There was a decidedly unusual feel to 1.45 pm on Sunday. The whole Nomads team (admittedly only 10 men) were primed and ready to start play on a flawless-looking Joseph Hood Rec pitch on a beautiful sunny day, and stood around exchanging polite pleasantries as we prepared to commence our innings, having been thoughtfully put in to bat by Dulwich skipper John Lawrence on the warmest Sunday so far this year. Would we be able to adapt to these highly unusual and unNomadic circumstances?
The calm serenity was soon blown away by Dulwich opener Joe Hale who spiked a sharp in-cutter through to the keeper, a good 15 mph faster than we had been expecting. Game on and normal service resumed.
Nomads' No. 1 Mark Bradshaw dug in again and faced up to the challenge posed by the young paceman. At the other end, Mahesh Vyas collected 7 off the first over from Plummer, for whom there was just a touch of uneven bounce. It was a gritty start from our pair and 15 seemed a fair haul from the first 5 overs. The second ball of the 6th over saw Plummer clip Vyas's bails. Worse was to follow the next over with Hale producing the ball of the day to shatter Prasanth Pattiyil's stumps via the edge of his pad. A rare low score for Prasanth and Nomads in a hole at 16 for 2.
No 4 Hassan Khan has, by his own very high standards, not been on top form with the bat lately and, with Hale whipping up a storm, a challenging passage of play ensued. The young paceman bowled his 7 overs right through in an excellent spell of 1 for 9 with only 5 scoring shots. He had several decent-ish LBW shouts as well, which the umpire declined without making eye contact as the bowler's pace, action and height bore a remarkable resemblance to Energy Exiles' quickie Simon Gundry. Like all Dulwich's youngsters, though, Hale had a very sporting attitude. If there was one small weakness in his bowling, it was that he did stray down leg side on occasions and the 7 or 8 byes that resulted helped Nomads up to a fair score of around 65 for 2 at the 18-over drinks break.
The pick of the change bowlers was the clever Kiwi spinner Ebert who got through his work at 3.5 an over at a time when Nomads were trying to accelerate, and claimed the important wicket of Bradshaw (a well-crafted 29) with a stinging caught and bowled in his final over.
No 5 Chris Kennedy showed a good positive attitude and used his feet well to the spinners, but when he was bowled by Spencer, Nomads were in a little difficulty again at 90 for 4.
Fortunately, Hassan was approaching his best form and began to come forward really well to Spencer and Nair with boundaries in most overs. No 6 Nick Lefebve showed a more positive intent than last week, possibly because he was using Dave Hunter's old bat which, like its former owner, does not tolerate blockers. He even produced a Bradshawesque square cut but all his other 17 runs were leg-side before he was caught by Hale at deep mid-wicket. The pair had put on 56 with Hassan racing to his 50 and then onwards. The real acceleration came with the arrival of No. 7 Abdul Khan. The two Khans taking an impressive 23 off the last 21 balls to leave Nomads on 169 for 5 at the close of the innings on 35 overs.
This seemed a decent score (we only managed one run more off 40 overs the week before.) Dulwich are always well-drilled and technically correct but sometime lack a few really big hitters. Games between these sides tend be very close though and, on a good track and with a rather veteran, 10-man fielding unit, it was likely to be interesting.
Hassan Khan struck right away in the first over with a caught and bowled and, although one batsman managed to find the short off-side boundary on several occasions off Emil Todorow, he tried it once too often and chipped up to Abdul Khan at deep-ish point - Abdul doesn't miss those.
Before this game, Nomads had only taken 5 wickets in the previous 68 overs and there was some animated tactical discussion in the interval concerning our bowling order. Perhaps in response to this, Abdul Khan and Andrew West came on earlier than usual at around the 8-10 over mark. This bore some fruit, particularly in West's case. He did go for a boundary in each of his first 2 overs but, as it became clear that he wasn't going to be as expensive as he has been recently (when bowling later in the innings,) his confidence grew and he bowled a fine and accurate spell. As ever with West, it was injuries that were the abiding memory - 2 this week instead of the usual 1 - The more memorable was when he fell on the ball (poor ball) in stopping a single and lay prone in apparent agony for a minute before calmly standing up, grunting, and sending down some more impeccable line and length deliveries. Abdul was also impressive, bowling 7 overs for just 25 runs despite having an injured shoulder. The upshot of this was that Dulwich were well behind the required rate at Drinks but, with only 3 down and 2 well-played-in batsmen at the crease, the chase promised to go to the wire.
Nomads had only 4 recognised Front Line bowlers but 3rd change Prasanth Pattiyil was brought on fairly early as part of the Todorow Masterplan. After a very expensive first over he recovered well and claimed a wicket with a ball that kept low. This brought Ebert, probably Dulwich's most powerful hitter, to the crease. His partner was a most impressive 14-year-old who batsman went on to make 50. This stand dragged Dulwich right back into the game; the highlight was some very sharp running between the wickets. For a period it was almost "tip and run" as any ball not hit straight back to the bowler resulted in a single and often a 2. Nomads had only 3 players under 47 and only 1 under 35, whereas Dulwich had only 1 player over 35. For a while this generation gap threatened to prove decisive as the required rate dropped towards 6.5 with wickets in hand and our rather defensive field being run ragged. I did hear a mutter of "geriatrics" at one point from the spectators and I would like to say this galvanised us, but unfortunately we were too knackered to be galvanised.
Some confusion arose as Todorow tried to juggle his bowling options. At one point, Prasanth had just bowled at the Morden End and the skipper gazed at the Wimbledon End and scratched his head, wondering who he could bring on next. "Aaahh!," his eyes lit up as inspiration arrived; "Prasanth, can you take this over?" I know Prasanth is good but 2 overs in a row?.... Eventually the skipper turned to 4th-change Nick Lefebve who managed to get through 2 overs at 7 an over which was no more than the required rate.
Prasanth returned after a short break and claimed the vital wicket of Ebert. The asking rate was now over 8 but Dulwich stayed in the hunt with excellent running and the odd blow to the short boundary. 34 were needed with 4 overs to go but Nomads had enjoyed the luxury of bringing Hassan back to bowl at the death. The 4th last over was probably the crucial one with Prasanth only going for 5.
In the penultimate over Prasanth took a smart caught and bowled from a firmly struck drive. The very next ball he moved sharply out to his left and threw down the stumps with a direct hit from 15 yards to dismiss Dulwich's young top-scorer. A further wicket, bowled, on the last ball of the over was merely the encore of a brilliant, 6-ball, One Man Show.
19 were needed off the final over and few players at this or indeed at a higher level would fancy scoring that off Hassan Khan. In the event, Dulwich fell just 10 runs short in a thrilling match that was closer and more exciting than I have made it sound in this report.
Man of the Match was Hassan whose 76 contained enough prolonged rapid scoring to take the game just beyond Dulwich's reach. Mark Bradshaw's resilient 29 against some challenging New Ball bowling was very important too. These 2 were probably the most consistent fielders as well but Fielder of the Day must be Prasanth for his caught and bowled and direct hit in successive balls. Honourable mention must also go to Andrew West, the most economical bowler. I would like to claim this was a victory for "Experience" over Youth but the 4 star players I have just mentioned are Nomads' youngest - plus of course Andrew West who remains forever young at heart.
QUOTE OF THE DAY; "We like playing you but your field placings are always so defensive" - Ebert, Dulwich cc
Clapham Nomads 169 for 5 from 35 overs
Bradshaw 29
Vyas 8
Pattiyil 1
H. Khan 76 not out
Kennedy 5
Lefebve 18
A. Khan 13 not out
F.O.W. - 15, 16, 85, 90, 146
Dulwich 159 for 9 from 35 overs
H. Khan 7-0-27-2
Todorow 7-0-30-2
A. Khan 7-0-25-0
West 7-0-22-0
Pattiyil 5-0-32-4
Lefebve 2-0-14-0
Nomads won by 10 runs
Monday, 1 August 2011
Monday, 25 July 2011
Wimbledon Corinthians v Clapham Nomads - 24/7/11
Wimbledon Corinthians served up revenge with a comfortable victory over Nomads at a sultry Raynes Park.
