The day started brightly with both teams turning up on time at full strength and our valliant captain Noel winning the toss. Richard and Saravana, full of confidence stepped into the field, looking to set a competitive total in 30-overs. And for 3 overs, we were on a good opening pace of 6.7 runs an over despite the loss of Richard (2). Saravana (9) capitulated in the 4th, lulled by some deceptive wide bowling from Munib. Munib was particularly helpful with the scoring, giving away 12 runs in the 4th over alone, none coming off the bat. Alas, the ANZA boys seem to have realised that Munib could single-handedly win the game for the Spirits and took him off bowling duties. Then it went south quickly from here on. David (4), Ganesh (5) and new Spirit Stephen (7) attempted to anchor the inning, but lost their wickets quickly through some admirably aggressive batting and running. Our captain Noel (21), in his likely swansong for the Spirits, decided to take matters into his own hands and started cautiously building a respectable stand. Unfortunately, the rest of the Spirits could not follow the captain’s lead with Sumit (1), Paul (0) and Rammy (1) out before 15 overs were completed. Zak (8 not out), all 15 years of experience, mounted a decent recovery with Noel over the next 7 overs. But this all fell apart when Noel was caught. Yiqi (0) was of no help with his batting as the Spirits were all out for 86. Noel was the top batsman and Munib, with his wides, was the 2nd highest scorer for the Spirits. Credit has to be given to ANZA as they fielded aggressively, with special note given to Chiro the wicket keeper for keeping the batsmen honest.
We came out after the break eager to give ANZA a fight, at least to use up enough time in the field to maximize our match fees. Noel adopted an aggressive fielding strategy with the intention of picking up quick wickets. Rammy (5-0-22-0) and Zak (4-2-9-2) opened brightly, giving away just 16 runs in the first 6 overs and taking 2 wickets, with the ANZA batsman hitting below the required run rate. As it is frequently with the Spirits, the good times didn’t last long. Sumit (2-0-21-0), Paul (1-0-11-0), Ganesh (2-0-14-0) and Yiqi (1.1-0-7-0) could not stem the runs Samir and Dan got anchored and they chased down the total in 15.1 overs in less than an hour. Zak was particularly impressive with his nippy fastball that zipped close to the stumps to trouble the ANZA batsman. Saravana should also be credited for his unbelievable catch off a thin edge by Chiro from Zak's bullet ball, mere millimeters above the ground.
Man-of-the-match: Noel. It was a toss-up between Zak and Noel, but only one of them is leaving Singapore for good.
Wooden Spoons: Everyone except Zak and Noel.
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