Sunday, 12 June 2011
Southern Railway & Kenley v Clapham Nomads - 12/6/11
We had been looking forward to this Conference Fixture as Little Roke Road, Kenley, is one of the nicest grounds in the South London/Croydon area. Sadly, persistent rain meant that the sensible option to cancel was taken by the home skipper at about 11:15. At least we were saved a wasted journey and gazing out at steady drizzle, or sliding around on a muddy track for a few overs; or -even worse - another 9-hour drinking session.
Monday, 6 June 2011
Bec Old Boys v Clapham Nomads - 5/6/11
A high-class encounter seemed on the cards as unbeaten Nomads made the arduous journey down to South Cheam to take on the Bec Old Boys (or Be Cold Boys as some internet search engines have it - appropriately given the weather.)
Bec are a fine side and chased down our total of 191 in only 30 overs last year. They contain a sprinkling of Saturday League players who were reminded by Wicketkeeper Chez Browne at the start; "remember lads, yesterday was business; today is pleasure." The Old Boys looked distinctly unconvinced by this as they wiped the drizzle from the hair.
In the absence of regular opener Mark Bradshaw, Prasanth Pattiyil joined Mahesh Vyas at the wicket to face an all-spin opening attack of Brian Gittens and Peter Seaden. Bowling right-arm round the wicket off-spin, Gittens was the more awkward of the two with regular off-spin and a good Arm Ball. His early LBW shout against Vyas was probably missing off, but not by a lot. Both opening bowlers did have a tendency to overpitch and it was from full tosses that Nomads' openers scored a fair proportion of their runs. Our lads cracked along at 6 an over; the highlight was a fine pushed cut through Cover Point from Pattiyil which was a carbon copy of the shot often played by Mark Bradshaw. Vyas also seized well on anything loose and the only blemishes on an excellent opening stand were a couple of mix-ups running between the wickets. At one point, Umpire Todorow amusingly abandoned his role as umpire for a moment in mid-over and called the pair together for a mid-pitch conference. You didn't get that with Dickie Bird.
Gittens made the breakthough in the 7th over with Vyas playing across to a straight one that kept a little low. 37 for 1 was a good start and when Jim Joyce smote his second ball out of the screws over Square Leg's head for 4, it looked radiantly healthy.
Joyce had found his timing immediately but unfortunately whacked a Seaden delivery straight to Deep Mid-Wicket in the next over and fell for 4.
Hassan Khan joined Pattiyil and the pair upped the scoring rate against Gittens from 3.5 an over off his first 4, to almost 9 an over from his last 3. Seaden was replaced by Nav Jaswal as the score raced through the 50s and 60s. Jaswal bowled with good pace last year and, though he didn't reach this same speed this time, he accounted for Prasanth Pattiyil. A slightly unlucky wicket as the batsman's stump was just clipped behind his legs from a ball that kept low, depriving Prasanth of the second successive 50 that seemed likely.
Sumith Prasanna maintained the momentum with a quick-fire 14 including 3 boundaries. Hassan Khan was looking solid but the brakes were put on our scoring rate by the introduction after 14 overs of Bec's 2 League bowlers; Khaled Muhammed and Mason. In the last over before drinks the wily First Team bowler Muhammed, a leg-spinner with plenty of variation and a dangerous quicker ball, bowled Sumith and, 2 balls later, bowled last week's batting hero Zia.
Suddenly we were 104 for 5 from 17 overs and No 7 Nick Lefebve was ordered to play the anchor role by skipper Todorow and Tactical Advisor John Crossland. Lefebve was only too willing to do this against some probing slow bowling but his defensive mindset seemed to rub off on his partner Hassan, who is normally full of shots at this stage of an innings. The plan was to see off the dangerous-looking Muhammed - which was achieved, and milk some runs from Mason - which was not so easy as the bowler produced an excellent spell of slow-medium bowling with regular yorkers. The partnership realised 8 off 38 balls and only the steady drizzle prevented spectators from enjoying an afternoon nap. Bec's fielders maintained an impressive level of enthusiasm though, with one chap appealing several times before the ball had even reached the batsman.
Mason finally accounted for Hassan with possibly the ball of the day; a sharp off-cutter which cramped the batsman and made him edge an attempted cut onto his own stumps. Mason followed up by bowling Abdul first ball. Riaz provided some much-needed entertainment with 3 improvised fours off Muhammed who was beginning to struggle bowling with a wet ball. Batting was also becoming tricky in the conditions. Riaz fell to Mason's last ball. Emil Todorow joined Lefebve and such batting basics as nimble footwork and eyesight were near to impossible as the bespectacled pair peered out in search of the ball. Lefebve was having to wipe his glasses every couple of balls by now and, when offered the chance to go off for rain, he showed his smartest footwork off the day by tuning on his heel instantly and striding off.
An early tea was taken but the rain just got steadier and the game was called off around 5 o'clock. We joined Old Boys for some excellent hospitality in their upstairs bar, including complimentary Cava for our lads to celebrate maintaining our unbeaten record.
I can only guess at what the result would have been. If I had to set a Betting Spread for our final total it would be 138-140 and I have a hunch Bec's batsmen might just have had the experience to chase this successfully with conditions not favouring our quicker bowlers, but who knows...
Man of the Match is Prasanth Pattiyil who produced the highest score and possibly the most impressive batting of the day. For the second match in a row he was a little unlucky to be out.
CLAPHAM NOMADS - 129 for 8 from 28.3 overs
M. Vyas b Gittens 14
P. Pattiyil b Jaswal 33
J. Joyce c ? b Seaden 4
H. Khan b Mason 32
S. Prasanna b Muhammed 14
Zia b Muhammed 0
N. Lefebve not out 6
A. Khan b Mason 0
R. Khan c Jaswal b Mason 14
E. Todorow not out 0
Did not bat; J. Crossland
F.O.W. - 37, 42, 80, 104, 104, 112, 112, 128
Match abandoned as a draw
Bec are a fine side and chased down our total of 191 in only 30 overs last year. They contain a sprinkling of Saturday League players who were reminded by Wicketkeeper Chez Browne at the start; "remember lads, yesterday was business; today is pleasure." The Old Boys looked distinctly unconvinced by this as they wiped the drizzle from the hair.
In the absence of regular opener Mark Bradshaw, Prasanth Pattiyil joined Mahesh Vyas at the wicket to face an all-spin opening attack of Brian Gittens and Peter Seaden. Bowling right-arm round the wicket off-spin, Gittens was the more awkward of the two with regular off-spin and a good Arm Ball. His early LBW shout against Vyas was probably missing off, but not by a lot. Both opening bowlers did have a tendency to overpitch and it was from full tosses that Nomads' openers scored a fair proportion of their runs. Our lads cracked along at 6 an over; the highlight was a fine pushed cut through Cover Point from Pattiyil which was a carbon copy of the shot often played by Mark Bradshaw. Vyas also seized well on anything loose and the only blemishes on an excellent opening stand were a couple of mix-ups running between the wickets. At one point, Umpire Todorow amusingly abandoned his role as umpire for a moment in mid-over and called the pair together for a mid-pitch conference. You didn't get that with Dickie Bird.
Gittens made the breakthough in the 7th over with Vyas playing across to a straight one that kept a little low. 37 for 1 was a good start and when Jim Joyce smote his second ball out of the screws over Square Leg's head for 4, it looked radiantly healthy.
Joyce had found his timing immediately but unfortunately whacked a Seaden delivery straight to Deep Mid-Wicket in the next over and fell for 4.
Hassan Khan joined Pattiyil and the pair upped the scoring rate against Gittens from 3.5 an over off his first 4, to almost 9 an over from his last 3. Seaden was replaced by Nav Jaswal as the score raced through the 50s and 60s. Jaswal bowled with good pace last year and, though he didn't reach this same speed this time, he accounted for Prasanth Pattiyil. A slightly unlucky wicket as the batsman's stump was just clipped behind his legs from a ball that kept low, depriving Prasanth of the second successive 50 that seemed likely.
Sumith Prasanna maintained the momentum with a quick-fire 14 including 3 boundaries. Hassan Khan was looking solid but the brakes were put on our scoring rate by the introduction after 14 overs of Bec's 2 League bowlers; Khaled Muhammed and Mason. In the last over before drinks the wily First Team bowler Muhammed, a leg-spinner with plenty of variation and a dangerous quicker ball, bowled Sumith and, 2 balls later, bowled last week's batting hero Zia.
