Nomads played a Conference game on Sunday 1st June, making the long journey to Park Sports Ground, London W3; practically a tour match for Nomads' notoriously reluctant travellers.
The absences of star players Mark Bradshaw and Sami, plus a heel injury to Hassan (he played but had to bat lower down) probably meant that our real Conference strength was Medium-Weak (though able replacements were found in Gul and Jonnie Randall) while the home side's "Medium" status was "consolidated" by the presence of at least 2 first-teamers from the Middlesex County League.
After a little trouble finding the pitch in the large sports complex, Nomads arrived (punctuality rating; moderate to ordinary) and skipper Todorow inserted Acton on an excellent-looking flat track. Perhaps noting Todorow's keenness to bat second and observing the age of the Nomads side (one player approaching 70, another in his early 60s, several in their 50s and only 2 under 30), the Home skipper sportingly suggested a time game.
The Super Six were reduced to a Famous Five by injury to Sami. Hassan opened and bowled well despite his heel injury and made an early breakthrough comprehensively bowling Acton's opener who tried to give him the charge. That was probably our high spot in Acton's innings. First-teamers Forsdike and Fell batted remorselessly for a century and 60 odd respectively before retiring. Acton acknowledged in their report that our bowling was a little unthreatening but difficult to get away. Their top 5 all had a bat and at tea their skipper called it a day (as is customary at tea) on 245 for 1.
On one of the best tracks we have played on, we had to have a reasonable chance of the draw. Winning it would have been extraordinary against an attack made up of a couple of young, lively and accurate quicks, at least one decent slower bowler and a smattering of part-timers. Gul and Mahesh both contributed early on, Mahesh falling in the 5th over and Gul in the 10th, but then Prasanth Pattiyil played a superb defensive innings, looking unshiftable for 30 overs until Middlesex County League paceman Forsdike finally got him for 18. Riaz began in the same vein until one of the fielders was given to remark; "can he actually play any shots?" An emphatic boundary was the inevitable result. Riaz went on to top-score with 32. A slight flurry of middle-order wickets reduced us from 56 for 2 to 89 for 6 as the Home team went full throttle for the win, but Jonnie Randall stood his ground and used up vital overs. Hassan did the same but with a few attacking shots thrown in. I wasn't at this game but John pointed out to me how well Hassan batted. Perhaps most impressive of all was the veteran Chris Kennedy in his first outing of the season for the Nomads, having not faced bowling of this calibre for a while. He saw off plenty of overs of spin - not his favourite bowling - and was pivotal in our rearguard effort.
Hassan Khan and Emil Todorow were together with 7 down and 5 overs to go and appeared to be on course to draw the game with ease. Nomads rarely do anything the easy way though and, with 4 balls to go, Hassan was out and Abbas was on his way to the crease causing John to pad up. Surely even Acton's bored "spectator" - see their report - (if he/she was still awake) must have enjoyed the drama of this moment. Abbas managed to snick a single and there was no way past the obdurate Balkan-born legend Todorow for the tiring bowlers. Todorow even cracked Middlesex County League third-tier bowler Fell for 2 off the last ball to bring up the 120.
Not a victory then, not even a "small victory" but a very creditable draw achieved through a lot of hard-work and with something to spare . I wish I had come along after all. Emil told me we faced 51 overs. I'm not quite sure how that is possible but, if it is true, then it was a well-deserved draw. (I've got the scorebook back now and, yes, 51 overs.) This is the largest number of overs Clapham Nomads have batted in any of our 300-plus fixtures. I've known many a team give themselves a hearty pat on the back after surviving far fewer overs to draw against much weaker bowling than Acton cc's.
I doubt there will be a return fixture but we could always book Fishponds Road Rec which might suit our bowlers better..
Quote of the Day came from one of Acton's young pacemen after hitting one of our middle-order batsmen on the bottom (with the ball I hasten to add - the ball must have been missing the stumps by quite a margin as this was our tallest batsman); "What are you even doing here? Get out of here!"................Hohum.
Anyway, thanks to Acton for hosting us. They are a fine club and we wish all their sides success for the rest of the season.
One final word on Conference ratings. It has seemed for some years that Middlesex teams are stronger than Surrey teams with the same rating. Some years ago, I was playing for the Open University and the captain Dave Hunter told us after a heavy defeat; "We'll be alright next week, lads, we're playing a team called Acton Town. They're rated Weak." Come 4.30 pm the following Sunday, 10 of us were glaring at Hunter over tea, having just conceded 234 for 0.
Acton cc 245 for 1 (Forsdike 103 retired) from 32 overs
Nomads bowling;
Abbas Khan 5-0-35-0
H. Khan 9-0-64-1
R. Khan 6-0-37-0
E. Todorow 6-0-53-0
Abdul Khan 5-0-34-0
J. Randall 1-0-11-0
Clapham Nomads 120 for 8 from 51 overs
M. Vyas 0
Gul 10
P. Pattiyil 18
R. Khan 32
J. Randall 7
Abdul Khan 1
C. Kennedy 4
H. Khan 21
E. Todorow not out 3
Abbas Khan not out 1
Did not bat; J. Crossland
F.O.W. - 4, 10, 56, 74, 81, 89, 108, 116
Match drawn
Man of the Match - Prasanth Pattiyil
Fielder of the Day - Hassan Khan (Chris Kennedy was second.)
Scores and adaptations to the report will follow when I get the scorebook back. (Now done.)
Meanwhile read Acton's reasonably fair report on http://actoncricketclub.com/31-may1-june-weekend-round-up
Wednesday, 4 June 2014
Monday, 19 May 2014
Wimbledon United v Clapham Nomads - 18/5/14
Clapham Nomads recorded their best performance so far in an already excellent season with a 4-wicket victory over Wimbledon United at Cottenham Park - one of our luckiest grounds. Superb bowling from The Super Six and inspired fielding restricted a strong United batting line-up to 141 all out off 2 balls short of the full, gruelling 40 overs on a very warm day.
A 3rd-wicket stand of 90 between Mark Bradshaw and Hassan Khan set up victory, with quick late runs from Riaz and Abdul sealing the deal. Wimbledon were a touch unlucky with 3 chances to catch Hassan going to ground, the first 2 of which would have put them on top, if taken.
FULL REPORT TO FOLLOW.
United won the toss and, unsurprisingly given the 78 degree heat, chose to bat. Nomads dug in for some hard graft against the usual strong Wimbledon batting order. Excellent tight bowling from Sami ( ? slightly quicker than usual at the downhill end) and Hassan Khan saw an early wicket fall and the run rate kept down. Drinks were gratefully downed at 20 overs with the score on around 55 for 2 but the dangerous Herbert still there. The innings was in the balance and much depended on our 4 change bowlers. These 4 did a fine job in limiting the acceleration, bowling 6 overs each and all conceding 20-odd runs. Fielding was as good as has been seen from Nomads. Inspired by an early direct hit from Abdul Khan, few errors were made or soft singles allowed. 5 catches were taken; the most memorable perhaps a slip catch from Mahesh Vyas who changed direction athletically while the ball was approaching him. Wickets fell steadily in the second half of the innings with Riaz and Emil joining Hassan in taking 2. The final United wicket fell with 2 balls to go and the total on 141. A good containing performance from Clapham on the best pitch we have played on so far, with short-ish straight boundaries.
Although the target of 142 would have to be our top score of the season so far, confidence was fair as we tucked into the excellent and varied tea featuring United's signature strawberry and cream scones.
