I'll keep it quite brief - a relief to everyone - as it is 6 days now since the match and I don't have the scorebook at the moment. (Ill fill in the gaps later.)
A well-paced opening stand of 74 between Mark Bradshaw (38) and Mahesh Vyas (39) set up an impressive Nomads total. Cautious at first on a green strip against some accurate bowling, they accelerated at around the 10-over mark and built a strong platform for our aggressive middle order.
Another excellent knock from Jim Joyce, if anything scoring even more freely than last week. It was almost a surprise when he was out for 55. His 3rd wicket stand of 87 in excellent time with Hassan Khan (34) was the highlight of Nomads' innings and was probably the deciding factor as no Dulwich player was able to keep up that rate of scoring for an extended period. Some good hits from Sumith Prasanna and Riaz Khan took us up to 211 for 6 from 40 overs. Not a bad haul against a decent bowling attack. The pitch played pretty well throughout. For me the pick of the Dulwich bowlers was the 15-year-old spinner Edwards who was accurate and maintained this even when he got a bit of tap towards the end of his spell. Dulwich have a production line of these promising youngsters and it would be nice to think that some of them will go on to play for Dulwich Firsts or even Surrey.
Once again, our bowling appeared to lack a bit of depth but the target of 212 was well in excess of anything Dulwich have achieved against us so we had high hopes. We had planned to show no emotion whatsoever at the fall of the first wicket (to wind up John Crossland, who had berated his neighbour at slip, Mahesh, the previous week for failing to hail a greet a catch vociferously) but in the end we forgot ourselves in the excitement of securing an early breakthough. After this setback, Dulwich played themselves back into contention with an excellent stand of 70 between Persaud and Leather. This pair played a series of fine shots, particularly Leather who was hard to pin down. Persaud was dropped in the 20s and for a brief period this looked as if it might be costly. Leather made 50 in good time and, while Dulwich never quite managed to really beat down the required rate, these 2 began to look dangerous. The vital wicket of Leather was secured by Abdul and, though Persaud also went on to 50, the big shots dried up and the required rate began to approach 8.
Although not quite at his best with the ball, Emil Todorow shuffled his bowling options cleverly and rather frequently - it was almost worth the 8:40 finish to watch a master tactician in action. Hassan and Riaz bowled excellent economical spells and Abdul and Sumith also kept the pressure on. Wickets tumbled as the asking rate rose. Just as victory seemed beyond Dulwich with around 35 needed off 2 overs, Ford arrived at the crease and casually lifted a Jim Joyce delivery clean out of the ground. He followed this up with a text-book 4 and it was something of a relief when Joyce yorked his partner shortly after to wrap up a 20-run victory. Dulwich supremo John Lawrence confirmed afterwards that it was only Ford's second game for the club and, had a bit more been known about him, he would have batted higher. This just might have made the outcome rather different.
Man of the Match was Jim Joyce again for another fine and entertaining knock. He was also the skipper's pick for Fielder of the Day. Plenty of other good performances; Mark Bradshaw continued his sound batting form and fielded well with one spectacular diving flick-back right on the rope. Hassan Khan and Abdul Khan both did plenty for the team and Riaz Khan was possibly the pick of the bowlers. Finally, John Crossland was not about to start conceding byes just because he had done a 40-mile charity bike ride that morning.
Clapham Nomads 211 for 6 from 40 overs
Bradshaw 38
Vyas 39
Joyce 55
H. Khan 34
Darwin 0
Prasanna 5 not out
A. Khan 4
R. Khan 8 not out
F.O.W. - 74, 104, 191, 192, 195, 203
Dulwich - 190 for 5 from 40 overs
R. Khan - 8-2-22-1
Todorow - 8-1-51-0
A. Khan - 8-1-41-1
Prasanna - 5-0-21-1
Joyce - 2-0-19-1
Darwin - 1-0-4-0
H. Khan - 8-1-29-0
Nomads won by 21 runs
Wednesday 25 May 2011
Tuesday 17 May 2011
Clapham Nomads v Wimbledon Corinthians - 15/5/11
Our second opponents of the season were old rivals Wimbledon (formerly Morden) Corinthians, with whom we stand 1 win apiece from 2 games, but a team who absolutely hammered us by 9 wickets in our last encounter 5 years ago. In arranging this fixture, though, Corinthians' supremo Jim Patel had promised that most of their South Africans had left since 2006.
