bradshaw and Hassan Khan.

Players of the Season etc - Nominations

Two of the awards seems to be one-horse races. In the batting Mark Bradshaw has the highest total of runs and the best average, while Hassan Khan took the most wickets and has the best bowling average.

Player of the Season looks to be a close one between these 2 players.

For Best Fielder I would suggest as nominees Abdul (brilliant throwing, 5 catches), Hassan (the most catches, all-round solid fielding), John (another evergreen, ever-present season behind the stumps) and Darwin (the outstanding fielder in the first half of the season with 6 catches.) If anyone can think of anyone else, let me know.

We'll meet up and vote on this at the Annual Meeting, probably in late November or early December at the Chatkara Restaurant opposite Clapham South Tube Station.

Averages for 2011

CLAPHAM NOMADS AVERAGES FOR 2011 SEASON




BATTING (Qualification - 2 innings)



Mark Bradshaw - Innings 12 Not out 4 Runs 410 H.S. 63* Average 51.25

Hassan Khan - Innings 13 Not out 4 Runs 362 H.S. 76* Average 40.22

Sumith Prasanna - Innings 5 Not out 3 Runs 78 H.S. 35* Average 39.00

Zia - Innings 5 Not out 1 Runs 131 H.S. 74* Average 32.75

Jim Joyce - Innings 7 Not out 1 Runs 189 H.S. 109* Average 31.50

Rashid Ahmed - Innings 4 Not out 0 Runs 97 H.S. 33 Average 24.25

Abdul Khan - Innings 7 Not out 2 Runs 110 H.S. 43 Average 22.00

Prasanth Pattiyil - Innings 12 Not out 0 Runs 223 H.S. 50 Average 18.58

Darwin - Innings 7 Not out 2 Runs 68 H.S. 43* Average 13.60

Nick Lefebve - Innings 10 Not out 3 Runs 84 H.S. 24* Average 12.00

Mahesh Vyas - Innings 15 Not out 0 Runs 176 H.S. 39 Average 11.73

Riaz Khan - Innings 6 Not out 2 Runs 42 H.S. 14 Average 10.50

Andrew West - Innings 3 Not out 1 Runs 12 H.S. 8* Average 6.00

Chris Kennedy - Innings 4 Not out 0 Runs 21 H.S. 10 Average 5.25

Emil Todorow - Innings 9 Not out 4 Runs 26 H.S. 9 Average 5.20

John Crossland - Innings 4 Not out 2 Runs 3 H.S. 2 Average 1.50

Chris Kee - Innings 2 Not out 0 Runs 2 H.S. 2 Average 1.00


BOWLING (Qualification - 6 wickets)

Hassan Khan - Overs 83 Maidens 17 Runs 223 Wkts 18 B.B. 3-11 Average 12.39
Rashid Ahmed - Overs 22.5 Maidens 0 Runs 119 Wkts 6 B.B. 2-11 Average 19.83
Emil Todorow - Overs 98.2 Maidens 10 Runs 347 Wkts 16 B.B. 2-14 Average 21.69
Prasanth Pattiyil - Overs 19 Maidens 0 Runs 141 Wkts 6 B.B 4-32 Average 23.50
Zia - Overs 32 Maidens 3 Runs 168 Wkts 7 B.B. 4-40 Average 24.00
Abdul Khan - Overs 46 Maidens 1 Runs 193 Wkts 8 B.B. 4-11 Average 24.13
Riaz Khan - Overs 32 Maidens 7 Runs 109 Wkts 4 B.B. 3-6 Average 27.25
Darwin - Overs 23 Maidens 1 Runs 176 Wkts 6 B.B. 3-51 Average 29.33
Andrew West - Overs 53 Maidens 3 Runs 312 Wkts 9 B.B. 3-20 Average 34.67

CATCHES (Top 5)

Hassan Khan - 8
John Crossland - 7 (all as wicketkeeper)
Darwin - 6
Abdul Khan - 5
Jim Joyce - 3

STUMPINGS

John Crossland - 1

Energy Exiles v Clapham Nomads - 25/9/11

Nomads just lost out yet again to those run-chase specialists the Energy Exiles in an exciting and pretty good-tempered match. Nomads scored 163 for 7 from 30 overs with some entertaining pinch-hitting from Mahesh and Bilal early on, followed by something of a slump to 129 for 6, though Mahesh did complete a useful 28 and top-scorer Abdul and Khalid added 48 for the 4th wicket. Some quick, late runs from Hassan helped us up to a respectable-sounding total of 163 for 7 at the interval. Perennial thorn in the side Simon Gundry starred with 3 for 20 at good pace; we even gave him an LBW decision. He also recorded his 100th wicket for the Exiles - congratulations to the big man.
The only moment of real controversy was a very confident caught behind shout against Khalid Harris (who was playing his first Nomads game for 3 years.) The appeal was turned down and Khalid wandered out of his crease, only for his bails to be whipped off. Only diplomacy kept him at the crease but it was a brief stay of execution as he was bowled the next ball.
Exiles fielded their 5 most regular bowlers against us and all bowled well. If there was a bowler we could perhaps have scored more off it was Gwyn Thomas. Thomas is slower than the other 4 but is still a canny performer who has taken nearly 200 wickets for Exiles. Batsmen can sometimes get after him but they have to read him first, and I heard a couple of our guys refer to him as "The Spinner", which shows they hadn't really worked him out. To me, Thomas is more of a slow-medium bowler who was drifting it away from the batsman in this game.
Anyway, with our strongest bowling line-up in ages, and Exiles missing one or two batsmen, we were by no means disheartened at tea.
Justin Lamprecht led Exiles' counter attack with some big shots and, crucially, Exiles kept their momentum up better than we did in the middle 10 overs. John Parker-Jones anchored the innings and John Tither looked classy for his 30-odd runs but Matt Winkle top-scored with 42 and some excellent running between the wickets, particularly when Barry Whiteman was at the crease. Whiteman had scored 80 plus in his previous game but confidential sources had revealed he might be vulnerable to something quick-ish and straight. Sure enough, Tahir did the job with a stinging caught and bowled.
58 were needed from the last 10 but some leg-side hitting from Mike Phillips put Exiles back in command. Nomads' hopes revived when Abdul set up the run out of Phillips on 149 and Khalid took a great catch to dismiss S. Gundry on the same score. 10 were needed off 2 overs in autumnal gloom but Andy Wingfield took advantage of the last of the light and finished it in the penultimate over.
So Exiles win the series 2-1. We are pleased for them...of course we are. Any consolations? Well it seems we are all friends again. Also, there were emotional scenes as we celebrated Andrew West's 100 wickets for the Nomads. Finally, Nomads may be ahead on run rate over the three games. I'll definitely check on that at some point.
Man of the Match is tricky but I would go for Tahir who took 2 wickets in the most economical spell by any bowler from either side and also managed 12 quick runs and a fine catch. Fielder of the Day was Khalid with his 2 catches including the excellent late one that accounted for Mr Gundry and gave us fleeting hope. Quote of the Day came from Exiles' skipper Martin Thomas at the conclusion of an early Andy Wingfield over in which stand-in opener Bilal had taken wild swings at every ball and connected , after a fashion, with one. "He's not exactly Bradshaw", the skipper observed.
So Andrew West and Simon Gundry both celebrated 100 wickets for their teams. I really think a joint lap of honour around Nursery Road would have been in order, but instead John Crossland and West shared champagne and reminiscences until late in the night and apparently became quite merry. I wish I'd been there.

Clapham Nomads - 163 for 7 from 35 overs

M. Vyas b Patel 28
Bilal c and b M.Thomas 11
P. Pattiyil c Wingfield b G. Thomas 8
A. Khan b Gundry 32
K. Harris b Wingfield 20
Tahir b Gundry 12
N. Lefebve lbw Gundry 9
H. Khan not out 25
E. Todorow (capt.) - not out 2
did not bat; J. Crossland (wkt), A. West

Bowling

A. Wingfield 7-2-42-1
M. Thomas 7-0-25-1
N. Patel 7-1-25-1
G. Thomas 7-1-28-1
S. Gundry 6-1-20-3
J. Lamprecht 1-0-15-0

F. O.W. - 22, 56, 60, 108, 126, 129, 160


Energy Exiles 164 for 6 from 34 overs

Nomads bowling;

H. Khan 7-1-32-1
E. Todorow 7-0-41-1
Tahir 6-1-16-2
A. Khan 7-1-33-1
A. West 4-0-17-0
K. Harris 1-0-12-0
Bilal 2-0-8-0

Energy Exiles won by 4 wickets

Clapham Nomads v Surbiton Imperials - 11/9/11

A Council error meant that our pitch was double-booked. Thankfully the Supervisor found another vacant pitch and, even though the groundsman had us listed to play, we trooped off down the road, minus an apology or thanks from the team playing on our pitch and minus an hour and a quarter of playing time.


Surbiton had elected to bat and, after waiting 2 hours for some action, one of their openers was unfortunately out 3rd ball, chipping a Hassan Khan lifter up to Jim Joyce.


As usual, Hassan and Emil Todorow made a formidable new ball pairing. Another wicket fell quickly and cautious progress took the score to only 9 after 6 overs. Some nice shots then began to flow, especially whenever Todorow dropped it short, and the 12-over mark saw a score of 39 for 4. Nomads' ground-fielding had been impressive with yet another run out from Abdul Khan the feature. The lethal Abdul had 4 shies at the stumps from distances of between 15 and 25 yards; 3 direct hits (the batsmen just got home) and the 4th one straight into the gloves of keeper John Crossland who completed the run out.


Abdul also bowled a good spell of swing bowling at fair pace and Terry Bruce-Mills yet again found his knack of making batsmen hit him in the air - 2 fine catches in the deep from Hassan and Abdul were his reward.


Beyond about the 10-over mark, Imperials kept up a healthy scoring rate and developed a habit of targeting bowlers late in their spells; the final overs from Emil and Terry both went for over 10, as did Abdul's penultimate over.


Some of the most interesting bowling came from Rashid Ahmed with his rapid leg-spinners scything into the left-handers. Crossland was at his best behind the stumps to prevent a string of byes as the turn was just too much for some of the batsmen. There was another run out, quite a comical one as, with both batsmen at one end, Emil missed the stumps and the wicketkeeper. Luckily the ball went straight to Hassan who was backing up and threw the stumps down from 10 yards with the batsman just out of his ground. Well, it was funny at the time.


Nomads had hopes for a while of dismissing Imperials for under 110, as 80 for 7 became 95 for 8, but powerful late hitting from Siddique and former Nomads player Khalid Harris took the score to respectability. Yet another final over (Rashid's) was carted to take the score from 122 off 28 up to 136 off 29. A good final over from Abdul, in which Siddique was dropped twice yielded just 3 runs and the innings closed on 139 for 9.


We would probably have settled for a target of 140 at the start as Surbiton have some good attacking players, but when we looked up after tea the sky had turned uniform dark grey and the ground was bathed in a beautiful half-light.

Imperials' opening bowlers, Suraj and Siddique, would be a tricky proposition even with normal visibility and, though initial progress was slow, it didn't seem to matter much as dense rainclouds covered an area stretching from the edge of the pitch to somewhere over Hampshire, and completing the game seemed a long-shot. The opening spells were negotiated safely and runs gradually came against the change bowlers. As 20 turned to 30, we noticed that the wind had changed direction and torrential rain was falling away to the North, hopefully on the team that had taken our pitch.