Suddenly we were 104 for 5 from 17 overs and No 7 Nick Lefebve was ordered to play the anchor role by skipper Todorow and Tactical Advisor John Crossland. Lefebve was only too willing to do this against some probing slow bowling but his defensive mindset seemed to rub off on his partner Hassan, who is normally full of shots at this stage of an innings. The plan was to see off the dangerous-looking Muhammed - which was achieved, and milk some runs from Mason - which was not so easy as the bowler produced an excellent spell of slow-medium bowling with regular yorkers. The partnership realised 8 off 38 balls and only the steady drizzle prevented spectators from enjoying an afternoon nap. Bec's fielders maintained an impressive level of enthusiasm though, with one chap appealing several times before the ball had even reached the batsman.
Mason finally accounted for Hassan with possibly the ball of the day; a sharp off-cutter which cramped the batsman and made him edge an attempted cut onto his own stumps. Mason followed up by bowling Abdul first ball. Riaz provided some much-needed entertainment with 3 improvised fours off Muhammed who was beginning to struggle bowling with a wet ball. Batting was also becoming tricky in the conditions. Riaz fell to Mason's last ball. Emil Todorow joined Lefebve and such batting basics as nimble footwork and eyesight were near to impossible as the bespectacled pair peered out in search of the ball. Lefebve was having to wipe his glasses every couple of balls by now and, when offered the chance to go off for rain, he showed his smartest footwork off the day by tuning on his heel instantly and striding off.
An early tea was taken but the rain just got steadier and the game was called off around 5 o'clock. We joined Old Boys for some excellent hospitality in their upstairs bar, including complimentary Cava for our lads to celebrate maintaining our unbeaten record.
I can only guess at what the result would have been. If I had to set a Betting Spread for our final total it would be 138-140 and I have a hunch Bec's batsmen might just have had the experience to chase this successfully with conditions not favouring our quicker bowlers, but who knows...
Man of the Match is Prasanth Pattiyil who produced the highest score and possibly the most impressive batting of the day. For the second match in a row he was a little unlucky to be out.
CLAPHAM NOMADS - 129 for 8 from 28.3 overs
M. Vyas b Gittens 14
P. Pattiyil b Jaswal 33
J. Joyce c ? b Seaden 4
H. Khan b Mason 32
S. Prasanna b Muhammed 14
Zia b Muhammed 0
N. Lefebve not out 6
A. Khan b Mason 0
R. Khan c Jaswal b Mason 14
E. Todorow not out 0
Did not bat; J. Crossland
F.O.W. - 37, 42, 80, 104, 104, 112, 112, 128
Match abandoned as a draw
Wednesday, 1 June 2011
The Umpiring Controversy - 29/5/11
After Sunday's match, John Crossland provided some pub entertainment by disclosing Club Policy...er, I mean alleging that "Nomads just don't give LBWs." Now, a conversation between Nomads and Exiles about umpiring dismissals may be likened by cynics to 2 fish chatting about mountaineering, but that is not the whole picture. A quick perusal of scorebooks and websites reveals that a sprinkling of LBW decisions have been awarded by both sides in recent years. Here are 3 of the better-known examples from the "whitewash" season of 2009.
1) 28/5/09 at CSSC Chiswick (Exiles 141 for 8 beat Nomads 140 for 8 by 2 wickets)
Hassan Khan LBW b Utley 0.
A quite remarkable decision by Umpire Reeve after the Nomads all-rounder had not just got in a decent stride, but had actually embarked on a lengthy hike reminiscent of Wainwright. Impartial(ish) witnesses claimed Khan was closer to Reeve than he was to his own stumps. Hassan averaged 42.33 with the bat in 2009 and even half that number of runs would probably have seen Nomads home in a close match.
RATINGS;
Quality of Decision - 1 out of 10
Influence on Match - 8 out of 10
Entertainment Value - Grim, but a talking point; 5 out of 10
2) - 28/5/09 at CSSC Chiswick (Match scores as above.)
Nick Lefebve LBW b Knight 8
Lefebve had already swept the big medium pacer twice and, in looking for a repeat, crouched in front of his stumps only to be thudded by an in-swinger. Umpire Jim "Sex Appeal" Ferguson, hard but fair as ever, ruled correctly. Lefebve is sadly no Hassan but a couple of leg-side slogs would have pushed Nomads up towards 150.
RATINGS;
Quality of Decision - 9 out of 10
Influence on Match - 5 out of 10
Entertainment value - a regulation dismissal; 3 out of 10
3) - 13/9/09 at Dundonald Road (Exiles 129 beat Nomads 116 by 13 runs)
John Crossland LBW b M. Thomas 0
A very tight game in which Exiles clinched the humiliating 3-0 whitewash over Nomads.
Clapham needed 19 to win off 7.3 overs when last man John Crossland came in. Nomads had a fair chance as, at the non-striker's end, stood Emil Todorow who was on fire (or "well-set" in his own modest words) on either 15 or 17 (total subject to a scoring dispute.) Nomads had managed 5 of these when, sadly, Crossland stood right in front and padded away a good length ball from his naggingly accurate former team-mate, Martin Thomas. Umpire Fewson's finger went up like the cork from a champagne bottle. It was alleged that Crossland told the umpire later; "I thought you might have let me off that one, Ben."
RATINGS;
Quality of Decision - 10 out of 10
Influence on Match - 7 out of 10
Entertainment Value - Certainly had its amusing side; 9 out of 10
1)
1) 28/5/09 at CSSC Chiswick (Exiles 141 for 8 beat Nomads 140 for 8 by 2 wickets)
Hassan Khan LBW b Utley 0.
A quite remarkable decision by Umpire Reeve after the Nomads all-rounder had not just got in a decent stride, but had actually embarked on a lengthy hike reminiscent of Wainwright. Impartial(ish) witnesses claimed Khan was closer to Reeve than he was to his own stumps. Hassan averaged 42.33 with the bat in 2009 and even half that number of runs would probably have seen Nomads home in a close match.
RATINGS;
Quality of Decision - 1 out of 10
Influence on Match - 8 out of 10
Entertainment Value - Grim, but a talking point; 5 out of 10
2) - 28/5/09 at CSSC Chiswick (Match scores as above.)
Nick Lefebve LBW b Knight 8
Lefebve had already swept the big medium pacer twice and, in looking for a repeat, crouched in front of his stumps only to be thudded by an in-swinger. Umpire Jim "Sex Appeal" Ferguson, hard but fair as ever, ruled correctly. Lefebve is sadly no Hassan but a couple of leg-side slogs would have pushed Nomads up towards 150.
RATINGS;
Quality of Decision - 9 out of 10
Influence on Match - 5 out of 10
Entertainment value - a regulation dismissal; 3 out of 10
3) - 13/9/09 at Dundonald Road (Exiles 129 beat Nomads 116 by 13 runs)
John Crossland LBW b M. Thomas 0
A very tight game in which Exiles clinched the humiliating 3-0 whitewash over Nomads.
Clapham needed 19 to win off 7.3 overs when last man John Crossland came in. Nomads had a fair chance as, at the non-striker's end, stood Emil Todorow who was on fire (or "well-set" in his own modest words) on either 15 or 17 (total subject to a scoring dispute.) Nomads had managed 5 of these when, sadly, Crossland stood right in front and padded away a good length ball from his naggingly accurate former team-mate, Martin Thomas. Umpire Fewson's finger went up like the cork from a champagne bottle. It was alleged that Crossland told the umpire later; "I thought you might have let me off that one, Ben."
RATINGS;
Quality of Decision - 10 out of 10
Influence on Match - 7 out of 10
Entertainment Value - Certainly had its amusing side; 9 out of 10
1)
Energy Exiles v Clapham Nomads - 29/5/11
Late May Bank Holiday Sunday means just one thing in South London club cricket; another clash between fierce but friendly rivals Clapham Nomads and Energy Exiles - an Old Firm Derby in all but name yet without the sectarian chanting (well, not much of it anyway.)
Regular reading of Exiles' excellent website (I don't have much of a life) revealed the disturbing stat that a certain Mr Daniel Killaly (Australian judging by his name and strike-rate) had scored 245 runs in 3 games off a mere 130 balls. Adding him to Exiles' already formidable middle-order hitters Gundry and Wingfield represented a major headache for Nomads - one that only eased when we eventually came to a tactical decision; just get Emil Todorow to bowl at them.
