The forecast was not great and we arrived at Occasionals' rain-lashed Ham Street home and commenced negotiations under a tree. The two captains eventually braved it out onto the track - not too bad but likely to become slippery and dangerous soon - and the inevitable decision was made to call it off. Just as ignition keys were being turned for the homeward journey by our non-drinkers, a white strip appeared in the west of the sterile grey sky. When we emerged from the pub after an hour and a half, it was to a quite gorgeous late summer afternoon with a cricket match in full flow at the other end of Ham Common.
All the way home, the usual sounds of summer were complemented by the vague tap of leather on willow, the murmur of sledging and distant, strangled cries of "How was he?"
Possibly a shame as, with Hassan back from injury, Nomads' attack just a touch stronger than in recent weeks and with Barnes missing our usual nemeses Roger Price and Keith Seed, something quite nice just might conceivably have happened.
Friday, 28 August 2015
Wednesday, 19 August 2015
Clapham Nomads v Energy Exiles - 16/8/15
Cottenham Park was the setting on Sunday for one of the season's highlights; another Auld Firm Derby or El Clasico against the Energy Exiles. Nomads were worryingly short of bowling strength, especially after the non-selection of one of our longer-standing and most controversial bowlers - see last week's report re The Mobile Phone Incident. In connection with last week's events, there were rumours circulating that a lone gunman would be stalking Cottenham Park, taking potshots at Nomads players - had this been this case he would surely have been brought on to bowl. However, he didn't show - something to do with non-availability of second-hand golf balls in this part of Merton perhaps.
Skipper Emil Todorow had done well to announce a full team on Saturday night and, as 12th Man / Teaboy recovering from Night Shift, I arrived at 3.30 to find the Exiles on an imposing, though not apocalyptic, 157 in the 26th over. Only 1 wicket had fallen though and, had I known how this was going to fall, I would have set my alarm clock earlier. Emil Todorow had struck with one of his sadly increasingly rare Remarkable Deliveries which kick up to neck height at Slow-Medium off a good length. Few batsmen survive one of these and, if they do, they invariably struggle on as broken men; their technique shattered.
Exiles were far from shattered however. The ultra-consistent Drew Scott-Dawkins dominated early proceedings with 81. Craig Williams made 75. In the last 10 overs, the Away side cut loose at above 10 an over. A quick 38 from John Tither, who loves this ground on which he once scored 140, was the highlight late on. I only realised with 4 overs to go that Nomads were a man short but frankly I don't think an extra pair of 50-something legs would have made much difference. Nomads did manage 2 further wickets. Our notable bits were a good catch by Abdul and a boundary-saving stop by Emil, using his kneecap. Only the harshest of critics would suggest that this was, in fact, a thunderbolt Caught and Bowled chance. Hopefully Emil is fine. I'm sure he won't miss a match for something like that, even if he has to bring his kneecap in his kit bag next week.
Exiles closed on 259 for 3 off the full 35. Their highest score against Nomads and in the top 5 of opposition scores against us. They had hard hitters most of the way down their order and, had they kicked on even more, they could certainly have passed our highest conceded total of 275. 280 for 7 was mentioned as a possibility in their report.
Having Abdul at 8 indicated we had a decent batting line-up but we were missing Hassan and Riaz, our fastest-scoring middle order players, so scoring at 7.4 an over against a high-class Energy strikeforce was going to be somewhere between tough and impossible.
In the event, we kept up our reasonable batting form of recent weeks. Mark Bradshaw starred with an excellent 58, his second-highest in his 8 or 9 games for Clapham against his old club. He made 80 not out in 2009 but I actually think his batting was even better on Sunday than in the game 6 years ago, and against better bowling this time. Exiles put a special Bradshaw fielder in place (I won't say where this was in case any future opponents are reading this) and without that fielder he would probably have been up in the mid 70s.
Gul also batted well to share an opening stand with Mark of around 50. Our objectives were really a) To survive the the 35 overs and b) Hopefully to get within 100 runs of Exiles. From the first point of view, Mahesh and Prasanth both used up valuable time early on against excellent bowling.
There were some memorable bits of cricket in this match; admittedly mostly from the Exiles but enough from Nomads to make our afternoon worthwhile. Emil's wicket obviously, but also a cracking 10 by Gul off an over from Jibs, who responded with the fastest ball of the day, taken by keeper Chris Plume on the rise at head height, and then possibly the ball of the innings to clip Gul's bail.
A rival for ball of the innings was a clever slower ball from Simon Gundry. The big paceman dropped 5 mph and lured Darwin, who was looking set for a big score, into getting under the ball and conceding a catch.
Best moment of all was a quick one from Gundry just outside off which Bradshaw punched out for what seemed a certain 4 until Andy Wingfield, at Point, dived full length to parry the ball and restrict our boys to a quick single.
As ever, Cottenham was pretty decent to bat on, helped by short-ish boundaries on 3 sides, but it always gives the bowlers a hand too. Exiles' opener Terence Moynihan hit Gul early on with a genuine bouncer. Andy Wingfield, despited his professed dislike of bowling on this ground, returned fine figures of 1 for 9 off 6 overs. Simon Gundry inevitably chipped in with 3 wickets. The other bowlers were a handful too. Phil Ling has speeded up, while not swinging it quite as much, and used the pitch dangerously at times. Marcin Zielenewski used to be military medium, very accurate, but now has more of a box of tricks, tending to swerve it into the right-hander but jagging the odd Leg-Cutter away. He could be a potential Naren Patel in the making or even someone else (after one particularly deceptive ball, Mark, at Square Leg Umpire called out; "Did you learn that one from Emil, Martin?")
Nomads innings tailed offf a bit - a cracking straight 4 from Abdul was a late highlight - and Nick Lefebve and Emil Todorow found themselves together at 125 for 8 with 3 overs to go. There was a groundswell of opinion from the fielding side they would rather see No. 11 John Crossland bat but, boringly, the 2 veterans put Nomads' disintegrating self-respect - and their averages - ahead of entertainment and blocked it out to close on 127 for 8.
This was actually a type of total that Nomads recorded many times against Exiles in the past and it often ensured a close game - usually one of Exiles' famous last-over victories or, occasionally, a narrow Nomads win. However, this Exiles side has really cranked up a gear in the last 2 seasons. We did mention in the pub afterwards that at least we had lasted out the overs against their strongest possible bowling line-up, but it then emerged that their top wicket-taker this season had not been given a bowl. Oh dear. Anyway, Simon Gundry did acknowledge that this was one of Exiles' strongest-ever line-ups and would have beaten just about any of the teams they play regularly. However, for the return fixture in September, I think we will beef things up a bit and I have already selected the following team made up of present and past Nomads players.
