Nomads lost by 49 runs at Mayow Park in Sydenham but it was a pretty good performance, especially from the batsmen. You could write a book about this one really but I won't bother; you had to be there. (Quite bizarre behaviour.) Anyway, John could put it better than I could in one of his pithy poems but unfortunately he went to The Oval instead where he watched genuine "First Class" cricket in the company of Nomads' 2nd-highest run scorer of all time, John Chance.
The tea was good and the match finished at 9.10 pm which must be just about the latest finish of any organised, non-floodlit game in England.
Man of the Match was Mark Bradshaw who played really well for his 59 on a ground that didn't suit his strengths. (The square boundaries - where he scores the majority of his runs - were at least twice as long as the straight ones.) Our bowlers did ok to hold back an increasing tide in the second half of the innings. Emil and Hassan struggled on manfully despite foot/ankle injuries and there was a welcome return for Adam Paz, who bowled a lot better than his figures suggest. Fielder of the Day is a tough one. Mahesh kept well in his first outing behind this stumps this season. No-one really stands out though everyone worked hard. possibly Abbas just shades it. (Abbas was the pick of the bowlers as well - a good, straight, quick spell.)
FULL REPORT TO FOLLOW
Caribbean Mix 220 for 7 from 40 overs
Nomads bowling;
H. Khan 8-0-30-1
R. Khan 8-0-31-1
Abbas Khan 8-0-33-3
E. Todorow 8-0-38-0
A. Paz 8-0-73-2
Clapham Nomads 171 for 9 from 38 overs
M. Bradshaw 59
P. Pattiyil 0
Gul 16
R. Khan 0
M. Vyas (wkt) 25
D. Gunawardena 14
H. Khan 14
C. Kennedy 1
Abbas Khan not out 2
A. Paz 0
E. Todorow (capt) Did not bat (Injured.)
F.O.W. - 12, 61, 70, 133, 138, 160, 169, 171, 171
Nomads lost by 49 runs
Nomads skipper Emil Todorow inserted Caribbean in this 40 overs per side contest and prepared for a long afternoon's work. The Home side's supremo, Jim Ferguson, told us that they were trying out some new players but there were plenty of familiar faces both in the team and watching from the sidelines.
Hassan and Riaz took the new ball and there was an early breakthrough. The score after 5 overs was 18 for 1 and our bowlers and fielders kept up the good work for the majority of the innings. The other interim scores were; 10 overs - 29 for 1; 15 overs - 43 for 2; 20 overs - 63 for 3; 25 overs - 94 for 4; 30 overs - 140 for 5; 35 overs - 166 for 6. So the Mix batsmen never dominated as completely as they have in some of our other games against them. The first 4 bowlers; Hassan, Riaz, Abbas and Emil, all went for between 30 and 38 runs from their 8-over stints. Abbas probably being the pick with a fast straight stint - possibly his best of the summer so far. Adam also bowled well for a similar rate in his first spell. As ever, though, Caribbean had something up their sleeve at the death. No. 6 Mark Green had been playing steadily for a while but, when joined by No. 9 Roy Lawrence in the 36th over, the pair cut loose, with Lawrence being especially harsh on anything short with a string of excellent cuts for 4 between Point and Third Man. Adam was unlucky in this passage of play, with a chance going down off his bowling in the deep and a rather adjacent-looking leg before shout being turned down.
Caribbean closed on 220 for 7 - formidable with these long boundaries - when at one stage we looked on course to restrict them to 180.
A fine tea of chicken, rice and salad was enjoyed in the Bowls Club, with some of our older players perhaps looking at the Bowling Green and wondering whether a change of sport might suit our aching bones.
A few of us found ourselves back at the cricket pitch at past 6.15 pm, with no sight of the majority of the players. Although there hadn't seemed to be an excess of faffing about, any more than there usually is in this fixture anyway, we seemed on course for a floodlit (or moonlit finish.)
Mark and Prasanth took guard for Nomads and there was immediate unsavoury controversy. Basically it was a dispute over a No Ball. A fielder/ ? captain made it clear that he was in charge rather than the umpire. I will avoid boring you all with full details but if anyone can show me the passage in the Laws of Cricket that states that an umpire has to be able to indicate the bowler's footprint as evidence to support a No Ball call, then they will win a pair of cricket boots (old, smelly and discarded in the kit bag.) Anyway, the umpire agreed to be replaced purely to keep the peace. (By the way, there was no footprint either in front, on or behind the line. Whether this was due to the bowler's footwear or because Mayow Park is an Alien Land Mass with unique soil, I don't know.)