The home side were missing their star paceman Peter Brown but Wijedena proved a decent replacement with tricky length and variation down the hill and he struck two early blows, finding Mahesh Vyas's outside edge for a good, low catch by the keeper and then inducing Prasanth to play across to a deceptively full-length ball which struck middle and leg via the bat and pad. Suddenly we were 10 for 2 and (Nomads' blog cliche time) an awful lot was going to depend on the partnership between Mark Bradshaw and Hassan Khan. There was an early let-off apiece for the pair with a Khan thunderbolt being put down at Square Leg and a Bradshaw top-edge dropping just short of Short Fine Leg (although this ball may have bounced three times before reaching the bat - I had a Senior Moment as Umpire and had to double-check the No Ball rule with Square Leg Umpire Todorow who admittedly does exude natural authority.)
Undistracted by all this, our batting heroes began to turn the innings round. Bradshaw looking unshiftable and not receiving full reward for some fine Off Side shots thanks to a well-set field. Hassan was fairly cautious until around 20 when a full toss received the full treatment and was past the straight boundary in under a second, almost via the bowler's and umpire's heads. This was Hassan's cue to take charge, with imperious use of his feet against some decent bowling, he raced from 20 to 50 at better than a run a ball. He reached his half-century with the score on around 80 and the fine progress continued to 100 at which point the century stand and victory seemed inevitable. Mark Bradshaw had done a vital job in the supporting role but the awkward Hasan pinned him back on his stumps and somehow found the way through with the score on 100. Nomads were still favourites but the match was right back on a knife-edge when Wijedena bowled Darwin first ball.
There were 2 ways to play this; the middle order to play themselves in and support Hassan, or for Nomads stroke-makers to blast their way to victory against the change bowlers. Riaz inevitably chose the latter option with a rapid and useful 13 and, while Hassan played the shot of the day with a towering 4 just short of the rope off the dangerous quickish spinner Flannery, Abdul did a Riaz impersonation also for 13. At 136 for 6 we were still well in charge while Hassan remained, but when he lofted a drive towards long-on there were a few anxious glances over at Emil and John to see if they were padded up. The chance went down though and No. 8 Sami quickly steered us to a fine victory.
A great day all in all. We witnessed dominating batting from Hassan (9 fours in his 73 not out) with typically gritty support from Mark. The Super Six all did their job and Abdul's early brilliance in the field inspired us to shine despite the heat. Wimbledon United are always very pleasant opponents and we look forward to the return fixture on June 8th.
Wimbledon United 141 all out (Herbert 41) from 39.4 overs.
Sami 8-2-18-1
H. Khan 7.4-0-14-2
Abdul Khan 6-1-26-1
Abbas Khan 6-0-27-0
R. Khan 6-1-22-2
E. Todorow 6-0-29-2
Clapham Nomads 142 for 6 from 35.5 overs
M. Bradshaw 27
M. Vyas 1
P. Pattiyil 0
H. Khan not out 73
D. Gunawardena 0
R. Khan 13
Abdul Khan 13
Sami not out 5
Did not bat; E. Todorow, Abbas Khan, J, Crossland
F.O.W. - 5, 10, 100, 101, 120, 136
Man of the Match - Hassan Khan
Fielder of the Day - Abdul Khan
Clapham Nomads won by 4 wickets
A 3rd-wicket stand of 90 between Mark Bradshaw and Hassan Khan set up victory, with quick late runs from Riaz and Abdul sealing the deal. Wimbledon were a touch unlucky with 3 chances to catch Hassan going to ground, the first 2 of which would have put them on top, if taken.
FULL REPORT TO FOLLOW.
United won the toss and, unsurprisingly given the 78 degree heat, chose to bat. Nomads dug in for some hard graft against the usual strong Wimbledon batting order. Excellent tight bowling from Sami ( ? slightly quicker than usual at the downhill end) and Hassan Khan saw an early wicket fall and the run rate kept down. Drinks were gratefully downed at 20 overs with the score on around 55 for 2 but the dangerous Herbert still there. The innings was in the balance and much depended on our 4 change bowlers. These 4 did a fine job in limiting the acceleration, bowling 6 overs each and all conceding 20-odd runs. Fielding was as good as has been seen from Nomads. Inspired by an early direct hit from Abdul Khan, few errors were made or soft singles allowed. 5 catches were taken; the most memorable perhaps a slip catch from Mahesh Vyas who changed direction athletically while the ball was approaching him. Wickets fell steadily in the second half of the innings with Riaz and Emil joining Hassan in taking 2. The final United wicket fell with 2 balls to go and the total on 141. A good containing performance from Clapham on the best pitch we have played on so far, with short-ish straight boundaries.
Although the target of 142 would have to be our top score of the season so far, confidence was fair as we tucked into the excellent and varied tea featuring United's signature strawberry and cream scones.
The home side were missing their star paceman Peter Brown but Wijedena proved a decent replacement with tricky length and variation down the hill and he struck two early blows, finding Mahesh Vyas's outside edge for a good, low catch by the keeper and then inducing Prasanth to play across to a deceptively full-length ball which struck middle and leg via the bat and pad. Suddenly we were 10 for 2 and (Nomads' blog cliche time) an awful lot was going to depend on the partnership between Mark Bradshaw and Hassan Khan. There was an early let-off apiece for the pair with a Khan thunderbolt being put down at Square Leg and a Bradshaw top-edge dropping just short of Short Fine Leg (although this ball may have bounced three times before reaching the bat - I had a Senior Moment as Umpire and had to double-check the No Ball rule with Square Leg Umpire Todorow who admittedly does exude natural authority.)
Undistracted by all this, our batting heroes began to turn the innings round. Bradshaw looking unshiftable and not receiving full reward for some fine Off Side shots thanks to a well-set field. Hassan was fairly cautious until around 20 when a full toss received the full treatment and was past the straight boundary in under a second, almost via the bowler's and umpire's heads. This was Hassan's cue to take charge, with imperious use of his feet against some decent bowling, he raced from 20 to 50 at better than a run a ball. He reached his half-century with the score on around 80 and the fine progress continued to 100 at which point the century stand and victory seemed inevitable. Mark Bradshaw had done a vital job in the supporting role but the awkward Hasan pinned him back on his stumps and somehow found the way through with the score on 100. Nomads were still favourites but the match was right back on a knife-edge when Wijedena bowled Darwin first ball.
There were 2 ways to play this; the middle order to play themselves in and support Hassan, or for Nomads stroke-makers to blast their way to victory against the change bowlers. Riaz inevitably chose the latter option with a rapid and useful 13 and, while Hassan played the shot of the day with a towering 4 just short of the rope off the dangerous quickish spinner Flannery, Abdul did a Riaz impersonation also for 13. At 136 for 6 we were still well in charge while Hassan remained, but when he lofted a drive towards long-on there were a few anxious glances over at Emil and John to see if they were padded up. The chance went down though and No. 8 Sami quickly steered us to a fine victory.
A great day all in all. We witnessed dominating batting from Hassan (9 fours in his 73 not out) with typically gritty support from Mark. The Super Six all did their job and Abdul's early brilliance in the field inspired us to shine despite the heat. Wimbledon United are always very pleasant opponents and we look forward to the return fixture on June 8th.
Wimbledon United 141 all out (Herbert 41) from 39.4 overs.
