WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2015

Shaky down brave Scotland

DUNEDIN: New Zealand limped to a three- win over Scotland yesterday, maintaining World Cup momentum only after the minnows gave the co-hosts’ much-vaunted line- up a bloody nose. New Zealand skittled Scotland out for 142 after putting them into bat, effectively ensuring there would be no repeat of Monday’s match when Ireland, another non-Test nation, downed the West Indies. While the Black Caps overhauled their target in 24.5 overs, they could have been in trouble if set a stiffer chase after a strong SCOREBOARD effort with the ball saw Scotland take seven . DUNEDIN, New Zealand: Final scoreboard in the World Cup Pool A match between New Zealand and A rash of New Zealand batsmen threw away Scotland at University Oval yesterday: their wickets chasing glory with wild shots, showing none of the controlled aggression that Scotland New Zealand has made them one of the tournament favorites. K.Coetzer c Elliott b Southee 1 M.Guptill c Cross b Wardlaw 17 Brendon McCullum said they could C.MacLeod lbw b Boult 0 B.McCullum c Cross b Wardlaw 15 H.Gardiner lbw b Boult 0 not afford to be so wasteful in Wellington on K.Williamson c Cross b Davey 38 Friday, when they face an England side desper- M.Machan c McCullum b Anderson 56 R.Taylor c Taylor b Haq 9 P.Mommsen lbw b Southee 0 ate to bounce back from a 111-run loss to G.Elliott c Cross b Wardlaw 29 R.Berrington c Milne b Anderson 50 Australia. “It was a really good performance with M.Cross c Ronchi b Anderson 14 C.Anderson c Wardlaw b Davey 11 L.Ronchi c Gardiner b Davey 12 the ball-with the bat, we showed glimpses but J.Davey 11 we have to improve,” he said. “England will be a R.Taylor st Ronchi b Vettori 4 D.Vettori not out 8 M.Haq c Taylor b Vettori 0 A.Milne not out 1 challenge-they’re hurting, they’ll be tough to I.Wardlaw lbw b Vettori 0 Extras: (lb1, w5) 6 beat and we’ll have to play incredibly well.” Extras: (b1, w5) 6 Total (7 wickets, 24.5 overs) 146 The Black Caps fielded an unchanged line-up Total (all out, 36.2 overs) 142 Did not bat: Tim Southee, from their 98-run win over , determined Fall of wickets: 1-1 (MacLeod), 2-1 (Gardiner), 3-12 Fall of wickets: 1-18 (Guptill), 2-48 (McCullum), 3- not to drop their standards against unfancied (Coetzer), 4-12 (Mommsen), 5-109 (Machan), 6- 66 (Taylor), 4-106 (Williamson), 5-117 (Elliott), 6- opposition. 117 (Berrington), 7-129 (Cross), 8-136 (Taylor), 9- 142 (Haq), 10-142 (Wardlaw) 133 (Anderson), 7-137 (Ronchi) They appeared set for a crushing win in per- : Southee 8-3-35-2, Boult 6-1-21-2 (4w), Bowling: Wardlaw 9.5-0-57-3 (1w), Taylor 4-0-27-0 fect conditions at Dunedin’s University Oval, Milne 7-0-32-0 (1w), Vettori 8.2-1-24-3, Elliott 2-0- (2w), Davey 7-0-40-3 (2w), Haq 4-0-21-1 claiming early wickets to leave Scotland reeling 11-0, Anderson 5-1-18-3 Result: New Zealand win by three wickets. at 12 for four. (56) and (50) were the standouts with a 97-run fifth-wicket in a Scottish innings that featured World Cup results and standings five ducks four of them golden. Corey Anderson and Dan Vettori took three Pool A wickets apiece as Scotland folded after 36.2 At Dunedin overs, with Trent Boult and Tim Southee coming Scotland 142 all out in 36.2 overs (Matt Machan 56, Richie Berrington 50) v New Zealand 146-7. close to snatching hat-tricks. New Zealand won by three wickets New Zealand made hard work of chasing 143 on pitch were they scored 360 against Sri Lanka Played won lost tied N/R points run rate last month, with Iain Wardlaw and Pool A both taking three wickets for Scotland. New Zealand 2 2 0 0 0 4 +2.62 The win was not pretty but man-of-the- Australia 1 1 0 0 0 2 +2.22 match Boult said New Zealand “got the job Sri Lanka 1 0 1 0 0 0 -1.96 done”. McCullum (15), (17) and England 1 0 1 0 0 0 -2.22 (9) all went cheaply, leaving New Scotland 1 0 1 0 0 0 -3.04 Zealand 66 for three early in the innings. Kane Afghanistan 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Williamson made a good start and reached 38 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 before he too suffered a rush of blood to the head. Pool B , who scored an unbeaten 170 India 1 1 0 0 0 2 +1.52 against Sri Lanka at the venue last month, man- South Africa 1 1 0 0 0 2 +1.24 aged just 12 before he was dismissed trying to DUNEDIN: New Zealand spinner sends a down to the Scotland batsman Ireland 1 1 0 0 0 2 +0.62 cart Davey out of the ground. during their 2015 Cricket World Cup match. —AFP West Indies 1 0 1 0 0 0 -0.62 Scotland skipper , who Zimbabwe 1 0 1 0 0 0 -1.24 was among those dismissed without scoring, what they are capable of, but we couldn’t go on The loss leaves Scotland still searching for a 1 0 1 0 0 0 -1.52 said the poor start derailed his side’s chance of from there and were below par,” he said. World Cup win in their third appearance at