This was not a match we have had high hopes of winning since Bec's brilliant batting display in the Away game in June, so it was a shock when their skipper phoned at 12.15 to say they only had 8 men but would turn up anyway, and even more so when he told Emil Todorow at the ground that it would be better if Nomads batted first, in order to make a game of it.
Nomads did bat first by agreement (the only piece of match-fixing that occurred to my knowledge) but it soon looked like being a very short game after all as 2 wickets fell for 9 runs to shocking shooters from Bec medium pacer R. Anthony. Mahesh Vyas departed for 1 and then Mark Milnes, who had played a nice off-side shot for 3, fell to a pea-roller which shaved leg stump.
No. 4 Hassan Khan dug out a further shooter, but the pitch then seemed to improve somewhat and Khan began to turn the tables with some fine straight drives. Opener Sumith Prasanna also upped the tempo with a baseball-style straight hit for 4 and a big hit through mid-wicket. Bec's other bowler, the youngster Adam Freeman, floated the ball in nicely on the stiff breeze but didn't quite present the same threat as his partner. Nomads cruised into the 40s at around 4 an over. Nomads had agreed to lend Old Boys a fielder and this came back to bite us as Hassan, who was approaching his best form, cracked a firm cut straight to cover point where it was well held by Mark Milnes. When Sumith chipped Freeman up to gully 1 run later things began to look grim again.
Nick Lefebve joined Prasanth Pattiyil in the 12th over on 45 for 4 under a massive grey cloud and the pair had 2 immediate tasks; to see off R. Anthony's final over and to play through to the inevitable rain storm. A few runs were milked from 14-year-old leg spinner Sean Mason before a pleasant autumnal day turned sub-Arctic with gale force winds bearing horizontal rain and bits of twig from the thorn bushes surrounding pitch 3. An early tea was taken which lasted about an hour.
When play resumed it was almost impossible to stand upright on the soaked, skiddy pitch, but thankfully this affected the bowlers as much as the batsmen. Our pair survived and began to play with something approaching confidence. Lefebve connected with a few more leg-side blows off Mason, while Prasanth negotiated paceman Nav Jaswel and skipper Ches Brown with increasing authority and began to play some fine straight and leg-side strokes. At 93, Nomads had, at the very least, guaranteed a contest but Prasanth was caught for a useful 26 with the partnership just 2 short of the half-century.
Acceleration was needed and No. 7 Gopi had shown he is capable of this with his fine 41 against West One 2 weeks ago, but unfortunately he flicked Mason up to Backward Point and departed early. No. 8 Tahir was playing his first game for the club and had told Todorow that he was more of a bowler than a batsman. He was arguably our last real hope of quick, substantial runs and he didn't disappoint, carting the bowling quite classily to all parts of the ground - a large six over mid-wicket being the highlight - and dominating (an understatement) a stand of 38 with Nick Lefebve - Lefebve contributed 1. During this stand, with about 10 overs to go, Andrew West turned up and Todorow lent him to the opposition, but adding the proviso that he would be allowed to field and bat but not bowl - quite a crafty deal when you think about it, though there are those who would say that the Man in Purple is becoming more of a specialist batsman these days anyway.
The wily Ches Browne accounted for Tahir for 36 and followed up by getting one to spit and kick at Emil Todorow and find the glove of Nomads' Mr Reliable.
133 for 8 and John Crossland joined Lefebve with 4 and a half overs to go. After a couple of balls Crossland, wearing a deep frown, called his partner for an urgent mid-pitch conference. It looked serious. "Whatever you do," growled the wicketkeeper, "don't throw it away." The veteran pair did ok by sticking to a rigid plan - charging down the pitch and flicking the ball to the leg side for scampered singles. It wouldn't have won the X Factor but it did realise 13 runs. The highlight was a gorgeous straight drive from Crossland back over the bowler's head which only the recent monsoon rains prevented from reaching the boundary it deserved. Nomads closed on 146 for 8, which looked half-decent on this pitch. Lefebve was left on a useful / turgid 24 not out off 23 overs.
After a quick turnaround, The familiar pairing of Hassan Khan and Emil Todorow prepared to apply the pressure. Bec's openers. Nav Jaswel and Ches Browne looked fairly accomplished, with some good off-side shots played. We were unsure quite how depleted they were, though we suspected they would have few specialist batsmen below Andrew West at 7. This pair cracked along at a reasonable rate and it was quite a relief when Todorow was slightly fortunate to find the stumps via the inside edge of Jaswel's bat to break the stand on 27. No. 3 tried to slog Todorow out of the ground straight away and paid the customary penalty - bowled. There was a further wicket apiece for these bowlers, the more memorable was an LBW for Todorow which the skipper secured with a quite bizarre high-pitched, elongated appeal which sounded a bit like a large farm animal in distress (but in a dignified way, of course.) It frightened me and I have known Todorow for years, it must have terrified the umpire.
Gopi was first-change and, once he switched to bowling round the wicket, bowled an accurate spell, using the breeze well and claiming a wicket, bowled. Tahir was the pick of the bowlers, though, showing accuracy and reasonable pace in a fine spell of 2 for 7 from his 7 overs. Wickets were falling steadily but this spell put Bec so far behind the run rate that any hopes of victory were extinguished.
Of course, Bec's real batting star was Andrew West who made an eventful 4, getting off the mark by playing a firm on drive with his thumb, then spanking 2 through mid-wicket and rounding off with a thunderous, acrobatic dive to reach his ground on a risky single. Tahir eventually produced one of his best deliveries to bowl West.
Everything else was an anti-climax, though the last-wicket stand produced about 20 with G. Mason playing well for 19 but by then the required rate was up around 14 an over. Terry Bruce-Mills eventually administered the last rites and victory was secured, albeit over a team that was severely depleted, particularly in their batting.
Anyway, we are grateful to the opposition for showing up for a match they could easily have cancelled. Man of the Match is Tahir for a brilliant all-round performance. Our best fielder was Mark Milnes, but he did his best work fielding for the opposition. There wasn't that much fielding for us to do in Bec's innings but I would say Fielder of the Day was John Crossland, his second successive match without conceding a bye, this time on a difficult track.
Clapham Nomads 146 for 8 from 35 overs
M. Vyas 1
S. Prasanna 13
M. Milnes 3
H. Khan 25
P. Pattiyil 26
N. Lefebve 24 not out
G. Pala 0
Tahir 36
E. Todorow 0
J. Crossland 6 not out
F.O.W. - 2, 9, 44, 45, 93, 95, 133, 133
Bec Old Boys 71 all out from 29.1 overs
H. Khan 7-1-15-1
E. Todorow 7-0-21-3
Tahir 7-3-7-2
G. Pala 7-0-26-1
T. Bruce-Mills 1.1-1-0-1
Clapham Nomads won by 75 runs
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