CCRICKETRICKET | Page 2 Pujara and Kohli dig in aft er Agarwal’s 76 on debut Thursday, December 27, 2018 FOOTBALL Rabia II 20, 1440 AH Ronaldo rescues GULF TIMES point for 10-man Juve vs Atalanta SPORT Page 6 SPOTLIGHT Southee shines for New Zealand but Lakmal keeps Sri Lanka on top AFP Christchurch uranga Lakmal and Tim Southee vied for early honours as 14 wickets Sfell on day one of the deciding second Test between New Zealand and Sri Lanka in Christchurch yesterday. Lakmal produced a career- best fi ve for 54 as New Zealand crumbled to be all out for 178 in 50 overs on the green wicket at Hagley Oval. Southee, the number eight batsman who top scored for New Zealand with 68, then removed three of the Sri Lankan top order New Zealand’s Tim Southee as the tourists reached stumps at plays a shot at Hagley Park 88 for four. Oval in Christchurch yesterday. Angelo Mathews was not out 27 with Roshen Silva on 15 while wicket spree after lunch as New Southee had three for 29. Zealand’s fortunes continued to In a marathon opening ses- disintegrate. sion, Lakmal bowled unchanged Taylor was unfortunate to be for 16 overs as he tore New Zea- removed when Kumara’s at- land apart with fi gures at one tempt to stop a straight drive stage of four for 11. from Watling saw the ball crash He returned late in the innings through his fi ngers and on to the to remove Neil Wagner to eclipse stumps with Taylor backing up South Africa’s Duanne Olivier celebrates trapping Asad Shafiq leg before wicket at the SuperSport Park cricket stadium in Centurion yesterday. his previous best of fi ve for 63 out of his crease. against South Africa two years Colin de Grandhomme could ago. not contain himself when Ku- CRICKET/FIRST TEST Southee and B J Watling (46) mara off ered a short ball wide of off ered spirited resistance for the off stump. New Zealand with a 108-run But his attempt to hook it over stand for the seventh wicket the leg-side boundary was skied while Ross Taylor (27) was the to Dushmantha Chameera at only other home batsman to mid-wicket. score more than 10. Southee had better success After the drawn fi rst Test in with his unorthodox shot selec- Wellington, New Zealand need tion and took 14 off one Lakmal Pakistan fi ght back to win in Christchurch to secure over to force the Sri Lankan out a fourth consecutive series win of the attack for the fi rst time. for the fi rst time. He brought up the New Zea- Sri Lanka are pushing to end land hundred with a thunderous a run of six consecutive Tests stroke which Silva managed to against New Zealand without get a hand to but both ball and a win. They drew fi rst blood by fi elder ended up over the rope. winning the toss and predictably But his gallant knock was end- aft er Olivier’s 6-37 bowled fi rst on a green wicket ed by a brilliant catch by a leap- with grey skies. ing Danushka Gunathilaka when Olivier steals the limelight on a day when Steyn Lakmal, so used to play- Southee attempted to belt Dil- ing second fi ddle to spinners in ruwan Perara to the mid-wicket became South Africa’s highest wicket-taker in Tests the sub-continent, relished the boundary. seam-friendly conditions and With New Zealand having AFP the dismissals highlighted his fewer than 200 to defend, South- Centurion SCOREBOARD repertoire. ee made early inroads with the There were with catches by wickets of Dimuth Karunaratne the keeper, second slip and mid- (seven), Dinesh Chandimal (six) akistan fought back af- PAKISTAN 1ST INNINGS SOUTH AFRICA 1ST INNINGS off as well as a bowled as he sent and Gunathilaka (eight). ter being bowled out for Imam-ul-Haq lbw b Rabada 0 A. Markram lbw b Hasan Ali 12 Jeet Raval (six), Tom Latham It took him to 235 Test wickets 181 as bowlers dominat- (10), Kane Williamson (two) and to become the third most suc- ed on the fi rst day of the F Zaman c Elgar b Steyn 12 D. Elgar c Azhar Ali b Shaheen Henry Nicholls back to the pa- cessful New Zealand bowler be- Pfi rst Test against South Africa at Shan Masood b Olivier 19 Afridi 22 vilion in his opening spell. hind Richard Hadlee (431) and SuperSport Park yesterday. A Ali c De Bruyn b Olivier 36 H. Amla c Babar Azam b Lahiru Kumara joined the