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Home , Chandika Hathurusingha, Dean Elgar

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2016 SPORTS

Bangladesh stumper Rahim misses remaining ODIs in NZ

WELLINGTON: Bangladesh wicketkeep- before is a bonus,” Bangladesh coach Nelson on Thursday. during the second Test between to commentate on day three of the test er will miss the remain- Chandika Hathurusingha told reporters Beginning on Jan 3, Bangladesh play and Pakistan yesterday. but was taken to hospital again after suf- ing two one-day internationals against on Wednesday. “He’s been one of the three matches in New Zealand The 59-year-old Englishman was tak- fering the same symptoms, a New Zealand with a hamstring injury. form batters as well as wicketkeeper in followed by tests at Wellington (Jan. 12- en to hospital on Monday after suffering Australia spokesman told reporters. The first-choice stumper, also a key all formats, but injuries are part and par- 16) and Christchurch (Jan 20-24). abdominal pains but discharged after Nicholas played 377 first class games middle order batsman, suffered the cel of the game.” * Meanwhile, former Hampshire cap- tests, with his employer Channel Nine and led English county side Hampshire injury during his team’s defeat by 77 runs Rahim’s injury cleared the decks for tain and cricket commentator Mark reporting that he was in “good spirits”. for over 10 years before retiring in 1995 in the Boxing Day match at Christchurch. reserve wicketkeeper Nurul Hasan’s one- Nicholas has been taken to hospital for a He returned to the Melbourne Cricket to carve out a career in journalism and “We are looking at two weeks, anything day debut in the second match at second time in three days after falling ill Ground commentary box on Wednesday broadcasting. — Reuters

Cook hits century as South Africa dominate

PORT ELIZABETH: Stephen Cook hit a behind. His Test-best 117 was scored off century as South Africa took control on the 178 balls with 11 fours. third day of the first Test against With Sri Lanka setting defensive fields, at St George’s Park yesterday. the South African batsmen were able to South Africa were 351 for five at the score plenty of singles and keep the score close, an overall lead of 432 on a ground moving. They lost two more , both where no team has successfully chased to off-spinner , before more than 271 in the fourth innings. and In contrast to the first two days, when added an unbeaten 74 off 92 balls before seam bowlers held sway, South Africa the close. An indication of the lack of con- scored freely against a lacklustre bowling trol exerted by the Sri Lankan bowlers was attack on a pitch which seemed to have that they only bowled three maiden overs flattened out. during the innings, two of them by Lakmal, Cook made 117 to lead a powerful bat- who added the of Elgar to the five ting performance by the hosts. he collected in the first innings. But Lakmal, He shared century partnerships with who bowled 27 overs in the first innings, Dean Elgar (52) and (48). seldom threatened yesterday. Cook and Elgar put on 116 for the first Sri Lanka were bowled out early in the wicket, their second three-figure opening day for 205, with Vernon Philander finish- stand of the match. Then Cook and Amla ing with five for 45, losing their remaining added 105 for the second wicket off only three wickets for 24 runs. 118 balls as the Sri Lankan bowlers and Philander struck twice in the first over of fielders wilted. the day after Sri Lanka resumed at 181 for After two interruptions for rain, the play- seven. His first ball was a perfect out- ing hours were changed and South Africa swinger which De Silva edged to wicket- scored 182 runs off 40 overs in an extended keeper De Kock. De Silva had batted post-lunch period. They added another 131 impressively to make 43 on Tuesday but off 29 overs before the close. Philander made the ball deviate just Cook, who made his third century in enough to catch the edge as De Silva only seven Tests, survived a chance to gully played back defensively. off when he was on 62, but Lakmal hit a boundary but then chipped played with more freedom than in previous the final ball of the over to Kyle Abbott at appearances. He reached his fifty off 81 mid-on. Chameera and MELBOURNE: Australian batsman David Warner leaps in the air as he celebrates his century against Pakistan on the third day of the second balls and his hundred off 152 deliveries. added 20 for the last wicket before cricket Test match in Melbourne yesterday. — AFP He was out soon after tea when he Chameera edged Abbott to Amla at first edged an attempted cut against slip after making a Test-best 19. Abbott fin- Dushmantha Chameera to be caught ished with three for 63. — AFP Warner leads Australia charge against Pakistan

