The Rest of the World and Australia played out a draw in a fascinating test match at the Colombo International Stadium. Shiv Chanderpaul won the toss and batted first, hoping to get the best of the wicket. Mohammad Yousuf was superb, hitting an unbeaten 133, with Kumar Sangakkara just missing out on a hundred with an equally good 94. The World XI declared on 447 for 9.
Australia slipped to 26-2 before Ricky Ponting orchestrated their recovery. Ponting made 105, batting for over 6 and a half hours to help his team and with Symonds and Katich also making contributions, they were eventually all out for 325.
The World XI batted only 62 overs on day 4 and declared with an hours play remaining. Mohammad Yousuf hit his 2nd unbeaten century of the game, making 118 and the Rest of the World declared to set Australia a target of 350 to win.
Australia started well, but the pitch was difficult to bat on by this time and after losing a few wickets, Australia were forced to settle for the draw. Opener Simon Katich hit an unbeaten 116 as Australia batted out the remaining time relatively easily.
Both teams would see this result as a fair and worthy outcome, giving the games still to come.
Mohammad Yousuf was undeniably man of the match for his fantastic performance.
Rest of the World 2000s: KC Sangakkara [w]; DPM Jayawardene; SP Fleming; Mohammad Yousuf; S Chanderpaul [c]; HH Streak; WPUJC Vaas; DL Vettori; Shoaib Akhtar; Mushtaq Ahmed; SE Bond
Australia 2000s: J Langer; ML Hayden; RT Ponting [c]; SM Katich; A Symonds; SR Watson; AC Gilchrist [w]; B Lee; GD McGrath; SCG MacGill; JN Gillespie
Rest of the World 2000s 1st Innings 447-9 (143 Ov)
Mohammad Yousuf 133*, KC Sangakkara 94, DPM Jayawardene 43, GD McGrath 3-57, SR Watson 3-116, JN Gillespie 2-81
Australia 2000s 1st Innings 325-10 (127.5 Ov)
RT Ponting 105, A Symonds 52, SM Katich 49, Mushtaq Ahmed 4-80, SE Bond 2-52, Shoaib Akhtar 2-67
Rest of the World 2000s 2nd Innings 227-4 (62 Ov)
Mohammad Yousuf 118*, KC Sangakkara 36, SP Fleming 34, GD McGrath 2-48
Australia 2000s 2nd Innings 258-4 (99 Ov)
SM Katich 116*, ML Hayden 61, SR Watson 53*, Shoaib Akhtar 2-55
Match Drawn
Man of the Match: Mohammad Yousuf
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