We were talking the other day about professions that have been followed by Clapham Nomads players over the years. Yes we may have been predominantly postmen, civil servants, accountants and the like but there is definitely no other team that can claim to have been represented by; an actor, a Bulgarian interpreter, a Heavy Metal journalist, a male model, a rock star, a masseur, a river drainage organiser, a cellist, a jazz composer, a pizza delivery man, a debt collector, a Pound Shop manager, a hotelier and a cashew nut plantation owner. So, OK, maybe that is why we can seem a bit eccentric at times but looking at that list you will see that we are also quite musical, a bit fit (in every sense of the word) and a tad nuts (that's the cashews.)
If anyone can think of any others, or wants to admit to having a job that would belong on that list, please let me know. In any case it would be very hard to top the Open University cc, whose batting was opened for years by a Rhythm and Blues guitarist and a gravedigger.
Tuesday, 25 September 2012
Tuesday, 18 September 2012
Burgh Heath v Clapham Nomads - 16/9/12
I had been told to arrange one final match via the Club Cricket Conference. I was in a dilemma when Friday came and this was the only game in town. We played Burgh Heath in 2005 and took such a beating that I was banned by John Crossland from ever arranging a fixture against them again. I finally to decided to go ahead with it, told John we had a fixture v "Tattenham Corner" and prepared to face the music. (Hoping that at least some of 2005's South Africans would have moved on to greater things.)
The long journey down to Tattenham Way featured some genuinely alarming steam emanating from Emil Todorow's car bonnet but we eventually arrived to find that Burgh were a completely different line-up from their mid-noughties vintage and, in fact, only had 9 players including a boy of around 10. 8 of the side were related to one another.
Nomads fielded first with Hassan Khan difficult to get away as ever. There was an early wicket but I have to say that the home side looked pretty untroubled. Progress was never more than steady though, as they were probably aware of the depleted nature of their line-up. Riaz bowled 8 economical overs and Emil did well to record reasonable figures despite his nagging back injury. With around 8 overs to go, Heath were about 130 for 2 and 190 didn't look beyond them as they began to open up against Asad. A nice catch from Nick Lefebve at long off partially stalled the charge and then an even better one by Hassan Khan at long on in Asad's following over exposed the tail and both sides seemed happy to accept the final total of 160 for 5.
At tea we realised this was a stiff test but felt we had got off a touch lightly; an opinion shared by one of Burgh Heath's higher scorers who told me; "If I had middled the ball today, I would have scored more runs." You can't really argue with logic like that.
Mahesh Vyas and Darwin opened Nomads' reply against the awkward Tailor and the swing and seam bowler Wali. I was umpiring at Wali's end and I really enjoyed watching him bowl. He was decidedly useful with a touch of swing and decent movement off the pitch but he seemed to be one of cricket's Unlucky Bowlers. He beat the bat numerous times, just missed the stumps and had a good shout for leg before that was genuinely just missing. I got the impression this happened to him every week. He reminded me of former England bowler Mike Hendrick in that he seemed to have incorporated a resigned shrug into his run-up. His figures of 0-44 off 8 were a big boost for Nomads.
Darwin has really grown into his role as an attacking opener in the last few weeks and he hit 4 boundaries in a rapid 22 before being bowled. Prasanth joined Mahesh and, after surviving some alarming running mix-ups early on, the pair carved out 75 important runs. Mahesh was in sight of a deserved 50 when caught for 39, but when Prasanth was bowled for a stylish 32 twelve runs later, the initiative was back with the Surrey side. The asking rate was over 7 at this point but No 5 Abdul Khan seized the moment. He cracked a sparkling 27 at better than a run a ball, including a 6 and four 4s, dominating an unbeaten stand of 44 with Hassan Khan which saw Nomads home to an unexpectedly comfortable victory with 13 balls to spare.
This was a really nice way to end a difficult season and we finished with 6 wins and 6 defeats. There were a few murmurs about arranging another game but sometimes you have to know when to cut and run and finish on a high.
Man of the Match was Abdul who marked his 100th appearance for the club with a most enjoyable innings. Fielder of the Day is between Hassan Khan and Nick Lefebve who each took good catches in the deep. Hassan's was a genuine dive while Lefebve's was more of a flop to earth but the latter player worked hard in this game to improve on some ordinary efforts in the field this year, and takes his first fielding award since this blog started.
