Nomads lost yet again, but this was probably our best performance of the season so far. Unfortunately, the curse of Bank Holiday struck and we were significantly short of players for the first time this season as a late withdrawal, 2 no shows and the confirmation of John Crossland's ankle injury as a fracture reduced our potential 13-man squad to a tight unit of 9 for this second game in a row at the Del Ballard Rec at Dundonald Road in Wimbledon.
When we met the opposition, we were disturbed to hear they had recently blown away Wimbledon United, who had beaten us pretty easily the previous week, knocking off 148 in 16 overs.
Emil Todorow won the toss and inserted Kings - I must admit our confidence is a little low and this was partly to make a game of it. In the event, Kings batting could not be described as devastating but it was pretty remorseless. Hassan and Emil bowled probably their best opening spells of the season so far - and we were almost content at 51 for 3, but Fahid and Irfan just squeezed the life out of us with a stand of 126 for the 4th wicket, stroking it about as they pleased at around 5 an over. We bowled and fielded our hearts out for the first 35 overs of the 40 against a strong side - a couple of dropped catches notwithstanding - and it was only after the 35 when our aching bones began to protest that their normal workload was done that we began to become rather sloppy in the field. Luckily our bowlers were made of sterner stuff.
At 218 for 5 we were heading for a target of over 240 but a fantastic late recovery saw us dismiss Kings for 221. The pick of the Nomads bowlers was Asghar Khan, playing his first Nomads match for 5 years, and delivering it nice and straight, nothing fancy, at medium pace. 3 wickets including 2 LBWs was his reward.
Hassan Khan bowled the 36th over and it should have gone for no more than 4, but somehow Nomads' fielders turned this into 11. Lesser men would have retired on the spot but Hassan bounced back in his next over with a brilliant hat-trick which blew Kings' late order and enabled us to contemplate a still formidable target of 222 over an early tea.
In a brief summary of our reply, excellent batting from Zia and Abdul, supported by cameos from Darwin and Hassan took us up to a fairly respectable 9-man total of 126 all out. This was against a distinctly sharp attack featuring the very rapid Ijaz, almost certainly the fastest bowler ever to play against the Nomads. Kings sportingly allowed our 2 highest scorers, Zia and Abdul to bat again - to the confusion of scorer John Crossland - and Zia treated us to a stunning display of clean hitting off Kings' best bowlers, peppering the surrounding streets with cricket balls and bits of falling tree branch. He made 35 in about 15 balls including four sixes to add to his 47 from the official innings. Nomads finally lost their 10th wicket on 163 and so lost by 96 runs if you are a purist or 58 runs if you are not. Zia's batting, especially in his second innings was fantastically entertaining - he really got a hold of some of the best pacemen we have faced and despatched them to all parts. Nomads' batsmen have had a good deal of success on Pitch 1 at Dundonald Road. Our all-time record partnership of 197 between Mark Bradshaw and Cameron Russell was on this square, as was Jim Joyce's 50 off 20 balls (another Nomads record) but these were against Kingston Lefthanders and Touring Theatres, Kings' bowling was an entirely different matter.
Man of the Match was Hassan Khan for his first hat-trick for the club. Fielder of the Day was Mahesh Vyas who did well behind the stumps to concede only 2 byes.
Kings (221 all out from 37.4 overs) beat Clapham Nomads (126 all out from 28 overs) by 96 runs.
M. Vyas 6
Darwin 13
Zia 47
H. Khan 12
Abdul Khan 38
Abbas Khan 0
N. Lefebve 0
Asghar Khan 0
E. Todorow 6
Zia (batting again) - 36 not out
Abdul Khan (batting again) - 0
F.O.W. - 9, 27, 47, 116, 124, 124, 124, 126, - Extra time (163, 163)
H. Khan 7.4-0-43-3
E. Todorow 8-0-32-2
Zia 4-0-21-1
Abbas Khan 8-0-50-1
Abdul Khan 5-0-41-0
Asghar Khan 5-0-21-3
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