Sami 8-2-18-1
H. Khan 7.4-0-14-2
Abdul Khan 6-1-26-1
Abbas Khan 6-0-27-0
R. Khan 6-1-22-2
E. Todorow 6-0-29-2
Clapham Nomads 142 for 6 from 35.5 overs
M. Bradshaw 27
M. Vyas 1
P. Pattiyil 0
H. Khan not out 73
D. Gunawardena 0
R. Khan 13
Abdul Khan 13
Sami not out 5
Did not bat; E. Todorow, Abbas Khan, J, Crossland
F.O.W. - 5, 10, 100, 101, 120, 136
Man of the Match - Hassan Khan
Fielder of the Day - Abdul Khan
Clapham Nomads won by 4 wickets
Wednesday, 14 May 2014
Clapham Nomads v Long Ditton - 11/5/14
Nomads were defeated for the first time this season but it was yet another close game. We finally went down by 6 runs in a fluctuating encounter that we had chances to win. 30 overs a side was agreed on as dark clouds encircled Raynes Park Sports Ground. In the event, the weather brightened and we could have played our usual 35. Long Ditton made 128 for 7 from 30 overs with Abdul returning the best bowling figures; 3 for 16. Nomads were 122 all out in reply with Riaz top-scoring on 29. I didn't play in this one myself. I was 12th Man anyway but I was head-hunted by Barnes Occasionals to play on the next pitch against Kingston Lefthanders which was an even closer game than Nomads/Ditton and not as controversial as I was expecting. I was able to glance across at the Nomads match and I could tell it was played in good spirit - other Nomads confirmed this. It has been a bit of a vintage season so far. Next up...Wimbledon United away.
Full report and stats to follow when I get the scorebook back.
MORE ON THIS GAME ..... Long Ditton won the toss and made a very sound start with the bat despite tight spells from opening bowlers Abbas and Hassan. Acceleration was made from 20 off 7 overs up to 71 for 0 at the 15-over drinks break. Emil Todorow found the breakthrough at 76 but the momentum continued and, at 90 for 1, a stern question seemed about to be set to our batting line-up. Fortunately, our front-line bowlers are not known as The Super Six for nothing and, led by Abdul with an important 3 for 16, Nomads roared back into the contest. Between overs 19 and 30 excellent bowling and fielding prevented the Away side's middle order from settling and the innings closed on 128 for 7 which was lower than had seemed likely at any stage of the knock.
Our reply began brightly with a first-ball boundary from Mark Bradshaw but we soon settled down to some hard work against awkward bowling, especially from B. Cheema who claimed the crucial scalp of Bradshaw which was swiftly followed by the running out of Mahesh Vyas. Both openers were back in the pavilion before 20 had been scored and there was a further blow on 29 with the loss of Hassan. Nomads recovered with classy attacking batting from Prasanth, Darwin, Riaz and Abdul. Long Ditton had some very young bowlers but they were no mugs and fast scoring was never without risk. At 103 for 5 Clapham were clear favourites but then a familiar slide took place. Riaz fell for 29 (a welcome return to form though), and was followed fairly quickly by Abdul and Sami. Suddenly we were 6 runs short with Emil, Abbas and John to bat in a scenario horribly remininscent of our tied match against Surbiton Imperials in April. 7 needed off 3 overs. Todorow got his head down and tried to consolidate and wait for the bad ball but it didn't come; just a Jaffa from Cheema to send the skipper on his way. John Crossland strode out and this was a fascinating situation, given his comments on the tied game. Unfortunately, he didn't have too long to reflect on this, failing to pick up another good one from Cheema to end Nomads' valiant attempt on 122 all out.
Third good game in a row though. I hope this will become a regular fixture. Man of the Match was Abdul who returned clearly the best bowling figures and hit 18 late on which took us close to the line. Fielder of the Day was Hassan with a catch and a run out.
Long Ditton 128 for 7 from 30 overs
Abbas Khan 6-0-16-0
Hassan Khan 4-0-14-0
Emil Todorow 5-0-39-1
Sami 6-1-24-1
Abdul Khan 6-1-16-3
Riaz Khan 3-0-16-1
Clapham Nomads 122 all out from 27.5 overs
Mark Bradshaw b B. Cheema 8
Mahesh Vyas run out 5
Prasanth Pattiyil run out 19
Hassan Khan stumped b C. Neely 6
Darwin Gunawardena b Hughes 20
Riaz Khan c b Williams 29
Abdul Khan c b I. Neely 18
Sami b O. Neely 7
Emil Todorow (capt) b B. Cheema 0
Abbas Khan not out 0
John Crossland b B. Cheema 0
F.O.W. - 16. 19, 29, 56, 88, 103, 114, 122, 122, 122
Clapham Nomads lost by 6 runs
Full report and stats to follow when I get the scorebook back.
MORE ON THIS GAME ..... Long Ditton won the toss and made a very sound start with the bat despite tight spells from opening bowlers Abbas and Hassan. Acceleration was made from 20 off 7 overs up to 71 for 0 at the 15-over drinks break. Emil Todorow found the breakthrough at 76 but the momentum continued and, at 90 for 1, a stern question seemed about to be set to our batting line-up. Fortunately, our front-line bowlers are not known as The Super Six for nothing and, led by Abdul with an important 3 for 16, Nomads roared back into the contest. Between overs 19 and 30 excellent bowling and fielding prevented the Away side's middle order from settling and the innings closed on 128 for 7 which was lower than had seemed likely at any stage of the knock.
Our reply began brightly with a first-ball boundary from Mark Bradshaw but we soon settled down to some hard work against awkward bowling, especially from B. Cheema who claimed the crucial scalp of Bradshaw which was swiftly followed by the running out of Mahesh Vyas. Both openers were back in the pavilion before 20 had been scored and there was a further blow on 29 with the loss of Hassan. Nomads recovered with classy attacking batting from Prasanth, Darwin, Riaz and Abdul. Long Ditton had some very young bowlers but they were no mugs and fast scoring was never without risk. At 103 for 5 Clapham were clear favourites but then a familiar slide took place. Riaz fell for 29 (a welcome return to form though), and was followed fairly quickly by Abdul and Sami. Suddenly we were 6 runs short with Emil, Abbas and John to bat in a scenario horribly remininscent of our tied match against Surbiton Imperials in April. 7 needed off 3 overs. Todorow got his head down and tried to consolidate and wait for the bad ball but it didn't come; just a Jaffa from Cheema to send the skipper on his way. John Crossland strode out and this was a fascinating situation, given his comments on the tied game. Unfortunately, he didn't have too long to reflect on this, failing to pick up another good one from Cheema to end Nomads' valiant attempt on 122 all out.
Third good game in a row though. I hope this will become a regular fixture. Man of the Match was Abdul who returned clearly the best bowling figures and hit 18 late on which took us close to the line. Fielder of the Day was Hassan with a catch and a run out.
Long Ditton 128 for 7 from 30 overs
Abbas Khan 6-0-16-0
Hassan Khan 4-0-14-0
Emil Todorow 5-0-39-1
Sami 6-1-24-1
Abdul Khan 6-1-16-3
Riaz Khan 3-0-16-1
Clapham Nomads 122 all out from 27.5 overs
Mark Bradshaw b B. Cheema 8
Mahesh Vyas run out 5
Prasanth Pattiyil run out 19
Hassan Khan stumped b C. Neely 6
Darwin Gunawardena b Hughes 20
Riaz Khan c b Williams 29
Abdul Khan c b I. Neely 18
Sami b O. Neely 7
Emil Todorow (capt) b B. Cheema 0
Abbas Khan not out 0
John Crossland b B. Cheema 0
F.O.W. - 16. 19, 29, 56, 88, 103, 114, 122, 122, 122
Clapham Nomads lost by 6 runs
Monday, 5 May 2014
Clapham Nomads v Barnes Occasionals - 4/5/14
Excellent bowling and fielding saw Nomads (116 all out) close out a 22-run victory over Barnes Occasionals at an unusually idyllic Nursery Road. Abdul Khan top-scored with 44 for Clapham. For Barnes, Keith Seed proved almost unplayable with 5 for 13 (? the best bowling figures in Occasionals v Nomads / Open University games.) Scores, report, analysis and trivia to follow.