Mark Bradshaw (Clapham Nomads) - joint-captain
Ben Fewson (Clapham Nomads and Yorkshire Under 19s) - wicket-keeper
Gaurang Vyas (Clapham Nomads)
Hassan Khan (Clapham Nomads, league cricket) - joint-captain
John Chance (Clapham Nomads, Bec Old Boys, Open University)
Wally Murdoch (Clapham Nomads, Sydney Grade cricket)
Riaz Khan (Clapham Nomads)
Rafi (Clapham Nomads, Merton, League cricket, Rafi cc of Lahore)
Patrick Blair (Clapham Nomads, Jamaican Parishes cricket)
Trent Copeland (Clapham Nomads, New South Wales and Australia)
Shailesh Bhatia (Clapham Nomads)
12th Man - Andrew West (Clapham Nomads, Mitcham Golf Course cc)
Joint Team Managers - Emil Todorow and Dave Hunter.
Only joking, regular players. We will be putting out the same line-up as usual. Book now to avoid disappointment.
P.S. - A measure of Exiles' dominance was the complete lack of Maiden Overs in Nomads' bowling stint. I cannot remember this happening to us before in a 35 over game.
John Crossland was on form with his scorebook comment; "A real close finish! Only 133 needed off the last over."
Energy Exiles 259 for 3 from 35 overs
Nomads' bowling;
A. Khan 7-0-41-0
Todorow 7-0-33-2
Gul 7-0-50-0
Qasim 7-0-48-0
Hamid 3-0-34-0
Pattiyil 3-0-35-1
Gunawardena 1-0-11-0
Clapham Nomads 127 for 8 from 35 overs
Bradshaw 58
Gul 16
M. Vyas 1
Pattiyil 4
Gunawardena 18
Qasim 8
Hamid 6
A. Khan 4
Lefebve 0 not out
Todorow 0 not out
Did not bat; Crossland.
F.O.W. - 46, 59, 70, 98, 106, 119, 119, 124
Nomads lost by 132 runs.
Man of the Match - Mark Bradshaw
Fielder of the Day - Abdul Khan
Skipper Emil Todorow had done well to announce a full team on Saturday night and, as 12th Man / Teaboy recovering from Night Shift, I arrived at 3.30 to find the Exiles on an imposing, though not apocalyptic, 157 in the 26th over. Only 1 wicket had fallen though and, had I known how this was going to fall, I would have set my alarm clock earlier. Emil Todorow had struck with one of his sadly increasingly rare Remarkable Deliveries which kick up to neck height at Slow-Medium off a good length. Few batsmen survive one of these and, if they do, they invariably struggle on as broken men; their technique shattered.
Exiles were far from shattered however. The ultra-consistent Drew Scott-Dawkins dominated early proceedings with 81. Craig Williams made 75. In the last 10 overs, the Away side cut loose at above 10 an over. A quick 38 from John Tither, who loves this ground on which he once scored 140, was the highlight late on. I only realised with 4 overs to go that Nomads were a man short but frankly I don't think an extra pair of 50-something legs would have made much difference. Nomads did manage 2 further wickets. Our notable bits were a good catch by Abdul and a boundary-saving stop by Emil, using his kneecap. Only the harshest of critics would suggest that this was, in fact, a thunderbolt Caught and Bowled chance. Hopefully Emil is fine. I'm sure he won't miss a match for something like that, even if he has to bring his kneecap in his kit bag next week.
Exiles closed on 259 for 3 off the full 35. Their highest score against Nomads and in the top 5 of opposition scores against us. They had hard hitters most of the way down their order and, had they kicked on even more, they could certainly have passed our highest conceded total of 275. 280 for 7 was mentioned as a possibility in their report.
Having Abdul at 8 indicated we had a decent batting line-up but we were missing Hassan and Riaz, our fastest-scoring middle order players, so scoring at 7.4 an over against a high-class Energy strikeforce was going to be somewhere between tough and impossible.
In the event, we kept up our reasonable batting form of recent weeks. Mark Bradshaw starred with an excellent 58, his second-highest in his 8 or 9 games for Clapham against his old club. He made 80 not out in 2009 but I actually think his batting was even better on Sunday than in the game 6 years ago, and against better bowling this time. Exiles put a special Bradshaw fielder in place (I won't say where this was in case any future opponents are reading this) and without that fielder he would probably have been up in the mid 70s.
Gul also batted well to share an opening stand with Mark of around 50. Our objectives were really a) To survive the the 35 overs and b) Hopefully to get within 100 runs of Exiles. From the first point of view, Mahesh and Prasanth both used up valuable time early on against excellent bowling.
There were some memorable bits of cricket in this match; admittedly mostly from the Exiles but enough from Nomads to make our afternoon worthwhile. Emil's wicket obviously, but also a cracking 10 by Gul off an over from Jibs, who responded with the fastest ball of the day, taken by keeper Chris Plume on the rise at head height, and then possibly the ball of the innings to clip Gul's bail.
A rival for ball of the innings was a clever slower ball from Simon Gundry. The big paceman dropped 5 mph and lured Darwin, who was looking set for a big score, into getting under the ball and conceding a catch.
Best moment of all was a quick one from Gundry just outside off which Bradshaw punched out for what seemed a certain 4 until Andy Wingfield, at Point, dived full length to parry the ball and restrict our boys to a quick single.
As ever, Cottenham was pretty decent to bat on, helped by short-ish boundaries on 3 sides, but it always gives the bowlers a hand too. Exiles' opener Terence Moynihan hit Gul early on with a genuine bouncer. Andy Wingfield, despited his professed dislike of bowling on this ground, returned fine figures of 1 for 9 off 6 overs. Simon Gundry inevitably chipped in with 3 wickets. The other bowlers were a handful too. Phil Ling has speeded up, while not swinging it quite as much, and used the pitch dangerously at times. Marcin Zielenewski used to be military medium, very accurate, but now has more of a box of tricks, tending to swerve it into the right-hander but jagging the odd Leg-Cutter away. He could be a potential Naren Patel in the making or even someone else (after one particularly deceptive ball, Mark, at Square Leg Umpire called out; "Did you learn that one from Emil, Martin?")
Nomads innings tailed offf a bit - a cracking straight 4 from Abdul was a late highlight - and Nick Lefebve and Emil Todorow found themselves together at 125 for 8 with 3 overs to go. There was a groundswell of opinion from the fielding side they would rather see No. 11 John Crossland bat but, boringly, the 2 veterans put Nomads' disintegrating self-respect - and their averages - ahead of entertainment and blocked it out to close on 127 for 8.
This was actually a type of total that Nomads recorded many times against Exiles in the past and it often ensured a close game - usually one of Exiles' famous last-over victories or, occasionally, a narrow Nomads win. However, this Exiles side has really cranked up a gear in the last 2 seasons. We did mention in the pub afterwards that at least we had lasted out the overs against their strongest possible bowling line-up, but it then emerged that their top wicket-taker this season had not been given a bowl. Oh dear. Anyway, Simon Gundry did acknowledge that this was one of Exiles' strongest-ever line-ups and would have beaten just about any of the teams they play regularly. However, for the return fixture in September, I think we will beef things up a bit and I have already selected the following team made up of present and past Nomads players.
