adminZimbabwe Test captain Brendan Taylor tasted victory on Monday night when his World XI side beat a spirited Asia XI by five runs, in front of 10 000 spectators packed inside the West End Park Stadium in Doha,Qatar.
World XI captain Brian Lara won the toss and elected to bat first.
Lara opened the innings, and Brendan Taylor was privileged to partner with one of the greatest batsman to have graced the game.
Taylor’s stay at the crease was brief as he edged a delivery off Abdur Razzak but Lara entertained with trademark cover drives to anchor the innings with a brisk 47 runs off 44 balls, that earned him the player of the match award.
England batsman Owais Shah also contributed with an aggressive 22-ball 43 that saw the World XI total finish on 160.
Asia XI’s response was characterised by a handy 42 by Bangladesh batsman Tamim Iqbal and a vintage knock by one of Sri Lanka’s most illustrious batsman SanathJayasuriya who raced on to 25 before seamer Sajid Mehmood induced an edge to wicketkeeper Taylor.
Sri Lankan all-rounder Angelo Perera cleared the boundary on a few occasions towards the end but his 31 was not enough on the day as he failed to hit a six off the last ball of the game to win it.
Brief Scorecard
World XI – 161-6 in 20 overs (Brian Lara 47, Owais Shah 43; Aakash Chopra 3wkts;Yasir Arafat 2 wkts)
Asian XI – 156-8 in 20 overs (Tamim Iqbal 42, Sanath Jayasuriya 25; Ryan ten Doeschate 3 wkts, Corey Collymore 2 wkts)
World XI beat Asia XI by 5 runs.- zimcricket
Online Reporter