MONDAY, MARCH 3, 2014 SPORTS Clarke hits 161

CAPE TOWN: Australian and then going for their shots. Michael Clarke hit an unbeaten 161 to Part-time off-spinner JP Duminy guide his team to a strong position claimed Test-best figures of four for 73, before rain disrupted his team’s bid to taking three after lunch as take a stranglehold on the second day Australia went for quick runs. of the third and final Test against South With strike bowler out of Africa at Newlands yesterday. action after suffering a hamstring injury Australia were 494 for seven when a on the first day, the key for Australia was storm swept in on the back of high to prevent the South African bowlers winds and prevented any play after from making a breakthrough early in mid-afternoon. Before the rain, Australia the day with an almost-new ball. were on target to take their total past Abbott bowled an outstanding spell 500 and subject to a chal- of six overs during which he conceded lenging examination from the tourists’ only one run - but couldn’t take a wick- fast bowlers in what was shaping as a et, while went for 39 mirror image of the domination runs in his six-over morning spell. achieved by South Africa in the second Clarke, who was on 92 overnight, Test in Port Elizabeth. quickly went to 99 but then faced 24 Clarke said it was a “very satisfying” deliveries - 23 of them from Abbott - innings. “There were some tough stages without being able to get the run to yesterday (Saturday). Morne Morkel bring up his fifth century against South bowled a couple of pretty quick spells, Africa. around the with a set It finally came with a cover drive for DHAKA: ’s team celebrates after winning the Asia Cup one-day international tournament against India. Pakistan plan to attack the emblem on my hel- four off Philander. He had faced 215 won by one wicket. —AP met. balls and hit 11 fours. Smith, mean- “That was difficult to get through but while, played some aggressive strokes, most important is we’ve got 494 runs which included a straight six off blitz India in on the board and I’m extremely pleased Philander. with the position we’re in.” He made 84 in a fourth wicket stand Clarke said Australia were deter- of 184 with Clarke before he chopped a mined to push for a win which would wide from part-time left-arm Asia Cup thriller seal a series that is tied at one match spinner Dean Elgar into his stumps. He each. He said there was some inconsis- hit nine fours and three sixes in a 155- DHAKA: smashed two consecutive sixes off tent bounce. ball innings. Ravichandran Ashwin in the final over as Pakistan defeated “Hopefully it continues to deteriorate Shane Watson, playing in his first India by one wicket in Dhaka yesterday, virtually knocking and gets a little more up and down. But match of the series, survived a review the arch-rivals out of the Asia Cup. Pakistan, chasing India’s we’re going to have to bowl well, it’s still off the first ball he faced when Elgar 245-8, needed nine runs off the last four balls after losing a very good batting wicket.” appealed for leg before wicket but went their way from a seemingly winning position to slump from 200-4 to 236-9 at the Sher-e-Bangla stadium. South African bowler , on to make an aggressive 40 off 32 balls But the seasoned Afridi sealed his side’s win with two who bowled two tight spells in difficult, with two fours and three sixes. mighty hits off the next two deliveries to keep Pakistan windy conditions, said he thought the In trying to hit Duminy for a fourth afloat in the five-nation tournament with their second win pitch would stay good for batting six he mistimed a shot to long-off. Brad in three matches. through most of the rest of the match. Haddin also perished playing an attack- India, the reigning World Cup champions, suffered their second defeat in three games and are unlikely to make “We’ve got to bat as well as they ing shot and Mitchell Johnson was the March 8 final even if they beat Afghanistan in their last have,” he said. “We have to keep positive. down the legside first ball by match on Wednesday. As soon as you start thinking of a draw, wicketkeeper AB de Villiers off Duminy. Afridi returned unbeaten on a quickfire 34 off 18 balls, or any negative thoughts, you come Clarke, who had gone 11 Test innings studded with three sixes and two boundaries, but the victo- unstuck.” without making more than 24 runs, bat- ry was set up by all-rounder . Hafeez picked up two wickets and then top-scored with Australia scored 163 runs in 39.4 ted with increasing confidence and 75, adding 87 runs for the fifth wicket with overs yesterday, blunting a depleted reached 150 for the tenth time in his (38) after Pakistan were reduced to 113-4 in the 23rd over. South African pace attack with an career off 288 balls when he clipped But both batsmen fell in successive overs-Hafeez caught SCOREBOARD almost-new ball at the start of the day Abbott for his 17th four. —AFP in the deep off Ashwin and Maqsood was run out-to leave Pakistan on 203-6. DHAKA: Full scoreboard from the Asia Cup one-day international between India and India grabbed three more wickets to make it 236-9 Pakistan at the Sher-e-Bangla stadium in Dhaka yesterday: before Afridi’s blitz in the company of last man carried the jubilant Pakistanis home. India: Pakistan: Afridi, a 34-year-old veteran of 377 one-dayers, said he R. Sharma c Hafeez b Talha 56 Sharjeel Khan b Ashwin 25 was delighted to contribute to his side’s win in a crunch S. Dhawan lbw b Hafeez 10 c Ashwin b Mishra 42 match. Mohammad Hafeez c Kumar b Ashwin 75 V. Kohli c Akmal b Gul 5 “Expectations were high,” he said. “We all know how Misbah-ul-Haq run out 1 important this game was and I am glad I did it. It’s a great A. Rahane c Hafeez b Talha 23 c Jadeja b Mishra 4 occasion whenever we play against India and today was our A. Rayudu c sub (Ali) b Ajmal 58 Sohaib Maqsood run out 38 day.” D. Karthik c Ajmal b Hafeez 23 Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq appeared a relieved Shahid Afridi 34 man after Afridi’s heroics. “It was a really important win R. Jadeja not out 52 c Rahane b Kumar 12 and I am happy because Pakistan played really well under R. Ashwin st Akmal b Ajmal 9 Mohammad Talha c Jadeja b Kumar 0 b Ashwin 0 pressure,” he said. “We have the label of being bad chasers, Mohammed Shami c Maqsood b Ajmal 0 but Hafeez and Maqsood did well and Afridi finished it Junaid Khan not out 1 perfectly.” A. Mishra not out 1 Extras: (lb11, w6) 17 India’s , standing in as captain for the injured Extras: (lb3, w5) 8 Total (for nine wickets, 49.4 overs) 249 Mahendra Singh Dhoni, said he was proud of the way the Total (for eight wickets, 50 overs) 245 Fall of wickets: 1-71 (Sharjeel), 2-93 team responded to the challenge. Fall of wickets: 1-18 (Dhawan), 2-56 (Kohli), (Shehzad), 3-96 (Misbah), 4-113 (Akmal), 5- “The guys put in a good effort after a modest total,” he 200 (Hafeez), 6-203 (Maqsood), 7-235 (Gul), said. “We were 20 to 30 runs short with the bat. But this 3-92 (Sharma), 4-103 (Rahane), 5-155 8-236 (Talha), 9-236 game could have gone either way. We may not make it to (Karthik), 6-214 (Rayudu), 7-237 (Ashwin), 8- (Ajmal). the final, but I am proud how the bowlers fought back.” 237 (Shami) Indian leg-spinner Amit Mishra marked his first match in Bowling: Kumar 10-0-56-2 (w3), Shami 10-0- the tournament with two for 28 from 10 steady overs on the Bowling: Hafeez 9-0-38-2, Gul 9-0-60-1 (w2), 49-0, Ashwin 9.4-0-44-3 (w1), Jadeja 10-1- CAPE TOWN: Australian Steve Smith plays a delivery through the leg side dur- slow pitch. Junaid 7-0-44-0 (w1), Afridi 8-0-38-0, Talha 61-0, Mishra 10-0-28-2 (w2). ing day two of the 3rd cricket Test between South Africa and Australia at Pakistan had unsettled India’s batsmen with pace and 7-1-22-2 (w2), Ajmal 10-0-40-3 Pakistan won by one wicket. Newlands, South Africa. —AP spin after electing to field, with Saeed Ajmal claiming 3-40 and debutant fast bowler Mohammad Talha and Hafeez two each. Left-hander Jadeja, who walked in to bat with Dinesh Karthik and 59 for the sixth SCOREBOARD Opener Rohit Sharma (56) and Ambati Rayudu (58) were in his 100th one-dayer with his team on a with Jadeja before he holed out in the deep the main contributors for India at the top of the order, shaky 155-5, smashed four boundaries and in the 47th over. Afghanistan, who stunned before Ravindra Jadeja hit an unbeaten 52 off 49 balls two sixes to boost the total. Bangladesh in their last match, take on Sri CAPE TOWN: Close of play scores on the second day of the third and final Test between towards the end. Rayudu put on 52 for the fifth wicket Lanka in Dhaka today. —AFP South Africa and Australia at Newlands yesterday. Australia, first innings Fall of wickets: 1-65 (Rogers), 2-138 (Doolan), (overnight 331-3) 3-217 (Warner), 4-401 (Smith), 5-456 Hamilton tops Bahrain testing