Mark Bradshaw (Clapham Nomads) - joint-captain
Ben Fewson (Clapham Nomads and Yorkshire Under 19s) - wicket-keeper
Gaurang Vyas (Clapham Nomads)
Hassan Khan (Clapham Nomads, league cricket) - joint-captain
John Chance (Clapham Nomads, Bec Old Boys, Open University)
Wally Murdoch (Clapham Nomads, Sydney Grade cricket)
Riaz Khan (Clapham Nomads)
Rafi (Clapham Nomads, Merton, League cricket, Rafi cc of Lahore)
Patrick Blair (Clapham Nomads, Jamaican Parishes cricket)
Trent Copeland (Clapham Nomads, New South Wales and Australia)
Shailesh Bhatia (Clapham Nomads)
12th Man - Andrew West (Clapham Nomads, Mitcham Golf Course cc)
Joint Team Managers - Emil Todorow and Dave Hunter.
Only joking, regular players. We will be putting out the same line-up as usual. Book now to avoid disappointment.
P.S. - A measure of Exiles' dominance was the complete lack of Maiden Overs in Nomads' bowling stint. I cannot remember this happening to us before in a 35 over game.
John Crossland was on form with his scorebook comment; "A real close finish! Only 133 needed off the last over."
Energy Exiles 259 for 3 from 35 overs
Nomads' bowling;
A. Khan 7-0-41-0
Todorow 7-0-33-2
Gul 7-0-50-0
Qasim 7-0-48-0
Hamid 3-0-34-0
Pattiyil 3-0-35-1
Gunawardena 1-0-11-0
Clapham Nomads 127 for 8 from 35 overs
Bradshaw 58
Gul 16
M. Vyas 1
Pattiyil 4
Gunawardena 18
Qasim 8
Hamid 6
A. Khan 4
Lefebve 0 not out
Todorow 0 not out
Did not bat; Crossland.
F.O.W. - 46, 59, 70, 98, 106, 119, 119, 124
Nomads lost by 132 runs.
Man of the Match - Mark Bradshaw
Fielder of the Day - Abdul Khan
Saturday, 15 August 2015
Surbiton Imperials v Clapham Nomads 9/8/15
Surbiton ran out comfortable winners against a Nomads side a bit light on bowling strength at Colets in Thames Ditton last Sunday.
The home side chalked up 234 with Siddik top-scoring with 80. Imperials skipper, the hard-hitting Leicester City fan Jonny also played a vital hand as opener with an unusually careful, for him, 40-odd. This was potentially a vital innings as there were rumours going round that Surbiton had a long-ish tail. Sadly, we never really got to find out whether this was true. The main bowlers, Emil, Andrew and Abdul did OK while the star of the change bowlers was the 14-year-old Musa who did a fine job with 2 wickets on his debut.
Missing Riaz and Hassan, 236 was a big ask but Mark Bradshaw immediately showed he was on song with a cracking, trademark Square Cut for 4 off the useful Jimmy George. Mark went on to accrue an impressive 66 not out, one of his best innings since he returned to the club, and didn't give the bowlers a sniff until the final over. He basically held our batting together though there were some other useful contributions from Gul and Abdul and the lower order did an improved job compared to the previous week.
I will give more detail once I have the scores, but that might be a while as I am in the doghouse with Club Scorer John Crossland as I forgot to bring the scorebook and he had to keep score on various bits of paper (happily not Andrex as has been suggested to him on previous similar occasions.)
Regular readers of this blog - if there are any - will be shocked to the core to hear that controversy once again reared its head at a Nomads match. This came in the form of the Mobile Phone Incident. A tense stand-off involving one of Nomads' most vocal players (clue - he is a big-boned Medium Pace Bowler.) Some people described this as Handbags at 10 Paces. Hmm... possibly true if the handbags contained baseball bats. Seriously though, no blows were struck though the air did turn quite blue with the C-Bomb being uttered a quite remarkable number of times. I don't know what the respectable residents of Thames Ditton - probably more used to refined discussions about Leylandii and why the Conservative Government is so left-wing - made of it all.
Anyway, Nomads continued their reasonable batting form with a total of 170 for 6, rounded off with a sumptuous On-Drive from Emil in the final over.
It was good to welcome Prasanth back from injury and he marked his return with a fine running catch. Possibly an even better catch was taken by Darwin, who got through a lot of good work in the field and wins Fielder of the Day. Man of the Match was Mark for his high-class knock.
Oh well, at least the next match should see a break from all this controversy. Who are we playing? Oh, the Energy Exiles. Ah.........
Surbiton Imperials 234 for 6 from 35 overs
Nomads' bowling
A. Khan 7-0-41-2
West 7-1-30-0
Todorow 7-0-38-0
Gunawardena 7-0-66-0
Musa 4-0-33-2
Gul 2-0-17-2
Pattiyil 1-0-7-0
Clapham Nomads 170 for 6 from 35 overs
Bradshaw 66 not out
Gul 27
M. Vyas 0
Pattiyil 4
Gunawardena 6
A. Khan 20
Lefebve 14
Todorow 5 not out
Did not bat; Crossland, Musa, West
F.O.W. - 58, 59, 65, 76, 128, 161
Nomads lost by 64 runs.
The home side chalked up 234 with Siddik top-scoring with 80. Imperials skipper, the hard-hitting Leicester City fan Jonny also played a vital hand as opener with an unusually careful, for him, 40-odd. This was potentially a vital innings as there were rumours going round that Surbiton had a long-ish tail. Sadly, we never really got to find out whether this was true. The main bowlers, Emil, Andrew and Abdul did OK while the star of the change bowlers was the 14-year-old Musa who did a fine job with 2 wickets on his debut.
Missing Riaz and Hassan, 236 was a big ask but Mark Bradshaw immediately showed he was on song with a cracking, trademark Square Cut for 4 off the useful Jimmy George. Mark went on to accrue an impressive 66 not out, one of his best innings since he returned to the club, and didn't give the bowlers a sniff until the final over. He basically held our batting together though there were some other useful contributions from Gul and Abdul and the lower order did an improved job compared to the previous week.
I will give more detail once I have the scores, but that might be a while as I am in the doghouse with Club Scorer John Crossland as I forgot to bring the scorebook and he had to keep score on various bits of paper (happily not Andrex as has been suggested to him on previous similar occasions.)