Play proceeded but Prasanth may have been distracted by the shenanigans and was out in the 3rd over. The opening bowlers, Edwards and Campbell, proved testing but Mark and Gul were up to the task and soon began to crack on impressively. The rate touched 5 and dipped only slightly before Gul was second man out. 61 for 2. Riaz went for the big one but was caught behind but then Mahesh, keen to impress against his old team and silence the sledgers, resumed the good work. Mahesh and Mark batted stylishly for 15 overs and, with the score on 131 for 3 after 30 overs (90 needed off 10 but 2 well-set batsmen with the hard-hitting Darwin and Hassan to come) the fielding side - including the one that claimed to have played First Class cricket - were becoming decidedly edgy. Sadly, Mahesh was bowled on 133 and Mark, who had played excellently for his half-century on a ground which was his nightmare shape with its incredibly long square boundaries, followed shortly afterwards.
Darwin and Hassan kept up our 5 an over rate but a steady stream of wickets reduced us to 171 for 9 after 38 overs. Last man Emil Todorow was unable to bat due to injury but I'm sure that, trouper that he is, he would have batted had 10 been needed off the last 2 overs rather than 50.
Scores, Man of the Match etc.....see top of page.
Monday, 23 June 2014
Tuesday, 17 June 2014
Surbiton Imperials v Clapham Nomads - 15/6/14
In our best victory of the season so far, Clapham Nomads batted superbly to achieve a formidable winning target of 195. Four men shone particularly - see below;
Surbiton Imperials 194 for 7 from 35 overs
Nomads bowling;
H. Khan 7-3-6-2
E. Todorow 7-0-38-0
R. Khan 7-0-37-1
Abbas Khan 7-0-54-2
Gul 7-0-43-2
Clapham Nomads 198 for 3 from 33.2 overs
M. Bradshaw not out 52
P. Pattiyil 75
Gul 14
R. Khan 24
H. Khan not out 5
Did not bat; M. Vyas, D. Gunawardena, N. Lefebve, E. Todorow, Abbas Khan, J. Crossland
F.O.W. - 134, 150, 193
Clapham Nomads won by 7 wickets.
The 4 Star Men;
Prasanth Pattiyil recorded his highest score for the Nomads and didn't give a chance that I can recall until he was finally caught on 75.
Hassan Khan's bowling and figures were excellent against one of the strongest batting line-ups we will face this summer. He conceded less than 1 per over; the next cheapest bowler went for 5.4 an over.
Mahesh Vyas took an amazing flying one-handed slip catch; the best catch I have seen in a Nomads game.
Mark Bradshaw carved out a gritty and vital unbeaten half-century, sharing in an opening stand of 134 with Prasanth and steering us home when we started to lose wickets.
FULL REPORT TO FOLLOW....
Nomads made the long journey to the excellent Colet's Ground in Thames Ditton hoping for a first victory there. Surbiton had done very well to put a full team out, having only had 7 or 8 on the Thursday. One of the new players opened the batting for the Home side and it was soon cleared that we had a fight on our hands as he launched an all-out assault on Emil Todorow's bowling, taking the skipper (who was playing in his 204th successive Nomads match) for over 20 from his first 2 overs. Before this though, Hassan struck an important early blow in removing the dangerous hitter Johnny Rosenthal in the first over.
Emil judiciously replaced himself with Riaz and the run rate stabilised, mainly thanks to a quite superb bowling spell from Hassan who was bowling with great pace and accuracy, though the highlight was a massive leg break which made the batsman and keeper John Crossland gasp at its Warne-like turn.
With left-hander Siddik batting with a right-handed colleague, and continual changes to line and field placing needed, Nomads's bowlers - Hassan excepted - could do no more than damage limitation as the score chugged along at around 5.5 an over. Emil Todorow returned around the middle of the innings and did well to concede only 16 from his last 5 overs.
