40 overs plays T20 in a tight tussle
Leaders Ground, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, 1/11/2022
Dar Combined won by 2 wickets
Strongroom: 174-7
Dar Combined XI: 176-8
View the Scorecard
For match 2 we headed to the Leaders Ground in Dar, a very pleasant tree-lined ground with low outbuildings and some character. Ben was skipper for the day, and he won the toss and chose to bat first against the Dar Combined XI, a talented team of Tanzanian under-19s.
Myself and Jimmy opened up, and I was treated to a sharp bouncer first up from the right-arm quick Karim. The two openers Karim and Pafurodi were genuinely fast and this surface was appreciably quicker than the one at Annadil Burhani, and so Jimmy and I had to shape up. At 45-2 off 15 we were in a reasonably good place, but then Vinay was run out in what I was informed was a sacrificial incident, with Ben saved at the other end. Ankit (64*) and Ben (36) then knuckled down and showed excellent concentration and shot selection, as the opposition spinners wheeled away and bowled very few loose deliveries. Ben’s technique stood up well to the test, and on a number of occasions Ankit got well forward to anything slightly overpitched and cuffed it on the full through the ‘V’. We ended up on 177 off 40, in what seemed a decent total against a quality and disciplined attack.
Lunch was taken in a nearby cafe, with a good spread of rice, beans, hot sauce, and chicken for the meat eaters.
As T20 is a dominant form of the game in Tanzania, it was little surprise that Dar Combined XI started out aggressively, and we soon found ourselves in what was effectively a 20 over game. They came at us hard, and for the rest of the innings, both runs and wickets flowed with equal regularity, as both slides exchanged blows in an invigorating contest. As long as they threw the bat, we were always in with a chance to win, as mistakes were inevitably made. However, while the classy Abdulazak caught the eye with an attractive 53, it was Kelvin Angelo (20*) who finally (and frustratingly) provided the calmness that steered them to victory, as the game came to a noisy conclusion with just two wickets intact. Joe (3-34), Ujjal and Mario were the pick of our bowlers, but there was no shame in this loss as we had given it our full attention. The teenage Abdulazak deservedly picked up the Man of the Match award, and we boarded our bus back to the villa to restore our weary frames in the Indian Ocean with a cold beer.
In the image below we see the Strongroom and Dar Combined XI’s in a post-match line-up.
Written By: J.Gower
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