On a pitch that I (and the scorebook) thought was good - though others disagreed, Nomads got off to a pretty good start and reached 56 for 1 against some probing bowling. This was due to a good stand of 47 from the very consistent Prasanth Pattiiyil and Rashid Ahmed after Mahesh Vyas had been run out early on. The wicket of Rashid precipitated an alarming collapse to 82 for 5, featuring a brilliant direct hit to claim the vital wicket of Hassan Khan for 1. The 5th wicket was somewhat unlucky, the ball deflecting off Prasanth's hip to clip the leg bail. A 6th wicket stand of 58 between Abdul Khan (43) and Nick Lefebve dragged us back into the game. The clever Steve O'Neill Ramsadeo imposed a stranglehold during the early part of this stand with his excellent variations, conceding only 5 runs from his first 4 overs but Abdul, who hadn't played for a month, was most impressive once he got his eye in and hit two 6s and six 4s in a vital and rapid knock.
Our middle order appeared stronger than it had for a while with Riaz Khan in at No 8 with the score on 140 for 6 and plenty of time remaining. One of his trademark speedy 20s or 30s would have been just what was needed and he did look in the mood, but unfortunately a brilliant diving catch at Mid Off sent him on his way for 3.
Lefebve had taken almost 20 overs to play himself in but made a late flurry of runs in a patchy but entertainingly argumentative stand of 27 with skipper Emil Todorow to take us up to a slightly below par 170 for 7 off the full 40.
One feature of this innings was that it took well over 3 hours, thanks to the ritual of banter, sledging, ball-passing (and dropping) and field changes that occurred after most deliveries. To be fair though, at least one Nomads' batsman attempted to outdo Corinthians for timewasting and - at one point - pretended to fall asleep on the ground.
Nomads would have to bowl and field well to defend this target against a strong batting line-up.
Todorow snapped up an early caught and bowled with the score on 5 but the second wicket pair played calmly and unhurriedly for a stand of around 140 and never really looked like losing a wicket. Hassan and Emil were awkward to score off as usual and the total was only about 40 for 1 after 15 overs but, once 50 was passed with no chances nor any sign of snakes in the pitch, the writing appeared on the wall. The pick of the change bowlers was Rashid, who put a lot into his bowling and gave a throaty grunt as he delivered each ball. God forbid that Emil or Andrew ever do this; it would be alarming. The match was all but lost when Rashid claimed the second wicket with a fine caught and bowled and then followed up with another in the next over. During this period there was the strange spectacle of an impassioned rant by one of the batsmen about the state of the pitch - the score was 150 for 2 at the time. I honestly think that if he ever played at Lord's he would complain about the slope.
The only thing that could have saved Nomads was the light - the sun was slipping down below the A3 as 8:30 was passed. Corinthians needed 7 off the last 3 overs but, aware of the fading light, they wrapped it up in 3 balls, concluding with a 6 off Todorow.
Man of the Match was Rashid who never lost his enthusiasm and bowled with passion and pace to claim two richly-deserved late wickets. He also batted well, while the ball was new and the pitch still a little tricky. Abdul's innings was vital and entertaining as well. Emil voted for Rashid for Fielder of the Day but fans of Mahesh Vyas, who made a series of good stops at various points between slip and Third Man, won the vote.
QUOTE OF THE DAY - "A caught and bowled from Todorow. A rare sight indeed." - John Crossland, Clapham Nomads cc
Clapham Nomads - 170 for 7 from 40 overs
M. Vyas, run out 5
P. Pattiyil, bowled 28
R. Ahmed, bowled 25
H. Khan, run out 1
Darwin, bowled 5
N. Lefebve, not out 24
A. Khan, bowled 43
R. Khan, caught 3
E. Todorow, not out 3
Did not bat; J. Crossland, A. West
F. O. W. - 9, 56, 57, 78, 82, 140, 143
Wimbledon Corinthians - 172 for 3 from 37.3 overs
H. Khan - 8-0-30-0
E. Todorow - 6.3-0-24-1
R. Ahmed - 8-0-33-2
A. West - 4-0-26-0
R. Khan - 6-0-30-0
A. Khan - 5-0-24-0
Nomads lost by 7 wickets
On a pitch that I (and the scorebook) thought was good - though others disagreed, Nomads got off to a pretty good start and reached 56 for 1 against some probing bowling. This was due to a good stand of 47 from the very consistent Prasanth Pattiiyil and Rashid Ahmed after Mahesh Vyas had been run out early on. The wicket of Rashid precipitated an alarming collapse to 82 for 5, featuring a brilliant direct hit to claim the vital wicket of Hassan Khan for 1. The 5th wicket was somewhat unlucky, the ball deflecting off Prasanth's hip to clip the leg bail. A 6th wicket stand of 58 between Abdul Khan (43) and Nick Lefebve dragged us back into the game. The clever Steve O'Neill Ramsadeo imposed a stranglehold during the early part of this stand with his excellent variations, conceding only 5 runs from his first 4 overs but Abdul, who hadn't played for a month, was most impressive once he got his eye in and hit two 6s and six 4s in a vital and rapid knock.
Our middle order appeared stronger than it had for a while with Riaz Khan in at No 8 with the score on 140 for 6 and plenty of time remaining. One of his trademark speedy 20s or 30s would have been just what was needed and he did look in the mood, but unfortunately a brilliant diving catch at Mid Off sent him on his way for 3.
Lefebve had taken almost 20 overs to play himself in but made a late flurry of runs in a patchy but entertainingly argumentative stand of 27 with skipper Emil Todorow to take us up to a slightly below par 170 for 7 off the full 40.
One feature of this innings was that it took well over 3 hours, thanks to the ritual of banter, sledging, ball-passing (and dropping) and field changes that occurred after most deliveries. To be fair though, at least one Nomads' batsman attempted to outdo Corinthians for timewasting and - at one point - pretended to fall asleep on the ground.
Nomads would have to bowl and field well to defend this target against a strong batting line-up.
Todorow snapped up an early caught and bowled with the score on 5 but the second wicket pair played calmly and unhurriedly for a stand of around 140 and never really looked like losing a wicket. Hassan and Emil were awkward to score off as usual and the total was only about 40 for 1 after 15 overs but, once 50 was passed with no chances nor any sign of snakes in the pitch, the writing appeared on the wall. The pick of the change bowlers was Rashid, who put a lot into his bowling and gave a throaty grunt as he delivered each ball. God forbid that Emil or Andrew ever do this; it would be alarming. The match was all but lost when Rashid claimed the second wicket with a fine caught and bowled and then followed up with another in the next over. During this period there was the strange spectacle of an impassioned rant by one of the batsmen about the state of the pitch - the score was 150 for 2 at the time. I honestly think that if he ever played at Lord's he would complain about the slope.
The only thing that could have saved Nomads was the light - the sun was slipping down below the A3 as 8:30 was passed. Corinthians needed 7 off the last 3 overs but, aware of the fading light, they wrapped it up in 3 balls, concluding with a 6 off Todorow.
Man of the Match was Rashid who never lost his enthusiasm and bowled with passion and pace to claim two richly-deserved late wickets. He also batted well, while the ball was new and the pitch still a little tricky. Abdul's innings was vital and entertaining as well. Emil voted for Rashid for Fielder of the Day but fans of Mahesh Vyas, who made a series of good stops at various points between slip and Third Man, won the vote.
QUOTE OF THE DAY - "A caught and bowled from Todorow. A rare sight indeed." - John Crossland, Clapham Nomads cc
Clapham Nomads - 170 for 7 from 40 overs
M. Vyas, run out 5
P. Pattiyil, bowled 28
R. Ahmed, bowled 25
H. Khan, run out 1
Darwin, bowled 5
N. Lefebve, not out 24
A. Khan, bowled 43
R. Khan, caught 3
E. Todorow, not out 3
Did not bat; J. Crossland, A. West
F. O. W. - 9, 56, 57, 78, 82, 140, 143
Wimbledon Corinthians - 172 for 3 from 37.3 overs
H. Khan - 8-0-30-0
E. Todorow - 6.3-0-24-1
R. Ahmed - 8-0-33-2
A. West - 4-0-26-0
R. Khan - 6-0-30-0
A. Khan - 5-0-24-0
Nomads lost by 7 wickets
Monday, 18 July 2011
Streatham & Marlborough v Clapham Nomads - 17/7/11
Nomads got their stop-start season back on track in a damp Dulwich with a splendid victory against talented opponents.
This match didn't seem likely to be completed at any point in the previous few days, and certainly not when we saw the dark grey sky and lightning flashes hovering around over Dulwich Village.
