MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2017 SPORTS

Pakistan Super League final must be in Lahore: Giles Clarke

DUBAI: A top international offi- it’s final should be held in Lahore,” Clarke ernment have backed plans to stage it in arrangements for international teams, whatever arguments they have or use cial insisted yesterday that the final of told AFP from London. “It is really impor- the city. Lahore was also where the Sri said reviving international cricket in ballott boxes.” Clarke praised Pakistan Pakistan’s Twenty20 league must be tant that the final should be held suc- Lankan team bus was attacked by mili- Pakistan will take time. “It’s a long road cricket fans. “Pakistanis are cricket fanat- held in Lahore despite a major bomb cessfully.” The Pakistan Cricket Board has tants in March 2009, killing eight people for the return of bilateral international ics and have a great knowledge of crick- attack in the country last week. vowed to maintain the final in Lahore, and injuring seven visiting players. cricket to Pakistan. On my recent visit, I et and I am sure they want to see their Giles Clarke, head of an International assuring VIP security arrangements- Since then foreign teams have stayed noticed that not just the authorities but heroes and their own players playing at Cricket Council team seeking to revive reserved for state heads-for foreign play- away from Pakistan tours over security the man in the street is seeking the home and enjoy thrilling matches.” cricket in the country, said the March 5 ers willing to travel to the city. fears. Pakistan hosted a short limited return of cricket to Pakistan,” said Clarke, Since 2009 Pakistan have been forced final of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) A suicide bomb blast in Lahore on over series with Zimbabwe in May-June a former chairman of the England and to play all home series in United Arab in Lahore would be a key part of efforts Monday, which left 14 people killed and 2015 but that failed to convince major Wales Cricket Board. Emirates. Bangladesh, , Ireland to revive cricket in the country. over 100 injured, had threatened the teams to tour. Clarke, who visited “Terror has no place in our society,” and West Indies have refused offers to “PSL is Pakistan’s domestic event and event. But the Pakistan army and gov- Pakistan last month to study security said Clarke. “Terrorists should share tour Pakistan in the last five years. —AFP

Gunaratne inspires S Lanka to series victory over Australia

VICTORIA: All-rounder Asela Gunaratne however, before the 31-year-old Gunaratne struck a superb 84 off 46 balls to inspire Sri took charge to guide his side to an unlikely Lanka to a dramatic two- victory victory. “Asela’s was an amazing innings,” Sri over Australia in the second Twenty20 Lanka Upul Tharanga said. International in South Geelong, Victoria “We lost too many early but yesterday. Asela finished the game for us. Winning in The touring side needed 48 runs off the Australia is a huge achievement. This is last three overs to clinch the series and Asela’s first tour to Australia and we are Gunaratne, who smashed five sixes and six happy.” fours, led them home. Australia got off to a Australia are fielding a depleted side flying start, hitting 60 runs in the first six with their full-strength Test squad currently overs, and although medium-pacer Nuwan in India. The third and final match of the Kulasekara took four wickets, Moises series will be played on Wednesday in Henriques made an unbeaten 56 off 37 Adelaide. “That was one hell of an innings,” balls to lift the hosts to a decent total of Australia captain Aaron Finch said. “When 173. Sri Lanka stumbled early as their top you have a good player in good form, they order collapsed, losing five wickets for 41 hurt you. “Sri Lanka played very well there. runs in the first five overs. A spirited 52-run Take nothing away from them. The series is partnership between Gunaratne and gone, but hopefully we can salvage some- Chamara Kapugedera steadied the innings, thing in Adelaide.” — Reuters SCOREBOARD

GEELONG, Australia: Scoreboard in the second between Australia and Sri Lanka in Geelong, Victoria, yesterday.

