Main Umpire: CCC Leg Umpire: BATTING SIDE
Report:
On a hot and humid saturday, Shiloh was getting ready for a
"Clash of the Raleigh Titans" trying to vie for the top spot on the points
table. A win for ANZACs can put them on the top, whereas a win for TCC would
assure them a second spot for the time being.
ANZACs won the toss and put TCC in to bat. ANZACs were on high spirits having
pulled of some stunning victories assisted by some terrific bowling. Continuing
the tradition, ANZAC opening bowlers Parth and Hugh made life of TCC batsmen
difficult with some fiery pace and accurate line & length. This was rewarded by
the wickets of Raman and Samir Tikare with the scores reading 12 for 2 in 8
overs. Vijay and Arvind tried to steady the TCC innings and got off to a
partnership of 29 before Arvind trying to pull a short ball from Satbir, holed
it to Sundar at square leg. Syed joined Vijay, and both of them showed some
determination and application as they started building a partnership. Simon did
well to rotate the bowlers in order to unsettle the batsmen but with no luck.
With the help of some dropped catches, the 4th wicket partnership took the total
to 119 and looked dangerous. But Satbir did well to dismiss Sayed on 38. The
last few overs saw some prolific scoring by TCC that s!
aw their score at a healthy 145 for 6 in 30 overs, which at one stage looked
improbable.
Anzacs have not had much luck in their batting in the last few games, and were
determined to reverse the trend. The batsmen were asked to try and stay at the
wicket till the end. The openers Parth and Sundar did exactly the same and got
ANZACs off to a flyer in the 1st two overs, before Sundar was caught plumb in
front of the wicket by Arvind. That brought in Satbir, and along with Parth, he
started to build his innings. The partnership was looking dangerous as the score
read 71 in 13 overs. But Parth eventually fell to Raj's legspin, trying to sweep
and top edged it to Ravi who did very well to take the catch.
But Satbir was in no mood to sit back under pressure, and so was Shekhar, who
joined him at the crease. Both of them were scoring very freely and at ease. But
replacement bowler Vijay, bowled a head high beamer, that struck Satbir on his
head when he was on 36. Satbir retired hurt and was taken to the hospital for a
CT scan, that revealed no major injury.
Sunil replaced Satbir and was unlucky to be adjudged LBW for zero and Ketan soon
followed getting caught for 03. Shekhar on the other hand was handling the
pressure well and made sure that the asking rate does not climb high. Panda
joined shekhar and both of them with some very good batting saw the ANZACs reach
the total of 148 in 28.2 overs with 6 wickets in hand. Shekar unbeaten on 41 was
the peak of the batsmen and Panda remained unbeaten on 12.
A special thanks to CCC umpire who was very consistent fair. Also worth
mentioning that the game was played in all fairness and both the teams displayed
very good sportsmanship.
Congratulations ANZACs, and all the best for the games to follow.