Barnes inserted Nomads on a beautiful spring afternoon and the reliable pair Mark Bradshaw and Mahesh Vyas dug in against Tom Hooker - just above Medium - and the flight, swing and trickery of Ollie Hogg.
7 overs were seen off. 17 for 1 with few alarms on a Nursery Road pitch that behaved well but was a touch slow. I got the impression that the track might benefit Occasionals' bowlers whose average pace is a notch below Nomads' but whose accuracy is sometimes a notch above.
Hogg in particular can be a handful. He does a bit with the ball at below Medium and he chucks in the occasional loose ball to tempt the batting side. A judiciously-set leg-side field prevented Vyas from cashing in on two of his favourite full tosses and, perhaps frustrated, our opener holed out on the penultimate ball of Hogg's 4th over. 18 for 1.
This brought Hassan Khan out to join Bradshaw and an air of calm assurance descended as the pair went about their usual business of building a major stand.
I was starting to think we were fortunate not to be facing Keith Seed on a pitch that looked tailor-made for him but I was aware that Barnes had only 10 men on the field. As this thought crossed my mind, the legendary maestro himself appeared through a gap in the fence from the adjacent Abbey Rec. Once he had the ball it didn't take him long. Mark Bradshaw, who had played well for his 19, tried to drive back over the bowler's head and Seed held onto a smart catch.
No. 4 Darwin pulled Gohar for an emphatic 4 but Seed had him in his second over. His third over accounted for Hassan, who sportingly walked after a thin edge to the keeper, and Riaz Khan, who has not yet recovered his form of last September. He surely will soon and it will be worth watching.
At this stage - 60 for 5 - Seed was 4 for 4 from 14 balls and Nomads were on the slippery slope. Fortunately there was depth to our batting as Abdul Khan was joined by Gul. Abdul was the one batsman to cut loose in this match. Unfortunately I missed most of his innings because of tea duties but the figures tell the story; 44 runs including eight 4s (the other Nomads only managed 3 boundaries between them.) Gul was struggling with a neck injury but gave Abdul solid support before being hit and retiring on 89. Sami continued the good work for a while as did Emil Todorow and, when he bravely returned, Gul.
116 for 6 with just under 3 overs to go and Nomads hoping for 130 (slightly above par for the pitch), but Tom Hooker struck two mortal blows, removing Abdul and Abbas. Keith Seed secured his "Michelle", trapping Todorow leg before. John Crossland was No. 11. He talked last week at great length about people blocking at the death and that is just what he did this time, but the 4 dot balls he played at least enabled Gul to take strike for the final over. A fully-fit Gul would surely have knocked 5 or 6 but Hooker was offering nothing for free and snapped up the 10th wicket with the catch taken by Nigel Pettitt.
The last 4 wickets had crashed on 116. There were a few tea-time whispers from Nomads that this might be enough but my feeling was that a vastly-experienced Barnes line-up would eat 3.4 an over for breakfast if we were at all wayward.
Roger Price and A.Metcalfe opened for a Barnes batting order that looked full of experience, but lacked their batting stars of recent fixtures against Nomads; Rohit Benjamin and J. Bunyan. Hassan Khan bowled Metcalfe early on and, as the batsman put his kit away, he told his team-mates that he doesn't really enjoy playing against the Nomads anyway. On seeing 2 members of the home side behind him, he assured us that this was because of our fearsome ruthlessness.... and that was even without Emil Todorow opening the bowling. The ever-reliable Price - who has made several large scores against us - began to hit it around nicely without getting full reward for his shots on the slowish outfield. No. 3 T. Edwards proved an able partner and steady progress was made up to 40 with the asking rate flickering between 3.5 and 4.5 throughout economical spells from Hassan and Sami. Abdul and Emil replaced these two and just as Barnes were looking slight favourites, the 2 Nomads stalwarts combined for an absolutely vital wicket; Emil inducing an uppish, though powerful, drive from Edwards which was very well caught by Abdul deep behind the bowler's head.
At drinks there was an amazing festival of facial hair as one of the Barnes umpires, who had a debonair waxed/shaped moustache in the style of a Victorian Lieutenant-Colonel or an Edwardian Dandy (or possibly the other way round), was deep in conversation with John Crossland, who has such an excellent 'tache himself that he has appeared as an Extra in Film/TV Productions featuring large crowds of Victorians, and Emil Todorow whose hair has been commented on favourably, in terms of both quantity and quality, many times on this blog. Soon John praised the Barnes man's lip furniture; "I would love to have a moustache like that, but I would be worried I would get comments."
The cricket would have to go some to match that and the game hung quite excitingly in the balance as Price and Barnes's keeper pushed the score up to 67 but both men fell to Riaz Khan in the space of four runs. Carey (predominantly defensive but played a a couple of nice shots) and Nigel Pettitt came together. Four or five of the mighty blows Pettitt has shown us in the past could have won the game quickly. He played well enough for 8 but couldn't cut loose against some Nomads bowling and fielding which just got better and better as the innings progressed. No 7 was Dan Hogg, nephew of Ollie and son of Adam (the Hogg dynasty must rival the Hunters as one of Sunday Cricket's foremost families). Dan is left-handed and with a couple of fine leg-side shots looked the last real hope of scoring at the 8 an over required by this stage. Fortunately Riaz Khan deployed his uncanny knack of dismissing left-handers.
90 for 6 and Nomads kept the jugular firmly grasped. Back came Hassan and the innings petered out rather similarly to Nomads' with wickets falling on 91, 91, 93 and 94, climaxing with Hassan and John Crossland combining well to run out Man of the Match Keith Seed.
This was a really impressive team performance, especially in the field, from Nomads. Our Man of the Match, despite excellent bowling figures from Hassan, Sami and Riaz, was Abdul with by far the largest score and a crucial catch. The fielding was great to watch. Abdul was excellent as always as was John Crossland. Mark Bradshaw was sharp, made a fine diving stop and kept us on our toes with vocal encouragement. I will give Fielder of the Day to Emil who stopped everything that came at him and showed one nifty piece of footwork which had one of the Barnes spectators purring; "Ooh I say! Hristo Stoichkov!"
Clapham Nomads 116 from 34.1 overs
M.Bradshaw c and b Seed 19
M.Vyas c b O.Hogg 5
H.Khan c Makahewicz b Seed 24
D.Gunawardena c b Seed 6
R.Khan c b Seed 0
Abdul Khan b Hooker 44
Gul c Pettitt b Hooker 1
Sami b D.Hogg 3
E.Todorow lbw b Seed 3
Abbas Khan b Hooker 0
J.Crossland not out 0
F.O.W. - 18, 45, 58, 60, 60, 108, 116, 116, 116, 116
(Barnes bowling)
T. Hooker 6.1-1-10-3
O. Hogg 7-1-20-1
D. Hogg 7-1-22-1
G. Akhtar 4-0-27-0
K. Seed 7-2-12-5
N. Pettitt 3-0-24-0
Barnes Occasionals 94 from 33.2 overs
R.Price c Abbas Khan b R. Khan 39
A. Metcalfe b H. Khan 2
T. Edwards c Abdul Khan b Todorow 13
P. Makahewicz b R. Khan 7
P. Carey b Abdul Khan 4
N. Pettitt b Sami 8
D. Hogg b R. Khan 10
T. Hooker b H. Khan 0
G.Akhtar b H. Khan 0
K.Seed run out 2
O. Hogg not out 1
F.O.W. - 8, 40, 67, 71, 73, 90, 91, 91, 93, 94
(Nomads bowling)
Sami 6-2-10-1
H. Khan 6.2-2-7-3
Abbas Khan 4-0-19-0
E. Todorow 5-0-19-1
R. Khan 7-0-15-3
Abdul Khan 5-0-23-1
Since we've been going down Memory Lane lately, I found an old scorecard which I think is the first time some of us (in the guise of Open University cc) came up against the Occasionals. This was 21 years ago, pre-Nomads even, on 18/7/1993 at King George's Field, (?)Tolworth
OU made 120 all out. The line-up was; Nick Lefebve, John Chance, Robert Reader, Dave Hunter (Capt), Graeme Douglas, Dave Stevens, Sai To, Mick Hunter, George Jeffrey, Ian Redmond, Joe Chance.