Mark Bradshaw and Mahesh Vyas were starting to look assured. Vyas even played a cracking off-side shot which is normally a signal that his eye is in. Unfortunately, Mahesh chipped a catch up to Siddique shortly afterwards but the 1st wicket stand had realised a valuable 41 runs.

Prasanth Pattiyil played a nice leg-side shot off Khalid but, looking for a repeat, he clipped the ball firmly to Siddique's left. Surbiton's star man took an excellent diving catch.

50 for 2 off around 14 and skipper Todorow was urging acceleration. He had just the man for the job in No. 4 Jim Joyce, returning to the side after missing several matches due to weddings and a Jack Russell chewing his phone. Jim managed a quick 10 and this was matched by Mark Bradshaw before Jim was bowled by Hitesh; 70 for 3.

Rashid Ahmed came out in drizzle, which soon turned torrential. The match hung in the balance as we took shelter; Nomads needing 70 off the last 10 overs, but the downpour was such that the only people who seemed capable of winning this game were Duckworth and Lewis. Kit was being stashed in car boots but Surbiton's skipper was particularly keen to complete the game and was rewarded when the rain stopped after half an hour.

Play resumed on a lovely evening - lovely unless you were batting, bowling or fielding as the ground and soon the ball were saturated. Mark Bradshaw had some problems with the grip on his bat and only 2 runs came from the first over after the break.

Once Mark had resolved his grip problem, he joined Rashid in having a valiant crack at the target; though the saturated outfield and the poor light were making it a tough ask. Rashid is very powerful and slightly unorthodox and this seemed to wrest back the initiative for Nomads. Imperials had two aces up their sleeves in Siddique and Suraj and Siddique did remove Rashid for 16 which came at better than a run a ball. Crucially though, Nomads scored 7 and 8 from Siddique's final 2 overs. Mark Bradshaw was beginning to play quite brilliantly and marshalled our chase as the required rate crept down. 41 were needed off 40 balls just after the arrival of No. 6 Hassan Khan, but this was down to 27 off 30 balls. Bradshaw, in particular, showed an impressive range of attacking shots all around the wicket and, with 3 overs to go, 14 were needed. The light was becoming a serious issue as Mark faced the awkward Khalid, who had only allowed 6 scoring shots in his 4 overs until then, but Mark just blew any doubts away with 2 absolutely cracking off-drives off successive balls, the first of which brought up a fine half-century, leaving Nomads with 6 to score from 16 balls. The umpire jokingly offered our lads the light at this stage. In the following over, somehow locating the ball somewhere in the gloom, Bradshaw wrapped it up with a 2 and a 4 to secure our second successive victory over these tricky opponents and transform a day which had began horribly.
Man of the Match is clearly Mark Bradshaw. A measure of how well he played was that in his match-clinching 5th wicket stand of 47 with Hassan Khan, Mark scored approximately 26 compared to Hassan's 18. Few players at this level can out-score Hassan by such a margin, particularly using orthodox cricket shots. Mark told me later that he was feeling off-colour having been kept awake by a neighbour playing Status Quo all night. For a Prog Rock fan to have to listen to a band who have about as much variation as Andrew West's bowling must have been distressing; all I can say is that I hope he plays this type of innings "again, again, again, again.." Fielder of the Day was Abdul again. The man is magic. The trouble is he prevents us team-mates of a similar age group from using our age as an excuse for our dodgy fielding.
Quote of the Day is from one of the team that took our pitch; "But this is a vital League Match. You just play village cricket." Hmmm.... Clapham...a village. I think a career in Estate Agency beckons him.

Surbiton Imperials 139 for 9 from 30 overs

H. Khan 6-1-10-2
E. Todorow 6-0-27-1
A. Khan 6-0-31-1
T. Bruce-Mills 6-0-36-2
R. Ahmed 6-0-31-1

Clapham Nomads 143 for 4 from 28.2 overs

M. Bradshaw 63 not out
M. Vyas 16
P. Pattiyil 3
J. Joyce 10
R. Ahmed 16
H. Khan 18 not out

F.O.W. - 41. 50. 70. 96

Clapham Nomads won by 6 wickets

Andrew West joins an elite club

Don't panic, members of the Garrick, the Groucho and Boodles; the club I refer to is the tiny band of Nomads who have taken 100 wickets for the team. These congratulations are a little belated as he achieved this feat - joining only Emil Todorow and Hassan Khan - with his second wicket in the game against Touring Theatres on 14th August.
There will be a tribute to this legendary figure on this site in due course and a presentation should be made. Any ideas?

Clapham Nomads v Old Leagonians - 4/9/11

It was another new venue for Nomads; the John Ruskin Sports Ground, a secluded semi-rural location at the end of a winding track in the Croydon stockbroker belt of Shirley. The pitch played well and there were good changing rooms and a pair of football-style dugouts.
The end of Ramadan brought 4 genuine all-rounders back to the side but unfortunately not until almost 3 pm, by which time the visitors had had to reverse their original decision to bat, and allow the Nomads to take guard in order to get the game in motion.
The steady rain cleared as Mark Bradshaw and Prasanth Pattiyil strode out. This was Old Leagonians' first game of the season but opening bowlers England and Turner were anything but rusty; England keeping a pretty consistent line and length while the left-armer Turner produced occasional sharp lift and movement. An early bouncer caught Pattiyil's handle but the chance was put down behind the stumps. Scoring was sedate early on in the soggy conditions but Prasanth clipped Turner for a couple of 4s down to Fine Leg in the 6th over to boost the rate. Bradshaw began to take singles almost at will, clipping anything on leg down to Fine and cutting short balls either side of Point, while pushing over-pitched deliveries up to Long Off.
Another chance went down but Leagonians ground-fielding was impressive with a series of diving and sliding stops.
"Hannibal" Frewin and the Australian "Mace" Smythe took over with the latter bowler having trouble keeping his footing on the damp run-up. Prasanth skied a return catch in Frewin's second over but a stand of 44 was an excellent foundation with plenty of batting to come.
No. 3 Chris Kee pulled across to Smythe and chipped a catch to the in-field but this brought Hassan Khan out to join Mark Bradshaw. Hassan was fortunate to survive early on, twice giving difficult chances which went down. The all-rounder admitted he was stiff and tired, having scored an obscenely large amount of runs in a League match the previous day. Once Hassan was into his stride with a series a steers to Deep Point, our premier pair settled down for one of their marathon stands. The drenched outfield made rapid scoring difficult but no fewer than 38 singles were taken in a remorseless stand of 90 as they saw off bowlers Mullard and the useful Rob Lowndes (recorded by John as Rob Lounge.)
Shortly after someone in the Home Dugout had congratulated Hassan on his 50, the batsman fell - for 48 - caught and bowled by Turner, a deserved reward for the most dangerous bowler.
A breezy cameo 23 from Rashid Ahmed began with a second-ball 6 and ended with two 4s as the outfield dried, before he was bowled by Smythe.
Mark Bradshaw needed 5 off the final ball for his 50 but this is a landmark he has achieved many times (well over 50 times in fact) and he was content to push for a single to take Nomads up to 174 at the close.
It was good to have Hassan back to restore some edge to our attack but the opposition set out to take him on. The first ball was struck straight to Short Mid-Wicket who not only dropped the chance but then, with a near-suicidal single being scrambled, "speared" a shaky throw wide of the bowler's feet. Encouraged by this into thinking that Nomads might just be a slightly dodgy fielding side (hard to believe, I know) Leagonians' openers attempted another very sharp single...to Abdul Khan. Not altogether wise. 1 for 1.
This rather set the pattern with Leagonians adopting an attacking approach even when the ball was on the stumps which, in Hassan's overs, it generally was. Hassan took 3 for 15 and narrowly missed out on a hat-trick. There were 5 economical overs from Emil Todorow and 4 from Andrew West, and only a minor injury to West - a groin strain caused by the ball hitting his foot. More acute injury was to our eardrums from West's continuous commentary on life in general, and cricket and the weather in particular.
Wickets kept tumbling as Abdul Khan produced a fine spell of outswing bowling with a touch of Reverse Swing to take 4 for 11. The highlight was a spectacular one-handed diving caught and bowled.
Rashid Ahmed bowled an interesting spell of 65 mph wrist spin, setting his sights with a short-pitched googly, scattering the stumps with the flipper and then, after a flurry of leg-side hitting from Leagonians' Man of the Match Chris Turner, rounding off the victory with a rapid Leg Break to take out off stump.
This win takes us to 7 victories and 5 defeats with 2 games to play, so we are guaranteed, at worst, a 50% record and mid-table respectability.
Old Leagonians used this match to honour the memory of one of their players who passed away in his early 40s a couple of years ago. We were honoured to stage the game and apologise that only 7 of our team were there to observe the minute's silence that preceded play.
Since lateness had quite an influence on the match, Man of the Match can only be one of the players who was on time, so Mark Bradshaw gets the vote as he held the innings together with a valuable 46 not out, full of his favourite shots. Abdul was Fielder of the Day.
There is video footage of the match on Old Leagonians website at http://www.oldleagonianscc.co.uk/2011season.htm . This features Abdul's run out and caught and bowled and, most thrillingly, footage of Andrew West bowling and chasing the ball. Any offers of television or film work must go via his agent John Crossland.