When we arrived at our temporary Riverside home, Barn Elms, it was clear that Corinthians had lost none of their noted professionalism and will to win as the whole team was immersed in a very high octane net session. Meanwhile, Nomads studied the various pitches on offer. Unfortunately the only untouched strip was kids' length and so we had to opt for a track that showed signs of use.
Skipper Todorow won the toss but, against his will, had to bat first due to several late arrivals.
Corinthians' opening bowlers started brightly and pretty accurately. There were immediate signs of irregular low bounce and a cloud of despondency settled over Nomads as we realised that, with our middle order stuck in a car near Putney, grim survival was our immediate aim and not an easy one.
Mahesh Vyas was bowled by a yorker early on and Mark Bradshaw and No. 3 Prasanth Pattiyil set about clinging on and salvaging what scraps were available. Determination took them through to the 8th over when Pattiyil was unlucky to play on off the inside edge to a ball that kept low. By now Nomads had a full team but, at 15 for 2, the mood had hardly lifted and there were whispers that we would do well to reach 60. This did not appear a situation tailor-made for No. 4 Jim Joyce, a cavalier and flamboyant shotmaker, but Joyce applied himself well, saving most of his big shots for anything short and towards the leg. He played 2 cracking pulls through mid-wicket off 1st changer Steve O'Neill, a crafty veteran of the South London amateur scene, and this gave the scoreboard some much-needed impetus. At the other end, Mark Bradshaw was playing a vital hand, grafting away and taking very few chances. It began to become clear that few balls that were actually on the stumps were bouncing all that irregularly and we started to hope that we could at least get close to batting out the full 35 overs. Drinks were taken at 56 for 2 off 18.
Joyce found another gear after the break, playing shot after shot with a good clean middle, scoring mainly between straight and mid-wicket. He raced to 50 and took 3 boundaries off the first over from Corinthians' left-arm spinner, who was the only bowler to look like prising out our man; a catch going down in the deep and a leg-before shout adjudged to have just possibly bounced three times. Mark Bradshaw continued to provide valuable support and never looked like being out. Joyce reached 97 and scorer John Crossland urged spectators not to tell him he was close to a century. The crowd then gave the game away by rapturously applauding a boundary and yelling "100" before realising that Bradshaw had played the shot. The landmark was soon achieved in any case - Jim's first for the Nomads. He did once score 232 and the rumour goes that this was in a 20-20 match.
Mark was out shortly before the end to wrap up an epic partnership of 145 which is not the highest in Nomads' history but, given the treacherous wicket, the decent bowling and the parlous position at which it commenced, may be one of the finest. Nomads closed shortly after on 163 for 3 from the full 35 and we sensed that we may need every one of those runs against a strong-looking Corinthians batting side.
Nomads bowling line-up appeared depleted and it was imperative to strike early. A quick breakthrough came when Hassan Khan got one to keep low, awkwardly for the very tall batsman. Another wicket fell quickly but Nomads then had a poor 20 minutes in the field, dropping 2 regulation catches and making a string of errors on the ground. The South African Brendan was the beneficiary of several of these mistakes and he began to look as if he might capitalise with some clean, straight groundshots. It took a piece of brilliance from second-change bowler Darwin to finally dismiss him, with an excellent caught and bowled an inch or two from the turf. By this time Emil Todorow had taken his customary two wickets in two balls. The second of which he appeared to achieve by force of personality as the batsman, no mug judging by his stance and his bowling earlier on, just backed away to an ordinary good-length ball on the stumps. To be fair to the batsman it was quite a windy day and he may have been distracted by Emil's hair fluttering in the breeze. Once again there was no hat-trick but it is surely just a matter of time and the celebrations and free drinks are eagerly anticipated.
There was no room for complacency as Corinthians' No. 6 began to crack the ball around very stylishly from the word go. Had he lasted a few more overs it could have been fatal to our cause but fortunately a good pressure catch from Jim Joyce in the deep sent him on his way.
