Rest of the World set 294-run target for MCC

LONDON: Yuvraj Singh´s century rescued the Rest of the World from a dramatic collapse as they recovered to 293 for seven against MCC in the Lord´s bicentenary match on Saturday.

In a fixture celebrating the 200th anniversary of the current Lord´s ground, Pakistan off-spinner Saeed Ajmal took four wickets for five runs in 15 balls as the Rest of the World collapsed to 68 for five in 12 overs. But Indian left-hander Yuvraj´s blistering 132 off 134 balls, including six sixes and eight fours, turned the tide.

Together with former England all-rounder Paul Collingwood (40), he repaired the early damage with a sixth-wicket stand of 131.Rest of the World captain Shane Warne, though, was ruled out of the remainder of the match when he suffered a suspected broken hand after being struck by an accidental beamer bowled by fast bowler Brett Lee, his former Australia team-mate, while batting towards the end of the innings.

Dynamic openers Adam Gilchrist and Virender Sehwag got the Rest of the World off to a brisk start with a stand of 54 inside seven overs after Warne won the toss.

Lee made the initial breakthrough by clean-bowling Sehwag for 22.Ajmal -- one of the active as opposed to retired first-class cricketers taking part in this match -- then took over on his way to final figures of four for 45 in 10 overs.

Fresh from his 12-wicket haul in a County Championship match for Worcestershire last week, Ajmal had Gilchrist (29) smartly stumped by Nottinghamshire and ex-England wicketkeeper Chris Read.Tamim Iqbal was then then lbw before Kevin Pietersen, controversially axed by England after their 5-0 Ashes thrashing in Australia, misread Ajmal´s ´doosra´ and was stumped for 10. Shahid Afridi, lingering on the back foot, was then bowled by his fellow- Pakistani´s quicker off-spin delivery.

It was a fine display but, with many spectators having paid to watch the batsmen on both sides, MCC captain Sachin Tendulkar removed Ajmal from the attack after a remarkable spell of four wickets for nine runs in four overs.

Yuvraj revived the innings by sweeping sixes off both part-time spinner Aaron Finch and New Zealand veteran left-armer Daniel Vettori, with MCC´s attack hampered by Pakistani seamer Umar Gul going off injured after bowling just two overs.

Collingwood was out when he cut hard at Lee, and Dravid, who holds the all-time Test record for most catches by an outfielder, made light of a difficult chance in the gully.

Tendulkar -- the one player above all others they had come to see -- brought himself on to bowl his leg-spinners. But soon afterwards Yuvraj pulled a Tendulkar long-hop for four to reach his hundred.

Yuvraj, now only considered by India for Twenty20 internationals, then stylishly lofted Lee for a huge six over midwicket before his innings ended when he holed out off Tendulkar. (AFP)