Surbiton had a very high-class hitter in their middle order and shots began to flow, especially to leg. Abbas kept his head and found his reward when he clipped the outside edge of the less attacking player's bat and Mahesh Vyas swopped through the air like an eagle, scooping a breathtaking finger-tip catch an inch from the turf. This was the best catch I have seen in any Nomads match and Mark - who has played in over 500 club games, many at a higher level - said it was the best catch in any game he has played in.
Surbiton's star man raced past 50 but some of his partners could not match his hitting and the scoring rate, after peaking at 6.5, dipped to 5.5 again. The Super Six from May were down to Four with Abdul and Sami missing but Todorow turned to Gul and the off-spinner obliged with a steady 2 for 43 off his 7 overs.
With around 3 overs to go, the Star Man was on 90 and looked odds on for a deserved ton but he rather ran out of steam - and strike - and ended on 93 not out with Imperials closing on 194 for 7 off the full 35. A total we would probably have settled for at any stage from about the second over onwards.
Mahesh Vyas was the obvious fielding star but John took 2 nice catches behind the sticks and didn't let much past him that I can remember.
195 seemed a fair old target as we tucked into a nice tea and watched England struggle at Lord's. Surbiton's new players were unlikely to be the worst bowlers in the world and of course they had the awkward Siddik and also Eric (their saviour from the match in April .)
Mark Bradshaw and Prasanth Pattiyil took guard and managed 3 boundaries from Siddik's first 2 overs which was important as Siddik can be very economical if he gets on top. Prasanth in particular played very positively and took the pressure off the run chase and the pair complemented each other very well. The speedy Faisal was negotiated safely with regular leg-side and straight hits from Prasanth, while Mark was punching it between Point and Cover for 1s and 2s at will. The scoring rate rose from around 3.5 to something up near 5 as the stand built up and drinks approached.
The consistent, enterprising batting continued after the break; Prasanth finding the boundary practically every other over and Mark, having worked very hard for his first 25 runs (with 9 singles between 15 and 24) and survived a caught behind chance and a big leg before shout from Eric, playing with increasing authority taking regular 2s and playing some nice Straight Drives as the 100 stand came up.
Prasanth passed his previous highest for Nomads and, entering the 70s with a maiden hundred becoming a live possibility, he was aware of the need to keep the electronic scoreboard ticking and unfortunately lofted one up to Long On to depart for an excellent 75. The stand of 134 was one of the best ever Nomads opening partnerships; possibly about the 4th biggest.
Still a bit of work to do but a rapid 2nd wicket stand ended with Gul (who had just hit a large 6) being narrowly run out. Enter Riaz Khan who played himself in for at least a ball and then took a massive liking to the bowling of Zulfiqar; 2 sixes in one over, the second one airborne for a considerable period of time before rattling a distant shed roof, possibly somewhere in the Hampton area (oddly there was a lengthy discussion as to whether this was 4 or 6 - it should have been 8.)
This stand put on 43 in no more than 4 overs as Russell, who had bowled well against us in April, also came in for the treatment. Riaz made 24 and Mark was no slouch himself with 15 in this partnership. 2 were now needed off 3.1 overs with 7 wickets remaining, when Riaz was caught and, although there was a shout for No. 11 John Crossland to pad up, this was in jest.
Imperials' skipper Steve Parratt came on and bowled a tidy maiden but Hassan administered the last rites in the penultimate over.
A great win for Nomads over a powerful Surbiton line-up. Particularly fine performances from the 4 men mentioned earlier with Prasanth taking Man of the Match for his fine 75. Mahesh Vyas takes Fielder of the Day - if only our games were filmed so we could watch that catch again.
Surbiton Imperials 194 for 7 from 35 overs
Nomads bowling;
H. Khan 7-3-6-2
E. Todorow 7-0-38-0
R. Khan 7-0-37-1
Abbas Khan 7-0-54-2
Gul 7-0-43-2
Clapham Nomads 198 for 3 from 33.2 overs
M. Bradshaw not out 52
P. Pattiyil 75
Gul 14
R. Khan 24
H. Khan not out 5
Did not bat; M. Vyas, D. Gunawardena, N. Lefebve, E. Todorow, Abbas Khan, J. Crossland
F.O.W. - 134, 150, 193
Clapham Nomads won by 7 wickets.
The 4 Star Men;
Prasanth Pattiyil recorded his highest score for the Nomads and didn't give a chance that I can recall until he was finally caught on 75.
