1st ODI: Asian XI vs African XI at Bangalore

[Ljp86]

1st ODI: Asian XI vs African XI at Bangalore

After the Twenty20 game, the real stuff begins. The African side will be a lot stronger than the one that contested the Twenty20 game. The team is still missing a couple of players you would think should be in the side. Graeme Smith and Herschelle Gibbs are not in the squad for this series.

This should still prove to be a good contest though. Asia would have to be favourites going into this game, their line-up boasts a whole range of stars and they look to be quite strong. Africa will have a tough time beating this Asian team, the South Africans will have combine with their lesser known Zimbabwe and Kenyan counterparts if they want to win this match.

This should be a hotly contested match, expect some fireworks from this one as the players do battlt so see which continent is superior.

Asia XIV: DPMD Jayawardene*, MS Dhoni+, CRD Fernando, SC Ganguly, Harbhajan Singh, ST Jayasuriya, Z Khan, Mashrafe Mortaza, Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Rafique, Mohammad Yousuf, V Sehwag, WU Tharanga, Yuvraj Singh (3 to be omitted)

Africa XV: JM Kemp*, SO Tikolo, J Botha, MV Boucher+, E Chigumbura, AB de Villiers, HH Dippenaar, AJ Hall, JA Morkel, M Morkel, TM Odoyo, PJ Ongondo, SM Pollock, V Sibanda, HA Varaiya (4 to be omitted)

Umpires: AL Hill and PD Parker
3rd Umpire: AM Saheba

Weather:

(All Temperatures in Degrees Celcius)

Rain, 26.



Game starts at 5:30pm AWST (3pm local time, 9:30am GMT).

 

[Ljp86]

Re: 1st ODI: Asian XI vs African XI at Bangalore

Turned out to be a pretty good game in the end. Asia won the toss and decided to bat first. With Shaun Pollock not bowling in this game, it was always going to be difficult for the Africans to keep Asia down to a chaseable total.

Asia managed 9/317 in the end with Mahela Jayawardene and Mohammad Yousuf making 65 and 66 respectively. Virender Sehwag made 45 with a few others chipping in with some starts.

For the African bowlers, Morne Morkel took 3/68 with Elton Chigumbura taking 2/56 and Albie Morkel taking 2/64.

The Africans started poorly in reply with Zaheer Khan taking two early wickets. The top order failed dismally with captain Justin Kemp scoring just five runs and when Mark Bouncher was dismissed, the Africans were 6/77 and the game was seemingly over.

But, Pollock had other things in mind. Playing as a batsman, Pollock smacked his maiden ODI century batting at number seven. His innings included 19 fours and 1 six. He combined with Chigumbura and Thomas Odoyo and together they helped the Africans get back on track. Amazingly, Odoyo and Pollock added 103 for the 9th wicket, a huge feat for a limited overs game.

Unfortunately, they fell short and made a game seemingly out of nothing. Pollock was the last man out for 130 off just 110 balls. Overall, they were bowled out in the 48th over for 283.

Mohammad Asif finished with figures of 3/57 with Zaheer Khan bowling well to take 2/43. Sanath Jayasuriya chipped in with a handy 3/53 off his 10 overs.

Africa lost by 34 runs in the end but they were not disgraced. Lesser known players Chigumbura and Odoyo played very well showing maturity beyond their years.

Unsurprisingly, Shaun Pollock was Man of the Match.