Upeka Perera

Many of you will remember Upeka, who played regularly for Nomads around 1999-2000 and again in 2005.  He was probably the first really high-class regular player we had (good enough to play for a strong club's first or second XI, say.)  He was an extremely hard-hitting middle order batsman.  I think he still holds the Nomads record for runs off 1 over (28 plundered from John Warnaby of Touring Theatres at Wandsworth Common in 1999.)  This was achieved on a terrible pitch, but I suppose that doesn't really matter if you come forward and hit the ball on the full toss for 6.  He was also a very rapid bowler who didn't actually take a massive number of wickets (due to being too fast for many opponents to get an edge to) but helped Nomads to several victories by demoralising opposing sides who were "up with the rate" in run chases.
I have promised Upeka I will list all the matches he played in on this blog, so I will do that this week.  There are about 25 to 30 of them.
Upeka recently sent me a couple of photos of the Nomads from 10 to 15 years ago.  I will try and post them on here.  One of them features Upeka himself, John Chance, Nick Lefebve and Andrew West but, on Facebook, Upeka listed the players with him as being John (Benny), Nick and Emil.  In other words he thought the photo of Andrew West was Emil.  An easy mistake to make and I must say I found this quite funny; funnier than Emil found it, anyway.  I don't know what Andrew will think of it.
Upeka made his debut on 16/5/99 against Caribbean cc, a North London-based side that we played for a couple of years before the travelling got too much (many Nomads probably think Wood Green is in Scotland.)

16/5/1999 v Caribbean at Wood Green, N22 (Away) - 35 overs a side

Clapham Nomads - 125 for 6 from 35 overs

Emil Todorow (capt)  c wkt  b Thomas 4
John Chance  b McIntyre  16
Eddie Phillips  c wkt b McIntyre  40
Upeka Perera  c wkt b McIntyre  0
Gaurang Vyas  c wkt b McIntyre  8
Joe Chance  run out  27
Nick Lefebve  not out  2
Steve Tjasink  not out  2
Did not bat;  Andrew West, Raj Vyas, John Crossland (wkt)
Fall of wickets; 24, 34, 34, 56, 118, 120

Caribbean  -  126 for 8 from 31.1 overs

Nomads bowling;

Upeka Perera  7-2-23-1
Andrew West   7-0-22-1
Gaurang Vyas  7-1-22-2
Joe Chance  4-0-21-0
Emil Todorow  4-1-25-3
Eddie Phillips  2.1-1-5-1

Upeka took 1 catch

Nomads lost by 2 wickets
Man of the Match - Eddie Phillips

So, a reasonable debut, after coming across a very dangerous bowler in McIntyre, Upeka did well with the ball to make Caribbean's run chase tricky (he had the honour of opening the bowling with Andrew West) and he took a catch

I will list Upeka's other games of the 1999 season in shorter form;

23/5/99 v Battersea Ironside at Dundonald Road, SW19 (Away).

Clapham Nomads - 223 for 8 (Upeka Perera 95, John Chance 43) beat Battersea Ironside - 111 by 112 runs (Upeka's bowling 5-0-18-0, he took 1 catch).
This was Upeka's best score for the Nomads and, at the time, was the highest score any Nomads batsman had made.  Sadly, we copied the scorebook from the opposition, so I don't know how many 4s and 6s it included but I estimate it was off about 85 balls.  Devastating batting.

4/7/99 v Woodside at Duppas Hill, Croydon (Home)
Woodside - 174 for 7 from 35 overs (Upeka's bowling - 10-0-33-1) beat Clapham Nomads - 39 all out (Upeka  Perera 7) by 165 runs.

11/7/99 v Battersea Ironside at Duppas Hill, Croydon (Home) - 40 overs a side
Clapham Nomads - 144 for 9 (Upeka Perera 2)  tied with Battersea Ironside - 144 for 9 (Upeka Perera 9-1-17-0)

25/7/99 v Tower Ravens at South Park, SW6 (Away) - time match
Clapham Nomads - 201 for 7 from 39 overs (Ahmed 62, Gaurang Vyas 58, Upeka Perera 18 not out) beat Tower Ravens - 97 all out  (Upeka Perera 7-5-3-2,  Ben Cobley  7-2-17-4)  by 104 runs.
Upeka's bowling set, I believe, 2 Nomads records.  Although this was a time match, Upeka bowled 7 overs which is the usual allocation for our bowlers and I think the 3 he conceded is the lowest ever from a 7-over stint.  Also, incredibly, there was not a single scoring shot off Upeka's bowling; the 3 he conceded were wides.