Hassan Khan's bowling and figures were excellent against one of the strongest batting line-ups we will face this summer. He conceded less than 1 per over; the next cheapest bowler went for 5.4 an over.
Mahesh Vyas took an amazing flying one-handed slip catch; the best catch I have seen in a Nomads game.
Mark Bradshaw carved out a gritty and vital unbeaten half-century, sharing in an opening stand of 134 with Prasanth and steering us home when we started to lose wickets.
FULL REPORT TO FOLLOW....
Nomads made the long journey to the excellent Colet's Ground in Thames Ditton hoping for a first victory there. Surbiton had done very well to put a full team out, having only had 7 or 8 on the Thursday. One of the new players opened the batting for the Home side and it was soon cleared that we had a fight on our hands as he launched an all-out assault on Emil Todorow's bowling, taking the skipper (who was playing in his 204th successive Nomads match) for over 20 from his first 2 overs. Before this though, Hassan struck an important early blow in removing the dangerous hitter Johnny Rosenthal in the first over.
Emil judiciously replaced himself with Riaz and the run rate stabilised, mainly thanks to a quite superb bowling spell from Hassan who was bowling with great pace and accuracy, though the highlight was a massive leg break which made the batsman and keeper John Crossland gasp at its Warne-like turn.
With left-hander Siddik batting with a right-handed colleague, and continual changes to line and field placing needed, Nomads's bowlers - Hassan excepted - could do no more than damage limitation as the score chugged along at around 5.5 an over. Emil Todorow returned around the middle of the innings and did well to concede only 16 from his last 5 overs.
Surbiton had a very high-class hitter in their middle order and shots began to flow, especially to leg. Abbas kept his head and found his reward when he clipped the outside edge of the less attacking player's bat and Mahesh Vyas swopped through the air like an eagle, scooping a breathtaking finger-tip catch an inch from the turf. This was the best catch I have seen in any Nomads match and Mark - who has played in over 500 club games, many at a higher level - said it was the best catch in any game he has played in.
Surbiton's star man raced past 50 but some of his partners could not match his hitting and the scoring rate, after peaking at 6.5, dipped to 5.5 again. The Super Six from May were down to Four with Abdul and Sami missing but Todorow turned to Gul and the off-spinner obliged with a steady 2 for 43 off his 7 overs.
With around 3 overs to go, the Star Man was on 90 and looked odds on for a deserved ton but he rather ran out of steam - and strike - and ended on 93 not out with Imperials closing on 194 for 7 off the full 35. A total we would probably have settled for at any stage from about the second over onwards.
Mahesh Vyas was the obvious fielding star but John took 2 nice catches behind the sticks and didn't let much past him that I can remember.
195 seemed a fair old target as we tucked into a nice tea and watched England struggle at Lord's. Surbiton's new players were unlikely to be the worst bowlers in the world and of course they had the awkward Siddik and also Eric (their saviour from the match in April .)
Mark Bradshaw and Prasanth Pattiyil took guard and managed 3 boundaries from Siddik's first 2 overs which was important as Siddik can be very economical if he gets on top. Prasanth in particular played very positively and took the pressure off the run chase and the pair complemented each other very well. The speedy Faisal was negotiated safely with regular leg-side and straight hits from Prasanth, while Mark was punching it between Point and Cover for 1s and 2s at will. The scoring rate rose from around 3.5 to something up near 5 as the stand built up and drinks approached.
The consistent, enterprising batting continued after the break; Prasanth finding the boundary practically every other over and Mark, having worked very hard for his first 25 runs (with 9 singles between 15 and 24) and survived a caught behind chance and a big leg before shout from Eric, playing with increasing authority taking regular 2s and playing some nice Straight Drives as the 100 stand came up.
Prasanth passed his previous highest for Nomads and, entering the 70s with a maiden hundred becoming a live possibility, he was aware of the need to keep the electronic scoreboard ticking and unfortunately lofted one up to Long On to depart for an excellent 75. The stand of 134 was one of the best ever Nomads opening partnerships; possibly about the 4th biggest.
Still a bit of work to do but a rapid 2nd wicket stand ended with Gul (who had just hit a large 6) being narrowly run out. Enter Riaz Khan who played himself in for at least a ball and then took a massive liking to the bowling of Zulfiqar; 2 sixes in one over, the second one airborne for a considerable period of time before rattling a distant shed roof, possibly somewhere in the Hampton area (oddly there was a lengthy discussion as to whether this was 4 or 6 - it should have been 8.)