Regular readers of this blog - if there are any - will be shocked to the core to hear that controversy once again reared its head at a Nomads match. This came in the form of the Mobile Phone Incident. A tense stand-off involving one of Nomads' most vocal players (clue - he is a big-boned Medium Pace Bowler.) Some people described this as Handbags at 10 Paces. Hmm... possibly true if the handbags contained baseball bats. Seriously though, no blows were struck though the air did turn quite blue with the C-Bomb being uttered a quite remarkable number of times. I don't know what the respectable residents of Thames Ditton - probably more used to refined discussions about Leylandii and why the Conservative Government is so left-wing - made of it all.
Anyway, Nomads continued their reasonable batting form with a total of 170 for 6, rounded off with a sumptuous On-Drive from Emil in the final over.
It was good to welcome Prasanth back from injury and he marked his return with a fine running catch. Possibly an even better catch was taken by Darwin, who got through a lot of good work in the field and wins Fielder of the Day. Man of the Match was Mark for his high-class knock.
Oh well, at least the next match should see a break from all this controversy. Who are we playing? Oh, the Energy Exiles. Ah.........
Surbiton Imperials 234 for 6 from 35 overs
Nomads' bowling
A. Khan 7-0-41-2
West 7-1-30-0
Todorow 7-0-38-0
Gunawardena 7-0-66-0
Musa 4-0-33-2
Gul 2-0-17-2
Pattiyil 1-0-7-0
Clapham Nomads 170 for 6 from 35 overs
Bradshaw 66 not out
Gul 27
M. Vyas 0
Pattiyil 4
Gunawardena 6
A. Khan 20
Lefebve 14
Todorow 5 not out
Did not bat; Crossland, Musa, West
F.O.W. - 58, 59, 65, 76, 128, 161
Nomads lost by 64 runs.
Wednesday, 5 August 2015
Clapham Nomads v Burgh Heath - 2/8/15
Nomads lost a gruelling, run-packed match by 52 against Burgh Heath at Raynes Park on Sunday.
The visitors completely dominated early on with their openers racking up a 1st wicket stand of over 150. Nomads came right back into it with 9 wickets in the last 15 overs but never really pegged back the scoreboard completely and the Surrey side closed on a daunting 251 for 9 off 35 overs.
Nomads, led by Mark Bradshaw with 47 and Riaz with (?) his best-ever Nomads score of 57 - an exhilarating innings made a very decent fist of the reply and were 157 for 2 at one stage and, shortly after this, needed around 7.5 an over with a fair bit of batting to come. However, the fading light, less than brilliant batting late on and an astonishing spell of 5-0-17-7 (possible the best figures recorded against the Nomads) from Off-Spinner Hasan reduced us to 198 all out
Full report to follow.
Burgh Heath 251 for 9 from 35 overs.
Nomads' bowling
Sami 7-0-60-0
Abdul Khan 7-1-35-0
E. Todorow 7-0-54-2
O. Amos 6-0-60-4
R. Khan 7-0-29-3
D. Gunawardena 1-0-9-0
Clapham Nomads 198 all out from 32.1 overs
M. Bradshaw 47
Gul 10
O. Amos 13
R. Khan 57
M. Vyas 7
D. Gunawardena 4
Abdul Khan 7
N. Lefebve 0
Sami 4 not out
E. Todorow 0
J. Crossland 0
F. O. W. - 40, 75, 157, 173, 180, 181, 181, 191, 198, 198
Nomads lost by 51 runs
Man of the Match - Riaz Khan
Fielder of the Day (highlight was a diving catch) - Mark Bradshaw
The visitors completely dominated early on with their openers racking up a 1st wicket stand of over 150. Nomads came right back into it with 9 wickets in the last 15 overs but never really pegged back the scoreboard completely and the Surrey side closed on a daunting 251 for 9 off 35 overs.
Nomads, led by Mark Bradshaw with 47 and Riaz with (?) his best-ever Nomads score of 57 - an exhilarating innings made a very decent fist of the reply and were 157 for 2 at one stage and, shortly after this, needed around 7.5 an over with a fair bit of batting to come. However, the fading light, less than brilliant batting late on and an astonishing spell of 5-0-17-7 (possible the best figures recorded against the Nomads) from Off-Spinner Hasan reduced us to 198 all out
Full report to follow.
Burgh Heath 251 for 9 from 35 overs.
Nomads' bowling
Sami 7-0-60-0
Abdul Khan 7-1-35-0
E. Todorow 7-0-54-2
O. Amos 6-0-60-4
R. Khan 7-0-29-3
D. Gunawardena 1-0-9-0
Clapham Nomads 198 all out from 32.1 overs
M. Bradshaw 47
Gul 10
O. Amos 13
R. Khan 57
M. Vyas 7
D. Gunawardena 4
Abdul Khan 7
N. Lefebve 0
Sami 4 not out
E. Todorow 0
J. Crossland 0
F. O. W. - 40, 75, 157, 173, 180, 181, 181, 191, 198, 198
Nomads lost by 51 runs
Man of the Match - Riaz Khan
Fielder of the Day (highlight was a diving catch) - Mark Bradshaw
Friday, 17 July 2015
Epsom 20-20 Championship Two - 12/7/15
After our mid-summer break it was back down to Epsom cc last Sunday to defend our 20-20 title.
We were second game up. The curtain raiser saw RS Casuals grind out a 30-odd run win over our old friends the Old Leagonians. 125 to approx 95. This game almost went the distance, so we were not on until after 4, making 3 full T20 games an unlikely proposition. It was agreed we would have a 10 over a side thrash against the Leagonians followed by one for the purists, a 15 over a side war of attrition against the Casuals.
Hard hit again by Ramadan, holidays, injuries, family issues etc, Skipper Todorow had done well to assemble a passable squad including new men Oli Amos and Jon Roberts who looked impressive as we limbered up in the pre-match nets.
Nomads had only 2 men who had bowled in a competitive match this season and Todorow turned to them (himself and Andrew West) to bowl the first 4 overs in an attempt to exert early pressure. An early wicket for the skipper seemed to underline the wisdom of this plan but then Richard Teasdale began the fightback for the Epsom-based side with a series of leg-side blows. Fortunately he was brilliantly caught on the Mid-Wicket boundary by Jon Roberts before too much damage had been done.
The scoring rate settled at around 7 or 8 an over but a wicket or two ensured this was a tense contest. Nomads' next champagne moment in the field was a well-judged catch by Mark Bradshaw at Mid-Off off the bowling of the temperamental but accurate Amateur Golfer West which helped to keep the scoring rate - and the swearing rate - to manageable proportions.
Leagonians had one particularly hard-hitting batsmen but Oli Amos and Jon Roberts kept things reasonably tight in the main, allowing him only one really big over. Nick Lefebve was the 5th bowler and managed to confuse the batsmen with his low left arm before the star man managed to strike a few blows, ensuring the Left-armer went for 19 off his 2 - only just above the average for the innings.
Leagonians closed on 87 for 4 off their 10.
