Clapham Nomads produced our best batting of the season on another warm day on a very good pitch at Abbey Rec but still, amazingly, lost by 9 wickets. A superb 92 not out by Wimbledon skipper Dave Hitchman, well-supported by James Flannery in an opening stand of 88 and then by Alex Herbert for the remainder of the innings saw United home with 3.2 overs to spare. Nomads bowling was by no means bad (Riaz was probably the pick while Emil Todorow had the cheapest economy rate - the only bowler to go for under 4 an over.) Abdul took the only wicket to fall but also hurt his finger badly near the end - hope it is OK Abdul. Nomads groundfielding was not fantastic but only one catching chance was put down (and that was right near the end when the game was lost.)
Hitchman and Flannery really kicked on at 6 an over and United were well over 100 at the 20-over drinks break. This took the pressure right off and they only had to bat sensibly to close out the win. This early scoring was the main difference between the sides as Nomads were only 60-odd at our halfway mark.
The other difference was that the Dons had 3 bowlers; Rowan Wijedena, Peter Brown (The Southfields Express) and Alex Herbert who all made our players work much harder for their runs than any Wimbledon batsman had to.
Our innings began quite comfortably with Mark Bradshaw playing such a feather-light leg glance in the first over that Scorer John Crossland shouted to the umpire to signal byes. Both openers dealt well with the awkward Wijedena who kind of thinks batsmen out with accuracy and subtle movement and variation (rather like a quicker and (much) younger Naren Patel of Energy Exiles, and the lively away swing of Brown. Disaster struck in the 5th over when a Nomads player suddenly appeared behind the bowler's arm just as Wijedena was bowling, distracting Bradshaw who played on to a slight in-cutter. In Wijedena's next over, Mahesh Vyas came too far across his stumps and the exposed leg stump was uprooted to the shock of the batsman. 10 for 2 (exactly as in our previous 2 games.) Once No. 3 Prasanth Pattiyil had survived a couple of early pull shots off middle stump (was it Sir Geoffrey Boycott that said you should never pull until you have passed 70?) he continued his excellent work of last week and set about recovering the position, ably accompanied by Hassan Khan.
On 48 for 2, Prasanth was adjudged leg before for a useful 12 and Hassan was joined by Gul. There was a massive shout for caught behind against last season's Batsman of the Year early on but the umpire noticed Gul's bat had hit the ground (one of my better decisions though I say so myself and partly compensating for the very many dodgy decisions I have made.) The two friends built a major stand but it was hard work in the 79 degree heat with the long boundaries causing many 2s and 3s to be run.
Gul was back close to his best but was caught behind in Brown's second spell with the stand just 3 short of the century it deserved. Hassan had batted brilliantly but was beginning to find it hard work and looked dehydrated. He retired on 71 with the score on 152. Useful late runs from Darwin, Riaz and Abdul took the score up 174 for 6 at the close. One Nomad said we perhaps hadn't really kicked on sufficiently, late in the innings but the last 6 overs of our knock all went for between 3 and 8, so we weren't exactly static.
It was a tough one to call. Wimbledon notched up 180 for 4 in last year's home match but had scored significantly less in the other 2 recent games. Bookies might have made Nomads 4 to 5 favourites unless, unlike me, they were aware of just what excellent batting stats Dave Hitchman has. He has several recent centuries to his name.
Hassan was still dehydrated so Abbas and Emil opened. They bowled reasonably but fine Wimbledon batting, with sharp running a particular feature, and Nomads' groundfielding a little way short of our best, allowed the Away side to race away at 6 an over early on. One Nomad pointed out at drinks that there was still a fair way to go; another speculated that there might not be too much batting to come (that was certainly not the case.) Riaz bowled very accurately and had some good shouts. Abdul's variety was impressive and he took the only wicket to fall. United kept up reasonable momentum evidenced by Nomads not bowling a single maiden. Hassan returned to the field and bowled 3rd change, predominantly spin. He missed the stumps by a whisker and had a chance dropped off his bowling but United were in the finishing straight by then.
Well done to Wimbledon. Another enjoyable fixture and we saw some fine batting. We have never lost by 10 wickets thankfully but have lost by 9 wickets on 4 or 5 occasions with this 174 being the highest total we have scored in any of those games. Wimbledon's innings would therefore have to go down as one of the best run chases against the Nomads.
Good batting from Nomads, though. In fact our batting has improved game by game in each of our 6 matches. Unfortunately the bowling has rather gone the other way. We have only taken 2 wickets in total in our last 2 games and have conceded 420 runs. Whereas our first 4 matches saw only slightly more runs (465) scored against us while we took 36 wickets. It can't be entirely due to missing Sami (class bowler though he is.) I think the arrival of sunny weather, sound wickets and in-form, well-played-in batsmen has more to do with it.
Man of the Match was Hassan for another excellent innings - he has really found his form, averaging 165 in his last 3 innings. John and Emil also praised his fielding but he didn't field the full innings (he did well to come on though despite being dehydrated.) They also picked out Mark Bradshaw for some good stops, enthusiasm and encouragement, while Abbas worked hard and 12th Man Nick Lefebve did ok in 2 short-notice spells as sub fielder. Emil Todorow showed his fancy footwork again - if the one against Barnes Occasionals was Stoichkov, the one yesterday was Georgi Asparuhov. Mark Bradshaw takes Fielder of the Day.
Clapham Nomads 174 for 6 from 40 overs
M. Bradshaw 6
M. Vyas 0
P. Pattiyil 12
H. Khan retired 71
Gul 45
D. Gunewardena 7
R. Khan 6
Abbas Khan not out 1
Abdul Khan not out 4
Did not bat; E. Todorow, J. Crossland
F.O.W. - 8, 10, 48, 145, 166, 166
Wimbledon United 175 for 1 from 36.4 overs
D. Hitchman not out 92
J. Flannery 33
A. Herbert not out 30
F.O.W. - 88
Nomads bowling;
Abbas Khan 8-0-46-0
E, Todorow 7-0-27-0
Abdul Khan 8-0-44-1
R. Khan 8-0-33-0
H. Khan 5.4-0-25-0
Wimbledon United won by 9 wickets
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