the UAE 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 an upset win. “Unfortunately we couldn’t get the final three tournament. Their next match is against England “Matt and Richie batted well and showed wickets, but I’m very proud of the performance.” in Christchurch on Monday. —AFP Already played Pool A Feb 14 At Christchurch Afghanistan set to debut New Zealand 331-6 (Corey Anderson 75, Brendon McCullum 65, 57) v Sri Lanka Windies on 233 all out (Lahiru Thirimanne 65). in World Cup tournament New Zealand won by 98 runs sliding scale Feb 14 CANBERRA: Mohammad Nabi has come a Mushin Dadarkara lined up to meet the long way from the refugee camps of central team with his eight-year-old son Baha. “I am At Melbourne of decline Australia 342-9 (Aaron Finch 135, Glenn Maxwell 66, George Bailey 55; Steven Finn 5-71) v England Asia where he, along with other children dis- an Indian supporter, but I love (the) placed by war, whiled away the hours playing Afghanistan team as well,” Dadarkara told 231 all out (James Taylor 98 not out; Mitchell Marsh 5-53). Australia won by 111 runs SYDNEY: Darren Sammy needed treatment on his back, cricket. Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio. “In spite pulled up after bowling an embarrassing The 30-year-old captain of Afghanistan’s of the problems in their country, they have long-hop while fresh-faced captain speared national cricket team knows he will carry the come up (a) long way and they have done Pool B a ball so wide that first slip was placed in immediate peril. Feb 15 expectations of supporters in his war-torn very well in cricket.” homeland today when he leads his lineup Bangladesh captain Masrafe Mortaza said In three crude snapshots, the decline of West Indies At Hamilton cricket was perfectly captured and another miserable low South Africa 339-4 (David Miller 138 not out, JP Duminy 115 not out) v into its first World Cup match in the 50-over his team respected the Afghans as oppo- format. nents, particularly after losing a low-scoring point-defeat by Ireland at the World Cup on Monday- Zimbabwe 277 all out (Hamilton Masakadza 80, Chamu Chibhabha 64). South Africa won by 62 racked up. runs The Afghan team goes into the match as match to Afghanistan at the Asian Cup last underdogs against Bangladesh, which has March. Forty years ago, the West Indies won the first World only been playing among the elite cricket We “have taken them very seriously Cup and then defended it four years later before finishing Feb 15 runners-up in 1983. At Adelaide nations for 15 years. because we respect them not (as) beginners, Just getting to compete on the manicured we respect them all the country,” said Since then, their one-day pickings have been mighty India 300-7 (Virat Kohli 107, 74, Shikhar Dhawan 73; Sohail Khan 5-55) v Pakistan 224 slim, a Champions Trophy victory in 2004 and a all out (Misbah-ul-Haq 76).India won by 76 runs grass of Manuka Oval in the Australian capital Mortaza, who knows what it’s like to be part Canberra is an achievement against the odds of a team trying to prove itself in the interna- world title in 2012. “We’re watching the death row of West Indies cricket,” Feb 16 for Nabi’s team. It’s half a world away from the tional arena. He made his one-day interna- tweeted Melbourne radio station, SEN 1116 following At Nelson refugee camp where the all-rounder was born tional debut in 2001 - a year after Bangladesh Monday’s four-wicket loss to Ireland in Nelson on New West Indies 304-7 (Lendl Simmons 102, Darren Sammy 89) v Ireland 307-6 in the strife-prone Pakistani city of Peshawar joined the elite test-playing nations - and has (Paul Stirling 92, Ed Joyce 84, Niall O’Brien 79 not out). Ireland won by four wickets.—AFP near the Afghan border during the Soviet war played 11 World Cup matches among his 144 Zealand’s South Island. with Afghanistan. one-day international matches, To others, however, the Caribbean game’s heart Life in the refugee camp was tough, Nabi Moles was happy that the pressure was on stopped beating a long time ago. , who skip- recalled yesterday, adding: “You play cricket a Bangladesh as the favorites for the match pered the West Indies to their 1975 and 1979 world titles The long haul pays off lot in refugee camps.” “I’m very happy to rep- today. “We are very much in our infancy,” and is now the head of selectors, believes the bish-bash resent Afghanistan in the World Cup,” he said. Moles said. “But if we play well, do the right but lucrative Twenty20, the sport’s shortest format, has for UAE batsman Khurram “Hopefully I’ll enjoy the whole tournament as things and stay calm, we are capable of play- diluted the talent pool, narrowed concentration and captain.” ing some serious cricket.”