We made a token effort to start a 30-over game (strangely, the Home side wanted 40 overs,) and tight bowling from Hassan Khan and Emil Todorow restricted Streatham to around 10 for 0 when heavy rain forced us off after 5 overs. A 20-minute break under the trees was followed by a Groundhog Day repetition of the above and we found ourselves under the trees again with the score on 20 for 0 after 10 overs. The openers were complete opposites in every respect; age, height, approach - the younger guy attempted to pull every Todorow ball over square leg for 6 (Emil finished with figures of 6 runs off 6 overs which gives an idea how successful this ploy was.) The other fellow - at least 45 years older than his partner - nudged and nurdled for quick singles and this proved quite profitable as the mismatched pair had a surprisingly good understanding. The attacking player did hit one stunning 4 back over Hassan's head - a rare sight - which kept the field back.
Terry Bruce-Mills was first change and bowled tight slow-medium to help restrict the score to around 45 at the 18-over mark. With only 12 overs to go, there were murmurs of discontent from the remainder of the Streatham batting line-up, which were answered angrily by the older opener. Perhaps this affected his concentration because he was bowled shortly afterwards by Andrew West; the only ball in the match that kept a bit low.
This wicket looked counter-productive for a while as new man Kannan helped launch a charge. For 6 or 7 overs, Streatham were completely on top with Andrew West and pacy newcomer Rashid Ahmed taking particular punishment. A heap of runs came behind square off Rashid - possibly a field placing issue here.
Nomads' ground-fielding was good throughout, with Terry Bruce-Mills particularly impressive, but several catches went down as the Home side appeared to be heading for something like 180-190.
Finally, a chance was snapped up, a high quality diving catch from Hassan, and Streatham moved down a gear or two in the closing overs with Nomads a tad relieved only to have conceded 150 by the close.
This did appear on paper to be one of the more threadbare Nomads batting line-ups and one sensed that a lot would rest on the admittedly broad shoulders of Mark Bradshaw and Hassan Khan.
An early wicket was just what was not required but Mahesh Vyas holed out to short mid-wicket in the 3rd over to bring Rashid out to join Mark Bradshaw in the middle. The newcomer, yet another Riaz Khan discovery, had not played with a requlation cricket ball or on a grass strip before. It was perhaps fortunate that this was such a good track but Rashid showed an excellent eye and some near-textbook shots. A good second wicket stand took shape with excellent running and strike rotation; a sprinkling of 1s and 2s in every over and five 4s for Rashid in a pretty rapid 33 before he fell to the impressive 14-year-old quickie Pentycross - an easy name to remember should he progress to greater things.
62 for 2 and Hassan Khan joined Bradshaw in what looked a crucial phase of the game. Streatham had brought on 2nd changer Kannan, a very tricky customer to score 5 an over off, with great variation of pace, trajectory and movement. When Kannan claimed the wicket of Hassan with only 79 on the board the wound appeared mortal.
No. 5 Darwin had showed promise with the bat but had never really gone beyond the mid-20s for Nomads. Below him in the order there was no-one you could rely on to score at 5 an over for too long. Scorer John Crossland began to despair; "We've had it. We can't win this. We've got no Zia or Riaz." An early 6 from Darwin was an eye-opener but Crossland soon began to repeat his mantra, much to the amusement of the crowd of home fans.
Mark Bradshaw had been keeping Nomads' run rate healthy with 2s all around the wicket. Suddenly he launched a beautiful straight drive back over the bowler's head; although it dropped a couple of millimetres short of the rope, it was a sign that he was in The Zone. The partnership gelled and it was noticeable how often a boundary was taken from one of the first two balls of an over to ease the pressure. The 100 came up in fine time, as did the 50 partnership at 129. The required rate remained steady at just over 5. A truly exciting contest was building up but scorer Crossland noticed that Streatham's scorebook was slipping behind his own; first by 1, then by 2 and, with 2 overs to go, by 4. A quick discussion resulted in the home side insisting that we go with their, lower, score. I'm not too sure about the rights and wrongs of that (....well I am actually, but the way our guys were batting, who cared?)
12 more runs was agreed as the target with 12 balls to go, and then 3 were needed off the final over, to be delivered by Kannan, the pick of the bowlers. Two dot balls clenched buttocks but Darwin pushed 2 off the third ball to level the scores. Darwin hit the 4th ball uppishly. A fielder swooped for the chance as the batsmen crossed. Just for a second there was confusion but then it became clear that the ball had been grounded, the total had been passed, and Nomads had recorded one of our most exciting victories.
Man of the Match is Mark Bradshaw for marshalling our reply. His 56 not out was probably his finest and quickest innings of the season. His versatility was shown in that he only hit one of his trademark off-side 4s. Other areas produced a rich yield. Plenty of other fine performances with a Nomads-best 43 not out from Darwin and a miserly 6-1-6-0 from Emil, despite him being the target of repeated attempts to slog him over the leg side into Lewisham.
Fielder of the Day would have been Terry for his groundwork but he did put down a couple of chances. I will award it to Andrew West, who not only failed to swear at the skipper as he was moved regularly around the field, but also produced an extraordinary, balletic, Richter Scale-busting diving stop right on the line and, remarkably, didn't injure himself in the process. Unfortunately he didn't jump up and return the ball all in the same movement. Had he done so, he would have been instantly awarded Player of the Season, along with a Hospital bed.
Thanks to the Home Side for staging the contest and all credit to their players who did a splendid job getting the covers on and off. It was a pleasure to play on a covered pitch.
Streatham & Marlborough - 150 for 2 from 30 overs
H. Khan 6-1-15-0
E. Todorow 6-1-6-0
T. Bruce-Mills 4-0-15-0
A. West 6-0-46-1
R. Ahmed 6-0-44-1
Darwin 2-0-13-0
Clapham Nomads - 151 for 3 from 29.4 overs
M. Bradshaw - 56 not out
M. Vyas - 2
R. Ahmed - 33
H. Khan - 7
Darwin - 43 not out
Did not bat; N.Lefebve, E. Todorow, J. Crossland, T. Bruce-Mills, A. West
F.O.W. - 15, 62, 79
Clapham Nomads won by 7 wickets
This match didn't seem likely to be completed at any point in the previous few days, and certainly not when we saw the dark grey sky and lightning flashes hovering around over Dulwich Village.
We made a token effort to start a 30-over game (strangely, the Home side wanted 40 overs,) and tight bowling from Hassan Khan and Emil Todorow restricted Streatham to around 10 for 0 when heavy rain forced us off after 5 overs. A 20-minute break under the trees was followed by a Groundhog Day repetition of the above and we found ourselves under the trees again with the score on 20 for 0 after 10 overs. The openers were complete opposites in every respect; age, height, approach - the younger guy attempted to pull every Todorow ball over square leg for 6 (Emil finished with figures of 6 runs off 6 overs which gives an idea how successful this ploy was.) The other fellow - at least 45 years older than his partner - nudged and nurdled for quick singles and this proved quite profitable as the mismatched pair had a surprisingly good understanding. The attacking player did hit one stunning 4 back over Hassan's head - a rare sight - which kept the field back.
Terry Bruce-Mills was first change and bowled tight slow-medium to help restrict the score to around 45 at the 18-over mark. With only 12 overs to go, there were murmurs of discontent from the remainder of the Streatham batting line-up, which were answered angrily by the older opener. Perhaps this affected his concentration because he was bowled shortly afterwards by Andrew West; the only ball in the match that kept a bit low.
This wicket looked counter-productive for a while as new man Kannan helped launch a charge. For 6 or 7 overs, Streatham were completely on top with Andrew West and pacy newcomer Rashid Ahmed taking particular punishment. A heap of runs came behind square off Rashid - possibly a field placing issue here.
Nomads' ground-fielding was good throughout, with Terry Bruce-Mills particularly impressive, but several catches went down as the Home side appeared to be heading for something like 180-190.
Finally, a chance was snapped up, a high quality diving catch from Hassan, and Streatham moved down a gear or two in the closing overs with Nomads a tad relieved only to have conceded 150 by the close.
This did appear on paper to be one of the more threadbare Nomads batting line-ups and one sensed that a lot would rest on the admittedly broad shoulders of Mark Bradshaw and Hassan Khan.
