Roo's XI on verge of upset
Mark Ricciuto’s brave band of wannabees stunned the cricket world with their bold bid to upset Darren Lehmann’s XI in Sunday’s Twenty20 game at Adelaide Oval.
Mark Ricciuto’s brave band of wannabees stunned the cricket world with their bold bid to upset Darren Lehmann’s XI in Sunday’s Twenty20 game at Adelaide Oval.Only four balls were left when some desperate hitting by the Redbacks allowed them to escape the embarrassment of going down to Roo’s XI. Replying to a score of 10/215 from 20 overs, the Redbacks lost five wickets before the ridiculous decision to allow guest umpire and cricket tragic Graham Cornes the opportunity to bowl the final over backfired when he fell apart under the pressure.The Crows boys made a marvellous start, smashing the South Australian bowlers to all parts of Adelaide Oval. Matthew Bode cracked a couple of nice shots in his 14 but Nathan Bassett set the early pace with a dashing 33 off just 17 balls.Bassett was fortunate, however, to survive his first delivery, when Redbacks paceman Shaun Tait decided to rip one down in the direction of Bassett’s toes. Fortunately Bassett was good enough to fall out of the way. Bode also had his eyes opened by a quicker Tait delivery which thumped into his pads before he had even moved his bat.Simon Tregenza (14) and Ken McGregor (14) and Chris Knights (21) kept the scoreboard ticking over, Knights departing soon after having his heart-rate lifted by a searing bouncer from Tait.The skipper played a team innings, hitting eight runs from three balls before missing the fourth one.Andew Jarman danced to the crease and was bowled first ball. A late no-ball call from umpires Cornes stopped the crowd from rioting and the fans were lucky to then be treated to some classy shots in his 16.But then the Tony Modra show started. He smashed 45 from just 18 balls to leave the Redbacks shellshocked and chasing a formidable total.Fortunately for the real cricketers, the bowling depth of Roo’s XI did not run deep and Mark Cosgrove (32), Callum Ferguson (50), Greg Blewett (14), Darren Lehmann (50), Cam Borgas (22), Matthew Elliott (27 not out) and Tait (18 not out) feasted on the smorgasboard of half-trackers and full tosses.Ricciuto, however, will no doubt boast about his two overs of medium pace which went for only seven runs and removed danger man Blewett.