NBA’s current and Man United former stars put bank on on17 show in Africa Schweinsteiger SUNDAY, AUGUST 2, 2015 19 English Premier League excitement begins Page 18 COLOMBO: Pakistan cricketers pose for photographers after their victory during the second Twenty 20 International cricket match between Sri Lanka and Pakistan at the R Premadasa International Cricket Stadium. — AFP Pakistan win T20 thriller SCOREBOARD COLOMBO: Scoreboard of the second Twenty20 international between Pakistan and Sri Lanka at the COLOMBO: Shahid Afridi and Anwar Ali played Test series 2-1 and the one-dayers 3-2. Afridi under pressure. Earlier, aggressive batting by Premadasa stadium in Colombo yesterday: key roles as Pakistan ended a successful tour of played down his own contribution, focusing debutant Shehan Jayasuriya and the recalled Sri Lanka with a thrilling one-wicket victory in instead on the contributions of the younger Kapugedera lifted Sri Lanka to 172-7 after skip- Sri Lanka: Ahmed Shehzad b Fernando 7 the second Twenty20 international in Colombo players. “I think 170 was chaseable, but we pan- per Lasith Malinga won the toss and elected to K. Perera b Malik 19 Mohammad Hafeez run out 11 yesterday. Pakistan recovered from 40-5 in the icked early on,” he said. “Then came these awe- bat in the day-night match. T. Dilshan c Hafeez b Anwar 10 Shoaib Malik st K.Perera b Siriwardana 8 eighth over to surpass Sri Lanka’s challenging some innings from Imad and Anwar. Hopefully Jayasuriya, a 23-year-old left-hander unrelat- S. Jayasuriya c Imad b Tanvir 40 Umar Akmal run out 4 172-7 with four balls to spare with Imad Wasim they will continue to do well in the future also. “I ed to Sri Lanka’s former captain Sanath D. de Silva b Afridi 14 Mohammad Rizwan b T. Perera 17 striking the winning six off left-arm seamer have an excellent bunch of guys, who have giv- Jayasuriya, smashed three fours and two sixes in T. Perera st Rizwan b Malik 1 Shahid Afridi b Jayasuriya 45 Binura Fernando. en me hope for the future.” his 32-ball 40 before he was fifth out. But it was M. Siriwardana c Mukhtar b Irfan 23 Imad Wasim not out 24 Skipper Afridi led the way with a 22-ball 45 Fernando, a lean 20-year-old playing only his Kapugedera who boosted the total with an C. Kapugedera not out 48 Anwar Ali c K. Perera b Malinga 46 that included four sixes and a boundary, before second international match, gave Sri Lanka a fly- unbeaten 48 off 25 balls that contained four six- D. Shanaka run out 7 Sohail Tanvir run out 1 Anwar smashed 46 off 17 balls in a match-win- ing start with a double strike in his second over. es and two boundaries. Kapugedera put on 55 Extras: (lb3, w7) 10 Mohammad Irfan not out 1 ning knock that contained four sixes and three He bowled Ahmed Shehzad with a slower deliv- for the sixth wicket with Milinda Siriwardana Total (for seven wickets, 20 overs) 172 Extras: (lb1, w5) 6 fours. Imad, who remained unbeaten on 24, ery and then forced Mukhtar Ahmed to top- (23) as the hosts plundered 59 runs in the final Fall of wickets: 1-24 (Dilshan), 2-32 (K. Perera), 3- Total (for nine wickets, 19.2 overs) 174 helped Anwar add 58 for the eighth wicket as edge a bouncer to Chamara Kapugedera at mid- five overs. 61 (de Silva), 4-64 (T. Perera), 5-90 (Jayasuriya), 6- Fall of wickets: 1-11 (Shehzad), 2-16 (Mukhtar), 3- the tourists recorded a heart-stopping win in wicket. Malinga, who conceded 40 runs in his four 145 (Siriwardana), 7-172 (Shanaka). 33 (Hafeez), 4-40 (Akmal), 5-40 (Malik), 6-101 front of a sell-out crowd of 35,000 at the Pakistan’s top order caved in as Mohammad overs, rued his poor form with the ball. “I should Bowling: Anwar 4-0-40-1 (w1), Tanvir 4-0-44-1 (Rizwan), 7-107 (Afridi), 8-165 (Anwar), 9-167 Premadasa stadium that briefly included Sri Hafeez and Umar Akmal were run out and senior have bowled better,” the sling-arm fast bowling (w1), Malik 3-0-16-2, Irfan 4-0-31-1, Afridi 4-0-30- (Tanvir). Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena. batsman Shoaib Malik was stumped. Afridi spearhead said. 1, Imad 1-0-8-0 (w5). Bowling: Fernando 3.2-0-33-2 (w5), Jayasuriya 4- Pakistan, who won the first T20 match by 29 began the amazing turnaround with a sixth- “But I am happy the way some of the Pakistan: 0-37-1, T. Perera 4-0-27-1, Siriwardana 2-0-17-1, runs on Thursday, completed a remarkable tre- wicket stand of 61 with Mohammad Rizwan (17) younger players have performed. “Sri Lanka has Mukhtar Ahmed c Kapugedera b Fernando 4 Vandersay 2-0-19-0, Malinga 4-0-40-1 ble on the six-week tour, having earlier won the as the inexperienced Sri Lankan attack wilted a good talent pool to pick from.” — AFP Russians dominate synchronised events KAZAN: Russia ended the synchronised swim- du Soleil performers, held off Russia to win gold. ming events at the world championships on a Traditionally a women-only discipline, the high note by winning the women’s free combi- mixed duet competition was the first time that nation yesterday. men had featured in the synchronised swim- Their routine to “Don Quixote” by Ludwig ming at a world championships. Minkus delighted a near-capacity crowd of Meanwhile, judges were forced to wear rain 12,000 as the Russian team of 10 scored 98.30 jackets and hold umbrellas and an underwater points to take gold inside a rain-swept Kazan speaker broke during Russia’s gold-medal win- Arena. ning routine as bad weather and technical Russia held off China, who recorded 96.20 problems disrupted the synchronized swim- points, while Japan, the last team of 12 to com- ming at the world championships. Temporary pete in the final, overtook Ukraine to snatch stands holding around 12,000 people and two bronze, with 93.80. pools have been built inside the impressive “We feel very happy the competitions have Kazan Arena football stadium. finally ended. I hardly escaped from the girls’ Heavy rain leaked through the temporary hugs,” Russia head coach Tatiana Pokrovskaya roof into the arena, however, during the final of told reporters. the women’s free combination and half of the “It was a perfect performance by our team. 14 judges bore the brunt of the inclement Our competitors are falling a long way behind weather. us, including the USA”. Russia’s final evening win Midway through an energetic final, seven of meant that the host nation finished with eight the officials judging the 12 finalists on one side of a possible nine golds in Kazan, having domi- of the pool deck were handed rain jackets and nated with seven golds from seven disciplines black umbrellas. in the championships two years ago in “You could call it a little comical,” Claudia Barcelona. China’s silver was their sixth of the Holzner, a Canadian team member, told Reuters. week. Angelika Timanina, Alla Shishkina and “It has been a bit different with a makeshift roof Aleksandra Patskevich, three stalwarts of the and it has been colder than usual.” Russian team, finished their world champi- Meanwhile, Russia’s Aleksandra Patskevich onship with a fourth successive gold after first was “left in shock” after the underwater speaker contributing to a Russian title-winning routine broke during the combined team of 10’s per- in 2009. formance in the pool. Gold for another team member, Svetlana “We could hear only some crackling and not Romashina, meant that she and free duet part- the music,” she said. “The weather did not both- ner Natalia Ishchenko have now won 40 world er us, though it was quite cold while waiting for titles between them. the start. We were confused at the beginning The only world title not to fall Russia’s way due to the technical problems. We could not came in the mixed duet technical event. The understand what had happened.” Russia’s American duo, 36-year-old Bill May and 27-year- superb routine scored 98.3000 points to delight KAZAN: Team Russia competes in the Team Free Combination final event during the synchronised swimming competition at the 2015 FINA World old Christina Jones who are professional Cirque the near-capacity crowd. — Reuters Championships yesterday. — AFP.