After a bright start - 114 for 2 at one point - and another excellent partnership beteen Mahesh and Hassan, Nomads threw it away a bit against some professional and enterprising Exiles bowling and finished on a rather under par 147 all out. At least we had a chance to savour a 10th wicket stand between Emil and John; always worth the admission money.
In reply, our 2 veteran heroes struck early to remove Steve Parkinson - who scored an all-time Exiles record score of 141 against us last year - with a fine diving catch behind the stumps. However a well-paced stand of 90 or so between Keith Roberts - whose 50 came up with the score on only around 85 - and skipper Chris Plume took the Exiles within striking distance of victory, and they got home comfortably despite 2 late wickets from Zia.
FULL REPORT TO FOLLOW - In the meantime there is a report on Exiles' website. If you search Energy Exiles on google and then go into Match Reports and 2017 Match reports - there it is.
UPDATE - A slightly disappointing defeat against our perennial nemesis (or to use the Clapham vernacular - bloody awkward sods who always beat us) the Energy Exiles.
Nomads were surprisingly inserted by the Exiles - what were they up to this time? Also surprisingly, Simon Gundry was missing from the line-up but in Jibran Ahmed they have an opening bowler who does not quite have Gundry's accuracy but may have the slight edge on pace at times. He roared downhill and soon claimed the scalp of Darwin. A quality catch in the gully by Keith Roberts. 8 for 1. KK made his debut in this fixture last year and produced a similar pinch-hitting performance - 5 boundaries in his 22 - to lift the gloom a little. Mahesh's excellent form was continuing and his usual mixture of obduracy, flamboyant footwork and crunching leg-side blows was rapidly improving our position. When Hassan joined him, the pair picked up where they left off 2 weeks previously and produced a really high-class stand of 81 for the 3rd wicket. They kept up a good rate against the openers but Exiles fielding was, as ever, tight - particularly newcomer Geoff Ng. Having overheard that this was Ng's first competitive cricket match, our heroes tried to take a cheeky single to him, not realising that he is a Canadian baseball player. "Thwack" went the bullet throw into keeper Chris Plume's gloves right over the stumps. We survived by millimetres. Andy Wingfield and Bernard Leuvinnink took over the bowling. With the 20-over drinks break in sight, Hassan played his only loose shot of the innings, cutting one from Leuvinnink that was a little too close and being unlucky to get a thick inside edge onto the stumps. An absolutely crucial wicket.
114 for 3 quickly became 114 for 5 as Riaz - a fine catch over the fielder's shoulder - and Naeem departed either side of the drinks break. Javed and Mahesh stroked another valuable 22 runs but Exiles had, in Wingfield and Phil Ling, a pair of thinking bowlers who get a lot of movement - Ling in the air; Wingfield usually off the seam. Wingfield was not fully fit but even at 80% pace down the hill he was a handful and bowled Javed followed by the vital wicket of Zia - clipping leg stump. Meanwhile Mahesh, who had played very well for his 35 (possibly his best score against the Exiles) was deceived by an inswinger from Ling that did not move as much as Ling's usually do and was bowled. Abbas hit our only 6 of the day but departed to bring together Emil Todorow and John Crossland in what, as ever, was a treat for fans of adult entertainment. The pair stayed together for 5 overs in what Exiles' report described diplomatically as a gritty stand. It was fairly uncontroversial by their standards but they did have a sharp exchange of views about who played the most shots which, when you have just made a stand of 5 in 5 overs is rather like 2 UKIP candidates arguing about who has the greater love for the EU Parliament. Eventually Crossland holed out - his first dismissal for over a year and a half - and left Nomads with 2 unused overs and a total of 147 which was probably at last 50 below par for Cottenham Park in the sunshine.
An excellent tea was enjoyed as Nomads mulled over the possible methods of avoiding defeat. A sudden torrential thunderstorm appearing out of the bright blue sky? Mining subsidence causing the pitch to disappear? Just going home? What was not helpful, when defending 147 on a batting paradise, was seeing a man who scored 141 against us last year taking strike. Surprisingly, Exiles highest individual innings man, Steve Parkinson, was undone by a brilliant combination from Emil Todorow and John Crossland. The keeper diving forward to snaffle a ball that the veteran seamer had drifted onto the outside edge of Parkinson's bat. A fine start but Keith Roberts and Chris Plume soon began to look very assured. Roberts has always been extremely difficult to get out but he is even more adept these days at using the pace of the ball and the short straight boundaries at Cottenham Park facilitated this. Plume is also an accomplished accumulator of runs and the pair were in little trouble and took singles at will against a field that was too deep in places. Roberts passed his 50 with the score still well below 100. Some small hope was revived when Zia produced a beauty first ball up after drinks to have Roberts caught behind. Zia and John Crossland combined again for the third wicket but Plume led his side safely home for a victory that had never been in doubt from about 40 for 1 onwards.
Well done Exiles ... yet again. It was actually a fine achievement to dismiss a Nomads line-up who, in our other 3 matches this season to date (15/5), have scored a total of 703 runs for the loss of only 14 wickets.
We had an enjoyable drink afterwards in the Raynes Park Tavern where we learned that Keith Roberts' son, an off-spinner, has just made his debut for the Exiles. So there is another generation rising up to torment us. Is there no hope?
We also met Simon Gundry, taking an afternoon constitutional with his excellent dog - a pug called Beefy. Yes, named after Ian Botham, an opponent only slightly less formidable than Gundry himself. I do not know whether any Nomads have pets but, if Emil Todorow had a dog, one assumes it would be called Hick, or Graeme, after his favourite player/obsession (it would therefore have to be a Rhodesian - or Zimbabwean - Ridgeback). Being a keeper, I imagine John Crossland would have a Jack Russell. Maybe we will just hire a big, fluffy, animal mascot (like football teams have) and bring it along for the return match against Exiles on 20th August. It is worth trying anything to put them off.
Man of the Match was Hassan who scored 44.
Fielder of the Day was John Crossland; a hat-trick of catches (the only wickets we took) and only one ball went past him for byes.
Clapham Nomads 147 all out from 33 overs
Mahesh 35
Darwin 4
KK 22
Hassan 44
Riaz 0
Naeem 0
Javed 13
Zia 0
Abbas 6
Emil not out 2
John 3
F.O.W. - 8, 33, 114, 114, 114, 136, 136, 142, 142, 147
Energy Exiles 148 for 3 from 27.2 overs (K. Roberts 57)
Nomads' bowling;
Hassan 5-2-15-0
Emil 4-1-24-1
Riaz 4-0-22-0
Abbas 5-0-32-0
KK 4-0-24-0
Zia 4-0-16-2
Javed 1.2-0-8-0
Clapham Nomads lost by 7 wickets
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