Sports Monday, January 7, 2019 17 After victory, Du Plessis says he’s a fan of Tests, lively pitches

AFP more,” he said. were bowled out for 294, leav- rion.” who suffered a badly bruised Cape Town “The speed of play has ing an easy target. Apart from being down on right thigh while fielding, gone up tremendously. Test “They had an opportu- pace, Sarfraz said the Pakistan made only four before he was said on Sunday has evolved and it is nity to get 150 (ahead) on the bowlers delivered too many caught off his glove by Sar- that Test matches were crick- great for the fans. They are get- board but we did really well loose balls to provide scoring fraz while attempting to pull et’s most exciting format after ting fours, sixes, lots of wick- after tea, making sure we did opportunities for the South a from Mohammad his side clinched their series ets and pace bowlers . not let the opposition get back African batsmen. Abbas. against Pakistan with a nine- for me the last few in the game,” he said. Sarfraz acknowledged that was forced win on the fourth day years has been the most excit- a single warm-up game had to retire hurt on two after be- at Newlands on Sunday. ing format of all.” Poor bowling not been enough to prepare ing hit on the right upper arm The South African Du Plessis said the pitch at Pakistan captain Sarfraz Pakistan for South African by a ball from Mohammad disagreed with Pakistan coach Newlands had been challenging Ahmed said the loss of five conditions but he took heart Amir which lifted sharply off a Mickey Arthur’s criticism of on the first two days but there on the first morn- from the second in good length. the pitches for the first two were rewards for batsmen. ing after his side were sent in which Shan Masood, Asad Tests, both won by South Af- “If Pakistan batted well had put Pakistan in a position Shafiq and scored rica in less than four days. yesterday (Saturday), today from which it was difficult to impressive half-centuries. Scoreboard South Africa needed just and tomorrow would have recover. “That is how you play Test Pakistan (1st innings): 177 48 minutes and 9.5 overs to been good wickets. It A first innings total of 177 cricket,” he said. “We are get- South Africa (1st innings): 431 Pakistan (2nd innings): 294 score the 41 runs needed on flattened out and the ball got was not enough to put pres- ting better day by day. Hope- South Africa (2nd innings): Sunday to score a second suc- soft. It was tough on day two sure on the South African bats- fully we will do well in Johan- D. Elgar 24 cessive win - and a seventh but we scored close to 400 men, a situation made worse nesburg. We have nothing to T. de Bruyn c Sarfraz Ahmed b Mohammad Abbas 4 successive home series victory. runs,” he said. by what Sarfraz described as a lose.” H. Amla retired hurt 2 F. du Plessis not out 3 Du Plessis said lively sur- The South African captain poor bowling performance. South Africa lost a wicket Extras (b4, nb1, w5) 10 faces and an attacking mind- felt Pakistan had missed a “Our bowling was not up and added another injury con- Total (1 wkt, 9.5 overs) 43 set, encouraged by chance to put pressure on the to the mark,” said Sarfraz. cern before struck Fall of wicket: 1-4 (De Bruyn) cricket, had helped make Test hosts by failing to capitalise on “Our speed part-time bowler Azhar Ali for Bowling: Mohammad Amir 5-2-17-0 (1nb, 1w), Mohammad Abbas 4-0-14-1, Azhar Ali 0.5-0-8-0. cricket exciting. a sparkling third wicket stand was 130 (kilometres an hour), two boundaries to finish the Result: South Africa won by nine wickets “There are not a lot of Test between Shan Masood and South Africa’s Dean Elgar celebrates with Faf du Plessis after win- South Africa were bowling at match. Series: South Africa lead the three-match series 2-0 matches that are going five Asad Shafiq on Saturday. The ning the second cricket Test match against Pakistan in Cape Town on 145. Our bowling was far bet- , opening Toss: South Africa days around the world any tourists reached 159 for two but Sunday. (REUTERS) ter (in the first Test) in Centu- in place of , Ruthless India force Oz to follow Attiyah aims to win on at home first time in 30 years Scoreboard med Shami without adding to Career’s second his overnight 25. India (1st innings): ...... 622-7 decl The recalled Peter Hand- 5-wicket haul for (1st innings, overnight 236-6): scomb began with purpose, landmark first M. Harris b Jadeja ...... 79 confidently stroking two U. Khawaja c Pujara b K. Yadav ...... 27 M. Labuschagne c Rahane b Shami ...... 