WEDNESDAY, MARCH 29, 2017 SPORTS

Former Vaughan backs planned English T20 tournament

LONDON: Former England captain class counties. At present, the ECB’s rules is the centre of the world. But votes they require for a rule change, with formal link to an existing county, they Michael Vaughan has given his support state all those clubs must be involved in people outside cricket are not talking the first-class counties guaranteed £1.3 could all be based at an existing Test after officials on Monday set in motion its competitions-the first-class County about our sport. It just does not grab the million ($1.6 million, 1.5 million euros) match ground, although there has been the procedure that could lead English Championship, the 50-over One-Day country’s attention often enough out- annually for five years if the tournament talk of playing matches at larger venues cricket to have a new eight-team Cup and the Blast. side Ashes series,” the former Yorkshire comes into being. such as the London Olympic Stadium. Twenty20 tournament. But ECB chairman Colin Graves will batsman insisted. “This is about growth and securing The ECB said the event would see England and Wales Cricket Board formally ask his board on Tuesday to The IPL and the Big Bash are the only our future,” said ECB chief executive Tom each of the sides involved have a 15- (ECB) chiefs, having seen the success of trigger a change in those regulations in senior domestic Twenty20 events in Harrison. “As guardians of the game, it is man squad featuring three overseas the Indian Premier League and especial- a bid to initiate the process for creating India and Australia respectively but the the responsibility of all of us to steer players, selected by a draft as happens ly Australia’s city-based Big Bash the new tournament. “This new ECB plans to keep the Blast going along- cricket to a strong future and to pass it in the IPL. Twenty20 tournaments, believe they Twenty20 league is a risk but sometimes side its new tournament, which it hopes on in even better shape.” They would compete in a 36-game need something similar to help them you have to gamble to grow a sport,” to launch in 2020. Although the identities of the eight tournament played over a 38-day win- reach family audiences and encourage wrote Vaughan in his Daily Telegraph Monday saw the ECB present what it teams in the new event have yet to be dow with four home games per team. children to become fans of the sport. column published online on Monday. says was a “detailed overview” of its revealed, it is expected that they would Vaughan, who said the new tourna- However, the proposal has proved “Australia, India, Pakistan and the plans to its 41 members, comprising the be city-based, with two in London, two ment might not have been needed had hugely controversial as, if enacted, it will Caribbean already have big Twenty20 counties, recreational boards and MCC. in the north of England, two in the the Blast been shown on terrestrial tele- mean that for the first time there is a tournaments. We are just playing catch Midlands and one each in the west, vision, added: “Now cricket has to try major domestic cricket tournament in up and it is about time too. ‘SECURING OUR FUTURE’ including Wales, and the south. and grab new fans. I am convinced they England that does not feature all 18 first- “Those of us close to the game think It looks as if the ECB will get the 31 Although the teams won’t have any are out there. — AFP

South Africa reeling but have praise for Williamson HAMILTON: South Africa paid homage to a runs, we start getting the positive, and “fabulous” yesterday after every run in the positive is one they have to the New Zealand captain’s 176 left the get and is time wasted.” The Zimbabwe- Proteas on the ropes with a day to play in born de Grandhomme was not required for the deciding final Test in Hamilton. the first Test when Elgar scored 140 and 89 “We’ve got a mountain to climb,” assis- but in four since then he has tant coach Adrian Birrell said after South removed the opener for scores of nine, 17, Africa were reduced to 80 for five at stumps five and five. on day four, 95 runs short of making New The loss of Elgar should have signalled Zealand bat again. to South Africa it was time to dig in but “Kane Williamson’s innings was a fabu- instead fell at regular intervals. lous innings and you’ve got to sometimes After the de Bruyn run out for 12, Amla doff your to a good player.” progressed from eight to 19 when he With also firing edged a ball from Jeetan Patel which with the bat with a quickfire 57, New rebounded off Watling’s glove to the sole Zealand started the day seven runs ahead slip de Grandhomme. Patel also bowled JP and added 168 before they were all out for Duminy (13) and Matt