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
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