Energy Exiles v Clapham Nomads - 14/9/14

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.