Burgh Heath 160 for 5 from 35 overs
H. Khan 8-3-18-2
Asad 8-0-41-3
R. Khan 8-0-31-0
E. Todorow 8-0-42-0
A. Khan 3-0-20-0
Clapham Nomads 161 for 3 from 32.5 overs
M. Vyas 39
Darwin 22
P. Pattiyil 32
H. Khan 23 not out
A. Khan 37 not out
F.O.W. - 30, 105, 117
Clapham Nomads won by 7 wickets
Man of the Match - Abdul Khan
Fielder of the Day - Nick Lefebve
The long journey down to Tattenham Way featured some genuinely alarming steam emanating from Emil Todorow's car bonnet but we eventually arrived to find that Burgh were a completely different line-up from their mid-noughties vintage and, in fact, only had 9 players including a boy of around 10. 8 of the side were related to one another.
Nomads fielded first with Hassan Khan difficult to get away as ever. There was an early wicket but I have to say that the home side looked pretty untroubled. Progress was never more than steady though, as they were probably aware of the depleted nature of their line-up. Riaz bowled 8 economical overs and Emil did well to record reasonable figures despite his nagging back injury. With around 8 overs to go, Heath were about 130 for 2 and 190 didn't look beyond them as they began to open up against Asad. A nice catch from Nick Lefebve at long off partially stalled the charge and then an even better one by Hassan Khan at long on in Asad's following over exposed the tail and both sides seemed happy to accept the final total of 160 for 5.
At tea we realised this was a stiff test but felt we had got off a touch lightly; an opinion shared by one of Burgh Heath's higher scorers who told me; "If I had middled the ball today, I would have scored more runs." You can't really argue with logic like that.
Mahesh Vyas and Darwin opened Nomads' reply against the awkward Tailor and the swing and seam bowler Wali. I was umpiring at Wali's end and I really enjoyed watching him bowl. He was decidedly useful with a touch of swing and decent movement off the pitch but he seemed to be one of cricket's Unlucky Bowlers. He beat the bat numerous times, just missed the stumps and had a good shout for leg before that was genuinely just missing. I got the impression this happened to him every week. He reminded me of former England bowler Mike Hendrick in that he seemed to have incorporated a resigned shrug into his run-up. His figures of 0-44 off 8 were a big boost for Nomads.
Darwin has really grown into his role as an attacking opener in the last few weeks and he hit 4 boundaries in a rapid 22 before being bowled. Prasanth joined Mahesh and, after surviving some alarming running mix-ups early on, the pair carved out 75 important runs. Mahesh was in sight of a deserved 50 when caught for 39, but when Prasanth was bowled for a stylish 32 twelve runs later, the initiative was back with the Surrey side. The asking rate was over 7 at this point but No 5 Abdul Khan seized the moment. He cracked a sparkling 27 at better than a run a ball, including a 6 and four 4s, dominating an unbeaten stand of 44 with Hassan Khan which saw Nomads home to an unexpectedly comfortable victory with 13 balls to spare.
This was a really nice way to end a difficult season and we finished with 6 wins and 6 defeats. There were a few murmurs about arranging another game but sometimes you have to know when to cut and run and finish on a high.
Man of the Match was Abdul who marked his 100th appearance for the club with a most enjoyable innings. Fielder of the Day is between Hassan Khan and Nick Lefebve who each took good catches in the deep. Hassan's was a genuine dive while Lefebve's was more of a flop to earth but the latter player worked hard in this game to improve on some ordinary efforts in the field this year, and takes his first fielding award since this blog started.
Burgh Heath 160 for 5 from 35 overs
H. Khan 8-3-18-2
Asad 8-0-41-3
R. Khan 8-0-31-0
E. Todorow 8-0-42-0
A. Khan 3-0-20-0
Clapham Nomads 161 for 3 from 32.5 overs
M. Vyas 39
Darwin 22
P. Pattiyil 32
H. Khan 23 not out
A. Khan 37 not out
F.O.W. - 30, 105, 117
Clapham Nomads won by 7 wickets
Man of the Match - Abdul Khan
Fielder of the Day - Nick Lefebve
Monday, 10 September 2012
Dulwich v Clapham Nomads - 9/9/12
Apologies for the delay in compiling this report. After the game, a certain person was banging on and on and on about this defeat as if we had, collectively, insulted the good name of Sunday cricket and it had depressed me a bit. Actually, despite an admittedly below par performance, it was a reasonably pleasant day out and I was happy we had fielded a full team on a sunny day - 2 aspects that have been a bit lacking this season.
I must admit Nomads' bowling and fielding were not the best. Hassan was ok if not quite at his excellent best. Riaz was probably the pick of the bowlers but the highlight for me was Emil Todorow getting though 7 tight overs despite being in considerable pain from his back. The skipper hadn't been intending to bring himself on to bowl but when he saw how things were going, he had to. For some reason several Nomads had a collective attack of the yips and we bowled at least 10 high No Balls, 8 of which went past wicketkeeper Crossland to the boundary for 5. At times the aerial bombardment was so intense that Todorow's team role was less of a captain and more of a Squadron Leader or Wing Commander - he himself was innocent of any part in this strafing, I must point out. Abdul did have an injury as well so credit to him for getting though 5 overs.
