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WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2016 SPORTS

S Lanka to probe alleged drinking, squabbling on NZ tour

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s demoralised ended tour. “There was scandalous behav- Tests 0-2 and the one-day series 1-3 to the also focus on finding a long-term coach Lanka head coach in the past five years. team faces an investigation into alleged iour,” the minister told AFP. “They have not hosts. “When they return, I want to call the after Marvan Atapattu quit weeks before his The 45-year-old took over the team in “scandalous behaviour” during its dismal only attended drinking parties till three and team and along with Thilanga contract was due to expire in September September 2014 after Englishman Paul tour of New Zealand, including drinking four in the morning, but there was a lot of (Sumathipala, new Sri Lanka Cricket presi- last year. Sri Lanka appointed Jerome Farbrace abruptly quit months earlier to parties and squabbling, the sports minister tension and friction among members.” Sri dent) try to find out what happened,” the Jayaratne as interim coach, initially for the become ’s deputy coach. Since said yesterday. Lanka went to New Zealand as defending minister said. “My main concern is the home series against the West Indies and 2010, , , Rumesh Dayasiri Jayasekera said he had been champions of the shortest form of the breakdown in discipline. When that is then for the New Zealand tour. Jayaratne, Ratnayake, and handed photos of national players attend- game, but slipped to third position this affected, the team naturally performs bad- 49, had been head of coaching at Sri Lanka have also held stints as Sri Lanka coach. ing all-night parties just before crucial month behind the West Indies and Australia ly,” he said of reported squabbling between Cricket but his elevation to oversee the Jayaratne, a former Under 19 interna- matches against hosts New Zealand, who after their resounding defeat in the players, including the , and the national team was seen as a stop-gap tional, had headed the coaching depart- achieved a virtual clean sweep in the just- matches. Sri Lanka also lost the coach. The minister said Sri Lanka would arrangement. Atapattu was the seventh Sri ment for seven years. — AFP

PERTH: Australia’s , right, attempts to play a shot against during their cricket match in , Australia, yesterday. — AP Smith, Bailey tons power Australia to 5- win

