LOS ANGELES: Despite the smallest crowd of his US tour, Shane Warne has declared the Cricket All Star series a success and is set to return to America with his group of golden oldies for more games.
The three-game series began a week ago in New York, moved to Houston on Wednesday and ended at Los Angeles’ iconic Dodger Stadium on Saturday.
“We’re all going to be back here,” said Warne, who hit a six to seal a thrilling four-wicket victory for his Warne’s Warriors team which helped them clinch the series 3-0.
The series pitted Warne’s Warriors against former Indian captain Sachin Tendulkar’s Blasters squad, with players coming out of retirement including Ricky Ponting, Wasim Akram, Curtly Ambrose and Brian Lara.
Sachin’s Blasters had lost first match by six wickets and second match by 57 runs.
Warne and Tendulkar came up with the idea of a golden oldies series as a way to take the game to regions like the US where cricket has a low profile.
After a crowd of 36,000 in New York and 27,000 in Houston, the official attendance in the 56,000-seat Dodger Stadium was 20,900.
Just like the first two games, the crowd in LA was largely expatriates from the India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, not the large contingent of curious Americans Warne and Tendulkar hoped.
With LA sports fans able to go to a Dodger baseball game for $US9, the minimum ticket price for Saturday’s All Star game was steep at $US50 and the best seats $US175.
The high ticket prices were criticised by US media and US fans in social media.
Warne and Tendulkar said they’d think about lowering the prices. They also kept open the possibility of taking the All-Star games to Australia and other nations.
Warriors appeared to be longshots to win when Blasters scored 5-219 off their 20 overs.
Tendulkar took advantage of Dodger Stadium’s short boundaries by smashing 56 runs off 27 balls, including six sixes, as he shared a thumping 74-run partnership for second wicket with Mahela Jaywardene (41) following the dismissal of opener Virender Sehwag for 27.
Sourav Ganguly also smashed a half-century for his side off just 37 deliveries while Carl Hooper remained unbeaten at 33.
For Warriors, Daniel Vettori bagged three wickets while Courtney Walsh and Andrew Symonds shared two wickets between themselves.
Warriors began in the worst way when English opener Matthew Vaughan was bowled by West Indies quick Ambrose with the first ball of their innings.
Andrew Symonds also departed after a quick-fire 31, followed by Matthew Hayden (12) to reduce the Warriors to 52-3.
Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara (42) and Jonty Rhodes (17) then steadied the innings and helped the team cross the 100-run mark.
They recovered, with Ponting scoring 43 runs off 25 balls and Jaques Kallis belting 47 runs from 23 balls, blasting 88 runs off just 37 balls in a superb sixth-wicket stand.
When Kallis fell with two runs needed from two balls, Warne strode to the wicket and claimed the victory with a six.
Graeme Swann (2-21) was the pick of the Blasters’ bowlers, with Ambrose, Hooper and Sehwag (1/12) grabbing a wicket each.
Kallis was adjudged as Man-of-the-match while Sangakkara was declared as Man-of-the-series.
Published in Dawn, November 16th, 2015
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