As ever, Dulwich had some fine and technically correct young batsmen who stroked and pushed their way up to the highest total their club has made against Nomads. Our fielding was poor. John Crossland wrote enigmatically in the scorebook; "very poor fielding - I'm not including everyone." Certainly he couldn't have been including Mahesh Vyas who took a stunning diving catch at Short Mid-Wicket, but the mis-fields and crazy overthrows and sluggishness were such that Dulwich should probably have added at least 20 to their score.
Darwin took the intitiative in Nomads' reply with 13 at better than a run a ball before lofting a catch in the 5th over. Prasanth joined Mahesh and 30 runs were put on, mostly by the opener, but sketchy running between the wickets was a feature of this stand and, almost inevitably, a run out reduced us to a still fair 50 for 2. Dulwich skipper Tony Ebert turned to spin; himself and 3 youngsters - 2 of them leggies. Ebert deceived Vyas with flight for wicket 3. Hassan was still there but, despite a flamboyant cameo 9 from Riaz, we were falling behind the asking rate. When No. 6 Nick Lefebve strolled out with the asking rate above 8 an over, Hassan became aware of the size of his task and gave one of the young spinners a Bolt-like charge, only to be stumped. After this, our effort petered out rapidly. Todorow hit an emphatic four and Lefebve blocked everything in defiance of the encroaching ring of fielders. Last man Crossland, who wrote in the book; "batting? What batting?", gave his wicket away with a tame flick to Square Leg but at least we had reached 100. I would have liked to have batted on longer and test my rusty technique against spin. After all, some of us have had precious little batting this summer; but one of my colleagues seemed more intent on getting to the bar and starting the moaning. Actually it was pleasant in the bar. We had a chat with several Dulwich players including their star man who made an accomplished 65 and also Dulwich coaching supremo John Lawrence who unfortunately had had to miss the match itself as he was reporting on the Godalming v Dulwich Hamlet FA Cup tie for Non-League Soccer Weekly.
Dulwich 214 for 6 from 35 overs
H. Khan 7-1-36-0
Abdul Khan 5-1-36-0
Abbas Khan 4-0-47-1
Asad 7-0-33-2
E. Todorow 7-0-24-0
R. Khan 5-0-23-3
Clapham Nomads 100 from 26.2 overs
M. Vyas 21
Darwin 13
P. Pattiyil 4
H. Khan 19
R. Khan 9
N. Lefebve not out 4
Abdul Khan 0
E. Todorow 4
Abbas Khan 6
Asad 0
J. Crossland 1
F.O.W. - 20. 50, 64, 78, 78, 78, 84, 95, 97, 100
Clapham Nomads lost by 114 runs
Man of the Match - Emil Todorow
Fielder of the Day - Mahesh Vyas
I must admit Nomads' bowling and fielding were not the best. Hassan was ok if not quite at his excellent best. Riaz was probably the pick of the bowlers but the highlight for me was Emil Todorow getting though 7 tight overs despite being in considerable pain from his back. The skipper hadn't been intending to bring himself on to bowl but when he saw how things were going, he had to. For some reason several Nomads had a collective attack of the yips and we bowled at least 10 high No Balls, 8 of which went past wicketkeeper Crossland to the boundary for 5. At times the aerial bombardment was so intense that Todorow's team role was less of a captain and more of a Squadron Leader or Wing Commander - he himself was innocent of any part in this strafing, I must point out. Abdul did have an injury as well so credit to him for getting though 5 overs.
As ever, Dulwich had some fine and technically correct young batsmen who stroked and pushed their way up to the highest total their club has made against Nomads. Our fielding was poor. John Crossland wrote enigmatically in the scorebook; "very poor fielding - I'm not including everyone." Certainly he couldn't have been including Mahesh Vyas who took a stunning diving catch at Short Mid-Wicket, but the mis-fields and crazy overthrows and sluggishness were such that Dulwich should probably have added at least 20 to their score.