MELBOURNE: A rampaging David Warner smashed a run-a-ball century to fire Australia to SCOREBOARD 278 for two and wrest back the momentum from Pakistan after Azhar Ali’s unbeaten double hun- MELBOURNE: Scoreboard at the close on the third day of the second Test between Australia and Pakistan at the dred buoyed the touring side on day three of the Melbourne Cricket Ground on yesterday. second Test on yesterday. Pakistan first innings (310-6 overnight) Bowling: Starc 31-6-125-1 (1w), Hazlewood 32.3-11-50-3, Warner’s exhilarating 144 anchored a 198-run S. Aslam c Smith b Lyon 9 Bird 34-5-113-3 (1nb), Lyon 23-1-115-1, Smith 3-0-9-0, partnership with Usman Khawaja at the A. Ali not out 205 Maddinson 3-0-18-0. Melbourne Cricket Ground, as Australia slashed B. Azam c Smith b Hazlewood 23 the deficit to 165 runs after Pakistan’s first innings Y. Khan b Bird 21 Australia first innings declaration of 443-9 after lunch. Misbah-ul-Haq c Maddinson b Bird 11 M. Renshaw b Y, Khan 10 Khawaja was unbeaten on 95 at stumps, with A. Shafiq c Smith b Bird 50 D. Warner c Sarfraz b Riaz 144 captain Steve Smith on 10 not out and Australia S. Ahmed c Renshaw b Hazlewood 10 U. Khawaja not out 95 holding genuine hope of forcing a result despite M. Amir c Wade b Starc 29 S. Smith not out 10 S. Khan run out (Maddinson) 65 Extras (b1, lb8, nb10) 19 the rain interruptions that blighted the opening W. Riaz c and b Hazlewood 1 Total (2 wickets, 58 overs) 278 two days. Warner’s furious counter-attack sapped Extras (b4, lb9, w5, nb1) 19 PORT ELIZABETH: South African batsman Stephen Cook (R) raises his bat as he cele- the morale from the tourists, who had also Total (9 wkts dec, 126.3 overs) 443 Fall of wickets: 1-46 (Renshaw), 2-244 (Warner) brates after scoring a century (100 Runs) during the second day of the first cricket glimpsed a chance of a series-levelling victory fol- Fall of wickets: 1-18 (Aslam), 2-60 (Azam), 3-111 (Y. To bat: P. Handscomb, N. Maddinson, M. Wade, M. Starc, Test match between South Africa and Sri Lanka yesterday at the Port Elizabeth stadi- lowing gritty opener Azhar’s brilliant knock of Khan), 4-125 (Misbah-ul-Haq), 5-240 (Shafiq), 6-268 J. Hazlewood, N. Lyon, J. Bird. um, South Africa. — AFP 205. More galling for Pakistan was that Warner (Ahmed), 7-317 (Amir), 8-435 (S. Khan), 9-443 (Riaz) Bowling: Amir 14-2-44-0, S. Khan 12-4-40-0, Y. Khan 16- was reprieved on 81 when he was bowled by a no Did not bat: Y. Shah. 0-97-1, Riaz 14-2-77-1 (10nb) Azhar 2-0-11-0. ball from Wahab Riaz. SCOREBOARD “We’re in a good position now, our aim was to take the scoreboard out of the equation and just PORT ELIZABETH, South Africa: Scores at close of play on the third day of the first Test between South bat,” said Warner after a hot and sunny afternoon Africa and Sri Lanka at St George’s Park yesterday. of work. “We can’t control the weather but we just South Africa, first innings, 286 (1nb, 1w), Maharaj 10-3-30-1 want to bat as big as we can.” Paceman Wahab Sri Lanka, first innings (overnight 181-7) had a dreadfully wayward day, sending down 10 D. Karunaratne b Abbott 5 South Africa, second innings no balls, including a hat-trick of overstepped K. Silva lbw b Philander 16 S. Cook c Chandimal b Chameera 117 marks in the over of Warner’s non-dismissal. It was K. Perera c De Kock b Philander 7 D. Elgar c Mathews b Lakmal 52 a golden day, however, for opposing openers K. Mendis c De Kock b Abbott 0 H. Amla lbw b Pradeep 48 Warner and Azhar and both raced by a number