Australia Sri Lanka M. Klinger c Dickwella b Bandara 43 N. Dickwella c Paine b Faulkner 14 A. Finch c and b Bandara 12 U. Tharanga c Richardson b Turner 4 B. Dunk b Gunaratne 32 D. Munaweera c Paine b Tye 10 M. Henriques 56 K. Mendis c Paine b Richardson 5 T. Head c Dickwella b Kulasekara 4 A. Gunaratne not out 84 A. Turner c Siriwardana b Prasanna 7 M. Siriwardana c Turner b Tye 0 J. Faulkner lbw b Malinga 1 C. Kapugedera c Dunk b Cummins 32 S. Prasanna c Head b Faulkner 7 HAMILTON: of South Africa (R) bats as New Zealand’s watches during the one-day international (ODI) cricket T. Paine lbw b Malinga 7 match between New Zealand and South Africa at Seddon Park in Hamilton yesterday. — AFP P. Cummins b Kulasekara 3 N. Kulasekara c Klinger b Tye 12 L. Malinga not out 1 A. Tye lbw b Kulasekara 0 Extras (lb2, w5) 7 J. Richardson b Kulasekara 0 Total (8 wickets, 20 overs) 176 CRICKET Extras (lb5, w3) 8 Did not bat: S. Bandara Total (all out, 20 overs) 173 Fall of wickets: 1-5 (Tharanga), 2-22 (Dickwella), 3- Fall of wickets: 1-18 (Finch), 2-63 (Dunk), 3-113 27 (Mendis), 4-40 (Munaweera), 5-40 (Klinger), 4-121 (Head), (Siriwardana), 6-92 (Kapugedera), 7-119 5-134 (Turner), 6-144 (Faulkner), 7-162 (Paine), 8- (Prasanna), 8-160 (Kulasekara) De Villiers gets S Africa 169 (Cummins), 9-173 (Tye), Bowling: Turner 2-0-15-1, Cummins 3-0-28-1 (1w), 10-173 (Richardson) Faulkner 4-0-32-2, Bowling: Malinga 4-0-31-2, Kulasekara 4-0-31-4 Richardson 3-0-24-1, Tye 4-0-37-3 (1w), Henriques (2w), Bandara 4-0-32-2 (1w), 4-0-38-0 (2w). home with a ball to spare Munaweera 1-0-22-0, Gunaratne 3-0-26-1, Result: Sri Lanka won by 2 wickets Prasanna 4-0-26-1. Series: Sri Lanka 2-0

HAMILTON: A polished Quinton de Kock half century laid the foundation for South Africa’s SCOREBOARD four wicket win over New Zealand in a tense HAMILTON, New Zealand: Scoreboard yesterday from the first one-day cricket international between New Zealand finish to a rain-shortened opening one-day and South Africa at Seddon Park (reduced to 34 overs per side): international in Hamilton yesterday. In a clash that went down to the wire, it New Zealand South Africa was a man-of-the-match performance from Dean Brownlie c Behardien b Morris 31 Quinton de Kock c Taylor b Boult 69 de Kock on a wicket that took an exceptional Tom Latham lbw b Morris 0 c & b Williamson 35 amount of spin in New Zealand conditions. b Shamsi 59 lbw b Sodhi 14 c & b Morris 1 AB de Villiers not out 37 The departure of de Kock for 69 sparked a Neil Broom c Bhardien b Morris 2 JP Duminy c and b Southee 1 middle order collapse as even the New James Neesham c de Kock b Rabada 29 Farhaan Behardien b Southee 0 Zealand quicks turned to bowling cutters on c de Kock b Rabada 17 c Boult b Santner 16 the responsive pitch before an AB de Villiers not out 34 not out 29 rescue mission saw his side home with a ball not out 24 Extras (2b, 3lb, 4w) 9 to spare. Extras (1b, 9w) 10 TOTAL (for 6 wickets) 210 “We never expected it to turn like that in TOTAL (for 7 wickets) 207 Overs: 33.5. Hamilton,” de Villiers said. “From past experi- Overs: 34. Fall of wickets: 1-88, 2-117, 3-125, 4-126, 5-126, 6-156. ence this becomes a really good batting Fall of wickets: 1-19, 2-69, 3-72, 4-82, 5-108, 6-186, 7-156. Did not bat: Tabraiz Shamsi, , . track in the evening but that was far from it.” Did not bat: , . Bowling: Mitchell Santner 7-0-33-1, Trent Boult 7-0-45-1, Bowling: Kagiso Rabada 7-1-31-2 (7w), Chris Morris 7-0- Tim Southee 6.5-0-47-2 (3w), Colin de Grandhomme 4-0- With the fixture reduced to 34 overs a side 62-4 (1w), Andile Phehlukwayo 5-0-28-0 (1w), Imran Tahir 27-0, Ish Sodhi 7-0-36-1, Kane Williamson 2-0-17-1 (1w). following heavy rain early in the day, New 7-0-42-0, Tabraiz Shamsi 7-1-39-1, JP Duminy 1-0-4-0. Result: South Africa won by 4 wickets. Zealand posted 207 for seven, boosted by a whirlwind 51 off 23 balls at the end by unbeaten pair Colin de Grandhomme and With de Kock in sublime form, assisted by made 16 before his dismissal had South Tim Southee. Hashim Amla, South Africa started their run Africa at 156-6 with 44 balls remaining. But any thoughts New Zealand had that chase strongly with an 88-run stand. De Villiers with 37 off 34 balls and Andile they were in a strong performance were Williamson used five bowling changes in Phehulkwayo (29 off 23) combined efforts to soon dashed by the way de Kock launched the first 15 overs in an attempt to break up get the tourists home. De Grandhomme and into South Africa’s reply. “At the halfway the pair but only succeeded when he put Southee’s whirlwind partnership gave the stage we felt we were right in the game,” cap- himself, a part-time spinner, on and had New Zealand innings a respectable look after tain Kane Williamson said. “We knew needing Amla caught and bowled for 35. Faf du they too suffered a middle order collapse. five and a half on that surface was going to Plessis (14) joined de Kock to get the score to De Grandhomme was unbeaten on 34 off be difficult and they got off to a very good 117 when the South African innings suffered 19 balls while Southee faced 13 balls to be start which made chasing down that total a a collapse with five wickets falling in the 24 not out. They were particularly harsh on lot easier.” space of 39 runs. the most successful of the South African “South Africa showed their class with the Trent Boult had de Kock caught in a sharp bowlers, Morris, smacking the all-rounder for bat, batted very well and their composure piece of fielding by Ross Taylor at short mid- 25 in the final over. towards the end was very important on a wicket and Tim Southee removed JP Duminy It saw Morris’s figures balloon out to four tough surface” and Farhaan Behardein with consecutive for 62 off his seven overs, after he had four for South Africa went into the final over of deliveries. 24 off five. Morris had left the New Zealand GEELONG: Asela Gunaratne of Sri Lanka (L) celebrates with a teammate after scoring their reply requiring 12 to win, and de Villiers top order in tatters with only Kane Williamson the winning run during the second Twenty20 cricket match between Australia and ended the game with a four off the fifth ball IN TATTERS (59) and Dean Brownlie (31) offering any Sri Lanka at Kardinia Park in Geelong yesterday. — AFP of Tim Southee’s over. Chris Morris survived the hat-trick ball and resistance. — AFP Smith replaces Dhoni as IPL team skipper

