Surbiton Imperials v Clapham Nomads - 10/6/12

The smart Colet's Ground in Thames Ditton was the venue for this game against Surbiton Imperials, a side we have beaten on the last 2 occasions, but who have some talented players and interesting characters.
35 overs was agreed, despite the early start, due to the threatening clouds.  Todorow chose to bat and pinch-hitter Riaz Khan took Mark Bradshaw's place at the head of the order, soon clouting 2 enormous blows off the tricky left-armer Siddik which landed a foot short of the rope at Cow Corner and just nestled in the damp grass.  Boundaries were clearly going to be at a premium as indeed were any runs against a tight attack on a very slow pitch with occasional low bounce.
Siddik, a master of variation of line, bowled Riaz in Over 7.  Mahesh Vyas had played himself in carefully and Darwin joined him in careful consolidation before the latter was bowled 5 overs later by former Nomads player Khalid Harris who hailed the wicket with a triumphant and rather piercing whistle.
Mahesh began to flick it cleverly to leg and, with him and Hassan together at 41 for 2 off 14 overs, and with batting to come, it all looked reasonable.  But then - double disaster.  Khalid yorked Mahesh middle and leg and Hassan was deceived by the sharp in-swing of Aussie 2nd-changer House.
No. 5 Zia led a minor recovery. His 18 contained some good, clean hits, supported by Abdul Khan (8) and Nick Lefebve (1 from 34 balls), but Zia'sdeparture precipitated another collapse from 72 for 5 to 83 all out with only Chris Kennedy (7 Not Out) providing much resistance in the lower order.  Nomads failed to use up 4.3 overs and scored at a paltry rate of 2.75 per over.
As John pointed out to anyone willing (or unwilling) to listen, we were 50 or 60 runs short.
A tactical discussion at tea led to Hassan and Zia, Nomads' fastest pair, opening in an attempt to do some early damage.  Nomads' best period of the match followed with hostile bowling and tight fielding maintaining a degree of pressure and securing the wicket of Surbiton captain Steve Parratt in the 5th over with the score on 5. 
Inperials' wicketkeeper-opening batsman, Johnny, a nice guy but with an intense and borderline-scary demeanour, began to hit the ball hard but sharp fielding, especially from Darwin, kept the scoring rate well below 3.  Wickets never really looked likely though, and a record-equalling 9 wicket defeat appeared on the cards, until in an inspired tactical intervention, skipper Todorow turned to himself and soon had his reward courtesy of a fine slip catch from Mahesh Vyas. 
With the score in the early 40s, Johnny chipped the ball to mid-wicket for an easy chance which was badly dropped.  Probably not crucial but it extinguished Nomads' faint remaining hopes.  Johnny snarled his way up to 41 until an outrageous leg-break from Hassan finally brought a smile to his face and, having lost his focus, he promptly lobbed the next ball up to Deep Mid-Off where Abdul Khan took a smart catch.
A further wicket fell to Riaz but. although Imperials scored at below Nomads' rate throughout, they had enough batting in hand to clinch a comfortable win in the 32nd over.
3 defeats out of 3 for Nomads.  The batting underachieved but Imperials showed scoring wasn't easy.  Bowling and fielding were fine and at least we got a game - and got to play with a remote-controlled electronic scoreboard.
Man of the Match was Mahesh Vyas for showing the most composure of any Nomads batsman and pouching a nice slip catch. Fielder of the Day was Chris Kennedy for diving and getting both hands to an absolute bullet from Johnny that was technically a chance but would have been the best catch in Nomads' history.

Nomads lost by 6 wickets

Nomads 83 all out from 30.3 overs

Vyas - 17
R. Khan - 4
Darwin - 1
H. Khan - 7
Zia - 18
A. Khan - 8
Lefebve - 1
Kee - 0
Kennedy - 7 not out
Todorow - 2
Crossland - 0

F. O. W. - 15, 22, 41, 43, 54, 72, 72, 73, 76, 83

Surbiton Imperials 84 for 4 from 31.1 overs

H. Khan - 7-1-16-2
Zia - 7-1-15-0
A. Khan - 7-0-24-0
Todorow - 6-0-17-1
R. Khan - 4.1-0-14-1