Henry had Temba 489. De Grandhomme then ignited the Bavuma caught behind for one to leave assault on the South African top order in South Africa 59 for five, before du Plessis the sixth over when he removed Dean and de Kock survived 12 overs to stumps. Elgar for five and later took a smart catch to Should New Zealand level the series it dismiss for 19. will be a remarkable turnaround from the Theinus de Bruyn was run out for 12 in a eight-, three-day hiding they suf- bizarre mid-pitch collision when he was fered in the second Test. It would also have ball-watching and veered into Amla, leav- been achieved without injured strike ing the batsmen sprawled on the ground. bowlers and as Birrell said the Proteas’ mayhem well as senior batsman . After was part of the flow-on effect from Williamson and (41) con- DHARAMSALA: Indian team poses with the Border-Gavaskar Trophy after winning the series against Australia in Dharamsala, India, Williamson’s marathon innings. solidated with a patient 88-run stand for yesterday. India won the four-match series 2-1. — AP “One hundred and sixty two overs is a the fifth wicket, de Grandhomme finished long time to be in the field and it was a the innings with a flourish, smacking five CRICKET hard day. Players are fatigued and to bat on fours and two sixes in his 70-ball stay. the back of that is always going to be diffi- Williamson had looked assured throughout cult.” he said. until he hooked Morne Morkel to Vernon “Once they got ahead of us by 100 runs Philander at long leg after 449 minutes in ‘Unbelievable’ India thrash it was always going to be a survival match.” the middle. He faced 285 deliveries and Faf du Plessis and Quinton de Kock were struck 16 fours and three sixes. BJ Watling both 15 at stumps. Birrell said they contributed 24, Henry 12 and Patel five were looking for de Kock, who set up their before the innings folded with de Australia, take series eight wicket win in the second Test to go 1- Grandhomme gloving a Morkel flyer 0 up in the series, to go on the attack when through to wicketkeeper de Kock. play resumes. “If he goes into a defensive Morkel took four for 100 and Kagiso DHARAMSALA: Skipper Virat Kohli said Australia mode it’s probably the worst thing for him, Rabada four for 122 while de Kock held five were no longer his friends after India wrapped up a SCOREBOARD so we look for him to score. Ninety-five catches behind the stumps. — AFP bad-tempered Test series 2-1 with a thumping eight-wicket win in Dharamsala yesterday. Chasing DHARAMSALA, India: Scoreboard yesterday on fourth day of fourth test cricket test between India and Australia at 106 on the penultimate day of the fourth Test, Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium. SCOREBOARD opener Lokesh Rahul hit 51 not out at India’s newest Test venue as the hosts seized back the Australia 1st Innings: 300 Fall of wickets: 1-46, 2-46 India 1st Innings: 332 Did not bat: Karun Nair, Wriddhiman Saha, HAMILTON, New Zealand: Scoreboard yesterday on the fourth day of the third cricket test between New Border-Gavaskar trophy from Australia. Australia 2nd Innings: 137 Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Zealand and South Africa at Seddon Park. India’s stand-in skipper Ajinkya Rahane (38 not India 2nd Innings (overnight 19-0) Umesh Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar. out) hit two sixes in a row off paceman Pat South Africa, 1st Innings 314 New Zealand, 1st Bavuma 2-0-7-0. Lokesh Rahul not out 51 : Pat Cummins 8-2-42-1, Josh Hazlewood 6-2- Innings (Overnight: 321-4) Cummins en route to the team’s seventh successive Murali Vijay c Wade b Cummins 8 14-0, Steve O’Keefe 4.5-1-22-0, Nathan Lyon 5-0-19-0. c de Kock b Morkel 50 South Africa, 2nd Innings Test series victory, a run that kicked off with their Cheteshwar Pujara run out 0 Result: India won by 8 wickets Ajinkya Rahane not out 38 Series: India won 2-1 Jeet Raval c de Kock b Morkel 88 Dean Elgar c Watling b de Grandhomme 5 triumph in Sri Lanka in 2015. But Kohli, who sat out Extras: (4b, 5lb) 9 Player of the match: Ravindra Jadeja, India Kane Williamson c Philander b Morkel 176 Theunis de Bruyn run out 12 the final Test with a shoulder injury, said any warm TOTAL: (for 2 wickets) 106 Player of the series: Ravindra Jadeja, India Neil Broom lbw b Rabada 12 Hashim Amla c de Grandhomme b Patel 19 feelings he had toward Australia before the Test Overs: 23.5. Batting time: 111 minutes Henry Nicholls c de Kock b Rabada 0 J.P. Duminy b Patel 13 had evaporated during the bitter contest that Mitchell Santner c Duminy b Rabada 41 Faf du Plessis not out 15 ensued between the world’s top two sides. “I B.J. Watling b Maharaj 24 Temba Bavuma c Watling b Henry 1 thought that was the case, but it has changed for Colin de