Andrew West's Top 5 Golden Moments

And so we come to the quintessential moments of West.....

5) - Andrew West's debut was on 26/6/94 v Tower Ravens at Wandsworth Park, SW15.  I had the honour of being captain for this auspicious occasion which also happened to be my first outing as skipper of the team and also probably the worst pitch we have ever played on.  But it was all about West.
I had faced him on uncut grass and artificial pitches on Clapham Common and knew he could be a tricky bowler but it must have been John Crossland who forced me to bat him at No. 5.  He entered at 27 for 3 and Nomads were being terrorised by a tearaway cockney fast bowler called Lee Price who had figures of  4-2-3-3 when West marched out, almost fully equipped, for the first time as a Clapham Nomad to face the music.  The music must have been thrash metal as the ball was rearing around our heads and various other areas of our anatomy.  You will not be surprised to hear that Andrew was soon hit in the testicles and doubled up in agony.  "Are you wearing a box?" I called out anxiously.  "Does it look like I'm wearing a f***ing box?" West replied, rubbing and counting frantically.
Anyway, West, using his unique grip, proceeded to smash the Ravens all over the Park, and probably into the Thames, with 6 boundaries in his 26,  He put on 51 for the 4th wicket with the suave, public school-educated, classical cellist and chess expert Chris Holland.  Two more different players and people you would struggle to find but it was West who turned the game and set Nomads up for a total of 154.  He then bowled two of the Away side's Top Six as we dismissed them for 130 - our first victory on a grass track (or whatever alien substance Wandsworth Park is made of.)
West was Man of the Match and we thought we had unearthed a unique batting talent.  We were partially right.  He certainly is unique but who could have predicted in June 1994 that, in his 87 further appearances for the club, he would never get even within 10 runs of the 26 he scored that day.

4) - But he has done plenty with the ball.  None more so than on 30/8/09 in a game at Alexandra Park, Epsom, against Phoenix Epsom Liberal a team who, with one notable exception, were very nice guys but always gave the impression that they thought they should be beating Nomads easily and, no doubt, hitting a bowler of Andrew West's build and pace all over the shop.
Nomads batted pretty well to rack up 216 for 5 from our 35 overs but, on a good track with short-ish boundaries against a fine batting side and with skipper Todorow only having 4 front-line bowlers to juggle, I wouldn't say we were favourites at tea.  The Home side made their way up to about 55 for 2 and my report from the match then takes up the story.....
After 14 overs there was a double bowling change and on came Andrew West and Gopi, two men who are very different in physical stature but very similar in their determination to take wickets. There was an aura about West as he jogged in, ball in hand, and he very quickly produced a floater to bowl No. 4 R.Gall, a man we were told had averaged 280 in his previous three innings. That's all very well, but it's unlikely he had faced a bowler of the calibre of Andrew West.
Gopi produced his usual excellent variation with several big off-spinners and got a quick reward with the wicket of No. 3 Piper Masha. It was West's day however and, even when Raj sent the ball into orbit for a giant 6, Andrew showed his new-found maturity by merely muttering some extremely obscene curses under his breath and turning round and sending down some more jaffas. Down they fell; bowled, bowled and a brilliant running catch by Gopi at short third man to remove the dangerous Raj.
 Shuffling his bowling options cleverly, The Gaffer turned to the spin of Ben Fewson who soon showed we did have a 5th front-line bowler all along with some well-flighted spin. West held the ball aloft after achieving his five-fer with yet another bowled and then Fewson rapped it up to secure a resounding victory by 116 runs. This was a great all-round Nomads performance from a slightly depleted team with everyone chipping in. Phoenix were perhaps more depleted than us, and I did hear a rumour they told John Crossland they were a bit complacent before the game. I'm sure they won't be next season.
There is little that can be said about Andrew West that has not already been said except that he is Man of the Match. Fielder of the Day is a share between Gopi, who took one of the best catches of the season and Mark Bradshaw, who stopped everything at fine leg when the pressure was on - despite a broken finger.

Back to 2015 and I can reveal that this was Andrew West's best bowling analysis for the club,  7-2-20-5, setting up a brilliant win.  Happy days indeed.  I can't remember if he bought a jug but he is forgiven if he didn't.

3) - From the sublime to the..... well, not exactly ridiculous but perhaps shocking, sad, and oooh, maybe just a tiny bit comical.  The Mobile Phone Incident v Surbiton Imperials in August 2015.  In order to protect the identities of those involved I will describe them as "X" (A Medium Pace bowler who bats No. 11 and takes XXL size.)  "Y" (A moustachioed wicketkeeper) and  "Z" (A captain who is respected but is famous for not suffering fools gladly.)  This is how I saw the incident, though if I am ever asked to repeat this under oath, I may have seen something different.  Nomads were fielding at the time,, and being hammered.

X- (pulling out his Mobile Phone) - "Hello, mate.  Alright?"
Y- "Put your phone away, X."
Z- "X, put your phone away NOW!".
(X carried on talking on his phone)
Z- "Right,"  (advancing towards X) "Get off the pitch now."
X- "F*** off you c**t."
(Z started trotting towards X)
Y - (standing between X and Z) "Come on you two, leave it."
(Further badinage followed, with Z trying to reach X, before X finally fled the pitch.
Z - "Stay off the pitch.  You will never play for this club again."
X - "Oh yeah, so I can't even talk to my family then.  My mother's in St Thomas' Hospital, you c**t."

The memory fades a bit after that.  X stayed by the opposition for a while, and applauded their play, before making his way slowly round the pitch, exchanging various comments with boundary fielders and moving onwards every time Z showed signs of going after him.
X waited outside the pavilion at tea, I think in an attempt to apologise to Y, but he was not fully successful for various reasons in making this apology.
I don't think I have described the incident all that well.  It was one of those situations were you really had to be there.  Surbiton Imperials certainly were there and, while I heard a rumour that they were highly amused by the incident, I also heard a rumour that they were think of dropping us from their fixture list as a result.  I hope they don't as X is unlikely to play in the fixture next season.  Z says X definitely won't.

2) Now we come to the Top 2.  Moments in a different league to most of the incidents from 25 to 3 which are not really that remarkable when considered in isolation.  A lot of players are injury-prone, many are temperamental or surprise their team mates with stunningly good or bad performances or highly quotable comments, but the Top 2 were a couple of the most extraordinary things I have seen, on a cricket pitch or anywhere.  They also show the bad and good sides of our hero.
No. 2 occurred in an All London League Game v Sporting Caribs on 2/7/2000.  The type of league it was is hinted at by the fact that the game was played on Wandsworth Common.  This game was actually Hassan's debut (and coincidentally he features in No. 1 as well.)
Nomads fielded and Hassan and Andrew opened the bowling.  Andrew didn't do that badly but was taken off after 2 overs by skipper Joe Chance with figures of 2-0-12-0.  I can't remember his immediate reaction but the decision looked sound as Hassan and 1st changer Emil Todorow reduced the strong, mainly Australian despite their name, visitors to 37 for 5. Caribs then staged a recovery to 142 all out - a decent total on this interesting (all right, crap) pitch with 8 bowlers used.  Andrew West was never brought back.  Nomads never really got close (Hassan top-scored with 29).  Andrew batted high up for him, at No. 8, even above Riaz, West made 4 - a boundary - but Clapham lost by 57 runs.  The weather was dull and there were a couple of rain interruptions. It was a day we realised we would not win the league (we had been top a month previously.) The opposition enjoyed sledging.  So nothing all that dramatic happened but it might have been a combination of all these factors that made Andrew suddenly pick up Eddie Phillips' bat and take a good dozen blows at the bottom of an ancient oak tree in, I think, a genuine attempt to fell it.  The tree still stands, which is more than can be said for Eddie's bat.  (I will, of course, deny having seen any of this if interviewed by Wandsworth Council or the Forestry Commission.)

1) - No. 1 is, in all sincerity, the most incredible thing I have seen on any sports pitch in almost 50 years of playing and watching sport.
It was a friendly at the end of the 2000 season against Touring Theatres.  I have just noticed that I was the captain - what an honour.  Theatres were short of a fielder and asked if they could borrow a Nomad.  I can't remember if I had the hump with them - they did once imply I looked like George Formby so it might have been that - but I gave them Andrew West.  If I intended to stitch them up it backfired spectacularly.  Nomads were 145 for 5 and coasting when Hassan came in at No. 7 (you can see why I don't captain any more) and Andrew was chuntering and had been banished to the Deep Mid Wicket boundary.  Hassan had raced to 8 and must have been looking forward to filling his boots against a benign attack.  He cracked a pull a shot uppishly but hard towards the Mid Wicket boundary, a few feet to the left of West who had appeared to lose all interest.  It looked all over a 6.  A high-class fielder would have made the ground and caught it.  An average fielder would have moved across and possibly dropped it.  Some Nomads might have contrived not to see it or genuinely not got into position.  Only a man of limited fielding ability but true genius could do what West did next.  He just stuck out his left hand and pouched the ball as if it was a piece of pork pie crust that had evaded his jaws at tea.  He did not move a muscle apart from his arm.  Absolutely amazing reflexes or total luck? I just don't know but I'm glad I saw it.
Nomads won the game by 47 runs.  Hassan was less than impressed and didn't play again for us for a while but returned to become our best player of all time.  Andrew only took 1 more catch in a Nomads match in the next 15 years (again, for the opposition) and I just filed the moment away in my memory bank - somewhere between the Total Eclipse of the Sun in 1999 and Botham's batting v Australia at Headingley in 1981, but more unexpected than both.                     

Andrew West's Golden Moments - The Top 10

...And so we come to the absolutely vintage moments of Andrew.  West at his Best.  At 10 is arguably his finest bowling in a Nomads shirt.  This is so long ago that I can barely remember the bowling (presumably accurate) or for that matter the shirt (presumably not white.)

10) - A tight game at Duppas Hill v North Croydon on 17/8/97 featuring ruthless captaincy from John Crossland and (judging by the bowling changes) a rather high level of "verbal interaction" - (not unusual for the Nomads at the time, and I have completely forgotten the game.)
Nomads made just 112 on a decent pitch against organised-looking and well-turned-out opponents.  It didn't look promising at the break.  Skipper Crossland opened the bowling with Andrew and Emil but Emil made little impression and was replaced after only 5 overs by Dave Hunter (there may have been some on-field discussion following this, I am thinking.)
The two Medium Pacers combined brilliantly and, after 32 overs, Nomads were on the brink of victory.  Andrew had bowled throughout at the Council Estate End and his figures were 16-1-33-4.  At this point, and I can't remember why, the skipper suddenly decided to replace West with Joe Chance, who promptly took the last 2 wickets in 5 balls.  A great win by 31 runs for a team which had been on the point of folding.  I can't remember why Andrew was taken off after bowling such a fine spell.  If it was not due to injury, than the decision must have precipitated some earnest debate.  Anyway, classic West bowling.