C. Rogers c Smith b Steyn 25 (Watson), 6-489 (Haddin), 7-489 (Johnson) D. Warner c De Villiers b Duminy 135 Bowling: Steyn 10.1-0-44-1, Philander 26.4- MANAMA: Former world champion A. Doolan c Steyn b Philander 20 2-116-1 (1nb), Morkel 23.5-2-94-0 (4nb, 2w), Lewis Hamilton will head for the M. Clarke not out 161 Duminy 17-0-73-4, Abbott 28-11-68-0 (1nb), season-opening Australian Grand S. Smith b Elgar 84 Elgar 22-0-99-1. Prix in two weeks’ time installed as S. Watson c Amla b Duminy 40 To bat: J. Pattinson, N. Lyon an early title favorite after topping B. Haddin c Amla b Duminy 13 South Africa: G. Smith, A. Petersen, D. Elgar, testing in Bahrain yesterday. M. Johnson c De Villiers b Duminy 0 H. Amla, A. de Villiers, F. du Plessis, J. Duminy, The 2008 champion took his R. Harris not out 4 V. Philander, K. Abbott, D. Steyn, M. Morkel Mercedes to 1min 33.278sec having Extras (nb6, w6) 12 Match situation: Australia are 494 for seven put in 69 laps, just two hundredths of a second off the best time of the Total (7 wkts, 127.4 overs) 494 wickets in the first innings. four-day session at the Sakhir Circuit set by Felipe Massa in the resurgent Williams. Hamilton’s Mercedes teammate Tigers down Falcons Nico Rosberg was third fastest over the four days with Williams con- LONDON: Vereniki Goneva scored a try try converted by Phil Godman. firming their early promise with in each half as Leicester maintained their Williams cut Newcastle’s lead to 10-9 Valtteri Bottas the fourth fastest grip on fourth place in the English with two more penalties before overall. Premiership with a 41-18 win away to Godman kicked Newcastle four points The top eight over the week was filled out by Fernando Alonso in a Newcastle yesterday. in front with a penalty of his own. Ferrari, Sergio Perez in a Force The match also saw the Tigers wel- Newcastle, however, gifted Leicester India, Kimi Raikkonen in the second come back Manu Tuilagi for the a try when their defence stood off Ferrari with Nico Hulkenberg next centre’s first match since he Goneva and the Fijian flyer chipped in the other Force India. suffered a pectoral injury in September. ahead to score in a the corner, with the “The car is still very much a work in progress, but we’ve learnt a lot Thomas Waldrom and Pablo Matera Tigers 14-13 up at half-time. over the course of these last few also scored tries for English champions Tow penalties early in the second weeks,” said Hamilton, whose morn- SAKHIR: Formula One driver Daniel Ricciardo of Red Bull Racing chases Formula One driver Leicester, with Owen Williams adding half from Williams made it 20-13 to the ing efforts were hampered by gear- Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes down the track during pre-season testing at the Bahrain 19 points. For the Falcons, tries by Noah visitors but Lawson’s 56th minute try in box trouble. International Circuit. —AP Cato and Scott Lawson did little to ease the corner cut the lead to just two “It was a tough start to the day but they managed to get the car Sebastian Vettel was only ninth Overall, Vettel was just 18th fastest to solve than just the pace,” Vettel the pain of a 10th straight defeat. points. But from then on it was largely turned around for me to complete fastest yesterday with a best time over the four days, finishing ahead told autosport.com. An early penalty exchange between one-way traffic, with Goneva scoring some good laps in the afternoon, of 1min 37.468sec although he did only of the two Caterhams and the “I’m not calling us favourites. We Lee Smith, Newcastle’s new recruit his second try off the back of a line-out which was a fantastic effort.” at least manage to complete 77 struggling Lotus team. haven’t done enough laps, the from rugby league, and Williams left drive, Waldrom powering over the line With the season-opener taking laps unlike Saturday when his Red “We cannot do the times that speed is not there compared to the match all square at 3-3 before Cato and Matera adding a bonus-point try place in Melbourne on March 16, Bull failed to make a single circuit. the guys at the top are doing for a some other teams so we have to world champions Red Bull are But his time was still over four couple of reasons, but at the wait and see when we get to broke through the Tigers’ defence for a before the finish. —AFP struggling. Drivers champion seconds off Hamilton’s best. moment we have bigger problems Australia.” —AFP