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
Wednesday 22 June 2011
Sunday 12 June 2011
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.
Monday 6 June 2011
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
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
Wednesday 1 June 2011
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)
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
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
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