1/8/99 v Caribbean at South Park, SW6  (Home)
Caribbean - 95 all out (Upeka Perera 5-2-19-1) lost to Clapham Nomads - 96 for 3 (Glen Kerr 28 - Upeka did not bat) by 7 wickets.
Upeka shared the new ball with Jamaican parishes paceman Patrick Blair- probably the fastest opening bowling combination Nomads have ever deployed.

15/8/99 v Touring Theatres at Wandsworth Common, SW18 (Home) - 35 overs a side
Touring Theatres - 126 for 7 (Patrick Blair 3-14, Upeka Perera 7-0-33-1) lost to Clapham Nomads - 127 for 5 from 21 overs (Upeka Perera 69) - by 5 wickets.
Upeka's 50 came off 24 balls, so it is not the fastest 50 a Nomads player has scored (that was Jim Joyce off 20 balls against the same opposition a decade later) but there was 1 record-breaking over in which John Warnaby was hit for 28 by Upeka.  The over went - 466444 - surely the only time a Nomad has hit boundaries off all 6 balls of an over. Later in his innings Upeka hit 3 successive 6s.

4/9/99 v Battersea Spinners at Duppas Hill, Croydon (Home) - 40 overs a side
Clapham Nomads - 215 for 7 (John Chance 94 not out, Upeka Perera b Feroz Baluch 86) beat Battersea Spinners - 128 (Patrick Blair 4-16, Emil Todorow 3-24, Upeka Perera 8-0-38-0) by 87 runs.  Upeka took 2 catches.
Upeka shared in a 3rd-wicket stand of 146 with John Chance whose 94 not out was his highest for the club.  They faced some decent bowling, Feroz Baluch took 5 wickets for the Renato Philip's Spinners side.

18/9/99 v Battersea Spinners at Wandsworth Common, SW18  - 30 overs a side.
Clapham Nomads - 150 for 9 (Upeka Perera c wicketkeeper b Feroz Baluch 70) beat Battersea Spinners 71 (Andrew West 4-29, Upeka Perera 2-0-8-1) by 79 runs.  Upeka took 2 catches.
Upeka hit 3 sixes and 9 fours in his innings of 70.

So a fine first season, especially with the bat.  Upeka's other main seasons were 2000 and 2005, so I'll add these and other games and print the stats soon. 

2000 SEASON

7/5/00 v Pavilion at Duppas Hill, Croydon (Home) - All London League - 40 overs a side
Clapham Nomads - 74 all out (Upeka Perera 4) beat Pavilion - 72 all out (M. Ali 4-12; Upeka Perera 5.3-2-8-3) by 2 runs.
A memorable game.  Nomads' first league match and we beat one of the pre-season favourites by our closest-ever winning margin.  Nomads were skittled on a decent pitch.  Top scorer made 6 (apart from Extras which scored 38).  Nomads skipper Emil Todorow opened the bowling with Andrew West and Mubasher Ali, a slight but pacey seamer from Lahore.  Mubasher took probably the longest-ever run-up by a Nomads bowler - well over half way back to the boundary.  At the start of each run-up, the imposing Qumber Tremasi bellowed 20 seconds worth of instructions in Urdu which reverberated and echoed around the natural bowl of Duppas Hill.  This proved devastating (Emil said he could hear the batsmen's knees knocking) and Ali removed almost the entire top order with Pavilion being about 20 for 5 at one stage.  The talented, mainly Caribbean, away side staged a comeback but fortunately we had Upeka at first change and, with 3 quick wickets, he removed the late order just in time to secure an exciting victory.

28/5/00 v Battersea Spinners at Wandsworth Common (Home) - All London League.
Battersea Spinners- 85 all out (Paul Martin 4-3, Upeka Perera 7-2-19-0) lost to Clapham Nomads - 91 for 6 (G. Vyas 42 not out; Upeka Perera 27) by 4 wickets.
Nomads were dead in the water on 14 for 5 (bowling by Des Peters and Feroz Baluch, humorous sledging by Jim Ferguson) when Upeka came in at No. 7 but he shared in a partnership of 62 with Gaurang Vyas to take us close to victory.  Upeka was dismissed (caught behind) off the bowling of Renato Philip, but Renato was a half-decent swing bowler in those days.

