Clapham Nomads v Wimbledon United

Nomads played an absolutely classic match against local rivals Wimbledon United on Sunday.
For a change, the venue was Wandsworth Common; a ground with a resonant history for the Nomads as it was the scene of Emil Todorow's first competitive game and also featured one of Andrew West's most memorable moments. I think there was also a 50 partnership between Emil and John Crossland about 15 years ago - must have been a thing of beauty.
It is also the sort of ground that makes many cricketers who have played there involuntarily rub the sites of long-forgotten bruises on their heads and upper body and, in fact, when we arrived, a crowd of players was examining a very green strip with extreme scepticism. Thankfully, when I returned with the tea, the groundsman had put us on a strip on the Prison Side which is basically for kids but has lines for Adult matches as well. This played pretty well as you will see from the scores.
Nomads batted by arrangement (some of our batsmen were late) and we were soon in difficulty at 30 for 3 . The third man to fall was Mahesh to an LBW decision off the bowling of Greg Dean which looked a little unlucky (? a touch high - I wouldn't have given it, anyway) but this brought together the Old Firm of Hasan and Zia and they quickly showed this pitch was more than playable with an excellent stand of 61 for the 4th wicket before Zia fell to another LBW from Dean - a ball that kept a little low.  There was always hope for the bowlers on this pitch with some irregular bounce both high and low but quick scoring was eminently possible, helped by a short boundary on the Tennis Side.
Zia's departure brought Imran who hit a nice boundary before making way for Riaz who was at his entertaining best; the highlight being a Flat Six that never got above head height. Hasan was making very good progress at the other end (racing from 30 to 50 aided by a couple of sixes) and, when Riaz was run out for 39, Hasan assumed command. He had fine support from Abbas in taking himself to an excellent 77 not out and Nomads to a more than satisfactory 206 for 6 from the full 35. As our batsmen left, Wimbledon United remained out in the middle in a sort of huddle and for a brief period I didn't think they were going to come off at all. I was unsure whether they were displeased by a rather adjacent run out appeal going against them late on (I doubt it, they had been given 2 LBWs, which is quite a result against the Nomads) or whether it was a form of motivational exercise.  If it was the latter it certainly worked.
United began their reply fairly steadily with Curtis Phillip looking particularly obdurate; dare I say it, almost Boycottesque at times with a very stout defence. Opening bowlers Abbas and KK kept the rate somewhat below what was required and the screw was really turned when Riaz and Emil came on around the 10th or 12th over. There was a bowled for Riaz and a catch (smartly taken by Abdul) and another bowled for Emil. 46 for 0 had become 54 for 3. United's skipper Gary Saxby came in and quickly looked dangerous, playing it straight but with aggressive intent. There was a massive moment when Saxby toe-ended a full-pitch from Emil and skied it to Short Mid-Wicket where it was put down.  For a while after drinks, the required rate was oscillating around the 8 mark but the batsmen were achieving this in most overs with the occasional tighter over bringing the rate up to almost 9. Saxby was dropped again off Todorow - a much harder chance. Nomads still seemed in charge but I recalled a game 4 years ago where United scored over 100 from the last 12 overs to beat us and something similar was always on the cards. Phillip finally got the measure off Todorow in the veteran's final over from which he milked 12 or 14.
The stand reached exactly 100 before Riaz produced a potentially match-winning burst with 3 wickets in an over (the first of them a fantastic catch from Abdul right on the fence to dismiss Saxby) but Curtis Phillip was playing with increasing assurance and took the 8 or 9 needed from most overs with ease. Another wicket fell at 184 and at the end of this over the target was 31 off 3 - more than 10 an over for the first time. The new man was Rohan who to be honest looked the cleanest hitter of the lot. Amid scenes of unbearable tension, and talk of a One-Day Final-style Extra Over - ideally to be bowled by Emil - United faced the final 6 balls needing 16. Nomads slight favourites but 6, 4, Dot, 4 from Rohan blew us away and the 1 to win was achieved with yet another boundary off the penultimate ball.
A classic match and a brilliant 93 not out for Curtis Phillip, just 3 short of his best score for the Wimbledon side. There was just a nagging feeling though that they had it under control throughout and engineered a final over victory just to annoy us.
Nomads' bowling and fielding were pretty good - it was just a rampant batting display from the Dons.
Zia had to leave and was unable to bowl but let's take nothing away from the visitors - it was a brilliant win for them.

Clapham Nomads - 206 for 6 from 35 overs;

Mahesh  5
Abdul  12
Darwin  0
Hasan  77 not out
Zia  23
Imran  5
Riaz  39
Abbas  16 not out
Did not bat: KK, Emil (Capt), John (Wkt) - Sub-fielder - Rayan.

F.O.W. - 21, 21, 30, 91, 112, 159

Wimbledon United - 210 for 7 from 34.5 overs (C.Phillip 93 not out)

Nomads' bowling;

Abbas  7-1-40-0
KK  7-0-35-0
Riaz  7-0-18-4
Emil  6-0-37-2
Imran  3-0-17-0
Hasan  3-0-26-0
Abdul  1.5-0-28-1

Clapham Nomads lost by 3 wickets.

Man of the Match - Hasan is very unlucky not to get this after an excellent 77 not out, but Riaz produced some very entertaining batting, was unluckily run out and had by far our best bowling figures with 4-for 18.
Fielder of the Day - Abdul