Top 5 most memorable unofficial matches in cricket history
The gentleman’s game has had bitter rivalries and nerve-wrenching encounters over the course of its history. Players haven’t stopped short of fighting tooth and nail for their nation.There are also matches which serve as promotional events or are aimed at generating financial benefit for charities. These watered down versions of their more extreme counterparts often comprise of an ensemble of current and retired players teaming up for a cause. The recent Cricket All Stars tournament has been a huge success in the United States, just like many such matches over the years.Here is a look at the top 5 unofficial cricket matches:
#1 MCC vs Rest of the World, 2014
The Bicentenary Celebration match in July 2014 at the Lord’s created a tremendous buzz in the days leading to it, and rightly so. With teams made up of contemporary players and legends of the previous generation, it gave fans an opportunity to witness some never-seen-before clashes.
Adam Gilchrist and Virender Sehwag, perhaps two of the greatest attacking players of their time, made an interesting opening pair and started off the proceedings in a traditional Lords setting. Gilchrist wore a GoPro camera on his helmet, giving a batsman’s view of the proceedings.
Saeed Ajmal ran through the RoW lineup, returning with four wickets from his ten. But it wasn’t enough to stop a rampaging Yuvraj Singh set up a counter-attacking 138 which propelled their innings to 293.
In response, Tendulkar and Finch set up an opening partnership of more than 100 in less than 16 overs. Tendulkar rolled back time by playing delightful strokes, but fell victim to another legend, Muralitharan, before his half-century. Lara and Chanderpaul contributed their part, but the bulk of the chase was completed by Aaron Finch, who remained unbeaten on 181.
Dravid fell for a first-ball duck, Warne never got to bowl (owing to an injury), and Shahid Afridi failed to trouble the scorers, yet the match managed to fill cricketing hearts with the nostalgia of seeing their favourite cricketers play one more time.