An England import and the great BC Lara stole the show in the west
Match Report:
ScorecardScorchers topple Legends XI in Perth
A David Willey special has seen the Perth Scorchers defeat the Legends XI for the third-consecutive year in the annual Festival of Cricket clash at Aquinas College.
The Legends XI – featuring the names of Gilchrist, Hayden, Ponting, Lara and Flintoff amongst others – were blown away by the Northamptonshire all-rounder, who hit five boundaries and three sixes in his match winning 39 from just 15 balls in the 42-run victory.
The Englishman, who made his one-day international debut in May this year and will play in his first KFC Big Bash League campaign this summer, took a liking to former Australia quick Andy Bichel, dispatching the Queenslander into the Justin Langer Stand three times in a row, prompting Gilchrist to position Andrew Symonds fifteen rows back amongst the crowd.
WATCH: Willey's whirlwind over in the west
It wasn’t a whole day chasing leather for the game’s veterans, with last-year’s top scorer Brian Lara at it again, contributing 54 runs from 27 balls including four boundaries and five maximums, the ease of which he did it reminding the crowd how damaging the Trinidadian batsman once was.
WATCH: Lara launches into the Scorchers
Glenn McGrath also eased back into the rigours of fast bowling, going for only eight in his first two overs and troubling the Scorchers openers, finishing with an economical and typically tight 1-14 from three overs.
In front of 6,500 fans and not to be outdone, recent Sheffield Shield century-maker Ashton Agar entered the match after Willey went out with a bang, hitting Michael Kasprowicz and Ryan Duffield for sixes, reaching 44 from 25 balls before being run out by a bustling Matthew Hayden, who in tandem with his direct hit took two less-than-easy catches at cover in the Scorchers innings of 8-231 from 20 overs.
WATCH: Hayden soars to remove Bancroft
Some interesting tactics were deployed to combat the big hitting during the day, alongside Symonds' incognito crowd positions was Freddie Flintoff’s decision to use only one arm in his delivery, a ploy that saw Jason Inglis pull him through to the square-leg boundary.
Those who evidently hadn’t lost touch included former Test captain Ricky Ponting, whose agility in the field saved numerous boundaries despite not producing his usual batting heroics and Andrew Symonds, who plundered 47 runs from just 25 balls, taking on both the quicks and spinners and muscling the ball over the rope three times as the Legends finished on 6-189.
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McGrath and Gilchrist combined for one last time // Getty Images
Ashton Agar was named ‘King of the Match’ for his first innings knock which had the crowd on their feet early. Symonds was named the Legends XI best.
Legends XI captain Adam Gilchrist said in the post-match presentation that the game was a "great initiative for a great cause".
"I’ve been lucky enough to be a patron for the Ronald McDonld house for the past 15 years and this is a great match to be involved with," Gilchrist said.
"It was great to be able to run around with some world-class cricketers against an extremely good Perth Scorchers line-up."
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