This match at Haydons Road, the second part of our double-header against the Theatres, was on a knife-edge throughout the morning after torrential overnight rain. In the end the Supervisor announced that he didn't want to "spoil the fun" and he let play go ahead provided we used a pitch that had been played on the previous day.
Emil Todorow won the toss yet again and Nomads batted in squally conditions against Seethal and Naseef, possibly the best new ball pairing Theatres have used in their 25 or so games against the Nomads.
I was 30 minutes late due to work commitments and when I arrived Nomads were 40 for 1. Mahesh Vyas had started brightly but John Crossland (who is becoming our Nostrodamus - or possibly Mystic Meg - with his uncanny predictions) foretold that Vyas would "give it away" and the opener was promptly bowled by the impressive Seethal who was straight and considerably above Medium off a 6-pace run-up.
Darwin joined Mark Bradshaw and, like last week, a fine 2nd wicket stand took shape. Darwin is rather more front foot than Bradshaw but, in terms of where the ball ends up, they are strikingly similar. They both hit the ball hard and true and find the gaps well, and have produced several valuable partnerships over the last 12 months.
With no restriction on overs per bowler in this Time Game, the opening pair got through 16 overs by which stage Nomads had done very well to reach 90-ish for 1 on a fair but damp pitch. It took Off-Spinner Cal Robertson to really exploit the stickiness and his first 3 overs reminded me of Derek Underwood on a wet pitch as he practically got the ball to make him a cup of tea. Darwin and Hassan were deceived and bowled in quick succession. (Hassan's delivery almost stopped on bouncing.)
After these initial successes, Robertson tended to overpitch and Bradshaw and Chris Kee took full advantage of this, with Kee playing one particularly memorable shot, pulled virtually one-handed from wide outside off and despatched almost for 6 to the mid-wicket boundary.
Bradshaw had held the top order together and reached a fine half-century. He then joined in the acceleration with the arrival of No. 6 Zia. It took a freak dismissal to finally remove him for 72 - the ball slipping from Dirk Fieldhouse's hand and skidding low, hitting Mark on the foot, 2nd bounce, in front of Middle and Off. As the umpire, I regretted raising my finger for this one and would probably have "used my discretion" had the batsman been closer to a ton.
A flurry of hitting from Zia (several massive sixes), Abdul and Riaz took Nomads up to 211 for 7 at tea. This was 86 lower than the previous week and Theatres' batting line-up was arguably slightly stronger, but in a Time Game Todorow would be able to deploy his elite Strike Force (including himself of course) unsparingly.
A finishing time of 7.20 was set so that we would have time to catch the England v Italy Quarter Final (we needn't have bothered.) By the time the rather porky tea had been finished there was time for around 28 overs for Theatres to knock off the 212, or survive for the draw.
Hassan quickly bowled the potentially dangerous Seethal with a beauty. This brought Mahinder Mahinder to the crease. An interesting, entertaining and opinionated character; he has turned out for Energy Exiles and has been selected for Nomads several times without, for various reasons, actually taking the field. On a true and drying track he showed the maker's name and looked very sound. At the other end, Hassan polished off Ben Martin, Naseef and our very own Chris Kennedy. At around 10 for 4 he looked like running through the entire side. Mahinder hit the only 4 of the innings off the bowling of Emil Todorow. Sensing it would take something special to remove the Sri Lankan, Todorow smoothed down his hair (which had been floating ominously), smiled wryly, flexed his wrist and produced his mythical Leg Break for the first time in a competitive match. I'm not sure it actually turned but it bamboozled Mahinder to the extent that he could merely flick it tamely round his legs straight into the gloves of a delighted John Crossland. A hugely entertaining wicket. Next week - The Doosra.
The 74-year-old Novelist and Sports Writer Chic Fowles dug in well and played some firm shots past Cover. Riaz was bowling by now and needed to produce his very best to winkle out the veteran, just clipping the off bail with a quicker one.
Zia was on at the Station End and did Robertson for sheer pace. Theatres had 7 or 8 overs still to survive. Last man was Cochrane who looked athletic and, with his dark green top, also looked South African. (To our relief he was very English and had never set foot on a cricket field before.) Before this though, Dirk Fieldhouse and John Warnaby were together for the 8th wicket. They both have ability, particularly in defence, and I gave them an Evens chance of seeing it through. Zia had been overpitching a bit but this paid off with a low full toss on middle stump surprising Warnaby slightly for the crucial wicket. Zia cleaned up Cochrane next ball and will be on a hat-trick when he next bowls for us.
So Theatres were all out for 23, which is the lowest total Nomads have ever conceded in a completed innings (admittedly Theatres had only 10 men.) Surprisingly, the bowling was actually a little wayward but John Crossland was at his best behind the stumps to save a string of byes. Nomads displayed impressive intensity and fielded well, showing the advantage of a close-up field as Theatres had to take chances to penetrate our ring (so to speak.)
This 23 is actually the lowest team total in any of the 400 or so competitive matches I have played in. When you consider that includes 150 games for Open University (no strangers to the sensational collapse) that is remarkable. Speaking of Open University, the Haydons Road car park was where OU and Nomads legend Dave Hunter finally drove out of our lives in an incident described in the tear-jerking poem "I Just Looked Around and He Was Gone" by the Nomads' Poet Laureate (See last week's Post, which has incidentally provoked a good reaction on Facebook; "Clare in the Community" - I like that.) Another popular Nomads figure, Shailesh Bhatia, also played his last game at Haydons Road so it is a ground steeped in Nomadic history.
Man of the Match was Mark Bradshaw whose untroubled 72 made defeat almost impossible. Zia also had a very good day and Hassan's bowling figures were remarkable. Fielder of the Day was John Crossland whose excellence secured this new Club Record.
Nomads 211 for 7 from 35 overs
Bradshaw 72
M. Vyas 9
Darwin 25
H. Khan 8
Kee 12
Zia 42
A. Khan 8
R. Khan 1 not out
Did not bat; Lefebve, Todorow, Crossland
F.O.W. - 36. 100, 116, 140, 180, 208, 211
Touring Theatres 23 all out from 21.5 overs
H. Khan 7-5-5-4
Todorow 7-4-8-1
R. Khan 4-3-2-1
Zia 3.5-1-4-3
Clapham Nomads won by 188 runs
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