Nomads batting line-up had an uncertain look to it, with only Mark Bradshaw and Mahesh Vyas being established top order players with recent experience. Neither Amos nor Roberts had played competitively for at least 4 years.
Disaster struck with Vyas playing on early and then Bradshaw, after 2 or 3 nice off-side boundaries, adjudged Leg Before. The score was 29 for 2 when Oli and Jon came together but the pair immediately looked more than capable. Oli perhaps the more correct of the 2 with some fine Cover Drives with Jon, perhaps the harder hitter, taking full advantage of anything loose, especially overpitched.
An exhilarating stand of 51 followed before Roberts fell for 22. This brought Lefebve in with 8 needed for victory off 9 balls. Fortunately, a short one down leg side was turned for 4 and then a leg bye brought Amos back on strike. The debutant made no mistake, finding the Mid Wicket boundary, to leave himself on 34 not out and secure the victory with a full over to spare.
Old Leagonians 87 for 4 from 10 overs
Nomads' bowling
Todorow 2-0-13-2
West 2-0-14-1
Amos 2-0-11-1
Lefebve 2-0-19-0
Roberts 2-0-29-0
Clapham Nomads 88 for 3 (Amos 34 not out)
Bradshaw 12
Vyas 1
Amos 34 not out
Roberts 22
Lefebve 4 not out
F.O.W. - 18, 29, 80
Nomads won by 7 wickets.
Man of the Match - Oli Amos
Fielder of the Match - Jon Roberts.
Nomads kept the same order for the 15-over-a-side decider against RS Casuals; a talented and friendly Sutton-based side.
Mark Bradshaw and Mahesh Vyas made a very decent start with Vyas finding the boundary with a series of leg-side pulls against anything short. I had to leave with the score on around 40 for 0 off 6 overs.
We were never really able to cut loose against a disciplined bowling attack - a couple of wickets in the second half of the innings slowed us down as well - and we finished on 79 for 2, a rate of only just over 5 per over.
Casuals eventually ran out comfortable winners by 9 wickets, with almost 5 overs to spare, despite excellent Nomads fielding. The highlight was a wicket for Andrew West which apparently was met with a memorable celebration from the big man. which gives him, tentatively, the Man of the Match title for this game.
Clapham Nomads 79 for 2 from 15 overs
Bradshaw 31 not out
Vyas 17
Roberts 14
Amos not out 5
F.O.W. - 46, 72
RS Casuals 81 for 1 from 10.2 overs
Nomads' bowling
Todorow 3-0-15-0
Amos 3-0-18-0
Roberts 2.2-0-30-0
West 2-0-21-1
Nomads lost by 9 wickets
Man of the Match - Andrew West (his wicket saved us from a record-breaking 10 wicket defeat.)
So Nomads lost our crown but it was another enjoyable day and thanks again to Richard and the Leagonians for organising it.
FINAL TABLE
1. RS Casuals - Played 2 Won 2 Points 4
2. Clapham Nomads - Played 2 Won 1 Points 2
3. Old Leagonians - Played 2 Won 0 Points 0
Man of the Tournament etc to be decided, and I will enter all the scores here when I get the book back.
UPDATE...Man of the Tournament was Oli Amos for a fine all-round performance to clinch victory in the first game. He did nothing wrong in the second game either.
Top scorer overall was, as as in the previous tournament, Mark Bradshaw.
We were second game up. The curtain raiser saw RS Casuals grind out a 30-odd run win over our old friends the Old Leagonians. 125 to approx 95. This game almost went the distance, so we were not on until after 4, making 3 full T20 games an unlikely proposition. It was agreed we would have a 10 over a side thrash against the Leagonians followed by one for the purists, a 15 over a side war of attrition against the Casuals.
Hard hit again by Ramadan, holidays, injuries, family issues etc, Skipper Todorow had done well to assemble a passable squad including new men Oli Amos and Jon Roberts who looked impressive as we limbered up in the pre-match nets.
Nomads had only 2 men who had bowled in a competitive match this season and Todorow turned to them (himself and Andrew West) to bowl the first 4 overs in an attempt to exert early pressure. An early wicket for the skipper seemed to underline the wisdom of this plan but then Richard Teasdale began the fightback for the Epsom-based side with a series of leg-side blows. Fortunately he was brilliantly caught on the Mid-Wicket boundary by Jon Roberts before too much damage had been done.
The scoring rate settled at around 7 or 8 an over but a wicket or two ensured this was a tense contest. Nomads' next champagne moment in the field was a well-judged catch by Mark Bradshaw at Mid-Off off the bowling of the temperamental but accurate Amateur Golfer West which helped to keep the scoring rate - and the swearing rate - to manageable proportions.
Leagonians had one particularly hard-hitting batsmen but Oli Amos and Jon Roberts kept things reasonably tight in the main, allowing him only one really big over. Nick Lefebve was the 5th bowler and managed to confuse the batsmen with his low left arm before the star man managed to strike a few blows, ensuring the Left-armer went for 19 off his 2 - only just above the average for the innings.
Leagonians closed on 87 for 4 off their 10.
Nomads batting line-up had an uncertain look to it, with only Mark Bradshaw and Mahesh Vyas being established top order players with recent experience. Neither Amos nor Roberts had played competitively for at least 4 years.
Disaster struck with Vyas playing on early and then Bradshaw, after 2 or 3 nice off-side boundaries, adjudged Leg Before. The score was 29 for 2 when Oli and Jon came together but the pair immediately looked more than capable. Oli perhaps the more correct of the 2 with some fine Cover Drives with Jon, perhaps the harder hitter, taking full advantage of anything loose, especially overpitched.
An exhilarating stand of 51 followed before Roberts fell for 22. This brought Lefebve in with 8 needed for victory off 9 balls. Fortunately, a short one down leg side was turned for 4 and then a leg bye brought Amos back on strike. The debutant made no mistake, finding the Mid Wicket boundary, to leave himself on 34 not out and secure the victory with a full over to spare.
Old Leagonians 87 for 4 from 10 overs
Nomads' bowling
Todorow 2-0-13-2
West 2-0-14-1
Amos 2-0-11-1
Lefebve 2-0-19-0
Roberts 2-0-29-0
Clapham Nomads 88 for 3 (Amos 34 not out)
Bradshaw 12
Vyas 1
Amos 34 not out
Roberts 22
Lefebve 4 not out
F.O.W. - 18, 29, 80
Nomads won by 7 wickets.
Man of the Match - Oli Amos
Fielder of the Match - Jon Roberts.
Nomads kept the same order for the 15-over-a-side decider against RS Casuals; a talented and friendly Sutton-based side.
Mark Bradshaw and Mahesh Vyas made a very decent start with Vyas finding the boundary with a series of leg-side pulls against anything short. I had to leave with the score on around 40 for 0 off 6 overs.
