from the CANADIAN PRESS:
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| Rogers' Centre (formerly the Skydome), home of the Toronto Blue Jays baseball team |
TORONTO - The Asia/Canada XI survived a late wobble to defeat an International XI by three wickets in an all-star Twenty20 cricket game Saturday afternoon.
Sri Lankan batsman Dhanuka Pathirana slammed the winning four off the last ball of the penultimate over on the artificial turf under the Rogers Centre roof.
The Asia/Canada XI finished at 167 for seven, losing a pair of wickets with their score at 162.
Batting first, the International XI put up 164 for six in its 20 overs. West Indies batsman Devon Smith led the way with 69 off 63 balls, hitting seven fours.
Canadian bowler Rizwan Cheema took two wickets for the Asia/Canada XI while Sri Lanka bowler Chanaka Welegedera took one wicket and gave up just 20 runs in his four overs.
Sri Lankan Sanath Jayasuriya opened the Asia/Canada XI batting attack with a bang, slamming 41 before being caught by Smith off a Jacob Oram delivery. The opener hit one six and seven fours in a short but entertaining knock.
The International bowling attack took its lumps, with Canadians Hiral Patel (39) and Cheema (20) keeping the scoreboard turning. Fellow Canadian Ashish Bagai exited at 10 as the victory target neared.
West Indies' Tino Best, with four wickets, was the pick of the International bowlers.
The crowd, while small, had fun — especially when six-foot-six Kiwi Oram slammed back-to-back sixes off Jayasuriya over home plate.
Oram exited on 19 — too early for the crowd's liking — when another moonshot was caught by Nasir Hossain at the boundary off a Saqlain Mushtaq delivery. Fourteen of those runs came in three strokes of Oram's bat.
Players stationed near the boundary did their part to entertain, signing autographs during breaks in the action.
The game lost some of its appeal with late news that the Pakistan Cricket Board, looking to prepare its team for a tour of Sri Lanka, had refused to release six players.
That robbed the events of such names as Shahid Afridi, Misbah ul Haq, Mohammed Aheez and Saeed Ajmal.
Without the Pakistan players, the Asia XI turned into a hybrid lineup with five Canadians.
South Africa Mark Boucher captained the International XI while Jayasuriya, who at 42 now restricts his play to Twenty20, was skipper of the Asia/Canada XI.
Former West Indies great Brian Lara had been expected to lead the International squad. He was on hand, but in civilian clothes on the bench.
A temporary synthetic wicket was applied like a Band-Aid on the middle of the Rogers Center artificial turf. Second base was directly behind the south set of stumps.
Because of the Rogers Centre configuration, the field was somewhat egg-shaped.
Despite sun and warm temperatures outside, the roof was closed.
The player sat in the baseball dugouts: the International XI wearing bright red and the Asia/Canada XI in green with yellow trim.
Fours and sixes were rewarded by short blasts of rock music, from Maroon 5 to The Wanted.
Tickets ranged from $25 to $195 and there were plenty to be had. Most of the crowd was in the bleachers, with acres of empty space above the baseball dugouts.
There was no one in the 200 or 500 levels.
Still those that were there were appreciative as Zimbabwe captain Brendan Taylor opened the International innings with a single off Welegedera.
And fans oohed and aahed as Smith, the International XI's other opener, swung and missed at a pair of deliveries and then narrowly escaped being run out.
And there were cheers in the second over when Smith slammed the first boundary for a four off Cheema. Taylor notched the first six in the third over, hooking the ball into the outfield seats past third base.
In the sixth over, Taylor — ranked 25th in the world Twenty20 batting rankings — slugged back-to-back sixes off Bangladesh's Hossain.
Taylor exited in the seventh over on 34, stumped by Bagai off a Jayasuriya delivery. He hit three sixes and two fours in a 57-run opening partnership with Smith.
Smith reached his 50 in the 13th over with a four off his 45th ball. He was finally removed at 69 in the 18th over, stumped by Bagai off a delivery from Cheema.
Canadian Ravindu Gunasekera, opening with Jayasuriya, hammered a six in the first over for the Asia/Canada XI but then promptly exited when he tried for a repeat — caught near the boundary.
It wasn't until Friday that organizer Kat Rose Inc. confirmed the Pakistani players would not be appearing "due to unforeseen circumstances."
As of Thursday, Kat Rose's website cited Pakistan government officials trying to help sort out the impasse.
"Nothing has been written in stone yet," said the post.
Read it on Global News: Global BC | Asia/Canada XI wins Twenty20 all-star cricket game in the Rogers Centre
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