16/7/00 v London Nigerians at Joseph Hood Rec, SW20 (Away) - All London League
London Nigerians - 165 for 9 (Raja Kabir 5-14; Upeka Perera 8-1-38-1) beat Clapham Nomads - 141 all out (Upeka Perera 71) by 24 runs.
Another memorable game.  The talented and unorthodox Nigerians - at least one of whom had represented their country in an international match against Gambia - started imposingly before being pegged back by the bowling of Kabir.  In reply, it looked all over at 37 for 3 but Upeka, ably supported by the young Cambridge student Ben Cobley, took the fight to the League Leaders.   When Upeka passed 50 we were 5 down but with a strong tail and up with the rate.  LNCC became decidedly twitchy.  A close-ish LBW shout was turned down and the massive row that ensued saw Nomads' hard-bitten umpire (? Emil) replaced with the younger, more pliable Cobley.  Upeka smacked another massive straight 6 (I can still see it sailing back over my head) and the mood was turning ugly.  Eventually, Upeka fell for 71, probably his finest innings for the Nomads.  I had remembered this as LBW but in fact he was bowled.  Anyway, it was a close-run thing for the Nigerians.

6/8/00 v Syndicate at Dulwich Common, SE21 (Away) - All London League
Clapham Nomads - 110 all out (Upeka Perera 7) lost to Syndicate - 111 for 7 (Upeka Perera 1.2-0-16-1) by 3 wickets.  Upeka took 1 catch.

13/8/00 v Sporting Caribs in Acton W3 (Away) - All London League
Clapham Nomads 40 all out (Upeka Perera 4 - joint top-scorer) lost to Sporting Caribs - 41 for 4 (Upeka Perera 5-0-27-1) by 6 wickets.
Nomads' lowest-ever total with a full team.  It was never going to be enough but a very strong 4-man Nomads bowling line-up (Rafi, Upeka, Emil and Riaz) at least took 4 consolation wickets.  These 4 were so strong that Andrew West didn't get a bowl.

20/8/00 v Viscount at Old Deer Park, Richmond (Home) - Friendly, 35 overs a side.
Viscount - 144 for 3 (Upeka Perera 3-0-18-1) beat Clapham Nomads - 76 (Rafi 23, Upeka Perera 15) by 68 runs.

10/9/00 v London Nigerians at Raynes Park Sports Ground, SW20 (Home) - All London League
London Nigerians - 234 for 5 (Todorow 3-21; Upeka Perera 5-0-46-0) beat Clapham Nomads - 174 for 9 (Mahesh Vyas 63; Upeka Perera 0) by 60 runs
Nomads' bowlers were put to the sword by the all-conquering All London League champions-elect.  My main memory is of Joe Chance - who was an excellent bowler for the Nomads - on this occasion getting an attack of the yips and bowling 4 successive long hops, all of which were pulled behind square leg by the grateful batsman, each one right into the middle of the most badly situated picnic in history on the pavilion steps.  All I remember is smashing crockery, scattering children and squawking mothers, but fortunately no injury.  There was another serious umpiring dispute which caused Glen Kerr to leave.  Nomads made a decent fist of the reply, with Mahesh notching probably his best innings for the club.  Not enough though to prevent us finishing a rather unlucky last in the League Table.

A poor but memorable season for Nomads and an up-and-down season for Upeka, though his bowling against Pavilion and his batting in the first London Nigerians match were moments of pure class.

2001 SEASON

Upeka only played 1 game for Nomads in 2001.

9/9/01 v Energy Exiles at Nursery Road, SW19 (Away)

Clapham Nomads 152 for 9 (innings closed) from 28.5 overs

Jamie Wood b T. Cox 0
Emil Todorow (capt) run out 18
Tabish  b Devlin  18
Gaurang Vyas  caught -------- b G. Thomas  33
Upeka Perera caught -------- b G. Thomas  19
Rafi  c N. Patel b G. Thomas  24
Eddie Phillips run out 12
Riaz Khan  lbw G. Thomas  2
Ben Cobley  caught --------- b G.Thomas  0
John Crossland (wkt) not out 0
Ali  retired (the scorebook entry reads "retired sulking") 0
F.O.W. - 4, 46, 62, 111, 111, 147, 152, 152, 152

