Land a record catch nearly on return (6)
I believe the answer is:
angola
'land' is the definition.
(African country)
'a record catch nearly on return' is the wordplay.
'record' becomes 'log' (log is a kind of record).
'catch nearly' becomes 'na' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'on return' says the letters should be written backwards.
'a'+'log'+'na'='alogna'
'alogna' written backwards gives 'ANGOLA'.
(Other definitions for angola that I've seen before include "Luanda is its capital city" , "SW African republic, capital Luanda" , "SW African nation" , "SW African state" , "West African country" .)