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Africa slipped n slipped, but again made a match of it.

Filed under Afro-asia cup

PollockFirstODICentury.jpgIts a fact that all's not well between White & Blank people community in Africa.. come to Asia were Indian & Pakistani politics have rarely drawn peace.

But come to Afro-Asia Cup cricket series & you have everyone smiling. little less than 100 International overs were bowled to yield exactly 600 runs. 19 wickets fell, but the one wicket you want to read more about - was Shaun Pollock's. See the note part for more indepth, because I'll start with the toss - which Asia captain from Srilanka, Malela Jayawardene won. he said "I saw the twenty20 match yesterday, and know this pitch swings under lights. So, Asia will bat first".

Jayasuriya & Virendra Sehwag looked comfortable on road roller Bangalore pitch whereas Morne Morkel was making his ODI debut, so butterflies in stomach didn't allow his bowl as fast as he's capable of. Thomas Odoyo tried finding swing from other end, which wasn't there. Elton Chigumbura got to bowling first change but by then Asia had won the initiative.

36 for 1 then 102 for 2, runs were flowing but new Africa eleven captain Justin Kemp kept his cool. Things got better when Odoyo came back for 2nd spell. along with tight fielding, Africa XI picked up late wickets to restrict Asia only to 317.

While chasing, Africa slipped to 3 for 18 to 5 for 31 = Shaun Pollock arrival. from this 11th over onwards, Pollock decided for second Fidel role. He allowed Mark Boucher, Albie Morkel, Elton Chigumbura & Thomas Odoyo to strike the balls whereas singles after singles was his job. Very slowly, as I wrote Steve Waugh's trick watching it happen - Pollock turned this 1st ODI into a real match-up.

Thomos Odoyo was silly to loft the ball in 44th over. Had he stayed till 48th - Africa might have got home..

They both didn't. Here's the scorecard

Asia XI vs Africa XI Cup, 1st ODI at Bangalore
Asia XI 317 for 9 in 50 overs Asia XI 110 for 4 in 15.5 overs
Jayasuriya 14, Sehwag 45, Ganguly 32 De Villiers 4, Bosman 2, Dippenaar 10
Jayawardene 65, Md Yousuf 66 off 74 Tikolo 5, Kemp 5, Boucher 25 off 30
Yuvraj 31 (30), Dhoni 20, Harbhajan 20 Albie Morkel 9, Chigumbura 40 off 37
Mashrafe Mortaza 13, Zaheer Khan 6 * Thomas Odoyo 40 off 37 with 4 4s & a 6
Morne Morkel 3/68, Chigumbura 2/56 Shaun Pollock 130 (110) with 20 big hits
Asia won by 35 runs, lead 3 ODI series 1-0


A few notes I noted
-Manager is not a post no one will ever believe they own it. no matter which company you work for. that said, exceptions are always there.Gulam Ahmed has been South Africa cricket manager since their comeback in 1992. he is here in India with RSA players as well.
-The shirts of Africa eleven had three lines written on the front - 'South African legend' 'Sahara Computers', 'now in India'. I noticed from this first one dayer onwards, the last two words have been hidden. I yesterday reported that there is no sponsor for Afro-asia cup 2007, & still stand by that. just to make it more clear - African team do have a sponsor for this International cricket series which itself doesn't have someone paying.
-There were lots of flies flying around. some got into Jayasuriya's ears, some into Harbhajan's eyes.. Sunil Gawaskar revealed that's the reason why Ramesh Power of India wears sun-glasses while he bowls.
-This was 286th onedayer for South Africa all rounder Shaun Pollock. today, he made his highest score, his first maiden ODI century ~ 130. he batted a total of 164 mins, faced 110 balls. & as you read this, Shaun Pollock is number 1 ranked ICC test match bowler, who played this game ONLY as batsman.




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