Monday, 20 May 2013

Clapham Nomads v Wimbledon United - 19/5/13

Clapham Nomads lost our 4th game in a row - as usual by around 45 runs. As John pointed out - regularly - at least we have a 100% record.
This was probably the most enjoyable day of the season so far.  Apart from the defeat and a nasty ankle injury to wicketkeeper John Crossland, this had everything you could want from a Sunday game; a very pleasant opposition and a good atmosphere, a mild day, some entertaining and attacking batting from both sides, good varied bowling from the away side, Andrew West stopping the ball with just about every part of his body in the field, and a dog eating a fair proportion of the tea.
I arrived for this game at Del Ballard Rec in Dundonald Road at 3 pm with Wimbledon on around 70 for 2 off 15 and batting beautifully but it was clear that momentous events had been taking place - and I don't mean Nomads actually taking 2 early wickets.  Andrew West (who had not been on the team sheet) was charging around the mid-wicket boundary, clad in blue and purple, making sensational stops, Mahesh Vyas was neat and tidy behind the stumps, and regular keeper John Crossland was rubbing his leg vigorously by the trees, and not in a way that seemed to be causing him particular pleasure.  It turned out that John had been smacked full on the ankle by a fast full toss.  Fortunately, we had an experienced wicketkeeper in the side and a sub fielder available.  Unfortunately, John's injury has now been confirmed as a broken ankle and he is likely to be out for at least another 6 weeks.  Best wishes for a quick recovery, John.
The afternoon proceeded with an excellent 85 stand for the 3rd wicket between Alex Herbert and Steve Lord taking United up to 105.  Both players drove impressively.  Nomads bowling was OK with Emil and Abdul sharing equally the 4 wickets that fall.  Only Abbas came in for real punishment.  Zia was the fastest and the most economical with 23 taken off his 7.  Nomads groundfielding was very good but the fastest piece of work was from a passing dog who scooped up a jam tart - complete with foil base - and a whole pack of economy chicken slices in one slick movement just as the half-time tea had been laid out.  A string of profanities rent the air as Team Chef Lefebve and Food Fan West chased the mutt away just as he was bearing down on the Halal Chicken.
United closed on 180 for 4 and, despite the good pitch and fast outfield, our recent record did not give us much confidence as we tucked into the remains of the tea, which had been augmented by the pack of frozen beans John had been keeping up his leg to reduce the swelling.
Wimbledon's attack was led by the tall Fast-Medium outswing bowler Peter Brown "The Southfields Express", who struck in the first over, shaping one away to have debutant Gul well caught at First Slip by Flannery on Gul's first ball for the club.  No. 3 Prasanth Pattiyil continued his fine recent form and cracked 5 fours, mostly straight and though and over Square Leg.  Mahesh Vyas was looking sound in the Anchor Man role and at 37 for 1 and with a classy-looking Top 7, Nomads were by no means out of it but Prasanth was bowled round his legs by Hasan for 27.  Hassan Khan kept up the decent scoring rate but Mahesh, having survived the openers, skied a catch off first-changer Herbert with Nomads on 49.
Darwin, Zia and Abdul all peppered the boundary but Nomads just couldn't build a major stand.  Quickish Off-Spinner James Flannery sealed Wimbledon's victory with 7 overs in which he achieved a fair amount of turn at just below Medium pace.  He did go for 37 off his 7 overs but he accounted for 4 of Nomads' hardest hitters, 2 of them falling to well-judged catches off skiers as the Home side subsided from 93 for 4 to 131 for 9.  The not out man Emil Todorow demanded that the injured John Crossland come out and join him to complete the innings to which Crossland replied; "I would - if we had any chance of winning."  In the end, Wimbledon sportingly agreed to allow sub fielder Andrew West to bat and were rewarded with a look at his unique grip.  Emil Todorow cracked a fine boundary to vindicate his insistence that all was not lost but he fell soon afterwards.
Anyway, a thoroughly enjoyable game for everyone except the unfortunate John.  Man of the Match was Prasanth, whose fine innings contained the few brief moments when the result was in any doubt.  Fielder of the Day was Andrew West who brought off some excellent stops.

Wimbledon United (180 for 4 from 35 overs) beat Clapham Nomads (135 all out from 29 overs) by 45 runs.

