Warm-up Day 1
Scorecards:
Australia v Blue
Cricket Web XI v Red
England v Ireland
Pakistan v Bermuda
Sri Lanka v Kenya
West Indies v Colts
Commentaries:
Australia v Blue
Cricket Web XI v Red
England v Ireland
Pakistan v Bermuda
Sri Lanka v Kenya
West Indies v Colts
Australia beat Blue at home after a polished effort, as the Blue bowlers were battered and the batsmen found little respite. Australia totalled 300 for 6, with Mike Hussey and Phil Jaques both scoring half-centuries, and Shaun Tait then staked his claim for a place in the side to face Bermuda on Saturday when he took three for 33 in a surprisingly tight spell. Peter Young and Rob Cribb put on 104 for the first wicket, but scored too slowly, and as the promotion of Wilshere failed Blue saw the run rate balloon towards the unknown.
England fell to a shocking defeat against Ireland, with grinding half-centuries from Jeremy Bray and Andre Botha and surprisingly accurate death bowling from Langford-Smith and John Mooney. Steve Harmison picked up two wickets, but the match still showed England's batting as extremely rusty, even without Andrew Flintoff.
West Indies never quite got going against testing spin bowling from the Colts, and after a blazing innings from Chris Gayle, there really wasn't much left to offer from the Caribbean side. However, Carlton Baugh and Corey Collymore showed good application to add 56 for the eighth wicket, as the Colts' seamers failed to finish off the job done by McNamara and an impressive Rai. Then followed a mammoth partnership between Jasotharan and Pitt, which made the job easy, and Jasotharan got a 151-ball ton to ensure a nine-wicket win over the defending champions.
Pakistan feasted on loose Bermudian bowling, though Shahid Afridi was strangely subdued and only made 29. Imran Farhat, however, batted well to make 119 before being caught at long off by Janeiro Tucker, but the total of 262 for three looked imposing. Afridi made up with the ball, shutting down a crucial partnership between Irvine Romaine and Saleem Mukuddem, but Bermuda did bat through 50 overs - even though they were never anywhere near chasing the total.
Chamara Kapugedera got a hundred, but tight Kenyan bowling - especially from Collins Obuya - meant the total ended up on a rather meagre 218 for 2 against Kenya. It looked chasable, and with the help of 82 not out from Hitesh Modi, Kenya got to the target despite being 27 for three at one point. Sri Lanka's captain brushed the defeat off, saying "we could have put out a much better team and the team could have put up much more of an effort. This is just a warm-up, and no one is going to care once we have finished the tournament."
In the final match of the day, patchy play from the senior Webheads side was nevertheless good enough to secure a 12-run victory over well-fighting Reds, whose makeshift captain Tharmi Loganathan had a poor day in the scorebook but a good in the field. Incisive bowling changes saw many wickets come about, as the tight bowling frustrated the Webheads enough to collapse from 132 for two to 199 for eight, despite half-centuries from Markus and Butler. Nick Borcich, Rich Edmunds and Gaurav Nayak all picked up two wickets each. However, no one could have foreseen the second-change bowling spell from Liam Camps. He dug the heart out of the Reds' middle order, who were all gone for despairingly low scores, and when Tom Halsey had Dwyer caught in the slips for 1, it looked like a formality. Nayak and Borcich then rebuilt with a stand of 78, but Hoy, Halsey and eventually Watt (whose seven overs cost 51) took the last three wickets as the XI survived the scare.
Results:
Australia 300 for 6 (50 ovs) beat
Cricket Web Blue 243 for 7 (50 ovs) by 57 runs
Man of the Match: Shaun Tait
Ireland 210 for 4 (50 ovs) beat
England 205 for 8 (50 ovs) by five runs
Man of the Match: Andre Botha
West Indies 231 for 7 (50 ovs) lost to
Cricket Web Colts 232 for 1 (45.4 ovs) by nine wickets
Man of the Match: Shan Jasotharan
Pakistan 262 for 3 (50 ovs) beat
Bermuda 221 for 8 (50 ovs) by 41 runs
Man of the Match: Imran Farhat
Sri Lanka 218 for 2 (50 ovs) lost to
Kenya 219 for 6 (46.5 ovs) by four wickets
Man of the Match: Hitesh Modi
Cricket Web XI 207 for 8 (50 overs) beat
Cricket Web Red 195 all out (46 overs) by 12 runs
Man of the Match: Liam Camps