9) - Clapham Nomads v The Hunter Family on 3/7/94 at Raynes Park.  Five players had attempted a few months previously to break away from the Open University (London) cc - run by Dave Hunter.  We did form a new club - the Nomads, but ended up still playing for OU as well.  A special match was arranged involving the rival factions in the OU.  To say there was needle would be like saying the First World War got a little bit feisty at times.  It was agreed it would be too incendiary if any of the rebel players captained the Nomads, so that burden fell on Jazz Pianist (the late) Peter Saberton.
8 Members of the Hunter family turned out; Dave (capt), Lenny, Mick, Tom, James, Dan, Emma plus 1 other (? Billy).  Emma was a talented tennis player and it was rumoured Mick H said to Emil before the start; "if you bowl your usual s**t to her, she'll smack you about."
After a poor start, Nomads recovered to 147 for 7; Joe Chance top-scoring with 38.  In the reply, the Hunters again started well with the talented Tom playing nicely.  Gradually the tide turned and, although Emil had the best bowling figures with 4 for 15, Andrew was instrumental in frustrating the (not always entirely placid) opposition with figures of 3 for 10.  He dismissed 3 Hunters; Tom, Mick and Dan.  The scorebook features a line which tells its own story; Mick Hunter bowled West 0.
Nomads won by 59 runs.  There was an amusing incident afterwards when one of the HUNTER FAMILY players accused the Nomads of selecting ringers; the man's surname - REDMOND.

8) - No. 8 is a bit high for this one but my notes have got mixed up.  Anyway, British Television has been "graced" over the years by the appearance of several Clapham Nomads players.  Adam Paz appeared on Pointless early this year.  Nick Lefebve was on the 1990s quiz show Fifteen-to-One.  John Crossland used to work as an extra in productions featuring large crowds of Victorian-looking people (it's the moustache), so he's probably been on the small screen, possibly in something Dickensian; other Nomads may have featured in shows such as Crimewatch or "Police, Camera, Action."  The best of all though, came about 10 years ago.  I was idling around, not even watching the Daytime TV show that was on in the background.  It was called something like "This Morning in Hospital."  The lovely Nadia Sawalha was interviewing people who were awaiting treatment in St Thomas' Hospital's A & E Department.  "So what happened to you, Andrew?" Nadia purred.  "Well, I fell off my ....bike didn't I, on the way to Brighton." replied a familiar gruff voice.  I turned round just in time for the camera to move away from an oh-so-familiar face.  Credit to Andrew, he hadn't sworn (mind you, they have a 10-second delay on live broadcasts, I think, just in case.)
Vintage Andrew.  An injury - my goodness, I was surprised.  At the end of the show, Ms Sawalha returned to our hero, something now inserted in his leg, and asked him if it would put him off future bike rides.  "No," the Nomad smiled.  What a trouper.

7) - A bit like No. 7, another family affair.  Andrew West turned out for the Nomads against the strong Crete Sports on 31/7/94 at Farm Road, Morden.  In those days, he was actually regarded as more of a batsman than a bowler.  The scorebook reads; Andrew West, run out 15.  That sets the scene nicely but there's more.  Andrew hit a 6, the only 6 of his Nomads career, off an excellent bowler called Butcher, who despite being in his mid-50s was from Barbados and was accurate and distinctly sharp at times (he was rumoured to have played at a high level and was possibly the best bowler Nomads came up against regularly in our early years.)
Poignantly, this was the only game in which all 3 West brothers played for the club.  Having seen what Andrew could do, selector Crossland was trying to mine a rich seam of talent.  Alan West and Harold West were nice guys, quieter than Andrew.  They never played much for the Nomads.  One of them has, I believe, sadly passed away.  I'll have to check that with John.

6) - v Surbiton Imperials at Raynes Park in September 2010.  A memorable game in many ways.  Sadly, Gopi's last match for us.  Sensational batting from Mark Bradshaw and Hassan Khan took Nomads well over 200.  Only Andrew could top this (and I am ashamed to say I helped him.)  Early in Surbiton's reply, Andrew stopped a firmly-struck shot with his shin.  He swore - obscenely but briefly, skipped in a perfect figure of 8 and crashed to the ground, and then got up immediately without a word and just carried on fielding as if nothing had happened.
Then followed a quiet spell in which Nomads assumed complete control of the game and appeared to have dismissed the dangermen.  When a balding, intense-looking man strolled out late on, Skipper Todorow thought it was safe to chuck the ball to West, who was not on brilliant form (see Golden Moment No. 21 from a few weeks before this game.)  What we hadn't realised was that the unhairy man was Jonny Rosenthal, a fantastically destructive player who, on this day, took an absolutely massive liking to Andrew's bowling.  Ball after ball sped to the boundary or sailed over the fielders' heads.  At last, Jonny slightly mistimed one and skied it.  I managed to get round to Deep Long On, got under it, but then not only dropped the chance but "tipped it over the bar" for 6.  Bilal was fielding nearby and told me that Andrew was in tears.  I doubt that, but I did look around the Park quickly for possible escape routes.  Luckily, we still won.  In my report, I said that Andrew's figures really should have been 6-0-62-2, not 6-0-68-1.  I genuinely meant this as an apology to Andrew but it just sounded like I was taking the piss.  I'm not that brave.

Sorry, I've run out of time, but I will definitely put the Top 5 on by the end of the year.  In the meantime, Seasons Greetings to all readers and, for those of you that celebrate Christmas, I hope it will not be F***ing Bo**ocks.

25 Golden Moments of West - Part 2

20) - This is not so much a moment as a dance / comedy routine which was performed almost every time Andrew did something good on the cricket pitch; which, to give him his due, was frequently.  a) Andrew would, for example, bowl a frustrated slogger; b) John Crossland would rush over and the pair would engage in a light-hearted wrestling bout; c) Emil Todorow would saunter over to the friends, possibly disentangle the pair of them and then, patting Andrew playfully on the gut, would ask him; "when is it due?"

19) - About 5 years ago, we were relaxing with a post-match pint in one of South Wimbledon's many fine and customer-friendly hostelries, which is now - sadly - a Tesco Metro.  Suddenly, the tranquility was disturbed as a large and feisty rottweiler began scrabbling frantically behind the gate which led to the sealed-off roof and started to bark and snarl at the Nomads.  Surreally, the dog was then joined by a small, beautiful, grey wild boar.  Entranced by all this wildlife, Andrew walked over, bravely thrust his fingers through the gate and stroked the boar on the tusk.  The pig purred contentedly.  I don't think I have ever witnessed such a profound connection between man and beast.

18) - A Nomads / Exiles game in August 2014.  Exiles had posted a 200-plus total but were a fielder short and so skipper Todorow sportingly / rashly agreed to lend them a fielder.  Is it customary in these situations to give one of your more mobile fielders and so Emil asked Andrew West to join the opposition.  He quite soon made a series of absolutely basic fielding errors.  I was umpire and had a close-up view of Exiles' skipper Chris Plume's reaction.  To be fair to him, he hid his annoyance very well - and tried to hide Andrew at gully.  Almost instantly, a thick edge from Hamid found its way straight into our hero's meaty paws, and it stuck.  Andrew became an instant Exiles legend.  In a tight match, this catch could have been crucial - though Hamid only made about 8 - but an all-time-great innings from Hassan steered Nomads to victory.

17) - v Crete Sports at Duppas Hill on 14/7/96.  I will let John's scorebook comment tell the tale; "Andrew West could not bowl or field as he injured his finger just before the start."  Crete made 194 for 8.  This kind of cemented Andrew's reputation as being quite exceptionally injury-prone (it was an extremely gentle pre-match throw-around - I think I might have made the throw himself.)  The day also showed Andrew's willingness to stick around and play through his pain.  He batted at No. 11 but, through no fault of Andrew's, Nomads' last pair were only able to put on 7, rather than the 138 needed for victory.  I was the man who was dismissed and left Andrew stranded on 1 Not Out.  Sorry, Andrew.

16) - Purplegate.  We played Dulwich one Sunday in May 2007 at the Del Ballard Rec in Wimbledon. A 2 pm start.  Showing a blithe disregard for punctuality (most Nomads had probably arrived at about 2.40), Andrew West pitched up at 3.25.  For some reason I put Purplegate in the notes but he was, in fact, wearing his other shirt - the blue one; not quite as figure-hugging as the purple number - ?? his One Day International Top.  Bizarrely, the AWAY SIDE (Dulwich) refused to let Andrew play.  Who do they think they are? The MCC?  Versace?  They might have had the hump because Nomads had selected a terrifyingly fast Geordie ringer - name to follow - but the man from Northumberland went for 51 off his 7 overs and it is unlikely Andrew would have gone for 7.3 an over against Dulwich; so even if Andrew had bowled just 2 overs we might well have won a game which we ended up losing by 2 runs. Who knows, Andrew might even have hit the 3 runs we needed to win (we batted with 10 men.)

15) - 21/7/14.  We were sitting in the pub having been hammered by 9 wickets by Addington.  John was repeatedly telling the opposition, much to their amusement, that the day had been a complete waste of his time. It was not an evening that filled me with a love of playing for the Nomads.  Poignantly though, Andrew suddenly gazed, misty-eyed, into the middle distance and said; "I'd love to play in every game."  (He has not really been a regular player for some time - possibly since 2007 when Emil took over the team selection from John.)

14) - In the final game of the 2011 season, Andrew West became only the third man - following Emil and Hassan - to take 100 wickets for the Nomads.  When you think of the excellent bowlers who had not reached this mark for the club, it was quite an achievement.  The opponents were Energy Exiles and, coincidentally, their paceman Simon Gundry reached his 100 wickets for Exiles in the same match.  2 men who are very different in background, looks, build and pace.  One could say though, that they share a few characteristics; accuracy and also a certain "assertiveness" on the field of play.  Apparently John and Andrew shared a bottle of champagne which they had smuggled into a nearby pub to mark the occasion.  I only hope Andrew wasn't injured by the cork.

13) - Rather like the wrestling bouts in number 20, this is a composite moment made up of various incidents. In his Nomads career, Andrew has had 3 main types of response to failure; a) Swearing - which lets face it most of us do from time to time, b) Threatening to quit cricket on the spot (usually after being taken off prematurely or having a catch dropped off his bowling) and c) Lying on the ground and refusing to move, sometimes for considerable periods of time.  A most memorable example of the latter was in 2011 when Caribbean Mix rattled up one of their afternoons of 250-plus punishment.  I felt like a good lie-down myself but Andrew took it literally for the last 3 overs.  If I remember correctly, he lay prone at mid-wicket in overs 33 and 35, but did move round and lie prone at ? Short Third Man in Over 34.  We did wonder whether it would count as 5 if the ball hit him (after all, it is 5 if the ball hits a helmet, which is rather a smaller target than West.)