In the event, a leaked e-mail a few days before the game announced that Killaly had had to return to the Antipodes for the rest of the summer. Wishing him a safe flight, unencumbered by volcanic ash or any other delay, we breathed a tiny sigh of relief.
Further relief was sighed on Sunday when we arrived at the Del Ballard Rec in Wimbledon and found that Nomads' recent nemesis, Simon Gundry, was also missing from the line-up.
Not that we were complacent as, with the toss won, openers Mark Bradshaw and Mahesh Vyas strode out to face one of the most reliably awkward new ball pairings at this level; Andy Wingfield and Naren Patel. Wingfield had first go against his former team-mate. "You can get him, Andy," someone called. "What, again?" another chirped. Wingfield seemed to have added some extra variations since last year and bowled at his usual lively pace and managed to move the ball both ways off the pitch and sharply inwards through the air. Bradshaw has started the season very solidly and, to be honest, rarely looks like getting out. Naren Patel's first ball dropped uncharacteristically short outside off-stump and Bradshaw played his signature cut for 4. To me, umpiring at Square Leg, Patel appeared to have added half a yard of pace since we last faced him and he soon had Vyas caught smartly at slip.
Out came Prasanth Pattiyil who has had many fine partnerships with Bradshaw and the pair got their heads down impressively. There was a double bowling change on 10 overs with the score on 34 for 1 - pretty acceptable against Exiles' attack. Off-spinner John Tither showed good control and turn but at the other end, Pattiyil took an immediate liking to the bowling of Gwyn Thomas with 3 successive 4s in his first over, including 2 straight beauties. The partnership strode past 50 with Bradshaw treating Tither with a good deal of respect, using his pads judiciously on occasions. Nomads were batting themselves into a strong position and there was an early recall for Naren Patel. The experienced seamer made the breakthrough, producing something clever from his Pandora's Box that found the leading edge of Bradshaw's bat and looped up to the slips. Still, that's 36, 38 and 39 for Mark in his last 3 innings, very consistent batting and a boost to his already impressive average for Nomads in games against his old club.
Patel almost followed up in the same over by rapping Hassan Khan's pads for an lbw shout that was really rather close. His luck turned the next over when he clipped the outside of Pattiyil's off-stump. A glance at the crease footmarks from the sleep-deprived umpire hinted that this just might have been a fractional no-ball but, by then, the batsman was nearing the pavilion. A quick count of the scorebook gave Prasanth's total as 50. Well done. A nice guy and a classy batsman on his day.
97 for 3 and this innings was starting to follow a horribly familiar pattern of middle order collapses against Energy. No. 5 was new man Zia, another find from the Riaz Khan Production Line of Talent. You always sit up and take note when Riaz brings a new player as he has unearthed more Star Quality than Simon Cowell (Rafi, Asad etc). Riaz did warn though, that Zia had not played for some years. This was soon evident as he took several almighty heaves at Gwyn Thomas without coming close to connecting, clearly struggling to read the pace of the pitch. Exiles' third-change bowler was off-spinner Keith Roberts, who famously bowled John Chance in his last spell against Nomads. Roberts quickly showed he hasn't lost his knack of dismissing quality players, bowling Hassan Khan for 8 and dropping Nomads in a hole at 101 for 4.
No. 6 Chris Kennedy hasn't batted for some time but he got his eye in by blocking a few balls soundly and then Zia finally got off the mark when Roberts gifted him a full toss which was roundly walloped to the leg-side fence. That relaxed Zia no end and the next ball went for 6. There was a cracking on-drive from Kennedy before he fell with score on 130. This was much more healthy, with overs and some batting to come. Abdul Khan supported Zia with a quick 15. Riaz didn't last too long but by then it was all about Zia who was evidently a class act and cracked some beautiful straight hits. It took the paternal influence of No. 9 Emil Todorow to really allow the youngster to blossom. Zia just accelerated more and more and capped it all by taking 22 off a Roberts over and hitting the tricky Tither for 6 off the third-last ball of the innings. His stand of 35 with the skipper came off only 17 balls and took Nomads up to 211 (the same as last week) at the close.
In the words of John Crossland, "Zia's innings made the total formidable," but Mark and Prasanth played vital knocks as well. At any rate, it was in excess of anything Exiles have scored against us (I think). Their batting line-up did appear a bit stronger then their bowling but, without Gundry and Killaly, we took the field after the break with some degree of confidence (unusual against these opponents.)
Sri Pathmanathan led the Exiles reply. A dangerous player when set, he has scored a 50 and at least one other good score against Nomads but on this occasion played too many aerial shots and was pouched for 8. Jasper Searle (2 from 21 balls) and Wil Scott (1 from 16) really struggled against the bowling of Hassan Khan and Emil Todorow, bowlers who are becoming so miserly this season that they consider every run taken off them to be a personal affront. The score after 10 overs was little more than 15 and this was leaving Exiles, shorn of some of their biggest guns, with a heck of a lot to do. No. 4 Quentin Davies can get the scoreboard rolling and he was joined by John Tither, who certainly can once he gets going. Tither, a former Northumberland League player, is well capable of a major score at better than a run a ball and he soon began to play some classy drives wide of long-off. He only played one real aerial shot that I can recall and this was prevented from going for 4 by Emil Todorow's lip.
Nomads had four recognised front-line bowlers but, with a good stand developing between Davies and Tither which eventually realised 51, it appeared we could be depending on Zia to bowl well. The debutant didn't disappoint; wayward at times (he received a final warning after his second beamer) he bowled with enough pace and accuracy to work his way through Exiles' middle order with 4 clean bowleds. The last of the recognised batsmen, Keith Roberts and Andy Wingfield came together with 7 down but with a required rate of above 10 an over. There was little danger left when a few comments were traded over a big caught behind shout at this stage, but the umpire didn't hear any snick and that is good enough for me. (Some of Nomads' umpires would hardly win a Mr Popularity contest, in any case - more of which later.)
I left with 80 needed off 3 and Keeper John Crossland quickly caught Naren Patel to wrap up a fine victory. New man Zia obviously played a massive part in this but don't forget that we were missing our top batsman of the season so far; Jim Joyce (current batting average 84.50) and, of course, we were also missing the bowling of Andrew West.
Man of the Match was clearly Zia, but honourable mentions for Prasanth Pattiyil and Mark "Mr Consistent" Bradshaw and, of course, those 2 Tightwads who open our bowling. I would award Fielder of the Day to Abdul Khan, whose deadly arm produced a direct hit which made Exiles think twice about taking quick singles (so often a big part of their game.)
CLAPHAM NOMADS 211 for 7 from 40 overs
M. Bradshaw, c Davies (?) b Patel 39
M. Vyas, c Davies (?) b Patel 1
P. Pattiyil, b Patel 50
H. Khan, b Roberts 8
Zia, not out 74
C. Kennedy, c Tither (?) b G.Thomas 6
A. Khan, b Roberts 15
R. Khan, b Wingfield 3
E. Todorow, not out 3
Did not bat; N. Lefebve, J. Crossland
F.O.W. - 12, 85, 97, 101, 130, 165, 176
Exiles' bowling;
A. Wingfield 8-1-37-1
N. Patel 8-2-26-3
J. Tither 8-1-26-0
G. Thomas 8-1-44-1
K. Roberts 8-0-75-2
ENERGY EXILES 137 all out from 37.5 overs
S. Pathmanathan, c H.Khan b Todorow 8
J. Searle, c R. Khan b H. Khan 2
W. Scott, c Crossland b H. Khan 1
Q. Davies, b Zia 22
J. Tither, b Zia 41
A. Patel, b Zia 4
S. Johnston, b Zia 3
K. Roberts, run out 16
A. Wingfield, b H.Khan 18
G. Thomas, not out 0
N. Patel, c Crossland b Todorow 2
F.O.W. - 10, 15, 15, 66, 80, 95, 108, 131, 135, 137
Nomads' bowling;
H. Khan 7-1-11-3
E. Todorow 7.5 1-21-2
A. Khan 8-0-32-0
R. Khan 8-0-27-0
Zia 7-0-40-4
CLAPHAM NOMADS WON BY 74 RUNS
Regular reading of Exiles' excellent website (I don't have much of a life) revealed the disturbing stat that a certain Mr Daniel Killaly (Australian judging by his name and strike-rate) had scored 245 runs in 3 games off a mere 130 balls. Adding him to Exiles' already formidable middle-order hitters Gundry and Wingfield represented a major headache for Nomads - one that only eased when we eventually came to a tactical decision; just get Emil Todorow to bowl at them.
