Clapham Nomads v Touring Theatres - 17/6/12

Nomads finally recorded a win, albeit against a depleted Touring Theatres side at Abbey Rec last Sunday.
Emil Todorow won the toss and his first-choice opening pair of Bradshaw and Vyas quickly took charge against the tidy Medium Pacer Nasif and the occasionally tricky Off-Spinner Cal Robertson.   An untroubled 50 stand came up in the 8th over.  Bradshaw was finding the off-aside gaps deftly while Vyas put his foot on the gas with a string of leg-side boundaries.  With Nomads on 60, Mahesh lofted the ball back over the head of 2nd-changer Dirk Fieldhouse but fell to a brave catch from Robertson who had broken his finger attempting a very similar catch against Nomads s year ago.
Mahesh was a touch unfortunate to be out on his first mistake and this fate also befell Mark Bradshaw who had moved serenely to 38 (adding 54 for the 2nd wicket with Darwin) when he inside-edged a sharp in-slanter from the unorthodox Mike onto his off stump.
At 114 for 2, the hard work was probably just about done, but Darwin and Hassan kicked on; Darwin playing some absolutely cracking forcing drives between Mid-Off and Cover.  Darwin was dismissed 3 short of a maiden Nomads 50 to a stumping from stand-in wicketkeeper Robertson off the bowling of noted Character Actor - and star of "Mike Bassett England Manager" - John Warnaby.  Darwin was quite stoical about missing out on the landmark, saying that he would have settled for 47 before the start.
This had all been very watchable but the best was to come.  Hassan, supported ably by Chris Kee, dismantled the remains of the Theatres' attack for a devastating 121, not far short of Nomads' highest individual score and racing from 50 to 100 in about 22 balls.  He was particularly harsh on Tom, who had confidently asserted that a ball bouncing 3 times is not a no-ball, but then bowled to Hassan, of all people, without making it bounce at all.  The results were brutal and predictable, with 24 plundered from one over.
Kee had played well for his 15 before holing out on the leg-side with the score on 260.  300 looked a certainty but, with Hassan's departure on 281 for 5, a touch of momentum was lost yet we readily settled for 297 for 6; the 3rd-highest score in Nomads' history.
Clapham had lent Chris Kennedy to Theatres but their batting line-up still had a makeshift look to it with a 13-year-old, a 10-year-old and most of the adult players lacking match practice.  They did pretty well to reach almost 100 in 30.5 overs against a fairly strong Nomads bowling attack, for whom newcomer Rahim was impressive.
The reliable Ben Trenchell batted well for Theatres as did Nasif.  The ever-obdurate Dirk Fieldhouse stuck around for a fair old while down the order.  Hassan, Emil and Abdul all recorded good analyses and Nick Lefebve bowled his first 5 overs of the summer, conceding 14 runs of which 2 were scored by a Primary School Pupil.
The standout moment - and Quote of the Day - was when the 13-year-old Robert faced up to the macho and vaguely intimidating air - and hair - of Emil Todorow and chirped brightly; "It's OK, I don't mind.  You can bowl as fast as you like."
Man of the Match is rather easy as centurion Hassan Khan also returned the best bowling figures.  It wasn't the most eventful day in the field but, since he set up a run out (an "assist") for John Crossland and chased down several shots off my bowling, Hassan gets Fielder of the Day as well.

Clapham Nomads - 297 for 6 from 35 overs

Bradshaw 38
M. Vyas 35
Darwin 47
H. Khan 121
Kee 15
Rahim 5
A. Khan 3 not out
Todorow 2 not out

F.O.W. - 60. 114, 185, 260, 281, 289

Touring Theatres - 98 all out from 30.5 overs

Todorow  7-0-26-2
Rahim  6-0-25-1
H. Khan  5.5-1-10-3
A. Khan  7-1-21-3
Lefebve  5-0-14-0

Nomads won by 199 runs