Ian Bell’s ton leads England to victory over Prime Minister's XI
Ian Bell continued his brilliant form with the bat and in doing so he scored a clinical unbeaten century to guide England to an emphatic win over Prime Minister’s eleven at the Manuka Oval.
The visitors trounced the home side by a significant margin of seven wickets, chasing down a competitive target of 223 runs with nine balls to spare.
Earlier, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 had made 253 runs for the loss of nine wickets after the match was reduced to 43 overs a side due to rain. Tim Paine and Dan Christian posted half-centuries, while Brett Lee made a quick fire 26 off just 18 balls.
On the other hand, Michael Yardy was the pick of the bowlers for England, picking up brilliant figures of 3/33 in his quota of 9 overs.
However, the original target was reduced to 223 in 35 overs due to the strong downpour of rain during England’s innings. But it did not make an impact on the English batsmen, as their positive and aggressive intent to score runs, earned them a comfortable
victory, completing their target in 33.3 overs.
Ian Bell came in as an opener and looked positive from the start of his innings. He wanted to feel the ball onto his bat, as he played a couple of defensive strokes.
However, as his innings progressed, he opened up and looked to be an artist at work. His timing was perfect as it sounded crisp when the new kookaburra ball hit his bat, before making its way to the boundary. His placement was as immaculate as a tailor who
threads a needle with perfection.
Moreover, by the virtue of his scintillating stroke-play, Bell mustered 124 runs off just 103 balls, striking 13 boundaries and an effortless six. He reached his hundred off only 89 deliveries.
Steven Davies and Ian took the opposition attack to the cleaners, as they cruised to 50 in just seven overs. The pair put up a brilliant 82-run opening partnership off only 11.3 overs. The dazzling opening stand had laid a solid foundation for the middle
order batsmen to come. Davies played a supporting role to Bell and in doing so the wicket-keeper batsman collected 24 runs, smashing two boundaries.
Bell continued to dominate the opposition bowlers and added 98 runs along with Jonathan Trott. Trott looked good for his 48-run innings and completely supported his senior partner, who had already shown his class. Mainly, Jonathan scored most of his runs
on the leg-side, hammering 5 fours in his gritty knock.
After the departure of Trott, enough damage had been done to the PM’s XI, as the touring side needed 43 runs off eight overs with eight wickets to play. It was a walk in the park for the Englishmen, with Bell still and the extravagant Kevin Pietersen at
the crease. The pair added 39 runs to their team’s total. Brett Lee brought about the downfall of Pietersen (13), but it was almost over as the visitors only needed 4 runs off 13 deliveries.
Ian Bell hit the winning runs, when he drove a delivery from Christian through the covers to seal victory for England.
The PM XI’s bowlers had a poor day, as they found it difficult against a quality opposition batting line-up on a beautiful batting strip. Nevertheless, Xavier Doherty was the star performer for his team, picking up decent figures of 2/38 in his seven overs.
Apart from Doherty, the only other wicket-taker was http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Lee-c72382, who on his return had to work hard, but he did his best, grabbing 1/35 in his 6 overs.
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