In the event, a leaked e-mail a few days before the game announced that Killaly had had to return to the Antipodes for the rest of the summer. Wishing him a safe flight, unencumbered by volcanic ash or any other delay, we breathed a tiny sigh of relief.
Further relief was sighed on Sunday when we arrived at the Del Ballard Rec in Wimbledon and found that Nomads' recent nemesis, Simon Gundry, was also missing from the line-up.
Not that we were complacent as, with the toss won, openers Mark Bradshaw and Mahesh Vyas strode out to face one of the most reliably awkward new ball pairings at this level; Andy Wingfield and Naren Patel. Wingfield had first go against his former team-mate. "You can get him, Andy," someone called. "What, again?" another chirped. Wingfield seemed to have added some extra variations since last year and bowled at his usual lively pace and managed to move the ball both ways off the pitch and sharply inwards through the air. Bradshaw has started the season very solidly and, to be honest, rarely looks like getting out. Naren Patel's first ball dropped uncharacteristically short outside off-stump and Bradshaw played his signature cut for 4. To me, umpiring at Square Leg, Patel appeared to have added half a yard of pace since we last faced him and he soon had Vyas caught smartly at slip.
Out came Prasanth Pattiyil who has had many fine partnerships with Bradshaw and the pair got their heads down impressively. There was a double bowling change on 10 overs with the score on 34 for 1 - pretty acceptable against Exiles' attack. Off-spinner John Tither showed good control and turn but at the other end, Pattiyil took an immediate liking to the bowling of Gwyn Thomas with 3 successive 4s in his first over, including 2 straight beauties. The partnership strode past 50 with Bradshaw treating Tither with a good deal of respect, using his pads judiciously on occasions. Nomads were batting themselves into a strong position and there was an early recall for Naren Patel. The experienced seamer made the breakthrough, producing something clever from his Pandora's Box that found the leading edge of Bradshaw's bat and looped up to the slips. Still, that's 36, 38 and 39 for Mark in his last 3 innings, very consistent batting and a boost to his already impressive average for Nomads in games against his old club.
Patel almost followed up in the same over by rapping Hassan Khan's pads for an lbw shout that was really rather close. His luck turned the next over when he clipped the outside of Pattiyil's off-stump. A glance at the crease footmarks from the sleep-deprived umpire hinted that this just might have been a fractional no-ball but, by then, the batsman was nearing the pavilion. A quick count of the scorebook gave Prasanth's total as 50. Well done. A nice guy and a classy batsman on his day.
97 for 3 and this innings was starting to follow a horribly familiar pattern of middle order collapses against Energy. No. 5 was new man Zia, another find from the Riaz Khan Production Line of Talent. You always sit up and take note when Riaz brings a new player as he has unearthed more Star Quality than Simon Cowell (Rafi, Asad etc). Riaz did warn though, that Zia had not played for some years. This was soon evident as he took several almighty heaves at Gwyn Thomas without coming close to connecting, clearly struggling to read the pace of the pitch. Exiles' third-change bowler was off-spinner Keith Roberts, who famously bowled John Chance in his last spell against Nomads. Roberts quickly showed he hasn't lost his knack of dismissing quality players, bowling Hassan Khan for 8 and dropping Nomads in a hole at 101 for 4.
No. 6 Chris Kennedy hasn't batted for some time but he got his eye in by blocking a few balls soundly and then Zia finally got off the mark when Roberts gifted him a full toss which was roundly walloped to the leg-side fence. That relaxed Zia no end and the next ball went for 6. There was a cracking on-drive from Kennedy before he fell with score on 130. This was much more healthy, with overs and some batting to come. Abdul Khan supported Zia with a quick 15. Riaz didn't last too long but by then it was all about Zia who was evidently a class act and cracked some beautiful straight hits. It took the paternal influence of No. 9 Emil Todorow to really allow the youngster to blossom. Zia just accelerated more and more and capped it all by taking 22 off a Roberts over and hitting the tricky Tither for 6 off the third-last ball of the innings. His stand of 35 with the skipper came off only 17 balls and took Nomads up to 211 (the same as last week) at the close.
In the words of John Crossland, "Zia's innings made the total formidable," but Mark and Prasanth played vital knocks as well. At any rate, it was in excess of anything Exiles have scored against us (I think). Their batting line-up did appear a bit stronger then their bowling but, without Gundry and Killaly, we took the field after the break with some degree of confidence (unusual against these opponents.)
Sri Pathmanathan led the Exiles reply. A dangerous player when set, he has scored a 50 and at least one other good score against Nomads but on this occasion played too many aerial shots and was pouched for 8. Jasper Searle (2 from 21 balls) and Wil Scott (1 from 16) really struggled against the bowling of Hassan Khan and Emil Todorow, bowlers who are becoming so miserly this season that they consider every run taken off them to be a personal affront. The score after 10 overs was little more than 15 and this was leaving Exiles, shorn of some of their biggest guns, with a heck of a lot to do. No. 4 Quentin Davies can get the scoreboard rolling and he was joined by John Tither, who certainly can once he gets going. Tither, a former Northumberland League player, is well capable of a major score at better than a run a ball and he soon began to play some classy drives wide of long-off. He only played one real aerial shot that I can recall and this was prevented from going for 4 by Emil Todorow's lip.
Nomads had four recognised front-line bowlers but, with a good stand developing between Davies and Tither which eventually realised 51, it appeared we could be depending on Zia to bowl well. The debutant didn't disappoint; wayward at times (he received a final warning after his second beamer) he bowled with enough pace and accuracy to work his way through Exiles' middle order with 4 clean bowleds. The last of the recognised batsmen, Keith Roberts and Andy Wingfield came together with 7 down but with a required rate of above 10 an over. There was little danger left when a few comments were traded over a big caught behind shout at this stage, but the umpire didn't hear any snick and that is good enough for me. (Some of Nomads' umpires would hardly win a Mr Popularity contest, in any case - more of which later.)
I left with 80 needed off 3 and Keeper John Crossland quickly caught Naren Patel to wrap up a fine victory. New man Zia obviously played a massive part in this but don't forget that we were missing our top batsman of the season so far; Jim Joyce (current batting average 84.50) and, of course, we were also missing the bowling of Andrew West.
Man of the Match was clearly Zia, but honourable mentions for Prasanth Pattiyil and Mark "Mr Consistent" Bradshaw and, of course, those 2 Tightwads who open our bowling. I would award Fielder of the Day to Abdul Khan, whose deadly arm produced a direct hit which made Exiles think twice about taking quick singles (so often a big part of their game.)
CLAPHAM NOMADS 211 for 7 from 40 overs
M. Bradshaw, c Davies (?) b Patel 39
M. Vyas, c Davies (?) b Patel 1
P. Pattiyil, b Patel 50
H. Khan, b Roberts 8
Zia, not out 74
C. Kennedy, c Tither (?) b G.Thomas 6
A. Khan, b Roberts 15
R. Khan, b Wingfield 3
E. Todorow, not out 3
Did not bat; N. Lefebve, J. Crossland
F.O.W. - 12, 85, 97, 101, 130, 165, 176
Exiles' bowling;
A. Wingfield 8-1-37-1
N. Patel 8-2-26-3
J. Tither 8-1-26-0
G. Thomas 8-1-44-1
K. Roberts 8-0-75-2
ENERGY EXILES 137 all out from 37.5 overs
S. Pathmanathan, c H.Khan b Todorow 8
J. Searle, c R. Khan b H. Khan 2
W. Scott, c Crossland b H. Khan 1
Q. Davies, b Zia 22
J. Tither, b Zia 41
A. Patel, b Zia 4
S. Johnston, b Zia 3
K. Roberts, run out 16
A. Wingfield, b H.Khan 18
G. Thomas, not out 0
N. Patel, c Crossland b Todorow 2
F.O.W. - 10, 15, 15, 66, 80, 95, 108, 131, 135, 137
Nomads' bowling;
H. Khan 7-1-11-3
E. Todorow 7.5 1-21-2
A. Khan 8-0-32-0
R. Khan 8-0-27-0
Zia 7-0-40-4
CLAPHAM NOMADS WON BY 74 RUNS
Wednesday, 25 May 2011
Dulwich v Clapham Nomads - 22/5/11
I'll keep it quite brief - a relief to everyone - as it is 6 days now since the match and I don't have the scorebook at the moment. (Ill fill in the gaps later.)