Clapham Nomads 174 for 4 from 30 overs

M. Bradshaw 46 not out
P. Pattiyil 24
C. Kee 0
H. Khan 48
R. Ahmed 23
A. Khan 3 not out

F.O.W. - 44, 46, 136, 170

Old Leagonians 84 from 23.5 overs

H. Khan 5-0-15-3
E. Todorow 5-1-17-0
A. West 4-1-12-0
A. Khan 5-0-11-4
R. Ahmed 2.5-0-11-2
N. Lefebve 2-0-14-0

Clapham Nomads won by 90 runs

Southern Railway & Kenley v Clapham Nomads - 21/8/11

Clapham Nomads excelled themselves by all arriving promptly for a 1:30 start after a long journey - with the exception of the Fixtures Secretary, that is, who disgraced himself by turning up 25 minutes late. It seems that as our results have deteriorated, at least our punctuality has improved.
With Hassan Khan still unavailable, Nomads took 10 down to Kenley's delightful ground at Little Roke Road. It seemed a stronger line-up than the previous week, particularly in the bowling department.
After a fairly cautious opening 5 overs, Kenley's young opening pair began to accelerate and assume command. The pitch was perfectly flat, if a touch slow, and the ball soon began to race across a very quick outfield to the short-ish boundaries. The 2 batsmen were the Smiths, and Heaven Knows we were soon Miserable as 50 came up in the 10th over and 100 in the 15th. Tommy Smith dealt out some harsh treatment to Andrew West with a string of classy boundaries, mainly through the unprotected long-on area. West was removed from the attack - prompting the by now customary Retirement Speech. Prasanth took over at the Croydon End and produced some lively pace but the batsmen continued to look untroubled. At the Pavilion End, skipper Emil Todorow looked the pick of the bowlers and was the only one to really keep a lid on the scoring rate, never going for more than about 4 an over.
If any bowler really looked like making the breakthrough, it was Terry Bruce-Mills who did force a few unconvincing aerial shots from these excellent openers, but nothing went close enough to a fielder and the juggernaut rolled on.
Darwin finally prised out James Smith for a fine supporting 40, with the score well over 100, but there was little let up as No. 3 Craig Adie soon established himself. Tommy Smith raced on to a brilliant 100, he had really looked in no trouble whatsoever and he retired on 113 to give the other batsman a chance to sample the Nomads buffet.
This was a Time Game and, as 200 was passed, the canny Mark Bradshaw said that he would declare on about 225 if he was the Home captain. Sure enough, soon after a very well-deserved wicket for Emil Todorow, the declaration came with the score on 233 for 2. An early tea was taken and Nomads were left with extra time (90 minutes plus 20 overs in all) to make of this target what they could, with survival for the draw being whispered as an option by the faint-hearted.
I must say that Nomads didn't bowl that badly. We were reasonably accurate but, on a batsman's track, we posed little threat. The fielding was, in the main, OK and catching was not an issue as Kenley's batsmen adopted the cunning plan of not hitting the ball in the air anywhere near a fielder. Emil Todorow bowled his heart out. I went to pat him on the shoulder after he took his wicket and a mini-tsunami rolled down his back. It was the wettest I have ever seen a man get on a sunny day.
We tried to wind John Crossland up at tea by asking Emil to tell him to open the batting, but Emil was too intent on rehydrating with a fifth cup of tea to play along. The usual openers Mark Bradshaw and Mahesh Vyas took guard and the opening over turned out to be one of the most remarkable in Nomads' history. Four high leg-side No Balls were smacked to the boundary by our boys, along with 4 other runs to make a score of 24 for 0 after 1 over. The most we have ever scored in an opening over. We were up with the rate at this point.
This was as good as it got for us. Sanity was restored by the clever spinner John Mitchell and by the excellent seamer Dylan Jones. Jones bowled 5 overs for no runs with accuracy and late swing. Mark Bradshaw did manage to drive him but kept picking out the cover fielders.
The opening stand had realised 33 off only 44 balls when Mitchell broke through, having Mahesh Vyas caught at Square Leg off his first bad ball, a slow full toss. An old cricketing truism was dusted down as the Home Side opined that; "Shit gets Wickets."
No. 3 Prasanth Pattiyil played some nice shots including a fine straight drive off Mitchell but the off-spinner was beginning to turn the odd one away and found the outside edge of Pattiyil's bat for a caught behind. 42 for 2.
Darwin came out to join Bradshaw and we hoped for a repeat of their brilliant match-winning stand against Streatham and Marlborough (a not dissimilar team and pitch to Kenley.) Sadly Darwin mis-timed a pull and was caught with the score on 53. Mark Bradshaw continued to play the best knock of any Nomad but when he was caught, again off Mitchell, for 26, the draw became the only target and suddenly a tricky one with approximately 25 overs to survive. No. 6 Nick Lefebve specialised in this type of stone-walling in his Open University days (to the disgust of his team-mates, The Hunter Family) and after surviving an early mis-timed sweep he set his stall out to play not a single shot. Chris Kennedy batted really nicely at the other end to keep some kind of momentum going. Gradually, the fielders crowded Lefebve closer and closer. He did last 7 overs but a bowling change brought on Kenley captain John Hewitt who did for the veteran blocker with a little extra bounce, Man of the Match Tommy Smith taking a smart low catch at Silly Point.
Hewitt ended a good knock from Kennedy a couple of overs later and from then on it was downhill fast. Charlie Nash bowled Emil Todorow. Terry Bruce-Mills survived an absolute snorter from Hewitt before falling to Nash. Andrew West entertained his legion of fans with one of his inimitable back-handed leg-side pulls which stopped millimetres from the rope. He then engineered a fantastic leave, which bamboozled the keeper and gained 4 byes for our paltry total. Sadly a straight one from Hewitt did for West and No. 9 John Crossland was left stranded on 0 not out - possibly a waste of a good defensive player. He should probably have gone in higher, at No. 7. Having said that though, we fell about 15 overs short of surviving for the draw.
Well, it was a day out at a nice ground. The opposition were OK. It was a bit strange out in the middle, being surrounded by impenetrable teenage banter - it felt a bit like being an extra in The Inbetweeners, or possibly Lee Nelson's Well Good Show, but anyway their cricket was "Quaaalllitteee!!!" Tommy Smith's hundred was brilliant.
Man of the Match is tricky. Emil Todorow put everything into his bowling and was the best bowler, but he got it last week and has only taken 2 for 55 across the 2 games which doesn't really justify back-to-back awards. I would go for Mark Bradshaw who provided easily the best Nomads batting, he would have scored more than 26 if not for a very well-placed field. Fielder of the Day - John Crossland who only conceded 1 bye. Crossland's opinion; "How could I concede byes against bowling like that" (implying it was a little one-dimensional.)
Quote of the Day; - As we were leaving, one of the Kenley batsmen said to John Crossland; "Thanks for the practice, lads," which John was a bit indignant about. Having thought about it though, that is not a bad thing. We were never likely to win this game but we did provide Kenley batsmen with some pretty accurate, if unthreatening bowling to practice their shots against. We lasted 32 overs so they had time to give anyone a bowl who wanted it. We were mostly punctual, all sporting and mostly uncomplaining and, finally, we produced a high-class performance in the bar with almost 20 pints being sunk. We're not such a bad little club really.

Southern Railway and Kenley - 233 for 2 Declared from 33 overs

Todorow 12-2-44-1
West 8-1-60-0
Pattiyil 4-0-37-0
Bruce-Mills 5-0-43-0
Darwin 4-0-40-1

Clapham Nomads - 81 from 31.2 overs

Bradshaw 26
Vyas 18
Pattiyil 9
Darwin 0
Kennedy 10
Lefebve 1
Todorow 0
Bruce-Mills 0
Crossland 0 not out
West 2

F.O.W. - 33, 42, 53, 60, 69, 70, 74, 75, 81

Clapham Nomads lost by 152 runs

Clapham Nomads v Touring Theatres - 14/8/11

Due to holidays, Ramadan, apathy and pregnancy, Nomads were only able to select 8 for this latest renewal at Barn Elms against our longest-standing opponents. In contrast, the Theatres, who appear to be resurgent, brought 13 and were able to lend us noted Sports and Thriller writer Chic Fowles and former Nomads legend Chris Kennedy, who made the short hop across South London earlier this summer, joining Theatres for an undisclosed fee.
SW13 (and 14, 15 and most others) was in lockdown but it wasn't the Barnes Riots, merely the Olympic Cycle Race rehearsal. This was no obstacle to the mustard-keen Theatres who were limbering up in the nets a good hour before the start. Even Nomads didn't do too badly despite the chaotic traffic, though Andrew West had to walk from Putney which was roughly the same route taken by the cyclists. Rumours that he overtook Sir Chris Hoy remain unsubstantiated.
Asked to field first, Nomads were distinctly light on bowling options so it was hoped that our new ball pairing of West and Emil Todorow would make significant inroads. When Emil bowled Ben Martin in the 3rd over the fixture appeared to be following its traditional course.
At the other end was Ben Tranchell who has always been a more than useful player - he once scored 96 against us - but who has lacked support in recent seasons. This time it was different; finding an able partner in No. 3 Shafiq, Tranchell took 3 fours in an Andrew West over to prompt a double bowling change.
Skipper John Crossland had to juggle his change bowlers; Chris Kennedy went for 19 off his first 2 overs but Prasanth Pattiyil, probably the quickest of the available bowlers, was tighter with only 10 taken off his first 3.
The batsmen looked assured as 50 was passed in the 10th over and the 50 partnership in the 12th. Apart from one close-looking LBW shout and a half-chance in the deep, there seemed no reason why they couldn't bat right through the innings on a placid, slow-ish pitch with only the occasional irregular bounce.
Nick Lefebve was third change and the left-armer kept a reasonable off-side line but the batsmen were able to push singles at will to a deeply-set, some might say negative, field.
The 100 and the century stand both came up in the 18th over before Lefebve finally made the breakthrough in the following over, slanting one in to hit the stumps of Tranchell (55) and greeting the grounding of the bails with a strange, superfluous, full-throated roar of Howzat.
105 for 2 with 11 overs left meant that Theatres would have to bat spectacularly badly not to be in a commanding position by the close. This was unlikely with the excellent Shafiq still there. Chris Kennedy returned to dismiss No. 4 Naseef. Shafiq was dropped by Lefebve - a firm caught and bowled chance - with the score on 119 and he celebrated with a 4 off the same bowler and a big 6 off Kennedy before falling to the latter bowler for a potentially match-winning 67.
The opening bowlers returned but No. 5 Edwards shepherded the lower order, including the redoubtable Roger Daltrey-lookalike John Witham, into plundering 25 useful runs from the last 6 overs; mostly off Andrew West, who had the consolation of 2 late wickets. Emil Todorow remained impressively tight to finish with 1 for 11 as the innings closed on 159.
Nomads really only had 3 recognised front-line top order batsmen and, realistically, to have much chance we would need Mark Bradshaw, Mahesh Vyas and Prasanth Pattiyil to chalk up around 90 between them.
The early run out of Vyas was the worst possible start (we are starting to suffer too many of these run outs.) No. 3 Chris Kee looked solid enough on his debut for the club but was the first victim of an accurate spell from spinner Cal Robertson. Kee was bowled by the seasoned blond twirler, a fate shared the following over by Chris Kennedy. Mark Bradshaw was joined by Prasanth Pattiyil and there was still hope at this point as this pair have played many fine and productive partnerships. However, when Bradshaw was dismissed for 9 by a brilliant slip catch from the ubiquitous Cal Robertson, the dye seemed cast.
Prasanth was bowled behind his legs an over or two later and this brought Emil Todorow out to join Nick Lefebve. This pair's running can sometimes be entertaining, especially to the fielding side, but a calf injury to Lefebve caused the batsmen to agree that they would only take absolutely nailed-on singles (2s to many other players.) A partnership of 16 followed but Nomads were falling fatally behind the rate with not a lot of batting to come.
Todorow was eventually bowled via his legs. Chic Fowles attempted a risky single but was unchivalrously sent back by his limping partner and was run out.
Andrew West joined Lefebve and it was time for the purist to look away as the pair made a stand which Emil Todorow would describe as having; "Such command, such elegance." Basically it was two fat blokes cross-batting some cafeteria bowling through the leg-side. West did play the Shot of the Day though, his unique grip meaning that one of his leg-side flicks was a perfect replica of a left-hander's reverse sweep as played by, say, Adam Gilchrist. Unfortunately the non-striker was so stunned by the shot that he failed to notice that the top spin which West had cunningly put on the ball had taken it out of the fielder's reach and the single, which was a fraction of what West deserved for this shot from the Golden Age, was declined.
Inevitably there was an injury to West who was stuck in the splits position for a minute after executing another leg glance. There was a surprising lack of volunteers to help ease him out of this position.
The lofty heights of 61 had been reached when West finally chipped it to a fielder and he was followed 2 balls later by John Crossland to confirm Theatres' 3rd and easiest victory over us. Still, I'm sure John was delighted that we avoided the 100 run defeat.
In truth this was a poor Nomads performance but remember how depleted we were. It was probably the strongest line-up Theatres have ever fielded against us but they all played with enthusiasm and skill and were excellent value for their victory.
Nick Lefebve received a nomination for Man of the Match (thanks for that) but although he did OK, 16 not out and 1 for 33 is not really enough. I would have to award it to the ever-economical Emil Todorow who returned the only really eye-catching figures with his 6-0-11-1. Todorow also fielded well and Mark Bradshaw and John Crossland (only 1 bye) caught the eye in the field, but Fielder of the Day must be the evergreen Chris Kennedy who made a couple of remarkable stops.

