PCA Masters Entertain Before England Double Bill

The OneMove PCA Masters Series continued at the Rose Bowl with an entertaining match against Hampshire, in front of a growing crowd, before England’s Twenty20 fixture versus Sri Lanka in the evening.

After winning the toss, Hampshire skipper Shaun Udal elected to bat in the sunshine and opening batsmen Mitchell Stokes (42) and Michael Carberry (30) soon begun striking boundaries, as the innings began at a ferocious pace. Both were eventually removed by former England fast bowler Dean Headley, bringing all rounders Dimitri Mascarenhus and Dominic Thornely to the wicket. The pair needed little invitation to swing the willow, with two sixes from the bat of Thornely sailing right out of the ground. The big hitting Australian fell just seven short of a half century, leaving Mascarenhus (59) to power his side to an imposing total of 205-5.

The PCA Masters, sponsored by Qatar Airways, got off to an explosive start in their reply, with former West Indian opening batsman Sherwin Campbell upper cutting a six over third man and then smashing another boundary through the covers. Opening bowler David Balcome exacted revenge, bowling Campbell, and his dismissal saw a flurry of wickets as the PCA Masters struggled to stay in touch with the ten an over required run rate. Former Hampshire captain Robin Smith was caught after making seven runs, and it was left to an entertaining cameo from former England fast bowler Martin McCague, who hit two towering sixes to guide the PCA Masters to a respectable 141 all out, leaving Hants the winners by 64 runs.

After the game, a capacity crowd of 19,000 watched England beat Trinidad & Tobago 2-0 on the big screen before turning their attention back to cricket as Sri Lanka edged out England by two runs in a thrilling Twenty20 encounter, to cap a day of fantastic sporting action.

PCA Masters Side Included…

Robin Smith, Warren Hegg, Paul Jarvis, Jimmy Adams, Vince Wells, Martin McCague, David Ward, Chris Lewis, Dean Headley, Keith Dutch, Sherwin Campbell.