Asia XI completes whitewash of Afica XI

Chennai, June 10 (UNI) Asia XI captain Mahela Jayawardene struck an explosive 107 and shared a 218-run partnership with Mahendra Dhoni (139 not out) after which the spinners did the trick to help Asia XI complete a 3-0 whitewash of Africa XI in the third and final ODI in the Afro Asia cup here today.

Chasing Asia's mammoth score of 331 for eight, the Africans started on a bright note, but lost their momentum midway. They, however, managed to recover through the quick-fire sixth-wicket partnership of skipper Justin Kemp (86 of 76 balls, 7x6, 3x4) and Shaun Pollock (58 not out of 49 balls, 2x6, 3x4), but still fell short by 13 runs as the Africans finished at 318 for seven in their alloted 50 overs.

Left arm spinner Mohd Rafique (4 for 65) and offie Harbhajan Singh (3 for 48) struck in tandem as Asia won the series 3-0 after they already clinched the series with victories in Bangalore and Chennai.

Earlier, Asia recovered from a top-order collapse, engineered by medium pacer Peter Ongoda (3 for 35), through Jayawardene's captains' knock and a power-packed innings from man-of-the-match Dhoni to take the score over 300.

The duo anchored the innings well, used the long handle effectively in the end overs by adding a record 218-runs for the sixth-wicket to pull the team to safety from a precarious 72 for five in 16.4 overs. Dhoni and Jayawardene bettered the existing record of 165-runs stand set by Mike Hussey and J Haddin of Australia in the DLF cup last year.

Africa's run chase initially was sound and loud as openers AB De Villiers (70, 63 balls, 3x6, 7x4) and Vusimuzi Sibanda (45, 63 balls, 5x4, 1x6) added 117 for the first-wicket in 18.2 overs. But the twin strike by Mohd Rafique of successive balls, first removing De Villiers and then Dippenaar, put the Africans in a spot of bother.

Their woes were compounded when Rafique and Harbhajan struck in tandem to reduce Africa XI to 159 for five in 31.1 overs. But skipper Justin Kemp and Shaun Pollock took the attack to the rival camp and kept the Africans in the hunt with a flurry of boundaries and sixers.

Such was their domination that the African sensed victory at one stage. But the 122-runs sixth-wicket partnership came to an end with the exit of Kemp, who was beaten by a faster delivery from Rafique, bringing back smiles to the face of Asians.

However, Shaun Pollock, who scored a century in the first match at Bangalore, continued his good form, clobbering the bowlers all over the ground as Africans needed 23 in the last over. But Harbhajan brought his experience to the fore and bowled a tight over to ensure that Asians won the series 3-0.

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