Touring Theatres - 159 for 6 from 30 overs

Todorow 6-0-11-1
West 6-0-37-2
Kennedy 6-0-36-2
Pattiyil 6-0-40-0
Lefebve 6-0-33-1

Clapham Nomads - 61 from 25.5 overs

Bradshaw 9
Vyas 1
Kee 2
Kennedy 0
Pattiyil 4
Lefebve 16 not out
Todorow 0
Fowles 0
West 4
Crossland 0

F.O.W. - 7, 17, 17, 22, 29, 45, 45, 61, 61

Nomads lost by 98 runs

Clapham Nomads v Dulwich - 31/7/11

There was a decidedly unusual feel to 1.45 pm on Sunday. The whole Nomads team (admittedly only 10 men) were primed and ready to start play on a flawless-looking Joseph Hood Rec pitch on a beautiful sunny day, and stood around exchanging polite pleasantries as we prepared to commence our innings, having been thoughtfully put in to bat by Dulwich skipper John Lawrence on the warmest Sunday so far this year. Would we be able to adapt to these highly unusual and unNomadic circumstances?
The calm serenity was soon blown away by Dulwich opener Joe Hale who spiked a sharp in-cutter through to the keeper, a good 15 mph faster than we had been expecting. Game on and normal service resumed.
Nomads' No. 1 Mark Bradshaw dug in again and faced up to the challenge posed by the young paceman. At the other end, Mahesh Vyas collected 7 off the first over from Plummer, for whom there was just a touch of uneven bounce. It was a gritty start from our pair and 15 seemed a fair haul from the first 5 overs. The second ball of the 6th over saw Plummer clip Vyas's bails. Worse was to follow the next over with Hale producing the ball of the day to shatter Prasanth Pattiyil's stumps via the edge of his pad. A rare low score for Prasanth and Nomads in a hole at 16 for 2.
No 4 Hassan Khan has, by his own very high standards, not been on top form with the bat lately and, with Hale whipping up a storm, a challenging passage of play ensued. The young paceman bowled his 7 overs right through in an excellent spell of 1 for 9 with only 5 scoring shots. He had several decent-ish LBW shouts as well, which the umpire declined without making eye contact as the bowler's pace, action and height bore a remarkable resemblance to Energy Exiles' quickie Simon Gundry. Like all Dulwich's youngsters, though, Hale had a very sporting attitude. If there was one small weakness in his bowling, it was that he did stray down leg side on occasions and the 7 or 8 byes that resulted helped Nomads up to a fair score of around 65 for 2 at the 18-over drinks break.
The pick of the change bowlers was the clever Kiwi spinner Ebert who got through his work at 3.5 an over at a time when Nomads were trying to accelerate, and claimed the important wicket of Bradshaw (a well-crafted 29) with a stinging caught and bowled in his final over.
No 5 Chris Kennedy showed a good positive attitude and used his feet well to the spinners, but when he was bowled by Spencer, Nomads were in a little difficulty again at 90 for 4.
Fortunately, Hassan was approaching his best form and began to come forward really well to Spencer and Nair with boundaries in most overs. No 6 Nick Lefebve showed a more positive intent than last week, possibly because he was using Dave Hunter's old bat which, like its former owner, does not tolerate blockers. He even produced a Bradshawesque square cut but all his other 17 runs were leg-side before he was caught by Hale at deep mid-wicket. The pair had put on 56 with Hassan racing to his 50 and then onwards. The real acceleration came with the arrival of No. 7 Abdul Khan. The two Khans taking an impressive 23 off the last 21 balls to leave Nomads on 169 for 5 at the close of the innings on 35 overs.
This seemed a decent score (we only managed one run more off 40 overs the week before.) Dulwich are always well-drilled and technically correct but sometime lack a few really big hitters. Games between these sides tend be very close though and, on a good track and with a rather veteran, 10-man fielding unit, it was likely to be interesting.
Hassan Khan struck right away in the first over with a caught and bowled and, although one batsman managed to find the short off-side boundary on several occasions off Emil Todorow, he tried it once too often and chipped up to Abdul Khan at deep-ish point - Abdul doesn't miss those.
Before this game, Nomads had only taken 5 wickets in the previous 68 overs and there was some animated tactical discussion in the interval concerning our bowling order. Perhaps in response to this, Abdul Khan and Andrew West came on earlier than usual at around the 8-10 over mark. This bore some fruit, particularly in West's case. He did go for a boundary in each of his first 2 overs but, as it became clear that he wasn't going to be as expensive as he has been recently (when bowling later in the innings,) his confidence grew and he bowled a fine and accurate spell. As ever with West, it was injuries that were the abiding memory - 2 this week instead of the usual 1 - The more memorable was when he fell on the ball (poor ball) in stopping a single and lay prone in apparent agony for a minute before calmly standing up, grunting, and sending down some more impeccable line and length deliveries. Abdul was also impressive, bowling 7 overs for just 25 runs despite having an injured shoulder. The upshot of this was that Dulwich were well behind the required rate at Drinks but, with only 3 down and 2 well-played-in batsmen at the crease, the chase promised to go to the wire.
Nomads had only 4 recognised Front Line bowlers but 3rd change Prasanth Pattiyil was brought on fairly early as part of the Todorow Masterplan. After a very expensive first over he recovered well and claimed a wicket with a ball that kept low. This brought Ebert, probably Dulwich's most powerful hitter, to the crease. His partner was a most impressive 14-year-old who batsman went on to make 50. This stand dragged Dulwich right back into the game; the highlight was some very sharp running between the wickets. For a period it was almost "tip and run" as any ball not hit straight back to the bowler resulted in a single and often a 2. Nomads had only 3 players under 47 and only 1 under 35, whereas Dulwich had only 1 player over 35. For a while this generation gap threatened to prove decisive as the required rate dropped towards 6.5 with wickets in hand and our rather defensive field being run ragged. I did hear a mutter of "geriatrics" at one point from the spectators and I would like to say this galvanised us, but unfortunately we were too knackered to be galvanised.
Some confusion arose as Todorow tried to juggle his bowling options. At one point, Prasanth had just bowled at the Morden End and the skipper gazed at the Wimbledon End and scratched his head, wondering who he could bring on next. "Aaahh!," his eyes lit up as inspiration arrived; "Prasanth, can you take this over?" I know Prasanth is good but 2 overs in a row?.... Eventually the skipper turned to 4th-change Nick Lefebve who managed to get through 2 overs at 7 an over which was no more than the required rate.
Prasanth returned after a short break and claimed the vital wicket of Ebert. The asking rate was now over 8 but Dulwich stayed in the hunt with excellent running and the odd blow to the short boundary. 34 were needed with 4 overs to go but Nomads had enjoyed the luxury of bringing Hassan back to bowl at the death. The 4th last over was probably the crucial one with Prasanth only going for 5.
In the penultimate over Prasanth took a smart caught and bowled from a firmly struck drive. The very next ball he moved sharply out to his left and threw down the stumps with a direct hit from 15 yards to dismiss Dulwich's young top-scorer. A further wicket, bowled, on the last ball of the over was merely the encore of a brilliant, 6-ball, One Man Show.
19 were needed off the final over and few players at this or indeed at a higher level would fancy scoring that off Hassan Khan. In the event, Dulwich fell just 10 runs short in a thrilling match that was closer and more exciting than I have made it sound in this report.
Man of the Match was Hassan whose 76 contained enough prolonged rapid scoring to take the game just beyond Dulwich's reach. Mark Bradshaw's resilient 29 against some challenging New Ball bowling was very important too. These 2 were probably the most consistent fielders as well but Fielder of the Day must be Prasanth for his caught and bowled and direct hit in successive balls. Honourable mention must also go to Andrew West, the most economical bowler. I would like to claim this was a victory for "Experience" over Youth but the 4 star players I have just mentioned are Nomads' youngest - plus of course Andrew West who remains forever young at heart.
QUOTE OF THE DAY; "We like playing you but your field placings are always so defensive" - Ebert, Dulwich cc

Clapham Nomads 169 for 5 from 35 overs

Bradshaw 29
Vyas 8
Pattiyil 1
H. Khan 76 not out
Kennedy 5
Lefebve 18
A. Khan 13 not out

F.O.W. - 15, 16, 85, 90, 146

Dulwich 159 for 9 from 35 overs

H. Khan 7-0-27-2
Todorow 7-0-30-2
A. Khan 7-0-25-0
West 7-0-22-0
Pattiyil 5-0-32-4
Lefebve 2-0-14-0

Nomads won by 10 runs

Wimbledon Corinthians v Clapham Nomads - 24/7/11

Wimbledon Corinthians served up revenge with a comfortable victory over Nomads at a sultry Raynes Park.
On a pitch that I (and the scorebook) thought was good - though others disagreed, Nomads got off to a pretty good start and reached 56 for 1 against some probing bowling. This was due to a good stand of 47 from the very consistent Prasanth Pattiiyil and Rashid Ahmed after Mahesh Vyas had been run out early on. The wicket of Rashid precipitated an alarming collapse to 82 for 5, featuring a brilliant direct hit to claim the vital wicket of Hassan Khan for 1. The 5th wicket was somewhat unlucky, the ball deflecting off Prasanth's hip to clip the leg bail. A 6th wicket stand of 58 between Abdul Khan (43) and Nick Lefebve dragged us back into the game. The clever Steve O'Neill Ramsadeo imposed a stranglehold during the early part of this stand with his excellent variations, conceding only 5 runs from his first 4 overs but Abdul, who hadn't played for a month, was most impressive once he got his eye in and hit two 6s and six 4s in a vital and rapid knock.
Our middle order appeared stronger than it had for a while with Riaz Khan in at No 8 with the score on 140 for 6 and plenty of time remaining. One of his trademark speedy 20s or 30s would have been just what was needed and he did look in the mood, but unfortunately a brilliant diving catch at Mid Off sent him on his way for 3.
Lefebve had taken almost 20 overs to play himself in but made a late flurry of runs in a patchy but entertainingly argumentative stand of 27 with skipper Emil Todorow to take us up to a slightly below par 170 for 7 off the full 40.
One feature of this innings was that it took well over 3 hours, thanks to the ritual of banter, sledging, ball-passing (and dropping) and field changes that occurred after most deliveries. To be fair though, at least one Nomads' batsman attempted to outdo Corinthians for timewasting and - at one point - pretended to fall asleep on the ground.
Nomads would have to bowl and field well to defend this target against a strong batting line-up.
Todorow snapped up an early caught and bowled with the score on 5 but the second wicket pair played calmly and unhurriedly for a stand of around 140 and never really looked like losing a wicket. Hassan and Emil were awkward to score off as usual and the total was only about 40 for 1 after 15 overs but, once 50 was passed with no chances nor any sign of snakes in the pitch, the writing appeared on the wall. The pick of the change bowlers was Rashid, who put a lot into his bowling and gave a throaty grunt as he delivered each ball. God forbid that Emil or Andrew ever do this; it would be alarming. The match was all but lost when Rashid claimed the second wicket with a fine caught and bowled and then followed up with another in the next over. During this period there was the strange spectacle of an impassioned rant by one of the batsmen about the state of the pitch - the score was 150 for 2 at the time. I honestly think that if he ever played at Lord's he would complain about the slope.
The only thing that could have saved Nomads was the light - the sun was slipping down below the A3 as 8:30 was passed. Corinthians needed 7 off the last 3 overs but, aware of the fading light, they wrapped it up in 3 balls, concluding with a 6 off Todorow.
Man of the Match was Rashid who never lost his enthusiasm and bowled with passion and pace to claim two richly-deserved late wickets. He also batted well, while the ball was new and the pitch still a little tricky. Abdul's innings was vital and entertaining as well. Emil voted for Rashid for Fielder of the Day but fans of Mahesh Vyas, who made a series of good stops at various points between slip and Third Man, won the vote.
QUOTE OF THE DAY - "A caught and bowled from Todorow. A rare sight indeed." - John Crossland, Clapham Nomads cc
Clapham Nomads - 170 for 7 from 40 overs

