Energy Exiles 227 for 7 from 35 overs
Nomads' bowling
H. Khan 7-1-28-3
E. Todorow 7-2-28-0
Abbas Khan 7-0-31-2
A. West 7-0-52-0
Abdul Khan 6-0-79-1
Gul 1-0-9-0
Clapham Nomads 127 all out from 34.5 overs
M. Vyas 10
P. Pattiyil 0
Gul 22
H. Khan 50
D. Gunewardena 14
Paul McColgan 2
Abdul Khan 0
E. Todorow (capt) 3
Abbas Khan 4
J. Crossland (wkt) not out 0
A. West 0
F.O.W. - 3, 27, 76, 114, 120, 121, 124, 127, 127, 127
Nomads lost by 100 runs to a strong Energy Exiles side featuring many of the old favourites. Vicious late acceleration took Exiles up to 227 at tea. Nomads could never really match that scoring rate and were all out on the penultimate ball for 127. The final Nomads action of 2014 was Andrew West sliding through the dust and chalk in earnest discussion with John. More to follow...
REPORT.
The last game of 2014 was a trip to Nursery Road to play the Energy Exiles. It was a more traditional line-up for our old rivals (compared to last month's) with many old favourites on show - notably Andy Wingfield, Simon Gundry and skipper John Tither.
For Nomads, a late withdrawal by Riaz meant a call-up for Andrew West and there was a debut for Paul McColgan, who saw West walking to the ground in his cricket gear and, understandably inspired by such a sight, asked if he could play. With one eye on building a squad for next season, we included McColgan, hoping that we could convince the Exiles that he is a Brisbane Grade cricketer (Paul's Glaswegian cadence gave the lie to that one.)
Nomads elected to field and the Auld Firm of Hassan and Emil took the new ball. The more hirsute of the pair immediately found a nagging length just short of half volley. John Tither dug in ominously but there was an early wicket when Vishal Shete skied it to Hassan for a caught and bowled. As the batsman came off he credited the wicket to Todorow's pressure; "The other fella got me. He's just so frustrating with his length and taking so long to bowl and he's got an unusual action."
Good early pressure was maintained with the score on 25 for 1 after 10 and around 3.5 an over at drinks. Emil had only gone for 20 with 2 balls of his spell to go but John Tither hit boundaries off both of Emil's final deliveries.
Gradual acceleration took place but 2 further wickets for Hassan, who looked more of a threat as he slowed down, backed by a good spell from Abbas and excellent catching from several Nomads kept the contest pretty even.
Andrew West, top of the bowling averages at the start of the game, had an enormous shout for caught behind turned down when Karamvir Mangat was on around 30 but it was declined, much to keeper John Crossland's bemusement and the bowler's extreme and possibly Anglo-Saxon consternation.
With 6 overs to go, the score was 155 with Exiles just slightly ahead on points. Energy have often kicked on sharply against us at the death but never as spectacularly as they did in this match. Barry Whiteman, plus proven hitters Gundry and Wingfield, knocked it about most entertainingly but Mangat was an absolute star, racing from 50 to a scintillating ton in only 19 balls. Probably the finest innings in a Nomads/Exiles game. The only knock that could rival it would be Hassan's match-winning century 4 weeks previously.
Exiles raced away at exactly 12 an over off the last 6 to close on 227 for 7 off the full 35. Nomads had scored 208 for 3 off 33.4 in the August game against Exiles on the same ground (and would have got close to 220 off 35), so on paper 228 was not an impossible target with our batting line-up slightly stronger than on 17/8. However, with Wingfield and Gundry set to bowl, we were massively up against it; even more so when Terence Moynihan bowled Prasanth round his legs early on.
With Moynihan obtaining sharp inward movement (making LBWs difficult to give - even for Nomads' umpires) and Andy Wingfield back close to his best, the next few overs were tough but Mahesh Vyas and Gul did a good job to keep their wickets intact and match Exiles' 10-over score of 25 for 1.
Wingfield broke through in the 11th over, having Vyas caught behind for a gritty and useful 10. Last month's hero Hassan joined Gul and steady progress was made against Phil Ling. Skipper Tither played his trump card at this point, introducing Simon Gundry to the attack. The big man generated good pace and conceded only 3 runs from his first 3 overs, leaving Nomads with just a bit too much to do.
