Nomads made the long journey to Barnes Occasionals' Ham Street ground with a full team. Inserted by the home side in a time game, Nomads rattled up 235 for 6 in fine style from the full two and a half hours. All batsmen contributed well. Mahesh was the lowest scorer with 18 but he played his part in seeing off the pace of Rohit Benjamin and the deceptive flight and in-swing of Ollie Hogg. From 53 for 2 when Mahesh departed, a fine stand of 80 between Darwin (46) and Prasanth (32) took shape before both were stumped in quick succession by Occasionals' keeper - bravely staning up to Benjamin.
The most entertaining batting came from Hassan Khan, a fine return to form with 51, and another thumping knock from Conrad Chandler; 3 sixes in his 44. Barnes' veteran off-spinner Nigel Pettitt was put on at the end with the short leg-side boundary and Nomads cashed in with 30 from his 2 overs.
235 for 6 at tea had probably taken the game beyond Barnes' reach - as far as going for the win was concerned - but it gave Nomads just 1 hour plus 20 overs to dismiss an experienced batting line-up to notch our 3rd victory of the summer. Scorer John Crossland was quick to discuss with skipper Todorow other options he might have explored.
Hassan Khan and Emil Todorow had Barnes in plenty of trouble from the word go and reduced them to 18 for 3 in the 6th over, pretty much focusing Barnes on batting out for the draw. There was something of a recovery to 59 for 5, led by Roger Price and Adam Hogg, but then fiery pace bowling from Abbas, supported by a fine 10-over spell from Zia and a couple of run outs had the Occasionals facing likely defeat on 75 for 9 with 11 overs for the last pair to survive. This they did, however, with some comfort; Rohit Benjamin counter-attacking with a breezy 34 not out - mostly through the leg side - and No. 11 Ollie Hogg blocking stoutly and giving just one half-chance, which our diving Leg Slip just got a fingertip to. So a draw it was, but Nomads were on top throughout. I suppose that makes up for us cheekily claiming a draw the previous week after being outplayed. There was considerable controversy in the pub afterwards with scorer John Crossland asserting that Skipper Emil Todorow should have declared when we reached 200 - thereby giving us 5 or 6 extra overs to take the 10 wickets. Both men stood their ground stoutly and noisily. I think the Barnes players enjoyed this "discussion" more than they enjoyed the match itself. Man of the Match was Abbas who bowled with real passion and good pace and took 3 wickets. He also set up 2 run outs at potentially crucial times and therefore takes the Fielder of the Day award as well.
Clapham Nomads 235 for 6 from 40 overs
M. Vyas 18
Gul 24
Darwin 46
P. Pattiyil 32
H. Khan 51
C. Chandler 44
Zia 6 not out
Abdul Khan 0 not out
F.O.W. - 33, 53, 133, 137, 228, 233
Barnes Occasionals 115 for 9 from 35 overs
Nomads Bowling;
H. Khan 7-1-17-1
E. Todorow 8-3-15-2
Zia 10-0-48-1
Abbas Khan 5-1-22-3
Abdul Khan 3-2-1-0
C. Chandler 2-0-5-0
Match Drawn
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