Pollock fought well as Asia XI crushed Africa XI

June 07: Asia XI managed to win the first ODI of the three match series against Africa XI by 34 runs at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore, on Wednesday. Wayward bowling from the Africans and powerful hitting from a strong Asian XI handed the batting team the impetus to build a big total of 317/9.

However the veteran South African all rounder, Shaun Pollock, balanced the game and brought Africans back in the match. Playing as a specialist batsman in the ongoing series, he justified his decision. Pollock smashed 130 runs in 110 balls with 19 fours and a six, before losing his wicket as the last man out.

The blistering ton won Pollock his man of the match title and despite ending on the losing side.

Earlier Asia XI posted a huge target of 318, the delightful batting in the middle by Mohammad Yousuf (Pakistan) who top scored for his side with 66 and Mahela Jayewardene (Sri Lanka) following up with 65 added the thrill in the game. Sehwag also showed glimpses of his come back and once again he threw it away when everything looked under control. Sehwag scored 45 valuable runs.

Other major contributors came from Saurav, who made 32 and Yuvraj with 31. Jayasuriya and Dhoni failed to deliver didn’t do much and added 14 and 2 runs respectively.

Sehwag, who struck Kenya's Thomas Odoyo for three fours in the latter's third over, dragged a ball from Elton Chigumbura when trying to drive away from his body while Ganguly played on while trying to guide a ball from the lanky Morne Morkel to third man.

For Africa XI, Morne Morkel topped the wickets tally with 3 wickets in his account conceding 68 runs, while Elton Chigumbura and Albie Morkel shared two wickets each and Kenyan Tikolo had the prize scalp of Asia XI skipper Mahela Jayewardene.

Africa XI in reply to 317 runs set by Asia XI started disastrously, losing their wickets at regular intervals. Losing half of the side for just 31 runs Africa XI looked completely out of the game. The wickets kept felling and the situation got worst for Africa XI when it lost Elton Chigumbura with the total reading as 154/8.

However Pollock who soon took control and guided the Africans’ inning. He reached his first ODI hundred in 88 balls and clubbed the ball to almost every corner of the ground. Pollock was the last man to get out but he brought his team back from a deep slumber and made it a respectable reading of the over all total (283).

Mohammad Asif and Zaheer Khan bowled brilliantly and were mainly responsible for the top order collapse of Africa XI.

For Asia XI Mohammad Asif and Jayasuriya topped the wickets tally with 3 wickets each, Zaheer Khan also bowled well to get his two scalps, while as Harbhajan and Murtaza took one wicket each.