An early wicket was just what was not required but Mahesh Vyas holed out to short mid-wicket in the 3rd over to bring Rashid out to join Mark Bradshaw in the middle. The newcomer, yet another Riaz Khan discovery, had not played with a requlation cricket ball or on a grass strip before. It was perhaps fortunate that this was such a good track but Rashid showed an excellent eye and some near-textbook shots. A good second wicket stand took shape with excellent running and strike rotation; a sprinkling of 1s and 2s in every over and five 4s for Rashid in a pretty rapid 33 before he fell to the impressive 14-year-old quickie Pentycross - an easy name to remember should he progress to greater things.
62 for 2 and Hassan Khan joined Bradshaw in what looked a crucial phase of the game. Streatham had brought on 2nd changer Kannan, a very tricky customer to score 5 an over off, with great variation of pace, trajectory and movement. When Kannan claimed the wicket of Hassan with only 79 on the board the wound appeared mortal.
No. 5 Darwin had showed promise with the bat but had never really gone beyond the mid-20s for Nomads. Below him in the order there was no-one you could rely on to score at 5 an over for too long. Scorer John Crossland began to despair; "We've had it. We can't win this. We've got no Zia or Riaz." An early 6 from Darwin was an eye-opener but Crossland soon began to repeat his mantra, much to the amusement of the crowd of home fans.
Mark Bradshaw had been keeping Nomads' run rate healthy with 2s all around the wicket. Suddenly he launched a beautiful straight drive back over the bowler's head; although it dropped a couple of millimetres short of the rope, it was a sign that he was in The Zone. The partnership gelled and it was noticeable how often a boundary was taken from one of the first two balls of an over to ease the pressure. The 100 came up in fine time, as did the 50 partnership at 129. The required rate remained steady at just over 5. A truly exciting contest was building up but scorer Crossland noticed that Streatham's scorebook was slipping behind his own; first by 1, then by 2 and, with 2 overs to go, by 4. A quick discussion resulted in the home side insisting that we go with their, lower, score. I'm not too sure about the rights and wrongs of that (....well I am actually, but the way our guys were batting, who cared?)
12 more runs was agreed as the target with 12 balls to go, and then 3 were needed off the final over, to be delivered by Kannan, the pick of the bowlers. Two dot balls clenched buttocks but Darwin pushed 2 off the third ball to level the scores. Darwin hit the 4th ball uppishly. A fielder swooped for the chance as the batsmen crossed. Just for a second there was confusion but then it became clear that the ball had been grounded, the total had been passed, and Nomads had recorded one of our most exciting victories.
Man of the Match is Mark Bradshaw for marshalling our reply. His 56 not out was probably his finest and quickest innings of the season. His versatility was shown in that he only hit one of his trademark off-side 4s. Other areas produced a rich yield. Plenty of other fine performances with a Nomads-best 43 not out from Darwin and a miserly 6-1-6-0 from Emil, despite him being the target of repeated attempts to slog him over the leg side into Lewisham.
Fielder of the Day would have been Terry for his groundwork but he did put down a couple of chances. I will award it to Andrew West, who not only failed to swear at the skipper as he was moved regularly around the field, but also produced an extraordinary, balletic, Richter Scale-busting diving stop right on the line and, remarkably, didn't injure himself in the process. Unfortunately he didn't jump up and return the ball all in the same movement. Had he done so, he would have been instantly awarded Player of the Season, along with a Hospital bed.
Thanks to the Home Side for staging the contest and all credit to their players who did a splendid job getting the covers on and off. It was a pleasure to play on a covered pitch.
Streatham & Marlborough - 150 for 2 from 30 overs
H. Khan 6-1-15-0
E. Todorow 6-1-6-0
T. Bruce-Mills 4-0-15-0
A. West 6-0-46-1
R. Ahmed 6-0-44-1
Darwin 2-0-13-0
Clapham Nomads - 151 for 3 from 29.4 overs
M. Bradshaw - 56 not out
M. Vyas - 2
R. Ahmed - 33
H. Khan - 7
Darwin - 43 not out
Did not bat; N.Lefebve, E. Todorow, J. Crossland, T. Bruce-Mills, A. West
F.O.W. - 15, 62, 79
Clapham Nomads won by 7 wickets
Touring Theatre XI v Clapham Nomads - 10/7/11
Sadly this game was called off because of the torrential rain on the preceding Thursday and Friday. Merton Council were unable to prepare a pitch and, obviously unable to stretch to weekend overtime for their groundsmen in these harsh times, had to call off the game.
This left Nomads kicking their heels on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. At least one of our team went to see Surrey v Kent at The Oval where there was a sighting of Nomads' record run-scorer John Chance holding court to an appreciative audience in the Peter May Stand, to liven up proceedings. (Former Kingston Lefthanders Flight Bowler Nick Crouch was there as well. It was a Hall of Fame.)
This left Nomads kicking their heels on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. At least one of our team went to see Surrey v Kent at The Oval where there was a sighting of Nomads' record run-scorer John Chance holding court to an appreciative audience in the Peter May Stand, to liven up proceedings. (Former Kingston Lefthanders Flight Bowler Nick Crouch was there as well. It was a Hall of Fame.)
Wednesday, 6 July 2011
Clapham Nomads v Caribbean Mix - 3/7/11
Basically, we got a spanking. The story of the game was that after an early wicket, we were pretty much put to the sword. It was hard work in the field, especially against a left-hand/right-hand 2nd wicket pair that put on over 100, but we still showed plenty of enthusiasm and the bowling was ok, although the opposition batsmen took rather a liking to the deliveries of Zia, from whom the ball came on to them at a nice pace, and Andrew West. Once they had reached around 160 for 3 with 12 overs to go, there was little chance of a Nomads victory and it was damage limitation time. With 5 overs remaining, they were on about 235 and there looked a good chance a record would be broken - our highest ever Runs Conceded tally of 274 in the famous Slaughter in the Sun game back in 2003. Thankfully this was averted, with some good bowling by Darwin at the Death, but Caribbean finished on 261 for 5.
Mark Bradshaw and Mahesh Vyas coped very well against a quick opening pair of O.J., who the opposition announced was "Fresh from Jamaica" and Kenrick. We were even up with the rate at one point. A double bowling change brought on the more experienced Jono and the excellent Wayne, who had a terrific variation of pace off 4 steps. Wayne finally broke up a good opening stand of around 45 and then ran through us with a spell of 6 for 14 off 7 overs including only 4 scoring shots.
Nomads' batsmen did show some character and forced our way up to 131 for 7 at the close, the highlight of the 2nd half of our innings was a stubborn stand of 46 between Sumith Prasanna, who played some fine shots in his 35 not out, and Emil Todorow.
John did point out at the end that he felt the game was no contest and asked Caribbean's organiser Jim Ferguson if they could field a weaker team next year. "That was our weaker team," Jim replied.
Anyway, there were still plenty of good things about the match - here are 20 of them;
A fine innings from Sumith Prasanna, who seems a much improved batsman since returning to the side at the end of last year.
A good opening stand between Mark Bradshaw and Mahesh Vyas, against probably the quickest pair of opening bowlers they will face this summer.
Great catches from Hassan Khan at either end of our torrid afternoon in the field. His kneeling catch off the last ball was really well-judged.
Darwin did a pretty good job as the 5th bowler and should bowl plenty more overs this summer, hopefully in slightly easier circumstances.
The pitch played well. Merton Council's wickets seem to have improved a lot this summer. The opposition rated it a "good cricket wicket" and they play about 50 games a year so you have to respect their judgement.
Another diving "dragback" right on the line from Mark Bradshaw, his second in successive games. This is becoming his fielding trademark.
For the first time in ages, some of Nomads' fielders burnt off more calories in the field than they consumed in the pub or take-away afterwards.
It doesn't look as if Andrew West will retire from cricket after all, despite his repeated threats to do so during this game.
I offered to buy Emil a drink if John said the words "no contest" 100 times during the evening. Fortunately, he stopped at around 47 so I saved my money.
Caribbean Mix are in 4 cup competitions, play just about every other day, own a bus, serve the interval drinks from a full-size office Water Cooler and are definitely acquiring a semi-professional aura; and to think that Nomads actually helped to set them up (either we can take pride in that or reflect that we have created a monster.)
The opposition provided a great tea of barbecue chicken, rice and salad. A definite step up from the traditional egg sandwiches and Battenburg cake.
