Wombats of the Subcontinent: Breaking the White Curse

by Kavin Jinasena

Pre-match wombat rituals dictate Ali to almost always being short of players and asking a random uncle from the street to show up to our game. This time, failing that, the wombats turned up to the Fuji International Cricket Ground (there’s a massive spider in the toilet) to face the tigers who were placed 3rd in the league. A crucial game to play with one short.

Due to lack of testicles by the JCA committee, the game at Fuji 2 was cancelled and our game was shortened to 35 overs due to the heat. Not failing anymore wombats’ traditions, Ali lost the toss and we were sent out to bowl.

Bowling

The team huddle was intense as we had three newbies (Abid, Samar and Raj) who proved to be game changers. This was also perhaps the most colored squad in wombats’ history with Masaki sticking out like Ken’s ball sack in a team photo full of guys. Reverse colonization.

Wonder-kid Archit and the mystery Abid to open the bowling. Bringing back memories of his amazing debut, Archit bowled magnificently, cleaning up the tiger’s batsman and giving us a fantastic start. Abid, complimenting Archit, bowled great lines to trouble the tiger’s batsman finishing with 2 maidens and 3 wickets. A great performance which puts into question some of our other wombats opening bowlers. Archit and Abid had the tigers 42/6 after the opening spell which was shocking for this humble reporter as he was pretty sure the wombats would get rolled over, unaware of Ali’s top notch recruiting skills.

The spin pair, Hamza and Kavin started best as the tiger’s batsman tried to anchor their innings. A few loose balls and a nice run out by Samar had tigers 96/7 before Kavin, Karan and Abid cleaned up the tail. Leg spinner Karan bowled great consistent lines with an occasional variation out-speeding Archit! A stellar replacement for Louis (f*ck you Louis!)

Tigers finish 99 all out, a very chase-able score but the wombats have a track record of folding like dirty laundry.

Batting

Our ever-reliable pair, Ali and Masaki, started off. The tigers’ bowling looked solid at the beginning with tight lines and lengths, but Ali made it look easy, sweeping their opening bowler for a boundary. Masaki also looked at the top of his game, rotating the strike often and scoring the occasional boundary. One of note was a signature Masaki shot, walking down the track and on-driving the bowling for a boundary, showing off class that only left-handers can.

The tigers could not find any luck as Ali ended the match with a sweetly timed six over cover that he promises wasn’t a slog (kinda looked like it though 😉 )

Summary

A top performance from the Wombats this time around with plenty of new faces and higher hopes of winning the div 2 trophy and gunning for that promotion. Shoutout to the gents who did not get a bat or bowl like Samar and Sanira who were still crucial to giving the rest of the team the confidence they needed. Although Samar was still on the scorecard for his run out. Sanira however….

Anyways, a great day out for the wombats and one of those rare days after a game where I don’t feel like jumping off a cliff and ending it all. Onwards and upwards!