—AP diminished skills. AUSTRALIA: Cricket has always been a debut for his adopted country in 2004. By Afghanistan’s British-born coach Andy “The players earn a good wage. They have the choice sport that has rewarded patience, even in the start of 2014, he’d only played four fully Moles said while the squad was considered a to play or T20,” said Lloyd. “We are small the souped-up version of the one-day recognised ODI matches, such are the limit- long-shot to beat the biggest teams in crick- islands and if you get a whole host of money, you are a game, but few players at the World Cup ed chances for countries with associate sta- et, the Afghan players expected to do well. king. This T20 competition has messed our cricket up. “We have had to wait longer for their big break tus. Unperturbed, he pressed on and his “First of all, what impressed me about them have contracts, probably not as exorbitant as others, but than the evergreen United Arab Emirates perseverance finally paid off when UAE was their genuine all-around passion for the they are getting good money. It doesn’t seem playing for batsman Khurram Khan. qualified for the 2015 World Cup, largely game and their genuine desire to win games our country is paramount where these players are con- At 43, he and UAE captain Mohammad thanks to his contributions with the bat. of cricket,” said Moles, who became head cerned.” Tauqir are the oldest players in the tourna- Khurram was the leading runscorer at coach in September. “Whoever they play The likes of , the West Indies’ occasionally ment. Unlike most of the teams at the the World Cup qualifying tournament in against, they go on the field and they gen- devastating opener, has virtually become a batsman for World Cup, the UAE side is made up of New Zealand, piling up 581 runs at an aver- uinely believe they can win a game of cricket.” hire, playing for T20 franchises in India, South Africa, amateur players, who fit their cricket train- age of 72.62. Nabi was not the only player to overcome Australia and even in Bangladesh. ing and matches around their full-time Then in November, he became the old- hardships to find his place in the team. On Monday, Gayle was out for 36 — he has now not jobs. Opportunities are few and far est player to score a ODI hundred, making “It’ been well documented the hardships passed 50 since playing Bangladesh in August and the between and only the most determined an unbeaten 132 against Afghanistan, and that the players and the general public have last of his 21 centuries was against Sri Lanka in June 2013. and dedicated survive. Khurram, who moving to the top of a distinguished list of at home all over Afghanistan,” Moles said. He didn’t feature for South Africa’s Test or ODI tour in works as a flight purser for Emirates airlines, oldest centurions that includes Sanath Cricket “is a unifying sport, it’s a well-received December and January and refused the offer of a central has often flirted with the idea of retiring Jayasuriya, Geoff Boycott and Sachin sport among the population in Afghanistan contract before going on to accuse the West Indies but the lure of playing at the World Cup Tendulkar. and the players know that through good per- Cricket Board of victimisation over their axing of Dwayne proved irresistible. Despite having captained UAE for the formances it will be a massive up-liftment in Bravo and from the World Cup squad. There were no guarantees the UAE last decade, the Emirates Cricket Board just the general wellbeing of the country.” Both men had been central to the team’s decision to would qualify this time. The only previous wanted a locally-born player to skipper the The importance of the Afghan players rep- abandon the tour of India last year over a pay dispute. time the UAE had appeared at the World side at the World Cup, so demoted to resenting their country at a major interna- Money-or often the lack of it-has been a key factor in the Cup was almost two decades ago in 1996, Khurram to vice-captain and gave Tauqir tional event is appreciated by many cricket decline and fall of West Indies cricket in recent years. but Khurram rolled the dice and pushed the top job. fans. Supporters mobbed the team during an : In this file photo taken In 2009, the majority of senior players went on strike on, keeping himself fit by doing push-ups Unfazed, Khurram said he was just hap- official welcome in downtown Canberra at Saturday, March. 1, 2014, Afghanistan over contracts leaving selectors to name Floyd Reifer, on long-haul flights when he wasn’t py to have realised his lifelong dream by captain Mohammad Nabi celebrates the weekend. Team members signed cricket who last played a Test 10 years earlier, as captain. A 16- attending to passengers. Born in Pakistan, getting the chance to compete at cricket’s during the Asia Cup one-day interna- bats, balls and World Cup tickets for grateful year-old was also called up.—AFP he moved to UAE in 1999 and made his ODI greatest spectacle.—Reuters fans. tional cricket tournament. —AP