MCC spinners wrap up big victory

Tsunami fund-raiser (50 overs per side)
MCC 327-7 beat International XI 215 by 112 runs

Scorecard

Photos: Lord's action

The MCC beat an International XI by the comfortable margin of 112 runs at Lord's in the tsunami fund-raiser.

The "hosts" batted first, hitting a brilliant 327-7 on a true batting wicket with plenty of pace.

And the star-studded Internationals lost their way once Graeme Smith and Brian Lara had been parted after an exhilarating partnership of 78.

For the Internationals, nine wickets were shared by spinners Harbhajan Singh, Anil Kumble and Chris Gayle.

The Internationals looked on course to produce a grandstand finish while Smith and Lara were tearing into the opposition bowlers, with Jacques Kallis's three overs lambasted for 33.

But once Lara was caught at short third man off Kumble, the momentum never recovered.

Earlier, Kallis had been one of the MCC's leading lights with the bat.

He and Stephen Fleming hit identical scores of 62 as opposing skipper Lara used 10 bowlers, including himself.

Kumble was named man of the match for his three key wickets

The contest featured some of the best cricketers on the planet, though there were no England players available and just one Australian in Shane Warne.

The crowd first came to life when Fleming took two fours and one six from Makhaya Ntini's third over.

The New Zealander added 112 with Kallis for the third wicket before VVS Laxman contributed a sprightly 47 to keep the MCC score ticking along nicely.

Chris Cairns removed both those batsman, but the real acceleration came when Andy Flower (55) got stuck into Warne.

He and Kumar Sangakkara (46) hit the accelerator late on before both were dimissed by Shane Warne, whose eight overs cost 64.

Feature: Day to savour

Bowling the final over, Warne's final ball was smashed by Shaun Pollock for the 34th boundary of the innings.

In truth, the MCC were aided considerably when Lara chose to use 10 bowlers including himself.

Fleming was not so generous when it was his team's turn to bowl.

Pollock made the early incision, ousting Virender Sehwag for five, and no part-timers were asked to bowl.

Wicket-keeper Kumar Sangakkara excelled, taking three stumpings and it all ended when Ntini, playing a studious forward defensive shot to Gayle, was clean bowled for a golden duck.

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MCC: SP Fleming (captain); CH Gayle, S Ganguly, VVS Laxman, JH Kallis, A Flower, KC Sangakarra, SM Pollock, A Kumble, H Singh, S Akhtar.

International XI: BC Lara (captain), V Sehwag, ST Jayasuriya, GC Smith, RS Dravid, S Chanderpaul, CL Cairns, SK Warne, WPUJC Vaas, M Sami, N Ntini.