12) - If the summer of 2012 was a beacon in British sport, it certainly wasn't for the Nomads.  Just quite a sour, sodden experience with 6 games abandoned.  On paper, the match against Exiles in August where we could only raise 6 men, had to beg a by-stander at Raynes Park to play, and got hammered, looks like a low-point even in that bad year; but this one had a few highlights.  Firstly, Nomads managed to poach Naren Patel from Exiles and the sight of 2 veteran maestros of the game - Naren and Emil - opening the bowling together for Nomads must have been a sight to treasure - rather as if Frank Sinatra and John Lennon were sharing Lead Vocals - for the London Symphony Orchestra. Fantasy cricket (I only wish I had been there).  Nomads had batted first and made only 47.  Inevitably Todorow and Patel struck a couple of early blows for us but a brilliant 31 from Jasper Searle brought Exiles level.  Andrew West came on at this point and bowled Searle with an outrageous pea-roller, which the bowler celebrated by shaking his fist at the departing Searle. (This might have been Andrew's apology for the bounce - or it might not.)  Even better was to follow.  Simon Gundry strolled out, not wearing pads, smacked West firmly to leg in the hope of winning the match with a 6, but was brilliantly caught on the Mid-Wicket boundary for a Golden Duck by Prasad, the by-stander who had been press-ganged to play by Emil.  It has never been recorded how Andrew celebrated this wicket.  Marcin Zielenewski then walked out, also with no pads and Andrew on a hat-trick   Had Marcin been out, this Moment would probably have been No. 1 but the former Nomad made no mistake. 4 runs to win a match which shouldn't have been memorable, but was.

11) - I wasn't playing in this game v Wimbledon United in May 2013 but arrived at 3 pm with the tea to find that Mahesh was keeping wicket, original keeper John was rubbing his leg vigorously behind some trees, and Andrew West, who had also not been down to play, was charging around the boundary rope, clad in purple, making sensational boundary-saving stops with every part of his body.  It turned out that John had broken his ankle (Emil still asked him to bat later) and I can only think that Andrew's brilliant fielding (which was the best ground-fielding I have seen him produce for the Nomads) was as a result of the emotion and concern he felt for his great friend.  Actually, Andrew's smartest piece of work was when he noticed a dog approaching the food which had been laid out at the edge of the pitch.  West sprinted 30 yards and the terrified mutt managed only to pouch 1 samosa and a packet of economy chicken slices before fleeing in terror.  West scared me himself that day.

STILL TO FOLLOW - Numbers 10 to 1.  If you are someone that feels concern for a man in pain, is worried about the disappearing rain forest and tree cover, and values the family ties that make Blood thicker than Water, then don't miss it.

25 Golden moments of West - Part One

Some cricketers are best remembered for swashbuckling innings or heroic rearguard actions; others for blistering pace bowling spells or remarkable deliveries; others for off-the-field incidents involving drink, drugs, night-club hostesses and match-fixing; others still for unsavoury scenes on the field of play; some even for hair (Ballard, Todorow) or incredible statistics (Todorow again).  There cannot be many players at any level of the game, however, who have packed such an incredible variety of incidents into a cricketing career as Nomads' very own headline-grabber Andrew West.  How can you condense such a career into just 25 Memorable Moments.  Well, we can only try.  Here are numbers 25 to 21.

25) - You never forget the first time you see a legendary sportsman in the flesh.  I saw George Best for the first time on New Years Day 1974.  He hardly touched the ball and he quit Manchester United later that week but I've never forgotten it.  In September 2007, Mark Bradshaw (then an Energy Exiles player) saw Andrew West for the first time and described it approximately thus in his match report; "An older chap turned up, late, on his bicycle and proceeded to trundle down 7 overs of reasonably accurate Medium Pace but then, his work done, he trundled off to Square Leg and spent the rest of the innings chuntering about anything and everything."  This somehow encapsulated Andrew on one of his uneventful days - but there weren't many of those.

24) - At Mayow Park, in June 2013, Caribbean Mix batsmen gave us an absolute hammering, belting the ball all over this most depressing of venues.  Nomads' fielders showed good attitude and attempted to do whatever was necessary to stop the ball.  Andrew West even used his testicles and saved 2 (runs, that is).  That was a nasty enough injury but, an over or 2 later, he got under a skied shot and the crack of bone echoed around the park.  We did offer to get him to hospital but he refused.  Trouper that he is, he even stayed on to umpire and so shared in the glory of a freak draw that torrential rain granted us.  It turned out later he had broken his finger in 2 places.  Luckily, he didn't use this finger while umpiring (few Nomads' umpires ever do.)

23) - This should really be higher but I only just remembered it.  The only known film of Nomads in action was taken by the opposition when we played Old Leagonians at John Ruskin Sports Ground in Croydon in September 2011.  I think it is still available on You Tube (If you put in the words Clapham Nomads You Tube on a google search, you should find it.)  The film has it all; a classic Run Out from Abdul, Hassan and Emil bowling, rare footage of former Nomads players such as Chris Kee but, best of all, it has Andrew chasing a straight drive on a slow outfield but slightly downhill.  He puts everything into the chase and it looks all the way as if he is going to prevent 4 but the ball just picks up pace and crawls over the rope leaving Andrew gesticulating and mouthing; "****ing B***ocks" right at the camera.  Brilliant Camerawork.  Eat your heart out, Spielberg.

22) - On 2/8/09, Andrew turned up at Abbey Rec for a match against Kingston Lefthanders in a skin-tight, figure hugging blue T-Shirt.  I think it impressed several of the opposition as it roughly matched the colour of the cans of Tennants Super some of them were drinking from.  Nomads scored 176 for 6 and skipper John Crossland controversially declared.  Lefthanders had recently brought in some new players though, and they started making a good fist of the run chase.  Crossland turned to West, who immediately began to peg back the batsman.  They looked at him in blue and probably thought they should hit him out of the park but they just couldn't - he was too accurate.  In one over, he appealed deafeningly for LBW on each of the first 4 balls.  I was fielding near the Lefthanders and they were chuntering like mad about this, even though the shouts looked fairly adjacent.  The 5th ball - another deafening shout from the bowler, more chuntering from the batting team, but then they noticed that the stumps were shattered and the bails were on the ground.  This was the turning point.  Andrew took 13-4-22-2 and we won the game in the final over.

21) - Another season, another team, another colour.  Nomads had 12, Touring Theatres had 8 and so Andrew, this time wearing purple, was loaned to the opposition for this game on 22/8/10 at Raynes Park.  Looking at the Theatres bowling line-up, Andrew was probably either their best or 2nd-best bowler on paper that day but things didn't go entirely to plan.  Well, they did for the Nomads.  Sumith, in one of his last games, took an absolutely massive liking to Andrew's bowling and raced to one of Nomads' fastest fifties.  Andrew's figures were 3-0-45-0.  I wasn't there that day but I have a hunch he wasn't the happiest of bunnies.

I'll post the Top 20 at the weekend.  It should have everything; laughter, a few tears, sporting drama, technology (mobile phones), fashion, wildlife and surgery (Orthopaedic Surgery and Tree Surgery.)

Andrew West - Statistics for Nomads

Since we are not totally sure whether Andrew will play for Nomads again, his friend and mentor, John Crossland, is preparing an appraisal of the Nomads career of this successful and controversial Medium Pacer.  I'm not sure if he has completed it yet but, since he asked me to do the stats, here they are;

Andrew West
Born - Approx 1960
Raised - In Clapham
Clapham Nomads debut - 26/6/94 v Tower Ravens at Wandsworth Park, SW15
Appearances for club - 88 (11th in all-time list)
Batting -  Innings 46; Not out 9; Runs 142; Highest Score 26; Average 3.84
Bowling - Wickets 116; Runs 2011; Best Bowling 5-20; Average 17.33
Catches - 2 (N.B. Some of the scorecards - about 20 - from the 1990s do not have catches listed, so it is likely he has taken more catches, probably 3 or 4.  He has also taken at least 2 catches against Nomads, fielding for the opposition.)
Personal bests;
Most runs in a season - 57 (1994)
Most wickets in a season - 20 (2002)
Best bowling analysis - 7-2-20-5 v Phoenix Epsom Liberal (30/8/09)
5 wickets in an innings - Once
Highest Score - 26 v Tower Ravens (26/6/94 - on debut.)
Club bests;
Top of Club Bowling Averages - 2005 (Average 6.40)

2015 Season - A report by John Crossland

A season to forget.  By far our worst.  We only won 4 games and 3 of those were in a 20-20 competition against very moderate opposition.  In the normal format of 35 or 40 over games, we only had 1 victory.  Teams we play have improved though, as I've said before.  They are going to beat us more often than we beat them.  Most of our defeats were by big margins as we were usually short of bowlers.  Hassan missed the majority of games with injury and Abbas and Sami didn't play that many games either.  Abbas wanted to bat higher - at least on occasions - but how do you keep everyone in a team happy?  Especially this team.!  We don't know if Abbas will play again, or Sami for that matter.  Only two of our bowlers, Todorow and Sami, took over 10 wickets.  Qasim, a new acquisition, looked a fairly decent bowler with good pace and bounce but he joined us quite late in the season.  Ollie Amos, another newcomer, looked promising as a batsman but was not committed and it's highly unlikely we'll see him again.  He probably had nothing better to do at the time!  Bilal, who only played in one 20-20 game for us, was a very impressive bowler but he was upset when the opposition complained about his action.  It looked OK to me.
In the batting, once again Mark Bradshaw was really solid and Riaz continues to improve.  Prasanth scored a brilliant 87 in our last match but he too missed a lot of games through injury.  Availability was a big problem for us last season, with injuries, people working, holidays and other reasons.  The worst blow was, of course, Hassan's absence. Another problem was that some players were below their best.
Let's hope it's not the same story for Nomads next season.  JC.

2015 report coming soon and statistical update

Next time I am passing a decent internet cafe I will post the report for the 2015 season written by Nomads' controversial and tough-talking wicket-keeper, John Crossland.  It is quite a good read.
Also, various statistical landmarks have been passed in the last few seasons.

Emil Todorow has now made a scarcely believable 228 successive appearances for the club and has played in over 300 games in all.

John Crossland and Nick Lefebve have passed 250 appearances.

Mahesh Vyas and Riaz Khan have passed the 100 appearance mark.

After a recount of old fixtures, Sumith Prasanna played in 100 games.

I have included a fixture against Battersea Spinners at Vine Road in 2003 where Nomads brought 14 men and lent 3 to the opposition.  This was a perfectly normal Sunday game on a decent pitch prepared by a high quality groundsman (well, alright.... prepared by Renato Philip.)  For some reason, it was decided afterwards that this would count as a practice match; but, since we have included 10-over-a-side matches and a game where we combined with Kingston Taxes, then I think the Spinners game should be included (and not just because I scored 32 not out and took my only wicketkeeping catch for the Nomads.)  Actually, the main beneficiaries are Sumith - who is now up to 100 appearances - and Chris Kennedy, whose 27 is now his top score for the club.

The 9 men who have 100 caps for the club are; Emil Todorow, John Crossland, Nick Lefebve, John Chance, Abdul Khan, Hassan Khan, Mahesh Vyas, Riaz Khan and Sumith Prasanna.