A well-paced opening stand of 74 between Mark Bradshaw (38) and Mahesh Vyas (39) set up an impressive Nomads total. Cautious at first on a green strip against some accurate bowling, they accelerated at around the 10-over mark and built a strong platform for our aggressive middle order.
Another excellent knock from Jim Joyce, if anything scoring even more freely than last week. It was almost a surprise when he was out for 55. His 3rd wicket stand of 87 in excellent time with Hassan Khan (34) was the highlight of Nomads' innings and was probably the deciding factor as no Dulwich player was able to keep up that rate of scoring for an extended period. Some good hits from Sumith Prasanna and Riaz Khan took us up to 211 for 6 from 40 overs. Not a bad haul against a decent bowling attack. The pitch played pretty well throughout. For me the pick of the Dulwich bowlers was the 15-year-old spinner Edwards who was accurate and maintained this even when he got a bit of tap towards the end of his spell. Dulwich have a production line of these promising youngsters and it would be nice to think that some of them will go on to play for Dulwich Firsts or even Surrey.
Once again, our bowling appeared to lack a bit of depth but the target of 212 was well in excess of anything Dulwich have achieved against us so we had high hopes. We had planned to show no emotion whatsoever at the fall of the first wicket (to wind up John Crossland, who had berated his neighbour at slip, Mahesh, the previous week for failing to hail a greet a catch vociferously) but in the end we forgot ourselves in the excitement of securing an early breakthough. After this setback, Dulwich played themselves back into contention with an excellent stand of 70 between Persaud and Leather. This pair played a series of fine shots, particularly Leather who was hard to pin down. Persaud was dropped in the 20s and for a brief period this looked as if it might be costly. Leather made 50 in good time and, while Dulwich never quite managed to really beat down the required rate, these 2 began to look dangerous. The vital wicket of Leather was secured by Abdul and, though Persaud also went on to 50, the big shots dried up and the required rate began to approach 8.
Although not quite at his best with the ball, Emil Todorow shuffled his bowling options cleverly and rather frequently - it was almost worth the 8:40 finish to watch a master tactician in action. Hassan and Riaz bowled excellent economical spells and Abdul and Sumith also kept the pressure on. Wickets tumbled as the asking rate rose. Just as victory seemed beyond Dulwich with around 35 needed off 2 overs, Ford arrived at the crease and casually lifted a Jim Joyce delivery clean out of the ground. He followed this up with a text-book 4 and it was something of a relief when Joyce yorked his partner shortly after to wrap up a 20-run victory. Dulwich supremo John Lawrence confirmed afterwards that it was only Ford's second game for the club and, had a bit more been known about him, he would have batted higher. This just might have made the outcome rather different.
Man of the Match was Jim Joyce again for another fine and entertaining knock. He was also the skipper's pick for Fielder of the Day. Plenty of other good performances; Mark Bradshaw continued his sound batting form and fielded well with one spectacular diving flick-back right on the rope. Hassan Khan and Abdul Khan both did plenty for the team and Riaz Khan was possibly the pick of the bowlers. Finally, John Crossland was not about to start conceding byes just because he had done a 40-mile charity bike ride that morning.
Clapham Nomads 211 for 6 from 40 overs
Bradshaw 38
Vyas 39
Joyce 55
H. Khan 34
Darwin 0
Prasanna 5 not out
A. Khan 4
R. Khan 8 not out
F.O.W. - 74, 104, 191, 192, 195, 203
Dulwich - 190 for 5 from 40 overs
R. Khan - 8-2-22-1
Todorow - 8-1-51-0
A. Khan - 8-1-41-1
Prasanna - 5-0-21-1
Joyce - 2-0-19-1
Darwin - 1-0-4-0
H. Khan - 8-1-29-0
Nomads won by 21 runs
A well-paced opening stand of 74 between Mark Bradshaw (38) and Mahesh Vyas (39) set up an impressive Nomads total. Cautious at first on a green strip against some accurate bowling, they accelerated at around the 10-over mark and built a strong platform for our aggressive middle order.
Another excellent knock from Jim Joyce, if anything scoring even more freely than last week. It was almost a surprise when he was out for 55. His 3rd wicket stand of 87 in excellent time with Hassan Khan (34) was the highlight of Nomads' innings and was probably the deciding factor as no Dulwich player was able to keep up that rate of scoring for an extended period. Some good hits from Sumith Prasanna and Riaz Khan took us up to 211 for 6 from 40 overs. Not a bad haul against a decent bowling attack. The pitch played pretty well throughout. For me the pick of the Dulwich bowlers was the 15-year-old spinner Edwards who was accurate and maintained this even when he got a bit of tap towards the end of his spell. Dulwich have a production line of these promising youngsters and it would be nice to think that some of them will go on to play for Dulwich Firsts or even Surrey.
Once again, our bowling appeared to lack a bit of depth but the target of 212 was well in excess of anything Dulwich have achieved against us so we had high hopes. We had planned to show no emotion whatsoever at the fall of the first wicket (to wind up John Crossland, who had berated his neighbour at slip, Mahesh, the previous week for failing to hail a greet a catch vociferously) but in the end we forgot ourselves in the excitement of securing an early breakthough. After this setback, Dulwich played themselves back into contention with an excellent stand of 70 between Persaud and Leather. This pair played a series of fine shots, particularly Leather who was hard to pin down. Persaud was dropped in the 20s and for a brief period this looked as if it might be costly. Leather made 50 in good time and, while Dulwich never quite managed to really beat down the required rate, these 2 began to look dangerous. The vital wicket of Leather was secured by Abdul and, though Persaud also went on to 50, the big shots dried up and the required rate began to approach 8.
Although not quite at his best with the ball, Emil Todorow shuffled his bowling options cleverly and rather frequently - it was almost worth the 8:40 finish to watch a master tactician in action. Hassan and Riaz bowled excellent economical spells and Abdul and Sumith also kept the pressure on. Wickets tumbled as the asking rate rose. Just as victory seemed beyond Dulwich with around 35 needed off 2 overs, Ford arrived at the crease and casually lifted a Jim Joyce delivery clean out of the ground. He followed this up with a text-book 4 and it was something of a relief when Joyce yorked his partner shortly after to wrap up a 20-run victory. Dulwich supremo John Lawrence confirmed afterwards that it was only Ford's second game for the club and, had a bit more been known about him, he would have batted higher. This just might have made the outcome rather different.
Man of the Match was Jim Joyce again for another fine and entertaining knock. He was also the skipper's pick for Fielder of the Day. Plenty of other good performances; Mark Bradshaw continued his sound batting form and fielded well with one spectacular diving flick-back right on the rope. Hassan Khan and Abdul Khan both did plenty for the team and Riaz Khan was possibly the pick of the bowlers. Finally, John Crossland was not about to start conceding byes just because he had done a 40-mile charity bike ride that morning.
Clapham Nomads 211 for 6 from 40 overs
Bradshaw 38
Vyas 39
Joyce 55
H. Khan 34
Darwin 0
Prasanna 5 not out
A. Khan 4
R. Khan 8 not out
F.O.W. - 74, 104, 191, 192, 195, 203
Dulwich - 190 for 5 from 40 overs
R. Khan - 8-2-22-1
Todorow - 8-1-51-0
A. Khan - 8-1-41-1
Prasanna - 5-0-21-1
Joyce - 2-0-19-1
Darwin - 1-0-4-0
H. Khan - 8-1-29-0
Nomads won by 21 runs
Tuesday, 17 May 2011
Clapham Nomads v Wimbledon Corinthians - 15/5/11
Our second opponents of the season were old rivals Wimbledon (formerly Morden) Corinthians, with whom we stand 1 win apiece from 2 games, but a team who absolutely hammered us by 9 wickets in our last encounter 5 years ago. In arranging this fixture, though, Corinthians' supremo Jim Patel had promised that most of their South Africans had left since 2006.
