Cricket All Stars A Grand Sucess
It was the greatest gathering of cricketers ever assembled but it had to be Shane Warne who stole the show in the Cricket All-Stars match in New York.
In front of a healthy but far-from sold out crowd at Citi Field, regular home of the New York Mets, Warne wound back the clock with a vintage performance that saw him dismiss fellow all-time legends Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara and VVS Laxman as Warne’s Warriors beat Sachin’s Blasters by six wickets.
Tendulkar’s team, which had a heavy Indian feel about it, batted first and made a flying start thanks to opener Virender Sehwag, who blasted 55 off just 22 balls.
Tendulkar looked in good touch until he was brought undone by Warne on 26, and the Aussie spin king had his second scalp a couple of overs later as he combined with Kumar Sangakkara to have Laxman stumped.
Warne’s third wicket came when his old sparring partner, West Indies champion Lara, was trapped lbw.
Former Australia all-rounder Andrew Symonds was also a star with the ball, removing Mahela Jayawardene, Carl Hooper and Moin Khan on his way to figures of 3-15 as Sachin’s Blasters finished on 8-140 from their 20 overs.
Warne’s side had little trouble in chasing down the the total, although they did make a shaky start when Matthew Hayden was dismissed by a still-pacey Shoaib Akhtar, and Jacques Kallis was run out by Jaywardene.
Batting superstars Ricky Ponting (48 not out) and Kumar Sangakkara (41) settled things down before South African Jonty Rhodes brought proceedings to a close by reverse sweeping Tendulkar for six, much to the dismay of the largely Indian-expat crowd at Citi Field.
Also See Shiamak Dance Troop at Cricket All Stars.