Ling bowled Gul for a combative 22. Darwin joined Hassan and the pair played with considerable dash. The pressure was on though and one risky single too many was attempted, Darwin being run out on 114.
After a streaky start, the left-handed McColgan played nice and straight but was the victim of another run out.
Hassan reached another excellent 50 but became Gundry's first victim. The innings then began to tail off. Abdul and Abbas were bowled by Gundry and Moynihan respectively. As the last rites approched, it was pretty much Gundry versus Todorow, West and Crossland - a distillation of all that we love about Exiles/Nomads fixtures. Todorow played a quite glorious Cover Drive against the big paceman; it had grace, command, elegance, everything but power (it was as if a dark-haired, right-handed David Gower was batting with a piece of driftwood) but it still went for a most enjoyable single. The bowler responded with a series of snorting lifters. Emil finally managed to get a thin edge to the 4th one, departing and bringing No. 11 Andrew West out to join John Crossland for the penultimate delivery of the innings. West was incandescent with irritation that he was unlikely to bat so (as umpire) I whispered to him that he should run if the ball beat the keeper or the inner field. Crossland parried the ball towards his feet and West charged up the pitch only to be turned back indignantly by John. West turned - eventually - and dived for the crease but was run out by a yard; and so another golden summer of Nomads cricket ended in a haze of dust, chalk, slanting sunlight and oaths.
It was an enjoyable day despite the heavy defeat. It was good to see all the old faces including the semi-retired Naren Patel who showed up at tea. Exiles have always been a tough bowling unit and a crafty and professional batting side, but they have now added a streak of frighteningly fast-scoring flair and they are going to be very difficult to beat next summer. I may be putting out an inter-continental trunk call to a certain Mr Copeland. One new feature of Exiles' play was the interval huddle. Just in case any Nomad is thinking of suggesting at the meeting that we do this, then please don't. I'm not sure we could afford the Policing fees.
Man of the Match was Hassan, with another fine half-century and the best bowling figures. Abbas took 2 well-judged catches in the deep to claim Fielder of the Day but a much-improved performance from John Crossland behind the sticks ran him close. If Andrew had not played in this match he would have topped the bowling averages. He has dipped below Hassan after this game but has still done well to finish miles clear of any other regular bowler.
Thursday 18 September 2014
Dulwich v Clapham Nomads - 7/9/14
7th September saw another trip to Dulwich Sports Ground, the Turney Road home of Dulwich cc's increasingly formidable Development XI.
Dulwich advertise themselves as South London's top club and it would be hard to argue with that - certainly if you are talking of SE and SW post codes only - their facilities and coaching are excellent.
Nomads won the toss and had a bowl, but once again learnt a lesson that is being drummed into us more and more often; it is almost impossible to dismiss a side full of well-coached youngsters on a good track. Hassan bowled excellently and had at least 2 good chances missed off his bowling, while Emil turned in the best figures with 1 for 29 off his 7 overs. It took the extra pace of Abbas to provide some kind of cutting edge, with 2 wickets for the young paceman. 3 run outs gave the scorebook a slightly healthier sheen from our point of view; John Crossland and Riaz combining for 2 of them.
Dulwich closed on 190 for 6. Nomads had managed 198 against them last year but that was off 43 overs. Our chances took a mortal blow at tea when Hassan had to leave for urgent family reasons. Dulwich supremo John Lawrence sportingly allowed our 12th Man Adnan to bat in Hassan's place.
Mark Bradshaw concluded his fine comeback season with a well-crafted 32. Mahesh Vyas provided some support with 7 and helped see off the openers. Mahesh has done this several times this summer and has had a slightly better season than the averages will suggest.
The highlight of our knock was when Darwin, who had scored 193 runs in the previous 3 games since he was last out, made 10 here to bring up a kind of Double Century; possibly the first Nomad to achieve this feat.
Below Darwin, however, there was little support for Mark and a series of rash shots and soft dismissals caused a steady subsidence. Dulwich had 2 excellent spinners who caused carnage. When I started playing for Open University and Nomads 25 years ago, spinners/slow bowlers were a) fat, b) slow, c) drunk and d) unable to turn the ball. I had 3 of the above characteristics myself. These Dulwich guys, however, had none of the above. They were well-coached and may have been watching video footage of Warne, Murali and even Swann and Panesar. Almost cheating, that is.
