No one can claim that the Anzacs are a bit slow on the uptake. No indeed, after a 178 run defeat at the hands of lowly High Point, the Anzacs decided that firm actions needed to be taken, and ideas explored in order to prevent such a disaster. A face-to-face meeting was called, and the entire brain trust gathered in person at a bar of some ill repute. After much heated discussions regarding player positions, roles, tactics, strategies, field placements, who finished the last pitcher of beer, etc., the wise ones came up with a brilliant idea that was guaranteed to ensure that such a score line never repeated itself, and that was this – we would no longer bowl first!

Inspiration comes from unexpected quarters, and such a maddeningly simple solution to our troubles rejuvenated us to no end, and Anzacs arrived a mere 60 minutes late for the game against Greenville Hurricanes, a team we had never lost to before. Now if inspiration comes from unexpected quarters, so do quarters spin in an unexpected fashion, and having thus lost the coin toss, skipper Ketan (Lats) exposed the only flaw in what had previously been perceived as a
watertight solution. The Greenville captain proved to be in an unaccommodating mood, and after lending an unsympathetic ear to our desire to bat first, asked us to bowl.

You can't win `em all was the war cry as the Anzacs took the field, fear of a repeat of the High Point debacle far from our minds. Nagaraj (Rattles) and Rahul (Dawg, Tendlya, Chick Flick, etc) took on the battle admirably for the Anzacs, sending both openers back to the pavilion. Rattles, who also spends his spare time masquerading as a member of the serpentine suborder, has achieved what no being in this world, human or otherwise, has been able to accomplish in as
far back as historians have bothered to document. He has managed to instill fear and common sense into soccer moms, and thereby re-established Shiloh as a ground that only cricketers are sufficiently stupid enough to brave. Dawg meanwhile, finally had the pleasure of seeing a catch being taken off his bowling, Shekhar (Pepper) being the guilty party at first slip.

Everything was going to plan (notwithstanding the coin toss), but the day's first cruel twist wasn't too far off, when Rattles had yet another caught behind decision turned down owing to the umpire's inability to see, hear, speak, or raise his finger. Distinctly rattled, Rattles got his brain into high gear in the quest for a remedy, and decided rightly or wrongly to take out the wicket keeper with a wide delivery that skidded and didn't stop doing so until it encountered the knee cap of the unfortunate subject of Rattles' fury. It was an amusing incident, though the wicket keeper Sudeep (Hal) didn't join in the merriment. In fact, he was so mirthless that he immediately handed over the wicket keeping duties to Pepper, who was to prove later in the game that he had the stomach for the job. Guts and glory are his watchwords, and any batsman who dares to lower his guard will be asking for a bellyful of trouble. Anyway, more on that later.

Danger man Faraz was at the crease, and once again the fine sportsman's spirit of the Anzacs was to the fore, as an early chance was grassed and duly regretted. Initially, it looked like Faraz might take the game away from us, but soon it became absolutely certain that he was taking the game away from us, as he gleefully waded into the bowling. Despite the onslaught at one end, Lats and
Nagi (Cobra) didn't allow the run rate to balloon out of control, keeping things quiet at the other end. Lats got rid of Vatsal, and this set the stage for the next dismissal, of which enough cannot be written, spoken, or for that matter, felt. But first, a little History…..

Those familiar with Pepper are no doubt aware that very early in life he objectively concluded that junk food is an excellent substitute for stomach crunches, and that the former should be
liberally substituted for the latter. In fact, the only association between a crunch and his stomach would be that of the sound that a chocolate chip cookie makes as it is being chewed on before being dispatched to aforementioned stomach. Being in his late twenties, with a steady job and no girlfriend, he was pre-approved for a wife in India, and after a perfunctory credit check the formalities were completed and he came away with one that could cook well enough to keep his abdominal muscles in it's state of supreme elasticity. The point being, that when Cobra beat the batsman with another teaser that caused the batsman to leave his crease for a split second, Pepper, all presence of mind intact, cleverly realized that there wasn't enough time for a traditional stumping. He allowed the ball to hit his stomach, and the ball rebounded with such velocity that it broke the sound barrier before breaking the wickets, and the batsman was marginally out of his crease. `Stumped' was the verdict, but it should have been and one of `Stomached', `Bellied', `Gutted' or indeed, `Abdominated'. The rest of the batting was not much to speak of, except for this one bloke who appeared to have only one attacking stroke, but more
importantly had a bevy of bowlers obligingly bowling to that very stroke. After all was done and dusted, Lats and Cobra stood out as the pick of the bowlers with 4 and 2 wickets respectively, and were largely responsible for restricting Greenville to a total of 155, despite Faraz alone scoring 75 runs.

This was Greenville's lowest total in 4 games this year, and a lot of back slapping was in order, more so because regardless of what happened, we knew we couldn't lose by 178 runs again! Apparently this was enough of an achievement for Lal (Blue), who was the first Anzacs batsman to be dismissed, with the score on 21. Pepper continued his fine match with a blazing innings of 30 in 33 balls, and when he was the second man out with the score on 42, the foundation was laid for Shaluka (Shadow) and Cobra to build on. Shadow walked out with squared shoulders, determination, and a steely look in his eye. When he returned a ball later with drooping shoulders, disappointment, and a defeated look in his eye, there was no mistaking the signs. The man was finally ready for fatherhood. Lats started positively, and looked to have gotten the measure of the bowling before a slower delivery, one that he never bowls and is therefore unfamiliar with, did him in. Cobra, who had been trying his darnedest to nick one throughout his innings finally succeeded, and came away a satisfied man.

The Anzacs were 72/5, and what's worse, we had two batsmen by the name of Rahul in the middle, and this is where the usefulness of the Anzacs' strange practice of issuing nicknames came to the fore (for words of encouragement and rebuke as applicable from the sidelines). Rahul (Buckets) was joined by Dawg, and the two put on 25 runs, which ended up being the best partnership of our innings. Dawg complimented Buckets perfectly; that is to say, he kept telling Buckets that he was batting well. This came with mixed results for the Anzacs. On the one hand, it ensured that Buckets played magnificently, but on the other hand, when Dawg got out to Kam Naik, Buckets was so moved that he carted two sixes and got himself out – all in the same over as well. Quite a hectic over, and when the commotion had died down, the Anzacs were 7 down for 111. Buckets had made 36 in just 22 balls, including 4 boundaries and 2 sixes. Sunil (Zero) performed a little Jekyll and Hyde act, hitting a boundary and then getting out in the two balls that he faced. Hal, back in his customary number 10 spot batted in his customary fashion, and got out three accidental runs later. Rattles though showed that the fight wasn't over, by biffing a
couple of boundaries to get our hopes up, till Anirudh (Tack) decided that he wasn't going to be stranded unbeaten for three games in a row. The Anzacs ended up losing the game by 21 runs, and all this proved too much for Rattles who broke down and cried……6 hours later…..at Skunk's party.

Once again the Anzacs flattered to deceive, and what should have been a morale-boosting win for us ended up as another loss. It's easy to get carried away and look at the record over the last few years and write the Anzacs off as a washout, but the record does not paint the real picture. In several of these games, the Anzacs have squandered a dominant position, and in several others, we came mighty close after having seemed out of it. There's a lot to take heart from this effort as well. The bowling attack appears to have rectified its flaws after leaking runs the first two games, and Lats did an excellent job as captain, ringing the changes on the field. Let's believe in us, work on our mental mistakes and turn the season around. We know we're good enough; it's time to let the other teams know as well!