38 boundaries to move to 37 be- AFP S. Marsh c Rahane b Jadeja ...... 8 fore swiping at a Jasprit Bum- T. Head c & b K. Yadav ...... 20 rah and dragging it P. Handscomb b Bumrah ...... 37 T. Paine b Yadav ...... 5 onto his stumps. Dakar for Toyota A ruthless India took a stran- That brought P. Cummins b Shami ...... 25 glehold on the final Test in M. Starc not out ...... 29 to the crease but he only lasted Sydney on Sunday as they N. Lyon lbw Yadav ...... 0 five balls, out lbw to a full toss J. Hazlewood b Yadav ...... 21 forced Australia to follow on Extras (b4, lb2, w5) ...... 11 from Kuldeep Yadav. at home for the first time in 30 Total (10 wickets, 104.5 overs) ...... 300 Hanuma Vihari dropped years, leaving the hosts facing Fall of wickets: 1-72 (Khawaja), 2-128 (Harris), a sitter when a full day’s batting to cling on 3-144 (S.Marsh), 4-152 (Labuschagne), 5-192 was on nought, and it proved (Head), 6-198 (Paine), 7-236 (Cummins), 8-257 for a draw. (Handscomb), 9-258 (Lyon), 10-300 (Hazlewood) costly with the tailender put- Play started almost four Bowling: Shami 19-2-58-2, Bumrah 21-5-62-1, ting on 42 with hours late due to rain, with the Jadeja 32-11-73-2, Yadav 31.5-6-99-5, Vihari 1-0- for the last wicket before he fell home team resuming on 236 2-0. to Yadav, who was the pick of for six after lunch in reply to Australia (2nd innings): the bowlers with 5-99 - his sec- India’s thumping first innings M. Harris not out ...... 2 ond career five-wicket haul. 622 for seven declared. U. Khawaja not out ...... 4 India lead the four-Test se- But needing a win to level Extras ...... 0 ries 2-1 and only need a draw Total (0 wickets, 4 overs) ...... 6 the four-match series, Aus- To bat: , , Travis to clinch a first-ever series win tralia crumbled to 300 all out, Head, , , Josh Hazlewood, Down Under, with Kohli’s men compounding the misery after , Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Starc on the cusp of doing some- some soft dismissals by the top Bowling: Shami 2-1-4-0, Bumrah 2-1-2-0. thing no Indian team has man- order on Saturday as they stare Toss: India aged since they began touring down the barrel of defeat. Australia in 1947-48. Indian skipper doned for the day. Bowling coach Bharat sent them straight back into India’s spinners had picked Arun said India’s key moti- bat - the first time Australia up five of the six wickets on vation throughout the series have been asked to follow on Saturday, but under overcast was simply to get in front and at home since Mike Gatting’s skies when play finally began stay there. “The onus of this England did the same in 1988, on day four Kohli took the new particular group is putting the also in Sydney. ball straight away and threw it team in front. Irrespective of Qatar’s Nasser bin Saleh al Attiyah, the two-time champion, is determined to win the first Dakar Rally title for his Toyota Hilux team. Marcus Harris, not out to his quicks. what situation we are in, we two, and , un- It immediately paid divi- say we are going out there to Tribune News Network of focus. “This Dakar will be withdrawn from cross-country ota that first place they have beaten on four, survived four dends with Pat Cummins, who put our best foot forward and DOHA different - only in one country rallying, Hall is convinced his not yet achieved,” said 2009 overs before tea was taken scored a gutsy 63 in the Mel- play our best cricket,” he said. with 70 percent of the route team must seize its chance. champion de Villiers. early for bad light. They didn’t bourne Test, lasting just three “At the end of the day, the Twice champion Nasser bin in sand dunes. It will be really “Last year our goal was also to “We have the same pres- come back with play aban- balls, clean bowled by Moham- effort is what counts.” Saleh al Attiyah feels that his hard. We need to respect all win, but this year we have to sure as last year with Peugeot, much improved Toyota Hilux the drivers. do it,” Hall was quoted by Au- I think we may have a slightly car may help in his mission to “Last year, Peugeot had tosport as saying. greater chance of winning now win the maiden Dakar Rally four cars and everybody was “We have a good car, good that there is no official team, for the Japanese manufac- helping the leader. This year, drivers, the same team from but it will be a tough race. The turers. all Peugeot riders are with last year. It is a positive conti- team that makes fewest mis- The torturous 5,000-km Mini. The race is shorter, we nuity. We had two chances to takes will win.” Dakar Rally begins on Monday need to be really focused and win [in 