Clapham Nomads v Long Ditton - 3/5/15

I hadn't realised what a difficult game this had the potential to be until I had a glance at Long Ditton's website a few days before the game and found that they are an incredibly well-organised club, with loads of different age group teams and extensive coaching facilities.
I didn't play in this one myself but I met former Nomads all-rounder Joe Chance in the evening at our usual haunt - Wetherspoons in Balham (classy!) - and, before too long Emil Todorow and John Crossland staggered in shaking their arms and limping perceptibly.  "That was tough," they asserted repeatedly, before revealing that Nomads had, in fact, ground out an excellent victory by 6 wickets.
Nomads fielded first on a Joseph Hood track that played pretty well but was surrounded by an extremely spacious and grassy outfield, slowed up even more by heavy overnight rain.  An excellent bowling performance from the Home side allowed us to restrict a Ditton line-up with many well-coached youngsters to just 102 from the full 35, one of the lowest totals we have ever conceded from 35 overs.  Excellent bowling from Sami, Hassan and Abbas was a bit too much for the visitors' young line-up to deal with and the set the foundations for Nomads only having to chase a target that was not massive but looked possibly tricky against a visiting line up that contained excellent teenage bowlers of both genders, several of whom play for representative sides.
Led by Mark Bradshaw with one of his typically gritty 30 plus innings, (he played with great control and was only out when we had reached 94, and the winning post was in sight) with good support from Gul, Darwin, Hassan, Abdul and especially Riaz, Nomads reached our target with just 9 balls to spare. 

Long Ditton 102 for 7 from 35 overs

Nomads' bowling
Sami  7-1-9-2
H. Khan  7-1-10-0
Abbas Khan  7-0-12-2
E. Todorow  5-0-14-1
Abdul Khan  7-1-35-1
R. Khan  2-0-7-1

Clapham Nomads 103 for 4 from 33.3 overs

M. Bradshaw  33
Gul  7
D. Gunawardena  17
R. Khan  25
H. Khan  12 not out
Abdul Khan  not out 0
Did not bat; E. Todorow, Sami, Abbas Khan, J. Crossland, Mo

F.O.W. - 15, 51, 90, 94

Clapham Nomads won by 6 wickets

Man of the Match - Mark Bradshaw