Chris Kennedy with 91 and Andrew West with 88 would make up the 11.

Other landmarks have been passed as well.  I will add them to this post soon.

Coming soon - Andrew West - A cricketing life

Regular readers of this blog - if there are any left - will be quite interested to hear that John Crossland has prepared an appraisal of the cricketing career of Nomads' controversial medium pacer.  This will appear on these pages soon, and I will add my own Golden Moments of West (surprisingly, I could only think of about 14 of them, but I'm sure other Nomads' players will be able to think of some I have forgotten.)
It was sad recently when Brian Close passed away and they printed that bittersweet photo of a semi-naked Close smiling wrily and covered with bruises.  It set me thinking about what a similar picture of Andrew would be like.  Instead of the semi-smile there might be an angry snarl and he would be mouthing something like; "F***ing Bo***cks." Also, the bruises would not have been inflicted by lifters from Wes Hall, Charlie Griffith or Michael Holding, but by freak pre-match catching practice injuries from throws by Emil, Nick or Raj.  The overall effect would be similar though - 2 charismatic cricketers who laughed in the face of pain and injury.

Player of the year etc / John's report / Annual Meeting

We will probably have our Annual Meeting in early December at either Namak Mandi or Mirgh Masala, both in Tooting.
Batsman of the Year must be Mark - well ahead on both runs scored and average.  Honourable mention to Riaz though, and Prasanth played the best individual innings with 87 against the Exiles. Hassan also had a good average.
Bowler of the Year is pretty interesting.  Abbas had the best average and took a decent amount of wickets but quit the club in May.  Sami was good as was Riaz, though Riaz didn't bowl that many overs.  Hassan impressed but missed a large chunk of the season.  Emil's average was not fantastic but was respectable in the context of our performances.  He got through a hell of a lot of work, was the top wicket-taker and it was his best year as a bowler for a while.
Fielder of the Year could have a number of contenders.  I'd have to go back through the reports before I stuck my neck out.
Main Player of the Year contenders would be, I would say, Mark and Riaz.

Sorry, I haven't posted John's report of the season here, for the valid reason that he hasn't written it yet - partly because he keeps going to Dartmoor on holiday and also because I still have the scorebook.  It promises to be interesting though and, when he does write it, I will post it on here along with all the other seasonal reports he has done, if I can get my hands on them.

Clapham Nomads Averages 2015

Nomads averages 2015.

Batting; (Qualification - 3 innings on 3 separate days.)

Mark Bradshaw - 394 runs @ 39.40
Riaz Khan  -  240 runs @ 34.29
Hassan Khan -  161 runs @ 32.20
Prasanth Pattiyil  -  165 runs @ 23.57
Gul  -  230 runs @ 19.17
Abdul Khan  -  148 runs @ 14.80
Darwin Gunawardena  - 101 runs @ 12.63
Imran  -  46 runs @ 11.50
Mahesh Vyas  -  99 runs @ 8.25
Nick Lefebve  -  45 runs @ 7.50
Emil Todorow  -  37 runs @ 7.40
Sami  -  24 runs @ 6.00
Hamid  -  16 runs @ 5.33
Abbas Khan  -  8 runs @ 4.00
John Crossland  -  4 runs @ 4.00
Qasim  -  9 runs @ 3.00

Bowling; (Qualification - 4 wickets)

Abbas Khan  -  9 wickets @ 13.44
Ollie Amos  -  5 wickets @ 17.80
Riaz Khan  -  9 wickets @ 18.67
Hassan Khan  -  7 wickets @ 21.43
Sami  -  11 wickets @ 23.91
Imran  -  4 wickets @ 24.50
Qasim  - 4 wickets @ 24.50
Emil Todorow  -  14 wickets @ 28.93
Gul  -  5 wickets @ 31.20
Abdul Khan  -  8 wickets @ 48.25

Fielding; (Qualification - 3 catches)

5 -  Abdul Khan
4 -  John Crossland (all as wicketkeeper),  Riaz Khan
3 -  Hassan Khan, Mark Bradshaw, Mahesh Vyas, Ollie Amos.

There were no stumpings.

Energy Exiles etc.

Belated congratulations to Chris Plume and his all-conquering Energy Exiles side on recording their highest-ever number of victories - 15 - in a season.  I think Nomads' best is about twelve. 2015 was not Nomads' best season but at least we played our part in the Exiles achieving this feat.  Having looked through their list of wins, I would say that they had 4 victories more convincing than their triumph over Nomads in August, whereas our game in September was probably their 6th-most difficult win.  A bit of a sad stat, I know, but it shows that they are crushing some other teams even more resoundingly than us.
They have re-built incredibly well from a point a couple of years ago when things seemed fairly even between the sides, and a period of several years before that when Exiles had an edge but would tend to grind out incredibly gruelling and tense wins over us; usually in the final over.
Getting back to our match in September, I mentioned that there was incident and anecdote but there was nothing major really.  We had a very polite discussion in the pub about an LBW appeal that one of our umpires had turned down (You're shocked, I can tell) but apart from that the only strange moment came at the end of our innings when 2 wickets fell on the 4th and 5th balls of the final over, leaving No. 11 John Crossland to drop his scorebook hurriedly and scramble for his pads.  Some of the Exiles fielders and - oddly - one of our umpires felt that it wasn't worth John coming in or that he should be timed out (In fact I think John did just about make it to the middle within the required time - 2 or 3 minutes or whatever....who's counting in Sunday cricket?)  One Exile who certainly wasn't joining in the calls for John not to come out was Andy Wingfield - he was on a hat-trick.
I knew John would charge down the pitch and notch a "potentially crucial" run or leg bye and that is what happened.  In John's own words; "I came down the pitch and squirted it to leg.....and the ball as well."
As I am feeling masochistic, here is the overall record between Nomads and Exiles. (Cheekily, I am including the Exiles' 1 wicket win v Open University in July 1998, not just because I took 5 wickets believe it or not, but also because it was virtually a Nomads line-up with few or no Hunters - though bizarrely a Nomads regular was wearing Dave's trousers.)

Played 26
Nomads wins 8
Draws 2
Exiles wins 16

Still to come on this blog

Please don't give up reading this blog just because the season is over.  Still to come is more detail on some of the matches played, especially the Exiles v Nomads match last Sunday (13/9), the averages and nominations for Player of the Year, details of the Annual Meeting (hopefully at the Namak Mandi in December), John Crossland's report on the 2015 season - it might not be for the faint-hearted; and various other bits of self-indulgent waffle.  I bet you can't wait.
But anyway, thanks to everyone that has turned out for the Nomads (or read this blog) this season.

Nick

Energy Exiles v Clapham Nomads - 13/9/15

A reasonable performance again from Nomads - a vast improvement on the previous match against Exiles 4 weeks ago.  After a shaky start, the foundation (and most of the bricks and mortar) of our knock was a  fantastic 87 (his best score for Nomads) from Prasanth Pattiyil who succeeded in dominating the bowling, picking out On-Side shots at will, rattling the bowling side slightly and - most stunningly - hitting Simon Gundry out of the attack with 14 off an over.  I don't think this has ever happened to Gundry - a fine and formidable opponent - before in a Nomads match.
Prasanth received decent support from Riaz (a restrained, lengthy 5), Abdul (19) and Imran (20).  With 3 overs to go, Nomads were on 152 for 5 and Prasanth was in the mid 80s - just about in reach of his Maiden Century for the club.  Sadly Prasanth fell for 87 and, despite the luxury of having Hassan come in at No. 8, Nomads subsided to 157 for 9 at the close.
To be honest, this was never likely to be quite enough against an Exiles side who bat just about all the way down.  Openers Chris Plume and Steve Parkinson survived a slightly sketchy start and soon looked in controlled command.  Ominously so, and it was something of a surprise when Riaz bowled Plume with the score on around 40.  Exiles were in control throughout, however.  Probably the best batting came when John Tither joined Parkinson (who ended up with a classy half-century) and the pair picked out 1s and 2s at will against the deep-ish field.
Very decent Nomads bowling and fielding, featuring a speedy spell from Qasim (who also took a brilliant Caught and Bowled), ensured that the home side had to work just a little and, with a few late wickets, there was just a point with Exiles needing 3.5 to 4 an over from 5 or 6 overs and the light alternating between gloomy murk and blinding horizontal sunshine, when we might have thought "hang on."  At No. 7, though, Exiles had in Simon Gundry a batsman who I'm told has scored around 250 runs this season without being out.  He wasted little time in wrapping up the victory with 2.4 overs to spare.
Still, Nomads by no means disgraced themselves and it was not the worst end to a disappointing season.  I WILL FLESH OUT THIS REPORT WITH INCIDENT AND ANECDOTE SOON.  Of course there was some; it was an Exiles/Nomads match.



Clapham Nomads  157 for 9 from 35 overs

Mahesh Vyas  4
Prasanth Pattiyil  87
Gul  0
Riaz Khan  5
Abdul Khan  19
Qasim  1
Imran  20
Hassan Khan  4
Nick Lefebve  1 not out
Emil Todorow  0
John Crossland  1 not out 
F.O.W. - 14, 14, 40, 72, 83, 152, 153, 156, 156

Energy Exiles  159 for 5 from 32.2 overs

Nomads' bowling;
Abdul Khan  7-0-38-0
Emil Todorow  4-0-21-0
Hassan Khan  7-0-35-1
Riaz Khan  7-0-31-2
Qasim  7-1-27-2
Gul  0.2-0-7-0

Nomads lost by 5 wickets

Man of the Match - Prasanth Pattiyil
Fielder of the Day - Qasim

Long Ditton v Clapham Nomads - 6/9/15

Nomads' bowlers avoided the battering they have been receiving in recent weeks with a very decent performance to restrict a young Long Ditton side to 141 for 9 from 35 overs.
Emil and Abdul bowled very tidily to set the tone.  The score was only 65 at the 20 over drinks break.  The later highlight was a "Ball of the Century" wicket from a Hassan leg spinner.  The other bowlers; Qasim, Gul and Imran turned in useful performances as well.  Fielding was good - it felt like a respite for fielders still shell-shocked after the previous 3 games.  Mahesh took the best catch with Hamid chipping in with a juggling effort.  Hamid also engineered a run out.  Ditton closed on 141 for 9 after some late acceleration.
Prasanth took 10 off the second over with some powerful leg side shots but a quiet spell followed, as did a few wickets.  We were very pleased to welcome Hassan back to our line-up and he obliged with a fine 49. At one stage we were 91 for 3 and ahead of the rate but, of the middle order, only Imran delivered and a rash of sloppy shots reduced us to around 105 for 9 with Nick Lefebve and John Crossland at the crease.  Both men managed to hit it past the absurdly close field but a misjudged pull from Lefebve ended our innings on 111 with about 5 overs unused.
A disappointing defeat in a game in which we had the edge for long periods but still an improvement on recent weeks.
There were a couple of things about this match that left a slightly sour taste in the mouth.  I will flesh out the report in the next week or so.