Darwin took the intitiative in Nomads' reply with 13 at better than a run a ball before lofting a catch in the 5th over. Prasanth joined Mahesh and 30 runs were put on, mostly by the opener, but sketchy running between the wickets was a feature of this stand and, almost inevitably, a run out reduced us to a still fair 50 for 2. Dulwich skipper Tony Ebert turned to spin; himself and 3 youngsters - 2 of them leggies. Ebert deceived Vyas with flight for wicket 3. Hassan was still there but, despite a flamboyant cameo 9 from Riaz, we were falling behind the asking rate. When No. 6 Nick Lefebve strolled out with the asking rate above 8 an over, Hassan became aware of the size of his task and gave one of the young spinners a Bolt-like charge, only to be stumped. After this, our effort petered out rapidly. Todorow hit an emphatic four and Lefebve blocked everything in defiance of the encroaching ring of fielders. Last man Crossland, who wrote in the book; "batting? What batting?", gave his wicket away with a tame flick to Square Leg but at least we had reached 100. I would have liked to have batted on longer and test my rusty technique against spin. After all, some of us have had precious little batting this summer; but one of my colleagues seemed more intent on getting to the bar and starting the moaning. Actually it was pleasant in the bar. We had a chat with several Dulwich players including their star man who made an accomplished 65 and also Dulwich coaching supremo John Lawrence who unfortunately had had to miss the match itself as he was reporting on the Godalming v Dulwich Hamlet FA Cup tie for Non-League Soccer Weekly.
Dulwich 214 for 6 from 35 overs
H. Khan 7-1-36-0
Abdul Khan 5-1-36-0
Abbas Khan 4-0-47-1
Asad 7-0-33-2
E. Todorow 7-0-24-0
R. Khan 5-0-23-3
Clapham Nomads 100 from 26.2 overs
M. Vyas 21
Darwin 13
P. Pattiyil 4
H. Khan 19
R. Khan 9
N. Lefebve not out 4
Abdul Khan 0
E. Todorow 4
Abbas Khan 6
Asad 0
J. Crossland 1
F.O.W. - 20. 50, 64, 78, 78, 78, 84, 95, 97, 100
Clapham Nomads lost by 114 runs
Man of the Match - Emil Todorow
Fielder of the Day - Mahesh Vyas
Tuesday, 4 September 2012
Clapham Nomads v Surbiton Imperials - 2/9/12
Clapham Nomads got their season back on track with an excellent, if slightly controversial, 8-wicket victory over a strong Surbiton side. Nomads, boosted by pace bowling legend Rafi, managed to restrict Imperials to 150 on a really excellent track at Abbey Rec.
Nomads beefed up our side for this tough-looking fixture by drafting in Rafi, probably Nomads' finest ever regular player, for his first game for the club for a few years.
As usual, skipper Todorow won the toss and, after 2 low scores batting first, elected to field.
A back injury to Todorow, caused by playing tennis with a much younger man, meant that Abdul Khan continued his successful new ball link-up with Hassan Khan. An early wicket for Hassan, tight and probing as ever, helped to keep Surbiton's rate down early on and the 18-over drinks break saw the score on around 55 for 2. Ominously, the away side's star batsman, the intense, explosive, Mini Cooper-driving teacher Johnny was still there having survived half chances to catch him and to run him out.
Rafi was first change and there was the almost tangible excitement that only a high class paceman can provide as he steamed in. Wicketkeeper John Crossland thought Rafi had lost just a tiny fraction of his pace but the custodian's gloves were still being rapped very hard indeed. Crossland purred with pleasure at how much he enjoyed keeping to Rafi and I have a suspicion it was the hand pain, rather than the accuracy and consequent lack of diving, that John enjoyed.
Rafi soon caused a batsman to back away markedly, bowling him 2 balls later, but Johnny coped well with the pace, milking a few runs from our star, and he also began to take a heavy toll on Abbas and debutant spinner Syed. At around the 24-over mark, Nomads appeared to be running short of bowling options and in danger of conceding close to 200.
Bravely, Emil Todorow, who on the Friday had looked in danger of missing his first Nomads game for 10 years, took up the reins and overcame considerable discomfort to send down 5 valuable overs, taking 1 for 25. Somehow this spell, something different for Imperials to consider, combined with excellent Nomads fielding and 3 late wickets for Rafi to wrest back the initiative for Nomads. Highlights of the last 10 overs were excellent direct hits from Prasanth and Abdul (one stump to aim at for Abdul but that's all the Wizard of the Infield needs) and a difficult low catch by Hassan to remove the dangerous Khalid Harris who had smacked Rafi for a resounding straight 4. Hassan responded to the acclaim by declaring that he was, in fact, Shahid Afridi. Nomads dismissed Surbiton for 150 on the last ball of the 35 overs. Johnny starred with 73.
So, a medium-sized target on a good pitch against a tough bowling line-up full of variety and accuracy (who had dismissed us for 83 in June.) This was a situation tailor-made for Mark Bradshaw to steer us to, or close to, victory with a crafted 40 or 50. However, still missing our star opener and with a predominantly attacking early and middle order, this had the potential to go spectacularly wrong or right.