Daniel Vettori (361). Duanne Olivier took six for 37 Mohamed Amir 8 Asad Shafiq lbw b Olivier 7 as the hosts subjected Pakistan T. de Bruyn c Sarfraz Ahmed b to an onslaught of aggressive, B Azam c Du Plessis b Rabada 71 Mohamed Amir 29 SCOREBOARD short-pitched bowling. Sarfraz Ahmed b Olivier 0 South Africa struggled in re- F. du Plessis c Babar Azam b NEW ZEALAND 1ST INNINGS Bowling: Lakmal 19-5-54-5, Ku- Mohamed Amir b Olivier 1 Shaheen Afridi 0 ply, reaching 127 for fi ve at the J. Raval c Chandimal b Lakmal 6 mara 14-4-49-3 (1nb), Mathews close, with left-armers Mo- Yasir Shah lbw b Rabada 4 T. Bavuma not out 38 4-1-6-0, Chameera 8-1-43-0, T. Latham c Mendis b Lakmal 10 Perera 5-1-13-1 hamed Amir and Shaheen Shah Hasan Ali not out 21 D. Steyn not out 13 Afridi both taking two wickets. K. Williamson c Dickwella b S Afridi c De Kock b Olivier 0 Extras (lb2, nb1, w2) 5 Lakmal 2 Teenager Afridi struck with SRI LANKA FIRST INNINGS successive deliveries, dismissing Extras (b7, lb2, w1) 10 Total (5 wkts, 36 overs) 127 Pakistan’s Mohamed Amir celebrates getting the wicket of South R. Taylor run out (Kumara) 27 D.Karunaratne c Williamson b Dean Elgar and captain Faf du Total (47 overs) 181 To bat: Q. de Kock, K. Maharaj, Africa’s Hashim Amla (unseen) at the SuperSport Park cricket H.Nicholls b Lakmal 1 Plessis as South Africa lost three stadium in Centurion yesterday. Southee 7 Fall of wickets: 1-1 (Imam), 2-17 K. Rabada, D Olivier wickets without scoring a run to B.Watling c Perera b Kumara 4 6 D.Gunathilaka c Raval b Southee 8 (Zaman), 3-54 (Masood), 4-62 Fall of wickets: 1-19 (Markram), sink to 43 for four. Theunis de 67, easily the best of the innings. Hasan Ali, but Elgar and Hashim C.de Grandhomme c Chameera (Shafiq), 5-86 (Azhar), 6-86 2-43 (Amla), 3-43 (Elgar), 4-43 D Chandimal c Watling b Bruyn (29) and Temba Bavuma Olivier’s fi rst victim was Shan saw off some tight bowling by b Kumara 1 (Sarfraz), 7-96 (Amir), 8-111 (Du Plessis), 5-112 (De Bruyn) Southee 6 (38 not out) seemed to be regain- Masood, who was playing in Hasan and Mohamed Amir. T.Southee c Gunathilaka b (Yasir), 9-178 (Azam) Bowling: Mohamed Amir K.Mendis c Watling b de ing the ascendancy for South Af- place of Haris Sohail, who suf- The advantage seemed to be Perera 68 rica as they added 69 for the fi fth Bowling: Steyn 13-1-66-1, 11-5-26-2 (1nb), Hasan Ali fered a knee injury during the shifting when Elgar hit three Grandhomme 15 wicket but De Bruyn was caught Rabada 17-4-59-3 (1w), Olivier 10-3-39-1 (1w), Shaheen Afridi pre-match warm-up. boundaries off successive balls N.Wagner c Mendis b Lakmal 0 A.Mathews not out 27 behind off Amir late in the day to 14-3-37-6, Maharaj 3-1-10-0 Masood looked competent as from Hasan. Amir returned to 11-1-36-2, Yasir Shah 4-0-24-0 A.Patel c Lakmal b Kumara 2 R.Silva not out 15 leave the match evenly poised. he and Azhar Ali put on 37 for the the attack after a short break T.Boult not out 1 Olivier, eff ectively South Af- third wicket before a lifting de- and had Amla caught at gully for Extras: (b 5, lb 5) 10 rica’s fi fth-choice fast bowler, South Africa on a day when Dale in four overs in his third spell of livery defl ected off his thigh pad eight, the latest in a string of low Extras: (b6, lb7, nb1) 14 Total: (for 4 wickets; 32 overs) 88 gained his sixth Test cap follow- Steyn became South Africa’s the day as Babar Azam went on onto the stumps. scores by the veteran batsman. Total: (all out, 50 overs) 178 Fall of wickets: 1-10 (Karu- ing injuries to Vernon Philander leading all-time wicket-taker. the attack while batting with the Olivier followed up by trap- Tall left-armer Afridi, 18, Fall of wickets: 1-16 (Raval), 2-17 naratne), 2-20 (Chandimal), 3-21 and Lungi Ngidi. Steyn took the second wicket tail. Azam hit 10 of his 15 fours off ping Asad Shafi q leg before playing in his second Test, fol- (Latham), 3-22 (Williamson), (Gunathilaka), 4-51 (Mendis) He was consistently hos- of the match, having Fakhar Za- Steyn, who fi nished with one for wicket before he took the wick- lowed up in the next over when 4-36 (Nicholls), 5-57 (Taylor), tile, especially in a seven-over man caught at second slip, to 66.