Exiles bowling

T. Cox  6-0-13-1
N. Patel  6-1-36-0
S. Devlin  6-0-35-1
W. Scott  5-0-39-0
G. Thomas  5.5-0-24-5

Energy Exiles  121 all out from 27.1 overs
(Batting scores not recorded  - ? Top-scorer T.Cox with 60-plus)

Nomads bowling

Ali  6-2-9-3
B. Cobley  5-0-25-1
Riaz Khan  3-0-18-1
Rafi  6-0-21-3
J. Wood  1-0-6-1
E. Phillips  1-0-11-0
G. Vyas  1-0-13-0
E. Todorow  2.1-0-9-0
Upeka Perera  2-0-8-0

Clapham Nomads won by 31 runs.

Man of the Match - Rafi.

I wondered why I didn't play in this match and I have realised that on this day I was in Memphis, Tennessee; specifically at Graceland, by the grave of Elvis Presley.  No offence to Elvis if he is reading this, or his many fans, ditto, but on balance I wish I had been at Nursery Road.  I didn't realise back in 2001 how rare and precious Nomads wins over the Exiles would prove to be.  After this game, the tally between the 2 clubs was Played 2, Nomads wins 2.  Joyous days indeed.

2002 SEASON

19/5/02 v Carshalton Athletic in Wallington (Away) - 35 overs a side

Clapham Nomads 306 for 5 (Tabish 66, Adam Tegg 93, Upeka Perera 52) beat Carshalton Athletic 89 (Rafi 7-2-6-8) by 217 runs.  Upeka did not bowl.
Nomads' highest total at that time and still our 2nd highest-ever.  It is little wonder that a Carshalton Athletic player said to skipper Todorow; "Weak-Medium, my arse!" referring to the rating we had given the Conference when we arranged the fixture.  All of Nomads top 7 had or went on to make 50s for the club at some point, and 4 of them recorded scores of 90-plus. Top-scorer Adam Tegg was an uncanny Graeme Hick lookalike from Perth, Western Australia.  Rafi's incredible bowling figures are the best-ever by a Nomads player.

2/6/02 v Unpredictables at Battersea Park, SW11 (Away)
Unpredictables - 148 for 9 (Upeka Perera 1-1-0-0) lost to Clapham Nomads - 152 for 9 (Upeka Perera 30) by 1 wicket.  Upeka top-scored as Nomads scraped home in a thriller with last-wicket pair Elroy Singroy and Ben Cobley putting on 11 to see us home.

I think this was Upeka's last game for 2 or 3 years, so it was a good way to go out.  I'll put on his remaining games in the next few days.

Upeka returned in 2005 which was one of the most enjoyable Nomads seasons and one of the best-balanced teams we have had, featuring a high-class left-handed batsman in Gaurang Vyas and Nomads' best-ever spinner, Shailesh Bhatia.

22/5/05 v Kingston Lefthanders at South Park SW6 (Home) - 35 overs per side
Kingston Lefthanders 166 for 5 (Upeka Perera 4-0-20-2) lost to Clapham Nomads 170 for 6 (G. Vyas 73, Upeka Perera 20) by 4 wickets.  Upeka took 1 catch.

29/5/05 v North Croydon at Battersea Park, SW11 (Home) - 40 overs per side.
North Croydon 224 for 3 (Upeka Perera 8-0-49-1) lost to Clapham Nomads 228 for 6 (Sumith Prasanna 60, Upeka Perera 68 not out) by 4 wickets.
A brilliant Nomads run chase and a match full of incident.  Controversial uncle and nephew Dean Thomas and Dwight Williams walked off the pitch in the middle of their 5th Nomads game, never to be seen again.  I was absent and the (nameless) person in charge of putting the tea out left about 75% of it in his car so Croydon's fielders were starving, but the main feature was a fantastic match-winning stand of 89 (still Nomads' best for the 7th wicket) between Upeka and Emil Todorow (18 not out.)  One of Upeka's best innings for the club and probably Emil's best, though not his biggest.

5/6/05 v Touring Theatres at King George's Field, Tolworth (Home) - 35 overs per side
Clapham Nomads 109 (Jean-Claude 22, Upeka Perera 8) lost to Touring Theatres 111 for 5 (Upeka Perera 7-2-13-0) by 5 wickets.  One of only 3 Theatres victories over us in around 30 meetings. They were inspired with bat, ball and in the field.  When a guy of around 60 took a diving, one-handed catch, we guessed it was not our day.