We were never really able to cut loose against a disciplined bowling attack - a couple of wickets in the second half of the innings slowed us down as well - and we finished on 79 for 2, a rate of only just over 5 per over.
Casuals eventually ran out comfortable winners by 9 wickets, with almost 5 overs to spare, despite excellent Nomads fielding. The highlight was a wicket for Andrew West which apparently was met with a memorable celebration from the big man. which gives him, tentatively, the Man of the Match title for this game.
Clapham Nomads 79 for 2 from 15 overs
Bradshaw 31 not out
Vyas 17
Roberts 14
Amos not out 5
F.O.W. - 46, 72
RS Casuals 81 for 1 from 10.2 overs
Nomads' bowling
Todorow 3-0-15-0
Amos 3-0-18-0
Roberts 2.2-0-30-0
West 2-0-21-1
Nomads lost by 9 wickets
Man of the Match - Andrew West (his wicket saved us from a record-breaking 10 wicket defeat.)
So Nomads lost our crown but it was another enjoyable day and thanks again to Richard and the Leagonians for organising it.
FINAL TABLE
1. RS Casuals - Played 2 Won 2 Points 4
2. Clapham Nomads - Played 2 Won 1 Points 2
3. Old Leagonians - Played 2 Won 0 Points 0
Man of the Tournament etc to be decided, and I will enter all the scores here when I get the book back.
UPDATE...Man of the Tournament was Oli Amos for a fine all-round performance to clinch victory in the first game. He did nothing wrong in the second game either.
Top scorer overall was, as as in the previous tournament, Mark Bradshaw.
Thursday, 11 June 2015
Clapham Nomads v Wimbledon United - 7/6/15
We were massively hit by injury and withdrawals from this game - not making excuses (honestly) - and Skipper Todorow did well to raise 10. Some of the guys then put a call out to their friend Mohib who turned up later. In fact, it was a 12-a-side game which had been suggested by United earlier in the week but, technophobe that I am, I had missed the email. The away side had an extra man and it was agreed that they would lend us a fielder and one of our men could bat twice.
Due to uncertainties about our depleted batting line-up, Todorow inserted Wimbledon and received an early-ish reward with Imran making the breakthrough with the score around 30. The scoring rate was decent but Nomads struck again when the skipper hit the stumps with an "Overpitched Yorker." The batsman said he had been playing almost entirely on the leg side and was confused because Todorow set him a 7-3 Off Side field and tried to work the crafty interpreter to leg. Anyway, 50 for 2. Game in the Balance.
Well, that was about as good as it got. A magnificent partnership of over 150 led by Alex made for a tough afternoon in the heat for Nomads' fielders. Easily the best fielder on display was United's Dave Hitchman who got through loads of work for us and was one of the few fielders to whom the Dons did not run 1s and 2s at will. As in the last game, punishment was fairly even, with Sami, Emil and Riaz probably the pick of the bowlers. Mohib went for 25 off his 2 but I thought he bowled reasonably well. There was one brief quiet spell towards the end of the innings with Riaz and Emil bowling but that turned out to be Alex's nervous nineties and the batsman soon notched up his first century for the club. As if Wimbledon don't have enough top quality batting options anyway what with Dave Hitchman and Sameer (who was not playing in this game but had made 160 the previous week.) Nomads' bowlers stuck to the task but the fielding was not great with numerous groundfielding errors. Darwin and Abdul (despite a shoulder injury) were 2 of the better fielders. 2 late wickets including a smart catch by wicket-keeper John Crossland off Darwin saw the innings close on 223 for 4 off the full 35.
Nomads were missing 4 men who were our regular Top 4 last season; Mark, Mahesh, Prasanth and Hassan. A lot was going to depend on Gul, Riaz and Darwin. Still, we had to be positive and Mohib was also highly spoken of. Anyway, we all know that Joseph Hood in High Summer is a batsman's paradise.........
.......Or is it? After 6.1 overs, Nomads were 16 for 4 with Peter Brown, "The Southfields Express", cutting a swathe through us and Nomads frankly looking odds-on to break a long-standing record (our all-time low innings total of 39.) Sound play by Abdul and Hamid took us past this first target before Hamid was caught. 40 for 5. Abdul and Nick Lefebve then put on 47 to restore some respectability with the veteran blocker leaving anything outside off, prodding out anything on the stumps and having a wild and usually unsuccessful swish at anything outside leg. This succeeded in boring the spectators, frustrating the bowlers and contributing 4 to the partnership while Abdul hit some nice 4s off the slow-medium Samir who tended to overpitch. Unfortunately the win was now beyond us. The 50 stand was prevented when Abdul was bowled by Dean for a fine 43. With Riaz being, by popular choice, the man who would bat again, the remaining batsman started to go for their shots. Sami made a cameo 12 with 2 nice leg-side boundaries, Lefebve and Imran were bowled slogging and then Emil played nicely for a quick 12. Riaz returned and gave us what we wanted to see with a towering 6 over mid-wicket to take the deficit below 100 just before we ran out of overs.
Despite (as Old Leagonians would say) having our pants pulled down for the first time this season, this was an enjoyable afternoon as games against Wimbledon United usually are. They are a very talented side and we have done well to beat them twice (and to be a only a fingertip away from a third win) since May 2013.
Man of the Match was Abdul; by far the bast batting and he fielded OK despite injury. I will give Fielder of the Day to John Crossland who conceded few if any byes after about the fifth over and took our only catch.
Quote of the Day - "Some of our batsman are like cups of tea. They are OK while they last, but they don't last long." - Who else but John Crossland ?
Wimbledon United 223 for 4 from 35 overs (Alex 104)
Nomads' bowling
Sami 7-0-29-0
Imran 7-0-48-1
E. Todorow 7-0-28-1
Abdul Khan 7-0-49-0
Mohib 2-0-25-0
R. Khan 4-0-30-1
D. Gunawardena 1-0-5-1
Clapham Nomads 129 for 10 from 35 overs - (12-a-side match)
Gul b Brown 6
R. Khan caught ? b Brown 9
D. Gunawardena b Brown 0
Mohib lbw Rowan 0
Hamid caught ? b Rowan 9
Abdul Khan b Dean 43
N. Lefebve b Martin 8
Sami caught ? b Hasan 12
Imran b Martin 4
E. Todorow b Martin 12
J. Crossland not out 0
R. Khan (extra innings) not out 12
F.O.W. - 15, 15, 16, 16, 40, 87, 100, 106, 111, 117
Nomads lost by 94 runs.
Due to uncertainties about our depleted batting line-up, Todorow inserted Wimbledon and received an early-ish reward with Imran making the breakthrough with the score around 30. The scoring rate was decent but Nomads struck again when the skipper hit the stumps with an "Overpitched Yorker." The batsman said he had been playing almost entirely on the leg side and was confused because Todorow set him a 7-3 Off Side field and tried to work the crafty interpreter to leg. Anyway, 50 for 2. Game in the Balance.