Abdul Khan bowled a good 7-over spell at below the required run-rate. Sumith Prasanna also prevented Wimbledon from accelerating too drastically. 50 were needed with 9 overs to go, and around 32 from 5. Wickets were falling steadily but we were running out of regular bowlers and it seemed Corinthians batted all the way down to No. 11 O'Neill. Bravely, Prasanth Pattiyil, who has not been a regular bowler for the past year or so, showed no hint of nerves and sent down some good accurate medium pace and finished an exciting game off with 2 quick wickets. Nomads winning by a margin of 14 runs.
This was an excellent victory, set up by some outstanding batting. An under-strength bowling line-up performed well to defend our total and it was good practice in finishing off a game in a tight situation. Hopefully this bodes well for our 29th May match against Energy Exiles, a fixture that usually produces a close finish.
Jim Joyce is certainly the only Nomads player to play football for a team that has won the FA Cup (Clapham Rovers), so it was fitting that he wins the Man of the Match award on Cup Final weekend, a mere 131 years after Rovers provided the finest sporting moment in Clapham's history (well, until Andrew West took 5 wickets against Phoenix that is.) Fielder of the day is Darwin again, that's 4 catches in 2 games for Nomads' safest pair of hands. Speaking of safe hands, John Crossland kept well again on another tricky pitch and flung himself full-length on at least one occasion to save a run or two, a feat that was matched this week by his neighbour at First Slip, Mahesh Vyas. The gymnastic prowess shown by these two reminds me a little bit of Lyudmilla Tourischeva (and they may even be old enough to know what I am talking about.)
Clapham Nomads 163 for 3 from 35 overs;
M. Bradshaw 36
M. Vyas 0
P. Pattiyil 3
J. Joyce 109 not out
S. Prasanna 2 not out
Did not bat; H. Khan, Darwin, A.Khan, N. Lefebve, E. Todorow, J.Crossland
F.O.W. - 4, 15, 160
Wimbledon Corinthians 149 all out from approximately 33 overs
(Bowling Figues will follow when I have managed to copy the opposition's score book.)
Nomads won by 14 runs
When we arrived at our temporary Riverside home, Barn Elms, it was clear that Corinthians had lost none of their noted professionalism and will to win as the whole team was immersed in a very high octane net session. Meanwhile, Nomads studied the various pitches on offer. Unfortunately the only untouched strip was kids' length and so we had to opt for a track that showed signs of use.
Skipper Todorow won the toss but, against his will, had to bat first due to several late arrivals.
Corinthians' opening bowlers started brightly and pretty accurately. There were immediate signs of irregular low bounce and a cloud of despondency settled over Nomads as we realised that, with our middle order stuck in a car near Putney, grim survival was our immediate aim and not an easy one.
Mahesh Vyas was bowled by a yorker early on and Mark Bradshaw and No. 3 Prasanth Pattiyil set about clinging on and salvaging what scraps were available. Determination took them through to the 8th over when Pattiyil was unlucky to play on off the inside edge to a ball that kept low. By now Nomads had a full team but, at 15 for 2, the mood had hardly lifted and there were whispers that we would do well to reach 60. This did not appear a situation tailor-made for No. 4 Jim Joyce, a cavalier and flamboyant shotmaker, but Joyce applied himself well, saving most of his big shots for anything short and towards the leg. He played 2 cracking pulls through mid-wicket off 1st changer Steve O'Neill, a crafty veteran of the South London amateur scene, and this gave the scoreboard some much-needed impetus. At the other end, Mark Bradshaw was playing a vital hand, grafting away and taking very few chances. It began to become clear that few balls that were actually on the stumps were bouncing all that irregularly and we started to hope that we could at least get close to batting out the full 35 overs. Drinks were taken at 56 for 2 off 18.
Joyce found another gear after the break, playing shot after shot with a good clean middle, scoring mainly between straight and mid-wicket. He raced to 50 and took 3 boundaries off the first over from Corinthians' left-arm spinner, who was the only bowler to look like prising out our man; a catch going down in the deep and a leg-before shout adjudged to have just possibly bounced three times. Mark Bradshaw continued to provide valuable support and never looked like being out. Joyce reached 97 and scorer John Crossland urged spectators not to tell him he was close to a century. The crowd then gave the game away by rapturously applauding a boundary and yelling "100" before realising that Bradshaw had played the shot. The landmark was soon achieved in any case - Jim's first for the Nomads. He did once score 232 and the rumour goes that this was in a 20-20 match.
