As I mentioned in November; New South Wales, Northamptonshire and Australia paceman Trent Copeland is now the most famous former Nomads player, replacing Graeme Douglas (the Lead Guitarist with Eddie and the Hot Rods) - as holder of this dubious title.
Admittedly he only played one game for us. What happened was that we used to hold an open net session at Clapham Common every April and, for a couple of years, we attracted some pretty decent Australian players. Two of the best were Cameron Russell and Chris Macdonald who played 6 or 7 games for us. One Sunday in May 2008 we had arranged a Conference fixture in Southall and - surprise, surprise - we were short; most Nomads think that anywhere west of Fulham is Welsh. Fortunately, Cameron and Chris had a mate called Trent who visiting London for the weekend and spending the summer as wicketkeeper-batsman for a top Irish club.
Anyway, Emil Todorow somehow put a full team out and, for the only time in Nomads' history, a near-majority were from the Land Down Under (either 5 or 6 - I genuinely cannot remember anything about No. 11 Nick Hall except that he was a nice bloke.)
Trent Copeland opened the batting with his University mate Cameron Russell and even I could quickly tell that he was a class above. He just had that crucial bit of extra time to play his shots and he middled almost everything. The pair soon saw off the openers and the home side put on a fairly unthreatening spinner. Trent took him for 10 off his first 2 balls; the six was rather large. "Easy, mate," Cameron called out (implying don't hit him out of the attack just yet.)
Trent was first out for 41 out of a partnership of 79 from around 12 overs which set Nomads up for a total of 225 for 8 off the full 35 in which most people chipped in. Not realising, he had a future Aussie Test opening bowler in the side, Emil put Copeland at slip, where he had a series of conversations with glovesman John Crossland (who recalls Trent as a really nice guy.) We are not sure if this is what made Copeland give up wicketkeeping.
Nomads won by 131 runs and Emil generously drove out of his way to drop Cameron, Chris and Trent off at Marble Arch. Sadly this wasn't enough to persuade Trent to become a regular Nomads player. He returned to Ireland and then to Australia where he played in top Grade Cricket in Sydney and, at some point became a Fast-Medium opening bowler. Excellent performances attracted State selectors and he was turning out for New South Wales within a year, taking 8 wickets in an innings on his Sheffield Shield debut. Another 18 months on and he donned his Baggy Green.
The relevant scorecards are below;
18/5/08 at Warren Farm Sports Ground, Southall.
Clapham Nomads 225 for 8 from 35 overs
Cameron Russell 48
Trent Copeland 41
Chris Macdonald 5
Adrian Mercuri 36
Abdul Khan 30
Chris Kennedy 7
Nick Lefebve 11
Emil Todorow (capt) 0
Dave Selleck not out 16
John Crossland (wkt) not out 2
Did not bat; Nick Hall
F.O.W. - 79, 108, 108, 142, 181, 184, 184, 210
Ealing Christian Centre 94 all out from 18.2 overs
Nomads' bowling;
Abdul Khan 4-1-31-2
Emil Todorow 6-0-27-2
Nick Hall 6-0-34-1
Dave Selleck 2.3-0-18-2
Catches; Crossland, Russell (2), Khan (2), Selleck
Clapham Nomads won by 131 runs
Fast forward just over 3 years to 31st August 2011 and, while Nomads were entertaining Old Leagonians at the John Ruskin Sports Ground in South Croydon, Trent Copeland was making his full test debut against Sri Lanka at the Galle International Stadium. The scorecard;
Australia - 1st innings - 273
Shane Watson 22
Phil Hughes 12
Ricky Ponting 44
Michael Clarke (capt) 23
Mike Hussey 95
Usman Khawaja 21
Brad Haddin (wkt) 24
Mitchell Johnson 14
Ryan Harris 1
Trent Copeland c Paranavitana b Randiv 12
Nathan Lyon not out 0
Bowling;
Welegedara 1-61
Lakmal 3-55
Herath 3-54
Randiv 2-76
Dilshan 2-27
Sri Lanka - 1st innings - 105
Paranavitana lbw b Watson 29
Dilshan (capt) c Ponting b Copeland 4
Sangakkara c Clarke b Lyon 10
D.Jayawardene run out (Copeland/Haddin) 11
Samaraweera lbw b Watson 26
H.Jayawardene (wkt) lbw b Watson 0
Mathews b Lyon 5
Randiv c Ponting b Lyon 9
Herath 0
Lakmal not out 2
Welegedara c & b Lyon 1
Bowling;
R. Harris 8-5-6-0
T. Copeland 12-3-24-1
M. Johnson 9-1-26-0
N. Lyon 15-3-34-5
S. Watson 6-1-11-3
Australia - 2nd innings - 210
Watson 0
Hughes 28
Ponting 4
Clarke 60
Hussey 15
Khawaja 26
Haddin 0
Johnson 8
Harris 23
Copeland not out 23
Lyon 13
Bowling;
Welegedara 6-3-13-2
Lakmal 8-3-23-1
Herath 23-3-79-5
Randiv 14-3-61-0
Dilshan 8.2-1-26-2
Sri Lanka - 2nd innings - 253
Paranavitana lbw b Harris 0
Dilshan b Harris 12
Sangakkara c Hussey b Watson 17
D.Jayawardene b Harris 105
Samaraweera c Haddin b Johnson 0
H.Jayawardene b Harris 0
Mathews b Watson 95
Randiv c Clarke b Johnson 0
Herath c Copeland b Harris 12
Lakmal c Johnson b Lyon 5
Welegedara not out 4
Bowling;
Harris 20-5-62-5
Copeland 16-6-20-0
Johnson 19-6-56-2
Lyon 19.5-2-73-1
Clarke 6-0-16-0
Watson 13-6-19-2
Ponting 2-0-5-0
Australia won by 125 runs
Our man certainly made his mark in this match, especially in the second half, supplying 23 runs late in Australia's second innings and participating in a 10th wicket stand of 42 in 41 balls to set up a tough target of 379 for the Home side, and then tying 1 end up - going for 1.2 an over - in the run chase.
Australia won that series and Copeland played his part in the 3 games, with an overall economy rate of only just over 2, but he has not turned out in a Test match since. He came to my attention when I saw the county averages for 2013 and Trent had the best average of any regular bowler. He also scored plenty of runs at around 35 and was the main reason Northants got promotion. I remembered the name and a bit of internet research confirmed it was the same man. There was plenty of call for him to be recalled to boost a struggling Australia side in England last summer but this seems rather less likely to happen now. Anyway, we wish Trent all the best and hope he has forgiven Emil for not giving him a bowl.
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