This stand put on 43 in no more than 4 overs as Russell, who had bowled well against us in April, also came in for the treatment. Riaz made 24 and Mark was no slouch himself with 15 in this partnership. 2 were now needed off 3.1 overs with 7 wickets remaining, when Riaz was caught and, although there was a shout for No. 11 John Crossland to pad up, this was in jest.
Imperials' skipper Steve Parratt came on and bowled a tidy maiden but Hassan administered the last rites in the penultimate over.
A great win for Nomads over a powerful Surbiton line-up. Particularly fine performances from the 4 men mentioned earlier with Prasanth taking Man of the Match for his fine 75. Mahesh Vyas takes Fielder of the Day - if only our games were filmed so we could watch that catch again.
Monday, 9 June 2014
Clapham Nomads v Wimbledon United - 8/6/14
Clapham Nomads produced our best batting of the season on another warm day on a very good pitch at Abbey Rec but still, amazingly, lost by 9 wickets. A superb 92 not out by Wimbledon skipper Dave Hitchman, well-supported by James Flannery in an opening stand of 88 and then by Alex Herbert for the remainder of the innings saw United home with 3.2 overs to spare. Nomads bowling was by no means bad (Riaz was probably the pick while Emil Todorow had the cheapest economy rate - the only bowler to go for under 4 an over.) Abdul took the only wicket to fall but also hurt his finger badly near the end - hope it is OK Abdul. Nomads groundfielding was not fantastic but only one catching chance was put down (and that was right near the end when the game was lost.)
Hitchman and Flannery really kicked on at 6 an over and United were well over 100 at the 20-over drinks break. This took the pressure right off and they only had to bat sensibly to close out the win. This early scoring was the main difference between the sides as Nomads were only 60-odd at our halfway mark.
The other difference was that the Dons had 3 bowlers; Rowan Wijedena, Peter Brown (The Southfields Express) and Alex Herbert who all made our players work much harder for their runs than any Wimbledon batsman had to.
Our innings began quite comfortably with Mark Bradshaw playing such a feather-light leg glance in the first over that Scorer John Crossland shouted to the umpire to signal byes. Both openers dealt well with the awkward Wijedena who kind of thinks batsmen out with accuracy and subtle movement and variation (rather like a quicker and (much) younger Naren Patel of Energy Exiles, and the lively away swing of Brown. Disaster struck in the 5th over when a Nomads player suddenly appeared behind the bowler's arm just as Wijedena was bowling, distracting Bradshaw who played on to a slight in-cutter. In Wijedena's next over, Mahesh Vyas came too far across his stumps and the exposed leg stump was uprooted to the shock of the batsman. 10 for 2 (exactly as in our previous 2 games.) Once No. 3 Prasanth Pattiyil had survived a couple of early pull shots off middle stump (was it Sir Geoffrey Boycott that said you should never pull until you have passed 70?) he continued his excellent work of last week and set about recovering the position, ably accompanied by Hassan Khan.
On 48 for 2, Prasanth was adjudged leg before for a useful 12 and Hassan was joined by Gul. There was a massive shout for caught behind against last season's Batsman of the Year early on but the umpire noticed Gul's bat had hit the ground (one of my better decisions though I say so myself and partly compensating for the very many dodgy decisions I have made.) The two friends built a major stand but it was hard work in the 79 degree heat with the long boundaries causing many 2s and 3s to be run.
Gul was back close to his best but was caught behind in Brown's second spell with the stand just 3 short of the century it deserved. Hassan had batted brilliantly but was beginning to find it hard work and looked dehydrated. He retired on 71 with the score on 152. Useful late runs from Darwin, Riaz and Abdul took the score up 174 for 6 at the close. One Nomad said we perhaps hadn't really kicked on sufficiently, late in the innings but the last 6 overs of our knock all went for between 3 and 8, so we weren't exactly static.
It was a tough one to call. Wimbledon notched up 180 for 4 in last year's home match but had scored significantly less in the other 2 recent games. Bookies might have made Nomads 4 to 5 favourites unless, unlike me, they were aware of just what excellent batting stats Dave Hitchman has. He has several recent centuries to his name.
