There was a decidedly unusual feel to 1.45 pm on Sunday. The whole Nomads team (admittedly only 10 men) were primed and ready to start play on a flawless-looking Joseph Hood Rec pitch on a beautiful sunny day, and stood around exchanging polite pleasantries as we prepared to commence our innings, having been thoughtfully put in to bat by Dulwich skipper John Lawrence on the warmest Sunday so far this year. Would we be able to adapt to these highly unusual and unNomadic circumstances?
The calm serenity was soon blown away by Dulwich opener Joe Hale who spiked a sharp in-cutter through to the keeper, a good 15 mph faster than we had been expecting. Game on and normal service resumed.
Nomads' No. 1 Mark Bradshaw dug in again and faced up to the challenge posed by the young paceman. At the other end, Mahesh Vyas collected 7 off the first over from Plummer, for whom there was just a touch of uneven bounce. It was a gritty start from our pair and 15 seemed a fair haul from the first 5 overs. The second ball of the 6th over saw Plummer clip Vyas's bails. Worse was to follow the next over with Hale producing the ball of the day to shatter Prasanth Pattiyil's stumps via the edge of his pad. A rare low score for Prasanth and Nomads in a hole at 16 for 2.
No 4 Hassan Khan has, by his own very high standards, not been on top form with the bat lately and, with Hale whipping up a storm, a challenging passage of play ensued. The young paceman bowled his 7 overs right through in an excellent spell of 1 for 9 with only 5 scoring shots. He had several decent-ish LBW shouts as well, which the umpire declined without making eye contact as the bowler's pace, action and height bore a remarkable resemblance to Energy Exiles' quickie Simon Gundry. Like all Dulwich's youngsters, though, Hale had a very sporting attitude. If there was one small weakness in his bowling, it was that he did stray down leg side on occasions and the 7 or 8 byes that resulted helped Nomads up to a fair score of around 65 for 2 at the 18-over drinks break.
The pick of the change bowlers was the clever Kiwi spinner Ebert who got through his work at 3.5 an over at a time when Nomads were trying to accelerate, and claimed the important wicket of Bradshaw (a well-crafted 29) with a stinging caught and bowled in his final over.
No 5 Chris Kennedy showed a good positive attitude and used his feet well to the spinners, but when he was bowled by Spencer, Nomads were in a little difficulty again at 90 for 4.
Fortunately, Hassan was approaching his best form and began to come forward really well to Spencer and Nair with boundaries in most overs. No 6 Nick Lefebve showed a more positive intent than last week, possibly because he was using Dave Hunter's old bat which, like its former owner, does not tolerate blockers. He even produced a Bradshawesque square cut but all his other 17 runs were leg-side before he was caught by Hale at deep mid-wicket. The pair had put on 56 with Hassan racing to his 50 and then onwards. The real acceleration came with the arrival of No. 7 Abdul Khan. The two Khans taking an impressive 23 off the last 21 balls to leave Nomads on 169 for 5 at the close of the innings on 35 overs.
This seemed a decent score (we only managed one run more off 40 overs the week before.) Dulwich are always well-drilled and technically correct but sometime lack a few really big hitters. Games between these sides tend be very close though and, on a good track and with a rather veteran, 10-man fielding unit, it was likely to be interesting.
Hassan Khan struck right away in the first over with a caught and bowled and, although one batsman managed to find the short off-side boundary on several occasions off Emil Todorow, he tried it once too often and chipped up to Abdul Khan at deep-ish point - Abdul doesn't miss those.
Before this game, Nomads had only taken 5 wickets in the previous 68 overs and there was some animated tactical discussion in the interval concerning our bowling order. Perhaps in response to this, Abdul Khan and Andrew West came on earlier than usual at around the 8-10 over mark. This bore some fruit, particularly in West's case. He did go for a boundary in each of his first 2 overs but, as it became clear that he wasn't going to be as expensive as he has been recently (when bowling later in the innings,) his confidence grew and he bowled a fine and accurate spell. As ever with West, it was injuries that were the abiding memory - 2 this week instead of the usual 1 - The more memorable was when he fell on the ball (poor ball) in stopping a single and lay prone in apparent agony for a minute before calmly standing up, grunting, and sending down some more impeccable line and length deliveries. Abdul was also impressive, bowling 7 overs for just 25 runs despite having an injured shoulder. The upshot of this was that Dulwich were well behind the required rate at Drinks but, with only 3 down and 2 well-played-in batsmen at the crease, the chase promised to go to the wire.