Barnes made 100 for 6 when the rain came (probably a winning draw for them - just.) Their order; Ollie Hogg, Adam Hogg, Frank Hanmer, Mike Webster, Tagg, Keith Seed, Steve Flower, Williams, Ian Haddow, Merriman.
Keith Seed took 5 wickets in this match as well (nothing really changes) but at least OU managed to take 20 runs from him. I think his 5 for 12 last Sunday might be the best analysis in any Occasionals/OU/Nomads match
Dave Hunter described the 1993 game in the scorebook as a "horrible, bitty, rain-interrupted match." When you think that OU only won 1 game that whole summer, I think this was one of the better performances. Perhaps he was just upset by the surprising absence of Emil Todorow.
Barnes inserted Nomads on a beautiful spring afternoon and the reliable pair Mark Bradshaw and Mahesh Vyas dug in against Tom Hooker - just above Medium - and the flight, swing and trickery of Ollie Hogg.
7 overs were seen off. 17 for 1 with few alarms on a Nursery Road pitch that behaved well but was a touch slow. I got the impression that the track might benefit Occasionals' bowlers whose average pace is a notch below Nomads' but whose accuracy is sometimes a notch above.
Hogg in particular can be a handful. He does a bit with the ball at below Medium and he chucks in the occasional loose ball to tempt the batting side. A judiciously-set leg-side field prevented Vyas from cashing in on two of his favourite full tosses and, perhaps frustrated, our opener holed out on the penultimate ball of Hogg's 4th over. 18 for 1.
This brought Hassan Khan out to join Bradshaw and an air of calm assurance descended as the pair went about their usual business of building a major stand.
I was starting to think we were fortunate not to be facing Keith Seed on a pitch that looked tailor-made for him but I was aware that Barnes had only 10 men on the field. As this thought crossed my mind, the legendary maestro himself appeared through a gap in the fence from the adjacent Abbey Rec. Once he had the ball it didn't take him long. Mark Bradshaw, who had played well for his 19, tried to drive back over the bowler's head and Seed held onto a smart catch.
No. 4 Darwin pulled Gohar for an emphatic 4 but Seed had him in his second over. His third over accounted for Hassan, who sportingly walked after a thin edge to the keeper, and Riaz Khan, who has not yet recovered his form of last September. He surely will soon and it will be worth watching.
At this stage - 60 for 5 - Seed was 4 for 4 from 14 balls and Nomads were on the slippery slope. Fortunately there was depth to our batting as Abdul Khan was joined by Gul. Abdul was the one batsman to cut loose in this match. Unfortunately I missed most of his innings because of tea duties but the figures tell the story; 44 runs including eight 4s (the other Nomads only managed 3 boundaries between them.) Gul was struggling with a neck injury but gave Abdul solid support before being hit and retiring on 89. Sami continued the good work for a while as did Emil Todorow and, when he bravely returned, Gul.
116 for 6 with just under 3 overs to go and Nomads hoping for 130 (slightly above par for the pitch), but Tom Hooker struck two mortal blows, removing Abdul and Abbas. Keith Seed secured his "Michelle", trapping Todorow leg before. John Crossland was No. 11. He talked last week at great length about people blocking at the death and that is just what he did this time, but the 4 dot balls he played at least enabled Gul to take strike for the final over. A fully-fit Gul would surely have knocked 5 or 6 but Hooker was offering nothing for free and snapped up the 10th wicket with the catch taken by Nigel Pettitt.
The last 4 wickets had crashed on 116. There were a few tea-time whispers from Nomads that this might be enough but my feeling was that a vastly-experienced Barnes line-up would eat 3.4 an over for breakfast if we were at all wayward.
Roger Price and A.Metcalfe opened for a Barnes batting order that looked full of experience, but lacked their batting stars of recent fixtures against Nomads; Rohit Benjamin and J. Bunyan. Hassan Khan bowled Metcalfe early on and, as the batsman put his kit away, he told his team-mates that he doesn't really enjoy playing against the Nomads anyway. On seeing 2 members of the home side behind him, he assured us that this was because of our fearsome ruthlessness.... and that was even without Emil Todorow opening the bowling. The ever-reliable Price - who has made several large scores against us - began to hit it around nicely without getting full reward for his shots on the slowish outfield. No. 3 T. Edwards proved an able partner and steady progress was made up to 40 with the asking rate flickering between 3.5 and 4.5 throughout economical spells from Hassan and Sami. Abdul and Emil replaced these two and just as Barnes were looking slight favourites, the 2 Nomads stalwarts combined for an absolutely vital wicket; Emil inducing an uppish, though powerful, drive from Edwards which was very well caught by Abdul deep behind the bowler's head.
At drinks there was an amazing festival of facial hair as one of the Barnes umpires, who had a debonair waxed/shaped moustache in the style of a Victorian Lieutenant-Colonel or an Edwardian Dandy (or possibly the other way round), was deep in conversation with John Crossland, who has such an excellent 'tache himself that he has appeared as an Extra in Film/TV Productions featuring large crowds of Victorians, and Emil Todorow whose hair has been commented on favourably, in terms of both quantity and quality, many times on this blog. Soon John praised the Barnes man's lip furniture; "I would love to have a moustache like that, but I would be worried I would get comments."
The cricket would have to go some to match that and the game hung quite excitingly in the balance as Price and Barnes's keeper pushed the score up to 67 but both men fell to Riaz Khan in the space of four runs. Carey (predominantly defensive but played a a couple of nice shots) and Nigel Pettitt came together. Four or five of the mighty blows Pettitt has shown us in the past could have won the game quickly. He played well enough for 8 but couldn't cut loose against some Nomads bowling and fielding which just got better and better as the innings progressed. No 7 was Dan Hogg, nephew of Ollie and son of Adam (the Hogg dynasty must rival the Hunters as one of Sunday Cricket's foremost families). Dan is left-handed and with a couple of fine leg-side shots looked the last real hope of scoring at the 8 an over required by this stage. Fortunately Riaz Khan deployed his uncanny knack of dismissing left-handers.
90 for 6 and Nomads kept the jugular firmly grasped. Back came Hassan and the innings petered out rather similarly to Nomads' with wickets falling on 91, 91, 93 and 94, climaxing with Hassan and John Crossland combining well to run out Man of the Match Keith Seed.
This was a really impressive team performance, especially in the field, from Nomads. Our Man of the Match, despite excellent bowling figures from Hassan, Sami and Riaz, was Abdul with by far the largest score and a crucial catch. The fielding was great to watch. Abdul was excellent as always as was John Crossland. Mark Bradshaw was sharp, made a fine diving stop and kept us on our toes with vocal encouragement. I will give Fielder of the Day to Emil who stopped everything that came at him and showed one nifty piece of footwork which had one of the Barnes spectators purring; "Ooh I say! Hristo Stoichkov!"
