After last week's debacle we just wanted a game of cricket, so it was a heart-stopping moment when the opposition rang at 1 o'clock. Thankfully they were just calling to say they were all at the ground (one hour early) and were waiting for us. It was easy to tell that it was the first time they had played Clapham Nomads.
Anyway despite the ground, King George's Playing Field in Ham, being pretty inaccessible, we all got there in reasonable time. There was an unexpected treat on the journey as Emil Todorow drove us past the posh cricket pitch at the other end of Ham Street and there, looking every inch the senior professional, with the sun bringing out the highlights in his hair, was Morden legend Del Ballard. Unfortunately he didn't see us but it would have been marvellous if he had called out to Emil; "And I'm a better driver than you as well," as we bounced off up the road.
I'm not sure which was more intimidating; the organised-looking opposition, all dressed in matching India one-day international shirts, or the worn, green and ragged-looking pitch. Skipper Todorow inevitably won the toss, put the Eagles in and pushed the boundary flags out as far as possible.
Eagles seemed very wary of the pitch at first, and excellent bowling from Todorow and Hassan Khan had them mostly defending, though their skipper did stroke away a couple of off-side fours. Todorow, playing his 147th consecutive Nomads match, made the breakthrough in the sixth over, forcing the batsman back onto his stumps with deceptive flight and thudding the ball into the off stick half way up. An accusatory glance at the pitch from the batsman was an anomaly; he should have been looking accusingly at Todorow for out-thinking him. In truth the pitch didn't play too badly; there was some high bounce at the Tennis Courts End and low bounce at the Allotments End but it played a whole lot better than it looked. (Mind you, it had to.)
Hassan Khan was producing good pace and movement off the pitch but it was a great diving catch from Prasanth that secured Hassan's first wicket. Nomads began to fight their way ahead. Hassan bowled the young No. 4 around his legs and then Todorow hit the No. 3 in the beard with a surprise lifter. I'm not sure the pitch can be blamed for this; I've seen the Bulgarian maestro do it on all types of surface. I think he could do it if he bowled on blancmange. The batsman was impressed; "How did you do that mate? You should give us lessons," he called out to the bowler. Emil just smiled enigmatically and produced a real lesson - a ball that pitched well outside leg stump but turned sharply to clip the stunned batsman's bails. For that one golden moment Todorow was Warne, with the only difference being that Todorow manages to spin the ball without actually rotating his wrist or fingers.
Hassan claimed another wicket and after 14 overs the score was 46 for 5. When Gopi knocked back the stumps in his second over there seemed a chance that it might all be over rather quickly. Gideon Reeve was unlucky when two edges off his bowling flew over the slips for 4 but 20 runs were taken off the 2 overs before drinks . In hindsight this was the turning point but with Eagles on 76 for 6 from 18, the orange tasted sweet.
The seventh-wicket partnership pressed on, sedately at first, but from about Over 23 onwards they really upped the tempo, with particularly good running between the wickets and regular boundaries straight and square. Nomads ground-fielding was ok but we were getting just a little fractious as the partnership dragged on and on. The eventual breakthrough came from a great reflex catch from Gideon Reeve after a ball from Riaz Khan was absolutely mullered straight at him. Abdul Khan out-thought the batsman in a skilful over full of variety, finally claiming his man caught and bowled with a slower 6th ball. A comical run out from Hassan Khan, set up by some bizarre overthrowing and running, was the 9th wicket, but Eagles kept scoring off almost every ball right up the end. It was still a surprise, though that they had notched 174. The excellent 7th wicket stand had realised 90.
Mark Bradshaw and Mahesh Vyas donned helmets and strode out to face the music. The openers were quite pacy and lively and the pitch managed to give the impression that it was about to do something seriously nasty, without ever quite carrying through the threat. Both our men looked in good touch. Bradshaw connected with several good off-side shots but they either found the fielders or failed to reach the (rather too long) boundary. Vyas played several off-side shots - including an exquisite late cut - which is always a sign that he is on song. Bradshaw finally found the boundary with a lovely cut past point but played uppishly to the next ball from Rachit, a lifter, which unfortunately flew straight to a man in a rather unorthodox position, a kind of Short Backward Point / Deep Gully. 21 for 1 off 8 overs and a reasonable start with hitters to come and the change bowlers an unknown quantity. Unfortunately, Rachit bowled Prasanth in his next over. Enter Hassan Khan, with a fair bit of work to do, but the star batsman of this season so far skied the left-arm first changer, Avi, when on 3 and gully took a fine running catch to massively dent Nomads' chances.
The second change bowler, Sonu, generated some velocity off a 5-pace run up. Mahesh Vyas took advantage with a couple of boundaries before the bowler's radar had really locked on. But it was clear that cheap runs were not going to be in plentiful supply for the foreseeable future. Sonu had quick revenge on Vyas, sticking out an arm for a reflex catch - almost as good as Gideon's - off his own bowling. 38 for 4. Riaz Khan managed one of his emphatic straight 4s off Sonu but the increasingly impressive bowler soon pegged back Riaz's stumps by way of reply. Abdul Khan and Gopi both hit nice 4s before being caught off the bowling of Avi, but then Sonu took centre stage. Nick Lefebve, Emil Todorow and John Crossland can all defend but Sonu was through them all like a dose of Senna; bowled, bowled, bowled in a spell of accurate medium-fast bowling with a hint of movement to complete a most impressive five-fer and seal a resounding victory for the away side.
I guess you'd call it a thrashing but it wasn't completely unenjoyable. Apart from the horrible music from a 70s Progressive Rock tribute band playing an open air concert somewhere across the river, and the smoke from burning vegetables on the allotments, it was quite an idyllic venue. If only the pitch was given a bit more (or, in fact, any) attention and it was 5 miles nearer Central London, we could consider using it again. Not otherwise, though. The cricket wasn't quite such a horror story as the scorecard suggests. The bowling was fairly good, very good from Emil and Hassan. The fielding was a big improvement on the last match and the catching was excellent. All I can say about the batting was that the openers played pretty well. The opposition were a nice bunch and had plenty of talent but were not the type of team that would always thrash us. I hope we get another crack at them next season. They seemed to quite enjoy playing us and they gave Gopi the biggest round of applause I have heard a fielding side give to an incoming batsman.
Man of the Match was, I suppose, Hassan who took the most wickets and was, just, the most economical bowler. He also ran a man out. He only made 3 runs but, as John pertinently put it; he can't save us every week. Fielder of the Day is tougher; Gideon took the best catch. Gopi also took a good catch and as usual did loads of work but I will award it to Prasanth for a great diving catch and plenty of stops on the ground.
Southall Eagles 174 for 9 from 35 overs
H. Khan 7-0-21-3
E. Todorow 7-1-23-2
G. Pala 6-1-31-1
G. Reeve 6-0-32-0
A. Khan 5-0-27-1
R. Khan 4-0-38-1
Clapham Nomads 57 all out from 20 overs
M. Bradshaw 12
M. Vyas 14
P. Pattiyil 0
H. Khan 3
A. Khan 4
R. Khan 4
N. Lefebve 1
G. Pala 6
G. Reeve 1 not out
E. Todorow 0
J. Crossland 0
F.O.W. - 21, 23, 28, 38, 46, 49, 49, 56, 57, 57
Clapham Nomads lost by 117 runs
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