MONDAY, JULY 6, 2015 SPORTS Mathews puts Sri Lanka on top in deciding Test PALLEKELE: Skipper Angelo Mathews bat- “The reason why we are in this position is tled his way to an unbeaten 77 as Sri Lanka because we did not bat well in our first seized the advantage in the series-deciding innings. And then it became tough to control third and final Test against Pakistan in the game from there.” Pallekele yesterday. The tourists added six runs to their The hosts gained a first innings lead of 63 overnight score of 209-9 before they were all runs and then recovered from 35-3 in their out for 215 in the day’s second over in reply second knock to post 228-5 by stumps on a to Sri Lanka’s first innings total of 278. rain-interrupted, but absorbing, third day’s When Sri Lanka batted a second time, left- play. Mathews led from the front against a tir- arm seamer Rahat Ali grabbed two quick ing Pakistani attack, adding 45 for the fourth wickets and new ball partner Ehsan Adil took wicket with Upul Tharanga (48) and 81 for the one to leave the hosts tottering in the morn- fifth with Jehan Mubarak (35). ing session. Mubarak marked his recall to the Test side Rahat bowled first innings century-maker after almost eight years with a gutsy 35 Dimuth Karunaratne for 10 and yorked Lahiru before he was caught at short-leg off Yasir Thirimanne for no score in an inspired eight- Shah in the final session. over opening spell. Dinesh Chandimal returned to form with In between, Ehsan Adil had Kaushal Silva 39 not out, helping his captain put on 67 for caught in the slips by a diving Misbah-ul Haq the sixth wicket before bad light ended the for three. Tharanga and Mathews repaired the day’s play early. early damage on either side of lunch before Sri Lanka will begin the fourth day with a Yasir broke the partnership. Having had a leg- commanding overall lead of 291 runs with before review turned down by the TV umpire five wickets in hand, having a clear advantage off the previous ball, the leg-spinner forced on the wearing pitch to break the 1-1 dead- Tharanga to edge the next delivery to Azhar lock in the series. Ali at short-leg. “We need to bat one more session to push Play was held up twice by passing showers Pakistan out of the game,” said Mubarak. “The in the morning session and once again before new ball is due in 10 overs and if we can sur- tea, keeping the hard-working ground staff vive that, we can get a lead of about 380. on their toes as they rushed in the covers to “There are two more days left and there guard both the wicket and the outfield. will be a result either way. Something like Pakistan’s six runs in the morning all came off DHAKA: South Africa’s captain Faf du Plessis (left) plays a shot as Bangladesh’s wicketkeeper Mushfiqur Rahim watches during their first 380 will be a good target, I think. It will help the bat of Sarfraz Ahmed, who remained Twenty20 international cricket match. — AP us to attack the Pakistan batsmen.” unbeaten on 78. Pakistan coach Waqar Younis admitted his Last man Imran Khan, who had not faced a team had their backs against the wall, but ball in four previous Tests, survived for seven vowed to fight until the end. “It’s going to be deliveries before he was bowled by off-spin- South Africa crush B’desh tough from here, but we are going to fight ner Tharindu Kaushal for zero. and not let it go easily,” the former fast bowler Kaushal, Dhammika Prasad and Nuwan DHAKA: Skipper Faf du Plessis scored an unbeaten said. “We will try and slow down the game, Pradeep finished with three wickets each. half century to set up a crushing 52-run win for SCOREBOARD fight hard to get some more wickets and then Pakistan won the first Test in Galle by 10 wick- South Africa over Bangladesh in the first Twenty20 see how it goes. This pitch is still good for bat- ets and Sri Lanka took the second in Colombo international in Dhaka yesterday. ting and we should try and make a game of it. by seven wickets. — AFP Du Plessis helped the visitors recover from a DHAKA: Scoreboard of the first Twenty20 international between Bangladesh and South Africa at shaky start with an unbeaten 79 off 61 balls, his the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka yesterday: sixth half-century in Twenty20 internationals, South Africa: Shakib Al Hasan c Parnell b Wiese 26 which included eight fours. A. de Villiers c Mortaza b Sunny 2 Mushfiqur Rahim c Miller b Duminy 17 Off-spinner JP Duminy (2-11), medium pacer Q. de Kock c Das b Nasir 12 Sabbir Rahman c de Kock b Duminy 4 David Wiese (2-12) and fast bowler Kagiso Rabada F. du Plessis not out 79 Nasir Hossain c Rossouw b Phangiso 1 (2-28) then put in a combined effort to dismiss J. Duminy c Nasir b Sunny 18 Litton Das c de Villiers b Weise 22 Bangladesh for 96 runs on a slow wicket at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium. D. Miller lbw b Shakib 1 Mashrafe Mortaza c de Villiers b Rabada 5 Shakib Al Hasan was the only batsman to offer R. Rossouw not out 31 Sohag Gazi run out 3 some kind of resistance with 26 off 30 balls while Extras (lb 2, w2, nb1) 5 Arafat Sunny not out 1 debutante Litton Das made 22 off 33 balls. Total (20 overs; four wickets) 148 Mustafizur Rahman b Parnell 1 Bangladesh lost both their openers for 13 runs Did not bat: D. Wiese, W. Parnell, K. Abbott, A. Extras (lb2, w2) 4 but seemed to have recovered when Shakib and Phangiso, K. Rabada Total (all out 18.5 overs) 96 Mushfiqur Rahim (17) put 37 runs for the second Fall of wickets: 1-2 (de Villiers), 2-31 (de Kock), Fall of wickets: 1-7 (Tamim), 2-13 (Soumya), 3- wicket. The game decisively swung the Proteas’ 3-77 (Duminy), 4-90 (Miller) 50 (Rahim), 4-56 (Sabbir), 5-57 (Nasir), 6-71 way when Duminy dismissed Rahim and Sabbir Bowling: Sunny 3-0-19-2, Nasir 4-0-37-1(w2), (Shakib), 7-86 (Mortaza), 8-93 (Gazi), 9-94 Rahman (4) in his successive overs and left-arm Shakib 4-0-24-1, Mustafizur 4-0-30-0 (nb1), (Das), 10-96( Mustafizur) spinner Aaron Phangiso removed Nasir Hossain for Gazi 2-0-16-0, Mortaza 3-0-20-0 Bowling: Abbott 2-0-10-1(w1), Rabada 3-0-28- one as Bangladesh collapsed from 2-50 to 5-57. Bangladesh: 2, Parnell 2.5-0-12-1, Wiese 3-0-12-2(w1), Earlier, opting to bat first, South Africa struggled Tamim Iqbal c de Kock b Abbott 5 Phangiso 4-0-21-1, Duminy 4-0-11-2 to keep the scoreboard rolling. Bangladesh started Soumya Sarkar c Duminy b Rabada 7 Result: South Africa won by 52 runs. with spinners from both ends and struck almost immediately with left-arm spinner Arafat Sunny dismissing AB de Villiers in the very first over for dismiss the latter for 18. Du Plessis said he was hap- take South Africa to a respectable total. two. De Villiers opened the innings for only the sec- py to play the match-winning knock on a difficult Rossouw faced 21 balls and hit two fours and as ond time in his Twenty20 international career and wicket. “It’s a knock that you’d like to play as a bat- many sixes for his cameo. Sunny finished with 2-19 conceded four dots before he picked up Mashrafee ter,” he said after the game. “Not the easiest wicket, for Bangladesh. Bangladesh skipper Mortaza prom- Mortaza at cover in the last ball of the over. not a flat T20 wicket, had to graft a lot.” “Ball was ised to improve their batting in the second match. Quinton de Kock tried to break the shackle with spinning and staying low, we just needed a part- “I think (our) batsmen played too many shots, a six off Nasir over cover but soon became a catch nership, and Rilee (Rossouw) played really well. but we can fix it,” he said. “It’s not too much of a of Das off the same bowler at point for 12. Sunny That was the match-winning partnership,” he said. worry the way they are batting. We’ll be back in the returned for his second spell to break a 46-run third Shakib trapped David Miller leg-before for one next match.” The second and final match of the wicket partnership between du Plessis and Duminy but du Plessis added 58 runs in an unbroken fifth two-match series will be held at the same grounds as Nasir took a well-judged catch at the deep to wicket stand with Rilee Rossouw (31 not out) to tomorrow. — AFP VIVA welcomes Diego Costa on his first visit to Kuwait KUWAIT: Being the platinum sponsor of the annual Al Roudan Indoor Football Tournament, VIVA, Kuwait’s fastest-growing and most developed telecom opera- tor, took part in a private event hosted by the organiz- ers to meet the well-known football player Diego da Silva Costa.