M. Vyas, run out 5
P. Pattiyil, bowled 28
R. Ahmed, bowled 25
H. Khan, run out 1
Darwin, bowled 5
N. Lefebve, not out 24
A. Khan, bowled 43
R. Khan, caught 3
E. Todorow, not out 3
Did not bat; J. Crossland, A. West

F. O. W. - 9, 56, 57, 78, 82, 140, 143

Wimbledon Corinthians - 172 for 3 from 37.3 overs

H. Khan - 8-0-30-0
E. Todorow - 6.3-0-24-1
R. Ahmed - 8-0-33-2
A. West - 4-0-26-0
R. Khan - 6-0-30-0
A. Khan - 5-0-24-0

Nomads lost by 7 wickets

Streatham & Marlborough v Clapham Nomads - 17/7/11

Nomads got their stop-start season back on track in a damp Dulwich with a splendid victory against talented opponents.
This match didn't seem likely to be completed at any point in the previous few days, and certainly not when we saw the dark grey sky and lightning flashes hovering around over Dulwich Village.
We made a token effort to start a 30-over game (strangely, the Home side wanted 40 overs,) and tight bowling from Hassan Khan and Emil Todorow restricted Streatham to around 10 for 0 when heavy rain forced us off after 5 overs. A 20-minute break under the trees was followed by a Groundhog Day repetition of the above and we found ourselves under the trees again with the score on 20 for 0 after 10 overs. The openers were complete opposites in every respect; age, height, approach - the younger guy attempted to pull every Todorow ball over square leg for 6 (Emil finished with figures of 6 runs off 6 overs which gives an idea how successful this ploy was.) The other fellow - at least 45 years older than his partner - nudged and nurdled for quick singles and this proved quite profitable as the mismatched pair had a surprisingly good understanding. The attacking player did hit one stunning 4 back over Hassan's head - a rare sight - which kept the field back.
Terry Bruce-Mills was first change and bowled tight slow-medium to help restrict the score to around 45 at the 18-over mark. With only 12 overs to go, there were murmurs of discontent from the remainder of the Streatham batting line-up, which were answered angrily by the older opener. Perhaps this affected his concentration because he was bowled shortly afterwards by Andrew West; the only ball in the match that kept a bit low.
This wicket looked counter-productive for a while as new man Kannan helped launch a charge. For 6 or 7 overs, Streatham were completely on top with Andrew West and pacy newcomer Rashid Ahmed taking particular punishment. A heap of runs came behind square off Rashid - possibly a field placing issue here.
Nomads' ground-fielding was good throughout, with Terry Bruce-Mills particularly impressive, but several catches went down as the Home side appeared to be heading for something like 180-190.
Finally, a chance was snapped up, a high quality diving catch from Hassan, and Streatham moved down a gear or two in the closing overs with Nomads a tad relieved only to have conceded 150 by the close.
This did appear on paper to be one of the more threadbare Nomads batting line-ups and one sensed that a lot would rest on the admittedly broad shoulders of Mark Bradshaw and Hassan Khan.
An early wicket was just what was not required but Mahesh Vyas holed out to short mid-wicket in the 3rd over to bring Rashid out to join Mark Bradshaw in the middle. The newcomer, yet another Riaz Khan discovery, had not played with a requlation cricket ball or on a grass strip before. It was perhaps fortunate that this was such a good track but Rashid showed an excellent eye and some near-textbook shots. A good second wicket stand took shape with excellent running and strike rotation; a sprinkling of 1s and 2s in every over and five 4s for Rashid in a pretty rapid 33 before he fell to the impressive 14-year-old quickie Pentycross - an easy name to remember should he progress to greater things.
62 for 2 and Hassan Khan joined Bradshaw in what looked a crucial phase of the game. Streatham had brought on 2nd changer Kannan, a very tricky customer to score 5 an over off, with great variation of pace, trajectory and movement. When Kannan claimed the wicket of Hassan with only 79 on the board the wound appeared mortal.
No. 5 Darwin had showed promise with the bat but had never really gone beyond the mid-20s for Nomads. Below him in the order there was no-one you could rely on to score at 5 an over for too long. Scorer John Crossland began to despair; "We've had it. We can't win this. We've got no Zia or Riaz." An early 6 from Darwin was an eye-opener but Crossland soon began to repeat his mantra, much to the amusement of the crowd of home fans.
Mark Bradshaw had been keeping Nomads' run rate healthy with 2s all around the wicket. Suddenly he launched a beautiful straight drive back over the bowler's head; although it dropped a couple of millimetres short of the rope, it was a sign that he was in The Zone. The partnership gelled and it was noticeable how often a boundary was taken from one of the first two balls of an over to ease the pressure. The 100 came up in fine time, as did the 50 partnership at 129. The required rate remained steady at just over 5. A truly exciting contest was building up but scorer Crossland noticed that Streatham's scorebook was slipping behind his own; first by 1, then by 2 and, with 2 overs to go, by 4. A quick discussion resulted in the home side insisting that we go with their, lower, score. I'm not too sure about the rights and wrongs of that (....well I am actually, but the way our guys were batting, who cared?)
12 more runs was agreed as the target with 12 balls to go, and then 3 were needed off the final over, to be delivered by Kannan, the pick of the bowlers. Two dot balls clenched buttocks but Darwin pushed 2 off the third ball to level the scores. Darwin hit the 4th ball uppishly. A fielder swooped for the chance as the batsmen crossed. Just for a second there was confusion but then it became clear that the ball had been grounded, the total had been passed, and Nomads had recorded one of our most exciting victories.
Man of the Match is Mark Bradshaw for marshalling our reply. His 56 not out was probably his finest and quickest innings of the season. His versatility was shown in that he only hit one of his trademark off-side 4s. Other areas produced a rich yield. Plenty of other fine performances with a Nomads-best 43 not out from Darwin and a miserly 6-1-6-0 from Emil, despite him being the target of repeated attempts to slog him over the leg side into Lewisham.
Fielder of the Day would have been Terry for his groundwork but he did put down a couple of chances. I will award it to Andrew West, who not only failed to swear at the skipper as he was moved regularly around the field, but also produced an extraordinary, balletic, Richter Scale-busting diving stop right on the line and, remarkably, didn't injure himself in the process. Unfortunately he didn't jump up and return the ball all in the same movement. Had he done so, he would have been instantly awarded Player of the Season, along with a Hospital bed.
Thanks to the Home Side for staging the contest and all credit to their players who did a splendid job getting the covers on and off. It was a pleasure to play on a covered pitch.

Streatham & Marlborough - 150 for 2 from 30 overs

H. Khan 6-1-15-0
E. Todorow 6-1-6-0
T. Bruce-Mills 4-0-15-0
A. West 6-0-46-1
R. Ahmed 6-0-44-1
Darwin 2-0-13-0

Clapham Nomads - 151 for 3 from 29.4 overs

M. Bradshaw - 56 not out
M. Vyas - 2
R. Ahmed - 33
H. Khan - 7
Darwin - 43 not out
Did not bat; N.Lefebve, E. Todorow, J. Crossland, T. Bruce-Mills, A. West

F.O.W. - 15, 62, 79

Clapham Nomads won by 7 wickets

Touring Theatre XI v Clapham Nomads - 10/7/11

Sadly this game was called off because of the torrential rain on the preceding Thursday and Friday. Merton Council were unable to prepare a pitch and, obviously unable to stretch to weekend overtime for their groundsmen in these harsh times, had to call off the game.
This left Nomads kicking their heels on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. At least one of our team went to see Surrey v Kent at The Oval where there was a sighting of Nomads' record run-scorer John Chance holding court to an appreciative audience in the Peter May Stand, to liven up proceedings. (Former Kingston Lefthanders Flight Bowler Nick Crouch was there as well. It was a Hall of Fame.)

Clapham Nomads v Caribbean Mix - 3/7/11

Basically, we got a spanking. The story of the game was that after an early wicket, we were pretty much put to the sword. It was hard work in the field, especially against a left-hand/right-hand 2nd wicket pair that put on over 100, but we still showed plenty of enthusiasm and the bowling was ok, although the opposition batsmen took rather a liking to the deliveries of Zia, from whom the ball came on to them at a nice pace, and Andrew West. Once they had reached around 160 for 3 with 12 overs to go, there was little chance of a Nomads victory and it was damage limitation time. With 5 overs remaining, they were on about 235 and there looked a good chance a record would be broken - our highest ever Runs Conceded tally of 274 in the famous Slaughter in the Sun game back in 2003. Thankfully this was averted, with some good bowling by Darwin at the Death, but Caribbean finished on 261 for 5.

Mark Bradshaw and Mahesh Vyas coped very well against a quick opening pair of O.J., who the opposition announced was "Fresh from Jamaica" and Kenrick. We were even up with the rate at one point. A double bowling change brought on the more experienced Jono and the excellent Wayne, who had a terrific variation of pace off 4 steps. Wayne finally broke up a good opening stand of around 45 and then ran through us with a spell of 6 for 14 off 7 overs including only 4 scoring shots.

Nomads' batsmen did show some character and forced our way up to 131 for 7 at the close, the highlight of the 2nd half of our innings was a stubborn stand of 46 between Sumith Prasanna, who played some fine shots in his 35 not out, and Emil Todorow.

John did point out at the end that he felt the game was no contest and asked Caribbean's organiser Jim Ferguson if they could field a weaker team next year. "That was our weaker team," Jim replied.

Anyway, there were still plenty of good things about the match - here are 20 of them;


A fine innings from Sumith Prasanna, who seems a much improved batsman since returning to the side at the end of last year.

A good opening stand between Mark Bradshaw and Mahesh Vyas, against probably the quickest pair of opening bowlers they will face this summer.

Great catches from Hassan Khan at either end of our torrid afternoon in the field. His kneeling catch off the last ball was really well-judged.

Darwin did a pretty good job as the 5th bowler and should bowl plenty more overs this summer, hopefully in slightly easier circumstances.

The pitch played well. Merton Council's wickets seem to have improved a lot this summer. The opposition rated it a "good cricket wicket" and they play about 50 games a year so you have to respect their judgement.