When we arrived at our temporary Riverside home, Barn Elms, it was clear that Corinthians had lost none of their noted professionalism and will to win as the whole team was immersed in a very high octane net session. Meanwhile, Nomads studied the various pitches on offer. Unfortunately the only untouched strip was kids' length and so we had to opt for a track that showed signs of use.
Skipper Todorow won the toss but, against his will, had to bat first due to several late arrivals.
Corinthians' opening bowlers started brightly and pretty accurately. There were immediate signs of irregular low bounce and a cloud of despondency settled over Nomads as we realised that, with our middle order stuck in a car near Putney, grim survival was our immediate aim and not an easy one.
Mahesh Vyas was bowled by a yorker early on and Mark Bradshaw and No. 3 Prasanth Pattiyil set about clinging on and salvaging what scraps were available. Determination took them through to the 8th over when Pattiyil was unlucky to play on off the inside edge to a ball that kept low. By now Nomads had a full team but, at 15 for 2, the mood had hardly lifted and there were whispers that we would do well to reach 60. This did not appear a situation tailor-made for No. 4 Jim Joyce, a cavalier and flamboyant shotmaker, but Joyce applied himself well, saving most of his big shots for anything short and towards the leg. He played 2 cracking pulls through mid-wicket off 1st changer Steve O'Neill, a crafty veteran of the South London amateur scene, and this gave the scoreboard some much-needed impetus. At the other end, Mark Bradshaw was playing a vital hand, grafting away and taking very few chances. It began to become clear that few balls that were actually on the stumps were bouncing all that irregularly and we started to hope that we could at least get close to batting out the full 35 overs. Drinks were taken at 56 for 2 off 18.
Joyce found another gear after the break, playing shot after shot with a good clean middle, scoring mainly between straight and mid-wicket. He raced to 50 and took 3 boundaries off the first over from Corinthians' left-arm spinner, who was the only bowler to look like prising out our man; a catch going down in the deep and a leg-before shout adjudged to have just possibly bounced three times. Mark Bradshaw continued to provide valuable support and never looked like being out. Joyce reached 97 and scorer John Crossland urged spectators not to tell him he was close to a century. The crowd then gave the game away by rapturously applauding a boundary and yelling "100" before realising that Bradshaw had played the shot. The landmark was soon achieved in any case - Jim's first for the Nomads. He did once score 232 and the rumour goes that this was in a 20-20 match.
Mark was out shortly before the end to wrap up an epic partnership of 145 which is not the highest in Nomads' history but, given the treacherous wicket, the decent bowling and the parlous position at which it commenced, may be one of the finest. Nomads closed shortly after on 163 for 3 from the full 35 and we sensed that we may need every one of those runs against a strong-looking Corinthians batting side.
Nomads bowling line-up appeared depleted and it was imperative to strike early. A quick breakthrough came when Hassan Khan got one to keep low, awkwardly for the very tall batsman. Another wicket fell quickly but Nomads then had a poor 20 minutes in the field, dropping 2 regulation catches and making a string of errors on the ground. The South African Brendan was the beneficiary of several of these mistakes and he began to look as if he might capitalise with some clean, straight groundshots. It took a piece of brilliance from second-change bowler Darwin to finally dismiss him, with an excellent caught and bowled an inch or two from the turf. By this time Emil Todorow had taken his customary two wickets in two balls. The second of which he appeared to achieve by force of personality as the batsman, no mug judging by his stance and his bowling earlier on, just backed away to an ordinary good-length ball on the stumps. To be fair to the batsman it was quite a windy day and he may have been distracted by Emil's hair fluttering in the breeze. Once again there was no hat-trick but it is surely just a matter of time and the celebrations and free drinks are eagerly anticipated.
There was no room for complacency as Corinthians' No. 6 began to crack the ball around very stylishly from the word go. Had he lasted a few more overs it could have been fatal to our cause but fortunately a good pressure catch from Jim Joyce in the deep sent him on his way.
Abdul Khan bowled a good 7-over spell at below the required run-rate. Sumith Prasanna also prevented Wimbledon from accelerating too drastically. 50 were needed with 9 overs to go, and around 32 from 5. Wickets were falling steadily but we were running out of regular bowlers and it seemed Corinthians batted all the way down to No. 11 O'Neill. Bravely, Prasanth Pattiyil, who has not been a regular bowler for the past year or so, showed no hint of nerves and sent down some good accurate medium pace and finished an exciting game off with 2 quick wickets. Nomads winning by a margin of 14 runs.
This was an excellent victory, set up by some outstanding batting. An under-strength bowling line-up performed well to defend our total and it was good practice in finishing off a game in a tight situation. Hopefully this bodes well for our 29th May match against Energy Exiles, a fixture that usually produces a close finish.
Jim Joyce is certainly the only Nomads player to play football for a team that has won the FA Cup (Clapham Rovers), so it was fitting that he wins the Man of the Match award on Cup Final weekend, a mere 131 years after Rovers provided the finest sporting moment in Clapham's history (well, until Andrew West took 5 wickets against Phoenix that is.) Fielder of the day is Darwin again, that's 4 catches in 2 games for Nomads' safest pair of hands. Speaking of safe hands, John Crossland kept well again on another tricky pitch and flung himself full-length on at least one occasion to save a run or two, a feat that was matched this week by his neighbour at First Slip, Mahesh Vyas. The gymnastic prowess shown by these two reminds me a little bit of Lyudmilla Tourischeva (and they may even be old enough to know what I am talking about.)
Clapham Nomads 163 for 3 from 35 overs;
M. Bradshaw 36
M. Vyas 0
P. Pattiyil 3
J. Joyce 109 not out
S. Prasanna 2 not out
Did not bat; H. Khan, Darwin, A.Khan, N. Lefebve, E. Todorow, J.Crossland
F.O.W. - 4, 15, 160
Wimbledon Corinthians 149 all out from approximately 33 overs
(Bowling Figues will follow when I have managed to copy the opposition's score book.)
Nomads won by 14 runs
When we arrived at our temporary Riverside home, Barn Elms, it was clear that Corinthians had lost none of their noted professionalism and will to win as the whole team was immersed in a very high octane net session. Meanwhile, Nomads studied the various pitches on offer. Unfortunately the only untouched strip was kids' length and so we had to opt for a track that showed signs of use.
Skipper Todorow won the toss but, against his will, had to bat first due to several late arrivals.
Corinthians' opening bowlers started brightly and pretty accurately. There were immediate signs of irregular low bounce and a cloud of despondency settled over Nomads as we realised that, with our middle order stuck in a car near Putney, grim survival was our immediate aim and not an easy one.
Mahesh Vyas was bowled by a yorker early on and Mark Bradshaw and No. 3 Prasanth Pattiyil set about clinging on and salvaging what scraps were available. Determination took them through to the 8th over when Pattiyil was unlucky to play on off the inside edge to a ball that kept low. By now Nomads had a full team but, at 15 for 2, the mood had hardly lifted and there were whispers that we would do well to reach 60. This did not appear a situation tailor-made for No. 4 Jim Joyce, a cavalier and flamboyant shotmaker, but Joyce applied himself well, saving most of his big shots for anything short and towards the leg. He played 2 cracking pulls through mid-wicket off 1st changer Steve O'Neill, a crafty veteran of the South London amateur scene, and this gave the scoreboard some much-needed impetus. At the other end, Mark Bradshaw was playing a vital hand, grafting away and taking very few chances. It began to become clear that few balls that were actually on the stumps were bouncing all that irregularly and we started to hope that we could at least get close to batting out the full 35 overs. Drinks were taken at 56 for 2 off 18.
Joyce found another gear after the break, playing shot after shot with a good clean middle, scoring mainly between straight and mid-wicket. He raced to 50 and took 3 boundaries off the first over from Corinthians' left-arm spinner, who was the only bowler to look like prising out our man; a catch going down in the deep and a leg-before shout adjudged to have just possibly bounced three times. Mark Bradshaw continued to provide valuable support and never looked like being out. Joyce reached 97 and scorer John Crossland urged spectators not to tell him he was close to a century. The crowd then gave the game away by rapturously applauding a boundary and yelling "100" before realising that Bradshaw had played the shot. The landmark was soon achieved in any case - Jim's first for the Nomads. He did once score 232 and the rumour goes that this was in a 20-20 match.
