14 Tuesday 12th April, 2011 Women clear three Watson rewrites history metres for the first time BY REEMUS FERNANDO books with 15 sixes While female smashed a record athletes cleared 15 sixes in a career-best 185 the three metre as obliterated mark for the first Bangladesh in Dhaka, with the time in pole vault, opener contributing 80 per cent of L. W. D. N. his side’s total runs. Manjula The explosive opener gave a Lindegedara superb display of power-hitting as reclaimed the Sri he also cracked 15 fours in his 96- Lanka national ball knock to help Australia men’s hammer achieve a 230-run target with 24 throw record, in overs to spare for an unbeatable 2-0 lead. the first leg of the West Indies’ Xavier Marshall National Athletic was the previous record-holder League, which with 12 sixes against Canada in came to a close at 2008. Diyagama, on Watson also scored the most Saturday. Manjula Lindegedara competes in the hammer runs (150) in boundaries in a one- In what athlet- throw event at the National Championship held at day innings, breaking South ics analysts called the Mahinda Rajapaksha Stadium at Diyagama last African Herschelle Gibbs’s record a positive sign for year. Lindegedara reclaimed the national record in of 126. still developing dis- the men’s hammer throw event during the first leg “It was a nice day today as ciplines, men and everything came off,” said Watson, of the National Athletics League which came to a women hammer named man of the match. close, at Diyagama, on Saturday. throwers and “I had no idea (of the sixes record for the women’s pole record). I was pretty tired and did- female pole vaulters estab- vault stood at 2.96 metres. n’t want to run too much. It was lished new national records pretty hot and humid, so I tried to during the two day event. Former national record hold- limit my running and it worked Lindegedara, who lost the ers, Shiromi Ranasinghe of out nicely.” national record to K. Nilantha the Sri Lanka Air Force and Watson’s innings was also the a few months ago, reclaimed Ishara Udayangani, claimed highest by an Australian in one- the record when he threw a second and fourth places, day internationals, the previous distance of 39.15 metres. The clearing a height of 3.10 and best being 181 not out by Matthew previous record stood at 38.89 3.00 metres, respectively. Hayden. He completed his sixth metres. Lakrani Perera of the Sri one-day hundred off 69 balls, the In the women’s pole vault, Lanka Air Force was placed third-fastest by an Australian after Australia’s Shane Watson acknowledges the crowd after scoring a century during their second one-day international third. Hayden (66 balls) and Adam athletes cleared the three match against Bangladesh in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Monday, April 11, 2011. Australia won the first match of the A. W. A. S. M. Gilchrist (67). The final one-dayer meter mark for the first time. will be played in Dhaka on three-game series on Saturday. (AP Photo/Mir Farid) Sri Lanka Navy’s Anoma Samarasinghe of the Sri Wednesday. Hasan. Karunawansa, who cleared 2.6 Lanka Army also established “That’s probably the best Bangladesh were earlier strug- SCOREBOARD metres at the National a new national record clear- innings I’ve seen. He (Watson) hit gling at 88-5 before crossing the 200 Championship last year, ing a distance of 35.85 metres Bangladesh Innings the ball so cleanly from the start mark, thanks to wicketkeeper-bats- B.Haddin c Mahmudullah b Shakib 8 to better the previous national c Watson b Johnson 5 not out 37 cleared 3.20 metres, while today,” said Australia man Mushfiqur Rahim’s unbeaten women’s hemmer throw c Watson b Johnson 5 Extras: (1w, 1nb) 2 three others, including two Michael Clarke. 81 off 80 balls which contained one record held by Janaki Shariar Nafees c & b Smith 56 former national record hold- Watson looked in excellent six and nine fours. TOTAL: (for one ) 232 Roqibul Hassan b Hastings 0 ers, also cleared the three Galhena (32.82m) by three touch from the beginning, ham- Rahim’s best came in the closing Overs: 25. Shakib Al Hasan b Smith 9 metre mark. meres. Galhena too cleared a mering three fours in the opening stages of the innings when he Fall of : 1-62. Mushfiqur Rahim not out 81 distance of 33.17 metres. over bowled by Shafiul Islam. He smashed two fours and a six off Did not bat: Michael Clarke, Callum The Sri Lanka national Mahmudullah lbw b Watson 38 raced to his half-century off 26 successive deliveries from pace- Ferguson, Mike Hussey, , S. Shuvo c Smith b Johnston 16 balls with the help of four sixes man before hitting two , John Hastings, Shafiul Islam not out 9 and five boundaries. boundaries in seamer Mitchell Brett Lee, . Extras: (4b,1lb, 3w, 2nb) 10 He then reduced Bangladesh’s Johnson’s last over. : Shafiul Islam 2-0-27-0 TOTAL: (for seven wickets) 229 bowlers and fielders to a state of He played a major role in steady- (1w), Abdur Razzak 7-0-58-0, Shakib Trinity drub S.Thomas’ 75-6 Overs: 50. helplessness with his onslaught, ing the innings after Johnson (3-54) Al Hasan 7-1-35-1, Rubel Hossain 6- Fall of wickets: 1-9, 2-27, 3-28, 4- once hitting four sixes in an over and leg-spinner Steven Smith (2-34) Trinity College Kandy run-way 75 points to 6 win in 65, 5-88, 6-167, 7-195. 