Another diving "dragback" right on the line from Mark Bradshaw, his second in successive games. This is becoming his fielding trademark.

For the first time in ages, some of Nomads' fielders burnt off more calories in the field than they consumed in the pub or take-away afterwards.

It doesn't look as if Andrew West will retire from cricket after all, despite his repeated threats to do so during this game.

I offered to buy Emil a drink if John said the words "no contest" 100 times during the evening. Fortunately, he stopped at around 47 so I saved my money.

Caribbean Mix are in 4 cup competitions, play just about every other day, own a bus, serve the interval drinks from a full-size office Water Cooler and are definitely acquiring a semi-professional aura; and to think that Nomads actually helped to set them up (either we can take pride in that or reflect that we have created a monster.)

The opposition provided a great tea of barbecue chicken, rice and salad. A definite step up from the traditional egg sandwiches and Battenburg cake.

We witnessed a brilliant spell of bowling from Wayne.

If you take Wayne's figures out, Nomads scored 118 for 1.

As always, we enjoyed Caribbean's banter and verbals. There was only one cry of "Sex Appeal" from Jim Ferguson. The captain issued an instruction to get "Up Close and Personal," which I can only hope was a request for a bouncer, or for a fielder to go Silly Mid On or Off.

After the game we drank in the garden of a nearby pub that had a Rotweiler and a full-size Wild Boar on the roof. Showing his usual disregard for his own personal safety, Andrew West reached up and stroked the pig's nose. The creature enjoyed it. In fact, I have seldom witnessed such a profound connection between Man and Beast.

Although Emil was almost incandescent with anger at some of Andrew's antics on the field, he managed to keep a lid on it and avoided an embarrassing scene.

The game was played in a good spirit between the 2 teams, although there are some "Strong Personalities" on both sides. Caribbean Mix have some great characters and some really fine players, so it is always a pleasure to play them, whatever the result.

Hassan and Emil bowled well as usual.

Apparently it could have been worse. It was said that if we hadn't dismissed their skipper early on, the total would probably have been over 300.

We had a game of cricket which is what we are in the team for. You can't have a thrilling finish every week and it would pretty pointless to win every week at this level.

Fielder of the Day was Hassan for 2 smart catches. Man of the Match is tougher; Hassan bowled and fielded well, Mark batted and fielded well and Sumith's innings was a bright spot but I will give it to Emil Todorow who showed some good batting resistance at the end, was the second best bowler and made an early breakthrough, and also skippered well. It must have been tough.

Caribbean Mix - 261 for 5 from 35 overs

H. Khan 7-1-33-0
Todorow 7-0-34-2
Zia 7-0-64-0
West 7-0-52-2
Darwin 7-1-51-3

Clapham Nomads - 132 for 7 from 35 overs.

Bradshaw 14
Vyas 12
George (on loan from opposition) 3
H. Khan 6
Prasanna 35 not out
Zia 8
Lefebve 1
Todorow 7
Darwin 6 not out

F.O.W. - 44, 54, 59, 62, 74, 77, 123

Nomads lost by 130 runs

Barnes Occasionals v Clapham Nomads - 26/6/11

The long journey to Riverside Drive, Ham, was enlivened by the skilful driving of Mr Emil Todorow as he weaved his way though the 1,000s of cyclists, mostly clad in pink T-shirts, who were clogging up the narrow lanes near the ground. We were told by John Crossland when we arrived that he had been on this Charity Bike Ride himself. I'm not sure if he was in pink but, if he was, I'm sure it was a good look. Of course; athlete that he is, he had finished the course several hours previously and arrived at the ground with Andrew West - by boat.
This is now Occasionals' regular ground and, credit either to them or to Richmond Council's Contractors, the pitch played well and there was a nice tea hut. It was a big improvement on last year (that's starting from a low base, though.)
Nomads were inserted by a Barnes side missing 2 of their top batsmen; Adam Hogg and Roger Price. Ollie Hogg and the young Ireland opened the bowling and 3 wickets fell quite rapidly; Mahesh Vyas adjudged LBW, Jim Joyce ending up at the same end as Prasanth Pattiyil for a bizarre run out and then, ominously, Hogg clipping the top of Hassan Khan's bails to leave Nomads in a quandary at 34 for 3. No. 5 Sumith Prasanna led a counter-attack with a hard-hitting knock including 2 sixes before Prasanth fell for a decent 29, continuing his consistent run of form.
Nick Lefebve came out at 67 for 4 but Sumith fell almost straight away. Occasionals had replaced Hogg with a bowler making his debut. He bowled at considerable pace and found what few snakes there were in the pitch, making the ball rear up regularly. Nomads were in some trouble but Barnes perhaps missed a trick by setting a remarkable 8-1 off-side field to Lefebve, who plays exclusively on the leg side. The bowler did bowl to his field but the batsman was able to watch the ball sail past his off stump as the bowler tired. The partnership was given much-needed impetus by No. 7 Zia who struck a splendid 40 with resounding blows straight and over long-on. He played some very nice late cuts as well. Sadly the stand ended 2 short of the half-century mark with Zia chipping a catch back to the bowler - perhaps looking for a single which wasn't really needed as plenty of time remained.
Lefebve didn't last too long after this and nor did Darwin but this was of enormous benefit to spectators as it brought together, on 124 for 8, the legendary partnership of Emil Todorow and John Crossland who don't bat together too often these days but who have a most unconventional way of expressing their respect and admiration for each other as cricketers and men. Basically, they pretty much re-defined the art of running beween the wickets, as such tired old chestnuts as "Yes", "No" and "Wait" were replaced by "Come on, run for Christ's sake!", "What are you doing? Get back!" and "It's my call. Do as I say!" All those present agreed that it would be fun if they opened together, perhaps against a weak bowling side. Even if our innings closed on 30 for 0, and we lost by 9 wickets, the entertainment they would provide would make the £6 match fee extremely good value. In fairness, they did put on 16 valuable runs, mostly against an exceptionally slow loop bowler, with contrasting styles; John charging fully 8 yards out of his crease and flicking to leg, and Emil rooted to the spot and aiming massive hoiks though square leg - and either nodding in satisfaction or shaking his locks in frustration at the result.
Unbelievably, that was almost improved on as last man Andrew West joined Todorow in the middle. Three times West set off for a quick single, only to be ordered back. Our No. 11, who turns about as quickly as the Titanic, just made it back, panting, each time. He did crack 2 resounding fours as well, using his special grip with the hands the wrong way round. Mind you, seeing that his strike rate of 8 runs from 3 balls was the fastest of our innings, who's to say his grip is not correct? - and everyone else's hands are the wrong way round.
Actually, West can bat a bit. On his debut in 1994 he made 26 on a terrible pitch against some quick bowling. Recovering from an early blow to his unprotected testicles, he carted Stratford's indignant quicks all over Wandsworth Park. We thought we had unearthed a batting gem. We were half-right. He certainly is a gem but 26 remains his highest score for the club.
Barnes's reply was always going to be rather like Newsnight Review following an episode of Keystone Cops and excellent, tight, bowling from Hassan Khan ensured an air of tranquility. The early order all looked as though they could play a bit and Darwin had to swoop low and fast to take a quite brilliant catch off Todorow's bowling. This was a time match and Todorow could concentrate on his 4 main bowlers. He took himself off perhaps an over too early when it was noticed that Ireland seemed to back away from a ball from Hassan, who was bowling as quick as he has this season. Zia came on in an effort to capitalise on this perceived weakness but Ireland proved an excellent player with the top score of Barnes's reply. He even hit Andrew West for three successive 4s, though the Big Man recovered to bowl a decent, accurate spell. He was taken off after 6 overs but begged for another over. This was declined by Emil, perhaps wisely as we saw later.
With 20 overs to go, the asking rate was only just above 5 an over, but regular wickets kept Nomads reasonably safe from defeat. Zia bowled quickly and was hard to score off, but bowled perhaps too full a length to really run through the opposition. Jim Mundy and Mark Lichfield came together at 6 down with around 7 overs to go and, both very seasoned players, saw Occasionals through to the last over with little difficulty. By this stage, Andrew West was lying prone at long-off, claiming to be suffering from heat exhaustion. It was agreed that, should the ball touch him, 5 penalty runs would be recorded. This seems a rather paltry haul when you consider that a mere batting helmet, which covers rather less ground than West, also incurs a 5-run penalty.
With 4 balls to go, Hassan bowled Lichfield and then followed up with another wicket the next ball to provide just a flicker. This was quickly extinguished by No. 10 Keith Seed, a very experienced defensive player who negotiated the final 2 deliveries with ease to earn Barnes a draw.
This was an unexpectedly enjoyable match, played in great spirit, with plenty of entertainment and talking points. It has been suggested that similar antics could see Nomads featured on YouTube.
Fielder of the Day was definitely Darwin for the Catch of the Season so far, although John Crossland overcame fatigue to take a smart stumping off Jim Joyce's bowling. Since this game was as much Edinburgh Fringe as Lord's, I am tempted to give Man of the Match to Todorow, West or Crossland. Hassan also bowled very well but, in a game where the ball was on top, Zia gets the nod for producing by far the best innings.

Clapham Nomads 153 all out

Vyas 8
Pattiyil 29
Joyce 0
H. Khan 8
Prasanna 22
Lefebve 8
Zia 40
Darwin 0
Todorow 9
Crossland 2
West 8 not out