We witnessed a brilliant spell of bowling from Wayne.
If you take Wayne's figures out, Nomads scored 118 for 1.
As always, we enjoyed Caribbean's banter and verbals. There was only one cry of "Sex Appeal" from Jim Ferguson. The captain issued an instruction to get "Up Close and Personal," which I can only hope was a request for a bouncer, or for a fielder to go Silly Mid On or Off.
After the game we drank in the garden of a nearby pub that had a Rotweiler and a full-size Wild Boar on the roof. Showing his usual disregard for his own personal safety, Andrew West reached up and stroked the pig's nose. The creature enjoyed it. In fact, I have seldom witnessed such a profound connection between Man and Beast.
Although Emil was almost incandescent with anger at some of Andrew's antics on the field, he managed to keep a lid on it and avoided an embarrassing scene.
The game was played in a good spirit between the 2 teams, although there are some "Strong Personalities" on both sides. Caribbean Mix have some great characters and some really fine players, so it is always a pleasure to play them, whatever the result.
Hassan and Emil bowled well as usual.
Apparently it could have been worse. It was said that if we hadn't dismissed their skipper early on, the total would probably have been over 300.
We had a game of cricket which is what we are in the team for. You can't have a thrilling finish every week and it would pretty pointless to win every week at this level.
Fielder of the Day was Hassan for 2 smart catches. Man of the Match is tougher; Hassan bowled and fielded well, Mark batted and fielded well and Sumith's innings was a bright spot but I will give it to Emil Todorow who showed some good batting resistance at the end, was the second best bowler and made an early breakthrough, and also skippered well. It must have been tough.
Caribbean Mix - 261 for 5 from 35 overs
H. Khan 7-1-33-0
Todorow 7-0-34-2
Zia 7-0-64-0
West 7-0-52-2
Darwin 7-1-51-3
Clapham Nomads - 132 for 7 from 35 overs.
Bradshaw 14
Vyas 12
George (on loan from opposition) 3
H. Khan 6
Prasanna 35 not out
Zia 8
Lefebve 1
Todorow 7
Darwin 6 not out
F.O.W. - 44, 54, 59, 62, 74, 77, 123
Nomads lost by 130 runs
Mark Bradshaw and Mahesh Vyas coped very well against a quick opening pair of O.J., who the opposition announced was "Fresh from Jamaica" and Kenrick. We were even up with the rate at one point. A double bowling change brought on the more experienced Jono and the excellent Wayne, who had a terrific variation of pace off 4 steps. Wayne finally broke up a good opening stand of around 45 and then ran through us with a spell of 6 for 14 off 7 overs including only 4 scoring shots.
Nomads' batsmen did show some character and forced our way up to 131 for 7 at the close, the highlight of the 2nd half of our innings was a stubborn stand of 46 between Sumith Prasanna, who played some fine shots in his 35 not out, and Emil Todorow.
John did point out at the end that he felt the game was no contest and asked Caribbean's organiser Jim Ferguson if they could field a weaker team next year. "That was our weaker team," Jim replied.
Anyway, there were still plenty of good things about the match - here are 20 of them;
A fine innings from Sumith Prasanna, who seems a much improved batsman since returning to the side at the end of last year.
A good opening stand between Mark Bradshaw and Mahesh Vyas, against probably the quickest pair of opening bowlers they will face this summer.
Great catches from Hassan Khan at either end of our torrid afternoon in the field. His kneeling catch off the last ball was really well-judged.
Darwin did a pretty good job as the 5th bowler and should bowl plenty more overs this summer, hopefully in slightly easier circumstances.
The pitch played well. Merton Council's wickets seem to have improved a lot this summer. The opposition rated it a "good cricket wicket" and they play about 50 games a year so you have to respect their judgement.
Another diving "dragback" right on the line from Mark Bradshaw, his second in successive games. This is becoming his fielding trademark.
For the first time in ages, some of Nomads' fielders burnt off more calories in the field than they consumed in the pub or take-away afterwards.
It doesn't look as if Andrew West will retire from cricket after all, despite his repeated threats to do so during this game.
I offered to buy Emil a drink if John said the words "no contest" 100 times during the evening. Fortunately, he stopped at around 47 so I saved my money.
Caribbean Mix are in 4 cup competitions, play just about every other day, own a bus, serve the interval drinks from a full-size office Water Cooler and are definitely acquiring a semi-professional aura; and to think that Nomads actually helped to set them up (either we can take pride in that or reflect that we have created a monster.)
The opposition provided a great tea of barbecue chicken, rice and salad. A definite step up from the traditional egg sandwiches and Battenburg cake.
We witnessed a brilliant spell of bowling from Wayne.
If you take Wayne's figures out, Nomads scored 118 for 1.
As always, we enjoyed Caribbean's banter and verbals. There was only one cry of "Sex Appeal" from Jim Ferguson. The captain issued an instruction to get "Up Close and Personal," which I can only hope was a request for a bouncer, or for a fielder to go Silly Mid On or Off.
After the game we drank in the garden of a nearby pub that had a Rotweiler and a full-size Wild Boar on the roof. Showing his usual disregard for his own personal safety, Andrew West reached up and stroked the pig's nose. The creature enjoyed it. In fact, I have seldom witnessed such a profound connection between Man and Beast.
Although Emil was almost incandescent with anger at some of Andrew's antics on the field, he managed to keep a lid on it and avoided an embarrassing scene.
The game was played in a good spirit between the 2 teams, although there are some "Strong Personalities" on both sides. Caribbean Mix have some great characters and some really fine players, so it is always a pleasure to play them, whatever the result.
Hassan and Emil bowled well as usual.
Apparently it could have been worse. It was said that if we hadn't dismissed their skipper early on, the total would probably have been over 300.
We had a game of cricket which is what we are in the team for. You can't have a thrilling finish every week and it would pretty pointless to win every week at this level.
Fielder of the Day was Hassan for 2 smart catches. Man of the Match is tougher; Hassan bowled and fielded well, Mark batted and fielded well and Sumith's innings was a bright spot but I will give it to Emil Todorow who showed some good batting resistance at the end, was the second best bowler and made an early breakthrough, and also skippered well. It must have been tough.
Caribbean Mix - 261 for 5 from 35 overs
H. Khan 7-1-33-0
Todorow 7-0-34-2
Zia 7-0-64-0
West 7-0-52-2
Darwin 7-1-51-3
Clapham Nomads - 132 for 7 from 35 overs.
Bradshaw 14
Vyas 12
George (on loan from opposition) 3
H. Khan 6
Prasanna 35 not out
Zia 8
Lefebve 1
Todorow 7
Darwin 6 not out
F.O.W. - 44, 54, 59, 62, 74, 77, 123
Nomads lost by 130 runs
Friday, 1 July 2011
Barnes Occasionals v Clapham Nomads - 26/6/11
The long journey to Riverside Drive, Ham, was enlivened by the skilful driving of Mr Emil Todorow as he weaved his way though the 1,000s of cyclists, mostly clad in pink T-shirts, who were clogging up the narrow lanes near the ground. We were told by John Crossland when we arrived that he had been on this Charity Bike Ride himself. I'm not sure if he was in pink but, if he was, I'm sure it was a good look. Of course; athlete that he is, he had finished the course several hours previously and arrived at the ground with Andrew West - by boat.
This is now Occasionals' regular ground and, credit either to them or to Richmond Council's Contractors, the pitch played well and there was a nice tea hut. It was a big improvement on last year (that's starting from a low base, though.)
Nomads were inserted by a Barnes side missing 2 of their top batsmen; Adam Hogg and Roger Price. Ollie Hogg and the young Ireland opened the bowling and 3 wickets fell quite rapidly; Mahesh Vyas adjudged LBW, Jim Joyce ending up at the same end as Prasanth Pattiyil for a bizarre run out and then, ominously, Hogg clipping the top of Hassan Khan's bails to leave Nomads in a quandary at 34 for 3. No. 5 Sumith Prasanna led a counter-attack with a hard-hitting knock including 2 sixes before Prasanth fell for a decent 29, continuing his consistent run of form.