Nomads ended on 104 all out. How much difference did Hassan's absence make? Well, Adnan scored 8, so Hassan would have needed to score 95 for us to win, all else being equal.
Man of the Match goes to Darwin for passing the 200 landmark (even though almost all the runs were scored in previous games.) He also took 2 catches to claim Fielder of the Day as well, with Riaz a close second. John Crossland had one of his rare off days behind the stumps and was quite downhearted, but I am so late in writing this report that I already know he bounced back well.
Dulwich 190 for 6 from 35 overs
Nomads' bowling
H. Khan 7-0-24-0
Sami 7-0-41-0
Abbas Khan 7-0-41-2
E. Todorow 7-0-29-1
R.Khan 3-0-14-0
Abdul Khan 4-0-35-0
Clapham Nomads 104 all out
M. Bradshaw 32
M. Vyas 7
R. Khan 0
Hamid 5
D. Gunewardena 10
Adnan Khan 8
Abdul Khan 13
Sami 10
E. Todorow (capt) not out 1
J. Crossland (wkt) 0
Clapham Nomads lost by 86 runs.
Dulwich advertise themselves as South London's top club and it would be hard to argue with that - certainly if you are talking of SE and SW post codes only - their facilities and coaching are excellent.
Nomads won the toss and had a bowl, but once again learnt a lesson that is being drummed into us more and more often; it is almost impossible to dismiss a side full of well-coached youngsters on a good track. Hassan bowled excellently and had at least 2 good chances missed off his bowling, while Emil turned in the best figures with 1 for 29 off his 7 overs. It took the extra pace of Abbas to provide some kind of cutting edge, with 2 wickets for the young paceman. 3 run outs gave the scorebook a slightly healthier sheen from our point of view; John Crossland and Riaz combining for 2 of them.
Dulwich closed on 190 for 6. Nomads had managed 198 against them last year but that was off 43 overs. Our chances took a mortal blow at tea when Hassan had to leave for urgent family reasons. Dulwich supremo John Lawrence sportingly allowed our 12th Man Adnan to bat in Hassan's place.
Mark Bradshaw concluded his fine comeback season with a well-crafted 32. Mahesh Vyas provided some support with 7 and helped see off the openers. Mahesh has done this several times this summer and has had a slightly better season than the averages will suggest.
The highlight of our knock was when Darwin, who had scored 193 runs in the previous 3 games since he was last out, made 10 here to bring up a kind of Double Century; possibly the first Nomad to achieve this feat.
Below Darwin, however, there was little support for Mark and a series of rash shots and soft dismissals caused a steady subsidence. Dulwich had 2 excellent spinners who caused carnage. When I started playing for Open University and Nomads 25 years ago, spinners/slow bowlers were a) fat, b) slow, c) drunk and d) unable to turn the ball. I had 3 of the above characteristics myself. These Dulwich guys, however, had none of the above. They were well-coached and may have been watching video footage of Warne, Murali and even Swann and Panesar. Almost cheating, that is.
Nomads ended on 104 all out. How much difference did Hassan's absence make? Well, Adnan scored 8, so Hassan would have needed to score 95 for us to win, all else being equal.
Man of the Match goes to Darwin for passing the 200 landmark (even though almost all the runs were scored in previous games.) He also took 2 catches to claim Fielder of the Day as well, with Riaz a close second. John Crossland had one of his rare off days behind the stumps and was quite downhearted, but I am so late in writing this report that I already know he bounced back well.
Dulwich 190 for 6 from 35 overs
Nomads' bowling
H. Khan 7-0-24-0
Sami 7-0-41-0
Abbas Khan 7-0-41-2
E. Todorow 7-0-29-1
R.Khan 3-0-14-0
Abdul Khan 4-0-35-0
Clapham Nomads 104 all out
M. Bradshaw 32
M. Vyas 7
R. Khan 0
Hamid 5
D. Gunewardena 10
Adnan Khan 8
Abdul Khan 13
Sami 10
E. Todorow (capt) not out 1
J. Crossland (wkt) 0
Clapham Nomads lost by 86 runs.
