The skipper of the Chippy Champs side, Simone Donnelly, was in fine form. When it was her turn to bat, she had smashed almost every Curry Cruisers bowler all over the park—and was now getting her bowlers to keep the run rate of the Curry Cruisers well in check.

Inaya was star-struck as she watched Simone, who was England’s biggest female star of tape-ball. Simone, a tall strapping girl, had grown up in Birmingham playing tape-ball cricket with a bunch of children of Pakistani origin in her neighbourhood. Twenty an over was a routine achievement for her—earning her a following not only in England but in Pakistan and Dubai as well.

The Curry Cruisers had a mammoth 142-run target facing them. Their skipper Shaheen along with the other opener, got off to a very respectable start, scoring 34 runs in the first 2 overs. But then Shaheen fell victim to a superb delivery. In the next 3 overs, the next pair put on a valuable 51-run partnership, but soon after, they were both out to successive balls.

This brought Inaya Haider and Lubna Ahsan in to bat. Inaya tapped her foot nervously as she looked at the scoreboard. Three wickets down and they were only at 85. They had to score 57 in the remaining 3 overs in order to win. It was a hugely ambitious ask. Lubna was the more experienced player, but Inaya had kept the scoreboard ticking too—and in the next 2 overs, they managed to rack up a commendable 29 runs.

The last over arrived. The Curry Cruisers needed 28 to win off 6 balls. Inaya was on strike. Judith Jones, who had an outstanding record in the death overs, was brought in to bowl. The first ball of the over was a bouncer. It went high over Inaya’s shoulder, sailed over the outstretched gloves of the wicketkeeper and bounced to the boundary for 4 byes. The umpire called it a wide. Inaya’s heart was racing, even as she thanked her lucky stars for those much-needed runs and the extra ball.

Six balls, 23 runs needed.

Judith came up to deliver the next ball.

‘ . . . the Curry Cruisers will really need to pull off a miracle here,’ said the commentator. ‘I’d say there isn’t much left in the game now . . . ’

Inaya flicked it on the leg side for a 4.

‘Oh, that’s a surprisingly lovely shot there,’ effused the commentator, in a sudden change of tone. ‘Haider is managing to keep her nerve even under pressure.’

Five balls, 19 runs needed.

Inaya looked around the field, mentally mapping the placement of the fielders. She tried to smash the next ball for 4 runs through a gap in the field, but it caught the edge of her bat and flew high, towards the boundary.

‘Oh, that looks like it will be caught!’ said the commentator, his voice going an octave higher with every word he spoke, ‘And it is!’

Inaya looked crestfallen. But seconds later, the commentator was on the air, all energized again.