10/7/05 v Burgh Heath at Tattenham Way, Burgh Heath, Surrey (Away) - 40 overs per side.
Burgh Heath 154 for 8 (Upeka Perera 8-0-32-2) beat Clapham Nomads 48 (Upeka Perera 7) by 106 runs.
This was a very different Burgh Heath side to the one we currently play.  They had a lot of South Africans and were seriously strong.  It is fair to see we possibly underperformed slightly or, as John put it in the scorebook, "Shit from the Nomads".  Upeka did OK though, along with Dave Hunter and Emil, he was one of the better bowlers and he was 3rd-top scorer.

21/8/05 v Morden at Morden Park, SM4 (Away) - 40 overs per side.
Morden 233 for 7 (Upeka Perera 8-1-44-0) lost to Clapham Nomads 234 for 7 (G. Vyas 50, Upeka Perera 85 not out) by 3 wickets.
Possibly Nomads' best-ever run chase against Morden's Sunday Firsts. A brilliant 4th-wicket stand of 98 between Upeka and Jean-Claude took us to 203 for 4 and then Upeka protected a shaky late-middle-order to see us home.  Controversy struck though as John related in his scorebook comment; "Dispute over run out.  Upeka given not out by Benny.  Morden angry."  Morden angry? I'm deeply shocked.  This was the start of the deterioration in relations between the 2 teams which culminated in them accusing us of buying our match balls from Woolworth's.

28/8/05 v Chiswick and Latymer at King George's Field, Tolworth (Home) - 35 overs per side
Clapham Nomads 163 for 9 (Jean-Claude 34, Shailesh Bhatia 26, John Chance 28, Upeka Perera 17) beat Chiswick and Latymer 135 all out off 34.1 overs (Sumith Prasanna 4-3, Upeka Perera 7-0-14-1) by 28 runs.
Upeka was by far the most economical bowler and this was vital.  I remember very little about this game except that Chiswick's skipper was gutted and we went to a bizarre pub in a converted cricket pavilion by the A3 afterwards.

4/9/05 v CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale) - SW London at Nursery Road, SW19 (Away) - 30 overs per side
CAMRA 169 for 8 (Abdul Khan 4-0-22-4, Upeka Perera 6-0-47-1) beat Clapham Nomads 157 for 9 (G. Vyas 52, Upeka Perera 1) by 8 runs.
A very close game but all I really remember is going to the Sultan pub (with its notoriously strong beer) together with a load of Real Ale enthusiasts, and waking up with a nasty headache.

The Team of 2005 was a fine Nomads side of which Upeka was a big part.  A typical line-up would have been;
Sumith Prasanna, Chris Kennedy, John Chance, Gaurang Vyas, Jean-Claude, Abdul Khan, Nick Lefebve, Shailesh Bhatia, Emil Todorow, John Crossland and either Andrew West, Terry Bruce-Mills or Dave Hunter (though Dave would not be batting at No. 11.)

2006 SEASON

28/5/06 v Energy Exiles at Civil Service Sports Ground, W4 (Away) - 40 overs per side
Clapham Nomads 122 (Upeka Perera 40) lost to Energy Exiles 123 for 7 (Upeka Perera 5-0-24-1) by 3 wickets.
An archetypal Exiles v Nomads match of this era.  Nomads scored faster but only lasted 36.1 overs (Scott - ?Wil - did the main damage with 4-37)  Nomads had only 10 men but no excuses as the highly-disciplined Exiles ground out a last over victory despite scoring at only 3.15 per over.

2/7/06 v Morden at Morden Park, SM4 (Away) - 40 overs per side.
Clapham Nomads 259 for 5 (Hassan Khan 117 not out, John Chance 36, Upeka Perera 31) beat Morden 181 for 7 (Upeka Perera 1-0-1-0) by 78 runs.
Brilliant batting from the Nomads.  Hassan was well and truly back in the side.  This continued the usual pattern of Morden v Nomads fixtures

This appears to have been Upeka's final appearance for the club, so it was a good way to finish.  I'll double check the later scorebooks but I think that was that.  I'll do a statistical summary soon.

Clapham Nomads annual meeting

Clapham Nomads will have our annual meeting in the Mirch Masala in Tooting at 7.30 pm on Sunday 27th Feb. All are welcome. Emil will contact everyone with full details this week.