Dili On Fire

Batting at five, the signatures come on two bats, as the author was separated from one of the bats during a mission. Dili was literally on fire, with killing, looting, and serious civil unrest, and this bat formed part of an emergency action reaction force. During the deployment cricket was used to relax and build rapport with the locals, as well as to collect important military intelligence. One interesting mission was to engage with Alfredo Reinado and his security detail in his mountain hide out in the hills of Maubisse. At one point he asked the author “You have come to kill me haven’t you Harry?”. Reinado was a charming family man, who finally gave in to a life of paranoia when he came down out of the mountains and very nearly assassinated the then PM Ramos Horta, an encounter during which Reinado himself was killed.