50-over: James Nixon Invitational XI vs Indians
at Fardin Qayyumi CC
Scorecard
Ball By Ball
The Indian team continued to show brittle tendencies, with Sachin Tendulkar scratching around for a 23-ball six against David Kennett in a symptomatic performance. The Invitational XI dominated for 40 overs during their batting effort, and despite a poor late charge, their total was more than enough as clouds gathered for the second innings.
A poor bowling effort from the Indians was overshadowed by a timely application for the recently freed up CW XI squad place. Nick Scott built a phenomenal innings, slashing ten fours and two sixes in a brutal 134, which kept things going after Jamee Gray had been caught by Raina after never really getting his eye in. Dinu de Silva played able support, but never quite managed to get loose, struggling against Kumar and Chawla.
At the death, Sreesanth and RP Singh made good returns, and the Invitational XI only managed 51 off the last ten overs despite two boundaries from Fuller and Young. Yet, 264 for four would be more than enough. Kennett bowled a fierce line to Tendulkar, and Gambhir was unable to get things going - Uthappa and Karthik briefly threatened during their stand of thirty, but a hat-trick from Fuller (Karthik, Raina, Chawla) ensured that India would get nowhere. Fuller later added Uthappa to his list, Pathan edged a few boundaries during a hapless last stand, but India still lost comfortably. There appears to be a lot of things to correct ahead of the ODI series.
James Nixon Invitational XI 264 for four (50)
NG Scott 134, MW de Silva 76; RP Singh 1/39
Indians 219 for eight (50)
G Gambhir 50, RV Uthappa 44; SE Fuller 5/34, DM Kennett 1/25
James Nixon Invitational XI won by 45 runs
Man of the Match: N. G. Scott (JNI)