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London: Australia's Aaron Finch seized his chance to shine among some of cricket's greatest players with a commanding innings of 181 not out as MCC beat the Rest of the World in the Lord's bicentenary match on Saturday.
Set 294 to win a one-day match marking the 200th anniversary of the 'home of cricket', MCC finished on 296 for three with 25 balls to spare against an equally star-studded Rest of the World team. Finch, already in England playing for Yorkshire, was involved in partnerships with three of the best batsmen cricket has known to cap a memorable Lord's debut for the 27-year-old Victoria right-hander.
He put on 107 for the first wicket with Indian hero Sachin Tendulkar, cricket's leading run-scorer in both Tests and one-day internationals. Finch then added 67 and 122 with two contrasting West Indies left-handers in Brian Lara (23) and Shivnarine Chanderpaul (37 not out) respectively.
However, one sadness for a capacity crowd was that Rest of the World captain Shane Warne was unable to bowl after his first ball batting saw the leg-spin legend suffer a broken right hand when he was struck by an accidental beamer from fast bowler Brett Lee, his former Australia team-mate.
Earlier, Yuvraj Singh's blistering 132 off 134 balls took the Rest of the World to 293 for seven after they had collapsed to 68 for five following four wickets for Pakistan off-spinner Saeed Ajmal.
After Warne won the toss, the Rest of the World collapsed from 54 for one to 68 for five in the face of Ajmal's off-spin. Fresh from his 12-wicket haul in a County Championship match for Worcestershire last week, Ajmal had Adam Gilchrist (29) smartly stumped by Nottinghamshire and ex-England wicketkeeper Chris Read.
Ajmal then had Tamim Iqbal lbw, and Kevin Pietersen stumped before clean bowling fellow Pakistani Afridi for a duck. But with MCC skipper Tendulkar then taking Ajmal off, Yuvraj revived the innings against a bowling attack missing Pakistan seamer Umar Gul, who only managed two overs before suffering a knee injury.
Brief scores
Rest of the World XI - 293 for 7 (Yuvraj 132, Collingwood 40, Saeed Ajmal 4-45)
MCC XI - 296 for 3 (Finch 181*, Tendulkar 44)
Result - Marylebone Cricket Club won by 7 wicket