Mark was out shortly before the end to wrap up an epic partnership of 145 which is not the highest in Nomads' history but, given the treacherous wicket, the decent bowling and the parlous position at which it commenced, may be one of the finest. Nomads closed shortly after on 163 for 3 from the full 35 and we sensed that we may need every one of those runs against a strong-looking Corinthians batting side.
Nomads bowling line-up appeared depleted and it was imperative to strike early. A quick breakthrough came when Hassan Khan got one to keep low, awkwardly for the very tall batsman. Another wicket fell quickly but Nomads then had a poor 20 minutes in the field, dropping 2 regulation catches and making a string of errors on the ground. The South African Brendan was the beneficiary of several of these mistakes and he began to look as if he might capitalise with some clean, straight groundshots. It took a piece of brilliance from second-change bowler Darwin to finally dismiss him, with an excellent caught and bowled an inch or two from the turf. By this time Emil Todorow had taken his customary two wickets in two balls. The second of which he appeared to achieve by force of personality as the batsman, no mug judging by his stance and his bowling earlier on, just backed away to an ordinary good-length ball on the stumps. To be fair to the batsman it was quite a windy day and he may have been distracted by Emil's hair fluttering in the breeze. Once again there was no hat-trick but it is surely just a matter of time and the celebrations and free drinks are eagerly anticipated.
There was no room for complacency as Corinthians' No. 6 began to crack the ball around very stylishly from the word go. Had he lasted a few more overs it could have been fatal to our cause but fortunately a good pressure catch from Jim Joyce in the deep sent him on his way.
Abdul Khan bowled a good 7-over spell at below the required run-rate. Sumith Prasanna also prevented Wimbledon from accelerating too drastically. 50 were needed with 9 overs to go, and around 32 from 5. Wickets were falling steadily but we were running out of regular bowlers and it seemed Corinthians batted all the way down to No. 11 O'Neill. Bravely, Prasanth Pattiyil, who has not been a regular bowler for the past year or so, showed no hint of nerves and sent down some good accurate medium pace and finished an exciting game off with 2 quick wickets. Nomads winning by a margin of 14 runs.
This was an excellent victory, set up by some outstanding batting. An under-strength bowling line-up performed well to defend our total and it was good practice in finishing off a game in a tight situation. Hopefully this bodes well for our 29th May match against Energy Exiles, a fixture that usually produces a close finish.
Jim Joyce is certainly the only Nomads player to play football for a team that has won the FA Cup (Clapham Rovers), so it was fitting that he wins the Man of the Match award on Cup Final weekend, a mere 131 years after Rovers provided the finest sporting moment in Clapham's history (well, until Andrew West took 5 wickets against Phoenix that is.) Fielder of the day is Darwin again, that's 4 catches in 2 games for Nomads' safest pair of hands. Speaking of safe hands, John Crossland kept well again on another tricky pitch and flung himself full-length on at least one occasion to save a run or two, a feat that was matched this week by his neighbour at First Slip, Mahesh Vyas. The gymnastic prowess shown by these two reminds me a little bit of Lyudmilla Tourischeva (and they may even be old enough to know what I am talking about.)
Clapham Nomads 163 for 3 from 35 overs;
M. Bradshaw 36
M. Vyas 0
P. Pattiyil 3
J. Joyce 109 not out
S. Prasanna 2 not out
Did not bat; H. Khan, Darwin, A.Khan, N. Lefebve, E. Todorow, J.Crossland
F.O.W. - 4, 15, 160
Wimbledon Corinthians 149 all out from approximately 33 overs
(Bowling Figues will follow when I have managed to copy the opposition's score book.)
Nomads won by 14 runs
Monday 9 May 2011
Clapham Nomads v Barnes Occasionals - 8/5/11
There was a familiar feeling to the start of the new season as Nomads took on long-standing opponents Barnes Occasionals at New Malden's Beverley Park; a regular venue for us in the early 2000s which has the distinction of being John Crossland's least favourite ground.
Occasionals were a mixture of standing dishes; Keith Seed, the Hogg brothers, Roger Price, Luke Bedford, along with some worryingly athletic-looking products of their youth policy. Seed acknowledged that it was one of their stronger line-ups and he also remarked, presciently, that 130 could be a decent score on this pitch.