Well, that was about as good as it got. A magnificent partnership of over 150 led by Alex made for a tough afternoon in the heat for Nomads' fielders. Easily the best fielder on display was United's Dave Hitchman who got through loads of work for us and was one of the few fielders to whom the Dons did not run 1s and 2s at will. As in the last game, punishment was fairly even, with Sami, Emil and Riaz probably the pick of the bowlers. Mohib went for 25 off his 2 but I thought he bowled reasonably well. There was one brief quiet spell towards the end of the innings with Riaz and Emil bowling but that turned out to be Alex's nervous nineties and the batsman soon notched up his first century for the club. As if Wimbledon don't have enough top quality batting options anyway what with Dave Hitchman and Sameer (who was not playing in this game but had made 160 the previous week.) Nomads' bowlers stuck to the task but the fielding was not great with numerous groundfielding errors. Darwin and Abdul (despite a shoulder injury) were 2 of the better fielders. 2 late wickets including a smart catch by wicket-keeper John Crossland off Darwin saw the innings close on 223 for 4 off the full 35.
Nomads were missing 4 men who were our regular Top 4 last season; Mark, Mahesh, Prasanth and Hassan. A lot was going to depend on Gul, Riaz and Darwin. Still, we had to be positive and Mohib was also highly spoken of. Anyway, we all know that Joseph Hood in High Summer is a batsman's paradise.........
.......Or is it? After 6.1 overs, Nomads were 16 for 4 with Peter Brown, "The Southfields Express", cutting a swathe through us and Nomads frankly looking odds-on to break a long-standing record (our all-time low innings total of 39.) Sound play by Abdul and Hamid took us past this first target before Hamid was caught. 40 for 5. Abdul and Nick Lefebve then put on 47 to restore some respectability with the veteran blocker leaving anything outside off, prodding out anything on the stumps and having a wild and usually unsuccessful swish at anything outside leg. This succeeded in boring the spectators, frustrating the bowlers and contributing 4 to the partnership while Abdul hit some nice 4s off the slow-medium Samir who tended to overpitch. Unfortunately the win was now beyond us. The 50 stand was prevented when Abdul was bowled by Dean for a fine 43. With Riaz being, by popular choice, the man who would bat again, the remaining batsman started to go for their shots. Sami made a cameo 12 with 2 nice leg-side boundaries, Lefebve and Imran were bowled slogging and then Emil played nicely for a quick 12. Riaz returned and gave us what we wanted to see with a towering 6 over mid-wicket to take the deficit below 100 just before we ran out of overs.
Despite (as Old Leagonians would say) having our pants pulled down for the first time this season, this was an enjoyable afternoon as games against Wimbledon United usually are. They are a very talented side and we have done well to beat them twice (and to be a only a fingertip away from a third win) since May 2013.
Man of the Match was Abdul; by far the bast batting and he fielded OK despite injury. I will give Fielder of the Day to John Crossland who conceded few if any byes after about the fifth over and took our only catch.
Quote of the Day - "Some of our batsman are like cups of tea. They are OK while they last, but they don't last long." - Who else but John Crossland ?
Wimbledon United 223 for 4 from 35 overs (Alex 104)
Nomads' bowling
Sami 7-0-29-0
Imran 7-0-48-1
E. Todorow 7-0-28-1
Abdul Khan 7-0-49-0
Mohib 2-0-25-0
R. Khan 4-0-30-1
D. Gunawardena 1-0-5-1
Clapham Nomads 129 for 10 from 35 overs - (12-a-side match)
Gul b Brown 6
R. Khan caught ? b Brown 9
D. Gunawardena b Brown 0
Mohib lbw Rowan 0
Hamid caught ? b Rowan 9
Abdul Khan b Dean 43
N. Lefebve b Martin 8
Sami caught ? b Hasan 12
Imran b Martin 4
E. Todorow b Martin 12
J. Crossland not out 0
R. Khan (extra innings) not out 12
F.O.W. - 15, 15, 16, 16, 40, 87, 100, 106, 111, 117
Nomads lost by 94 runs.
Thursday, 4 June 2015
Clapham Nomads v Barnes Occasionals - 31/5/15
Nomads just lost out by 18 runs to Barnes Occasionals in a very entertaining match at Abbey Rec. This was notable for a fantastic six-hitting, car roof-crunching half-century off approximately 26 balls from Riaz, an early morning dash back from Spain by Ollie Hogg of the Occasionals, who was not playing but was understandably anxious to get a glimpse of this very watchable Nomads side, and most importantly, the seasonal re-appearance of the charismatic Mr Andrew West.
Chasing 186 off 30 (Roger Price had top-scored for the visitors with 70-odd), we were at one stage (with Riaz in control) 77 for 1 off 7 and a half overs. Riaz received able support from Mark, who was unluckily out played on to a thick inside edge, and Gul who scored 53 at a rather steadier pace than Riaz.) However the middle order lost its way somewhat, especially against the very tricky Keith Seed who went for only 3.7 per over and the late men had a bit too much to do, with 19 needed off the last 2 overs.
Man of the Match was Riaz. Fielder of the Day was Mahesh who produced one of his stunning, full-length diving, fingertip slip catches. FULL REPORT TO FOLLOW.
REPORT .... Nomads were only able to raise 9 players who could do the full shift and 2 who could play part of the game. I was one of the 2 and I emerged from a hole in the Abbey Rec hedge just after 3 pm together with Andrew West (who was late) just in time to see Occasionals' batting star Roger Price despatching Emil Todorow over the mid-wicket boundary for 6. This kind of set the tone for the rest of the innings and Price went on to score a pretty rapid 70-odd, with Nomads dropping him - possible crucially - at least twice.
Barnes kept up a consistent rate of above 6 an over with punishment being shared out fairly evenly. Our highlight was the seasonal debut of West, an increasingly charismatic figure and one of the few Nomads the public would pay to see, should we ever start selling tickets to our games. The big man was not quite at his best, having not bowled for some time, and went for almost 10 an over but showed a mature attitude by bagging a wicket and only threatening to retire once.
A direct hit run out from Abdul ("The throwmaster") was another bright spot but Barnes, who have started to develop a youth policy with positive results, posted an imposing 185 for 6 at the close. Abdul and new man Imran shared equally the other 4 wickets.
Someone said the pitch was slow (and in fact on the next-door pitch, Nursery Road, Energy Exiles' Keith Roberts made 12 from 66 balls) but our track was anything but sluggish and Nomads openers Mark Bradshaw and Riaz Khan fairly burst out of the traps and we had already reached 49 in the 6th over when Bradshaw was most unluckily out played on to a thick inside edge. The bowler was Dan Hogg (another of the famous dynasty - (? nephew of Ollie and son of Adam) who impressed with good pace and hostility bowling left-arm round. He hit No. 3 Gul in the collar-bone with a lifter early in Gul's innings. At the other end was Tom Hooker who bowled straight enough but for some reason Riaz just took an absolute shine to him and dispatched him for two sixes off his second over and a brutal 22, including 2 further clearances, off his 4th. The last of these sixes hit a car roof which reminded me of an Energy Exiles batsman hitting a car at this ground a few years back which prompted some wag to ask; "Are you fully ensured, Emil?" This was met with an uncomfortable silence.