Long Ditton  141 for 9 from 35 overs

Nomads' bowling;
A. Khan  5-0-16-1
Todorow  7-1-22-1
Qasim  7-0-23-2
Gul  5-0-26-2
H. Khan  6-0-25-2
Imran  5-0-28-1

Clapham Nomads  111 from 30.2 overs

M. Vyas  16
Pattiyil  11
Hamid  1
H. Khan  49
Imran  15
Gul  0
Qasim  0
A. Khan  0
Lefebve  4
Todorow  2
Crossland  2 not out

F.O.W. - 23, 25, 62, 91, 100, 100, 100, 101, 108, 111

Man of the Match was Hassan
Fielder of the Day - Mahesh and Hamid come under consideration but a clean sheet (no byes) from keeper John Crossland wins him the award.

Clapham Nomads lost by 30 runs.

Barnes Occasionals v Clapham Nomads - 23/8/15

The forecast was not great and we arrived at Occasionals' rain-lashed Ham Street home and commenced negotiations under a tree.  The two captains eventually braved it out onto the track - not too bad but likely to become slippery and dangerous soon - and the inevitable decision was made to call it off.  Just as ignition keys were being turned for the homeward journey by our non-drinkers, a white strip appeared in the west of the sterile grey sky.  When we emerged from the pub after an hour and a half, it was to a quite gorgeous late summer afternoon with a cricket match in full flow at the other end of Ham Common.
All the way home, the usual sounds of summer were complemented by the vague tap of leather on willow, the murmur of sledging and distant, strangled cries of "How was he?"
Possibly a shame as, with Hassan back from injury, Nomads' attack just a touch stronger than in recent weeks and with Barnes missing our usual nemeses Roger Price and Keith Seed, something quite nice just might conceivably have happened.

Clapham Nomads v Energy Exiles - 16/8/15

Cottenham Park was the setting on Sunday for one of the season's highlights; another Auld Firm Derby or El Clasico against the Energy Exiles.  Nomads were worryingly short of bowling strength, especially after the non-selection of one of our longer-standing and most controversial bowlers - see last week's report re The Mobile Phone Incident.  In connection with last week's events, there were rumours circulating that a lone gunman would be stalking Cottenham Park, taking potshots at Nomads players - had this been this case he would surely have been brought on to bowl.  However, he didn't show - something to do with non-availability of second-hand golf balls in this part of Merton perhaps.
Skipper Emil Todorow had done well to announce a full team on Saturday night and, as 12th Man / Teaboy recovering from Night Shift, I arrived at 3.30 to find the Exiles on an imposing, though not apocalyptic, 157 in the 26th over.  Only 1 wicket had fallen though and, had I known how this was going to fall, I would have set my alarm clock earlier.  Emil Todorow had struck with one of his sadly increasingly rare Remarkable Deliveries which kick up to neck height at Slow-Medium off a good length.  Few batsmen survive one of these and, if they do, they invariably struggle on as broken men; their technique shattered.
Exiles were far from shattered however.  The ultra-consistent Drew Scott-Dawkins dominated early proceedings with 81.  Craig Williams made 75.  In the last 10 overs, the Away side cut loose at above 10 an over.  A quick 38 from John Tither, who loves this ground on which he once scored 140, was the highlight late on.  I only realised with 4 overs to go that Nomads were a man short but frankly I don't think an extra pair of 50-something legs would have made much difference.  Nomads did manage 2 further wickets.  Our notable bits were a good catch by Abdul and a boundary-saving stop by Emil, using his kneecap.  Only the harshest of critics would suggest that this was, in fact, a thunderbolt Caught and Bowled chance.  Hopefully Emil is fine.  I'm sure he won't miss a match for something like that, even if he has to bring his kneecap in his kit bag next week.
Exiles closed on 259 for 3 off the full 35.  Their highest score against Nomads and in the top 5 of opposition scores against us.  They had hard hitters most of the way down their order and, had they kicked on even more, they could certainly have passed our highest conceded total of 275.  280 for 7 was mentioned as a possibility in their report.
Having Abdul at 8 indicated we had a decent batting line-up but we were missing Hassan and Riaz, our fastest-scoring middle order players, so scoring at 7.4 an over against a high-class Energy strikeforce was going to be somewhere between tough and impossible.
In the event, we kept up our reasonable batting form of recent weeks.  Mark Bradshaw starred with an excellent 58, his second-highest in his 8 or 9 games for Clapham against his old club.  He made 80 not out in 2009 but I actually think his batting was even better on Sunday than in the game 6 years ago, and against better bowling this time.  Exiles put a special Bradshaw fielder in place (I won't say where this was in case any future opponents are reading this) and without that fielder he would probably have been up in the mid 70s.
Gul also batted well to share an opening stand with Mark of around 50.  Our objectives were really a) To survive the the 35 overs and b) Hopefully to get within 100 runs of Exiles.  From the first point of view, Mahesh and Prasanth both used up valuable time early on against excellent bowling.
There were some memorable bits of cricket in this match; admittedly mostly from the Exiles but enough from Nomads to make our afternoon worthwhile.  Emil's wicket obviously, but also a cracking 10 by Gul off an over from Jibs, who responded with the fastest ball of the day, taken by keeper Chris Plume on the rise at head height, and then possibly the ball of the innings to clip Gul's bail.
A rival for ball of the innings was a clever slower ball from Simon Gundry.  The big paceman dropped 5 mph and lured Darwin, who was looking set for a big score, into getting under the ball and conceding a catch.
Best moment of all was a quick one from Gundry just outside off which Bradshaw punched out for what seemed a certain 4 until Andy Wingfield, at Point, dived full length to parry the ball and restrict our boys to a quick single.
As ever, Cottenham was pretty decent to bat on, helped by short-ish boundaries on 3 sides, but it always gives the bowlers a hand too.  Exiles' opener Terence Moynihan hit Gul early on with a genuine bouncer.  Andy Wingfield, despited his professed dislike of bowling on this ground, returned fine figures of 1 for 9 off 6 overs.  Simon Gundry inevitably chipped in with 3 wickets.  The other bowlers were a handful too.  Phil Ling has speeded up, while not swinging it quite as much, and used the pitch dangerously at times.  Marcin Zielenewski used to be military medium, very accurate, but now has more of a box of tricks, tending to swerve it into the right-hander but jagging the odd Leg-Cutter away.  He could be a potential Naren Patel in the making or even someone else (after one particularly deceptive ball, Mark, at Square Leg Umpire called out; "Did you learn that one from Emil, Martin?")
Nomads innings tailed offf a bit - a cracking straight 4 from Abdul was a late highlight - and Nick Lefebve and Emil Todorow found themselves together at 125 for 8 with 3 overs to go.  There was a groundswell of opinion from the fielding side they would rather see No. 11 John Crossland bat but, boringly, the 2 veterans put Nomads' disintegrating self-respect - and their averages - ahead of entertainment and blocked it out to close on 127 for 8.
This was actually a type of total that Nomads recorded many times against Exiles in the past and it often ensured a close game - usually one of Exiles' famous last-over victories or, occasionally, a narrow Nomads win. However, this Exiles side has really cranked up a gear in the last 2 seasons.  We did mention in the pub afterwards that at least we had lasted out the overs against their strongest possible bowling line-up, but it then emerged that their top wicket-taker this season had not been given a bowl.  Oh dear.  Anyway, Simon Gundry did acknowledge that this was one of Exiles' strongest-ever line-ups and would have beaten just about any of the teams they play regularly.  However, for the return fixture in September, I think we will beef things up a bit and I have already selected the following team made up of present and past Nomads players.


Mark Bradshaw (Clapham Nomads) - joint-captain
Ben Fewson (Clapham Nomads and Yorkshire Under 19s) - wicket-keeper
Gaurang Vyas (Clapham Nomads)
Hassan Khan (Clapham Nomads, league cricket) - joint-captain
John Chance (Clapham Nomads, Bec Old Boys, Open University)
Wally Murdoch (Clapham Nomads, Sydney Grade cricket)
Riaz Khan (Clapham Nomads)
Rafi (Clapham Nomads, Merton, League cricket, Rafi cc of Lahore)
Patrick Blair (Clapham Nomads, Jamaican Parishes cricket)
Trent Copeland (Clapham Nomads, New South Wales and Australia)
Shailesh Bhatia (Clapham Nomads)

12th Man - Andrew West (Clapham Nomads, Mitcham Golf Course cc)

Joint Team Managers - Emil Todorow and Dave Hunter.

Only joking, regular players.  We will be putting out the same line-up as usual.  Book now to avoid disappointment.

P.S. - A measure of Exiles' dominance was the complete lack of Maiden Overs in Nomads' bowling stint.  I cannot remember this happening to us before in a 35 over game.

John Crossland was on form with his scorebook comment; "A real close finish!  Only 133 needed off the last over."

Energy Exiles 259 for 3 from 35 overs

Nomads' bowling;
A. Khan  7-0-41-0
Todorow  7-0-33-2
Gul  7-0-50-0
Qasim  7-0-48-0
Hamid  3-0-34-0
Pattiyil  3-0-35-1
Gunawardena  1-0-11-0


Clapham Nomads 127 for 8 from 35 overs

Bradshaw  58
Gul  16
M. Vyas  1
Pattiyil  4
Gunawardena  18
Qasim  8
Hamid  6
A. Khan  4
Lefebve  0 not out
Todorow  0 not out
Did not bat;  Crossland.
F.O.W. - 46, 59, 70, 98, 106, 119, 119, 124

Nomads lost by 132 runs.

Man of the Match - Mark Bradshaw
Fielder of the Day - Abdul Khan

Surbiton Imperials v Clapham Nomads 9/8/15

Surbiton ran out comfortable winners against a Nomads side a bit light on bowling strength at Colets in Thames Ditton last Sunday.
The home side chalked up 234 with Siddik top-scoring with 80.  Imperials skipper, the hard-hitting Leicester City fan Jonny also played a vital hand as opener with an unusually careful, for him, 40-odd.  This was potentially a vital innings as there were rumours going round that Surbiton had a long-ish tail.  Sadly, we never really got to find out whether this was true.  The main bowlers, Emil, Andrew and Abdul did OK while the star of the change bowlers was the 14-year-old Musa who did a fine job with 2 wickets on his debut.
Missing Riaz and Hassan, 236 was a big ask but Mark Bradshaw immediately showed he was on song with a cracking, trademark Square Cut for 4 off the useful Jimmy George.  Mark went on to accrue an impressive 66 not out, one of his best innings since he returned to the club, and didn't give the bowlers a sniff until the final over.  He basically held our batting together though there were some other useful contributions from Gul and Abdul and the lower order did an improved job compared to the previous week.
I will give more detail once I have the scores, but that might be a while as I am in the doghouse with Club Scorer John Crossland as I forgot to bring the scorebook and he had to keep score on various bits of paper (happily not Andrex as has been suggested to him on previous similar occasions.)
Regular readers of this blog - if there are any - will be shocked to the core to hear that controversy once again reared its head at a Nomads match.  This came in the form of the Mobile Phone Incident.  A tense stand-off involving one of Nomads' most vocal players (clue - he is a big-boned Medium Pace Bowler.)  Some people described this as Handbags at 10 Paces.  Hmm... possibly true if the handbags contained baseball bats.  Seriously though, no blows were struck though the air did turn quite blue with the C-Bomb being uttered a quite remarkable number of times.  I don't know what the respectable residents of Thames Ditton - probably more used to refined discussions about Leylandii and why the Conservative Government is so left-wing - made of it all.
Anyway, Nomads continued their reasonable batting form with a total of 170 for 6, rounded off with a sumptuous On-Drive from Emil in the final over.
It was good to welcome Prasanth back from injury and he marked his return with a fine running catch.  Possibly an even better catch was taken by Darwin, who got through a lot of good work in the field and wins Fielder of the Day.  Man of the Match was Mark for his high-class knock.
Oh well, at least the next match should see a break from all this controversy.  Who are we playing?  Oh, the Energy Exiles.  Ah.........