F.O.W. - 12, 12, 32, 67, 71, 119, 124, 124, 140, 153

Barnes Occasionals 104 for 8 from 35 overs

H. Khan 10-5-16-3
Todorow 6-0-18-2
Zia 11-2-26-1
West 6-0-29-1
Joyce 1-0-6-1
Darwin 1-0-4-0

Match Drawn

Clapham Nomads v Energy Exiles - 19/6/11

To mark the 10th anniversary of Nomads/Exiles fixtures we had another good game of cricket and what seemed at the time like one of the more controversial of the 17 contests between the 2 clubs.
Looking back after a week, though; apart from a little bit of toy-rattling, a few controversial decisions (surprise, surprise!) and a touch of rather stale sledging (more Nerys Hughes than Merv Hughes), there was nothing too drastic and, compared to a Kingston Lefthanders v Morden fixture, it was a positive love-in.
All Nomads reached the ground by 2 pm for the first time in ages but, due to the start being re-arranged for 1:15 (which was not in fact viable as the booking was from 1:30) we were still late. Anyway, a 35-over match was agreed to due to the Sunday evening tube strike.
Nomads' skipper Emil Todorow controversially inserted the Exiles but, as if to make amends, recovered from a wayward first over to impose a stranglehold early on, together with Hassan Khan, his trusty new ball partner. After 8 overs the score was only 10 and the home side were postively rattling through their work in the hope that Exiles would not notice their scoring rate was only 1.25 . Both Exiles openers, Keith Roberts and Quentin Davies, were put down early on but we hoped the lack of an early wicket might prove less significant in a 35-over contest than in the usual 40-a-side affair. Around the 10-over mark Davies grabbed the reins with 2 firm 4s but the introduction of the quicker Zia caused the threatening-looking opener to mistime and Mark Bradshaw moved smartly to take a good catch at mid-wicket.
No. 3 John Tither increased the rate only slightly at first against some accurate bowling. Despite some high bounce for the quicks at the Morden Road End, I thought it was a good pitch (several batsmen disagreed with this though - but at least there were none of the usual Merton Council pea-rollers.)
After 16 overs the score was only around 40 and Nomads cynically moved the drinks break from the usual 17 or 18 over mark to 19 overs in the hope that Roberts and Tither would continue to play cautiously up to the break. This ploy failed as Tither opened up in the 17th over taking at least 10 off Zia and he didn't look back from there, playing the latest in a series of fine knocks against us before finally being caught for 65 off only 48 balls including nine 4s and a 6. I met John Tither a few days later and he said he never really felt like he got in on that pitch. Well, Christ, I wouldn't like to bowl to him when he does get in. His stand with Keith Roberts realised 83 and put Exiles firmly in the driving seat. Nomads had only 4 recognised front-line bowlers but Darwin and Prasanth did a pretty good job in bowling the spare 7 between them. Darwin accounted for Wil Scott quickly but this proved counter-productive as it just brought our perennial nemesis, Simon Gundry, to the crease earlier than we would have liked. The big man's fans in the Exiles camp, and grudging admirers in the Nomads camp, were treated to the usual display of power-hitting as two towering sixes were the highlight of his 19-ball 25 not out.
As usual, Keith Roberts supplied obdurate and annoyingly-left-handed support for most of the Exiles innings. If you had to pick someone at this level to stay in to save your life, you could do a lot worse than pick Roberts. Even Emil couldn't prise him out this time and it took a brilliant 30-yard direct hit from Zia to finally send him on his way. Quickish runs from Amil Patel and Andy Wingfield helped the score up to a formidable 179 at the close.
Mark Bradshaw and Mahesh Vyas opened Nomads' reply and faced the usual pairing of Andy Wingfield and Naren Patel. This time though, it appeared that all eyes were on the men in white coats after the previous game's "revealing insight/sun and alcohol-induced rant" by John Crossland about Nomads' umpiring. Wingfield made a quick breakthough as Vyas unluckily deflected the ball onto his own stumps. Prasanth Pattiyil joined Bradshaw and the two made circumspect progress and, once again, saw off the opening pair for the loss of just one wicket. There were 2 massive shouts for LBW against Prasanth. One looked pretty close; the other - hitting the batsman on the toe a yard-and-a-half outside the crease at the bouncy end - was not so close. Nomads innings followed a rather similar pattern to Exiles' as we were in the 40s after 16 overs. The difference was that we were not quite able to accelerate at this stage as rapidly as John Tither had done. Having said that, Mark and Prasanth played well and moved past the 50 partnership (do this pair ever not make a 50 partnership?) Mark continued his fine run and accumulated another good score against his former club which cannot be easy as they know his game inside out.
Although the required rate was nudging 9 an over, Nomads had 4 genuine big-hitters to come so we weren't quite out of the contest. Prasanth finally fell for 31 and thus ushered in Batsman of the Year so far, Jim Joyce. Sadly he could only really connect with one of his big shots and fell quickly. No. 5 Nick Lefebve had captain's orders to either get the scoreboard moving or get Hassan in, and he soon achieved one of these objectives - the latter.
Our No. 6 has not been quite at his brilliant best in some previous games against these opponents but he made amends here with some excellent batting. Even S. Gundry got some tap. Bradshaw joined in another 50 stand - this one much more rapid - and at one point the asking rate dipped towards 8. What seemed likely to thwart us, though, was that Gundry and Wingfield both had overs in hand. Martin Thomas also bowled an excellent spell with the exception of one very expensive over. When I left with 5 overs to go, Nomads needed around 50. I'm told that 36 were needed off 4 and then 20 off the final over which featured a controversial run out call. Nomads came up 13 short but this margin possibly flattered us slightly. At no stage in our innings did Nomads really look in charge and, as a betting man, I would not have set odds of shorter than 5-2 at any stage of our knock. Mind you, Zia was caught on the boundary and I'm told the shot would otherwise have gone for 6. Exiles had the edge this time though, with Tither's batting and the extra depth and variety in their bowling being crucial. Not that it was a bad performance from the Nomads and anyone sad enough to tally up aggregate scores would notice that the 13-run defeat left us ahead over the 2 matches. Personally, I would have to deplore this kind of pettiness but also point out that the actual aggregate margin for 2011 is 61 runs.
Mark Bradshaw finished on 48 not out but a consolation for missing out on his 50 is that he now averages 53 for Nomads in games against the Exiles. Bradshaw was ahead on points for Fielder of the Day for taking yet another catch against the Exiles (a good one) and an excellent scrambling stop right on the boundary, but Zia's direct hit was enough for a share. I'm not sure about Man of the Match until I see the scorebook.
Man of the Match update; Hassan Khan - by far the most economical bowler and 37 runs in good time which put us back in with an outside chance at one stage.

ENERGY EXILES - 179 for 5 from 35 overs

H. Khan 7-4-13-1
Todorow 7-2-31-0
R. Khan 7-2-24-0
Zia 7-1-38-2
Darwin 5-0-39-1
P. Pattiyil 2-0-16-0
CLAPHAM NOMADS - 166 for 6 from 35 overs.

Bradshaw 48 not out
Vyas 1
Pattiyil 31
Joyce 6
Lefebve 1
H. Khan 37
Zia 9
R. Khan 8 not out

F.O.W. - 5, 61, 67, 69, 131, 157

Nomads lost by 13 runs

Southern Railway & Kenley v Clapham Nomads - 12/6/11

We had been looking forward to this Conference Fixture as Little Roke Road, Kenley, is one of the nicest grounds in the South London/Croydon area. Sadly, persistent rain meant that the sensible option to cancel was taken by the home skipper at about 11:15. At least we were saved a wasted journey and gazing out at steady drizzle, or sliding around on a muddy track for a few overs; or -even worse - another 9-hour drinking session.

Bec Old Boys v Clapham Nomads - 5/6/11

A high-class encounter seemed on the cards as unbeaten Nomads made the arduous journey down to South Cheam to take on the Bec Old Boys (or Be Cold Boys as some internet search engines have it - appropriately given the weather.)
Bec are a fine side and chased down our total of 191 in only 30 overs last year. They contain a sprinkling of Saturday League players who were reminded by Wicketkeeper Chez Browne at the start; "remember lads, yesterday was business; today is pleasure." The Old Boys looked distinctly unconvinced by this as they wiped the drizzle from the hair.
In the absence of regular opener Mark Bradshaw, Prasanth Pattiyil joined Mahesh Vyas at the wicket to face an all-spin opening attack of Brian Gittens and Peter Seaden. Bowling right-arm round the wicket off-spin, Gittens was the more awkward of the two with regular off-spin and a good Arm Ball. His early LBW shout against Vyas was probably missing off, but not by a lot. Both opening bowlers did have a tendency to overpitch and it was from full tosses that Nomads' openers scored a fair proportion of their runs. Our lads cracked along at 6 an over; the highlight was a fine pushed cut through Cover Point from Pattiyil which was a carbon copy of the shot often played by Mark Bradshaw. Vyas also seized well on anything loose and the only blemishes on an excellent opening stand were a couple of mix-ups running between the wickets. At one point, Umpire Todorow amusingly abandoned his role as umpire for a moment in mid-over and called the pair together for a mid-pitch conference. You didn't get that with Dickie Bird.
Gittens made the breakthough in the 7th over with Vyas playing across to a straight one that kept a little low. 37 for 1 was a good start and when Jim Joyce smote his second ball out of the screws over Square Leg's head for 4, it looked radiantly healthy.
Joyce had found his timing immediately but unfortunately whacked a Seaden delivery straight to Deep Mid-Wicket in the next over and fell for 4.
Hassan Khan joined Pattiyil and the pair upped the scoring rate against Gittens from 3.5 an over off his first 4, to almost 9 an over from his last 3. Seaden was replaced by Nav Jaswal as the score raced through the 50s and 60s. Jaswal bowled with good pace last year and, though he didn't reach this same speed this time, he accounted for Prasanth Pattiyil. A slightly unlucky wicket as the batsman's stump was just clipped behind his legs from a ball that kept low, depriving Prasanth of the second successive 50 that seemed likely.
Sumith Prasanna maintained the momentum with a quick-fire 14 including 3 boundaries. Hassan Khan was looking solid but the brakes were put on our scoring rate by the introduction after 14 overs of Bec's 2 League bowlers; Khaled Muhammed and Mason. In the last over before drinks the wily First Team bowler Muhammed, a leg-spinner with plenty of variation and a dangerous quicker ball, bowled Sumith and, 2 balls later, bowled last week's batting hero Zia.
Suddenly we were 104 for 5 from 17 overs and No 7 Nick Lefebve was ordered to play the anchor role by skipper Todorow and Tactical Advisor John Crossland. Lefebve was only too willing to do this against some probing slow bowling but his defensive mindset seemed to rub off on his partner Hassan, who is normally full of shots at this stage of an innings. The plan was to see off the dangerous-looking Muhammed - which was achieved, and milk some runs from Mason - which was not so easy as the bowler produced an excellent spell of slow-medium bowling with regular yorkers. The partnership realised 8 off 38 balls and only the steady drizzle prevented spectators from enjoying an afternoon nap. Bec's fielders maintained an impressive level of enthusiasm though, with one chap appealing several times before the ball had even reached the batsman.
Mason finally accounted for Hassan with possibly the ball of the day; a sharp off-cutter which cramped the batsman and made him edge an attempted cut onto his own stumps. Mason followed up by bowling Abdul first ball. Riaz provided some much-needed entertainment with 3 improvised fours off Muhammed who was beginning to struggle bowling with a wet ball. Batting was also becoming tricky in the conditions. Riaz fell to Mason's last ball. Emil Todorow joined Lefebve and such batting basics as nimble footwork and eyesight were near to impossible as the bespectacled pair peered out in search of the ball. Lefebve was having to wipe his glasses every couple of balls by now and, when offered the chance to go off for rain, he showed his smartest footwork off the day by tuning on his heel instantly and striding off.
An early tea was taken but the rain just got steadier and the game was called off around 5 o'clock. We joined Old Boys for some excellent hospitality in their upstairs bar, including complimentary Cava for our lads to celebrate maintaining our unbeaten record.
I can only guess at what the result would have been. If I had to set a Betting Spread for our final total it would be 138-140 and I have a hunch Bec's batsmen might just have had the experience to chase this successfully with conditions not favouring our quicker bowlers, but who knows...
Man of the Match is Prasanth Pattiyil who produced the highest score and possibly the most impressive batting of the day. For the second match in a row he was a little unlucky to be out.

CLAPHAM NOMADS - 129 for 8 from 28.3 overs

M. Vyas b Gittens 14
P. Pattiyil b Jaswal 33
J. Joyce c ? b Seaden 4
H. Khan b Mason 32
S. Prasanna b Muhammed 14
Zia b Muhammed 0
N. Lefebve not out 6
A. Khan b Mason 0
R. Khan c Jaswal b Mason 14
E. Todorow not out 0
Did not bat; J. Crossland

F.O.W. - 37, 42, 80, 104, 104, 112, 112, 128

Match abandoned as a draw

The Umpiring Controversy - 29/5/11

After Sunday's match, John Crossland provided some pub entertainment by disclosing Club Policy...er, I mean alleging that "Nomads just don't give LBWs." Now, a conversation between Nomads and Exiles about umpiring dismissals may be likened by cynics to 2 fish chatting about mountaineering, but that is not the whole picture. A quick perusal of scorebooks and websites reveals that a sprinkling of LBW decisions have been awarded by both sides in recent years. Here are 3 of the better-known examples from the "whitewash" season of 2009.