Riaz and Gul kept up the pace and Riaz reached his 50 off approximately 26 balls. Sadly, he had to leave for Night Shift and went into Death or Glory mode and was stumped. Gul and Mahesh took us well over 100 with Tooting's finest barber making a 50 of his own before being trapped leg before.
I had to leave myself at this point and the required rate was down below 5 an over. Sadly, Mahesh and Imran became rather bogged down against the legendary Keith Seed who is lethal on a slow pitch but still difficult enough to score off on a fast track like this one. The asking rate went up and up as wickets fell - a six from Abdul was one of the few high-points - and we found ourselves needing 19 from the last 2 overs. Emil Todorow and Andrew West were both bowled by Blair in the attempt and we fell 18 runs short.
We certainly missed Hassan and Abbas in this game and I hope they will both be back soon. Also, if Riaz had been able to stay just another 10 minutes that might have been enough, but all credit to Occasionals' improving side for a fine victory - their first against Nomads for a while.
Man of the Match was Riaz (another Nomad the public might pay to watch.) Fielder of the Day was Abdul.
Barnes Occasionals 185 for 6 from 30 overs (Price 72 (?) )
Nomads' bowling
Sami 6-0-36-0
E. Todorow 6-1-33-0
Abdul Khan 6-0-33-2
R. Khan 2-0-11-0
A. West 5-0-47-0
Imran 5-0-22-2
Clapham Nomads 167 from 28.5 overs
M. Bradshaw 17
R. Khan 50
Gul 53
M. Vyas 7
Imran 7
Abdul Khan 9
Sami 3
E. Todorow 3
J. Crossland not out 0
A. West 0
Did not bat; N. Lefebve (had to leave early due to work commitments - pre-arranged with the captain.)
F. O. W. - 49, 92, 134, 142, 154, 167, 167, 167
Nomads lost by 18 runs.
Chasing 186 off 30 (Roger Price had top-scored for the visitors with 70-odd), we were at one stage (with Riaz in control) 77 for 1 off 7 and a half overs. Riaz received able support from Mark, who was unluckily out played on to a thick inside edge, and Gul who scored 53 at a rather steadier pace than Riaz.) However the middle order lost its way somewhat, especially against the very tricky Keith Seed who went for only 3.7 per over and the late men had a bit too much to do, with 19 needed off the last 2 overs.
Man of the Match was Riaz. Fielder of the Day was Mahesh who produced one of his stunning, full-length diving, fingertip slip catches. FULL REPORT TO FOLLOW.
REPORT .... Nomads were only able to raise 9 players who could do the full shift and 2 who could play part of the game. I was one of the 2 and I emerged from a hole in the Abbey Rec hedge just after 3 pm together with Andrew West (who was late) just in time to see Occasionals' batting star Roger Price despatching Emil Todorow over the mid-wicket boundary for 6. This kind of set the tone for the rest of the innings and Price went on to score a pretty rapid 70-odd, with Nomads dropping him - possible crucially - at least twice.
Barnes kept up a consistent rate of above 6 an over with punishment being shared out fairly evenly. Our highlight was the seasonal debut of West, an increasingly charismatic figure and one of the few Nomads the public would pay to see, should we ever start selling tickets to our games. The big man was not quite at his best, having not bowled for some time, and went for almost 10 an over but showed a mature attitude by bagging a wicket and only threatening to retire once.
A direct hit run out from Abdul ("The throwmaster") was another bright spot but Barnes, who have started to develop a youth policy with positive results, posted an imposing 185 for 6 at the close. Abdul and new man Imran shared equally the other 4 wickets.
Someone said the pitch was slow (and in fact on the next-door pitch, Nursery Road, Energy Exiles' Keith Roberts made 12 from 66 balls) but our track was anything but sluggish and Nomads openers Mark Bradshaw and Riaz Khan fairly burst out of the traps and we had already reached 49 in the 6th over when Bradshaw was most unluckily out played on to a thick inside edge. The bowler was Dan Hogg (another of the famous dynasty - (? nephew of Ollie and son of Adam) who impressed with good pace and hostility bowling left-arm round. He hit No. 3 Gul in the collar-bone with a lifter early in Gul's innings. At the other end was Tom Hooker who bowled straight enough but for some reason Riaz just took an absolute shine to him and dispatched him for two sixes off his second over and a brutal 22, including 2 further clearances, off his 4th. The last of these sixes hit a car roof which reminded me of an Energy Exiles batsman hitting a car at this ground a few years back which prompted some wag to ask; "Are you fully ensured, Emil?" This was met with an uncomfortable silence.
Riaz and Gul kept up the pace and Riaz reached his 50 off approximately 26 balls. Sadly, he had to leave for Night Shift and went into Death or Glory mode and was stumped. Gul and Mahesh took us well over 100 with Tooting's finest barber making a 50 of his own before being trapped leg before.
I had to leave myself at this point and the required rate was down below 5 an over. Sadly, Mahesh and Imran became rather bogged down against the legendary Keith Seed who is lethal on a slow pitch but still difficult enough to score off on a fast track like this one. The asking rate went up and up as wickets fell - a six from Abdul was one of the few high-points - and we found ourselves needing 19 from the last 2 overs. Emil Todorow and Andrew West were both bowled by Blair in the attempt and we fell 18 runs short.
We certainly missed Hassan and Abbas in this game and I hope they will both be back soon. Also, if Riaz had been able to stay just another 10 minutes that might have been enough, but all credit to Occasionals' improving side for a fine victory - their first against Nomads for a while.
Man of the Match was Riaz (another Nomad the public might pay to watch.) Fielder of the Day was Abdul.
Barnes Occasionals 185 for 6 from 30 overs (Price 72 (?) )
Nomads' bowling
Sami 6-0-36-0
E. Todorow 6-1-33-0
Abdul Khan 6-0-33-2
R. Khan 2-0-11-0
A. West 5-0-47-0
Imran 5-0-22-2
Clapham Nomads 167 from 28.5 overs
M. Bradshaw 17
R. Khan 50
Gul 53
M. Vyas 7
Imran 7
Abdul Khan 9
Sami 3
E. Todorow 3
J. Crossland not out 0
A. West 0
Did not bat; N. Lefebve (had to leave early due to work commitments - pre-arranged with the captain.)
F. O. W. - 49, 92, 134, 142, 154, 167, 167, 167
Nomads lost by 18 runs.
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