Perilous victory snatched just moments from defeat
Annadil Burhani stadium, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, 10/30/2022
Strongroom won by 9 runs
Strongroom: 169-7
Dar Legends: 160
View the Scorecard
And so Strongroom once again found themselves on a tour bus in a foreign land, winding our way through the hectic streets of a capital city en route to a cricket match full of unknown promise. On this occasion we eventually pulled up at the lovely Annadil Burhani ground in downtown Dar es Salaam, nestled into a pleasant setting of apartments, a local mosque, palm trees and a boundary-side cafe. DP lost the toss, and the Dar Legends XI kindly asked what we preferred to do, and so we chose to bat first. As we had a full complement of 14 players, we agreed to bat 11 and rotate our 14 in the field.
Myself and Clinton opened up, and sadly I was largely responsible for Clinton's run-out after not very long at the crease. Ben looked solid, but then square-cut one directly to the point fielder, and Jimmy was caught by an excellent running catch. The surface appeared to be very hard rolled earth, with occasional strands of compressed, horizontal grass, and was a touch slow with some uneven bounce. After 15 overs we were 59-2 and going fairly well. Two more wickets fell, but thankfully Ankit (45) continued his good UK form, and along with a hustling Tim (24*) and a flamboyant Ujjal (9*), we ended on a non-disastrous total of 169 (albeit their fielders were taunting us that 300 was a minimum requirement at this ground).
For lunch we downed some excellent home-cooked biryani and masala tea in the boundary-side cafe.
In Dar Legends XI run chase, we kicked off with some excellent bowling by Clinton and Tim, and Clinton in particular achieved some searing pace, no doubt fuelled by his post-run-out inner fury. The yorker that removed their no.3 will linger in the memory, as the stumps made a heavy wooden clatter as they were spreadeagled with some well directed pace. Tim took two high quality wickets, yet he simultaneously struggled with a glut of wides as he fought to control excessive in-swing with the white ball. However, at 50-5 we were feeling upbeat, and the introduction of the relentless Joe Rahman (3-32) provided further wickets. However, it was at this stage of the game that the burly, bearded no.9 Kumar came to the crease, and who proceeded to unleash a blistering array of powerful shots that appeared to completely take the game away from us. As Kumar reached 50, Dar Legends XI only required a further 20 to win with two wickets in hand. However, an astonishing reflex catch by Clinton at short extra, from a violent drive off a rare Joe full toss, suddenly changed the mood and the course of the match. The last pair now required 12 to win, with the destructive Kumar still at the crease, and Clinton (skillfully) opted to deliver a crafty slower ball which the no.11 duly chipped to mid wicket where Otto calmly glided forwards and made a shin-high catch look effortless.
We were jubilant at the win, which to all those watching we appeared to have long since lost, but we had demonstrated the value of hanging in there. In all we dropped seven catches, but for now we enjoyed the moment, and somehow it seemed to be our first truly legitimate win overseas (after defeating a mix of children and senior citizens in Nepal, and by Duckworth Lewis in Rwanda).
In the image below we see the setting of the Annadil Burhani stadium during the innings break.
Written By: J.Gower
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