Aaron Finch 181* powers MCC to easy win

Australia’s Aaron Finch made a dashing 181not out as MCC beat the Rest of the World XI in a one day match celebrating the 200^th anniversary of Lord’s cricket ground on Saturday. Australia one day specialist Finch put on 107 for the first wicket with MCC captain Sachin Tendulkar. His 181 off just 145 balls was the backbone around which the MCC successfully chased down ROW’s target of 294 with 25 balls to spare, putting on 107 runs with Tendulkar (44), 67 with Lara (23) and 122 with Shivnarine Chanderpaul (37 off 47). By the end of the match he had Warne and Tendulkar convinced his Test debut wasn’t far around the corner.

“That was special. It was a joy to watch him play. I wish him all the best for a wonderful career. He’ll be there soon in the long form of the game as well.” Tendulkar said.

 Warne added: “He’s a fantastic player. I’d love to see him in Australian colours in Test matches. That would be pretty fun. Earlier Rest of the World XI won the toss and decided to bat first. The Shane Warne side slumped to 68 for 5 in 12^th over when Saeed Ajmal bagged four wickets but soon Yuvraj and Paul Collingwood put together a 131 run 6^th wicket partnership to put the innings back on track. India’s Yuvraj Singh made 132 runs and rescues his team by putting a massive total of 293 on boards.

The opening combo of Virender Sehwag and  Adam Gilchrist had given RoW a blistering 54 runs start in 6.5 overs but Brett Lee cleaned up the Indian dasher for 22 and then Ajmal took over. The MCC side had only one real hiccup during their innings, when Collingwood dismissed Lara and Dravid (0) in consecutive deliveries, before Shivnarine Chanderpaul survived the hat trick delivery and went on ice the game with Finch, including back-to-back sixes off Pietersen.