He did it again.

When Cricket Arizona first sought out to become Arizona’s number one spot for all things cricket in the American desert, we were shown an amazing display of batsmanship by one Ramana Kumar Pothamsetti. On our second time of witnessing him and his work, his best was on display once again.

The hosts Valley Eagles won the toss and put the visitors out to a bowl. This decision would prove to be a wise one as The Valley Eagles put up a solid 291 runs in their first innings.

The always aggressive Dhruv Chopra scored quickly and consistently, hitting for a strike rate of over a hundred. The only problem was, that it ended up being just 16 runs from the 15 deliveries he faced. He got runs on the board but at the cost of his wicket.

The other opening batsman, Raviteja Veerubhotla, spent a longer time at the crease and put up a sound 46 runs after being judged leg before wicket. Just like Dhurv, Raviteja was also aggressive but held on to his wicket until the 98th run, just four runs shy of his 50.

While the wickets fell around him, Ramana stayed strong in the crease ending the Valley Eagles innings with the bat still firmly in his hands.

Ramana hit for an amazing one-and-one-quarter century off of 91 deliveries. He hit for an astounding 18 boundaries with 12 coming off of the form as 4s and six 6s.

Ramana was a joy to watch as his strongest attribute is his patience at the crease. Like the first game Cricket Arizona covered of his, he started off slow, and just like the previous game, he waited until the bowlers’ arms were tired to let loose a barrage of runs.

After the Valley Eagles innings, it was time for the visitors to bat, and at the beginning, the results were mixed. Four of the five opening batsmen put up a total of 88 runs. That wasn’t too bad but compared to the other seven batters who put up just 16 runs combined, that was really all ASU could muster. The real star of ASU’s offensive day was Gotham Hariharan who put up an impressive 40 runs off of just 35 balls, with five of them going for 4. But just as Gotham was saving ASU’s innings, his day of cricket came to end as he was bowled by Ashish B Poojary.

Division B is turning out to be an exciting three horse race for the top two spots and promotion to Division A.

Should the Tucson Super Kings lose and and the Valley Eagles win their next matches, both teams will be tied for second place on points, only the run rate being the deciding factor as to who will be in second. Right now, Tucson Super Kings have the advantage but the red hot Valley Eagles have them in their sights.

Cricket Arizona’s Man of the Match is Ramana Kumar Pothamsetti.

Match information provided by CricClubs.com.

Full match report can be found here.