2018], but we finished According to Hall, the with the Lima to Pisco stage. don’t have not lose any time second and third. This year we team made only minor chang- The Qatari driver, runner-up with the navigation.” must achieve it.” es to the Hilux that contested to Spaniard Carlos Sainz last His Toyota Gazoo racing Attiyah and de Villiers will the 2018 event. year, is hoping to conquer the South Africa Team Manager again be partnered by third “The base is the same,” he Middle East-like landscapes of Glyn Hall also feels that his driver Bernhard ten Brinke, said. “We changed the cool- Peru as most of the rally is be- drivers must capitalise on the who likewise was a frontrun- ing system because we had ing contested in sand dunes. opportunity to claim a mile- ner last year and claimed a too much cooling last year. We Attiyah said on the rally stone first Dakar win for the stage win. worked a lot on the suspension website, “This time we have a Japanese giants in 2019. Toyota will face opposition and the shock absorbers, we really good car. Last year, we Toyota Hilux cars fin- from the X-raid Mini team made the car more comfort- finished in second place, de- ished best of the rest behind - which signed three drivers able for the drivers, because spite having a few problems. the dominant Peugeots in the from Peugeot’s works line-up their seat was too high. We improved a lot since the previous two editions of the and will also field five of its “We have an air restrictor last Dakar and my aim is to Dakar, with Gazoo drivers regular 4x4s - as well as the [that’s] 1mm narrower than win this rally for Toyota.” Attiyah and Giniel de Villiers PH Sport-entered privateer in 2018, which implies five But he insists the rally, making up the podium behind Peugeot of Sebastien Loeb. percent less power, but we though it is shorter and differ- winner Sainz last year. “We hope we can do a very changed the characteristics of India’s Kuldeep Yadav holds the ball up after taking five wickets for the innings on day four of the fourth ent, would still demand a lot Now that Peugeot has good job, we need to give Toy- the engine slightly.” cricket Test match against Australia at the SCG in Sydney on Sunday. (AAP)

Banned Warner, Shapoorji Pallonji claim Smith make QCA T20 Division C title BPL debut AFP Tribune News Network with 37. Salman followed him Dhaka DOHA Deepak excelled with both with 30, Hareesh hit 21 and bat and ball as he ena- Shibi got 14. Banned Australian cricket- Shapoorji Pallonji hum- bled Shapoorji Pallonji to Gul Khan Jadoun, the ers and Steve bled Gulf Warehousing Com- skittle GWC out in 20 Head of Domestic Cricket at Smith made a low-scoring de- pany (GWC) by 30 runs to overs while they were QCA, was the chief guest at the but in the Bangladesh Premier emerge the Division C cham- chasing a stiff 155- final match and gave away the League on Sunday, amassing pions in the QCA Twenty20 prizes. just 30 runs between them. Cricket Tournament at the target The duo, who are serv- Asian Town Cricket Stadium, Brief scores ing international bans for ball Industrial Area. seven in 20 overs. Qasim and Division C final tampering, faced off in the Deepak excelled with Tarib batted aggressively to Shapoorji Pallonji beat Gulf BPL opener in Dhaka, with both bat and ball as he ena- collect 46 and 41. Deepak con- Warehousing Company by 30 runs Smith’s Comilla Victorians bled Shapoorji Pallonji to tributed 25, while Prathban Shapoorji Pallonji: 154 for seven in 20 edging Warner’s Sylhet Sixers skittle GWC out in 20 overs added 17. overs (Tarib 41, Qasim 46, Deepak 25, by four wickets. while they were chasing a Hareesh was the pick of Mustafa 17, Prathban 17; Haris 1 wkt, Sujit 1 Warner hit off-spinner stiff 155-run target. His five- GWC bowlers, grabbing two wkt, Hareesh 2 wkts) Mahedi Hasan for three four’s wicket haul derailed the ri- scalps. Haris and Sujit shared GWC: 123 all out in 20 overs (Getan 37 in one over at the Sher-e- vals, who could manage only two. runs, Salman 30 runs, Shibi 14 runs, Hareesh Bangla National Stadium be- QCA T20 Division C Tournament winners Shapoorji Pallonji and runners-up GWC players with QCA’s Do- 123. Besides Deepak, Lijju also 21; Lijju 3 wkts, Deepak 5 wkts) fore a mix-up saw him mestic Cricket Head Gul Khan Jadoun and other officials at the Asia Town Cricket Stadium after the prize Batting first, Shapoorji bowled well and snared three Man of the Match: Deepak of Shapoorji for 14 off 13 balls. distribution. Pallonji rattled up 154 for wickets. Getan top-scored Pallonji Smith made 16 off 17 balls.