Hassan was still dehydrated so Abbas and Emil opened. They bowled reasonably but fine Wimbledon batting, with sharp running a particular feature, and Nomads' groundfielding a little way short of our best, allowed the Away side to race away at 6 an over early on. One Nomad pointed out at drinks that there was still a fair way to go; another speculated that there might not be too much batting to come (that was certainly not the case.) Riaz bowled very accurately and had some good shouts. Abdul's variety was impressive and he took the only wicket to fall. United kept up reasonable momentum evidenced by Nomads not bowling a single maiden. Hassan returned to the field and bowled 3rd change, predominantly spin. He missed the stumps by a whisker and had a chance dropped off his bowling but United were in the finishing straight by then.
Well done to Wimbledon. Another enjoyable fixture and we saw some fine batting. We have never lost by 10 wickets thankfully but have lost by 9 wickets on 4 or 5 occasions with this 174 being the highest total we have scored in any of those games. Wimbledon's innings would therefore have to go down as one of the best run chases against the Nomads.
Good batting from Nomads, though. In fact our batting has improved game by game in each of our 6 matches. Unfortunately the bowling has rather gone the other way. We have only taken 2 wickets in total in our last 2 games and have conceded 420 runs. Whereas our first 4 matches saw only slightly more runs (465) scored against us while we took 36 wickets. It can't be entirely due to missing Sami (class bowler though he is.) I think the arrival of sunny weather, sound wickets and in-form, well-played-in batsmen has more to do with it.
Man of the Match was Hassan for another excellent innings - he has really found his form, averaging 165 in his last 3 innings. John and Emil also praised his fielding but he didn't field the full innings (he did well to come on though despite being dehydrated.) They also picked out Mark Bradshaw for some good stops, enthusiasm and encouragement, while Abbas worked hard and 12th Man Nick Lefebve did ok in 2 short-notice spells as sub fielder. Emil Todorow showed his fancy footwork again - if the one against Barnes Occasionals was Stoichkov, the one yesterday was Georgi Asparuhov. Mark Bradshaw takes Fielder of the Day.
Clapham Nomads 174 for 6 from 40 overs
M. Bradshaw 6
M. Vyas 0
P. Pattiyil 12
H. Khan retired 71
Gul 45
D. Gunewardena 7
R. Khan 6
Abbas Khan not out 1
Abdul Khan not out 4
Did not bat; E. Todorow, J. Crossland
F.O.W. - 8, 10, 48, 145, 166, 166
Wimbledon United 175 for 1 from 36.4 overs
D. Hitchman not out 92
J. Flannery 33
A. Herbert not out 30
F.O.W. - 88
Nomads bowling;
Abbas Khan 8-0-46-0
E, Todorow 7-0-27-0
Abdul Khan 8-0-44-1
R. Khan 8-0-33-0
H. Khan 5.4-0-25-0
Wimbledon United won by 9 wickets
Hitchman and Flannery really kicked on at 6 an over and United were well over 100 at the 20-over drinks break. This took the pressure right off and they only had to bat sensibly to close out the win. This early scoring was the main difference between the sides as Nomads were only 60-odd at our halfway mark.
The other difference was that the Dons had 3 bowlers; Rowan Wijedena, Peter Brown (The Southfields Express) and Alex Herbert who all made our players work much harder for their runs than any Wimbledon batsman had to.
Our innings began quite comfortably with Mark Bradshaw playing such a feather-light leg glance in the first over that Scorer John Crossland shouted to the umpire to signal byes. Both openers dealt well with the awkward Wijedena who kind of thinks batsmen out with accuracy and subtle movement and variation (rather like a quicker and (much) younger Naren Patel of Energy Exiles, and the lively away swing of Brown. Disaster struck in the 5th over when a Nomads player suddenly appeared behind the bowler's arm just as Wijedena was bowling, distracting Bradshaw who played on to a slight in-cutter. In Wijedena's next over, Mahesh Vyas came too far across his stumps and the exposed leg stump was uprooted to the shock of the batsman. 10 for 2 (exactly as in our previous 2 games.) Once No. 3 Prasanth Pattiyil had survived a couple of early pull shots off middle stump (was it Sir Geoffrey Boycott that said you should never pull until you have passed 70?) he continued his excellent work of last week and set about recovering the position, ably accompanied by Hassan Khan.
