A rare cancellation from the reliable Barnes Occasionals left Nomads looking for a replacement fixture last weekend but we soon managed to arrange a game against the excellently-named Gentlemen of Hampstead.
There are several unusual links between the 2 clubs; a) both are named after areas with astronomical property prices and famous open spaces (Hampstead has its Heath - a hillier, larger, wilder version of Clapham's famous Common) which are, I am informed by people in the know, used for very particular "leisure pursuits" - I mean long, healthy walks of course. b) With a surprise appearance from Andrew West - still banned from playing or umpiring, but remaining a Nomads Legend who can still update the scoreboard and eat a large tea - we were justified in subtitling ourselves "the Gentlemen of Clapham." c) Both clubs have Eastern Bloc connections; Nomads' is well-known but the "Gents'" is perhaps more interesting as they went on tour to Moscow in 1988, during the last days of the USSR, and played matches against three embassy sides; UK, Australia and New Zealand. They played at Moscow's Olympic Stadium, and had to prepare the pitch themselves using a scythe. d) Finally, they were founded in 1960 by the late, great actor Sir John Hurt, star of Midnight Express, Champions and The Naked Civil Servant. The connection here - Nomads have been represented by several civil servants, but probably none you would wish to see naked.
Anyway, to cricket. In a 10-a-side contest The Gents won the toss and batted under threatening skies with rain forecast. Their openers Brann and Nelms started well, peppering the short boundaries. The pitch was basically good but with a touch of irregular bounce both high and low. The breakthrough came in the 8th over when Emil Todorow, who bowled a good steady spell, found a little extra bounce and had Nelms well-caught in the slips by Mahesh Vyas - 32 for 1. Abbas replaced Hassan and, with a touch of extra pace, caused Brann to play on off the inside edge. 41 for 2 . Not long after, Abbas found the edge of No. 3 Preston's bat but it dropped just short of keeper John Crossland. That would have put us in a good position but Preston took full advantage of the let-off and dealt harshly with the frequent short balls. With the left-handed Cleeve also playing well the Gents made remorseless progress, with
just one half-chance going down, to 111 when Abbas found Cleeve's edge and Crossland snaffled the chance.
Another profitable stand followed between Preston and skipper Matt Bell but this was marked by some comedy (? tragicomedy) fielding by 2 of Nomads' veterans. The bowling was too short but the batsmen, almost as if they were doing it on purpose, kept chipping the ball up into the inner leg-side. Our 2 seniors (yes, alright, I was one of them...NL) missed 2 chances each in a 6-over period. One each was eminently catchable but both old-timers were also confronted by hideous, swirling skyers, neither of which they managed to get a hand to. (Well, it was a bit gusty.) The unluckiest bowler was Javed who should have had 3 wickets. Eventually, Faseeh showed us the way to do it when he did well to catch both these batsmen, in successive balls from Sami, on the Deep Mid Wicket boundary with the score on an imposing 183 in the 28th over. A late flurry, led by Sadip, took the North London side just over the 200, having scored at over 6.5 an over.
An eclectic, alfresco tea was enjoyed despite the high winds which we can call Hurricane Andrew as Mr West was on hand to increase our eating rate and chase off stray dogs.
Nomads had lost several batsmen due to late withdrawals (Zia, Riaz and KK) so this target looked tall. Even more so when Matt Bell, bowling a tricky length up the hill, had Mahesh and Javed caught, and back in the pavilion, with the total on 21.
There followed a superlative stand between Darwin, producing his best batting of the season and absolutely leathering the ball, mainly between Extra Cover and Mid Off but also over Square Leg, and Hassan who started the game on ? 597 runs this year at an average of well over 70. Hassan batted really elegantly and did not give a chance until he was finally out for 71 later on. In the meantime, the stand was tragically broken after the pair had put on 96 for the 3rd wicket when Darwin was run out to a smart piece of work in the covers. 117 for 3 and a lot now appeared to rest on Hassan. Faseeh started well but fell to a caught and bowled from the tricky left-arm spinner Alex Bell. 141 for 4. Hassan finally fell 3 runs later and, at 144 for 5 with only 4 wickets left, we seemed up against it, particularly to scorer John Crossland who was becoming so apopleptic on the sidelines that a colleague had to point out to him the difficulty of obtaining emergency medical assistance on a Sunday.
