BBC SPORT | Cricket | Britain lose indoor opener

Power Cricket, Millennium Stadium:
Rest of the World (179-6 & 112-3) beat Britain (133-8 & 155) by 7 wickets.

Britain made a disappointing start to the two-match series of indoor all-star matches in Cardiff, going down to a comprehensive defeat against a Rest of the World side.

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West Indies legend Courtney Walsh was the star as he took five for 51 in Britain's second innings, 18 months after retiring from Test cricket.

New Zealand's Stephen Fleming and Nasser Hussain led the teams in front of a disappointing crowd of 4,000 for Europe's first-ever indoor international.

The crowd was sparse at the Millennium Stadium
The format saw the sides alternate two innings of 15 overs each, and Rest of the World's more aggressive batting on the tight pitch proved to be the difference.

A shot into the upper third tier of the stadium counted for 10 runs, and the middle tier eight, with nobody managing to collect the 12 on offer for hitting the roof.

Britain were put into bat and Welshman Robert Croft became the first wicket to fall when he was caught by Jayawardene at long off for 11.

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Hussain was bowled for two soon after by the impressive Shane Bond and Britain went on to make 133, with opener David Fulton top scoring on 24.

Rest of the World set off at a faster pace and by the time Nathan Astle and Andy Flower added 50 from 28 balls for the fourth wicket, Fleming's side were in control.

Muralitharan took 3 for 29 in Britain's first innings
Walsh came on as a substitute for Britain's second innings and removed Ronnie Irani, Matthew Maynard, Adam Hollioake, Ali Brown and John Crawley, who top-scored on 36.

New Zealander Nathan Astle then set about getting the 112 needed for victory.

He made 76 not out - including two eights, four sixes, three fours and a 10 off Irani - to complete the job with 14 balls remaining.

The second match of the two-game series takes place on Saturday.

Britain: Nasser Hussain (Essex), Ali Brown (Surrey), Dominic Cork (Derbyshire), John Crawley (Hampshire), Robert Croft (Glamorgan), Mark Ealham (Kent), Matthew Fleming (Kent), James Foster (Essex), David Fulton (Kent), Adam Hollioake (Surrey), Ronnie Irani (Essex), Simon Jones (Glamorgan), Rob Key (Kent), Matthew Maynard (Glamorgan), Martin Saggers (Kent), Robin Smith (Hampshire).

Rest of the World: Stephen Fleming (New Zealand), Shahid Afridi (Pakistan), Mushtaq Ahmed (Pakistan), Wasim Akram (Pakistan), Saeed Anwar (Pakistan), Nathan Astle (New Zealand), Shane Bond (New Zealand), Andy Flower (Zimbabwe), Mahela Jayawardene (Sri Lanka), Amjad Khan (Denmark), Azhar Mamood (Pakistan), Muttiah Muralitharian (Sri Lanka), Aravinda de Silva (Sri Lanka), Yuvraj Singh (India), Javagal Srinath (India), Courtney Walsh (West Indies).


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