Thursday 4 September 2014
Clapham Nomads v Touring Theatres - 31/8/14
Theatres were only able to raise 6 for this game at Abbey Rec. Nomads' batting order had a threadbare look to it, especially after we gave Mahesh Vyas to the opposition, We should probably have given them 2 players to make it a 9-8 contest.
There was a welcome return to Nomads action for Abdul, his broken fingers still strapped up.
Skipper John Crossland's search for a replacement opener to accompany Mark Bradshaw led him to Emil Todorow, who has opened the batting many times for the club, though not for a while, and has produced some memorable moments against pace bowlers.
The opening pair played nicely to see off some testing bowling from Ben Tranchell and Hansell, the latter recording figures of 0 for 9 off 7 overs (very economical with such a sparse field.)
Todorow looked sound. If only he was a bit quicker between the wickets, he would be a very useful standby opener. On 31 though, with the shine seen off and the hard work done, Emil middled the 7th ball (including 4 wides) of Pensen's first over, but unfortunately straight to Short Mid-Wicket where Dirk Fieldhouse held onto a sharp catch.
Numbers 3 and 4 Sami and Hamid didn't last too long but Bradshaw was starting to punch it about confidently against the change bowlers. The 3rd wicket fell on 58 and brought Darwin out to join Mark. These two were the only batsmen in out side with any kind of recent form in the book. Fortunately it was absolutely cracking form. This was maintained here; Darwin spanking it straight and towards Mid-Off, with Mark solid as ever, consolidating and rotating the strike, making it look easy.
The pick of Theatres' change bowlers was Nomads Legend Chris Kennedy who got through a 6-over stint conceding only 1 boundary. He was milked for regular singles, but 5.5 an over is not bad at all against a classy pair of batsmen and supported only by a keeper and 5 other fielders.
Great 3rd and 4th wicket stands have been the high spot of our batting this summer and the undefeated 113 put on by Mark and Darwin took Nomads up to 171 at the close. This seemed likely to be enough but the visitors had 2 new players, 1 of whom had travelled all the way from the Isle of Thanet to play, and we still remembered the century scored by another Theatres debutant, John Warnaby's cousin, last summer.
Dirk Fieldhouse's partner Maureen set out our tea for us and it was a more professionally presented meal than we usually get from Nomads. Thanks again for that, Maureen.
Skipper Crossland twirled his moustachioes thoughtfully and produced the tactical rabbit from his cap. The new ball would be shared by Abbas and Andrew West, who are very different in age, build and pace, but alike in their fiery determination.
Our own Mahesh opened with Ben Tranchell and the Theatres star was soon run out. Any suspicions that Mahesh was acting as our 5th Column were soon dispelled as he played smartly for 19, the away side's top score.
There is usually no let-up from a Crossland-captained bowling unit. The openers shared 3 wickets (West's 2 taking him to the top of the 2014 club bowling averages) and bowled their full 7 overs each. Change bowlers Sami (3 overs, 3 maidens) and Abdul (2 for 2) then polished the job off professionally.
It was a pleasant, sociable afternoon. The comedy highlight was when Hassan turned up with his family at half-time and jokingly offered his batting services to the opposition. John Crossland, not realising Hassan was joking, was distraught - his recent 100% record as skipper suddenly seeming under threat.
Man of the Match was Mark Bradshaw who saw off some useful stuff early on in his 68 to underpin our total. Darwin was a close second though, his unbeaten 62 means that, at the end of this game, he had scored 193 runs since he was last dismissed. Fingers crossed for the Double Century in the next game. I can't remember the fielding all that well (early-onset Alzheimer's - it was only 17 days ago) but I will give the fielding award to Hamid who set up the run out of Theatres' best batsman.
Clapham Nomads 171 for 3 from 35 overs
M. Bradshaw not out 68
E. Todorow 5
Sami 0
Hamid 6
D. Gunewardena not out 62
Did not bat; Abdul Khan, Abbas Khan, N. Lefebve, A. West, J, Crossland (capt/wkt)
F.O.W. - 31, 40, 58
Touring Theatres 37 all out from 19.3 overs
Nomads' bowling
Abbas Khan 7-0-17-1
A. West 7-2-8-2
Sami 3-3-0-0
Abdul Khan 2.3-1-2-2
Clapham Nomads won by 134 runs
There was a welcome return to Nomads action for Abdul, his broken fingers still strapped up.
