Lockyear shores up CBCA total in MRF tourney

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal">BANGALORE: Rhett Lockyear feels that Bangalore is hot! This is the Australian''s first trip to India. And the 20-year-old from Down Under weathered every ''obstacle'' to carve out a strokeful century (110, 165b, 9x4, 1x6) against Railways Sports Promotion Board on the opening day of the two-day KSCA-MRF all-India invitation tournament at the M Chinnaswamy stadium here on Thursday.Lockyear''s effort saw Commonwealth Bank Cricket Academy put on a healthy 363/9 in 100 overs at close.<br /><br />The CBCA, opting to bat first, got off to a good start with their openers Scott Meuleman and Mathew Innes raising 114 runs between them. Though cautious in their approach, the opening pair was punitive against anything loose. While Innes was the first to go, run out by S Saxena for 52 (88b, 5x4), Meuleman (56, 124b, 7x4, 1x6) departed soon, being bowled by J P Yadav. RSPB, after a long barren period suddenly gained the upperhand with one-drop Aaron Ney lasting just five balls. He was bowled by medium pacer Saxena.<br /><br />Lockyear then took charge, authoring a string of useful partnerships. The stylish right-hander, who holds the Waugh brothers (Steve and Mark) in high esteem, looked confident as he handled both the seamers and spinners with equal elan. Though he earned two reprieves on 84 and 90, nothing derogatory can be mentioned about his game. A tiring Lockyear (which he attributed to ''hot'' weather), tried to accelerate the pace and only succeeded in holing out to Raja Ali at widish mid-off, off the bowling of Saxena. Lockyear received good support from skipper Peter Worthington (42) and Lake Ronchi(22) as CBCA went on to post a competitive total. <br /><br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">Sodhi, Bhatia flay Rajasthan attack</span><br /><br />Calling Rajasthan Cricket Association''s bowling an attack, would be a misnomer as Indian Airlines'' opener Ritender Singh Sodhi and Rajat Bhatia proved. The belligerent batting duo clobbered almost all their bowlers to pile up a huge 402/3 runs in 96 overs at the Central College ground. <br /><br />Sodhi, out of national selectors'' favour for some time now, remained unbeaten on 186 (394b, 22x4, 2x6) while Bhatia was out after scoring 147 (118b, 9x4, 5x6). Bhatia and Sodhi, between them realised 287 runs for the third wicket. <br /><br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">Brief scores</span><br /><br />CBCA, Australia 363/9 in 100 overs (Scott Meuleman 56, Mathew Innes 52, Rhett Lockyear 110, Callum Ferguson 29, Peter Worthington 42, Luke Ronchi 22, J.P. Yadav 2/50, Santosh Saxena 2/48, Yere Goud 2/60, M. Vinod 2/25) vs RSPB.<br /><br />At Central College: Indian Airlines 402/3 in 96 overs (M.S. Bisla 28, Ritender Singh Sodhi 186 batting, Rajat Bhatia 147) vs Rajasthan CA.<br /><br />At NRA: Hyderabad CA 178/5 in 82 overs (T. Suman 47, Shashank Nag 23, Anoop Sai 33, Ibrahim Khaleel 33 n.o., Faiz Ahmed 30 n.o., N.C. Aiyappa 2/44). <br /><br />At JIRS: Cricket Association of Bengal 316 all out in 99.4 overs (Amitava Chakraborthy 58, Arindam Das 22, Subhomoy Das 77, Sanjib Sanyal 36, Laxmi Ratan Shukla 46, Anil Kumble 2/65, Santosh Vadeyaraj 2/68, Udit Patel 2/90).</div> </div>