Mark was out shortly before the end to wrap up an epic partnership of 145 which is not the highest in Nomads' history but, given the treacherous wicket, the decent bowling and the parlous position at which it commenced, may be one of the finest. Nomads closed shortly after on 163 for 3 from the full 35 and we sensed that we may need every one of those runs against a strong-looking Corinthians batting side.
Nomads bowling line-up appeared depleted and it was imperative to strike early. A quick breakthrough came when Hassan Khan got one to keep low, awkwardly for the very tall batsman. Another wicket fell quickly but Nomads then had a poor 20 minutes in the field, dropping 2 regulation catches and making a string of errors on the ground. The South African Brendan was the beneficiary of several of these mistakes and he began to look as if he might capitalise with some clean, straight groundshots. It took a piece of brilliance from second-change bowler Darwin to finally dismiss him, with an excellent caught and bowled an inch or two from the turf. By this time Emil Todorow had taken his customary two wickets in two balls. The second of which he appeared to achieve by force of personality as the batsman, no mug judging by his stance and his bowling earlier on, just backed away to an ordinary good-length ball on the stumps. To be fair to the batsman it was quite a windy day and he may have been distracted by Emil's hair fluttering in the breeze. Once again there was no hat-trick but it is surely just a matter of time and the celebrations and free drinks are eagerly anticipated.
There was no room for complacency as Corinthians' No. 6 began to crack the ball around very stylishly from the word go. Had he lasted a few more overs it could have been fatal to our cause but fortunately a good pressure catch from Jim Joyce in the deep sent him on his way.
Abdul Khan bowled a good 7-over spell at below the required run-rate. Sumith Prasanna also prevented Wimbledon from accelerating too drastically. 50 were needed with 9 overs to go, and around 32 from 5. Wickets were falling steadily but we were running out of regular bowlers and it seemed Corinthians batted all the way down to No. 11 O'Neill. Bravely, Prasanth Pattiyil, who has not been a regular bowler for the past year or so, showed no hint of nerves and sent down some good accurate medium pace and finished an exciting game off with 2 quick wickets. Nomads winning by a margin of 14 runs.
This was an excellent victory, set up by some outstanding batting. An under-strength bowling line-up performed well to defend our total and it was good practice in finishing off a game in a tight situation. Hopefully this bodes well for our 29th May match against Energy Exiles, a fixture that usually produces a close finish.
Jim Joyce is certainly the only Nomads player to play football for a team that has won the FA Cup (Clapham Rovers), so it was fitting that he wins the Man of the Match award on Cup Final weekend, a mere 131 years after Rovers provided the finest sporting moment in Clapham's history (well, until Andrew West took 5 wickets against Phoenix that is.) Fielder of the day is Darwin again, that's 4 catches in 2 games for Nomads' safest pair of hands. Speaking of safe hands, John Crossland kept well again on another tricky pitch and flung himself full-length on at least one occasion to save a run or two, a feat that was matched this week by his neighbour at First Slip, Mahesh Vyas. The gymnastic prowess shown by these two reminds me a little bit of Lyudmilla Tourischeva (and they may even be old enough to know what I am talking about.)
Clapham Nomads 163 for 3 from 35 overs;
M. Bradshaw 36
M. Vyas 0
P. Pattiyil 3
J. Joyce 109 not out
S. Prasanna 2 not out
Did not bat; H. Khan, Darwin, A.Khan, N. Lefebve, E. Todorow, J.Crossland
F.O.W. - 4, 15, 160
Wimbledon Corinthians 149 all out from approximately 33 overs
(Bowling Figues will follow when I have managed to copy the opposition's score book.)
Nomads won by 14 runs
Monday, 9 May 2011
Clapham Nomads v Barnes Occasionals - 8/5/11
There was a familiar feeling to the start of the new season as Nomads took on long-standing opponents Barnes Occasionals at New Malden's Beverley Park; a regular venue for us in the early 2000s which has the distinction of being John Crossland's least favourite ground.
Occasionals were a mixture of standing dishes; Keith Seed, the Hogg brothers, Roger Price, Luke Bedford, along with some worryingly athletic-looking products of their youth policy. Seed acknowledged that it was one of their stronger line-ups and he also remarked, presciently, that 130 could be a decent score on this pitch.
Nomads were reduced to 10 men by the non-appearance of Terry Bruce-Mills. The bad news was that we only fielded 4 regular front-line bowlers. The good news was that one of them was Andrew West.
After 2 months of drought broken just the previous night by very heavy rain, and with little piles of grass seed lying around expectantly, the track was of concern. Occasionals' battery of spinners and awkward slow-medium line-and-length bowlers couldn't wait for their turn and Nomads were inserted by Barnes skipper Roger Price.
Openers Mark Bradshaw and Mahesh Vyas made an understandably cautious start, looking for quick singles while they assessed the pitch. In truth, it was nowhere near as bad as it could have been, though painfully slow and with some high, irregular bounce for Ollie Hogg. Hogg also supplied Vyas with two high full-tosses on leg and middle and the resultant 8 runs eased the pressure a little. Bradshaw looked sound and was beginning to find the gaps in the off-side field, being denied a boundary on at least one occasion by the long grass. The other opening bowler, Soper, was the more threatening of the two, sloping it in awkwardly and, with the score on 22, finding the edge of Bradshaw's bat with some sideways movement. Keeper Price held on to a good, low catch.
Jim Joyce announced his arrival with one of the shots of the day, a swashbuckling straight drive, but in attempting a follow-up he lofted the ball to long-on where Luke Bedford held on to a pressure catch.
Nomads' batting line-up appeared to lack a touch of depth and a lot depended on No.4 Hassan Khan. He dug in with determination but Barnes began to turn the heat up with Hogg finding the edge of M. Vyas' bat twice in an over. Leg-spinner Luke Bedford was introduced. A very big spinner of the ball, he initially over-pitched and was a touch predictable but once he had produced his googly in his third over, alarm bells rang and Vyas was bowled behind his legs with some acute turn - a leg-spinner's dream dismissal.
Nomads' innings hung in the balance at 40 for 3 but new man Darwin resumed the fine form he had shown at the end of last season with a solid 14, keeping H.Khan company in a vital stand of 39 during which the all-rounder began to accelerate. Khan found yet another gear in scoring all 22 runs of a 4-over partnership with Nick Lefebve. Khan despatched the bowling at will between mid-wicket and mid-on; a giant 6 off Bedford was the stand-out blow. Lefebve waited patiently for something nice on leg-stump but, when it came, he hit an Akram long-hop straight to backward square where Hogg O. rolled back the years with a fine diving catch. 101 for 5.
Hassan continued to play excellently right to the end and found some support from all the remaining batsmen; a quick 6 from Riaz Khan, a gritty, prizefighting 2 from Emil Todorow (undeterred by the 2 black eyes he had received in the nets last week,) and an entertaining stand of 10 with John Crossland full of manic running and an extraordinary attempted pull by Crossland which would have cleared the adjacent golf driving range and probably the A3 as well. The ball actually dropped at Crossland's feet but the fielders seemed slightly intimidated by the raw power of John's swing and yet another quick single was taken by the two postmen to leave Nomads on 131 for 7 off the full 35.
I made Occasionals clear favourites at the break, given the apparent strength of their line-up and their record against us, especially as we only had 4 front-line bowlers. A rate of under 4 seemed quite gettable on the slow and only slightly erratic pitch. Hassan struck a vital early blow in bowling Adam Hogg who has scored a century and at least three 50s in games against Nomads and Open University. The ball kept a bit low on Hogg and it must be acknowledged that the pitch did deteriorate somewhat during the 2nd innings. Hassan followed up with another quick wicket and appeared close to his best. There was sharp running during one stand early in Barnes' reply but few big shots and the score was only 20 after 9 overs. The other opening bowler, Emil Todorow, was bowling his inimitable mixture of yorkers and balls that reared up sharply off a good length - some may have blamed the pitch but all Todorow's many fans will be aware that he could get irregular bounce on glass. It was a fine spell from the veteran maestro and sure enough his reward came with 2 match-turning wickets in 2 balls. One of them looped up into the inner off-side and Jim Joyce and Hassan Khan converged on it. Joyce did well to hold onto the chance, particularly as John roared "Hassan's" just as it dropped into Joyce's hands.
Todorow narrowly missed a hat-trick when he produced another rearing, chest-high delivery and, sensing an opponent on the ropes, he moved in for the kill by introducing Andrew West into the attack. It was a pitch tailor-made for West who bowled a nice full length and let the ball do the work. Price, possibly Occasionals' star batsman, clipped West off his legs and Darwin held on to a good, sharp-ish catch.