Mahesh Vyas and Darwin did well to see off the opening salvoes, particularly the former England Deaf international Siddique. The pair carved out 27 valuable runs before Vyas played across to be bowled leg stump in House's first over. Darwin followed 2 overs later and, when Prasanth Pattiyil appeared run out by a yard or 2 shortly afterwards, doom was closing in. Surprisingly to just about everyone, Umpire Todorow ruled Not Out. In Todorow's defence, the turf by the crease was churned up and his own mobility was very restricted, so he might not have got the best view of this incident.
After that, things couldn't have gone much better for Nomads as Prasanth and Hassan just grew and grew in confidence. There were a couple of shouts for LBW but no other chances that I can recall. At one stage, Hassan was just effortlessly tapping the ball out between cover and long-off for 1s and 2s and I don't think I have ever seen such effortless batting at this level - against a very decent bowling side you must remember. Prasanth's innings was a mixture of mighty blows straight and over square leg, and a period when he made it look almost as easy as Hassan, just flicking ball after ball wide of Mid-Wicket for a run or two. Prasanth actually outscored Hassan for most of the stand as he was on 1 when the all-rounder came in, and he was first to his half-century. It was great to watch this from the umpiring position and it made up for some of this season's misery. The pair secured an unexpectedly comfortable victory by 8 wickets with almost 7 overs to spare - just as well as we would have been playing in pitch darkness if the innings had lasted 35 overs.
Man of the Match was Prasanth for outscoring Hassan and for a generally brilliant all-round performance including a catch and a direct hit. Fielder of the Day was Hassan who didn't put a foot wrong in the field that I can recall and took the catch of the day.
Surbiton Imperials - 150 from 35 overs
H. Khan 7-1-11-2
Abdul Khan 7-0-34-0
Rafi 7-1-27-4
Abbas Khan 7-0-41-1
Syed 2-0-12-0
E. Todorow 5-0-25-1
Clapham Nomads - 151 for 2 from 28.1 overs
M. Vyas 6
Darwin 14
P. Pattiyil not out 53
H. Khan not out 53
F.O.W. - 27, 31
Clapham Nomads won by 8 wickets
Nomads beefed up our side for this tough-looking fixture by drafting in Rafi, probably Nomads' finest ever regular player, for his first game for the club for a few years.
As usual, skipper Todorow won the toss and, after 2 low scores batting first, elected to field.
A back injury to Todorow, caused by playing tennis with a much younger man, meant that Abdul Khan continued his successful new ball link-up with Hassan Khan. An early wicket for Hassan, tight and probing as ever, helped to keep Surbiton's rate down early on and the 18-over drinks break saw the score on around 55 for 2. Ominously, the away side's star batsman, the intense, explosive, Mini Cooper-driving teacher Johnny was still there having survived half chances to catch him and to run him out.
Rafi was first change and there was the almost tangible excitement that only a high class paceman can provide as he steamed in. Wicketkeeper John Crossland thought Rafi had lost just a tiny fraction of his pace but the custodian's gloves were still being rapped very hard indeed. Crossland purred with pleasure at how much he enjoyed keeping to Rafi and I have a suspicion it was the hand pain, rather than the accuracy and consequent lack of diving, that John enjoyed.
Rafi soon caused a batsman to back away markedly, bowling him 2 balls later, but Johnny coped well with the pace, milking a few runs from our star, and he also began to take a heavy toll on Abbas and debutant spinner Syed. At around the 24-over mark, Nomads appeared to be running short of bowling options and in danger of conceding close to 200.
Bravely, Emil Todorow, who on the Friday had looked in danger of missing his first Nomads game for 10 years, took up the reins and overcame considerable discomfort to send down 5 valuable overs, taking 1 for 25. Somehow this spell, something different for Imperials to consider, combined with excellent Nomads fielding and 3 late wickets for Rafi to wrest back the initiative for Nomads. Highlights of the last 10 overs were excellent direct hits from Prasanth and Abdul (one stump to aim at for Abdul but that's all the Wizard of the Infield needs) and a difficult low catch by Hassan to remove the dangerous Khalid Harris who had smacked Rafi for a resounding straight 4. Hassan responded to the acclaim by declaring that he was, in fact, Shahid Afridi. Nomads dismissed Surbiton for 150 on the last ball of the 35 overs. Johnny starred with 73.
So, a medium-sized target on a good pitch against a tough bowling line-up full of variety and accuracy (who had dismissed us for 83 in June.) This was a situation tailor-made for Mark Bradshaw to steer us to, or close to, victory with a crafted 40 or 50. However, still missing our star opener and with a predominantly attacking early and middle order, this had the potential to go spectacularly wrong or right.
