ANZACs vs NCSU

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The Anzacs mid-season slump had begun. A stunning defeat by lowly RCC had
set us up nicely, and the next game against NCSU started quite ominously for
us with Simon rewriting the laws of probability by losing yet another toss.
It is the recommendation of the Anzacs cricket club that Simon stay away
from Atlantic City and for that matter any other place where luck might be a
factor. Paradoxically, getting lucky is an integral part of his existence.
The flicx pitch saw to it that Parth and Satbir started tentatively. They
stuck with the plan of trying to get the shine off the ball before they
realized to their horror that NCSU were using a Dukes ball. They decided to
open up and scored a few rasping singles before Parth got one that jumped on
him and fell to a sharp catch. Satbir followed soon after, and Simon came on
to bat and declared that he could see the ball as big as a Dukes ball.
Unfortunately, he fell victim to a classic ‘The ball was short so I went on
the back foot to guide it but the bloody flicx pitch didn’t allow the ball
to bounce much and I was bowled’ dismissal. Shekhar didn’t do much better
and was adjudged to be in front of the wickets. The Anzacs’ ‘Mr.
Consistency’ alias Shaluka decided he wanted a batting average very badly
and ran himself out. After Panda flattered to deceive, the Anzacs were 6
down for fewer than 40.
Enter Sudeep, whose only claim to fame so far was a lucky swing off the last
ball off a match. The pressure was on with NCSU giving nothing away. Ketan
then set off for a non-existent single, and faced with the tricky choice of
making it back to his crease or stopping the ball, he chose the latter.
Sunil managed to eke out yet another dicey LBW decision and the Anzacs were
in deeper trouble. As has happened many times this season, the Anzacs
managed to dig themselves out of a hole. This time it was through Hugh and
Sudeep. Batting sensibly, they nudged the score along till the 28th over
before launching an all out attack on the bowling. 25 runs came off the last
two overs as Sudeep unleashed strokes from his repertoire that he didn’t
even know he had, and Hugh joined the party towards the end. The Anzacs
finished with 98 off 29.5 overs, a much healthier score than what seemed
likely.
The Anzacs bowling would quickly prove this to be a more than challenging
total. A fired up Parth was full of antics and gave mock lessons to the
batsmen on how to bat. He was quite reminiscent of Glen McGrath at his best
behavior. Though wicket less, Parth and Hugh put the NCSU batsmen firmly on
the back foot. Satbir provided the initial breakthrough with a fine in
swinger. Ronnie was in play the next two dismissals with a catch and a run
out as the Anzacs had taken control of the game. Though NCSU needed 43 off
the last 10 overs with 6 wickets in hand, they never looked like they were
going to win. Hugh and Sunil quickly polished them off, picking up 6 wickets
between them for 2 runs and the Anzacs won in the end by 40 runs. Only one
NCSU batsman made it to double figures in what was a thoroughly professional
demolition job by the bowlers. Way to avoid a mid-season slump, in Simon’s
own words.

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