Cairns and Mullally best of the Rest

His dismissal left Asia on 196 for seven in the 47th over and chasing 220 for victory they just fell short.

Aravinda de Silva (35) and Mohammad Azharuddin (33) both played some delightful shots, de Silva’s off-driven four against Courtney Walsh especially memorable but each was dismissed when well set.

Earlier Pakistan off-spinner Saqlain Mushtaq used his knowldege of his adopted `home’ (Surrey) ground to take four for 45 as Asia held RoW to 219 for eight off the full 50 overs.

Ben Hollioake was 23 not out off 16 balls including one six and one four. Earlier Wasim Akram, captaining the side after India batsman Sachin Tendulkar’s last-minute withdrawal with chicken pox, had RoW captain England’s Alec Stewart caught behind by India wicketkeeper Nayan Mongia for five to leave RoW 16 for two in the ninth over.

Stewart won the toss and elected to bat, opening with Zimbabwe’s Neil Johnson.

The left-handed Johnson was first to go, also with the score on 16, when he too was caught behind, this time off India’s Javagal Srinath.

Both new ball bowlers had fine opening spells, left-armer Wasim with figures of 7-1-11-1 and Srinath 6-1-15-1.

However, England captain Nasser Hussain and New Zealand’s Nathan Astle began to repair the damage against India duo leg-spinner Anil Kumble and fast-medium man Prasad, RoW reaching the fifty mark in the 18th over.

Hussain pulled Kumble for four in the bowler’s opening over and Astle was repeatedly severe on Prasad whose five overs cost 24 runs.

Kumble was expensive too, his seven overs going for 31.

Hussain greeted the introduction of Chopra’s gentle spin with a huge straight six into the Pavilion end. But trying to repeat the stroke in the 30th over he holed out to Kumble at long-on for 45 of 68 balls including that six and three fours.

He had shared a stand of 97 with Astle. The New Zealander, the Man-of-the-Match, reached his fifty off 66 balls, with five fours, pulling a Chopra full-toss to the boundary.

However, two balls later, Astle was bowled by off-spinner Saqlain’s `mystery ball’ for 51 to leave RoW 125 for four.

And two runs later this became 127 for five when Graham Thorpe chipped Chopra to Azharuddin at short-cover for six.

Australian Stuart Law and all-rounder Cairns shared a stand of 45 before Cairns holed out to Wasim at mid-off off Saqlain for 18.

Law was stumped by Mongia off Saqlain for 25.

Although this match had no official status, being played to raise money for The Oval Trust, a rare capacity crowd of 18,500, with its whistles and horns, certainly gave it the atmosphere of a major game.

The trust, which is looking to raise 18 million pounds ($27 million) for ground development and a new museum here, expects to have reached 70 per cent of that target after this match.