Grandhomme c de Kock b Morkel 57 Quinton de Kock not out 15 sure. As I said in the heat of the battle, you want to Matth Henry c Elgar b Maharaj 12 Extras 0 Jeetan Patel c de Kock b Rabada 5 be competitive but yeah I have been proven TOTAL (for five wickets) 80 not out 0 wrong,” Kohli told a post-match press conference. Lanka-Bangladesh Overs: 39. Batting time: 166 minutes. Extras (12lb, 5w, 7nb) 24 “The thing I said before the first Test (about being Fall of wickets: 1-13, 2-25, 3-49, 4-50, 5-59. TOTAL (all out) 489 friends), I have certainly been proven wrong, and Yet to bat: Vernon Philander, Keshav Maharaj, Overs: 162.1. Batting time: 712 minutes. you won’t hear me say that ever again.” The 28- Fall of wickets: 1-83, 2-273, 3-293, 4-293, 5-381, 6- Kagiso Rabada, Morne Morkel. year-old skipper caused a furore in the second Test ODI washes out Bowling: Matt Henry 11-4-20-1, Colin de 397, 7-443, 8-477, 9-489, 10-489. after accusing his counterpart Steven Smith of Bowling: Vernon Philander 33-7-79-0 (2nb), Grandhomme 8-5-15-1, Neil Wagner 5-0-16-0, Jeetan Patel 12-2-22-2, Mitchell Santner 3-0-7-0. repeatedly abusing the decision review system. DAMBULLA: Heavy rain washed out the sec- with 4-47. Kusal Mendis earlier hit 102 off 107 Morne Morkel 36.1-7-100-4, Kagiso Rabada 34-3- But Kohli, who managed only 46 runs in the series, 122-4 (5w, 5nb), Keshav Maharaj 50-8-118-2, J.P. Series: South Africa leads the three-match series ond one-day international of a three-match balls, his maiden one-day international centu- Duminy 6-0-38-0, Dean Elgar 1-0-13-0, Temba 1-0. said the hard-fought series against Australia was series between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in ry, and shared 111 runs for the second wicket the most satisfying of India’s recent run, that Dambulla yesterday. with skipper Upul Tharanga to lay the founda- included victories over New Zealand, England and Bangladesh could not start their innings tion for Sri Lanka’s innings. Tharanga, playing Bangladesh in an extended home season. due to the downpour after bowling out Sri his 200th ODI, made 65. Bangladesh lead the “Unbelievable. This is the best series win so far,” Lanka for 311 runs in 49.5 overs. Fast bowler series 1-0 thanks to their 90-run win in the said Kohli, who received the Test mace on behalf of Taskin Ahmed grabbed a late hat-trick to finish opening match on Saturday.—AFP India for ending the season as the world’s top side. “The way the Australian team gave us a fight was really amazing, but the way the (India) guys kept bouncing back showed the true character of the side.” India’s cricket board rewarded their play- ers who featured in all four Tests with a cash bonanza of $77,000. Smith meanwhile apologised for letting emotions get the better of him. On Monday footage indicated he called Murali Vijay a “cheat” for wrongly claiming a catch. “I have been pretty intense throughout this series. I really want- ed to do well for the team. At times I have been in my own bubble and have let my emotions slip. I apologise for that,” said Smith.

JADEJA ON FIRE In the maiden Test played in Dharamsala, India scored 332 in their first innings in reply to Australia’s 300, before the tourists collapsed for just 137 on the third day. On day four, India lost Vijay to fast bowler Pat Cummins and Cheteshwar Pujara to a run out. But these were the only scares for the hosts, who reached their target in less than 24 overs. The main architect of India’s victory was all- rounder Ravindra Jadeja, who was named man of the match and series for his exceptional perform- ance. He top-scored with 63 in the first innings before taking three wickets with his left-arm spin during Australia’s second knock. “The way the guys handled situations and the way Ajinkya led was outstanding,” Kohli said. “But the maturity and the responsibility shown by all the guys in the team was pleasing to see,” he added. Kohli’s own behaviour was parodied in the Australian media, some of whom disparagingly compared him to US President Donald Trump. The DAMBULLA: Umpires S Ravi (L), Ranmore Martinesz (C) and Ruchira Palliyaguruge (R) contest will also be remembered for the fine form walk off the covers as rain stops play during the second (ODI) crick- HAMILTON: Theunis de Bruyn (L) is run out after he and Hashim Amla (R) of South of Aussie captain Smith, who amassed 499 runs et match between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh at The Rangiri Dambulla International Africa run into each other during day four of the third Test cricket match between with three centuries, becoming only the sixth visit- Cricket Stadium in Dambulla yesterday. — AFP New Zealand and South Africa at Seddon Park in Hamilton yesterday. — AFP ing batsman to hit as many hundreds.— AFP