Warne's Warriors complete clean sweep of All-Stars Series
Ricky Ponting and Jacques Kallis helped Warne’s Warriors complete a 3-0 win over Sachin’s Blasters in the All-Stars series in the third T20 at the Dodgers Stadium in Los Angeles. Blasters had earlier got to 219/5 thanks to fifties from Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly. Forties from Kumar Sangakkara, Ponting and Kallis secured an unlikely victory for the Warriors, which was sealed by a six from Shane Warne.
After winning the toss and electing to bat, Sachin’s Blasters got off to a blistering start as Virender Sehwag and Tendulkar brought up the 50 partnership in the fourth over. But even the fall of Sehwag didn’t stop Tendulkar from smacking the ball to all corners of the Dodgers Stadium.
Mahela Jayawardene joined in on the onslaught as the pair brought up the 100 in just the seventh over. After bringing up his 50 with a six of Daniel Vettori, Sachin perished the following ball, trying to do the same.
Jayawardene fell off Andrew Symonds’ first ball and the Blasters were left with two new batsmen. Unfortunately for them, Ganguly and Carl Hooper couldn’t tee off from the first ball as the Warriors’ spinners, along with Jacques Kallis brought down the run rate.
Ganguly gave the innings the perfect finish as he got to his fifty and lifted the total past 200 but two wickets in two successive balls in the final over from Vettori meant the Blasters finished on 219, about 30 runs short of what they would have been looking at, when they were cruising at 130/2 after 10 overs.
While the total was still a challenging one, Warriors got off to the worst possible start as they lost Michael Vaughan off the first ball, but Symonds ensured that they still got off to a fast start as he smashed three sixes and two fours in the first three overs.
Both Symonds and Hayden fell in successive overs to leave the Warriors in a spot of bother. But Kumar Sangakkara, who has been in sublime form throughout the three-match series, produced another special innings.
But just when he was looking to take the game away from the Blasters, he was out to Swann. But Kallis and Ponting got the job done after intially starting slowly. But when Kallis got out in the final over, the game was still in the balance, but Warne smashed Sehwag for a six off his first ball to secure a clean sweep for his side.
Scorecard:
Blasters won the toss and decided to bat first
Sachin’s Blasters:
| Virender Sehwag | 27 (15) |
| Sachin Tendulkar | 56 (27) |
| Mahela Jayawardene | 41 (18) |
| Sourav Ganguly | 50 (37) |
| Carl Hooper | 33* (22) |
| Moin Khan | 0 (1) |
| VVS Laxman | 1* (1) |
| Total | 219/5 |
Bowling:
| Overs | Runs | Wickets | |
| Allan Donald | 3 | 48 | 0 |
| Courtney Walsh | 3 | 41 | 1 |
| Jacques Kallis | 3 | 17 | 0 |
| Shane Warne | 4 | 43 | 0 |
| Daniel Vettori | 4 | 33 | 3 |
| Andrew Symonds | 3 | 33 | 1 |
Warne’s Warriors:
| Michael Vaughan | 0 (1) |
| Matthew Hayden | 12 (6) |
| Andrew Symonds | 31 (19) |
| Jonty Rhodes | 17 (24) |
| Kumar Sangakkara | 42 (21) |
| Ricky Ponting | 43* (25) |
| Jacques Kallis | 47 (22) |
| Shane Warne | 6* (1) |
| Total | 224/6 |
Bowling:
| Overs | Runs | Wickets | |
| Curtly Ambrose | 3 | 47 | 1 |
| Glenn McGrath | 3 | 47 | 0 |
| Graeme Swann | 4 | 21 | 2 |
| Muttiah Muralitharan | 4 | 35 | 0 |
| Sourav Ganguly | 1 | 16 | 0 |
| Carl Hooper | 4 | 37 | 1 |
| Virender Sehwag | 0.5 | 12 | 1 |