NEW DELHI: Mahendra Singh Dhoni has and losing nine. Dhoni scored 284 runs in 12 since the IPL’s inception in 2008 and made it been removed as skipper of his Indian Premier innings at a strike rate of 135 while 27-year- the most successful team, having won the League team with Australia’s old Smith, who captains Australia in all for- short-form tournament in 2010 and 2011 and replacing him for the upcoming tournament, mats, hit 270 in seven at a 153-strike rate. finishing runners-up on four occasions. an official statement said yesterday. Dhoni, Some reports said Dhoni took the decision Yesterday’s announcement came as a who stepped down as India’s limited-overs to step down and was not sacked, but team shock to scores of his fans who took to Twitter captain last month, will continue to play as owner Goenka told the Press Trust of India to vent, making “MS Dhoni” one of the top wicketkeeper-batsman for the Rising Pune that wasn’t the case. “Dhoni has not stepped trending topics in India. “Pune team removed Supergiants in the Twenty20 franchise-based down. We have appointed Steve Smith as the Dhoni from captaincy. I think this is time to competition that begins April 5. “Rising Pune skipper,” Goenka told PTI. “Frankly speaking, remove @RPSupergiants from @IPL,” said Supergiant today announced the appoint- we did not have a good last season and we Twitter user Vaishali. Separately, India’s cricket ment of Steve Smith as their new captain for wanted someone young to lead the side and board said Australian left-arm fast bowler the forthcoming edition of IPL season 10,” a revamp it ahead of the upcoming season 10.” Mitchell Starc was no longer a member of the team statement said. There was no immediate reaction from Dhoni. Royal Challengers Bangalore team. Starc had Team owner Sanjiv Goenka said Dhoni “is Dhoni was chosen to head the Pune fran- been signed up to the Bangalore franchise supportive of the decision, keeping the fran- chise after the Supergiants and Gujarat Lions since 2014, but played only two tournaments CANBERRA: This file photo taken on January 20, 2016 shows Australia’s captain Steve chise’s best interests in mind”. replaced Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan for them. He skipped last year’s edition due to Smith (L) and Indian captain MS Dhoni (R) shaking hands before starting the fourth Under 35-year-old Dhoni’s captaincy, the Royals, which were suspended for two sea- a foot injury. The latest moves come just one-day international cricket match between India and Australia at the Manuka Oval in Canberra. Mahendra Singh Dhoni has been sacked as skipper of his Indian Premier Pune team finished second last in their debut sons following a spot-fixing scandal in 2013. before the IPL player auction in Bangalore League team with Australia’s Steve Smith replacing him for the upcoming tourna- IPL season in 2016, winning only five games He had been the captain of the Super Kings today. — AFP ment, an official statement said yesterday.—AFP