Greetings to all the once-a-week and sedentary ANZACs toiling away at home. This is the match report of the Wandering ANZACS after day 1 of the 2002 Philadelphia International Cricket Tournament. Of the 14 teams invited this year, the ANZACs are the only first-timers. But it didn't take long to dispel any notions that we would be easy-beats.

From the beautiful facilities at Merion Cricket Club (est.1865), we met the boys from Lloyd's of London for the first game. In spite of a forecast that called for rain throughout the day, the weather  was fine, the clouds were rapidly clearing and at about 15'C (59'F) with no wind to speak of, it was a perfect day for cricket. Merion Cricket Club is also known for tennis and after this tournament, the cricket field is converted into no less than 32 lawn tennis courts for the summer. As such, the conditions were incredible. Even Stephen Willott (Junior) couldn't wait to throw his wearying carcass on the beautiful soft grass. One of the ANZACs even suggested he would have been happy to pay $400 to play here.

The skipper Damien Cummins (Pants) employed a secret strategy in the field after winning the toss and electing to field first. He opened with Henry Witz (Droid), a keeper who proudly claimed to have only bowled three overs since moving to the USA, and Junior, much to the chagrin to at least one traditional opening bowler left champing at the bit. However, Pants' shrewd plan yielded a wicket in the very first over, silencing any and all criticism. Well, until Junior bowled his one and only over, troubling the scorer with sundries and boundaries for a total of nine deliveries. Satbir (Mac) replaced Junior from the Haveford Station end. After a couple more overs and another wicket, Droid was  relieved and the ANZACs bowling went from strength to strength.

The opener for Lloyd's got on top and stayed on top, before being retired per the rules at 50. The ANZACs got amongst it and completely decimated the Lloyd's middle order taking six wickets for just ten runs in the last five overs. Ronnie Arneja (Runny) bowled brilliantly at the end collecting three scalps for only ?????? runs and was ably backed up by Mac and Hugh (Jorgan). Lloyd's, in the end, made 136 which was a pretty good score on such a large ground.

Pants and Mac went out to bat and quickly established a good partnership before Mac, a magnet for such things apparently, was run out by a direct hit from mid-on. Needing 5.5 runs per over from the outset, the ANZACs were never far off track. Pants had a couple of chances and finally decided to avoid the retirement nonsense by getting himself out (LBW) on 49. With just 25 runs to get off 5 overs, the ANZACs lost a couple of quick wickets and suddenly Lloyd's were on top for the first time. With an over to go and 8 runs to get for victory, Runny faced up to a hitherto quite successful seaming leg break bowler and immediately dispatched his first ball over square leg, no more than 8 feet off the ground all the way into the window of a basement office, a distance of over 70 meters (215) feet. The response from the bowler was a very English and very politely uttered "Oh F__k". The field was brought all the way in to save singles but Runny was to have none of that,  smashing the second ball back past mid off for four. The ANZACs won with four balls and two wickets to spare and rumors  quickly spread around the tournament that we just might be the ones to watch.

Game 2 was played at nearby Haverford College, the only school in America that lists cricket as an official sport. Our old friends, Sarasota (Florida) were the foe and it looked as though it was going to be quite a friendly match. Sarasota had already played a game at this field in the morning and were resoundingly thrashed scoring only 99 and then only bowling 11 overs to concede defeat.ANZAC spirits were high and we were optimistic of easy victory. This
was our first mistake......

On the Shiloh (1-10) scale of wicket quality, Haverford was only about a  9 (Merion was at least a 20) and the thick lush grass quickly took all momentum off ground balls and limited Sarasota to mostly singles for many overs. Unfortunately, the ANZACs put down three catches that proved very costly. Eventually, Sarasota starting taking the long handle to us and used the short boundaries to their advantage. In spite of being only 82 runs after 18 overs, they were 106 after 21 and 169, for the loss of about five wickets, after 25 overs had been bowled. With very few bright spots in the bowling department, the ANZACs fielding performance in general warrants little further comment. Nevertheless, the ANZACs faith in their batting did not waiver and Pants determined that a solid opening partnership would set us up for victory. After running Mac out on the very first ball for a platinum duck, the rest of us hoped another secret strategy was unfolding. However, it was not to be as very few batsmen troubled the scorers as the ANZACs collapsed in a screaming heap being all out for 42. Sundries top scored with 21.

Over several tournament supplied Sierra Nevada and Yeungling's beers, the ANZACs reflected on a day of mixed fortunes, removed their heads from their butts and took a long, hard look at themselves. With the first game of Day 2 being against the undefeated, and tournament favorite, Timberfields side from the UK, it has quickly come down to a "must win" situation. For more details and up to the minute results, go to http://www.cricketfestival.com.