Nick Lefebve came out at 67 for 4 but Sumith fell almost straight away. Occasionals had replaced Hogg with a bowler making his debut. He bowled at considerable pace and found what few snakes there were in the pitch, making the ball rear up regularly. Nomads were in some trouble but Barnes perhaps missed a trick by setting a remarkable 8-1 off-side field to Lefebve, who plays exclusively on the leg side. The bowler did bowl to his field but the batsman was able to watch the ball sail past his off stump as the bowler tired. The partnership was given much-needed impetus by No. 7 Zia who struck a splendid 40 with resounding blows straight and over long-on. He played some very nice late cuts as well. Sadly the stand ended 2 short of the half-century mark with Zia chipping a catch back to the bowler - perhaps looking for a single which wasn't really needed as plenty of time remained.
Lefebve didn't last too long after this and nor did Darwin but this was of enormous benefit to spectators as it brought together, on 124 for 8, the legendary partnership of Emil Todorow and John Crossland who don't bat together too often these days but who have a most unconventional way of expressing their respect and admiration for each other as cricketers and men. Basically, they pretty much re-defined the art of running beween the wickets, as such tired old chestnuts as "Yes", "No" and "Wait" were replaced by "Come on, run for Christ's sake!", "What are you doing? Get back!" and "It's my call. Do as I say!" All those present agreed that it would be fun if they opened together, perhaps against a weak bowling side. Even if our innings closed on 30 for 0, and we lost by 9 wickets, the entertainment they would provide would make the £6 match fee extremely good value. In fairness, they did put on 16 valuable runs, mostly against an exceptionally slow loop bowler, with contrasting styles; John charging fully 8 yards out of his crease and flicking to leg, and Emil rooted to the spot and aiming massive hoiks though square leg - and either nodding in satisfaction or shaking his locks in frustration at the result.
Unbelievably, that was almost improved on as last man Andrew West joined Todorow in the middle. Three times West set off for a quick single, only to be ordered back. Our No. 11, who turns about as quickly as the Titanic, just made it back, panting, each time. He did crack 2 resounding fours as well, using his special grip with the hands the wrong way round. Mind you, seeing that his strike rate of 8 runs from 3 balls was the fastest of our innings, who's to say his grip is not correct? - and everyone else's hands are the wrong way round.
Actually, West can bat a bit. On his debut in 1994 he made 26 on a terrible pitch against some quick bowling. Recovering from an early blow to his unprotected testicles, he carted Stratford's indignant quicks all over Wandsworth Park. We thought we had unearthed a batting gem. We were half-right. He certainly is a gem but 26 remains his highest score for the club.
Barnes's reply was always going to be rather like Newsnight Review following an episode of Keystone Cops and excellent, tight, bowling from Hassan Khan ensured an air of tranquility. The early order all looked as though they could play a bit and Darwin had to swoop low and fast to take a quite brilliant catch off Todorow's bowling. This was a time match and Todorow could concentrate on his 4 main bowlers. He took himself off perhaps an over too early when it was noticed that Ireland seemed to back away from a ball from Hassan, who was bowling as quick as he has this season. Zia came on in an effort to capitalise on this perceived weakness but Ireland proved an excellent player with the top score of Barnes's reply. He even hit Andrew West for three successive 4s, though the Big Man recovered to bowl a decent, accurate spell. He was taken off after 6 overs but begged for another over. This was declined by Emil, perhaps wisely as we saw later.
With 20 overs to go, the asking rate was only just above 5 an over, but regular wickets kept Nomads reasonably safe from defeat. Zia bowled quickly and was hard to score off, but bowled perhaps too full a length to really run through the opposition. Jim Mundy and Mark Lichfield came together at 6 down with around 7 overs to go and, both very seasoned players, saw Occasionals through to the last over with little difficulty. By this stage, Andrew West was lying prone at long-off, claiming to be suffering from heat exhaustion. It was agreed that, should the ball touch him, 5 penalty runs would be recorded. This seems a rather paltry haul when you consider that a mere batting helmet, which covers rather less ground than West, also incurs a 5-run penalty.
With 4 balls to go, Hassan bowled Lichfield and then followed up with another wicket the next ball to provide just a flicker. This was quickly extinguished by No. 10 Keith Seed, a very experienced defensive player who negotiated the final 2 deliveries with ease to earn Barnes a draw.
This was an unexpectedly enjoyable match, played in great spirit, with plenty of entertainment and talking points. It has been suggested that similar antics could see Nomads featured on YouTube.
Fielder of the Day was definitely Darwin for the Catch of the Season so far, although John Crossland overcame fatigue to take a smart stumping off Jim Joyce's bowling. Since this game was as much Edinburgh Fringe as Lord's, I am tempted to give Man of the Match to Todorow, West or Crossland. Hassan also bowled very well but, in a game where the ball was on top, Zia gets the nod for producing by far the best innings.
Clapham Nomads 153 all out
Vyas 8
Pattiyil 29
Joyce 0
H. Khan 8
Prasanna 22
Lefebve 8
Zia 40
Darwin 0
Todorow 9
Crossland 2
West 8 not out
F.O.W. - 12, 12, 32, 67, 71, 119, 124, 124, 140, 153
Barnes Occasionals 104 for 8 from 35 overs
H. Khan 10-5-16-3
Todorow 6-0-18-2
Zia 11-2-26-1
West 6-0-29-1
Joyce 1-0-6-1
Darwin 1-0-4-0
Match Drawn
This is now Occasionals' regular ground and, credit either to them or to Richmond Council's Contractors, the pitch played well and there was a nice tea hut. It was a big improvement on last year (that's starting from a low base, though.)
Nomads were inserted by a Barnes side missing 2 of their top batsmen; Adam Hogg and Roger Price. Ollie Hogg and the young Ireland opened the bowling and 3 wickets fell quite rapidly; Mahesh Vyas adjudged LBW, Jim Joyce ending up at the same end as Prasanth Pattiyil for a bizarre run out and then, ominously, Hogg clipping the top of Hassan Khan's bails to leave Nomads in a quandary at 34 for 3. No. 5 Sumith Prasanna led a counter-attack with a hard-hitting knock including 2 sixes before Prasanth fell for a decent 29, continuing his consistent run of form.
Nick Lefebve came out at 67 for 4 but Sumith fell almost straight away. Occasionals had replaced Hogg with a bowler making his debut. He bowled at considerable pace and found what few snakes there were in the pitch, making the ball rear up regularly. Nomads were in some trouble but Barnes perhaps missed a trick by setting a remarkable 8-1 off-side field to Lefebve, who plays exclusively on the leg side. The bowler did bowl to his field but the batsman was able to watch the ball sail past his off stump as the bowler tired. The partnership was given much-needed impetus by No. 7 Zia who struck a splendid 40 with resounding blows straight and over long-on. He played some very nice late cuts as well. Sadly the stand ended 2 short of the half-century mark with Zia chipping a catch back to the bowler - perhaps looking for a single which wasn't really needed as plenty of time remained.
Lefebve didn't last too long after this and nor did Darwin but this was of enormous benefit to spectators as it brought together, on 124 for 8, the legendary partnership of Emil Todorow and John Crossland who don't bat together too often these days but who have a most unconventional way of expressing their respect and admiration for each other as cricketers and men. Basically, they pretty much re-defined the art of running beween the wickets, as such tired old chestnuts as "Yes", "No" and "Wait" were replaced by "Come on, run for Christ's sake!", "What are you doing? Get back!" and "It's my call. Do as I say!" All those present agreed that it would be fun if they opened together, perhaps against a weak bowling side. Even if our innings closed on 30 for 0, and we lost by 9 wickets, the entertainment they would provide would make the £6 match fee extremely good value. In fairness, they did put on 16 valuable runs, mostly against an exceptionally slow loop bowler, with contrasting styles; John charging fully 8 yards out of his crease and flicking to leg, and Emil rooted to the spot and aiming massive hoiks though square leg - and either nodding in satisfaction or shaking his locks in frustration at the result.
Unbelievably, that was almost improved on as last man Andrew West joined Todorow in the middle. Three times West set off for a quick single, only to be ordered back. Our No. 11, who turns about as quickly as the Titanic, just made it back, panting, each time. He did crack 2 resounding fours as well, using his special grip with the hands the wrong way round. Mind you, seeing that his strike rate of 8 runs from 3 balls was the fastest of our innings, who's to say his grip is not correct? - and everyone else's hands are the wrong way round.
Actually, West can bat a bit. On his debut in 1994 he made 26 on a terrible pitch against some quick bowling. Recovering from an early blow to his unprotected testicles, he carted Stratford's indignant quicks all over Wandsworth Park. We thought we had unearthed a batting gem. We were half-right. He certainly is a gem but 26 remains his highest score for the club.