Clapham Nomads 116 from 34.1 overs
M.Bradshaw c and b Seed 19
M.Vyas c b O.Hogg 5
H.Khan c Makahewicz b Seed 24
D.Gunawardena c b Seed 6
R.Khan c b Seed 0
Abdul Khan b Hooker 44
Gul c Pettitt b Hooker 1
Sami b D.Hogg 3
E.Todorow lbw b Seed 3
Abbas Khan b Hooker 0
J.Crossland not out 0
F.O.W. - 18, 45, 58, 60, 60, 108, 116, 116, 116, 116
(Barnes bowling)
T. Hooker 6.1-1-10-3
O. Hogg 7-1-20-1
D. Hogg 7-1-22-1
G. Akhtar 4-0-27-0
K. Seed 7-2-12-5
N. Pettitt 3-0-24-0
Barnes Occasionals 94 from 33.2 overs
R.Price c Abbas Khan b R. Khan 39
A. Metcalfe b H. Khan 2
T. Edwards c Abdul Khan b Todorow 13
P. Makahewicz b R. Khan 7
P. Carey b Abdul Khan 4
N. Pettitt b Sami 8
D. Hogg b R. Khan 10
T. Hooker b H. Khan 0
G.Akhtar b H. Khan 0
K.Seed run out 2
O. Hogg not out 1
F.O.W. - 8, 40, 67, 71, 73, 90, 91, 91, 93, 94
(Nomads bowling)
Sami 6-2-10-1
H. Khan 6.2-2-7-3
Abbas Khan 4-0-19-0
E. Todorow 5-0-19-1
R. Khan 7-0-15-3
Abdul Khan 5-0-23-1
Since we've been going down Memory Lane lately, I found an old scorecard which I think is the first time some of us (in the guise of Open University cc) came up against the Occasionals. This was 21 years ago, pre-Nomads even, on 18/7/1993 at King George's Field, (?)Tolworth
OU made 120 all out. The line-up was; Nick Lefebve, John Chance, Robert Reader, Dave Hunter (Capt), Graeme Douglas, Dave Stevens, Sai To, Mick Hunter, George Jeffrey, Ian Redmond, Joe Chance.
Barnes made 100 for 6 when the rain came (probably a winning draw for them - just.) Their order; Ollie Hogg, Adam Hogg, Frank Hanmer, Mike Webster, Tagg, Keith Seed, Steve Flower, Williams, Ian Haddow, Merriman.
Keith Seed took 5 wickets in this match as well (nothing really changes) but at least OU managed to take 20 runs from him. I think his 5 for 12 last Sunday might be the best analysis in any Occasionals/OU/Nomads match
Dave Hunter described the 1993 game in the scorebook as a "horrible, bitty, rain-interrupted match." When you think that OU only won 1 game that whole summer, I think this was one of the better performances. Perhaps he was just upset by the surprising absence of Emil Todorow.
Wednesday, 30 April 2014
Happy Birthday Nomads
Incredibly, it is 20 years today since Clapham Nomads played our first match. After a busy though unsuccessful first season, we went through quite a shambolic period where it seemed doubtful at times that we would last beyond the end of the evening, let alone 20 years. Since 1999 though, we have become a solid, reliable club with an above average playing record and in the last few years (I hope) a pleasant team to play for and against.
Thanks to all the players who have turned out for us in that time - it must be between 100 and 150.
The first game was an Away match at Joseph Hood Rec Ground in Raynes Park, a ground we still use, against Tulse Hill. The scores;
30/4/94 (Time match)
Tulse Hill - 98 all out
Forthwick b Todorow 9
Draper b John Chance 27
Hill c Smith b Joe Chance 2
Proctor b Joe Chance 0
Richardson c Jenkins b Smith 7
Studert c Saberton b Jenkins 6
Wilkins c Contractor b Jenkins 13
D. Davis c Lefebve b John Chance 4
Nye not out 16
Swan b John Chance 0
Forey c Crossland b Jenkins
Nomads Bowling;
Joe Chance 8-0-21-2
Todorow 9-3-23-1
Smith 3-0-18-1
John Chance 9-1-15-3
Jenkins 8.3-0-20-3
Clapham Nomads - 63 for 7 from 35 overs
Sai To c b Davis 1
Peter Saberton b Draper 13
Des Smith c b Forthwick 5
Simon Sparssis c b Forthwick 7
John Chance not out 19
Nick Lefebve b Draper 2
Neville Contractor c b Davis 5
Joe Chance b Draper 3
Emil Todorow not out 0
Did not bat; Ian Jenkins, John Crossland (capt / wkt)
F.O.W. - 2, 13, 26, 34, 48, 57, 62
Match Drawn.
Chasing a low total on a very slow pitch, Captain John Crossland called off the run chase when the 4th wicket fell at 34. "We are not going to lose our first game", he decreed, It was pretty turgid stuff but we held on quite comfortably for the draw, scoring at the paint-drying rate of 1.8 per over. Still, it somehow didn't put us off. Emil Todorow took the first Nomads wicket, Sai To scored our first run and Des Smith took the first catch. Brief biographical notes of our 11 to follow, which will probably be about as exciting as this fixture.
Thanks to all the players who have turned out for us in that time - it must be between 100 and 150.
The first game was an Away match at Joseph Hood Rec Ground in Raynes Park, a ground we still use, against Tulse Hill. The scores;
30/4/94 (Time match)
Tulse Hill - 98 all out
Forthwick b Todorow 9
Draper b John Chance 27
Hill c Smith b Joe Chance 2
Proctor b Joe Chance 0
Richardson c Jenkins b Smith 7
Studert c Saberton b Jenkins 6
Wilkins c Contractor b Jenkins 13
D. Davis c Lefebve b John Chance 4
Nye not out 16
Swan b John Chance 0
Forey c Crossland b Jenkins
Nomads Bowling;
Joe Chance 8-0-21-2
Todorow 9-3-23-1
Smith 3-0-18-1
John Chance 9-1-15-3
Jenkins 8.3-0-20-3
Clapham Nomads - 63 for 7 from 35 overs
Sai To c b Davis 1
Peter Saberton b Draper 13
Des Smith c b Forthwick 5
Simon Sparssis c b Forthwick 7
John Chance not out 19
Nick Lefebve b Draper 2
Neville Contractor c b Davis 5
Joe Chance b Draper 3
Emil Todorow not out 0
Did not bat; Ian Jenkins, John Crossland (capt / wkt)
F.O.W. - 2, 13, 26, 34, 48, 57, 62
Match Drawn.
Chasing a low total on a very slow pitch, Captain John Crossland called off the run chase when the 4th wicket fell at 34. "We are not going to lose our first game", he decreed, It was pretty turgid stuff but we held on quite comfortably for the draw, scoring at the paint-drying rate of 1.8 per over. Still, it somehow didn't put us off. Emil Todorow took the first Nomads wicket, Sai To scored our first run and Des Smith took the first catch. Brief biographical notes of our 11 to follow, which will probably be about as exciting as this fixture.
Tuesday, 29 April 2014
Clapham Nomads v Surbiton Imperials - 27/4/14
Whatever happened in this match it had to be an improvement on last year's equivalent fixture at freezing, desolate, Beverley Park. A game so depressing that 3 players told me it made them consider quitting cricket - and 2 of them were on the winning side.
We booked Barn Elms for this game; a rather more cheerful venue and a well-organised place. The pitch was a touch on the green side - one player asked if it was Astroturf - but it played reasonably well if a little slow at times.
