Clapham Nomads v Touring Theatre XI - 22/8/10

Our old friends the Touring Theatres turned up at Raynes Park with only 8 players. Fortunately, Nomads had 12 and so we lent the away side Terry Bruce-Mills (who has played a few games for Theatres recently anyway) and, most generously of all, the elusive medium pace bowling genius Andrew West.
West was wearing his famous tight-fitting purple top but, to the disappointment of many, got changed into a white cricket shirt.
A 35-over per innings, 10-a-side match was agreed on. Emil Todorow won yet another toss and Nomads batted first on a dry, patchy wicket, typical of Merton Council this year. Mark Bradshaw and Mahesh Vyas made good early progress in decent time against new ball pairing Wilson and Fieldhouse. The introduction of Bruce-Mills slowed things down a little as he extracted some bounce from the pitch. Terry made the first breakthrough, hitting the top of Vyas' off-stump as Mahesh played across the line for a well-made 38. The opening stand realised 93, Nomads' best 1st wicket partnership of the season so far.
Prasanth top-edged his first ball straight to Deep Square Leg, but a difficult chance was put down and Prasanth settled down to play solidly before he was LBW for 35 to the medium pace of Danny (who bowled very tidily to take 3 for 40.)
Hassan fell cheaply and Sumith Prasanna came in for his first match in nearly two years. The big Sri Lankan hit his third ball, from John Warnaby, for 6. The Nomads were all a little surprised that Theatres had not yet called upon the bowling skills of Andrew West, who had fielded stoutly at Mid-Wicket, stopping one very hard shot with his foot much to umpire Todorow's amusement. Before the game, Andrew had told Hassan Khan that he would get him out and this looked a possibility as his first ball reared alarmingly from just short of a length. It looked as though he would make things very difficult for the Nomads' batsmen. However, this was about as good as it got as Bradshaw and Sumith took 14 from his first over. Sumith hit 3 big sixes off Andrew's bowling as the Nomads legend was retired from the attack having bowled 3 overs for 45 runs.
In the meantime, Mark Bradshaw had fallen to Danny for 64. Sumith Prasanna raced on and I noticed that he uses a "BDM NS Sidhu" bat. I am sure that the former India opener would have approved of his mighty hitting and especially his calculated assault on the opposition's most dangerous bowler, Andrew West.
Sumith was finally bowled by Dirk Fieldhouse for 64. Darwin made a brisk unbeaten 23 and Mark Milnes opened his batting account for the team with 4 not out as Nomads finished on 259 for 5. A special mention should be made of the fielding of Milton for the Touring Theatres - he fielded absolutely magnificantly, stopping everything that came his way, throwing well and taking the very important catch to dismiss Hassan.
In reply, Theatres lost both their openers - Wilson and the usually obdurate Roger Daltrey lookalike John Whitham - in the first 2 overs. There followed a steady fall of wickets as Hassan took 5 for 14, moving the ball both ways and throwing in the occasional leg-spinner. At 27 for 7 only a heroic partnership could restore some pride to the Thespians and up stepped 2 unlikely heroes in the form of the 72-year-old Anthony "Chick" Fowles - who has written several well-received Sports books and a Crime novel, Chinamen, based around South London club cricket, and has recovered from very serious knee surgery - and our very own Andrew West, who has not written any best-selling books to my knowledge but has certainly had a lot written about him. The pair performed admirably with Fowles, the fitter of the 2, defending stoutly and deploying a one-handed sweep to excellent effect. Many present feared that Andrew West was having an off day and would be dismissed for 0, but the Nomads legend dispelled these fears by whacking his first delivery through mid-wicket for a couple of runs. He followed up with a boundary to cow corner and showed some good defence too. Mark Milnes eventually prised out Andrew with a well-directed yorker. Gopi took the final 2 wickets, rounding it off with a clever low full toss which was difficult to pick up from the A3 end as Nomads sealed a comfortable win against these very pleasant opponents.
After the game, Andrew sought solace in looking at the scorebook and reciting some of his previous glories to those present. I am sure he will be back with a vengeance in the next game.
Several candidates for Man of the Match; Mark Bradshaw with a fine 64, Hassan Khan with his season's best figures of 5 for 14 but Sumith Prasanna takes it with a very entertaining 64. His 50 came up in just 22 balls, only 2 more than the club record. It was good to have him back. Fielder of the Day was Darwin, who had the most to do and did it well. MB / NL

CLAPHAM NOMADS - 259 for 5 from 35 overs

M. Bradshaw 64
M. Vyas 38
P. Pattiyil 35
H. Khan 4
S. Prasanna 64
Darwin 23 not out
M. Milnes 4 not out

F.O.W. - 93, 139, 146, 207, 239

TOURING THEATRE XI - 56 all out from 21 overs

J. Whitham 0
Wilson 0
D. Fieldhouse 1
Stephenson 8
T. Bruce-Mills 1
D. Counihan 4
A. Fowles 15
C. Robertson 2
A. West 7
J. Warnaby 4

F.O.W. - 0, 0, 8, 9, 11, 12, 27, 47, 56

Clapham Nomads won by 203 runs