Barnes's reply was always going to be rather like Newsnight Review following an episode of Keystone Cops and excellent, tight, bowling from Hassan Khan ensured an air of tranquility. The early order all looked as though they could play a bit and Darwin had to swoop low and fast to take a quite brilliant catch off Todorow's bowling. This was a time match and Todorow could concentrate on his 4 main bowlers. He took himself off perhaps an over too early when it was noticed that Ireland seemed to back away from a ball from Hassan, who was bowling as quick as he has this season. Zia came on in an effort to capitalise on this perceived weakness but Ireland proved an excellent player with the top score of Barnes's reply. He even hit Andrew West for three successive 4s, though the Big Man recovered to bowl a decent, accurate spell. He was taken off after 6 overs but begged for another over. This was declined by Emil, perhaps wisely as we saw later.
With 20 overs to go, the asking rate was only just above 5 an over, but regular wickets kept Nomads reasonably safe from defeat. Zia bowled quickly and was hard to score off, but bowled perhaps too full a length to really run through the opposition. Jim Mundy and Mark Lichfield came together at 6 down with around 7 overs to go and, both very seasoned players, saw Occasionals through to the last over with little difficulty. By this stage, Andrew West was lying prone at long-off, claiming to be suffering from heat exhaustion. It was agreed that, should the ball touch him, 5 penalty runs would be recorded. This seems a rather paltry haul when you consider that a mere batting helmet, which covers rather less ground than West, also incurs a 5-run penalty.
With 4 balls to go, Hassan bowled Lichfield and then followed up with another wicket the next ball to provide just a flicker. This was quickly extinguished by No. 10 Keith Seed, a very experienced defensive player who negotiated the final 2 deliveries with ease to earn Barnes a draw.
This was an unexpectedly enjoyable match, played in great spirit, with plenty of entertainment and talking points. It has been suggested that similar antics could see Nomads featured on YouTube.
Fielder of the Day was definitely Darwin for the Catch of the Season so far, although John Crossland overcame fatigue to take a smart stumping off Jim Joyce's bowling. Since this game was as much Edinburgh Fringe as Lord's, I am tempted to give Man of the Match to Todorow, West or Crossland. Hassan also bowled very well but, in a game where the ball was on top, Zia gets the nod for producing by far the best innings.
Clapham Nomads 153 all out
Vyas 8
Pattiyil 29
Joyce 0
H. Khan 8
Prasanna 22
Lefebve 8
Zia 40
Darwin 0
Todorow 9
Crossland 2
West 8 not out
F.O.W. - 12, 12, 32, 67, 71, 119, 124, 124, 140, 153
Barnes Occasionals 104 for 8 from 35 overs
H. Khan 10-5-16-3
Todorow 6-0-18-2
Zia 11-2-26-1
West 6-0-29-1
Joyce 1-0-6-1
Darwin 1-0-4-0
Match Drawn
Wednesday, 22 June 2011
Clapham Nomads v Energy Exiles - 19/6/11
To mark the 10th anniversary of Nomads/Exiles fixtures we had another good game of cricket and what seemed at the time like one of the more controversial of the 17 contests between the 2 clubs.
Looking back after a week, though; apart from a little bit of toy-rattling, a few controversial decisions (surprise, surprise!) and a touch of rather stale sledging (more Nerys Hughes than Merv Hughes), there was nothing too drastic and, compared to a Kingston Lefthanders v Morden fixture, it was a positive love-in.
All Nomads reached the ground by 2 pm for the first time in ages but, due to the start being re-arranged for 1:15 (which was not in fact viable as the booking was from 1:30) we were still late. Anyway, a 35-over match was agreed to due to the Sunday evening tube strike.
Nomads' skipper Emil Todorow controversially inserted the Exiles but, as if to make amends, recovered from a wayward first over to impose a stranglehold early on, together with Hassan Khan, his trusty new ball partner. After 8 overs the score was only 10 and the home side were postively rattling through their work in the hope that Exiles would not notice their scoring rate was only 1.25 . Both Exiles openers, Keith Roberts and Quentin Davies, were put down early on but we hoped the lack of an early wicket might prove less significant in a 35-over contest than in the usual 40-a-side affair. Around the 10-over mark Davies grabbed the reins with 2 firm 4s but the introduction of the quicker Zia caused the threatening-looking opener to mistime and Mark Bradshaw moved smartly to take a good catch at mid-wicket.
No. 3 John Tither increased the rate only slightly at first against some accurate bowling. Despite some high bounce for the quicks at the Morden Road End, I thought it was a good pitch (several batsmen disagreed with this though - but at least there were none of the usual Merton Council pea-rollers.)
After 16 overs the score was only around 40 and Nomads cynically moved the drinks break from the usual 17 or 18 over mark to 19 overs in the hope that Roberts and Tither would continue to play cautiously up to the break. This ploy failed as Tither opened up in the 17th over taking at least 10 off Zia and he didn't look back from there, playing the latest in a series of fine knocks against us before finally being caught for 65 off only 48 balls including nine 4s and a 6. I met John Tither a few days later and he said he never really felt like he got in on that pitch. Well, Christ, I wouldn't like to bowl to him when he does get in. His stand with Keith Roberts realised 83 and put Exiles firmly in the driving seat. Nomads had only 4 recognised front-line bowlers but Darwin and Prasanth did a pretty good job in bowling the spare 7 between them. Darwin accounted for Wil Scott quickly but this proved counter-productive as it just brought our perennial nemesis, Simon Gundry, to the crease earlier than we would have liked. The big man's fans in the Exiles camp, and grudging admirers in the Nomads camp, were treated to the usual display of power-hitting as two towering sixes were the highlight of his 19-ball 25 not out.
As usual, Keith Roberts supplied obdurate and annoyingly-left-handed support for most of the Exiles innings. If you had to pick someone at this level to stay in to save your life, you could do a lot worse than pick Roberts. Even Emil couldn't prise him out this time and it took a brilliant 30-yard direct hit from Zia to finally send him on his way. Quickish runs from Amil Patel and Andy Wingfield helped the score up to a formidable 179 at the close.
Mark Bradshaw and Mahesh Vyas opened Nomads' reply and faced the usual pairing of Andy Wingfield and Naren Patel. This time though, it appeared that all eyes were on the men in white coats after the previous game's "revealing insight/sun and alcohol-induced rant" by John Crossland about Nomads' umpiring. Wingfield made a quick breakthough as Vyas unluckily deflected the ball onto his own stumps. Prasanth Pattiyil joined Bradshaw and the two made circumspect progress and, once again, saw off the opening pair for the loss of just one wicket. There were 2 massive shouts for LBW against Prasanth. One looked pretty close; the other - hitting the batsman on the toe a yard-and-a-half outside the crease at the bouncy end - was not so close. Nomads innings followed a rather similar pattern to Exiles' as we were in the 40s after 16 overs. The difference was that we were not quite able to accelerate at this stage as rapidly as John Tither had done. Having said that, Mark and Prasanth played well and moved past the 50 partnership (do this pair ever not make a 50 partnership?) Mark continued his fine run and accumulated another good score against his former club which cannot be easy as they know his game inside out.
Although the required rate was nudging 9 an over, Nomads had 4 genuine big-hitters to come so we weren't quite out of the contest. Prasanth finally fell for 31 and thus ushered in Batsman of the Year so far, Jim Joyce. Sadly he could only really connect with one of his big shots and fell quickly. No. 5 Nick Lefebve had captain's orders to either get the scoreboard moving or get Hassan in, and he soon achieved one of these objectives - the latter.
Our No. 6 has not been quite at his brilliant best in some previous games against these opponents but he made amends here with some excellent batting. Even S. Gundry got some tap. Bradshaw joined in another 50 stand - this one much more rapid - and at one point the asking rate dipped towards 8. What seemed likely to thwart us, though, was that Gundry and Wingfield both had overs in hand. Martin Thomas also bowled an excellent spell with the exception of one very expensive over. When I left with 5 overs to go, Nomads needed around 50. I'm told that 36 were needed off 4 and then 20 off the final over which featured a controversial run out call. Nomads came up 13 short but this margin possibly flattered us slightly. At no stage in our innings did Nomads really look in charge and, as a betting man, I would not have set odds of shorter than 5-2 at any stage of our knock. Mind you, Zia was caught on the boundary and I'm told the shot would otherwise have gone for 6. Exiles had the edge this time though, with Tither's batting and the extra depth and variety in their bowling being crucial. Not that it was a bad performance from the Nomads and anyone sad enough to tally up aggregate scores would notice that the 13-run defeat left us ahead over the 2 matches. Personally, I would have to deplore this kind of pettiness but also point out that the actual aggregate margin for 2011 is 61 runs.
