World XI v Australia

3.5 hours are up and only 45 overs bowled , they must have more time because of the new umpiring regulations.

228-7 after 47 , Hussey on 31 (41) , doing a fine job. A single boundary in that score , he's doing a Bevan here !

One over left and a mighty 6 over midwicket off Shoaib by Lee has pushed the home side to a more than useful 243-8

....the time for 49 overs is only 10 minutes short of 4 hours....with two spinners bowling 20 of those , that's seriously slow.

I don't know the rules here , the World XI should be docked a few overs for their run chase.

So Sehweg and Sangakkara are up against Lee and McGrath and looking a little nervy !!

They are 8-0 after 4 overs and Lee is really charging in !

Edited by Sledger

It didn't matter , McGrath gets Sehweg , who pulls straight to Hussey at midwicket.

18-1 after 5.1 and in walks Kallis , so Pollock's sticking to the batting order at the moment. (Typical South Africans huh , no flair!!)

Edited by Sledger

The old miser just keeps putting it in the right place !

4-1-4-1 has a nice symmetry about it , certainly Ponting thinks it's nice anyway!

Bracken has replaced the expensive (again) Lee and is bowling to Kallis , who has 2...

   World XI 31-1 after 8.4 overs.....

Ponting goes with Powerplay 2 (who thought up these silly names???) and it's still Bracken and McGrath.

41-1 after 11 , run rate required still a very manageable 5.56

Its' all happening at The Telsdra Dome folks !!!

51-3 after 14 overs and Brian Lara holes out to cover for a 2nd ball duck!! Big fill up that for the Aussies and especially for Bracken!! Rahul Dravid now in and the knowledge that we're almost guaranteed the KP and Freddie show !!

The Aussies'll fancy this now - the back up bowlers must step up like the quicks.

Sangakkara has moved on to 62, batting well now as they are 99-5. (27 overs) Not going fantastic. Flintoff is in though, just cracked a four behind four.

Out comes Afrida, strike rate of 161 v Australia, overall career strike rate of 108!! If he's in for any time, he could turn this game.

Looks like it's all gone now, 144-8. Flintoff is on 30 odd but the game looks up for the Rest of the World, bar something extraordinary.

All over, 162ao, Ponting has taken the last catch, and Australia have won by 93 runs, Vettori the last man to go.

A disappointing batting performance from the World XI but credit to the Australians who look to have bounced back nicely from the Ashes loss.

I coudn't agree with you more Sledger, bring on the Test match. And to think I considered getting out of bed at 4am to listen to this game!!

Yup, I was appalled to hear claims that Test cricket might eventually be done away with in favour of the one day/2020 versions of the game. The new ICC rules have done nothing to liven things up, except give a few more players caps and money for nothing.

I'm a huge cricket fan, but ODIs don't appeal to me, although county cricket one dayers are a different matter - they stick to plain old 45 or 40 overs as it will be each and there we go. And it works, as well.

But I definitely won't be busting a gut to keep up with Friday's game.

Having perused the world's cricket papers via the internet , it's quite clear that yesterday's Superseries Match was anticlimatic. Fine cricket writers like Gideon Haigh (Guardian) was particularly perplexed by the "official" attendance. The magnificent figure of 18,435 is that being bandied by our beloved ICC.

Now I'm not Einstein , but I'm not Worzel Gummidge either ! The official capacity for The Telstra Dome for this cricketing extravaganza is 48,000 (I know it's held more for different occasions , but that's irrelevant here) - but if that stadium was OVER a third full then I'll vote for George W Bush !! (not that I can !)

Do the powers that be think us THAT gullible? Corporate boxes are assummed to be fully occupied when releasing "official" figures , but Telstra doesn't have 14,000 hospitality places!!

At the toss Channel 9 had to position the cameras in the best place - that means with a good background of supporters - there were about 15 in shot. Yes , more come after the start , but by the end of the first innings the ground was still like a graveyard!!

Get real ICC , this whole exercise is a total waste of time and no amount of Walt Disney-Type fantasization regarding attendance figures will make it appear successful.

Fact - there was a smattering of poor sods there. Worse still , they had to endure the greatest cricketing non-event of the decade!

On a positive note , maybe , just maybe , the "test" will contain some decent cricket , but I won't be holding my breath !