The impressive WACA cricket ground in Perth played host to 2 talented cricket teams from the 1980s. Australia captain Allan Border won the toss and had no hesitation in asking a Rest of the World XI to bat 1st on a green top. However, through a mixture of dogged batting and ill-directed bowling the visitors ended day 1 on 271-4. Australia found their radar on the 2nd morning but a last wicket stand of 44 pushed ROW"s total to 421.
The pitch was playing well and Australia moved comfortably to 143-2 by the close. Nearly 6 hours were lost to rain on day 3 and between the showers Border's men moved to 242-4. The following day, Indian all rounder Kapil Dev bowled with swing and hostility to take 5-78, restricting the Aussies to 312.
Facing a deficit of 109, Australia bowled much better 2nd time around. Set 245 to win in a minimum of 64 overs on a wearing pitch, Boon and Kim Hughes responded with impressive half centuries. But ultimately disciplined ROW bowling and indifferent light meant Australia were 17 short of their victory target.
A draw was a fair conclusion to an absorbing Test match. There were no centurions but good batting nonetheless. However it was Kapil Dev who caught this adjudicator's eye, taking 7 wickets and never letting the Australian batsmen settle.
Australia 1980s: DC Boon; GN Yallop; KJ Hughes; AR Border [c]; DM Jones; GRJ Matthews; WB Phillips [w]; GF Lawson; MG Hughes; BA Reid; TM Alderman
Rest of the World 1980s: Mudassar Nazar; RJ Shastri; DB Vengsarkar; MD Crowe; Javed Miandad; M Azharuddin; Imran Khan [c]; Kapil Dev; RJ Hadlee; Abdul Qadir; Wasim Bari [w]
Rest of the World 1980s 1st Innings 421-10 (128 Ov)
M Azharuddin 77, Mudassar Nazar 73, MD Crowe 67, GRJ Matthews 4-102, TM Alderman 2-79
Australia 1980s 1st Innings 312-10 (112.2 Ov)
DM Jones 83, AR Border 68, KJ Hughes 47, Kapil Dev 5-78, Mudassar Nazar 2-33
Rest of the World 1980s 2nd Innings 135-8 (51 Ov)
Mudassar Nazar 30, GF Lawson 3-46, MG Hughes 2-19, BA Reid 2-27
Australia 1980s 2nd Innings 227-7 (79 Ov)
DC Boon 56, KJ Hughes 50, DM Jones 46, Imran Khan 3-51, Abdul Qadir 2-37, Kapil Dev 2-49
Match Drawn
Man of the Match: Kapil Dev
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