Nomads were reduced to 10 men by the non-appearance of Terry Bruce-Mills. The bad news was that we only fielded 4 regular front-line bowlers. The good news was that one of them was Andrew West.
After 2 months of drought broken just the previous night by very heavy rain, and with little piles of grass seed lying around expectantly, the track was of concern. Occasionals' battery of spinners and awkward slow-medium line-and-length bowlers couldn't wait for their turn and Nomads were inserted by Barnes skipper Roger Price.
Openers Mark Bradshaw and Mahesh Vyas made an understandably cautious start, looking for quick singles while they assessed the pitch. In truth, it was nowhere near as bad as it could have been, though painfully slow and with some high, irregular bounce for Ollie Hogg. Hogg also supplied Vyas with two high full-tosses on leg and middle and the resultant 8 runs eased the pressure a little. Bradshaw looked sound and was beginning to find the gaps in the off-side field, being denied a boundary on at least one occasion by the long grass. The other opening bowler, Soper, was the more threatening of the two, sloping it in awkwardly and, with the score on 22, finding the edge of Bradshaw's bat with some sideways movement. Keeper Price held on to a good, low catch.
Jim Joyce announced his arrival with one of the shots of the day, a swashbuckling straight drive, but in attempting a follow-up he lofted the ball to long-on where Luke Bedford held on to a pressure catch.
Nomads' batting line-up appeared to lack a touch of depth and a lot depended on No.4 Hassan Khan. He dug in with determination but Barnes began to turn the heat up with Hogg finding the edge of M. Vyas' bat twice in an over. Leg-spinner Luke Bedford was introduced. A very big spinner of the ball, he initially over-pitched and was a touch predictable but once he had produced his googly in his third over, alarm bells rang and Vyas was bowled behind his legs with some acute turn - a leg-spinner's dream dismissal.
Nomads' innings hung in the balance at 40 for 3 but new man Darwin resumed the fine form he had shown at the end of last season with a solid 14, keeping H.Khan company in a vital stand of 39 during which the all-rounder began to accelerate. Khan found yet another gear in scoring all 22 runs of a 4-over partnership with Nick Lefebve. Khan despatched the bowling at will between mid-wicket and mid-on; a giant 6 off Bedford was the stand-out blow. Lefebve waited patiently for something nice on leg-stump but, when it came, he hit an Akram long-hop straight to backward square where Hogg O. rolled back the years with a fine diving catch. 101 for 5.
Hassan continued to play excellently right to the end and found some support from all the remaining batsmen; a quick 6 from Riaz Khan, a gritty, prizefighting 2 from Emil Todorow (undeterred by the 2 black eyes he had received in the nets last week,) and an entertaining stand of 10 with John Crossland full of manic running and an extraordinary attempted pull by Crossland which would have cleared the adjacent golf driving range and probably the A3 as well. The ball actually dropped at Crossland's feet but the fielders seemed slightly intimidated by the raw power of John's swing and yet another quick single was taken by the two postmen to leave Nomads on 131 for 7 off the full 35.
I made Occasionals clear favourites at the break, given the apparent strength of their line-up and their record against us, especially as we only had 4 front-line bowlers. A rate of under 4 seemed quite gettable on the slow and only slightly erratic pitch. Hassan struck a vital early blow in bowling Adam Hogg who has scored a century and at least three 50s in games against Nomads and Open University. The ball kept a bit low on Hogg and it must be acknowledged that the pitch did deteriorate somewhat during the 2nd innings. Hassan followed up with another quick wicket and appeared close to his best. There was sharp running during one stand early in Barnes' reply but few big shots and the score was only 20 after 9 overs. The other opening bowler, Emil Todorow, was bowling his inimitable mixture of yorkers and balls that reared up sharply off a good length - some may have blamed the pitch but all Todorow's many fans will be aware that he could get irregular bounce on glass. It was a fine spell from the veteran maestro and sure enough his reward came with 2 match-turning wickets in 2 balls. One of them looped up into the inner off-side and Jim Joyce and Hassan Khan converged on it. Joyce did well to hold onto the chance, particularly as John roared "Hassan's" just as it dropped into Joyce's hands.