PERTH: Steve Smith and George Bailey both runs needed for victory he chipped Sran to cover (9) in the sixth over when he scored centuries as Australia cruised to a five wick- where claimed an easy catch, leaving top-edged an attempted pull from Josh SCOREBOARD et win over India in the first one day international James Faulkner to hit the winning . Hazlewood straight to at deep at the WACA ground yesterday. “I thought we did well in the field to restrict backward square leg. After Indian opener scored an them to 309,” Smith said. “They looked like they However, that brought Kohli to the crease and PERTH, Australia: Scoreboard from the first ODI between Australia and India at the WACA unbeaten 171 to lead his country to an imposing were going to get 350 at one stage.” India must signalled a long period of complete dominance ground in Perth yesterday: 309-3, Australia got away to a rocky start when have been confident of defending their total after over the Australian attack as he raced to the high- left arm seamer removed both Sran’s impressive start. est individual ODI score against Australia on India D. Warner c Kohli b Sran 5 openers in his first three overs. He brilliantly caught and bowled Finch (8) in Australian soil, eclipsing ’ 153 R. Sharma not out 171 S. Smith c Kohli b Sran 149 Playing on a lifeless pitch which offered noth- his second over, then had the dangerous Warner for the West Indies in 1979. S. Dhawan c Marsh b Hazlewood 9 G. Bailey c Kumar b Ashwin 112 ing for the bowlers, Bailey and Smith played bril- (5) caught at midwicket by Kohli in his third. Sharma smashed 13 fours and cleared the V. Kohli c Finch b Faulkner 91 G. Maxwell c Dhawan b Ashwin 6 liantly to frustrate the Indian attack. They rotated But the ease with which Australia chased the boundary seven times to the delight of the large M. Dhoni c b Faulkner 18 M. Marsh not out 12 the strike throughout the innings to keep the score down showed that India had not scored contingent of Indian fans at the ground. R. Jadeja not out 10 J. Faulkner not out 1 score moving, taking quick singles and hitting quickly enough in the middle of their innings and He built his innings steadily, bringing up his Extras (lb6, w4) 10 Extras (lb5, w12) 17 boundaries when they needed to increase the were at least 20 runs short of a competitive total. 50 from 63 balls, his from 122 and his 150 Total (3 ; 50 overs) 309 Total (5 wickets: 49.2 overs) 310 pace. Bailey was the more aggressive early and “I think it’s important that after you score 300 runs from 155, mixing quick singles with some power- Fall of wickets: 1-36 (Dhawan); 2-243 (Kohli), Fall of wickets: 1-9 (Finch), 2-21 (Warner), 3- reached his century before his captain, taking just you bowl well and I think in the middle overs ful boundary hitting. It was the fourth time 3-286 (Dhoni) 263 (Bailey), 4-273 (Maxwell), 5-308 (Smith) 106 balls with six boundaries and two sixes. Smith when the spinners were they gave up too Sharma had scored 150 in ODIs, a record only sur- Did not bat: A. Rahane, M. Pandey, R. began to accelerate and followed Bailey to three many runs,” Dhoni said. “I was quite happy with passed by countryman . Ashwin, U. Yadav, B. Kumar, B. Sran Did not bat: M. Wade , S. Boland, J. figures soon after, off only 97 balls including six the performance-I thought they Sharma lost Kohli with the score on 243 and Bowling: Hazlewood 10-0-41-1, Paris 8-0- Hazlewood, J. Paris fours and a towering six. bowled well and hit the right spots.” was joined at the crease by Dhoni, who joined 53-0 (1w), Marsh 9-0-53-0 (1w), Boland Bowling: Sran 9.2-0-56-3 (3w), Kumar 9-0-42- Bailey eventually fell when he tried to smash in with 18 rapid runs before he was caught 10-0-74-0, Faulkner 10-0-60-2 (1w), 0 (4w), Sharma 1-0-11-0, Yadav 10-0-54-0 another six off Ravi Ashwin and was caught on the TOOTHLESS ATTTACK brilliantly at mid-on by Boland. However, (3w), Jadeja 9-0-61-0 (1w), Aswhin 9-0-68-2 boundary by but Smith con- Earlier Sharma and Kohli (91) shared a 207-run despite the late flourish the Indians fell short Maxwell 3-0-22-0 (1w) (1w), Kohli 2-0-13-0 tinued his incredible vein of form. partnership for the second wicket against a and Australia were able to draw first blood in Australia He smashed his way to 149 but with only two toothless Australian attack. India lost opener the five-match series. — AFP A. Finch c and b Sran 8 Result: Australia won by five wickets. Gayle under De Villiers faces fire again for bigger challenge BBL no-run