0-57-0 (1nb), Sohrawardy Shuvo 3-0- from left-arm spinner Suhrawadi had put the hosts in trouble, went on the rampage against their inter-school under 20 Did not bat: Rubel Hossain, Abdur 46-0, Mahmudullah 1-0-9-0. Shuvo. adding 79 for the sixth wicket with S. Thomas’ College Mount rugby match played at Mount Razzak. Series: Australia leads 2-0 in the Watson dominated an unfin- Mohammad Mahmudullah (38). Bowling: Bret Lee 10-2-37-0 (1nb), three-match series. Lavinia when they scored a Lavinia yesterday. (RN) ished 170-run stand for the second Shahriar Nafees was the only Mitchell Johnson 10-0-54-3 (1nb, 2w), Umpires: Johanes Cloete, South wicket with former captain Ricky top-order batsman to offer resist- John Hastings 6-0-20-1, Shane Africa, and Sharfuddoula, Ponting, who contributed an ance, scoring 56 off 73 balls with Watson 7-0-35-1, Steve Smith 7-0-34- Bangladesh. unbeaten 37. six fours. He fell after completing 2 (1w), Xavier Doherty 10-0-44-0. TV Umpire: Nadir Shah, “He (Watson) batted really well his 12th half-century in one-dayers, Australia Innings Bangladesh. Match Referee: and the credit goes to him,” said offering a simple return catch to Schwartzel wins Shane Watson not out 185 Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Smith. Roshan Mohanama, Sri Lanka. the Masters after Limited-overs captain Shahid “Younis and Misbah helped me Afridi said he has declined the a lot with the field placements,” chances of his return to Test he was further quoted as having a wild day match cricket, the Associated said. Tiger Woods was in a group Press of Pakistan reported on its Noting the recent improve- BY PAUL NEWBERRY at 278, failing to capitalize after website, in a story datelined April ment in his team, Afridi said that AUGUSTA, Georgia (AP) - making four birdies and an 11, 2011. Pakistan could emulate the Charl Schwartzel of South eagle to shoot a 31 on the front Afridi was acclaimed for the mighty Australians with proper Africa closed with four straight side. He missed short putts at way he handled the Pakistan team planning and hard work. birdies Sunday to win the both the 12th and 15th holes, during CWC 2011. “Our team has improved a lot Masters over a pair of limping to the finish with a 36 The flamboyant all-rounder, recently and our performance in Australians in one of the most on the back nine. said in an interview with a pri- the World Cup was commendable, dramatic finishes ever at “It could have been,” he said. vate news channel late night because we played under pres- Augusta National. “I hit it good all day.” Sunday that he would focus on sure, because of a series of set- Schwartzel’s final putt from Rory McIlroy,who entered getting some runs in the upcom- backs before the tournament,” he 20 feet curled into the side of the day with a four-stroke lead, ing West Indies tour. “I will really said. the cup for a 6-under 66, the best meanwhile, suffered a stunning work hard to improve my “I believe that if we continue closing round at the Masters in collapse. because it has been pretty bad for the same progress we can become 22 years. The 26-year-old fin- Still leading by one shot as quite some time,” he was quoted like the Aussies, who were consid- ished at 14-under 274, two he headed to the back nine, the strokes ahead of Australians Northern Ireland golfer hit a tee Adam Scott and Jason Day. shot next to the cabins left of “Just an exciting day,” said the 10th fairway and twice hit a Schwartzel, who also became tree to make triple bogey.He the first Masters champion in three-putted from 7 feet for its 75-year history to finish with bogey on the 11th, four-putted four straight birdies. “So many from about 12 feet on the next roars, and that atmosphere out hole and then buried his head there was just incredible. A phe- into his forearm as the loss set- nomenal day.” tled in. Scott shot a 67 and Day fin- McIlroy shot 80, the highest ished with two straight birdies final round by the 54-hole leader for a 68, leaving the Aussies in since Ken Venturi in 1956. Not second place at 276. It was bitter since Jean Van de Velde at the disappointment for themselves 1999 British Open had someone and their country: the Masters wasted at least a four-shot lead as having said.“Even my daughter ered invincible till a few years is the only major an Australian going into the last round of the has started calling me ‘Baba back,” he added. has never won. major. Boom Boom’ because of my poor To a question, , batting performance,” he added. with a laugh said: “This is my In the interview about last interview, I’m going to the Tendulkar’s out ‘Review’ in the West Indies after this.” semi-final, he said “Ajmal was so To another question, Afridi confident but when I saw the said the competition between replay of Tendulkar’s LBW, I told Sarfaraz Ahmed and Mohammad him it was clearly going down Salman is like what had been leg.” between Rashid Latif and Moin Shahid Afridi Afridi said, “either me or Khan. “Hafeez has a lot of knowl- mer Pakistan captain , response from Pakistani fans. 300- Razzaq should have batted up the edge, always gives free advice, wanted Afridi to lead the national 400 people stand outside his house order like Dhoni did in the final. I that’s why we call him Professor.” team in all three formats again. for autographs every day. admit I made many mistakes.” Some experts, including for- Afridi is overwhelmed by the (Russ) Becks to pay US mag over tart lies A US judge has ordered David legal costs of mag In Touch, which could prove he was nowhere near In Touch publisher Bauer won Beckham to fork out £170,000 over ran a totally false story about him her on the nights she claimed. the payout in LA after claiming it his legal battle with lying hooker paying the 27-year-old Bosnian tart But a court kicked out his had “successfully opposed” Charl Schwartzel of reacts after a birdie putt on the 18th IRMA NICI. for sex in New York and London. £16million writ under US free Beckham’s “unmeritorious com- hole during the final round of the Masters golf tournament Sunday, Becks, 35, was told to pay the The married England hero speech rules. Becks is appealing. plaint”. April 10, 2011, in Augusta, Ga. (AP Photo/Chris O’Meara)