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