Brian Lara's fifty was in vain as Legends XI lost to Perth Scorchers
Brian Lara’s fifty wasn’t enough as Legends XI lost to the reigning KFC Big Bash League champions Perth Scorchers by 42 runs in the Western Australian Festival of Cricket at the Aquinas College in Perth.
After choosing to bat, Scorchers smashed 231 in their 20 overs, thanks to Ashton Agar’s 44 and thirties from David Willey, Marcus Harris and Josh Inglis. In response, Adam Gilchrist’s side could only manage 189.
Willey, who was playing his first match for the Scorchers, got them off to a flyer. He was particularly harsh on Andy Bichel, who he smashed for 26 in five balls, including three successive sixes, before perishing off the final ball of the fourth over.
Although Michael Kllinger followed him back to the pavilion in the next couple of overs, the platform was set for Scorchers to cross the 200-run mark. Harris and Turner started slowly before joining in on the fun.
Despite losing both players in the space of three balls, Scorchers crossed 200 comfortably thanks to Agar, who started smoking the bowlers to all corners of the ground. Along with Cameron Bancroft, he added 68 runs in 29 balls for the fifth wicket.
At one stage, Scorchers were looking at a total closer to 250, but some good death bowling from Andrew Flintoff and Glenn McGrath restricted them to 231. McGrath and Flintoff were the pick of the bowlers for the Legends.
In a game where the run rate was over 10 from the fourth over, the Australian legend went for just 14 runs in his three overs, while the Englishman went for 25 off his four overs. Both picked up a wicket each.
With the run rate of almost 12 from the beginning, Legends XI needed an explosive start, but they lost Matthew Hayden, Ricky Ponting and Adam Gilchrist inside the powerplay and were struggling at 39 for 3 at the end of the sixth over.
Lara, who scored an unbeaten 51 in last year’s edition, continued his good run in the tournament as he went on the offensive from the first ball. The West Indian got to his fifty off 24 balls, but eventually perished for a 27-ball 54.
Despite losing Herschelle Gibbs and Justin Langer soon after, Andrew Symonds joined in on the action. The Australian smashed three sixes and five fours on his way to 47 off just 25 balls.
But it was all in a losing cause, as the run rate, which was high to begin with, finally caught up to the chasing team, who eventually lost by 42 runs, which was eight fewer than the margin they lost by, in last year’s edition.
Scorecard:
Perth Scorchers won the toss and chose to bat
Perth Scorchers:
| M Klinger | 17 (14) |
| DJ Willey | 39 (15) |
| M.S. Harris | 34 (19) |
| AJ Turner | 20 (13) |
| AC Agar | 44 (25) |
| CT Bancroft | 26 (14) |
| JP Inglis | 32 (16) |
| GB Hogg | 5* (3) |
| JM Muirhead | 0 (2) |
| AJ Tye | 1 (1) |
| Total | 231/8 |
Bowling:
| Overs | Runs | Wickets | |
| G McGrath | 3 | 14 | 1 |
| A Bichel | 4 | 58 | 1 |
| A Flintoff | 4 | 25 | 1 |
| M Kasprowicz | 3 | 43 | 2 |
| R Duffield | 3 | 41 | 1 |
| J Nicholas | 3 | 44 | 1 |
Legends XI:
| A Gilchrist | 20 (18) |
| M Hayden | 16 (10) |
| R Ponting | 1 (5) |
| B Lara | 54 (27) |
| H Gibbs | 29 (23) |
| A Symonds | 47 (25) |
| J Langer | 0 (5) |
| A Flintoff | 16 (8) |
| Total | 189/6 |
Bowling:
| Overs | Runs | Wickets | |
| DJ Willey | 2 | 9 | 1 |
| MW Dixon | 2 | 22 | 2 |
| AJ Tye | 3 | 25 | 1 |
| AJ Turner | 3 | 33 | 1 |
| M Kelly | 2 | 17 | 1 |
| JM Muirhead | 2 | 20 | 0 |
| GB Hogg | 3 | 35 | 0 |
| AC Agar | 3 | 28 | 0 |