Todorow narrowly missed a hat-trick when he produced another rearing, chest-high delivery and, sensing an opponent on the ropes, he moved in for the kill by introducing Andrew West into the attack. It was a pitch tailor-made for West who bowled a nice full length and let the ball do the work. Price, possibly Occasionals' star batsman, clipped West off his legs and Darwin held on to a good, sharp-ish catch.
The skipper sensed that he could finish off the job with his 4 main bowlers and he replaced himself with Riaz Khan, who was bang on the money with his new, experimental grip. Runs almost dried up but a steady stream of wickets continued. West was particularly impressive with his bowling-machine length which forced one batsman back almost onto his stumps for a plumb LBW. Two caught behinds from Crossland, who performed very well despite his well-publicised loathing of this ground, wrapped up the innings and a solid win for Nomads; only our third against this opposition.
Barnes Occasionals' collective air of suave urbanity only barely conceals a streak of solid steel and they are sure to come back at us very hard in the return match next month. This game will be played at Ham Street where we lost to Southall Eagles last year. If anything, that pitch tends to be more irregular in bounce than Beverley Park though rather quicker. Let's see what happens.
Man of the Match has to be Hassan Khan for his tight spell and for being the top batsman by some distance. All our bowlers earn an honourable mention. For Fielder of the Day I will go for Darwin who held probably the best catch to dismiss arguably Barnes' best batsman. A crucial moment.
CLAPHAM NOMADS 131 for 7 from 35 overs
M. Bradshaw c Price b Soper 7
M. Vyas b Bedford 23
J, Joyce c Bedford b O.Hogg 5
Hassan Khan 62 not out
Darwin c and b Seed 14
N. Lefebve c O.Hogg b Akram 0
R. Khan lbw Soper 6
E. Todorow c ? b Seed 2
J. Crossland not out 1
Did not bat - A. West
F.O.W. - 21, 31, 40, 79, 101, 108, 121
Barnes Occasionals 54 from 20 overs
H. Khan 5-1-9-2
E. Todorow 7-1-14-2
A. West 5-1-20-3
R. Khan 3-1-6-3
Nomads won by 77 runs
Occasionals were a mixture of standing dishes; Keith Seed, the Hogg brothers, Roger Price, Luke Bedford, along with some worryingly athletic-looking products of their youth policy. Seed acknowledged that it was one of their stronger line-ups and he also remarked, presciently, that 130 could be a decent score on this pitch.
Nomads were reduced to 10 men by the non-appearance of Terry Bruce-Mills. The bad news was that we only fielded 4 regular front-line bowlers. The good news was that one of them was Andrew West.
After 2 months of drought broken just the previous night by very heavy rain, and with little piles of grass seed lying around expectantly, the track was of concern. Occasionals' battery of spinners and awkward slow-medium line-and-length bowlers couldn't wait for their turn and Nomads were inserted by Barnes skipper Roger Price.
Openers Mark Bradshaw and Mahesh Vyas made an understandably cautious start, looking for quick singles while they assessed the pitch. In truth, it was nowhere near as bad as it could have been, though painfully slow and with some high, irregular bounce for Ollie Hogg. Hogg also supplied Vyas with two high full-tosses on leg and middle and the resultant 8 runs eased the pressure a little. Bradshaw looked sound and was beginning to find the gaps in the off-side field, being denied a boundary on at least one occasion by the long grass. The other opening bowler, Soper, was the more threatening of the two, sloping it in awkwardly and, with the score on 22, finding the edge of Bradshaw's bat with some sideways movement. Keeper Price held on to a good, low catch.
Jim Joyce announced his arrival with one of the shots of the day, a swashbuckling straight drive, but in attempting a follow-up he lofted the ball to long-on where Luke Bedford held on to a pressure catch.
Nomads' batting line-up appeared to lack a touch of depth and a lot depended on No.4 Hassan Khan. He dug in with determination but Barnes began to turn the heat up with Hogg finding the edge of M. Vyas' bat twice in an over. Leg-spinner Luke Bedford was introduced. A very big spinner of the ball, he initially over-pitched and was a touch predictable but once he had produced his googly in his third over, alarm bells rang and Vyas was bowled behind his legs with some acute turn - a leg-spinner's dream dismissal.