On 48 for 2, Prasanth was adjudged leg before for a useful 12 and Hassan was joined by Gul. There was a massive shout for caught behind against last season's Batsman of the Year early on but the umpire noticed Gul's bat had hit the ground (one of my better decisions though I say so myself and partly compensating for the very many dodgy decisions I have made.) The two friends built a major stand but it was hard work in the 79 degree heat with the long boundaries causing many 2s and 3s to be run.
Gul was back close to his best but was caught behind in Brown's second spell with the stand just 3 short of the century it deserved. Hassan had batted brilliantly but was beginning to find it hard work and looked dehydrated. He retired on 71 with the score on 152. Useful late runs from Darwin, Riaz and Abdul took the score up 174 for 6 at the close. One Nomad said we perhaps hadn't really kicked on sufficiently, late in the innings but the last 6 overs of our knock all went for between 3 and 8, so we weren't exactly static.
It was a tough one to call. Wimbledon notched up 180 for 4 in last year's home match but had scored significantly less in the other 2 recent games. Bookies might have made Nomads 4 to 5 favourites unless, unlike me, they were aware of just what excellent batting stats Dave Hitchman has. He has several recent centuries to his name.
Hassan was still dehydrated so Abbas and Emil opened. They bowled reasonably but fine Wimbledon batting, with sharp running a particular feature, and Nomads' groundfielding a little way short of our best, allowed the Away side to race away at 6 an over early on. One Nomad pointed out at drinks that there was still a fair way to go; another speculated that there might not be too much batting to come (that was certainly not the case.) Riaz bowled very accurately and had some good shouts. Abdul's variety was impressive and he took the only wicket to fall. United kept up reasonable momentum evidenced by Nomads not bowling a single maiden. Hassan returned to the field and bowled 3rd change, predominantly spin. He missed the stumps by a whisker and had a chance dropped off his bowling but United were in the finishing straight by then.
Well done to Wimbledon. Another enjoyable fixture and we saw some fine batting. We have never lost by 10 wickets thankfully but have lost by 9 wickets on 4 or 5 occasions with this 174 being the highest total we have scored in any of those games. Wimbledon's innings would therefore have to go down as one of the best run chases against the Nomads.
Good batting from Nomads, though. In fact our batting has improved game by game in each of our 6 matches. Unfortunately the bowling has rather gone the other way. We have only taken 2 wickets in total in our last 2 games and have conceded 420 runs. Whereas our first 4 matches saw only slightly more runs (465) scored against us while we took 36 wickets. It can't be entirely due to missing Sami (class bowler though he is.) I think the arrival of sunny weather, sound wickets and in-form, well-played-in batsmen has more to do with it.
Man of the Match was Hassan for another excellent innings - he has really found his form, averaging 165 in his last 3 innings. John and Emil also praised his fielding but he didn't field the full innings (he did well to come on though despite being dehydrated.) They also picked out Mark Bradshaw for some good stops, enthusiasm and encouragement, while Abbas worked hard and 12th Man Nick Lefebve did ok in 2 short-notice spells as sub fielder. Emil Todorow showed his fancy footwork again - if the one against Barnes Occasionals was Stoichkov, the one yesterday was Georgi Asparuhov. Mark Bradshaw takes Fielder of the Day.
Clapham Nomads 174 for 6 from 40 overs
M. Bradshaw 6
M. Vyas 0
P. Pattiyil 12
H. Khan retired 71
Gul 45
D. Gunewardena 7
R. Khan 6
Abbas Khan not out 1
Abdul Khan not out 4
Did not bat; E. Todorow, J. Crossland
F.O.W. - 8, 10, 48, 145, 166, 166
Wimbledon United 175 for 1 from 36.4 overs
D. Hitchman not out 92
J. Flannery 33
A. Herbert not out 30
F.O.W. - 88
Nomads bowling;
Abbas Khan 8-0-46-0
E, Todorow 7-0-27-0
Abdul Khan 8-0-44-1
R. Khan 8-0-33-0
H. Khan 5.4-0-25-0
Wimbledon United won by 9 wickets
Wednesday, 4 June 2014
Acton v Clapham Nomads - 1/6/14 (Updated version)
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
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
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.
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