Mark Bradshaw finished on 48 not out but a consolation for missing out on his 50 is that he now averages 53 for Nomads in games against the Exiles. Bradshaw was ahead on points for Fielder of the Day for taking yet another catch against the Exiles (a good one) and an excellent scrambling stop right on the boundary, but Zia's direct hit was enough for a share. I'm not sure about Man of the Match until I see the scorebook.
Man of the Match update; Hassan Khan - by far the most economical bowler and 37 runs in good time which put us back in with an outside chance at one stage.
ENERGY EXILES - 179 for 5 from 35 overs
H. Khan 7-4-13-1
Todorow 7-2-31-0
R. Khan 7-2-24-0
Zia 7-1-38-2
Darwin 5-0-39-1
P. Pattiyil 2-0-16-0
CLAPHAM NOMADS - 166 for 6 from 35 overs.
Bradshaw 48 not out
Vyas 1
Pattiyil 31
Joyce 6
Lefebve 1
H. Khan 37
Zia 9
R. Khan 8 not out
F.O.W. - 5, 61, 67, 69, 131, 157
Nomads lost by 13 runs
Looking back after a week, though; apart from a little bit of toy-rattling, a few controversial decisions (surprise, surprise!) and a touch of rather stale sledging (more Nerys Hughes than Merv Hughes), there was nothing too drastic and, compared to a Kingston Lefthanders v Morden fixture, it was a positive love-in.
All Nomads reached the ground by 2 pm for the first time in ages but, due to the start being re-arranged for 1:15 (which was not in fact viable as the booking was from 1:30) we were still late. Anyway, a 35-over match was agreed to due to the Sunday evening tube strike.
Nomads' skipper Emil Todorow controversially inserted the Exiles but, as if to make amends, recovered from a wayward first over to impose a stranglehold early on, together with Hassan Khan, his trusty new ball partner. After 8 overs the score was only 10 and the home side were postively rattling through their work in the hope that Exiles would not notice their scoring rate was only 1.25 . Both Exiles openers, Keith Roberts and Quentin Davies, were put down early on but we hoped the lack of an early wicket might prove less significant in a 35-over contest than in the usual 40-a-side affair. Around the 10-over mark Davies grabbed the reins with 2 firm 4s but the introduction of the quicker Zia caused the threatening-looking opener to mistime and Mark Bradshaw moved smartly to take a good catch at mid-wicket.
No. 3 John Tither increased the rate only slightly at first against some accurate bowling. Despite some high bounce for the quicks at the Morden Road End, I thought it was a good pitch (several batsmen disagreed with this though - but at least there were none of the usual Merton Council pea-rollers.)
After 16 overs the score was only around 40 and Nomads cynically moved the drinks break from the usual 17 or 18 over mark to 19 overs in the hope that Roberts and Tither would continue to play cautiously up to the break. This ploy failed as Tither opened up in the 17th over taking at least 10 off Zia and he didn't look back from there, playing the latest in a series of fine knocks against us before finally being caught for 65 off only 48 balls including nine 4s and a 6. I met John Tither a few days later and he said he never really felt like he got in on that pitch. Well, Christ, I wouldn't like to bowl to him when he does get in. His stand with Keith Roberts realised 83 and put Exiles firmly in the driving seat. Nomads had only 4 recognised front-line bowlers but Darwin and Prasanth did a pretty good job in bowling the spare 7 between them. Darwin accounted for Wil Scott quickly but this proved counter-productive as it just brought our perennial nemesis, Simon Gundry, to the crease earlier than we would have liked. The big man's fans in the Exiles camp, and grudging admirers in the Nomads camp, were treated to the usual display of power-hitting as two towering sixes were the highlight of his 19-ball 25 not out.
As usual, Keith Roberts supplied obdurate and annoyingly-left-handed support for most of the Exiles innings. If you had to pick someone at this level to stay in to save your life, you could do a lot worse than pick Roberts. Even Emil couldn't prise him out this time and it took a brilliant 30-yard direct hit from Zia to finally send him on his way. Quickish runs from Amil Patel and Andy Wingfield helped the score up to a formidable 179 at the close.
Mark Bradshaw and Mahesh Vyas opened Nomads' reply and faced the usual pairing of Andy Wingfield and Naren Patel. This time though, it appeared that all eyes were on the men in white coats after the previous game's "revealing insight/sun and alcohol-induced rant" by John Crossland about Nomads' umpiring. Wingfield made a quick breakthough as Vyas unluckily deflected the ball onto his own stumps. Prasanth Pattiyil joined Bradshaw and the two made circumspect progress and, once again, saw off the opening pair for the loss of just one wicket. There were 2 massive shouts for LBW against Prasanth. One looked pretty close; the other - hitting the batsman on the toe a yard-and-a-half outside the crease at the bouncy end - was not so close. Nomads innings followed a rather similar pattern to Exiles' as we were in the 40s after 16 overs. The difference was that we were not quite able to accelerate at this stage as rapidly as John Tither had done. Having said that, Mark and Prasanth played well and moved past the 50 partnership (do this pair ever not make a 50 partnership?) Mark continued his fine run and accumulated another good score against his former club which cannot be easy as they know his game inside out.
Although the required rate was nudging 9 an over, Nomads had 4 genuine big-hitters to come so we weren't quite out of the contest. Prasanth finally fell for 31 and thus ushered in Batsman of the Year so far, Jim Joyce. Sadly he could only really connect with one of his big shots and fell quickly. No. 5 Nick Lefebve had captain's orders to either get the scoreboard moving or get Hassan in, and he soon achieved one of these objectives - the latter.
Our No. 6 has not been quite at his brilliant best in some previous games against these opponents but he made amends here with some excellent batting. Even S. Gundry got some tap. Bradshaw joined in another 50 stand - this one much more rapid - and at one point the asking rate dipped towards 8. What seemed likely to thwart us, though, was that Gundry and Wingfield both had overs in hand. Martin Thomas also bowled an excellent spell with the exception of one very expensive over. When I left with 5 overs to go, Nomads needed around 50. I'm told that 36 were needed off 4 and then 20 off the final over which featured a controversial run out call. Nomads came up 13 short but this margin possibly flattered us slightly. At no stage in our innings did Nomads really look in charge and, as a betting man, I would not have set odds of shorter than 5-2 at any stage of our knock. Mind you, Zia was caught on the boundary and I'm told the shot would otherwise have gone for 6. Exiles had the edge this time though, with Tither's batting and the extra depth and variety in their bowling being crucial. Not that it was a bad performance from the Nomads and anyone sad enough to tally up aggregate scores would notice that the 13-run defeat left us ahead over the 2 matches. Personally, I would have to deplore this kind of pettiness but also point out that the actual aggregate margin for 2011 is 61 runs.
Mark Bradshaw finished on 48 not out but a consolation for missing out on his 50 is that he now averages 53 for Nomads in games against the Exiles. Bradshaw was ahead on points for Fielder of the Day for taking yet another catch against the Exiles (a good one) and an excellent scrambling stop right on the boundary, but Zia's direct hit was enough for a share. I'm not sure about Man of the Match until I see the scorebook.
Man of the Match update; Hassan Khan - by far the most economical bowler and 37 runs in good time which put us back in with an outside chance at one stage.
ENERGY EXILES - 179 for 5 from 35 overs
H. Khan 7-4-13-1
Todorow 7-2-31-0
R. Khan 7-2-24-0
Zia 7-1-38-2
Darwin 5-0-39-1
P. Pattiyil 2-0-16-0
CLAPHAM NOMADS - 166 for 6 from 35 overs.
Bradshaw 48 not out
Vyas 1
Pattiyil 31
Joyce 6
Lefebve 1
H. Khan 37
Zia 9
R. Khan 8 not out
F.O.W. - 5, 61, 67, 69, 131, 157
Nomads lost by 13 runs
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