JOHANNESBURG: AB de Villiers faces the enced bowler in the line-up. The bowlers : West Indies star was under biggest challenge of a glittering career when took some severe punishment at the hands fire again yesterday for his actions in Australia’s he captains in the third Test of and at Big Bash League, days after a storm over his sexist against England, starting at the Wanderers Newlands, although they performed better comments to a female television presenter. Stadium tomorrow. Arguably the world’s in the second innings. Gayle, who made headlines after attempting to best batsman - he is ranked third in Tests and Picking the right bowling line-up will be flirt with Network Ten reporter Mel McLaughlin first in one-day internationals - De Villiers, 31, a key factor for South Africa, with Kyle during an live interview, was savaged by com- made no secret of his ambition to captain Abbott and the uncapped Hardus Viljoen, mentators for refusing to take what appeared to the South African Test team following the who plays for the Wanderers-based Lions be an easy single for his Renegades retirement of in 2014. franchise, coming under consideration. team against late Monday. He But decided to There is also a possibility that South Africa was criticised by the match commentators for appoint instead, with De might decide to go without specialist spin turning back his fellow opening batsman Tom Villiers continuing to lead the one-day side. bowler Dane Piedt, which could mean a Cooper, who was keen to take a run in a format Now De Villiers has the job he wanted, fol- recall for batsman and part-time spinner JP where one run can mean the difference between a win and loss. “This is the most unbelievable, lowing the surprise resignation of Amla Duminy. England, meanwhile, have no LAHORE: Pakistani women cricketers take a selfie with the ICC 2016 World Twenty20 tro- after the second Test last week - but only for selection dilemmas following strong per- ridiculous cricket I’ve ever seen,” said former phy during a ceremony in Lahore yesterday. The International Cricket Council (ICC) 2016 Australian Test skipper . the remaining two matches of the series. formances in both Test matches so far. The World Twenty20 trophy has reached Pakistan for a two-day tour. — AFP A long-term appointment will probably only player in their side who has not made “Sometimes in cricket and in life you get what not be made for some time, with South at least one significant contribution is cap- you deserve, and he got what he deserved there. Africa not due to play another Test series tain , who has made just 42 “What sort of message does that send to the until they meet New Zealand in August. runs in four innings. HK player charged boys on the sideline?” Gayle was dismissed the De Villiers takes over at a difficult time. Teams: next ball when took a catch off Despite fighting back strongly to draw the South Africa (likely): AB de Villiers (cap- over fixing approach Clint McKay. He had scored 28 off 20 balls. second Test in Cape Town, South Africa have tain), , , Hashim The burly West Indian declined to be inter- gone eight Test matches and more than a Amla, , Temba Bavuma, HONG KONG: Hong Kong international Irfan was approached by former Pakistani cricketer viewed about the incident after the match. year without a win. (wkt), Morne Morkel, Ahmed has been charged and provisionally Nasem Gulzar, one of the alleged match-fixers Normally batsmen would only refuse an easy sin- England lead the series 1-0 and South , Dane Piedt or JP Duminy, suspended for failing to report an alleged fix- accused of paying former New Zealand batsman gle if they were attempting to keep the strike and Africa will lose their number one Test rank- or or Hardus ing approach, the International Cricket Council Lou Vincent to deliberately underperform in protect a lesser batsman. Gayle’s Renegades ing unless they can earn at least a share of Viljoen. (ICC) said. The 26-year-old all-rounder, who county matches in England. team went on to win the match by five wickets. the series honours. The Wanderers has tra- England (likely): Alastair Cook (captain), was slated as part of Hong Kong’s squad for the Kevin Egan, a Hong Kong-based barrister Gayle was fined US$7,000 for his approach to ditionally favoured fast bowlers, but the , , , James World Twenty20 championship in India in hired by Ahmed to defend him, downplayed the McLaughlin last week, which provoked a storm of bowling firepower at De Villiers’ disposal has Taylor, Ben Stokes, Jonny Bairstow (wkt), March, faces a ban of between two and five charge against the cricketer. outrage among other female journalists who been severely depleted by injuries to Dale , , , James years if found guilty. “(Gulzar) was like a father figure to him and aired complaints against the West Indies show- The charge under the ICC’s anti-corruption (Ahmed) was approached with a corrupt offer man. chief James Sutherland Steyn and . Anderson. code is the latest to arise from wide-reaching which he rejected. But the only criminality As was the case in the second Test, it Umpires: Kumar Dharmasena (SRI), Chris said no one should have to face such a situation. investigations into illegal bookmaking networks alleged against him by the ICC was simply having Gayle’s future in Australia’s BBL next season is up leaves Morne Morkel as the only experi- Gaffaney (NZL). — AFP by the world body’s anti-corruption unit. failed to report that approach,” Egan was quoted According to Australia’s Fairfax Media, Ahmed as saying. —AFP in the air following the furore. — AFP

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