The skipper sensed that he could finish off the job with his 4 main bowlers and he replaced himself with Riaz Khan, who was bang on the money with his new, experimental grip. Runs almost dried up but a steady stream of wickets continued. West was particularly impressive with his bowling-machine length which forced one batsman back almost onto his stumps for a plumb LBW. Two caught behinds from Crossland, who performed very well despite his well-publicised loathing of this ground, wrapped up the innings and a solid win for Nomads; only our third against this opposition.
Barnes Occasionals' collective air of suave urbanity only barely conceals a streak of solid steel and they are sure to come back at us very hard in the return match next month. This game will be played at Ham Street where we lost to Southall Eagles last year. If anything, that pitch tends to be more irregular in bounce than Beverley Park though rather quicker. Let's see what happens.
Man of the Match has to be Hassan Khan for his tight spell and for being the top batsman by some distance. All our bowlers earn an honourable mention. For Fielder of the Day I will go for Darwin who held probably the best catch to dismiss arguably Barnes' best batsman. A crucial moment.
CLAPHAM NOMADS 131 for 7 from 35 overs
M. Bradshaw c Price b Soper 7
M. Vyas b Bedford 23
J, Joyce c Bedford b O.Hogg 5
Hassan Khan 62 not out
Darwin c and b Seed 14
N. Lefebve c O.Hogg b Akram 0
R. Khan lbw Soper 6
E. Todorow c ? b Seed 2
J. Crossland not out 1
Did not bat - A. West
F.O.W. - 21, 31, 40, 79, 101, 108, 121
Barnes Occasionals 54 from 20 overs
H. Khan 5-1-9-2
E. Todorow 7-1-14-2
A. West 5-1-20-3
R. Khan 3-1-6-3
Nomads won by 77 runs
Occasionals were a mixture of standing dishes; Keith Seed, the Hogg brothers, Roger Price, Luke Bedford, along with some worryingly athletic-looking products of their youth policy. Seed acknowledged that it was one of their stronger line-ups and he also remarked, presciently, that 130 could be a decent score on this pitch.
Nomads were reduced to 10 men by the non-appearance of Terry Bruce-Mills. The bad news was that we only fielded 4 regular front-line bowlers. The good news was that one of them was Andrew West.
After 2 months of drought broken just the previous night by very heavy rain, and with little piles of grass seed lying around expectantly, the track was of concern. Occasionals' battery of spinners and awkward slow-medium line-and-length bowlers couldn't wait for their turn and Nomads were inserted by Barnes skipper Roger Price.
Openers Mark Bradshaw and Mahesh Vyas made an understandably cautious start, looking for quick singles while they assessed the pitch. In truth, it was nowhere near as bad as it could have been, though painfully slow and with some high, irregular bounce for Ollie Hogg. Hogg also supplied Vyas with two high full-tosses on leg and middle and the resultant 8 runs eased the pressure a little. Bradshaw looked sound and was beginning to find the gaps in the off-side field, being denied a boundary on at least one occasion by the long grass. The other opening bowler, Soper, was the more threatening of the two, sloping it in awkwardly and, with the score on 22, finding the edge of Bradshaw's bat with some sideways movement. Keeper Price held on to a good, low catch.
Jim Joyce announced his arrival with one of the shots of the day, a swashbuckling straight drive, but in attempting a follow-up he lofted the ball to long-on where Luke Bedford held on to a pressure catch.
Nomads' batting line-up appeared to lack a touch of depth and a lot depended on No.4 Hassan Khan. He dug in with determination but Barnes began to turn the heat up with Hogg finding the edge of M. Vyas' bat twice in an over. Leg-spinner Luke Bedford was introduced. A very big spinner of the ball, he initially over-pitched and was a touch predictable but once he had produced his googly in his third over, alarm bells rang and Vyas was bowled behind his legs with some acute turn - a leg-spinner's dream dismissal.
Nomads' innings hung in the balance at 40 for 3 but new man Darwin resumed the fine form he had shown at the end of last season with a solid 14, keeping H.Khan company in a vital stand of 39 during which the all-rounder began to accelerate. Khan found yet another gear in scoring all 22 runs of a 4-over partnership with Nick Lefebve. Khan despatched the bowling at will between mid-wicket and mid-on; a giant 6 off Bedford was the stand-out blow. Lefebve waited patiently for something nice on leg-stump but, when it came, he hit an Akram long-hop straight to backward square where Hogg O. rolled back the years with a fine diving catch. 101 for 5.
Hassan continued to play excellently right to the end and found some support from all the remaining batsmen; a quick 6 from Riaz Khan, a gritty, prizefighting 2 from Emil Todorow (undeterred by the 2 black eyes he had received in the nets last week,) and an entertaining stand of 10 with John Crossland full of manic running and an extraordinary attempted pull by Crossland which would have cleared the adjacent golf driving range and probably the A3 as well. The ball actually dropped at Crossland's feet but the fielders seemed slightly intimidated by the raw power of John's swing and yet another quick single was taken by the two postmen to leave Nomads on 131 for 7 off the full 35.
I made Occasionals clear favourites at the break, given the apparent strength of their line-up and their record against us, especially as we only had 4 front-line bowlers. A rate of under 4 seemed quite gettable on the slow and only slightly erratic pitch. Hassan struck a vital early blow in bowling Adam Hogg who has scored a century and at least three 50s in games against Nomads and Open University. The ball kept a bit low on Hogg and it must be acknowledged that the pitch did deteriorate somewhat during the 2nd innings. Hassan followed up with another quick wicket and appeared close to his best. There was sharp running during one stand early in Barnes' reply but few big shots and the score was only 20 after 9 overs. The other opening bowler, Emil Todorow, was bowling his inimitable mixture of yorkers and balls that reared up sharply off a good length - some may have blamed the pitch but all Todorow's many fans will be aware that he could get irregular bounce on glass. It was a fine spell from the veteran maestro and sure enough his reward came with 2 match-turning wickets in 2 balls. One of them looped up into the inner off-side and Jim Joyce and Hassan Khan converged on it. Joyce did well to hold onto the chance, particularly as John roared "Hassan's" just as it dropped into Joyce's hands.
Todorow narrowly missed a hat-trick when he produced another rearing, chest-high delivery and, sensing an opponent on the ropes, he moved in for the kill by introducing Andrew West into the attack. It was a pitch tailor-made for West who bowled a nice full length and let the ball do the work. Price, possibly Occasionals' star batsman, clipped West off his legs and Darwin held on to a good, sharp-ish catch.
The skipper sensed that he could finish off the job with his 4 main bowlers and he replaced himself with Riaz Khan, who was bang on the money with his new, experimental grip. Runs almost dried up but a steady stream of wickets continued. West was particularly impressive with his bowling-machine length which forced one batsman back almost onto his stumps for a plumb LBW. Two caught behinds from Crossland, who performed very well despite his well-publicised loathing of this ground, wrapped up the innings and a solid win for Nomads; only our third against this opposition.
Barnes Occasionals' collective air of suave urbanity only barely conceals a streak of solid steel and they are sure to come back at us very hard in the return match next month. This game will be played at Ham Street where we lost to Southall Eagles last year. If anything, that pitch tends to be more irregular in bounce than Beverley Park though rather quicker. Let's see what happens.
Man of the Match has to be Hassan Khan for his tight spell and for being the top batsman by some distance. All our bowlers earn an honourable mention. For Fielder of the Day I will go for Darwin who held probably the best catch to dismiss arguably Barnes' best batsman. A crucial moment.
CLAPHAM NOMADS 131 for 7 from 35 overs
M. Bradshaw c Price b Soper 7
M. Vyas b Bedford 23
J, Joyce c Bedford b O.Hogg 5
Hassan Khan 62 not out
Darwin c and b Seed 14
N. Lefebve c O.Hogg b Akram 0
R. Khan lbw Soper 6
E. Todorow c ? b Seed 2
J. Crossland not out 1
Did not bat - A. West
F.O.W. - 21, 31, 40, 79, 101, 108, 121
Barnes Occasionals 54 from 20 overs
H. Khan 5-1-9-2
E. Todorow 7-1-14-2
A. West 5-1-20-3
R. Khan 3-1-6-3
Nomads won by 77 runs
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