Clapham Nomads v Surbiton Imperials - 26/4/15

Things didn't look too hopeful for this fixture throughout the preceding week, with the weather forecast being poor and Surbiton being uncertain of raising a full team.  In the event, the persistent drizzle stopped about 11:30 and 2 full teams arrived at Barn Elms to find a remarkably green wicket awaiting our pleasure.  It was almost as grassy as the outfield which is saying something.  We might have been filled with extreme trepidation had we not remembered Jim Joyce's incredible century a few years back on an even worse-looking pitch on the same square.
30 overs a side was agreed on to ensure a full game.  Surbiton batted first, missing a few regulars, but with the dangerous Jonny Rosenthal opening.  Nomads turned in a fair bowling effort for the 1st game of the season, with Hassan claiming 3 wickets and Sami being the most economical bowler.
We managed to restrict Surbiton to 140 off the full 30.  The pitch played much better than expected, though Sami did get some vicious bounce at least once.  Nothing kept really low.  Had we not dropped Jonny 3 times - and, explosive player that he is, he made us pay with 73 not out - we could have been in much stronger position but, with a slow outfield and despite the shortish boundaries and a strong Nomads batting line-up, I made the Away side slight favourites at the break.
At the tea interval, a film crew who had been in touch with the opposition was supposed to arrive to take a wry look (? take the piss out of) cricket for the benefit of an American television audience.  I don't know whether they got lost in the maze of sports pitches in the Barn Elms area, experienced technical difficulties or simply realised that, without Andrew West playing, the star of the show was missing; but anyway they didn't show up and our match had to remain unsatirised.
Nomads had a cautious start against some excellent and varied bowling.  Mahesh was bowled around his legs in over 5 or 6 but steady progress from Mark and Prasanth took us up to around 49 for 1 at the 15-over drinks break.  The highlight of this period was an interesting leg-spinner who made things awkward for our guys until Mark began to pick his leggie and thrashed 2 resounding fours past Cover Point.
Acceleration was requested by skipper Todorow and by the waiting batsmen at the break but unfortunately we lost both Mark for 18 and Prasanth for a quality, hard-hitting 29 including 5 fours, in the 16th over.  Good scoreboard progress was made by Hassan who top-scored with 37 including a stunning cover drive, Riaz and Abdul but wickets fell too frequently and we fell just short.  Our problem was running out of front-line batsmen rather than running out of time.  12 were needed at the start of the last over with Emil and Abbas at the crease.  They both did ok but the task was just too tall and we needed 6 to tie off the final ball.  Abbas used his feet well and took a mighty swing.  Had he connected, I think it would have gone for 6 to secure our 2nd tie in successive seasons against Surbiton.  Unfortunately he just missed and was stumped, but it was a good attempt by our guys and an interesting and exciting game which I'm sure would have been enjoyed from New York to L.A. had the film crew turned up.
Jonny's batting was probably the difference between the sides and, had we taken our chances, I think we would have won; but all credit to Imperials for a good victory.  We look forward to the return game.

Surbiton Imperials 140 for 7 from 30 overs

Nomads' bowling
H. Khan 6-0-40-3
Sami  6-0-18-1
Abbas Khan  6-2-23-1
E.Todorow 5-0-26-1
Abdul Khan  5-0-20-0
R.Khan  2-0-12-0

Clapham Nomads 134 for 9 from 30 overs
M.Bradshaw 18
M.Vyas  1
P.Pattiyil  29
Gul  2
H. Khan 37
R. Khan 15
Abdul Khan  11
Sami  5
Abbas Khan  2
E. Todorow  not out 2
F.O.W.  3,49,55,71,94,111,122,130,134

Man of the match was Hassan
Fielder of the day - Hassan

Surbiton Imperials won by 6 runs.