Skipper John Crossland's search for a replacement opener to accompany Mark Bradshaw led him to Emil Todorow, who has opened the batting many times for the club, though not for a while, and has produced some memorable moments against pace bowlers.
The opening pair played nicely to see off some testing bowling from Ben Tranchell and Hansell, the latter recording figures of 0 for 9 off 7 overs (very economical with such a sparse field.)
Todorow looked sound. If only he was a bit quicker between the wickets, he would be a very useful standby opener. On 31 though, with the shine seen off and the hard work done, Emil middled the 7th ball (including 4 wides) of Pensen's first over, but unfortunately straight to Short Mid-Wicket where Dirk Fieldhouse held onto a sharp catch.
Numbers 3 and 4 Sami and Hamid didn't last too long but Bradshaw was starting to punch it about confidently against the change bowlers. The 3rd wicket fell on 58 and brought Darwin out to join Mark. These two were the only batsmen in out side with any kind of recent form in the book. Fortunately it was absolutely cracking form. This was maintained here; Darwin spanking it straight and towards Mid-Off, with Mark solid as ever, consolidating and rotating the strike, making it look easy.
The pick of Theatres' change bowlers was Nomads Legend Chris Kennedy who got through a 6-over stint conceding only 1 boundary. He was milked for regular singles, but 5.5 an over is not bad at all against a classy pair of batsmen and supported only by a keeper and 5 other fielders.
Great 3rd and 4th wicket stands have been the high spot of our batting this summer and the undefeated 113 put on by Mark and Darwin took Nomads up to 171 at the close. This seemed likely to be enough but the visitors had 2 new players, 1 of whom had travelled all the way from the Isle of Thanet to play, and we still remembered the century scored by another Theatres debutant, John Warnaby's cousin, last summer.
Dirk Fieldhouse's partner Maureen set out our tea for us and it was a more professionally presented meal than we usually get from Nomads. Thanks again for that, Maureen.
Skipper Crossland twirled his moustachioes thoughtfully and produced the tactical rabbit from his cap. The new ball would be shared by Abbas and Andrew West, who are very different in age, build and pace, but alike in their fiery determination.
Our own Mahesh opened with Ben Tranchell and the Theatres star was soon run out. Any suspicions that Mahesh was acting as our 5th Column were soon dispelled as he played smartly for 19, the away side's top score.
There is usually no let-up from a Crossland-captained bowling unit. The openers shared 3 wickets (West's 2 taking him to the top of the 2014 club bowling averages) and bowled their full 7 overs each. Change bowlers Sami (3 overs, 3 maidens) and Abdul (2 for 2) then polished the job off professionally.
It was a pleasant, sociable afternoon. The comedy highlight was when Hassan turned up with his family at half-time and jokingly offered his batting services to the opposition. John Crossland, not realising Hassan was joking, was distraught - his recent 100% record as skipper suddenly seeming under threat.
Man of the Match was Mark Bradshaw who saw off some useful stuff early on in his 68 to underpin our total. Darwin was a close second though, his unbeaten 62 means that, at the end of this game, he had scored 193 runs since he was last dismissed. Fingers crossed for the Double Century in the next game. I can't remember the fielding all that well (early-onset Alzheimer's - it was only 17 days ago) but I will give the fielding award to Hamid who set up the run out of Theatres' best batsman.
Clapham Nomads 171 for 3 from 35 overs
M. Bradshaw not out 68
E. Todorow 5
Sami 0
Hamid 6
D. Gunewardena not out 62
Did not bat; Abdul Khan, Abbas Khan, N. Lefebve, A. West, J, Crossland (capt/wkt)
F.O.W. - 31, 40, 58
Touring Theatres 37 all out from 19.3 overs
Nomads' bowling
Abbas Khan 7-0-17-1
A. West 7-2-8-2
Sami 3-3-0-0
Abdul Khan 2.3-1-2-2
Clapham Nomads won by 134 runs
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)