Nomads bowling line-up was potentially strong with the fast-medium variations of Hassan, the raw pace and bounce of Abbas, the accurate outswing of Sami, the full-length awkwardness of Rashid, the uncanny ability to dismiss left-handers of Riaz Khan and the mystique of Emil Todorow. The batting was strengthened by the very welcome return of Mark Bradshaw, but we were missing 3 reliable sources of runs in Gul, Prasanth and Darwin.
Skipper Emil Todorow lost the toss for a change and Surbiton chose to bat. Sami provided the early breakthrough with a full-length LBW decision before the score had reached double figures, but this brought the consistent, left-handed, Siddik out to join the right-handed Ashley and Imperials entered their usual mode of relentless run accumulation. Siddik stoked it around nicely while Ashley, who was turned inside out by Hassan Khan leg-cutters at least twice, chanced his arm a bit more. Sami's line wavered on occasion as left-hander and right-hander rotated the strike, but his figures were decent. Emil Todorow replaced him and one of his early overs went for 11. Three an over became four an over as the halfway drinks interval was approached. Abbas looked lively though, and mixed it up with a couple of bouncers.
At drinks, the decision was made to switch from 35-overs-a-side to 30 overs.
Emil began to find his line and the tide began to turn. The hirsute medium-pacer tricked Ashley into chipping the ball up to Jonnie Randall at Square Leg and then 2 wickets in an over from the captain - including a rather unlucky played on from Johnny, Imperials' hardest-hitting player - gave Nomads the initiative. Siddik continued to play nicely for his 41 but fine bowling from Rashid and Riaz and 2 excellent run outs engineered by the razor-sharp Rashid (an excellent substitute for Abdul in the infield) dismissed 10-man Surbiton for 102, their lowest total against Nomads, from 27.5 overs.
A fine bowling performance from a strong line-up but the fielding was especially pleasing; one difficult chance went to ground and there was one overthrow but I am struggling to remember any other mistakes.
A large tea was enlivened by the presence of Andrew West who had arrived halfway though Surbiton's innings in a sour mood and had even threatened to go home and miss tea (that was never going to happen!) The food improved his humour and he took the field to adjudicate - a great treat for all fans of the David Shepherd of South London Sunday Cricket.
Mark Bradshaw resumed his successful opening partnership with Mahesh Vyas and the pair put on a steady 27 with few alarms, despite some vigorous appealing, before the deceptively tricky veteran Eric dismissed Vyas leg before for 12. Riaz Khan, promoted to No. 3 after back-to-back 50s last September, was a trifle unlucky to smack a long hop straight down Square Leg's throat. 33 for 2.
Nomads' innings then mirrored Surbiton's in that a slightly rocky start was followed by the best batting of the innings. In fact M. Bradshaw and H. Khan's stand of 39 was probably the most accomplished batting seen in the whole match. There was something very reassuring about having these 2 back together again. Hassan cracked on and hit the awkward Siddik out of the attack with 2 successive fours while Mark's best over featured a really well placed 2 through the gap in front of point and a sparkling Cover Drive which - by the general consensus of both sides - went for 4, only for a fielder to announce, once our guys had stopped running after the second - they could have run 3 or 4, that it had not reached the faint boundary line. I wouldn't say this was crucial, but it doesn't take much to turn a match as tight as this one.
The pick of the Surbiton bowlers was probably the pacy Mohammed, who swung it both ways, but oddly both our star men had most trouble with innocuous loop bowler Russell who had a big LBW shout against Bradshaw and then tempted H.Khan out of his ground for a smart stumping by keeper J. Rosenthal.
72 for 3 but No. 5 Jonnie Randall looked solid with a sound technique. Another 7 valuable runs were carved out before a sharp piece of fielding ran Randall out as a second run was being attempted. Mark Bradshaw was looking in good touch but there was a touch of uncertainty about the rest of the batting line-up, most of whom had not played or batted for Nomads for a while, or had not made a substantial score for a while. Sami proved incredibly quick running between the wickets - a new Gopi ? - but was 5th man out with Clapham still 10 short of their target. A cracking 4 from the classy Rashid Ahmed eased our nerves as tension - and frequency of field changes - reached fever pitch. Siddik returned and produced the ball of the day with subtle late outswing clipping Mark Bradshaw's leg stump.
Nomads began to unravel a bit. Rashid was bowled with 4 still needed. Nick Lefebve came out to join Abbas and the field came up comically and, had Eric strayed down leg side, dangerously close. The wily veteran maintained a good off stump line though. 4 to win off 2 overs. Abbas was on strike and he has a reasonable eye. He connected twice but straight to leg side fielders saving the one. Perhaps frustrated, he holed out on the third ball. Out strode Emil Todorow and the veteran pair managed a single on each of the remaining deliveries of the penultimate over to level the scores with 6 deliveries remaining.
The final over was bowled by Eric, supported by a close field. He kept it accurate apart from a borderline wide 2nd ball. With very little pace on the ball; flicking, cllipping or edging a one would not be easy and, with a combined age of 115, quick singles could not be taken for granted with these two at the crease. A firm middle would probably have secured victory but it was not forthcoming. We should have won but, in fading light and with little batting practice for months, it was not quite the disaster that some Nomads (well...one actually) presented it as afterwards. At least the tie was secured.
In fact, if you think back to those televised Gillette Cup / Natwest Trophy semi-finals from the 70s and 80s, if the scores finished level, a not out team would progress at the expense of an all out team so, by that token, it would be the Nomads going to Lord's in September. I think I will stick to that story and claim that that was our plan. Actually, I have a horrible feeling that this match is going to be recalled as extensively as the famous Lancashire v Gloucestershire Gillette semi-final from 1971 (see YouTube.)
Nomads v Imperials is starting to become quite an interesting fixture. There is just a touch of Handbags developing between the sides, but no serious animosity. It makes life exciting I suppose. The overall totals now are Surbiton 4 wins, Nomads 3 wins and 1 Tie. One of the Imperial victories was way back in 2004 though, with largely different line-ups. In this decade and with the current players we stand level.
Fielder of the Day is close between John Crossland, who conceded no byes, and Rashid Ahmed, who was consistently sharp and set up 2 run outs. I think I will give it to Crossland, whose keeping was excellent, and award Man of the Match to Rashid who also had the most economical bowling, almost the best bowling strike-rate, and hit the late 4 which took us so close to the winning post that we really should have passed it.
Quotes of the Day; (John Crossland to Emil, regarding Eric's bowling) - "You weren't facing Michael Holding out there." Another player (to Emil) - "You could have relaxed a bit. After all, we still had John's batting to come."
Surbiton Imperials - 102 all out from 27.5 overs (Siddik 41, Ashley 30)
Sami 6-1-23-1
H. Khan 6-0-20-0
E. Todorow 5-0-28-3
Abbas Khan 5-1-13-0
R. Ahmed 4-0-10-2
R. Khan 1.5-0-5-1
Clapham Nomads 102 for 9 from 30 overs
M. Bradshaw b Siddik 28
M. Vyas lbw b Eric 12
R. Khan c Siddik b Martin 1
H. Khan stumped Rosenthal b Russell 28
J. Randall run out 5
R. Ahmed b Ashley 5
Sami c Siddik b Eric 5
Abbas Khan c b Martin 0
N. Lefebve not out 1
E, Todorow(capt) b Eric 2
Did not bat; J. Crossland (wkt)
F.O.W. - 27, 33, 72, 79. 93, 97, 99, 99, 102
Match Tied.
We booked Barn Elms for this game; a rather more cheerful venue and a well-organised place. The pitch was a touch on the green side - one player asked if it was Astroturf - but it played reasonably well if a little slow at times.