Mahesh Vyas and Darwin did well to see off the opening salvoes, particularly the former England Deaf international Siddique. The pair carved out 27 valuable runs before Vyas played across to be bowled leg stump in House's first over. Darwin followed 2 overs later and, when Prasanth Pattiyil appeared run out by a yard or 2 shortly afterwards, doom was closing in. Surprisingly to just about everyone, Umpire Todorow ruled Not Out. In Todorow's defence, the turf by the crease was churned up and his own mobility was very restricted, so he might not have got the best view of this incident.
After that, things couldn't have gone much better for Nomads as Prasanth and Hassan just grew and grew in confidence. There were a couple of shouts for LBW but no other chances that I can recall. At one stage, Hassan was just effortlessly tapping the ball out between cover and long-off for 1s and 2s and I don't think I have ever seen such effortless batting at this level - against a very decent bowling side you must remember. Prasanth's innings was a mixture of mighty blows straight and over square leg, and a period when he made it look almost as easy as Hassan, just flicking ball after ball wide of Mid-Wicket for a run or two. Prasanth actually outscored Hassan for most of the stand as he was on 1 when the all-rounder came in, and he was first to his half-century. It was great to watch this from the umpiring position and it made up for some of this season's misery. The pair secured an unexpectedly comfortable victory by 8 wickets with almost 7 overs to spare - just as well as we would have been playing in pitch darkness if the innings had lasted 35 overs.
Man of the Match was Prasanth for outscoring Hassan and for a generally brilliant all-round performance including a catch and a direct hit. Fielder of the Day was Hassan who didn't put a foot wrong in the field that I can recall and took the catch of the day.
Surbiton Imperials - 150 from 35 overs
H. Khan 7-1-11-2
Abdul Khan 7-0-34-0
Rafi 7-1-27-4
Abbas Khan 7-0-41-1
Syed 2-0-12-0
E. Todorow 5-0-25-1
Clapham Nomads - 151 for 2 from 28.1 overs
M. Vyas 6
Darwin 14
P. Pattiyil not out 53
H. Khan not out 53
F.O.W. - 27, 31
Clapham Nomads won by 8 wickets
Monday, 27 August 2012
South Bank v Clapham Nomads - 26/8/12
This was a replacement fixture as our original game against Bec Old Boys was cancelled. Sadly the Old Boys' Sunday team seems to have folded, at least for this season.
Anyway we found a nice match at Dulwich Sports Ground against a team we seem to play about once every 8 years. They always have a few characters and, certainly on this occasion, they had bags of talent.
Given our recent difficulties and various floods and wild weather warnings on Saturday, it was a relief to actually get a game and it was a great improvement on last week with Nomads posting 115 for 8 off the full 35 overs which was not a calamity against a bowling line up with few, if any, weak links on a bouncy, slightly irregular, pitch. Top scorer Darwin (27) shared in a good early stand of 36 at a good strike rate with Abdul. Hassan's 25 ensured reasonable momentum in the middle third of the innings. For spectators though, the highlight was an excellent stand of 19 at the close between Emil and John which took us up to a total in excess of what we expected when Hassan was out at 96 for 8. Surprisingly, the entertainment in this stand was to be found in some clever cricket rather than in banter although when Emil thanked John for supporting him at the end, John replied ; "you were supporting me." No. 11 Andrew West had been padded up for 5 overs when, with 4 balls remaining, he tore off his kit in a fit of pique and flung it to the ground with a resounding oath. It would have been quite funny if one of our heroes had been out on the penultimate ball and forced our disgruntled tail-ender to put his gear back on and face 1 delivery.
South Bank had little problem knocking the 116 off in around 24 overs, despite tight opening spells from Hassan and Abdul. The only wicket to fall was secured by a twisting, feline, slip catch an inch from the ground by Mahesh Vyas off the bowling of Andrew West. South Bank's innings featured some stunning hitting - 1 shot cleared the trees - from a very entertaining Australian guy who had long hair rather reminiscent of the mid 70s Yes keyboard player Rick Wakeman and was referred to by his nickname "Criminal." He was supported by his captain who secured a 50 right at the end in rather Boycottesque fashion. Once the scores were level, with the captain on 49, the pair declined to run if Criminal had played the shot, despite several opportunities, and chose to wait until the skipper was on strike to seal the victory. A Wide or No Ball - accidental of course - would have been amusing.
Man of the Match was Mahesh for taking the Catch of the Season which was all that saved us from a Club Record 10-wicket defeat. Fielder of the Day was either Prasanth or John Crossland. They both stopped plenty and missed nothing. Since John did more diving I will give it to the glovesman.