Day two of the Philadelphia Cricket festival dawned with grey skies overhead and the steady patter of rain on the roof. Scheduled to play a tough game against the defending tournament champs, Timberfields, we were advised of a change in format because of the conditions. The game would still be played, but in a reduced form indoors. Clearly, it was necessary to alter our approach to the game. The batsman stood with his back to the fence and a half moon of field out in front of him. Big hitting was no longer an option as anything that went over the fences just 30 yards from the bat was an automatic out. This was going to be a game of quick singles and a few lucky bounces.

Damien (Pants) won the toss for the third time and asked Timberfields to bat. We set the tone in the field with great zest and enthusiasm and caught them off guard. They were 5 for 8 after five overs and suddenly we thought we could bowl them out for the lowest score in the tournament. However, a few cautious batsmen and one we called back after a run out saw them build a decent score of 65 in 20 overs. This was a typical score in this format, though certainly not daunting. The ANZACs went in to bat confident of knocking the runs off and picking up the upset.

However, things went badly very quickly. Somewhere between the party the night before and the breakfast table, the ANZACs forgot how to run between the wickets. Pants and Satbir (Mac) started the innings and Pants realizing that he didn't want to run Satbir out for the third time
in as many games ran himself out instead. This continued throughout the innings with five guys taking that route back to the "pavilion". None of the batsmen was able to get among the runs and in the end we ran out of options to be bowled out for 49, a disappointing end to the day and,
apparently, of our hopes for making the final of the tournament.

The clouds clearing overhead meant an earlier than expected return to the outdoor format for the afternoon rounds. The fields at Germantown Cricket Club were spectacular. Much like the field at Merion, this one was a full 70 yards and more to the boundary in every direction and the grass was again as pristine as the fairways at Pinehurst. Our opponents were one of the host sides, the British Officers Cricket Club. Unknown to us, before the game, BOCC were undefeated and had an eye on winning the entire tournament which was considered bad form by the remainder of
the host sides (there are five). The other sides, naturally, cheered for any team playing against BOCC.

Pants finally lost a toss and we were asked to bat. Because of the later start and with the strong chance of a thunderstorm later in the afternoon, the game was reduced to 20 overs each way. The bowling looked innocuous enough, and we took to it with vigor. That proved costly as we quickly lost four wickets for about 20 runs. Then, amazingly for the ANZACs, a stable partnership developed between Sameer (Kak), who had joined us from DC for the day, and Henry (Droid) took us to 104, a challenging score. The Officers looked to be chasing well at
54 for 2 in 11 overs, but then the ANZACs came roaring back with some tight bowling and great fielding to send them all packing in the penultimate over for 79. This was a great comeback for us all after being down after the morning's play.

The evening was capped with a few hours of socializing in the Germantown club house and an Indian dinner as we all looked forward to day three of the tournament. Today will see us playing the Germantown side with their guest player, the South African vice captain Mark Boucher.

Facing our fifth game in a row, a weary ANZACs side awoke this Friday morning to a beautiful, clear day. The skies had cleared after the cold front had passed through the previous day and only a stiff wind made the conditions less than perfect. Back to Germantown we were thankful that we at least had 11 players for this game. Not knowing what to expect, Damien (Pants) and the Germantown captain went out to the middle. The Germantown captain asked Pants what he wanted to do and when told that the ANZACs would bat said "OK", so no toss was ever done. With the prospect of Mark Boucher batting against us later, the fifth innings of the tournament for the ANZACs began. In the first over, it became very apparent that Germantown were being fine hosts with no strong intention of winning the game. An American baseball player, with little cricket experience, opened the bowling, off a zero pace run up and met expectations given the scenario. He ended up bowlin g a full five over spell and the bowling at the other end was hardly intimidating. Boucher kept for the entire innings and right up at the stumps and was kept busy by a flurry of balls down the leg side off the inexperienced bowling. Pants decided again that retiring at 50 was a waste of time although it was a brilliant ankle high caught and bowled that did him in on 46. With copious wides and no balls, the opening partnership put on over 100 runs in about 15 overs. In the end, with several good contributions including a