Nomads bowling line-up was potentially strong with the fast-medium variations of Hassan, the raw pace and bounce of Abbas, the accurate outswing of Sami, the full-length awkwardness of Rashid, the uncanny ability to dismiss left-handers of Riaz Khan and the mystique of Emil Todorow. The batting was strengthened by the very welcome return of Mark Bradshaw, but we were missing 3 reliable sources of runs in Gul, Prasanth and Darwin.
Skipper Emil Todorow lost the toss for a change and Surbiton chose to bat. Sami provided the early breakthrough with a full-length LBW decision before the score had reached double figures, but this brought the consistent, left-handed, Siddik out to join the right-handed Ashley and Imperials entered their usual mode of relentless run accumulation. Siddik stoked it around nicely while Ashley, who was turned inside out by Hassan Khan leg-cutters at least twice, chanced his arm a bit more. Sami's line wavered on occasion as left-hander and right-hander rotated the strike, but his figures were decent. Emil Todorow replaced him and one of his early overs went for 11. Three an over became four an over as the halfway drinks interval was approached. Abbas looked lively though, and mixed it up with a couple of bouncers.
At drinks, the decision was made to switch from 35-overs-a-side to 30 overs.
Emil began to find his line and the tide began to turn. The hirsute medium-pacer tricked Ashley into chipping the ball up to Jonnie Randall at Square Leg and then 2 wickets in an over from the captain - including a rather unlucky played on from Johnny, Imperials' hardest-hitting player - gave Nomads the initiative. Siddik continued to play nicely for his 41 but fine bowling from Rashid and Riaz and 2 excellent run outs engineered by the razor-sharp Rashid (an excellent substitute for Abdul in the infield) dismissed 10-man Surbiton for 102, their lowest total against Nomads, from 27.5 overs.
A fine bowling performance from a strong line-up but the fielding was especially pleasing; one difficult chance went to ground and there was one overthrow but I am struggling to remember any other mistakes.
A large tea was enlivened by the presence of Andrew West who had arrived halfway though Surbiton's innings in a sour mood and had even threatened to go home and miss tea (that was never going to happen!) The food improved his humour and he took the field to adjudicate - a great treat for all fans of the David Shepherd of South London Sunday Cricket.
Mark Bradshaw resumed his successful opening partnership with Mahesh Vyas and the pair put on a steady 27 with few alarms, despite some vigorous appealing, before the deceptively tricky veteran Eric dismissed Vyas leg before for 12. Riaz Khan, promoted to No. 3 after back-to-back 50s last September, was a trifle unlucky to smack a long hop straight down Square Leg's throat. 33 for 2.
Nomads' innings then mirrored Surbiton's in that a slightly rocky start was followed by the best batting of the innings. In fact M. Bradshaw and H. Khan's stand of 39 was probably the most accomplished batting seen in the whole match. There was something very reassuring about having these 2 back together again. Hassan cracked on and hit the awkward Siddik out of the attack with 2 successive fours while Mark's best over featured a really well placed 2 through the gap in front of point and a sparkling Cover Drive which - by the general consensus of both sides - went for 4, only for a fielder to announce, once our guys had stopped running after the second - they could have run 3 or 4, that it had not reached the faint boundary line. I wouldn't say this was crucial, but it doesn't take much to turn a match as tight as this one.
The pick of the Surbiton bowlers was probably the pacy Mohammed, who swung it both ways, but oddly both our star men had most trouble with innocuous loop bowler Russell who had a big LBW shout against Bradshaw and then tempted H.Khan out of his ground for a smart stumping by keeper J. Rosenthal.
72 for 3 but No. 5 Jonnie Randall looked solid with a sound technique. Another 7 valuable runs were carved out before a sharp piece of fielding ran Randall out as a second run was being attempted. Mark Bradshaw was looking in good touch but there was a touch of uncertainty about the rest of the batting line-up, most of whom had not played or batted for Nomads for a while, or had not made a substantial score for a while. Sami proved incredibly quick running between the wickets - a new Gopi ? - but was 5th man out with Clapham still 10 short of their target. A cracking 4 from the classy Rashid Ahmed eased our nerves as tension - and frequency of field changes - reached fever pitch. Siddik returned and produced the ball of the day with subtle late outswing clipping Mark Bradshaw's leg stump.
Nomads began to unravel a bit. Rashid was bowled with 4 still needed. Nick Lefebve came out to join Abbas and the field came up comically and, had Eric strayed down leg side, dangerously close. The wily veteran maintained a good off stump line though. 4 to win off 2 overs. Abbas was on strike and he has a reasonable eye. He connected twice but straight to leg side fielders saving the one. Perhaps frustrated, he holed out on the third ball. Out strode Emil Todorow and the veteran pair managed a single on each of the remaining deliveries of the penultimate over to level the scores with 6 deliveries remaining.
The final over was bowled by Eric, supported by a close field. He kept it accurate apart from a borderline wide 2nd ball. With very little pace on the ball; flicking, cllipping or edging a one would not be easy and, with a combined age of 115, quick singles could not be taken for granted with these two at the crease. A firm middle would probably have secured victory but it was not forthcoming. We should have won but, in fading light and with little batting practice for months, it was not quite the disaster that some Nomads (well...one actually) presented it as afterwards. At least the tie was secured.
In fact, if you think back to those televised Gillette Cup / Natwest Trophy semi-finals from the 70s and 80s, if the scores finished level, a not out team would progress at the expense of an all out team so, by that token, it would be the Nomads going to Lord's in September. I think I will stick to that story and claim that that was our plan. Actually, I have a horrible feeling that this match is going to be recalled as extensively as the famous Lancashire v Gloucestershire Gillette semi-final from 1971 (see YouTube.)
Nomads v Imperials is starting to become quite an interesting fixture. There is just a touch of Handbags developing between the sides, but no serious animosity. It makes life exciting I suppose. The overall totals now are Surbiton 4 wins, Nomads 3 wins and 1 Tie. One of the Imperial victories was way back in 2004 though, with largely different line-ups. In this decade and with the current players we stand level.
Fielder of the Day is close between John Crossland, who conceded no byes, and Rashid Ahmed, who was consistently sharp and set up 2 run outs. I think I will give it to Crossland, whose keeping was excellent, and award Man of the Match to Rashid who also had the most economical bowling, almost the best bowling strike-rate, and hit the late 4 which took us so close to the winning post that we really should have passed it.
Quotes of the Day; (John Crossland to Emil, regarding Eric's bowling) - "You weren't facing Michael Holding out there." Another player (to Emil) - "You could have relaxed a bit. After all, we still had John's batting to come."
Surbiton Imperials - 102 all out from 27.5 overs (Siddik 41, Ashley 30)
Sami 6-1-23-1
H. Khan 6-0-20-0
E. Todorow 5-0-28-3
Abbas Khan 5-1-13-0
R. Ahmed 4-0-10-2
R. Khan 1.5-0-5-1
Clapham Nomads 102 for 9 from 30 overs
M. Bradshaw b Siddik 28
M. Vyas lbw b Eric 12
R. Khan c Siddik b Martin 1
H. Khan stumped Rosenthal b Russell 28
J. Randall run out 5
R. Ahmed b Ashley 5
Sami c Siddik b Eric 5
Abbas Khan c b Martin 0
N. Lefebve not out 1
E, Todorow(capt) b Eric 2
Did not bat; J. Crossland (wkt)
F.O.W. - 27, 33, 72, 79. 93, 97, 99, 99, 102
Match Tied.
Thursday, 10 April 2014
2014 season
Hi all. I hope you have had a good winter. The first Nomads match of the 2014 season will be on Sunday 27th April against Surbiton Imperials in Barnes. Emil will be in touch in the week beginning Monday 21st April with full details.
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