Surbiton Imperials 234 for 6 from 35 overs

Nomads' bowling
A. Khan  7-0-41-2
West  7-1-30-0
Todorow  7-0-38-0
Gunawardena  7-0-66-0
Musa  4-0-33-2
Gul  2-0-17-2
Pattiyil  1-0-7-0


Clapham Nomads 170 for 6 from 35 overs

Bradshaw  66 not out
Gul  27
M. Vyas  0
Pattiyil  4
Gunawardena  6
A. Khan  20
Lefebve  14
Todorow  5 not out
Did not bat; Crossland, Musa, West
F.O.W. - 58, 59, 65, 76, 128, 161


Nomads lost by 64 runs.

Clapham Nomads v Burgh Heath - 2/8/15

Nomads lost a gruelling, run-packed match by 52 against Burgh Heath at Raynes Park on Sunday.

The visitors completely dominated early on with their openers racking up a 1st wicket stand of over 150.  Nomads came right back into it with 9 wickets in the last 15 overs but never really pegged back the scoreboard completely and the Surrey side closed on a daunting 251 for 9 off 35 overs.

Nomads, led by Mark Bradshaw with 47 and Riaz with (?) his best-ever Nomads score of 57 - an exhilarating innings made a very decent fist of the reply and were 157 for 2 at one stage and, shortly after this, needed around 7.5 an over with a fair bit of batting to come.  However, the fading light, less than brilliant batting late on and an astonishing spell of 5-0-17-7 (possible the best figures recorded against the Nomads) from Off-Spinner Hasan reduced us to 198 all out

Full report to follow.

Burgh Heath  251 for 9 from 35 overs.

Nomads' bowling

Sami  7-0-60-0
Abdul Khan  7-1-35-0
E. Todorow  7-0-54-2
O. Amos  6-0-60-4
R. Khan  7-0-29-3
D. Gunawardena  1-0-9-0

Clapham Nomads  198 all out from 32.1 overs

M. Bradshaw  47
Gul  10
O. Amos  13
R. Khan  57
M. Vyas  7
D. Gunawardena  4
Abdul Khan  7
N. Lefebve  0
Sami  4 not out
E. Todorow  0
J. Crossland  0

F. O. W. - 40, 75, 157, 173, 180, 181, 181, 191, 198, 198

Nomads lost by 51 runs

Man of the Match  - Riaz Khan
Fielder of the Day (highlight was a diving catch) - Mark Bradshaw

Epsom 20-20 Championship Two - 12/7/15

After our mid-summer break it was back down to Epsom cc last Sunday to defend our 20-20 title.

We were second game up.  The curtain raiser saw RS Casuals grind out a 30-odd run win over our old friends the Old Leagonians.  125 to approx 95.  This game almost went the distance, so we were not on until after 4, making 3 full T20 games an unlikely proposition.  It was agreed we would have a 10 over a side thrash against the Leagonians followed by one for the purists, a 15 over a side war of attrition against the Casuals.

Hard hit again by Ramadan, holidays, injuries, family issues etc, Skipper Todorow had done well to assemble a passable squad including new men Oli Amos and Jon Roberts who looked impressive as we limbered up in the pre-match nets.

Nomads had only 2 men who had bowled in a competitive match this season and Todorow turned to them (himself and Andrew West) to bowl the first 4 overs in an attempt to exert early pressure.  An early wicket for the skipper seemed to underline the wisdom of this plan but then Richard Teasdale began the fightback for the Epsom-based side with a series of leg-side blows.  Fortunately he was brilliantly caught on the Mid-Wicket boundary by Jon Roberts before too much damage had been done.

The scoring rate settled at around 7 or 8 an over but a wicket or two ensured this was a tense contest.  Nomads' next champagne moment in the field was a well-judged catch by Mark Bradshaw at Mid-Off off the bowling of the temperamental but accurate Amateur Golfer West which helped to keep the scoring rate - and the swearing rate - to manageable proportions.

Leagonians had one particularly hard-hitting batsmen but Oli Amos and Jon Roberts kept things reasonably tight in the main, allowing him only one really big over.  Nick Lefebve was the 5th bowler and managed to confuse the batsmen with his low left arm before the star man managed to strike a few blows, ensuring the Left-armer went for 19 off his 2 - only just above the average for the innings.

Leagonians closed on 87 for 4 off their 10.

Nomads batting line-up had an uncertain look to it, with only Mark Bradshaw and Mahesh Vyas being established top order players with recent experience.  Neither Amos nor Roberts had played competitively for at least 4 years.

Disaster struck with Vyas playing on early and then Bradshaw, after 2 or 3 nice off-side boundaries, adjudged Leg Before.  The score was 29 for 2 when Oli and Jon came together but the pair immediately looked more than capable.  Oli perhaps the more correct of the 2 with some fine Cover Drives with Jon, perhaps the harder hitter, taking full advantage of anything loose, especially overpitched.

An exhilarating stand of 51 followed before Roberts fell for 22.  This brought Lefebve in with 8 needed for victory off 9 balls.  Fortunately, a short one down leg side was turned for 4 and then a leg bye brought Amos back on strike.  The debutant made no mistake, finding the Mid Wicket boundary, to leave himself on 34 not out and secure the victory with a full over to spare.

Old Leagonians 87 for 4 from 10 overs

Nomads' bowling

Todorow  2-0-13-2
West  2-0-14-1
Amos  2-0-11-1
Lefebve  2-0-19-0
Roberts  2-0-29-0

Clapham Nomads 88 for 3 (Amos 34 not out)

Bradshaw  12
Vyas   1
Amos  34 not out
Roberts  22
Lefebve   4 not out

F.O.W. - 18, 29, 80



Nomads won by 7 wickets.

Man of the Match - Oli Amos
Fielder of the Match - Jon Roberts.

Nomads kept the same order for the 15-over-a-side decider against RS Casuals; a talented and friendly Sutton-based side. 

Mark Bradshaw and Mahesh Vyas made a very decent start with Vyas finding the boundary with a series of leg-side pulls against anything short.  I had to leave with the score on around 40 for 0 off 6 overs.

We were never really able to cut loose against a disciplined bowling attack - a couple of wickets in the second half of the innings slowed us down as well - and we finished on 79 for 2, a rate of only just over 5 per over.

Casuals eventually ran out comfortable winners by 9 wickets, with almost 5 overs to spare, despite excellent Nomads fielding.  The highlight was a wicket for Andrew West which apparently was met with a memorable celebration from the big man. which gives him, tentatively, the Man of the Match title for this game.

Clapham Nomads  79 for 2 from 15 overs

Bradshaw  31 not out
Vyas  17
Roberts  14
Amos  not out 5

F.O.W. - 46, 72

RS Casuals  81 for 1 from 10.2 overs

Nomads' bowling

Todorow  3-0-15-0
Amos  3-0-18-0
Roberts  2.2-0-30-0
West  2-0-21-1

Nomads lost by 9 wickets

Man of the Match - Andrew West (his wicket saved us from a record-breaking 10 wicket defeat.)

So Nomads lost our crown but it was another enjoyable day and thanks again to Richard and the Leagonians for organising it.

FINAL TABLE
1. RS Casuals -  Played 2 Won 2 Points 4
2. Clapham Nomads - Played 2 Won 1 Points 2
3. Old Leagonians - Played 2 Won 0 Points 0

Man of the Tournament etc to be decided, and I will enter all the scores here when I get the book back.

UPDATE...Man of the Tournament was Oli Amos for a fine all-round performance to clinch victory in the first game.  He did nothing wrong in the second game either.

Top scorer overall was, as as in the previous tournament, Mark Bradshaw. 

Clapham Nomads v Wimbledon United - 7/6/15

We were massively hit by injury and withdrawals from this game - not making excuses (honestly) - and Skipper Todorow did well to raise 10.  Some of the guys then put a call out to their friend Mohib who turned up later.  In fact, it was a 12-a-side game which had been suggested by United earlier in the week but, technophobe that I am, I had missed the email.  The away side had an extra man and it was agreed that they would lend us a fielder and one of our men could bat twice.
Due to uncertainties about our depleted batting line-up, Todorow inserted Wimbledon and received an early-ish reward with Imran making the breakthrough with the score around 30.  The scoring rate was decent but Nomads struck again when the skipper hit the stumps with an "Overpitched Yorker."  The batsman said he had been playing almost entirely on the leg side and was confused because Todorow set him a 7-3 Off Side field and tried to work the crafty interpreter to leg.  Anyway, 50 for 2.  Game in the Balance.
Well, that was about as good as it got.  A magnificent partnership of over 150 led by Alex made for a tough afternoon in the heat for Nomads' fielders.  Easily the best fielder on display was United's Dave Hitchman who got through loads of work for us and was one of the few fielders to whom the Dons did not run 1s and 2s at will.  As in the last game, punishment was fairly even, with Sami, Emil and Riaz probably the pick of the bowlers. Mohib went for 25 off his 2 but I thought he bowled reasonably well.  There was one brief quiet spell towards the end of the innings with Riaz and Emil bowling but that turned out to be Alex's nervous nineties and the batsman soon notched up his first century for the club.  As if Wimbledon don't have enough top quality batting options anyway what with Dave Hitchman and Sameer (who was not playing in this game but had made 160 the previous week.)  Nomads' bowlers stuck to the task but the fielding was not great with numerous groundfielding errors.  Darwin and Abdul (despite a shoulder injury) were 2 of the better fielders.  2 late wickets including a smart catch by wicket-keeper John Crossland off Darwin saw the innings close on 223 for 4 off the full 35.
Nomads were missing 4 men who were our regular Top 4 last season; Mark, Mahesh, Prasanth and Hassan.  A lot was going to depend on Gul, Riaz and Darwin.  Still, we had to be positive and Mohib was also highly spoken of.  Anyway, we all know that Joseph Hood in High Summer is a batsman's paradise.........
.......Or is it?  After 6.1 overs, Nomads were 16 for 4 with Peter Brown, "The Southfields Express", cutting a swathe through us and Nomads frankly looking odds-on to break a long-standing record (our all-time low innings total of 39.)  Sound play by Abdul and Hamid took us past this first target before Hamid was caught.  40 for 5.  Abdul and Nick Lefebve then put on 47 to restore some respectability with the veteran blocker leaving anything outside off, prodding out anything on the stumps and having a wild and usually unsuccessful swish at anything outside leg.  This succeeded in boring the spectators, frustrating the bowlers and contributing 4 to the partnership while Abdul hit some nice 4s off the slow-medium Samir who tended to overpitch.  Unfortunately the win was now beyond us. The 50 stand was prevented when Abdul was bowled by Dean for a fine 43.  With Riaz being, by popular choice, the man who would bat again, the remaining batsman started to go for their shots.  Sami made a cameo 12 with 2 nice leg-side boundaries, Lefebve and Imran were bowled slogging and then Emil played nicely for a quick 12.  Riaz returned and gave us what we wanted to see with a towering 6 over mid-wicket to take the deficit below 100 just before we ran out of overs.
Despite (as Old Leagonians would say) having our pants pulled down for the first time this season, this was an enjoyable afternoon as games against Wimbledon United usually are.  They are a very talented side and we have done well to beat them twice (and to be a only a fingertip away from a third win) since May 2013.
Man of the Match was Abdul; by far the bast batting and he fielded OK despite injury.  I will give Fielder of the Day to John Crossland who conceded few if any byes after about the fifth over and took our only catch.
Quote of the Day - "Some of our batsman are like cups of tea.  They are OK while they last, but they don't last long." - Who else but John Crossland ?