M.Vyas   14
Gul   0
P. Pattiyil   27
H. Khan  19
Darwin   15
Zia  27
Abdul. Khan  11
Kennedy   0
Abbas Khan   7
Todorow   4
A. West  Not out  0

F.O.W. - 1, 37, 49, 70, 93, 118, 122, 131, 131, 135


H. Khan   7-0-40-0
E. Todorow   7-1-26-2
Zia   7-0-23-0
Abbas Khan   7-0-51-0
Abdul Khan   7-0-30-2

Wednesday, 15 May 2013

Kew v Clapham Nomads - 12/5/13

Clapham Nomads made the long journey to Kew for a Conference match on Sunday and came up against a stronger than anticipated home side.  I didn't play in this match but, according to Emil, Nomads did fairly well to concede only 200 for 3 against a very talented batting line up on a cracking pitch. One chap made 100.  Hassan was the pick of the bowlers with 1 for 25 off seven overs, but Emil, Abbas and Riaz were tidy as well.
Kew had 2 tall young fast bowlers, one of whom removed Mahesh Vyas early on in our reply and then rapped Prasanth Pattiyil on the wrist with a lifter.  Prasanth did very well to bat on for a fighting 24. Darwin made a nice 31 and there was some very entertaining hitting from Abbas at the close supported by Chris Kennedy though by then the game was lost.  I didn't feel that a 62-run defeat was too shabby against a team who were a class above us (in a strictly cricketing sense) but I will leave the final word on this to John Crossland who wrote in the scorebook; "Kew were just too strong for us.  Call me negative if you want."  A pregnant pause is necessary here.
Admittedly several of the Nomads were late.  I'll pause for a bit here while readers pick themselves up from the floor.  At least one of the home side told us that we were unlikely to be invited back again.  There are two categories of lapsed fixtures; those sides you are unfortunately unlikely to play again (Nepotists, Kenley, possibly Morden) and those you are unlikely to play again (Kingston Lefthanders, Surrey Ovalites, Kew.)
Man of the Match is close between Prasanth for a great comeback after receiving a nasty knock, Darwin, but I will give it to Abbas who was joint top-scorer with 31 and bowled 7 overs for only 26. Fielder of the Day was John Crossland whose catches behind the stumps accounted for 2 of the 3 wickets we took.

Kew (200 for 3 from 35 overs) beat Clapham Nomads (138 all out from 32.2 overs) by 62 runs.

Adnan Khan  -  14
M. Vyas  -  0
P. Pattiyil  -  24
H. Khan  -  0
Darwin  -  31
Abdul Khan  -  1
R. Khan  -  2
Abbas Khan  -  31
C. Kennedy  -  9
E. Todorow  -  2
J. Crossland  -  0 Not out