1) 28/5/09 at CSSC Chiswick (Exiles 141 for 8 beat Nomads 140 for 8 by 2 wickets)
Hassan Khan LBW b Utley 0.

A quite remarkable decision by Umpire Reeve after the Nomads all-rounder had not just got in a decent stride, but had actually embarked on a lengthy hike reminiscent of Wainwright. Impartial(ish) witnesses claimed Khan was closer to Reeve than he was to his own stumps. Hassan averaged 42.33 with the bat in 2009 and even half that number of runs would probably have seen Nomads home in a close match.

RATINGS;
Quality of Decision - 1 out of 10
Influence on Match - 8 out of 10
Entertainment Value - Grim, but a talking point; 5 out of 10


2) - 28/5/09 at CSSC Chiswick (Match scores as above.)
Nick Lefebve LBW b Knight 8

Lefebve had already swept the big medium pacer twice and, in looking for a repeat, crouched in front of his stumps only to be thudded by an in-swinger. Umpire Jim "Sex Appeal" Ferguson, hard but fair as ever, ruled correctly. Lefebve is sadly no Hassan but a couple of leg-side slogs would have pushed Nomads up towards 150.

RATINGS;
Quality of Decision - 9 out of 10
Influence on Match - 5 out of 10
Entertainment value - a regulation dismissal; 3 out of 10

3) - 13/9/09 at Dundonald Road (Exiles 129 beat Nomads 116 by 13 runs)
John Crossland LBW b M. Thomas 0

A very tight game in which Exiles clinched the humiliating 3-0 whitewash over Nomads.
Clapham needed 19 to win off 7.3 overs when last man John Crossland came in. Nomads had a fair chance as, at the non-striker's end, stood Emil Todorow who was on fire (or "well-set" in his own modest words) on either 15 or 17 (total subject to a scoring dispute.) Nomads had managed 5 of these when, sadly, Crossland stood right in front and padded away a good length ball from his naggingly accurate former team-mate, Martin Thomas. Umpire Fewson's finger went up like the cork from a champagne bottle. It was alleged that Crossland told the umpire later; "I thought you might have let me off that one, Ben."

RATINGS;
Quality of Decision - 10 out of 10
Influence on Match - 7 out of 10
Entertainment Value - Certainly had its amusing side; 9 out of 10









1)

Energy Exiles v Clapham Nomads - 29/5/11

Late May Bank Holiday Sunday means just one thing in South London club cricket; another clash between fierce but friendly rivals Clapham Nomads and Energy Exiles - an Old Firm Derby in all but name yet without the sectarian chanting (well, not much of it anyway.)
Regular reading of Exiles' excellent website (I don't have much of a life) revealed the disturbing stat that a certain Mr Daniel Killaly (Australian judging by his name and strike-rate) had scored 245 runs in 3 games off a mere 130 balls. Adding him to Exiles' already formidable middle-order hitters Gundry and Wingfield represented a major headache for Nomads - one that only eased when we eventually came to a tactical decision; just get Emil Todorow to bowl at them.
In the event, a leaked e-mail a few days before the game announced that Killaly had had to return to the Antipodes for the rest of the summer. Wishing him a safe flight, unencumbered by volcanic ash or any other delay, we breathed a tiny sigh of relief.
Further relief was sighed on Sunday when we arrived at the Del Ballard Rec in Wimbledon and found that Nomads' recent nemesis, Simon Gundry, was also missing from the line-up.
Not that we were complacent as, with the toss won, openers Mark Bradshaw and Mahesh Vyas strode out to face one of the most reliably awkward new ball pairings at this level; Andy Wingfield and Naren Patel. Wingfield had first go against his former team-mate. "You can get him, Andy," someone called. "What, again?" another chirped. Wingfield seemed to have added some extra variations since last year and bowled at his usual lively pace and managed to move the ball both ways off the pitch and sharply inwards through the air. Bradshaw has started the season very solidly and, to be honest, rarely looks like getting out. Naren Patel's first ball dropped uncharacteristically short outside off-stump and Bradshaw played his signature cut for 4. To me, umpiring at Square Leg, Patel appeared to have added half a yard of pace since we last faced him and he soon had Vyas caught smartly at slip.
Out came Prasanth Pattiyil who has had many fine partnerships with Bradshaw and the pair got their heads down impressively. There was a double bowling change on 10 overs with the score on 34 for 1 - pretty acceptable against Exiles' attack. Off-spinner John Tither showed good control and turn but at the other end, Pattiyil took an immediate liking to the bowling of Gwyn Thomas with 3 successive 4s in his first over, including 2 straight beauties. The partnership strode past 50 with Bradshaw treating Tither with a good deal of respect, using his pads judiciously on occasions. Nomads were batting themselves into a strong position and there was an early recall for Naren Patel. The experienced seamer made the breakthrough, producing something clever from his Pandora's Box that found the leading edge of Bradshaw's bat and looped up to the slips. Still, that's 36, 38 and 39 for Mark in his last 3 innings, very consistent batting and a boost to his already impressive average for Nomads in games against his old club.
Patel almost followed up in the same over by rapping Hassan Khan's pads for an lbw shout that was really rather close. His luck turned the next over when he clipped the outside of Pattiyil's off-stump. A glance at the crease footmarks from the sleep-deprived umpire hinted that this just might have been a fractional no-ball but, by then, the batsman was nearing the pavilion. A quick count of the scorebook gave Prasanth's total as 50. Well done. A nice guy and a classy batsman on his day.
97 for 3 and this innings was starting to follow a horribly familiar pattern of middle order collapses against Energy. No. 5 was new man Zia, another find from the Riaz Khan Production Line of Talent. You always sit up and take note when Riaz brings a new player as he has unearthed more Star Quality than Simon Cowell (Rafi, Asad etc). Riaz did warn though, that Zia had not played for some years. This was soon evident as he took several almighty heaves at Gwyn Thomas without coming close to connecting, clearly struggling to read the pace of the pitch. Exiles' third-change bowler was off-spinner Keith Roberts, who famously bowled John Chance in his last spell against Nomads. Roberts quickly showed he hasn't lost his knack of dismissing quality players, bowling Hassan Khan for 8 and dropping Nomads in a hole at 101 for 4.
No. 6 Chris Kennedy hasn't batted for some time but he got his eye in by blocking a few balls soundly and then Zia finally got off the mark when Roberts gifted him a full toss which was roundly walloped to the leg-side fence. That relaxed Zia no end and the next ball went for 6. There was a cracking on-drive from Kennedy before he fell with score on 130. This was much more healthy, with overs and some batting to come. Abdul Khan supported Zia with a quick 15. Riaz didn't last too long but by then it was all about Zia who was evidently a class act and cracked some beautiful straight hits. It took the paternal influence of No. 9 Emil Todorow to really allow the youngster to blossom. Zia just accelerated more and more and capped it all by taking 22 off a Roberts over and hitting the tricky Tither for 6 off the third-last ball of the innings. His stand of 35 with the skipper came off only 17 balls and took Nomads up to 211 (the same as last week) at the close.
In the words of John Crossland, "Zia's innings made the total formidable," but Mark and Prasanth played vital knocks as well. At any rate, it was in excess of anything Exiles have scored against us (I think). Their batting line-up did appear a bit stronger then their bowling but, without Gundry and Killaly, we took the field after the break with some degree of confidence (unusual against these opponents.)
Sri Pathmanathan led the Exiles reply. A dangerous player when set, he has scored a 50 and at least one other good score against Nomads but on this occasion played too many aerial shots and was pouched for 8. Jasper Searle (2 from 21 balls) and Wil Scott (1 from 16) really struggled against the bowling of Hassan Khan and Emil Todorow, bowlers who are becoming so miserly this season that they consider every run taken off them to be a personal affront. The score after 10 overs was little more than 15 and this was leaving Exiles, shorn of some of their biggest guns, with a heck of a lot to do. No. 4 Quentin Davies can get the scoreboard rolling and he was joined by John Tither, who certainly can once he gets going. Tither, a former Northumberland League player, is well capable of a major score at better than a run a ball and he soon began to play some classy drives wide of long-off. He only played one real aerial shot that I can recall and this was prevented from going for 4 by Emil Todorow's lip.
Nomads had four recognised front-line bowlers but, with a good stand developing between Davies and Tither which eventually realised 51, it appeared we could be depending on Zia to bowl well. The debutant didn't disappoint; wayward at times (he received a final warning after his second beamer) he bowled with enough pace and accuracy to work his way through Exiles' middle order with 4 clean bowleds. The last of the recognised batsmen, Keith Roberts and Andy Wingfield came together with 7 down but with a required rate of above 10 an over. There was little danger left when a few comments were traded over a big caught behind shout at this stage, but the umpire didn't hear any snick and that is good enough for me. (Some of Nomads' umpires would hardly win a Mr Popularity contest, in any case - more of which later.)
I left with 80 needed off 3 and Keeper John Crossland quickly caught Naren Patel to wrap up a fine victory. New man Zia obviously played a massive part in this but don't forget that we were missing our top batsman of the season so far; Jim Joyce (current batting average 84.50) and, of course, we were also missing the bowling of Andrew West.
Man of the Match was clearly Zia, but honourable mentions for Prasanth Pattiyil and Mark "Mr Consistent" Bradshaw and, of course, those 2 Tightwads who open our bowling. I would award Fielder of the Day to Abdul Khan, whose deadly arm produced a direct hit which made Exiles think twice about taking quick singles (so often a big part of their game.)

CLAPHAM NOMADS 211 for 7 from 40 overs

M. Bradshaw, c Davies (?) b Patel 39
M. Vyas, c Davies (?) b Patel 1
P. Pattiyil, b Patel 50
H. Khan, b Roberts 8
Zia, not out 74
C. Kennedy, c Tither (?) b G.Thomas 6
A. Khan, b Roberts 15
R. Khan, b Wingfield 3
E. Todorow, not out 3
Did not bat; N. Lefebve, J. Crossland

F.O.W. - 12, 85, 97, 101, 130, 165, 176

Exiles' bowling;

A. Wingfield 8-1-37-1
N. Patel 8-2-26-3
J. Tither 8-1-26-0
G. Thomas 8-1-44-1
K. Roberts 8-0-75-2

ENERGY EXILES 137 all out from 37.5 overs

S. Pathmanathan, c H.Khan b Todorow 8
J. Searle, c R. Khan b H. Khan 2
W. Scott, c Crossland b H. Khan 1
Q. Davies, b Zia 22
J. Tither, b Zia 41
A. Patel, b Zia 4
S. Johnston, b Zia 3
K. Roberts, run out 16
A. Wingfield, b H.Khan 18
G. Thomas, not out 0
N. Patel, c Crossland b Todorow 2

F.O.W. - 10, 15, 15, 66, 80, 95, 108, 131, 135, 137

Nomads' bowling;

H. Khan 7-1-11-3
E. Todorow 7.5 1-21-2
A. Khan 8-0-32-0
R. Khan 8-0-27-0
Zia 7-0-40-4

CLAPHAM NOMADS WON BY 74 RUNS