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
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