Clapham Nomads v Surbiton Imperials - 24/4/16

Snow had been forecast for the capital on Sunday, but in the end 9-man Nomads had nothing worse to contend with than a sub-Arctic wind whipping off the Thames, and rugby and football posts covering our last-resort home venue at Barn Elms.
For our £96, we had the choice of a very heavily used adult pitch or an under-prepared kids' pitch.  We chose the latter, moved the stumps back, made the back-foot bowling crease the batting crease and prepared to enjoy our day.
Both teams had 6 available in midweek, but an extra ring-round by Nomads' skipper took us up to 9.  Imperials had done even better, with a well-placed Gumtree advert bringing them up to 11.  Surbiton's inspirational skipper Jonny Rosenthal was up in the Midlands, cheering on his beloved Leicester City as they closed in on the Premier League title.  The away side kindly lent us a bowler/fielder and allowed us to nominate a batsman to bat twice.
Inserted after losing the toss, and missing most of his recognised openers, Todorow turned to Abdul Khan and Nick Lefebve to take guard.  After a bright start, runs dried up on the slow pitch against the awkward Siddiq.  Abdul was first to go on 13 and there was a rumour that the LBW decision was a trifle magnanimous.
The 2nd and 3rd wickets; Nick and Hassan, were both considered by the batsmen to be bump balls.  Were Nomads' umpires actually being generous?  Surely that is unthinkable; but maybe it was indicative of the excellent spirit in which this game was played.  No such doubt over the 4th wicket, a fine catch at Deep Mid-On by Siddiq accounting for Riaz.  Nomads 26 for 4 and an all-time low score of 38 or below far from out of the question.
Excellent running between the wickets between Abbas and the debutant Zeeshan, by far the youngest players in the Nomads side, lifted our spirits and, as the field came in, they found the gaps and hit the only 3 boundaries Nomads managed on the slow and grassy outfield.  An excellent diving catch by Surbiton's star fielder Siddiq broke the partnership with Abbas departing for 6 and Nomads up to the riches of 44 for 5.  Chris Kennedy fell shortly after but another nice stand between Zeeshan, looking increasingly confident through the leg side and Emil Todorow, who looked full of shots, took us into a position where at least we would have something to bowl at.  58 for 6 was our high water mark but the charismatic Mr Harris, who bowled for both sides, found a fatal edge of Zeeshan's bat.  Emil and John put on a disappointingly uneventful 4.  For the last wicket, Riaz returned and, with the capable blocker John at the other end, a total of 100 was not out of the question.  Sadly, Riaz fell quickly to the slow-medium Jimmy and 65 all out was our lot.
On a terrible pitch and with the Away side missing Jonny and having a makeshift batting line-up, Clapham were by no means out of it.  We also had in Abbas the fastest bowler on either side.  It was great to have him back.  I think both the Surbiton openers were Gumtree players and, having rather ridden their luck against Abbas and Hassan with a few edges, one of which flew just past the diving glovesman John Crossland, they began to play really nicely; peppering the boundary rope as the outfield dried.  When Emil put down a caught and bowled chance (or stopped a certain 4 with his right nipple - whichever way you want to look at it), the dreaded possibility of our first ever 10-wicket defeat loomed.
At 51, both batsmen suddenly retired.  I remarked to John that at least we could not lose by 10 wickets which, oddly, seemed to displease him. By this time, Zeeshan was bowling and he produced a series of pacy yorkers and 2 quick wickets.  Our loaned player, Mr Harris, then came on and his crafty spin produced a 3rd wicket, the ubiquitous Zeeshan the catcher.  Mr Harris was an interesting character, full of verbal encouragement and wry observation.  He disclosed that he had looked for a game on Gumtree because he had been suspended for 1 match by his usual club.  Definitely Nomads material.  Another wicket for the excellent Zeeshan followed and there was a mildly interesting point where Imperials still needed about 8 and had only 3 wickets to fall.  (Though I assume we would have allowed the retired men to come back.)  In the event, they weren't needed and Surbiton strode over the winning line with ease to a victory by either 5 wickets or 3 wickets.  I think I'll call it 3 wickets just to wind John up.
In his scorebook comment, John wrote; "Zeeshan played well but that is the only bright spot."  I disagree profoundly with this.  From an unpromising set of circumstances, both sides put on a half-decent game.  If you treat it as what it was, basically a pre-season practice match, it was fine.  Enjoyable and played in a great spirit.  Thank you to both sides.
Man of the Match was Zeeshan by some distance.  In the field, the best moments were a catch by Zeeshan, a direct hit from Hassan and an unlikely diving stop by Nick.  These 3 share Fielder of the Day.

Clapham Nomads 65 all out in 27 overs.  (9 men - 1 batted twice)

Abdul Khan  lbw b Siddiq  7
N. Lefebve c wkt b Jimmy  6
H. Khan  c wkt b Rashid  6
R. Khan  c Siddiq b Jimmy  1
Zeeshan  c wkt b Harris  19
Abbas Khan  c Siddiq  b Sanka  6
C. Kennedy  b Maruf  0
E. Todorow (capt)  b Maruf  5
J. Crossland  not out 1
R. Khan (2nd innings)  b Jimmy  3
F.O.W. - 13, 22, 24, 26, 44, 44, 58, 62, 65

Surbiton Imperials  66 for 4 in 18.2 overs  (10 men - 2 retired.)

Nomads' bowling
Abbas Khan  4-0-20-0
H. Khan  4-0-14-0
Abdul Khan  2-0-12-0
E. Todorow  1-0-5-0
Zeeshan  4-1-2-3
Harris  2-1-6-1
R. Khan  1.2-0-6-0

Nomads lost by either 3 wickets, 4 wickets or 6 wickets depending on your interpretation.  Mine is 3 wickets.

  

1st match

Hi all,

The season starts next Sunday 24th April with a match against Surbiton Imperials.  Emil will be in touch with you this week.  Nick