Australia and Rest of the World level in Vietnamese cricket's biggest event
The DHL Rolling Shield best-of-three series between expatriate teams representing Australia and the Rest of the World is Vietnamese cricket's most important event
04-Dec-2000
The DHL Rolling Shield best-of-three series between expatriate teams
representing Australia and the Rest of the World is Vietnamese cricket's
most important event. Play from the last two Sundays sees both teams square
going into today's decider. Below are reports on the first two matches:
RoW draw first blood in annual Haø Noäi cricket tournament
The Rest of the World XI (RoW) made heavy weather of a modest target set by
Australia in the first match of the annual cricket tournament for the DHL
Rolling Shield in Haø Noäi on Sunday, November 19.
A team already burdened by absence of some its main players, Australia was
left reeling in the second over as Greg Banova, seen as the batting
mainstay, holed out to short mid-off off the bowling of Suresh Kalra for a
duck in the second over of the match.
The other opener, Michael 'Pepperoni', used his pads to good effect to score
22, and Bruce Edwards hit a few lusty blows in his 30 as Australia folded
for 99 off 22 overs. Vinod Khastri (3-10 off six overs), Suresh Kalra (2-9
off 3) and Siddharth Rao (2-37 off 4) got among the wickets. Tidy work
behind the stumps saw Dinesh Kumar effect two stumpings and a catch while
not conceding a bye.
The RoW, composed totally of Indians for the first match, lost its openers
very early, but Suresh Kalra (14) and Nalleah Sellathurai (47 n.o.) saw
their team through with 10 overs to spare. Sellathurai was in particularly
good nick as he picked both loose and good deliveries for punishment,
scoring as many as 32 runs from boundaries (five fours, two sixes). Main
wicket takers for Australia were Andrew Power (2 for 14 off 6) and Bruce
Edwards (2 for 23 off 6).
Australia beat RoW to level Haø Noäi cricket series
Ha Noäi -- A determined Australian team put their heads down and levelled
the score at one-all in the best-of-three finals for the DHL Rolling Shield
against a Rest of the World XI at the Air Force grounds yesterday (Sunday,
November 26).
They were aided in no small measure by some extremely sloppy work in the
field by the RoW side, dropping around a dozen catches, and giving away
dozens of extra runs as they let the Aussies pile up 138 runs for the loss
of only two wickets off their allotted 25 overs. Murray Lott and Patrick
Griffiths displayed cool temperament, solid technique and excellent running
between the wickets to score 65 (n.o.) and 58 respectively. For Nalleah
Sellathurai and Sudeshna Pan, a wicket apiece was scant reward for some
tight, accurate bowling.
The RoW side were kept under pressure by tight bowling and fielding that has
been the hallmark of the Australian side this season, and wickets fell at
regular intervals. Grissiths more than made up for last week's absence with
a man-of-the-match performance that included four wickets, including a
hat-trick, for 14 runs off five overs. This is the second hat-trick recorded
in the eight-year history of Haø Noäi cricket.
Defiant knocks by Hari Chathrattil and Pankaj (32 each) gave the RoW some
hope of making a match of it, and Siddharth Rao chipped in with a useful 14,
but they could not overcome the setback caused by the early dismissal of
Nalleah Sellathurai (16). Greg Polson's nagging accuracy was rewarded with
four wickets for just 11 runs off four overs.