Nomads had only 4 recognised Front Line bowlers but 3rd change Prasanth Pattiyil was brought on fairly early as part of the Todorow Masterplan. After a very expensive first over he recovered well and claimed a wicket with a ball that kept low. This brought Ebert, probably Dulwich's most powerful hitter, to the crease. His partner was a most impressive 14-year-old who batsman went on to make 50. This stand dragged Dulwich right back into the game; the highlight was some very sharp running between the wickets. For a period it was almost "tip and run" as any ball not hit straight back to the bowler resulted in a single and often a 2. Nomads had only 3 players under 47 and only 1 under 35, whereas Dulwich had only 1 player over 35. For a while this generation gap threatened to prove decisive as the required rate dropped towards 6.5 with wickets in hand and our rather defensive field being run ragged. I did hear a mutter of "geriatrics" at one point from the spectators and I would like to say this galvanised us, but unfortunately we were too knackered to be galvanised.
Some confusion arose as Todorow tried to juggle his bowling options. At one point, Prasanth had just bowled at the Morden End and the skipper gazed at the Wimbledon End and scratched his head, wondering who he could bring on next. "Aaahh!," his eyes lit up as inspiration arrived; "Prasanth, can you take this over?" I know Prasanth is good but 2 overs in a row?.... Eventually the skipper turned to 4th-change Nick Lefebve who managed to get through 2 overs at 7 an over which was no more than the required rate.
Prasanth returned after a short break and claimed the vital wicket of Ebert. The asking rate was now over 8 but Dulwich stayed in the hunt with excellent running and the odd blow to the short boundary. 34 were needed with 4 overs to go but Nomads had enjoyed the luxury of bringing Hassan back to bowl at the death. The 4th last over was probably the crucial one with Prasanth only going for 5.
In the penultimate over Prasanth took a smart caught and bowled from a firmly struck drive. The very next ball he moved sharply out to his left and threw down the stumps with a direct hit from 15 yards to dismiss Dulwich's young top-scorer. A further wicket, bowled, on the last ball of the over was merely the encore of a brilliant, 6-ball, One Man Show.
19 were needed off the final over and few players at this or indeed at a higher level would fancy scoring that off Hassan Khan. In the event, Dulwich fell just 10 runs short in a thrilling match that was closer and more exciting than I have made it sound in this report.
Man of the Match was Hassan whose 76 contained enough prolonged rapid scoring to take the game just beyond Dulwich's reach. Mark Bradshaw's resilient 29 against some challenging New Ball bowling was very important too. These 2 were probably the most consistent fielders as well but Fielder of the Day must be Prasanth for his caught and bowled and direct hit in successive balls. Honourable mention must also go to Andrew West, the most economical bowler. I would like to claim this was a victory for "Experience" over Youth but the 4 star players I have just mentioned are Nomads' youngest - plus of course Andrew West who remains forever young at heart.
QUOTE OF THE DAY; "We like playing you but your field placings are always so defensive" - Ebert, Dulwich cc
Clapham Nomads 169 for 5 from 35 overs
Bradshaw 29
Vyas 8
Pattiyil 1
H. Khan 76 not out
Kennedy 5
Lefebve 18
A. Khan 13 not out
F.O.W. - 15, 16, 85, 90, 146
Dulwich 159 for 9 from 35 overs
H. Khan 7-0-27-2
Todorow 7-0-30-2
A. Khan 7-0-25-0
West 7-0-22-0
Pattiyil 5-0-32-4
Lefebve 2-0-14-0
Nomads won by 10 runs
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