22 Monday, March 27, 2017 SPORTS Lyon roars

Dharamsala “If you spend some time in the middle it’s ff-spinner Nathan Lyon took four key Scoreboard really good to bat on. All of us got starts but we forwickets to fashion a late comebackAustralia for couldn’t convert. O 1st innings (overnight 0-0): Australia on an engrossing second day in the L. Rahul c Warner b Cummins 60 “But we are happy at the end of the day with decisive fourth Test against India yesterday. M. Vijay c Wade b Hazlewood 11 250-odd runs for six . It wasn’t really the The 29-year-old made the most of a lively C. Pujara c Handscomb b Lyon 57 worst day for us.” track at Dharamsala, which is hosting its Nathan Lyon A. Rahane c Smith b Lyon 46 Australia comeback first Test, to return a rich haul of 4-67 in the K. Nair c Wade b Lyon 5 final session of play. R. Ashwin lbw b Lyon 30 Ajinkya Rahane, standing in for injured Fast bowlers Josh Hazlewood (1-40) and Pat W. Saha 10 skipper Virat Kohli, also looked set for a big Cummins (1-59) also bowled their hearts out R. Jadeja not out 16 score but ended up gifting a catch to Smith off during frugal spells to restrict the hosts to 248-6 Extras (b4, lb9) 13 Lyon for 46 off 104 balls. at stumps. Total (for 6 wkts, 91 overs) 248 Ravichandran Ashwin (30) was adjudged lbw India trail by 52 runs with four wickets in off Lyon. The all-rounder opted for a review hand after Australia made 300 in their first Fall of wickets: 1-21 (Vijay), 2-108 (Rahul), but the ball tracker showed the stumps would knock, largely thanks to a fine 111 from 3-157 (Pujara), 4-167 (Nair), 5-216 (Rahane), have been hit. captain Steve Smith. 6-221 (Ashwin). Lyon, who had conceded 163 runs while At stumps Wriddhiman Saha was batting taking just one in the previous drawn on 10 with Ravindra Jadeja on 16. Test at Ranchi, remained wicketless in the first With the series in the balance at 1-1, the be in this position in the last Test at 1-1 and the two sessions. game’s two top-ranked sides have been pressure slightly on India is fantastic.” But the bowler, whose experience as a curator locked in a battle of attrition, with neither The Indian batsmen were guilty of gave him a sharp understanding of pitches, willing to give an inch. squandering good starts in a match they must brought Australia back into the game in the “I reckon it is an unbelievable feeling win to regain the Border-Gavaskar trophy. final session through some classic old-fashioned to be pretty evenly poised after day two,” But Lokesh Rahul (60) and Cheteshwar spin. Lyon said after the day’s play. Pujara (57) batted patiently to put on 87 for Lyon’s first victim was Pujara, who was “I know we probably left a few runs the second wicket, the best partnership so far coming into the match on the back of an epic Valverde out there, but to have India 240-6 odd for the hosts. innings of 202 at Ranchi. after a pretty good day in the field, “It’s by far the best wicket we have played on, Pujara tried to defend but the ball ripped I am quite happy to be honest. there’s something in it for the spinners and the back in to hit the glove and then lob up to short seals “Coming over here, fast bowlers as well. The ball kept swinging the leg, where Peter Handscomb pouched an easy Catalonia everyone wrote us off and to whole day,” said Rahul. catch. (AFP) Hamilton win in uinton de Kock batted through the pain of Qa damaged finger to bolster De Kock with a defiant 90 as the deciding Test against style New Zealand was evenly poised at the end of day three in Hamilton yesterday. Barcelona In the rain disrupted Test, New Zealand were lejandro Valverde bats 67 without loss at stumps, with a rejuvenated completed his second Tour Tom Latham on 42, in reply to South Africa’s Aof Catalonia win yesterday 314. with his third stage win of the through The injured De Kock and previously out-of- seven-day race to top an all form Latham were the individual stars in the Spanish podium from Alberto deciding Test with South Africa 1-0 up and Contador and Movistar New Zealand needing a win to draw the series. teammate Albert Soler. pain De Kock, playing with damaged ligaments Valverde, 36, added to his in his right index finger, went to the middle victories on stage three and five with South Africa 148 for five and he held the on the 138.7km stage around Scoreboard innings together while the bottom half of the Barcelona with an eight-lap Alejandro Valverde batting order added a further 166. circuit to finish in 3hr 08min Movistar had won the time South Africa first innings (overnight South African batting coach Neil McKenzie 50sec. Colombian Jarlinson trial until they were penalised 123-4) described de Kock as “a unique player” who Pantano was second ahead of for Rojas giving his teammates T. de Bruyn c Latham b Henry 0 needed painkillers to get through the day. Frenchman Arthur Vichot in a push. D. Elgar b de Grandhomme 5 “We’re threatening to get bowled out for third. “Inside the team we knew H. Amla b de Grandhomme 50 around 200 and he comes and gets a really Valverde extended his it was an injustice,” said J. Duminy c Patel b Henry 20 quality 90,” McKenzie said. winning margin over Contador Valverde. “They deprived us F. du Plessis c Latham b Santner 53 “There’s a few tablets, anti-inflammatories to 1min 03sec with Soler 1min of our great time trial. I wanted T. Bavuma c Raval b Henry 29 and that sort of stuff but Quinton doesn’t mind 16sec back. to win (before) but I wanted Q. de Kock lbw Wagner 90 he just gets on with it. “But I definitely see he The scale of Valverde’s to win even more after what V. Philander c Latham b Henry 11 was very uncomfortable.” win is even more impressive happened.” K. Maharaj c Watling b Wagner 9 Latham, who managed 24 in total in three given every Movistar rider was Victory continues a stellar K. Rabada c Watling b Wagner 34 previous innings in the series, put his string of handed a one minute penalty start to the season for Valverde M. Morkel not out 9 low scores behind him to ensure a positive start for infringements by Jose after also beating Contador Extras (lb1, w3) 4 to Zealand’s reply with Jeetan Raval who was 25 Total (all out, 89.2 overs) 314 runs Joaquin Rojas in Tuesday’s by a second to the Tour of between the wickets not out at stumps. (AFP) team time trial. Andalusia. (AFP)