F.O.W. - 2, 22, 22, 78, 84, 86, 90, 128, 138, 138

H. Khan  7-1-25-1
E. Todorow  7-2-33-0
Abbas Khan  7-0-26-0
R. Khan  6-0-34-1
Abdul Khan  6-0-64-1
Adnan Khan  2-0-15-0

Wednesday, 8 May 2013

Energy Exiles v Clapham Nomads - 5/5/13

Life felt good on the morning of the 5th.  We were off to play the Exiles with a half-decent Nomads line-up.  There was no more travelling by trolley and taxi as Emil Todorow had acquired a gleaming Renault Megane - one previous lady owner - and, on the back seat, we had an Australian ringer...sorry, debutant. 
Contentment spilt over into something close to ecstasy as we found that Exiles had no Simon Gundry, no Naren Patel (lovely guy but always takes wickets against us) and John Tither was batting low down the order.  Could Nomads actually beat the Exiles again? Stranger things have happened.
Inevitably we were brought back to earth fairly quickly as the 2 Wills - Clephane and Kent - took the intiative against Hassan and Emil's New Ball bowling.  Clephane, on his Exiles debut, looked particularly impressive and, having survived an early caught and bowled chance, cracked an entertaining 51 off 61 balls including 2 large sixes.  When we finally got him, No. 3 Jasper Searle just upped the ante with 24 at a run a ball to accompany Will Kent past his 50.  Nomads had had high hopes for our spinner Oli Heywood, a Melbourne league off-spinner.  He bowled pretty well but Exiles managed to take 35 from his 7 overs without losing a wicket and this was probably decisive.  To be fair, I got the impression from talking to Oli that he gets a lot of his wickets from athletic catches in the bat pad area and other close up positions - something not seen particularly regularly by Nomads fans. Clapham hustled our way back into the game briefly with 4 wickets between 122 and 151, including the important one of big-hitter Andy Wingfield, and had a chance to face no more that about 160 but excellent power hitting from Wil Scott and particularly Marcin Zielenewski late on took Exiles up to a daunting 181 for 5 at the break.
Exiles' bowling attack had a slightly unfamiliar look to it but Marcin Zielenewski - a much-improved player in the past season or 2 - sent it down gun-barrel straight and true, only going for 6 from his first 5 overs. I picked the more entertaining end to umpire at and there was lavish swing, seam and trickery from Wingfield, who claimed the 2 important wickets of Adnan and Abdul in his first 8 balls, and Phil Ling, who moves it in the air as much as anyone at this level.  Mahesh Vyas steadied the Nomads ship with 8 in around 12 overs and Hassan began to eke out some runs, particularly when joined by Heywood at 28 for 3.  Decent stands between Hassan and Oli Heywood (46) and Heywood and Chris Kennedy (29) offered Nomads no more than respectability as we dragged behind the asking rate.  2 wickets fell on 103 and No 8 Nick Lefebve joined Heywood who suddenly seemed galvanised by the fact that victory was off the agenda and began to smack the ball to all parts.  He took a liking to Zielenewski and smashed an awesome 25 off one over which prompted Exiles' Management Committee of Tither and Wingfield to give the stunned bowler a motivational pep talk; "You have to want to do this."  Suddenly, only 34 were needed from 2 overs and, crucially, Heywood was on strike.  3 boundaries off the next over, to be bowled by Wingfield, could have made for a squeaky bum finish but the blond left-armer is too experienced for that and closed the game out by conceding just 1 run.  Zielenewski showed good character by bowling the closing over for just 3 and Exiles won by 29 runs. 
Another defeat for the Nomads (and scores spookily similar to the previous week) but an enjoyable game.  Man of the Match for Nomads was Oli Heywood.  He may not play that much for us this season but there is a special request for him to turn out on 18th August.  Fielder of the Day was Chris Kennedy who took the first catch and threw himself around in the field - showing the benefits of a Wetherspoons breakfast with liquid accompaniment.
We heard from the Exiles that former Nomads opener Mark Bradshaw would be making the short hop across South-West London and rejoining them in a sensational return move.  We wish Mark the best of success - in fact, he has already featured in a club record partnership for the Exiles this season - and thank him for his excellent 5 seasons with the Nomads.  Tribute to follow now that I am catching up with reports etc.

Energy Exiles (181 for 5 from 35 overs) beat Clapham Nomads (152 for 6 from 35 overs) by 29 runs

Adnan Khan -  5
M. Vyas  -  8
Abdul Khan -  5
H. Khan  -  28
O. Heywood  -  82 not out
C. Kennedy  -  2
R. Khan  -  0
N. Lefebve  -  3 not out
Did not bat; E. Todorow,  Abbas Khan,  J. Crossland

F.O.W. - 5, 11, 28, 74, 103, 103


H. Khan  7-0-25-3
E. Todorow  5-1-18-0
Abbas Khan   4-0-18-0
O. Heywood  7-0-35-0
R. Khan  7-0-48-2
Abdul Khan   5-0-28-0