Wimbledon United 223 for 4 from 35 overs (Alex 104)

Nomads' bowling

Sami  7-0-29-0
Imran  7-0-48-1
E. Todorow  7-0-28-1
Abdul Khan  7-0-49-0
Mohib  2-0-25-0
R. Khan  4-0-30-1
D. Gunawardena  1-0-5-1

Clapham Nomads  129 for 10 from 35 overs - (12-a-side match)

Gul  b Brown  6

R. Khan  caught  ?  b Brown 9
D. Gunawardena  b Brown 0
Mohib lbw Rowan 0
Hamid  caught ?  b Rowan  9
Abdul Khan  b Dean  43
N. Lefebve  b Martin  8
Sami  caught ? b Hasan 12
Imran  b Martin  4
E. Todorow  b Martin  12
J. Crossland  not out 0
R. Khan (extra innings)  not out 12

F.O.W. - 15, 15, 16, 16, 40, 87, 100, 106, 111, 117

Nomads lost by 94 runs.
  

Clapham Nomads v Barnes Occasionals - 31/5/15

Nomads just lost out by 18 runs to Barnes Occasionals in a very entertaining match at Abbey Rec.  This was notable for a fantastic six-hitting, car roof-crunching half-century off approximately 26 balls from Riaz, an early morning dash back from Spain by Ollie Hogg of the Occasionals, who was not playing but was understandably anxious to get a glimpse of this very watchable Nomads side, and most importantly, the seasonal re-appearance of the charismatic Mr Andrew West.
Chasing 186 off 30 (Roger Price had top-scored for the visitors with 70-odd), we were at one stage (with Riaz in control) 77 for 1 off  7 and a half overs. Riaz received able support from Mark, who was unluckily out played on to a thick inside edge, and Gul who scored 53 at a rather steadier pace than Riaz.)  However the middle order lost its way somewhat, especially against the very tricky Keith Seed who went for only 3.7 per over and the late men had a bit too much to do, with 19 needed off the last 2 overs.
Man of the Match was Riaz.  Fielder of the Day was Mahesh who produced one of his stunning, full-length diving, fingertip slip catches.  FULL REPORT TO FOLLOW.

REPORT .... Nomads were only able to raise 9 players who could do the full shift and 2 who could play part of the game.  I was one of the 2 and I emerged from a hole in the Abbey Rec hedge just after 3 pm together with Andrew West (who was late) just in time to see Occasionals' batting star Roger Price despatching Emil Todorow over the mid-wicket boundary for 6.  This kind of set the tone for the rest of the innings and Price went on to score a pretty rapid 70-odd, with Nomads dropping him - possible crucially - at least twice.
Barnes kept up a consistent rate of above 6 an over with punishment being shared out fairly evenly.  Our highlight was the seasonal debut of West, an increasingly charismatic figure and one of the few Nomads the public would pay to see, should we ever start selling tickets to our games.  The big man was not quite at his best, having not bowled for some time, and went for almost 10 an over but showed a mature attitude by bagging a wicket and only threatening to retire once.
A direct hit run out from Abdul ("The throwmaster") was another bright spot but Barnes, who have started to develop a youth policy with positive results, posted an imposing 185 for 6 at the close. Abdul and new man Imran shared equally the other 4 wickets.
Someone said the pitch was slow (and in fact on the next-door pitch, Nursery Road, Energy Exiles' Keith Roberts made 12 from 66 balls) but our track was anything but sluggish and Nomads openers Mark Bradshaw and Riaz Khan fairly burst out of the traps and we had already reached 49 in the 6th over when Bradshaw was most unluckily out played on to a thick inside edge.  The bowler was Dan Hogg (another of the famous dynasty - (? nephew of Ollie and son of Adam) who impressed with good pace and hostility bowling left-arm round.  He hit No. 3 Gul in the collar-bone with a lifter early in Gul's innings.  At the other end was Tom Hooker who bowled straight enough but for some reason Riaz just took an absolute shine to him and dispatched him for two sixes off his second over and a brutal 22, including 2 further clearances, off his 4th.  The last of these sixes hit a car roof which reminded me of an Energy Exiles batsman hitting a car at this ground a few years back which prompted some wag to ask; "Are you fully ensured, Emil?" This was met with an uncomfortable silence.
Riaz and Gul kept up the pace and Riaz reached his 50 off approximately 26 balls.  Sadly, he had to leave for Night Shift and went into Death or Glory mode and was stumped.  Gul and Mahesh took us well over 100 with Tooting's finest barber making a 50 of his own before being trapped leg before.
I had to leave myself at this point and the required rate was down below 5 an over.  Sadly, Mahesh and Imran became rather bogged down against the legendary Keith Seed who is lethal on a slow pitch but still difficult enough to score off on a fast track like this one.  The asking rate went up and up as wickets fell - a six from Abdul was one of the few high-points - and we found ourselves needing 19 from the last 2 overs.  Emil Todorow and Andrew West were both bowled by Blair in the attempt and we fell 18 runs short.
We certainly missed Hassan and Abbas in this game and I hope they will both be back soon.  Also, if Riaz had been able to stay just another 10 minutes that might have been enough, but all credit to Occasionals' improving side for a fine victory - their first against Nomads for a while.
Man of the Match was Riaz (another Nomad the public might pay to watch.)  Fielder of the Day was Abdul.

Barnes Occasionals 185 for 6 from 30 overs (Price 72 (?) )

Nomads' bowling

Sami  6-0-36-0
E. Todorow  6-1-33-0
Abdul Khan  6-0-33-2
R. Khan  2-0-11-0
A. West  5-0-47-0
Imran  5-0-22-2

Clapham Nomads  167  from 28.5 overs

M. Bradshaw  17
R. Khan  50
Gul  53
M. Vyas  7
Imran  7
Abdul Khan  9
Sami  3
E. Todorow  3
J. Crossland  not out 0
A. West  0
Did not bat; N. Lefebve (had to leave early due to work commitments - pre-arranged with the captain.)

F. O. W. - 49, 92, 134, 142, 154, 167, 167, 167

Nomads lost by 18 runs.

Epsom 20-20 championship - 24/5/15

Is is acceptable to congratulate your own team? If so, then congratulations to Nomads on winning the inaugural Epsom 20-20 championship, admirably well organised by Richard and his resurgent Old Leagonians side at Epsom cc last Sunday.
In a 3-cornered contest, Nomads first beat our old friends the Leagonians by 44 runs.  We notched up 157 for 3 off the full 20 with Mahesh returning to form with a sparkling 43. A measure of how well Mahesh played is that the fielding skipper asked his field to move back 10 yards when Mahesh was on strike and come up 10 when Gul - who is in great form - was facing. The opening stand of 76 was our largest of the season so far. Mark then hit a pugnacious 41, improvising and hitting some cracking blows through Mid-Wicket amongst his 6 boundaries, to keep up the momentum. Late hitting from Riaz was the icing on the cake. Rob Lowndes was the pick of the bowlers for Leagonians.  A sensational start from Sami and Bilal reduced the hosts to around 8 for 5 before we took our feet off the pedal somewhat and, at one stage, appeared to be losing our grip in a manner reminiscent of the previous match against Wimbledon United, with Dan Parker smashing a fine 47 for the Epsom-based side.  With OLCC playing their first game for almost 4 years, Nomads experience and bowling options saw us close out a fairly comfortable victory in the end.  An enjoyable and good-humoured game.

Clapham Nomads 157 for 3 from 20 overs

M. Vyas  43
Gul  24
M. Bradshaw  41
 R. Khan  17 not out
D. Gunawardena  0 not out
Did not bat; - Abdul Khan, N. Lefebve, Bilal, Sami, E. Todorow, J. Crossland
F.O.W. - 76, 122, 152

Old Leagonians 113 for 8 from 20 overs (D. Parker 47 not out)

Nomads' bowling

Sami  4-1-13-4
Bilal  4-1-14-2
E. Todorow  4-0-23-1
Abdul Khan  4-0-36-0
R. Khan  4-0-24-1

Clapham Nomads won by 44 runs.

The next game saw the winners stay on and face Carshalton Athletic, a side full of experience and tactical awareness who enjoy a "Sunday afternoon knockabout" and "banter."  There was a bit of edge to this game but in the end even John Crossland, who had been sceptical about the tournament, said it had converted him to the charms of the 20-20 format.
With the exception of opener "Clown" Curtis who caused early damage with his 2-18 off the full 4 overs, all Athletic's varied and useful bowlers went for at least 5.5 per over.  Nomads turning out a consistent batting display with Mark (again) doing a valuable job with 33 as did Gul with an unbeaten 36.  Riaz (a player born for the 20-20 format) starred here with a riproaring 50.
Our debutant paceman Bilal had to leave and I was unsure whether our total of 145 for 5 would be enough, particularly when star opening bowler Sami was a touch expensive, but Riaz was steady and Emil (4 an over) and Abdul (5 an over) bowled very tidily in an innings where two of Carshalton's youngsters seemed to let it slide around overs 8 to 11 and suddenly found themselves needing 9 an over (a similar situation to the one we had to defend both 2 hours previously and 1 week previously.)
Athletic kept this rate up for a while but a splendid catch low down by Mark blunted their momentum somewhat; nevertheless this looked set to go the wire with Nomads running out of proven front-line bowling options.  In the event it came down to Darwin to bowl the final over with Carshalton requiring (?) 6.  Darwin kept his head and mixed his deliveries up brilliantly to secure a very satisfying 2-run victory - and the championship - for Nomads.
There was a Darts-type feel to this game with several of the Athletic umpires clinging on to pint glasses as well as the usual coins, counters and bowlers' clothing.  I'm told that one of the Carshalton players was an Eric Bristow lookalike but in the end it was Double Top for the boys from inner London as skipper Emil "The Power" Todorow took over the oche for a victory celebration.