of A. Mathews c Elgar b Rabada 39 J. Duminy c Mathews b De Silva 25 milestones. Azhar’s double hundred was the D. Chandimal lbw b Philander 28 F. du Plessis not out 41 highest innings by a Pakistan player in Australia D. de Silva c De Kock b Philander 43 T. Bavuma c Mendis b De Silva 8 and only three runs shy of Viv Richards’ 1984 R. Herath lbw b Maharaj 24 Q. de Kock not out 42 D. Chameera c Amla b Abbott 19 Extras (b5, lb1, nb9, w3) 18 record for touring batsmen at the MCG. He also S. Lakmal c Abbott b Philander 4 Total (5 wkts, 80 overs) 351 became his nation’s first to surpass 200 twice in a N. Pradeep not out 8 Fall of wickets: 1-116 (Elgar), 2-221 (Amla), 3-244 calendar year, having scored an unbeaten 302 Extras (lb4, nb3, w5) 12 (Cook), 4-267 (Duminy), against West Indies in Dubai in October. Total (64.5 overs) 205 5-277 (Bavuma) Fall of wickets: 1-10 (Karunaratne), 2-19 (Perera), 3- Bowling: Lakmal 15-2-57-1, Pradeep 14-0-65-1 RARE SLUMP 22 (Mendis), 4-61 (4nb, 1w), Mathews 4-0-10-0, Chameera 11-0-63-1 For Warner, his 17th century was his first at the (Silva), 5-94 (Mathews), 6-121 (Chandimal), 7-157 (1nb, 2w), Herath 23-1-76-0, De Silva 13-0-74-2 MCG, completing a sweep of tons at Australia’s six (Herath), 8-181 (De Silva), 9-185 (Lakmal) Match situation: South Africa lead by 432 runs state venues while ending a rare slump in form Bowling: Philander 20-7-45-5 (2nb), Abbott 21.5-4- with five wickets remaining 63-3, Rabada 13-3-63-1 in the second innings. with the red ball. The pugnacious left-hander also galloped past 5,000 test runs, joining the likes of Don Bradman, Ricky Ponting and the Chappell brothers. He reached his hundred with a streaky inside edge that raced to the fine leg boundary and did his customary leap and fist-pump in the air as the crowd of 25,393 roared. After hammering another six fours, Warner feathered an edge off Wahab, confirmed as caught behind by the third umpire after captain Misbah-ul-Haq asked for a review. It was a far better review than the first demanded by Mohammad Amir in the opening overs when Warner was on two. Warner played and missed an Amir but the paceman cajoled his captain into seeking a caught behind decision and the TV footage showed plenty of daylight between bat and ball. Warner’s eventual dismissal did little to halt Australia’s charge, however, with Khawaja racing into the 90s and combining with captain Smith in an unbroken 34-run stand. Warner and Khawaja’s assault threatened to overshadow Azhar’s epic 364-ball knock, a triumph of patience and deter- mination in the face of a string of rain delays and a quality bowling attack. Having spent more than nine-and-a-half hours at the crease, clattering 20 boundaries, Azhar tucked away two runs off paceman Mitchell Starc to bring up the 200 and gave a running jump for joy before ripping off his helmet. “It certainly is a big achievement,” 31-year- old Azhar, who was given a standing ovation by PORT ELIZABETH: Sri Lanka bowler Suranga Lakmal bowls on South African batsman the crowd, told reporters. “It’s a big, big tour for Dean Elgar (not in picture) during the second day of the first Test between South Africa our team. So I was very focused and really wanted MELBOURNE: Pakistan batsman Azhar Ali celebrates scoring his double century against and Sri Lanka yesterday at the Port Elizabeth cricket ground in Port Elizabeth. — AFP to get there.” — Reuters Australia on the third day of the second cricket Test match in Melbourne yesterday. — AFP