Finch shines among stars in Lord's bicentenary
MCC beat the Rest of the World by 7 wickets in the Lord's bicentenary match on Saturday.
LONDON (AFP) - 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.
Tendulkar said it would not be long before Finch, who made a Twenty20 world-record 156 against England at Southampton last year, made his Test debut.
"It was a special innings, I was telling him it was a joy to watch you play ," Tendulkar said.
"I m sure we ll see him in the long form of the game as well."
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.
Asked if he and his former Australia team-mate were still friends, Warne jokingly said: "We were."
As for Finch, his fellow Victorian, Warne said: "He s a fantastic player, I would love to see him in Australian colours in Test matches."
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 cheap wickets -- Adam Gilchrist, Tamim Iqbal, Kevin Pietersen and Shahid Afridi -- for Pakistan off-spinner Saeed Ajmal.
Tendulkar, who only retired in November, gave his adoring fans in a capacity Lord s crowd plenty to remember him by with the pick of his seven fours a straight drive down the ground off current Australia fast bowler Peter Siddle.
The Little Master , cheered to the echo throughout the match by his adoring fans, thanked the public for their support but said it had been tough going out in the middle.
"Forty-four runs, a little more than how old I am," the 41-year-old Tendulkar said.
"It shows on me, doesn t it? I have been enjoying my retirement, doing the things I didn t get to do for 24 years."
Tendulkar fell when he bottom edged an intended cut off Sri Lanka off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan, Test cricket s most successful bowler.
Left-hander Lara also showed his enduring class with a cracking drive behind point off West Indies paceman Tino Best and a booming drive off medium-pacer Paul Collingwood.
But Durham captain and former England all-rounder Collingwood proved an unlikely bowling hero with two wickets in two balls as Lara was caught behind and India star Rahul Dravid bowled off the inside edge for a golden duck.
Chanderpaul survived the hat-trick ball.
Opening batsman Finch was quickly into his stride with pulled boundaries off Best and Siddle.
He also hammered leg-spinner Afridi for six over deep square leg and lofted Yuvraj s left-arm spin high over the long-on boundary.
A single off Collingwood saw the 27-year-old Finch to a 96-ball century.
He eventually ended the match with a six off Yuvraj.
In all, Finch faced 145 balls including 23 fours and six sixes.
