ANZACs vs GH
On Sunday, April 21, the Carolina ANZACs traveled to Greenville, NC, to play the Hurricanes. They are a new team to our league, led by a former member of the ANZACs, Majid Rafiq. The game was played on a good field under wonderful sunny skies. The pitch, a mat over a well mowed and rolled strip of grass, looked to be playing very true. The outfield was big and grassy so boundaries would be hard to come by. Majid won the toss and sent the ANZACs in to bat.

The innings started well for the ANZACs. Damien and Harman set about the bowling which did not look very menacing. The first six overs produced 41 runs without incident, and we knew we were set for a big target. Together, the two openers kept their heads about them and set off to build a big score. Harman took a little more of the strike and looked to be heading to a half century when he got a ball that stayed a bit low and cut back on him to trap him LBW for 44 and a partnership of 98.

Andre proceeded out to the middle after a remarkably quiet hour on the sidelines. He didn't look in menacing form, but helped to rotate the strike to Damien who marched on to yet another half century in just 51 balls. These seem to be the norm these days as Damien is enjoying the best
form of his life these last two years in the US. Andre went soon after for 12. But with 12 overs to go in the game, and Damien looking untroubled in the middle those on the sidelines could see the thought growing in his mind that a century was in the offering. Regular updates started flowing in on overs to go and runs needed. The big question would be whether his batting partners would be able to rotate the strike sufficiently.

At a couple of points he tried to get all the runs in one ball and almost cost himself the opportunity when the keeper put down a very difficult chance at both a catch and a stumping, and again when he was dropped at long on. But from that point on he kept his head down and set about the unlikely milestone. Nobody has ever scored a century for the ANZACs before.

Shekhar helped the target along with some able running, but seemed to be too eager to smash the ball around the ground rather than simply take singles, before was out for 24. Satbir lasted just two balls for a well earned duck, and Parth wasn't much help either running a pair of doubles and refusing to give up strike, before being out for 4. But Ketan did the job perfectly and gave Damien every chance to make his ton.

With ten balls to go, Damien on 96 and Ketan on strike there was still a question, but a single and well struck boundary saw Damien go to his second ever century and first ever for the ANZACs. It was a brilliant innings in just 83 balls. The final over saw him throw off the anxiety of the nervous nineties and set about the bowling to ensure a scoring error didn't take the ton away from him. He ended on 115 not out off just 89 balls. An unconfirmed report is that this is also the first time an ANZACs batsman has ever carried his bat through 30 overs. As he came off the field both sides gave him ovation on a great performance.

The ANZACs ended on 225/5.

The second half of the day was a foregone conclusion after Parth opened with six overs on the trot for just 15 runs (6-0-15-1). Only the margin of victory was in doubt. Ronnie came back well to finish with 5-0-36-2 including the wicket of Majid for a golden duck. Ronnie was on a hattrick
but managed to bowl a wide down the leg side. Satbir (3-0-5-0), Kartik (6-2-23-2), Harman (6-1-13-1) and Ketan (1.5-1-2-3) were the rest of the bowlers, but their figures were slightly inflated as Greenvilleseemed intent on batting through the 30 overs rather than make any attempt at
scoring runs. In the end we bowled them out for 96 to win by 129 runs.

In the end there was no doubt as to who the man of the match was. Damien played a fantastic innings and was a joy for all of us who witnessed it to watch.
 
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