Monday, 29 April 2013

Clapham Nomads v Surbiton Imperials - 28/4/13

This was a tough way to start a season, facing a very talented side against whom we have possibly over-achieved with 3 wins in the last few seasons.
As this was too early in the year to book our usual pitches, we used the old stand-by of Beverley Park in New Malden.  Although this is a perfectly serviceable venue, there is something vaguely depressing about it.  It is also very poor ground for picking out the ball, and oddly this wasn't helped by the complete lack of leaves on the trees after a freezing April.
Anyway, enough waffle.  Nomads fielded and claimed an encouraging early scalp with the very dangerous Surbiton opener Johnny caught nicely in the deep by Abbas off the bowling of Hassan Khan.  That was the high-point for Nomads.  Our bowling was respectable enough but a touch innocuous and the Away side steadily accumulated a formidable total, led by Siddique who made a chanceless half-century.  The pick of the Nomads attack was probably Riaz but this was an ordinary effort from Clapham, though slow-medium bowler Andrew Meaden, on his debut, showed some promise with 2 tidy, Todorowesque overs near the end.  Surbiton's total of 180 for 4 off 35 overs on a very slow, bowler-friendly wicket and a lush grassy outfield was worth well over 200 on a better maintained ground.
Imperials' paceman Tej struck early, having Mahesh Vyas caught behind third ball and, together with the ever-tidy Siddque, he made life tough for Nomads' top order, especially when Prasanth Pattiyil was bowled in the 5th over.  Adnan Khan had looked anything but comfortable at first but, joined by Hassan, he began to relax and play some fine shots. Hassan looked in the mood and the 50 stand came up in reasonable time but with Nomads still behind the rate and with the batting below 4 having a distinctly threadbare look.  Adnan survived an extremely confident appeal with the score in the 90s (I can't remember what it was for now, but voices were raised) but was adjudged LBW soon afterwards.  Chris Kennedy fell next ball.  Nick Lefebve supported Hassan in a stand of 29 but overs were running out.  Under pressure for quick runs, Hassan went for a massive hit but edged it to the keeper.  As John so perceptively pointed out in the scorebook; "Once Hassan was out it was game over."  The only player in the lower order to show much was Andrew Meaden who stroked a promising 10 but Nomads tailed off and were dismissed in the penultimate over - 36 runs short.
Man of the Match was Hassan on his 100th appearance for the club, which we celebrated with chocolate cake - possibly the highlight of the day.  Fielder of the Day was Abbas for his cool catch to dismiss Surbiton's danger man.
To cap a fairly unsatisfactory day, the changing rooms had mysteriously become locked at close of play - even though we finished early. The groundsman had vanished.  The only person to suffer from this was one ot the Surbiton players who said that; "My clothes are in there, but nothing really important."  I hope he got his gear back in the end.

Surbiton Imperials (180 for 4 from 35 overs) beat Clapham Nomads (144 all out from 33.4 overs) by 36 runs.

M.Vyas  - 0
P. Pattiyil  -  3
Adnan Khan  -  35
H. Khan  -  68
C. Kennedy  -  0
N. Lefebve  -  1
R. Khan  -  0
A. Meaden  -  10 not out
Abbas Khan  -  1
E. Todorow  -  1
J. Crossland  -  1

F.O.W. - 2, 8, 99, 99, 128, 128, 128, 129,  134,  144

H.  Khan  7-1-22-1
E. Todorow  5-0-24-0
R. Khan  7-0-25-2
Abbas Khan  7-0-23-1
Adnan Khan  7-0-50-0
A. Meaden  2-0-12-0
    

Wednesday, 24 April 2013

First match this Sunday

Just to let you know that the first match of the season will be this Sunday 28th April in New Malden.  Emil will be ringing everyone today or tomorrow.  Look forward to seeing you all.  Nick

Wednesday, 19 December 2012

Annual Meeting and Player of the Year

Nomads held our Annual Meeting at the Chatkhara Restaurant in Clapham South the Sunday before last.  It seemed as if we were eating for hours and all for under £10.  It was no surprise that Hassan Khan was voted Player of the Year, Batsman of the Year and also Bowler of the Year.  Abdul Khan was Fielder of the Year.

Saturday, 6 October 2012

Batting Averages - 2012

Hassan Khan - 458 runs @ 50.89
Mark Bradshaw - 153 runs @ 30.60
Zia - 60 runs @ 30.00
Prasanth Pattiyil - 192 runs @ 24.00
Darwin - 198 runs @ 18.00
Abdul Khan - 99 runs @ 16.50
Mahesh Vyas - 171 runs @ 14.25
Chris Kennedy - 17 runs @ 8.50
Nick Lefebve - 22 runs @ 7.33
Riaz Khan - 22 runs @ 7.33
Emil Todorow - 27 runs @ 6.75
Chris Kee - 39 runs @ 4.88
John Crossland - 14 runs @ 4.67
Abbas Khan - 6 runs @ 3.00

Bowling averages to follow