Nomads' innings hung in the balance at 40 for 3 but new man Darwin resumed the fine form he had shown at the end of last season with a solid 14, keeping H.Khan company in a vital stand of 39 during which the all-rounder began to accelerate. Khan found yet another gear in scoring all 22 runs of a 4-over partnership with Nick Lefebve. Khan despatched the bowling at will between mid-wicket and mid-on; a giant 6 off Bedford was the stand-out blow. Lefebve waited patiently for something nice on leg-stump but, when it came, he hit an Akram long-hop straight to backward square where Hogg O. rolled back the years with a fine diving catch. 101 for 5.
Hassan continued to play excellently right to the end and found some support from all the remaining batsmen; a quick 6 from Riaz Khan, a gritty, prizefighting 2 from Emil Todorow (undeterred by the 2 black eyes he had received in the nets last week,) and an entertaining stand of 10 with John Crossland full of manic running and an extraordinary attempted pull by Crossland which would have cleared the adjacent golf driving range and probably the A3 as well. The ball actually dropped at Crossland's feet but the fielders seemed slightly intimidated by the raw power of John's swing and yet another quick single was taken by the two postmen to leave Nomads on 131 for 7 off the full 35.
I made Occasionals clear favourites at the break, given the apparent strength of their line-up and their record against us, especially as we only had 4 front-line bowlers. A rate of under 4 seemed quite gettable on the slow and only slightly erratic pitch. Hassan struck a vital early blow in bowling Adam Hogg who has scored a century and at least three 50s in games against Nomads and Open University. The ball kept a bit low on Hogg and it must be acknowledged that the pitch did deteriorate somewhat during the 2nd innings. Hassan followed up with another quick wicket and appeared close to his best. There was sharp running during one stand early in Barnes' reply but few big shots and the score was only 20 after 9 overs. The other opening bowler, Emil Todorow, was bowling his inimitable mixture of yorkers and balls that reared up sharply off a good length - some may have blamed the pitch but all Todorow's many fans will be aware that he could get irregular bounce on glass. It was a fine spell from the veteran maestro and sure enough his reward came with 2 match-turning wickets in 2 balls. One of them looped up into the inner off-side and Jim Joyce and Hassan Khan converged on it. Joyce did well to hold onto the chance, particularly as John roared "Hassan's" just as it dropped into Joyce's hands.
Todorow narrowly missed a hat-trick when he produced another rearing, chest-high delivery and, sensing an opponent on the ropes, he moved in for the kill by introducing Andrew West into the attack. It was a pitch tailor-made for West who bowled a nice full length and let the ball do the work. Price, possibly Occasionals' star batsman, clipped West off his legs and Darwin held on to a good, sharp-ish catch.
The skipper sensed that he could finish off the job with his 4 main bowlers and he replaced himself with Riaz Khan, who was bang on the money with his new, experimental grip. Runs almost dried up but a steady stream of wickets continued. West was particularly impressive with his bowling-machine length which forced one batsman back almost onto his stumps for a plumb LBW. Two caught behinds from Crossland, who performed very well despite his well-publicised loathing of this ground, wrapped up the innings and a solid win for Nomads; only our third against this opposition.
Barnes Occasionals' collective air of suave urbanity only barely conceals a streak of solid steel and they are sure to come back at us very hard in the return match next month. This game will be played at Ham Street where we lost to Southall Eagles last year. If anything, that pitch tends to be more irregular in bounce than Beverley Park though rather quicker. Let's see what happens.
Man of the Match has to be Hassan Khan for his tight spell and for being the top batsman by some distance. All our bowlers earn an honourable mention. For Fielder of the Day I will go for Darwin who held probably the best catch to dismiss arguably Barnes' best batsman. A crucial moment.
CLAPHAM NOMADS 131 for 7 from 35 overs
M. Bradshaw c Price b Soper 7
M. Vyas b Bedford 23
J, Joyce c Bedford b O.Hogg 5
Hassan Khan 62 not out
Darwin c and b Seed 14
N. Lefebve c O.Hogg b Akram 0
R. Khan lbw Soper 6
E. Todorow c ? b Seed 2
J. Crossland not out 1
Did not bat - A. West
F.O.W. - 21, 31, 40, 79, 101, 108, 121
Barnes Occasionals 54 from 20 overs
H. Khan 5-1-9-2
E. Todorow 7-1-14-2
A. West 5-1-20-3
R. Khan 3-1-6-3
Nomads won by 77 runs
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