Clapham Nomads 115 for 8 from 35 overs
M. Vyas 1
Darwin 27
A. Khan 16
H. Khan 25
P. Pattiyil 2
R. Khan 8
Abbas 0
N. Lefebve 0
E. Todorow not out 10
J. Crossland not out 9
Did not bat - A. West
F.O.W. - 3, 39, 53, 61, 74, 75, 80, 96
South Bank 117 for 1 from 27.1 overs
H. Khan 7-4-17-0
A. Khan 7-0-15-0
A. West 4-0-27-1
E. Todorow 5-0-28-0
Abbas 2-0-11-0
R. Khan 2.1-0-16-0
Clapham Nomads lost by 9 wickets
Anyway we found a nice match at Dulwich Sports Ground against a team we seem to play about once every 8 years. They always have a few characters and, certainly on this occasion, they had bags of talent.
Given our recent difficulties and various floods and wild weather warnings on Saturday, it was a relief to actually get a game and it was a great improvement on last week with Nomads posting 115 for 8 off the full 35 overs which was not a calamity against a bowling line up with few, if any, weak links on a bouncy, slightly irregular, pitch. Top scorer Darwin (27) shared in a good early stand of 36 at a good strike rate with Abdul. Hassan's 25 ensured reasonable momentum in the middle third of the innings. For spectators though, the highlight was an excellent stand of 19 at the close between Emil and John which took us up to a total in excess of what we expected when Hassan was out at 96 for 8. Surprisingly, the entertainment in this stand was to be found in some clever cricket rather than in banter although when Emil thanked John for supporting him at the end, John replied ; "you were supporting me." No. 11 Andrew West had been padded up for 5 overs when, with 4 balls remaining, he tore off his kit in a fit of pique and flung it to the ground with a resounding oath. It would have been quite funny if one of our heroes had been out on the penultimate ball and forced our disgruntled tail-ender to put his gear back on and face 1 delivery.
South Bank had little problem knocking the 116 off in around 24 overs, despite tight opening spells from Hassan and Abdul. The only wicket to fall was secured by a twisting, feline, slip catch an inch from the ground by Mahesh Vyas off the bowling of Andrew West. South Bank's innings featured some stunning hitting - 1 shot cleared the trees - from a very entertaining Australian guy who had long hair rather reminiscent of the mid 70s Yes keyboard player Rick Wakeman and was referred to by his nickname "Criminal." He was supported by his captain who secured a 50 right at the end in rather Boycottesque fashion. Once the scores were level, with the captain on 49, the pair declined to run if Criminal had played the shot, despite several opportunities, and chose to wait until the skipper was on strike to seal the victory. A Wide or No Ball - accidental of course - would have been amusing.
Man of the Match was Mahesh for taking the Catch of the Season which was all that saved us from a Club Record 10-wicket defeat. Fielder of the Day was either Prasanth or John Crossland. They both stopped plenty and missed nothing. Since John did more diving I will give it to the glovesman.
Clapham Nomads 115 for 8 from 35 overs
M. Vyas 1
Darwin 27
A. Khan 16
H. Khan 25
P. Pattiyil 2
R. Khan 8
Abbas 0
N. Lefebve 0
E. Todorow not out 10
J. Crossland not out 9
Did not bat - A. West
F.O.W. - 3, 39, 53, 61, 74, 75, 80, 96
South Bank 117 for 1 from 27.1 overs
H. Khan 7-4-17-0
A. Khan 7-0-15-0
A. West 4-0-27-1
E. Todorow 5-0-28-0
Abbas 2-0-11-0
R. Khan 2.1-0-16-0
Clapham Nomads lost by 9 wickets
Saturday, 25 August 2012
Clapham Nomads v Energy Exiles - 19/8/12
Nomads were only able to raise 7 players for this fixture against our old friends and rivals the Exiles. It was important to get this game on to try and keep some kind of momentum going this season, so thanks to those who did turn up. Also, thanks to Prasad, who had come along for a quiet afternoon watching the cricket at Raynes Park and ended up being headhunted by Emil Todorow, and thanks most of all to Exiles' organiser Naren Patel who joined us for the day to complete a 9-man team and a dream New Ball pairing with the Nomads' skipper.
Nomads won the toss and chose to bat. In normal conditions that would have been a mystifying decision but, given the 90 degree heat and stifling humidity it was perhaps understandable.
Unfortunately, Nomads batting line-up failed to match even the low expectations that we held and were dismissed for 47, with only Darwin (16) and, to a lesser extent, Emil Todorow near the end providing much resistance. This was without Simon Gundry getting on to bowl but Andy Wingfield and Phil Ling did quite enough damage between them to ensure Exiles' talisman wasn't needed.