fine 50-odd retired from Harmon (Britney), we compiled a total of 186 runs which at the time was the highest innings scored in the tournament. Germantown started with a fine opening pair that threatened early. Simon (Agro) who was crippled from four grueling matches elected not to bowl until or unless required. Pants meanwhile challenged the scorers by bowling a different bowler for each of the first eight overs before settlin g on Vijay (Muffin) and Mac for a few. After the fall of the second wicket, Mark Boucher came to the crease and eased himself in actually giving Mac a "wicked" wicket maiden for his troubles. Before long, however, he opened up and pounded two glorious straight sixes and another one over mid wicket before retiring at 50. There was not much support for Mark at the other end of the wicket and seven wickets had fallen by the time he retired, and the required run rate continued to climb in spite of his efforts. We worked hard to get rid of the next two wickets so that he could return at which time he pounded a few more balls to the boundary. Incredibly, off Satbir's (Mac's) bowling, Pants dropped a catch on the boundary at mid-wicket; an absolutely regulation catch for him normally. However, Pants agreed with the team consensus and brought himself on to bowl the next over and had Boucher caught at deep mid-on by a very determined Ronnie (Easy - previously Runny) who s howed Pants how easy it is.

In the end, the ANZACs won comfortably by about 60 runs. The afternoon was spent watching the game at Philadelphia Cricket Club on a ground easily as beautiful as Merion's, although the team is divided on this point. For my money, both grounds are so close to perfect, comparisons aren't all that meaningful. From our observations of the game in progress between Sarasota and BOCC, it seemed the wicket played very low and slow. Pants continued the generation of goodwill by the ANZACs in the tournament by performing neutral umpire along with Mac. Dragging Pants away from the umpiring and a game in which he was clearly invested, we headed back to the hotel to get ready for the next social event; a barbecue at the Merion Cricket Club. During the evening, John (Befok), Agro and Stephen (Junior) paced out Easy's big hit from the first game against Lloyds of London. We agreed it was in the vicinity of 85 meters. In Fuego! The night include d a fine buffet dinner of barbecued items and free beer while it lasted. At the end of the evening, spokesmen (usually the captain) for the various teams introduced their teams and Pants took the opportunity to give a brief history of cricket in North Carolina, focussing on the ANZACs, of course. Uncharacteristically, Pants speech ended inside the two minutes requested. The rest of the evening had even less to do with cricket and the fourth day loomed for our final game. At this stage, it had become clear that our loss to Timberfields had cost us a run at the final. BOCC had beaten everybody but us and Timberfields were unbeaten. They were to play the last game on the fourth day and if we had beaten Timberfields, we would've been through to the final. However, and perhaps luckily for the tournament, the game between those two sides was to be watched by quite a crowd because it was effectively a playoff game; the winner would go straight through to the final. Our game, at Philadelphia, was against the local team but a quick perusal of the team we were to play indicated this would again be an easy game. Pants sent the Africans in to open the innings but Henry (Droid) was beautifully caught at mid-wicket by a fellow who dropped every other chance that came his way through the rest of the innings, much to Droid's chagrin of course. Agro joined Befok in the middle and they put on about 100 before Befok retired with 50. Agro retired at 52 a couple of overs later and with several overs to go, a huge score was in the offing. Some of our batting was clearly too good for the bowling they faced as few of the recognized batsmen scored any runs of significance. In the end, the ANZACs compiled 216 for the loss of seven wickets. As expected, the Philadelphia batting was pretty casual and on ANZAC insistence, Pants opened the bowling. Even Sudeep (Hal) got a bowl. Wides and wickets were the order of the day as Pa nts got one of each in each of his first three overs. It had also been negotiated that a fine involving beer consumption would be levied against each bowler for transgressions including wides and no balls. It proved difficult to keep count but not as difficult as getting some of the boys (other than Hal) to ante up, after the game. We were going to allow all fifteen or so Germantown players to bat and always gave those with golden ducks to try again but the official umpire (yet another one from Trinidad) insisted on calling a halt to proceedings after ten wickets had fallen.

With Agro again lamenting our loss to Timberfields on Day 2 after we had them 5 for 8, we completed our involvement in the tournament with a fair 4-2 win-loss record. The BOCC v Timberfields game was played at Germantown in the afternoon and with Mark Boucher as BOCC's guest for the game, things never looked good for Timberfields although Boucher did bowl a full five overs and did not keep wick et. However, Boucher contributed another 50-odd retired to help set up the BOCC victory and their place in the final on Sunday. The night was billed as a picnic at Germantown but again, it was a silver service buffet, and ended with a few speeches, a presentation to the organizers which was loudly applauded, a presentation to Gary Kirsten's wife and Mark Boucher's girlfriend who were well worth having up on stage for a few minutes to ogle at and then a long, curious tag team performance by Kirsten and Boucher to a rapt crowd. Finally an auction was held for charity and some odd items were sold for ridiculous amounts of money as usual in such things. Final report coming next with the tournament wrap up and final thoughts.