Burgh Heath v Clapham Nomads - 16/9/12

I had been told to arrange one final match via the Club Cricket Conference.  I was in a dilemma when Friday came and this was the only game in town.  We played Burgh Heath in 2005 and took such a beating that I was banned by John Crossland from ever arranging a fixture against them again.  I finally to decided to go ahead with it, told John we had a fixture v "Tattenham Corner" and prepared to face the music. (Hoping that at least some of 2005's South Africans would have moved on to greater things.)
The long journey down to Tattenham Way featured some genuinely alarming steam emanating from Emil Todorow's car bonnet but we eventually arrived to find that Burgh were a completely different line-up from their mid-noughties vintage and, in fact, only had 9 players including a boy of around 10.  8 of the side were related to one another.
Nomads fielded first with Hassan Khan difficult to get away as ever.  There was an early wicket but I have to say that the home side looked pretty untroubled.  Progress was never more than steady though, as they were probably aware of the depleted nature of their line-up.  Riaz bowled 8 economical overs and Emil did well to record reasonable figures despite his nagging back injury.  With around 8 overs to go, Heath were about 130 for 2 and 190 didn't look beyond them as they began to open up against Asad.  A nice catch from Nick Lefebve at long off partially stalled the charge and then an even better one by Hassan Khan at long on in Asad's following over exposed the tail and both sides seemed happy to accept the final total of 160 for 5.
At tea we realised this was a stiff test but felt we had got off a touch lightly; an opinion shared by one of Burgh Heath's higher scorers who told me; "If I had middled the ball today, I would have scored more runs." You can't really argue with logic like that.
Mahesh Vyas and Darwin opened Nomads' reply against the awkward Tailor and the swing and seam bowler Wali.  I was umpiring at Wali's end and I really enjoyed watching him bowl.  He was decidedly useful with a touch of swing and decent movement off the pitch but he seemed to be one of cricket's Unlucky Bowlers.  He beat the bat numerous times, just missed the stumps and had a good shout for leg before that was genuinely just missing.  I got the impression this happened to him every week. He reminded me of former England bowler Mike Hendrick in that he seemed to have incorporated a resigned shrug into his run-up.  His figures of 0-44 off 8 were a big boost for Nomads.
Darwin has really grown into his role as an attacking opener in the last few weeks and he hit 4 boundaries in a rapid 22 before being bowled.  Prasanth joined Mahesh and, after surviving some alarming running mix-ups early on, the pair carved out 75 important runs.  Mahesh was in sight of a deserved 50 when caught for 39, but when Prasanth was bowled for a stylish 32 twelve runs later, the initiative was back with the Surrey side.  The asking rate was over 7 at this point but No 5 Abdul Khan seized the moment.  He cracked a sparkling 27 at better than a run a ball, including a 6 and four 4s, dominating an unbeaten stand of 44 with Hassan Khan which saw Nomads home to an unexpectedly comfortable victory with 13 balls to spare.
This was a really nice way to end a difficult season and we finished with 6 wins and 6 defeats.  There were a few murmurs about arranging another game but sometimes you have to know when to cut and run and finish on a high.
Man of the Match was Abdul who marked his 100th appearance for the club with a most enjoyable innings.  Fielder of the Day is between Hassan Khan and Nick Lefebve who each took good catches in the deep.  Hassan's was a genuine dive while Lefebve's was more of a flop to earth but the latter player worked hard in this game to improve on some ordinary efforts in the field this year, and takes his first fielding award since this blog started.

Burgh Heath 160 for 5 from 35 overs

H. Khan  8-3-18-2
Asad  8-0-41-3
R. Khan  8-0-31-0
E. Todorow  8-0-42-0
A. Khan  3-0-20-0

Clapham Nomads  161 for 3 from 32.5 overs

M. Vyas  39
Darwin  22
P. Pattiyil  32
H. Khan  23 not out
A. Khan  37 not out

F.O.W. - 30, 105, 117

Clapham Nomads won by 7 wickets

Man of the Match - Abdul Khan
Fielder of the Day - Nick Lefebve