Middlesex well beaten by Royals in British Asian Challenge (From Harrow Times)

Middlesex well beaten by Royals in British Asian Challenge

10:23pm Monday 6th July 2009 in

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Middlesex Panthers were completely outclassed as Rajasthan Royals cruised to a 46-run victory at Lord’s this evening in the British Asian Challenge.

The match pitted the Twenty20 Cup champions, who have already been eliminated from this year's competition after a desperate run of form, against the inaugural winners of the Indian Premier League.

About 20,000 fans created a carnival atmosphere despite an early rain delay as the Royals became the first IPL side to play a Twenty20 match in England.

Australian legend Shane Warne put the poker chips to one side and flew over from Las Vegas, where he is one of the early leaders in the World Series Main Event, to captain his side to an easy win over the beleaguered hosts.

After a slow start from the visitors they stepped on the gas and an unbeaten 32 from England's Dimitri Mascarenhas fired the Royals to 162 for five. Dawid Malan claimed two for 23 from three overs for the Panthers.

Any hopes of Middlesex pulling off an unlikely win evaporated inside the opening few overs as they made a poor start to the chase. Neil Dexter struck 26 but the Panthers quickly fell behind the run rate on 32 for three. After ten overs the Panthers had only reached 47 for three and were simply playing for pride.

Malan did himself no harm with a score of 34 and Gareth Berg impressed smashing 26 off 18 balls which included hitting Warne for ten off successive balls. But there was little else to shout about as the home side limped to 113 for seven.