So with the captain and vice-captain selected strictly to maintain club identity, this decidedly multicultural Anzacs team set out onto the field after Damien won the toss and elected to field. Parth opened the proceedings with a wide, and so the Anzacs kicked off their campaign in fine style, giving away an average of infinite runs per over. Such numbers are slightly hard to maintain despite the Anzacs’ high standards, and at the end of the over TCC had 3 on the board. Satbir shared the new ball with Parth, and emulated him by promptly beginning his over with a wide as well. The duo soon settled into a good line and length and was unfortunate not to get wickets despite beating the bat on a number of occasions. TCC were 20 for no loss at the end of 6 overs, and it seemed like they had weathered the early storm. The introduction of Hugh into the attack in the seventh over would change all that though, and he struck in the third ball of his first over, having Rajesh caught by Ronnie for 6. The Kiwi (Black Cap?) revelation would continue as Hugh went on to pick up wickets in his second and third overs including a caught behind by Damien off a lifter of a delivery, and a fine diving catch by Yogesh. 11 overs completed, 4 wickets down, and yet no dropped catches in sight. Needless to say, this caused a little concern among the spectators as to the mental health of those on the field. At this point, Damien of all people put down a half chance, and everyone nodded in agreement that the Anzacs were positively gaga on the day. Hugh’s figures at the end of his first spell read 3-0-3-4, quite an agreeable state of affairs for the vice-captain. Parth took a wicket just before the drinks interval to leave TCC struggling at 55 for 5. Hugh returned to clean up Syed for 2 to claim his fiver, and after Andre surprised everyone including himself by picking up a quick wicket, the Anzacs’ openers were getting ready to pad up. Andre’s fortunes came to an end thereafter, as he got number nine Rajesh to cut the ball in the air straight to Shaluka, only to see him make a fine diving chesting save, forgetting for a crucial instant that he was playing cricket and not soccer. A relieved sigh went around the ground, and we welcomed the Anzacs to this year’s competition. One more dropped catch later, TCC decided to fight back and put on 45 runs for the 8th wicket. Samir in particular played some good shots and helped TCC get closer to a competitive total. Andre finally had his revenge, getting Rajesh to hole out to long on where Parth completed a well judged catch close to the boundary line. TCC finally ended up with 139 runs for 9 wickets, with Samir unbeaten on 61.
The ball appeared to stop on the batsmen a bit, and it seemed like 140 might prove tricky to get. But as Damien and Harman would quickly prove, the only place the ball stopped was at the boundary fences for the most part. Both openers were quickly into their stride, and played in characteristic fashion. While Damien frustrated the bowlers by cleverly dispatching seemingly good balls at unbelievable angles, Harman displayed his natural elegance as a left hander. Any hopes TCC had of pulling off a minor upset were quickly put to rest, as the partnership yielded 75 runs in just 10.1 overs. The bowling had no demons (just a few scary Indians), and a 10-wicket victory was definitely on the cards. But then the biggest demon of them all was standing at the umpire’s spot, and gave Damien out LBW (we think), even though the ball had about half a mile to travel before it hit the stumps (if at all). Satbir joined Harman in the middle and it’s a good thing they are a right and left hand combination, ‘coz it is getting increasingly difficult to tell them apart. While Harman is aping Satbir from the neck up, Satbir is aping Harman from the neck down. Rumor also has it that Satbir has been altering his birth certificate to match Harman’s age. Thankfully all this manipulation hasn’t affected his batting, and the two turbanless turbonators went about the task, knocking off the runs without much fuss. Enough cricket, let’s get back to the Andre bashing. If you’re wondering where Andre was while all this was happening, he was all padded up, growing more frustrated with every additional run scored. Soon enough, he started hurling abuses at TCC’s fielders who in turn promptly ignored them. He then tried to make conversation with the rest of the Anzacs players, but did not find much reciprocation there. As a last ditch effort, he turned to Sudeep who, much to everyone’s horror, entered into a monologue on how Spiderman had no place among super heroes. The ephemeral peace at Morrisville was then shattered by Andre braying to the tune of ‘It’s a lovely day for cricket’; a self-composition comprising of only the title and no tune whatsoever. Relief arrived on the ground in the form of Andre’s five-year-old son, and we were blessed with silence, even as the collective wisdom of West Indians at the ground suddenly shot up by 300 percent. Yes, on with the cricket, the Anzacs went to the drinks break looking healthy at 97 for 1, needing another 43 for victory off 15 overs. Harman was 21 short of a well deserved half-century, and so Satbir was instructed not to score too much to let Harman get to his fifty. It was probably Damien’s cockney accent, but all things said and done, Satbir completely misunderstood the instructions and smashed the vast majority of the remaining runs including the match winning six to end up on 50 runs even. Credit goes to the scorer (Sudeep) for ‘evening’ his score out from 48 to 50 in one master stroke that left a befuddled Satbir wondering how the scorebook shows his final shot as fetching just 2 runs. Harman meanwhile was stranded on 38, also wondering where things went wrong. It was a truly confusing end to an otherwise good game for the two Punjabis.