A new venue for Nomads; Mayow Park, Sydenham SE26, a sylvan oasis surrounded by pink and ochre tower blocks. I had never heard of this place before but it was very pleasant.
This is not the sort of fixture you want to undertake with a depleted side but Nomads had suffered a truly eclectic list of withdrawals this week; Adbul was in Poland playing in the European Carrom Championships, Zia couldn't be contacted as only Abdul and Emil (who has lost it) have his number, Prasanth still has gout (hope you feel better soon, Prasanth), John still has his broken leg, Chris Kennedy was playing 5-a-side football for Balham Wetherspoons Customers in a tournament (they lost to Tooting Wetherspoons Staff in a play-off.) Fortunately we had a new man in Conrad Chandler, and Gul brought along 2 early teenage relatives to make up the 11.
Just brief details until I get the scorebook back. Nomads fielded first and Emil and (particularly) Hassan started brilliantly. Emil rattled the stumps with his first ball in the second over and the pair took 2 wickets each as, incredibly, Nomads reduced the hosts to 27 for 4 after 7 overs. Recovery was swift and the score at the 15-over drinks break was 88 for 4 with plenty of batting to come as Mix had apparently tinkered with/reversed their usual batting order. With a Nomads batting line-up well short of full strength on paper, the game was already slipping away but we hoped to concede no more than 200. However the Mix batting - led by Nigel, Jono and Latty in a frustrating series of left-hand/ right-hand partnerships - was remorseless and we took some severe punishment conceding on average over 9 runs an over after the break with Caribbean closing on 275 for 6 off the full 35 overs; the second-highest total we have ever conceded. This was on a massive playing area with boundaries somewhere over the far horizons. Nomads fielding became a bit ragged at the end but we got through an enormous amount of work; Hassan and Abbas were very sound, Nick Lefebve saved a stack of byes/wides at Back Stop off the quicker bowlers and Mahesh Vyas took a nice catch and a smart stumping.
Andrew West was in the thick of the action as usual, being hit full in the nuts while attempting a diving stop and then, a few overs later, suffering a suspected broken finger while attempted to catch a skied shot in the deep. Trouper that he is, he agreed to stay and umpire (though unable to bat) and we dropped him off at Kings College Hospital afterwards where it is rumoured that an air-call message was put out at around Midnight; "Would the Orthopaedic Surgeon examining Mr Andrew West's broken finger please also count his testicles."
(ANDREW WEST UPDATE - Sadly, Andrew has broken his finger in 2 places. Hope you feel better soon Andrew. He did very well to stay on and umpire last week despite being in a lot of pain. Mind you, as everyone knows, Nomads umpires don't really use their fingers that much.)
Tea was excellent as always. One of our players ate 3 platefuls.
There was an early setback for Nomads when Gul was hit in the face by one of the few lifters encountered on this slow, flat pitch. He retired hurt and Nick Lefebve joined Mahesh Vyas. Vyas, playing against his old club,was bowled for 2, Gul returned but fell shortly afterwards. 33 for 2 (with extras the top scorer) and the remaining batsmen either out of form, unproven or underage. Our chance of victory was approximately zero at this stage. Lefebve played out a cautious stand of 60-ish with Riaz Khan. Khan playing most of the shots with Lefebve occasionally flicking one to leg through the mass of close up sledgers. I'm not sure who grew more frustrated, the sledgers or the waiting batsmen. Lefebve was finally caught behind for 17 with the score on 93 in around over 25. Hassan began to go for his shots immediately but Riaz was run out before the 100 was up. New man Conrad Chandler strode out and soon produced a really fine display of crisp hitting. Particularly strong in the arc between long off and wide long-on, he missed out on a few sixes only because of the arcane Mayow Park rule that states that if the ball so much as flicks a leaf of an over-hanging tree on its way to clear the boundary, then only 4 is scored. Nomads had not been aware of this rule while fielding. If we had been, we would only have conceded around 265 (not a particularly significant difference, I suppose.)
With the scorers calling out Chandler's score as 48 after 1 (wide) ball of the penultimate over, the heavens opened. As the bowling end umpire, I would have asked for an extra ball to give Conrad one shot at his 50 but I looked up and the fielders had vanished. It turned out the batsman was on 44 but he would still have had a chance of clearing the ropes the way he was playing.
So the match was abandoned with Nomads on 164 for 4. A gritty and creditable effort against a useful attack. Nomads (not being desperate of course) decided to claim a draw, while acknowledging that Caribbean had done more than enough to secure a win. We did consider whether there was any way that the Duckworth-Lewis method could grant Nomads our third win of the season but we quickly realised that even this convoluted formula is unlikely to regard a side requiring 112 to win off 12 balls as being in a winning position. The verdict then; 2 results this week - Caribbean Mix won on faster run rate. Nomads Drew.
Man of the Match was Conrad Chandler whose batting was a treat to watch and also took a wicket to break Caribbean's largest partnership. I have already mentioned some of the better fielders but I will award Fielder of the Day jointly to the 2 youngsters, Saad and Umar, who did very well and have fine throws for their age. Well done guys, I'm sorry you didn't get a bat.
Caribbean Mix - 275 for 6 from 35 overs
Nomads bowling;
H. Khan 7-1-30-2
E.Todorow 6-0-32-2
Abbas Khan 5-0-55-0
A. West 6-0-41-0
C. Chandler 6-0-56-1
R. Khan 5-0-44-1
Clapham Nomads - 164 for 4 from 33 overs
M. Vyas 2
Gul 5
N. Lefebve 17
R. Khan 30
H. Khan 14 not out
C. Chandler 44 not out
F.O.W. - 23, 37, 93, 99
Match abandoned as a draw.
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