MCC v Cricket Club of India

17th March 2006

A strong Cricket Club of India (CCI) team welcomed MCC to the magnificent Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai – the perfect setting for a keenly contested match.

Electing to bat first on a superb wicket, the CCI scored freely from the start. The wicket of Kukresa, captured by Friedlander, and the unfortunate Indulkar, run out backing up at the bowler’s end, only temporarily halted the progress of the CCI batsmen, who played both powerfully and confidently on their home turf. The uncompromising opener, Wadinbankar, and the elegant former India captain, Azharrudin, played beautifully to achieve individual scores of 126 not out and 72 respectively and the CCI finally set MCC a challenging total of 281.

Despite a fine 62 from Gupte, against a first class bowling attack, the MCC side struggled to maintain the required run rate, eventually falling well short despite having two wickets in tact.

A thoroughly enjoyable game against a strong CCI side, full of current and past first-class cricketers, played in the magnificent Brabourne Stadium resulted in victory to the home side; a similar result was achieved in the ensuing CCI 2nd XI v Barmy Army charity match.