This was all rather depressing but Exiles' innings produced a couple of moments which made me almost wish I had been there. To have E. Todorow and N. Patel share a new ball was surely a treat for all connoisseurs of the More Experienced Gentleman and a sight that followers of South London Sunday cricket probably despaired of ever seeing. Not surprisingly, two of Exiles' early order just could not cope with this Treasure Trove of Trickery and, at 14 for 2, there was just a sniff of a decent contest. Jasper Searle quashed this with a very rapid 31, including 17 off Prasad's over, before being bowled by an Andrew West shooter with the scores level. A golden moment followed as Simon Gundry, minus pads, emerged and attempted to smack West over the trees. An admittedly good connection went straight down the throat of Prasad for an excellent catch and the notable scorebook entry; S. Gundry, c Prasad b West - Duck (Golden.) Martin Thomas, also without pads, kept his head and denied the Big Man a hat-trick and sealed an easy victory for the Exiles.
It was all rather a shame when you remember all the memorable matches these 2 teams have played, but I'm sure there's plenty more to look forward to from this enjoyable rivalry.
Man of the Match would have been Andrew West for dismissing Mr Gundry first ball, but apparently he was making some rather odd comments so is disqualified. Darwin takes it instead for his nice innings. Fielder of the Day was Prasad for his fine catch.
Clapham Nomads 47 from 17.4 overs
M. Vyas 1
Darwin 16
P. Pattiyil 0
Prasad 4
C. Kee 3
E. Todorow 7
J. Crossland 2
N. Patel 0
A. West not out 1
F.O.W - 10,11,18,30,33,45,45,47
Exiles' bowling
A. Wingfield 5-2-3-2
M. Thomas 5-2-12-1
P. Ling 4-0-8-3
Plume 3.4-0-17-2
Energy Exiles 48 for 4 from 8.4 overs
Nomads' bowling
E. Todorow 4-2-16-1
N. Patel 3-0-8-1
Prasad 1-0-17-0
A. West 0.4-0-5-2
Clapham Nomads lost by 6 wickets
Nomads won the toss and chose to bat. In normal conditions that would have been a mystifying decision but, given the 90 degree heat and stifling humidity it was perhaps understandable.
Unfortunately, Nomads batting line-up failed to match even the low expectations that we held and were dismissed for 47, with only Darwin (16) and, to a lesser extent, Emil Todorow near the end providing much resistance. This was without Simon Gundry getting on to bowl but Andy Wingfield and Phil Ling did quite enough damage between them to ensure Exiles' talisman wasn't needed.
This was all rather depressing but Exiles' innings produced a couple of moments which made me almost wish I had been there. To have E. Todorow and N. Patel share a new ball was surely a treat for all connoisseurs of the More Experienced Gentleman and a sight that followers of South London Sunday cricket probably despaired of ever seeing. Not surprisingly, two of Exiles' early order just could not cope with this Treasure Trove of Trickery and, at 14 for 2, there was just a sniff of a decent contest. Jasper Searle quashed this with a very rapid 31, including 17 off Prasad's over, before being bowled by an Andrew West shooter with the scores level. A golden moment followed as Simon Gundry, minus pads, emerged and attempted to smack West over the trees. An admittedly good connection went straight down the throat of Prasad for an excellent catch and the notable scorebook entry; S. Gundry, c Prasad b West - Duck (Golden.) Martin Thomas, also without pads, kept his head and denied the Big Man a hat-trick and sealed an easy victory for the Exiles.
It was all rather a shame when you remember all the memorable matches these 2 teams have played, but I'm sure there's plenty more to look forward to from this enjoyable rivalry.
Man of the Match would have been Andrew West for dismissing Mr Gundry first ball, but apparently he was making some rather odd comments so is disqualified. Darwin takes it instead for his nice innings. Fielder of the Day was Prasad for his fine catch.
Clapham Nomads 47 from 17.4 overs
M. Vyas 1
Darwin 16
P. Pattiyil 0
Prasad 4
C. Kee 3
E. Todorow 7
J. Crossland 2
N. Patel 0
A. West not out 1
F.O.W - 10,11,18,30,33,45,45,47
Exiles' bowling
A. Wingfield 5-2-3-2
M. Thomas 5-2-12-1
P. Ling 4-0-8-3
Plume 3.4-0-17-2
Energy Exiles 48 for 4 from 8.4 overs
Nomads' bowling
E. Todorow 4-2-16-1
N. Patel 3-0-8-1
Prasad 1-0-17-0
A. West 0.4-0-5-2
Clapham Nomads lost by 6 wickets
Saturday, 4 August 2012
Update - 4/8/12
Last Sunday's game against Wimbledon Corinthians was called off by the opposition. It rained most of Sunday afternoon anyway, so probably a blessing. No games scheduled now until Energy Exiles on Sunday 19th August.
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