Abbas and Sami batted nicely to add 29 before Abbas was well stumped by Preston. Sami was starting to knock it about really well but now had only Nick Lefebve, Emil Todorow and John Crossland for company with 30 still needed. Thanks to Hassan and Darwin we were well up with the rate with about 8 overs to go. Lefebve had not held a bat for 4 months and showed virtually zero technique but fortunately some guts in sealing one end while Sami played some cracking shots. The pair took us in sight of victory when a short one reared up, ? off the edge, and hit Sami in the face causing temporary retirement. Still 4 to win off about 14 balls as Emil Todorow walked out. The elderly pair of Lefebve and Todorow - opening batsmen in a previous lifetime but who now had to concentrate as much on wiping the drizzle off their spectacles as on batting - streaked a couple before Lefebve finally got hold of a leg-stump delivery and smacked it towards the boundary. Victory seemed sealed but then, simultaneously, the batsman skidded back on the slippery crease and upended a stump and Alex Bell soared to take a mid-air one-handed catch at Backward Square. Out, however you want to label it (I will settle for Hit Wicket so I can blame the pitch). With 2 still needed off 7 balls, Sami bravely returned with a swollen cheek but was bowled. This left Emil with 6 balls to face and 2 to win. Gents had run out of front-line bowling options and turned to the gentle pace but reasonable accuracy of Nelms. This was definitely an "Eric Situation" - see report for Nomads v Surbiton Imperials from April 2014. The ghost of Eric loomed very large as Emil failed to connect with the first 3 deliveries but finally received one "in the zone" (short and outside off stump). Our hero belted it past the despairing dive of Point, went through for an easy single, and then halted. With all Nomads, Andrew West, and especially non-striker John Crossland bellowing obscenities at him, the skipper revved up again and scampered home for the second to secure victory in a real squeaky bum thriller.
Not out best perfomance by any means, despite excellent perfomances from Hassan, Darwin and Sami, but a fine team effort with everyone contributing something. A team for whom winning has become a habit - our 9th of the season - we could not countenance defeat and dug deep for the win. All credit to Hampstead as well, a talented, pleasant and very interesting side. When you arrange a Conference Fixture you are looking for well-matched opponents - and a 1-wicket win shows the teams certainly were well-matched.
Gentlemen of Hampstead 202 for 6 from 30 overs
Brann b Abbas 25
Nelms c Mahesh b Emil 9
Preston (wkt) c Faseeh b Sami 84
Cleeve c John b Abbas 20
M. Bell (cpt) c Faseeh b Sami 33
Sadip not out 14
AJ b Sami 0
Welton not out 2
F.O.W. - 32, 41, 111, 183, 183, 183
Nomads' bowling;
Hassan 5-1-19-0
Emil 6-1-29-1
Abbas 6-0-48-2
Faseeh 6-0-30-0
Sami 4-0-39-3
Javed 3-0-32-0
Clapham Nomads 203 for 8 from 29.4 overs
Mahesh c ---------- b M.Bell 3
Darwin run out 53
Javed c ----------- b M. Bell 3
Hassan c ----------- b Cleeve 71
Faseeh c & b A. Bell 4
Sami b Cleeve 34
Abbas stumped Preston b Sadip 12
Nick hit wicket b Cleeve 1
Emil not out 3
John not out 0
F./O.W. - 7, 21, 117, 141, 144, 173, 201, 201
Gentlemen of Hampstead's bowling;
Welton 5-0-47-0
M. Bell 6-0-47-2
A. Bell 6-0-35-1
Sadip 6-0-47-1
Cleeve 6-3-16-3
Nelms 0.4-0-2-0
Clapham Nomads won by 1 wicket (10-a-side match)
Man of the Match - Hassan
Fielder of the Day - Faseeh.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment