TWO CENTURIES IN WORLD XI INNINGS

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32801, 29 December 1971, Page 20

TWO CENTURIES IN WORLD XI INNINGS

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright)

HOBART.

The Rest of the World XI batsmen struck form with the third match against Australia only four days away in its drawn game against a combined Tasmanian side which ended yesterday.

The Indian wicketkeeper, F. M. Engineer, hit his second century of the tour, with 192, the Pakistani, Zaheer Abbas, made a bright 106, and the skipper, G. S. Sobers, scored a dashing 46.

These scores helped the side amass a first innings total of 397 for six declared in reply to the Combined side’s 258 for nine. The Combined, with a deficit of 139, was 112 for five at stumps. Engineer and Abbas were together for 186 minutes in an entertaining 260-run firstwicket partnership dominated by Engineer, who hit 17 fours in his innings lasting 253 minutes.

He was finally stumped after being enticed down the wicket by the off-spinner K. Badcock. Abbas was very safe and was unlucky to be run out when I. M. Chappell returned a strong drive from mid-wicket for the wicketkeeper, R. Cass, to stump him. Sobers, realising a result was dependent on the world side getting a big score, opened his shoulders when he came in fifth wicket down and smashed three sixes two off Chappell and one off Badcock. He made cricket look easy as he raced to 46 runs in 43 minutes. The Combined XI lost five wickets in its second innings for 112 runs, with Sobers taking two wickets for no runs in his last over of the match. The top scorer for Com-

bined was the captain, K. Ibadulla, who-was caught in slips off Sobers one short of his 50.