Clapham Nomads 145 for 5 from 20 overs

D. Gunawardena  8
Abdul Khan  11
M. Bradshaw  33
R. Khan  50
Gul  not out 36
M. Vyas  2
N. Lefebve not out 2
Did not bat; - Sami, E. Todorow, J. Crossland
F. O. W. - 8, 27, 84, 132, 139

Carshalton Athletic 143 for 5 from 20 overs

Nomads' bowling

Sami  4-0-39-0
R. Khan  4-0-24-1
E. Todorow  4-0-16-1
Abdul Khan  4-0-20-1
Gul  2-0-24-0
D. Gunawardena  2-0-16-1

Clapham Nomads won by 2 runs
In the final game, Carshalton beat Leagonians by 7 wickets in a 10-over a side contest to clinch 2nd place.
A thoroughly memorable afternoon and thanks again to Richard for organising it.

Man of the Tournament was very close.  In the end Riaz, just shades it for his crucial 50 in the deciding match and steady bowling throughout.  Mark was the top run scorer overall with 74 and his vital catch against Carshalton puts him very close and wins him Fielder of the Tournament.

Final standings;
1. Clapham Nomads - Played 2 Won 2 Points 4
2. Carshalton Athletic - Played 2 Won 1 Points 2
3. Old Leagonians  -  Played 2 Won 0 Points 0.

Wimbledon United v Clapham Nomads - 17/5/15

Nomads lost a remarkable match in which we had dominated almost throughout.
Excellent batting from the top 4, kicked off by a fine opening stand of 65 between Mark and Gul, with Darwin and Hassan continuing the good work, had us 103 for 2 from around 23 overs.  2 quick wickets fell but Prasanth and Nick supported Hassan with quick runs before the scoring rate tailed off slightly in the last few overs. 173 off the 35 was a good effort (Gul was the star with a swashbuckling 49) but with the Home side missing their star bowler Peter Brown it was perhaps felt that we should have taken another 15 or so in order to protect our deleted bowling line-up.
Despite an excellent and copious tea, Nomads' bowling and fielding showed plenty of energy.  Hassan bowled 4 maidens in his first 6-over spell and, well supported by Sami, the scoring rate was down to 2 an over at one point.  Emil Todorow, with commendable accuracy, and Abbas, with pace and hostility, both produced probably their best bowling of the season so far.  With 10 overs to go, the main 4 bowlers had used up almost all their overs.  However, with the 7th wicket just falling and over 90 needed at more than 9 an over, skilled captaincy from Emil seemed to have secured us the victory.  We did wonder why Dave Hitchman, who scored 91 against us last season, had not appeared yet but we were told he was injured and out of form.
When Hitchman did appear, he played one of the most remarkable innings seen in a Nomads match.   Nomads were relying on Gul, Prasanth and Darwin - who have not been bowling regularly - to get through most of the remaining overs and I have to say that these 3 did not bowl all that badly though possibly a bit too predictable and leg stump, but the controlled hitting that Hitchman showed was different class.  He just kept finding the boundary in an arc between Long Off and Deep Backward Square and just kept notching the required 9 or 10 runs every over, with the occasional bigger over thrown in. Incredibly frustrating for the Nomads.  He received excellent support from his partner and, even when the partner was beautifully caught in the deep by Hassan, Hitchman's momentum could not be halted (2 difficult chances went down) and he finished off with 2 successive sixes to wrap things up with 8 balls to spare.
Sorry this report is a bit stilted but I am trying to type it in an internet cafe and the keyboard is useless.

Man of the Match was Hassan for 33 useful runs and almost bowling United out of the game with figures of 6.4-0-16-0 before injuring his shoulder in a valiant diving attempt to catch Hitchman  which would have won the game for us, and being unable to complete his overs as a result.  He also wins Fielder of the Day for this and the catch that he did take.

Quote of the Day - "Emil Todorow, no Usain Bolt even he would admit."  Wimbledon United's match report.  Quite so, but would Usain's body stand up to 220 successive appearances for Nomads, and would he beat Emil at chess?

Clapham Nomads lost by 2 wickets.

Clapham Nomads 173 for 7 from 35 overs

M. Bradshaw  15
Gul  49
D. Gunawardena  27
H. Khan  33
M. Vyas  0
P. Pattiyil  19
N. Lefebve 9
E. Todorow  not out 3
Abbas Khan  not out 0
Did not bat - Sami, J.Crossland

F.O.W. - 65, 88, 103, 103, 142, 159, 172

Wimbledon United 174 for 8 from 33.4 overs

Nomads' bowling
Sami  7-0-36-1
H. Khan  6.4-4-16-0
E. Todorow  7-0-26-2
Abbas Khan  7-1-25-3
Gul  3-0-29-1
P. Pattiyil  2-0-20-0
D. Gunawardena  1.1-0-17-0

Clapham Nomads blogspot - election special

Although the result of last Thursday's General Election was probably about as unexpected as a 10-wicket win by the Nomads over Caribbean Mix, the undoubted highlight for all fans of South London Sunday Cricket was the appearance of Energy Exiles Medium Pace bowler Phil Ling as Liberal Democrat candidate for Tooting.  This was spotted at about 3 am by an eagle-eyed John Crossland, who was apparently glued to the coverage.
I don't know how relevant a parallel this is, but I have umpired many times at the end where Phil has been bowling, and he swings it from left to right (as the umpire looks at it) more sharply than any other bowler on the circuit.  Obviously though, even Ling could not achieve the massive swing required to win this Labour stronghold.
Anyway, cheap political jibes aside, commiserations to Phil but I'm sure he put up a good campaign as he is a very pleasant and articulate chap.  It was just a bad night for his party, especially in SW London.  If he ever stands in Battersea, I promise to vote for him, but hopefully he will get a more winnable seat than that next time round.

Burgh Heath v Clapham Nomads - 10/5/15

Nomads made the long journey to Tattenham Way in Surrey, the pleasant hilltop home of Burgh Heath cc, oddly - given how far south we had travelled - the only ground Nomads play at from which Wembley Stadium is visible. It is also home to an incredibly large collection of bored teenagers whose main hobbies are skateboarding, banter and stealing boundary flags.
Anyway, enough trivia.  With the season and the weather warming up nicely, it was time to enjoy (or endure the ordeal of) a 40-over contest for the first time this year.
Burgh batted first and Saturday first teamer Ronnie combined well with a chap who went on to make 50, but the run rate was kept down by nagging accuracy from Sami and an entertaining spell full of variation from Hassan.  10 overs had the score on around 30 without loss.  Abbas took over at the Tattenham End and made the breakthrough, securing an LBW decision with a good, full-length yorker on leg stump.  The No. 3 was the best attacking player in the side and announced his intentions by chipping Emil for 6 over Long Off.  This player always gave us hope though and bowling and fielding remained high quality in the main.  Emil was the victim of what few fielding errors there were.
At the 20-over tea break the score was about 65 for 2.  Acceleration was gradual to about 120 off 29 overs.  Abdul did go for a few but he managed to dismiss Heath's dangerman twice, to identical catches by Sami on the Long Off boundary (unfortunately the first time was a No Ball.)
In the final 10 overs, the scoreboard's runs and wickets sections both began to rattle and an entertaining passage of play concluded with the Home Side (? 1 man short) dismissed for 183 on the penultimate ball of the innings.
Nomads had achieved a similar run rate quite easily in our last fixture against these opponents in 2012 but this pitch had more than a few snakes - low bounce in particular - and some very long boundaries.
Disaster struck very early on in our reply with Gul run out for 0.  Prasanth joined Mark for a useful consolidation stand of around 28 with some playing and missing and a dropped chance but mostly sound batting before Prasanth flicked one uppishly to backward Square Leg to depart for 11.  Hassan and Mark began to look assured with some classy cut shots; Mark just in front of square and Hassan just behind - good running between the wickets as well but luck deserted Nomads again with a thick inside edge from Bradshaw rolling back onto his stumps.
Everyone was contributing but we were just failing to build the major stand that was needed and this pattern continued as Darwin began to hit the ball really hard just as Hassan fell caught and bowled.  The score was around 100 but No. 6 Abdul was the last of the recognised front-line batsman.  Another useful stand took the score up to around 125 before Darwin was replaced by Nick Lefebve, playing his first game of the season.  Although Lefebve snicked his first 2 balls for 3 runs, he became bogged down after that against some decent bowling and a well-set field in the gathering gloom.  The required rate was already up around 5 when Abdul fell.
The innings then tailed off somewhat, though Emil and Abbas played nicely.  Abbas whacking it quite hard and Emil notching a 4 from a thick edge (which we suspect will have become a late cut by September.)
Still, batsmen lacking match practice did OK to see out the full 40, though we finished up 34 runs short.
This was an enjoyable game played in a good spirit with the exception of 5 minutes of madness which featured several of the home side becoming rather upset by a routine call of No Ball for a chest-high delivery which produced the "interesting theory"(SEE BELOW)* that a No Ball has to be neck height from a spinner.  Anyway we seemed to be all friends at the end which is good as this quite an evenly-balanced fixture which we would like to maintain.
I'll print the scores on here and do Man of the Match when I get the scorebook back.  Fielder of the Day was Sami, closely followed by John Crossland.
If John was in good form behind the stumps, he was in even better form with his mouth and the following are the 3 Quotes of the Day;
"If they had 3 wicketkeepers standing behind the stumps, they still wouldn't be as good as me." - John Crossland.
"The trouble is, our Lower Order is just not as good as our Top Order." - John "Sherlock" Crossland
"What our team needs is someone like Graham Napier." - John Crossland.

Burgh Heath - 183 all out off 39.5 overs

Nomads' bowling
Sami  8-0-23-3
H. Khan  8-0-24-1
Abbas Khan  8-2-25-3
E, Todorow  8-0-43-0
Abdul Khan  7-0-58-1
Gul  0.5-0-3-0

Clapham Nomads - 149 for 9 off 40 overs.

M. Bradshaw  23
Gul  0
P. Pattiyil  11
H. Khan  26
D. Gunawardena  21
Abdul Khan  24
N. Lefebve  3
E. Todorow  not out 10
Sami  0
Abbas Khan  6
J. Crossland  1 not out

F.O.W. - 1, 33, 43, 85, 122, 126, 133, 136, 144

Burgh Heath won by 34 runs.

Man of the Match - Abbas
Fielder of the Day - John Crossland - he took a catch, executed a run out and must have kept wicket well to justify the second of his 2 quotes (see above.)