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Home , Ajantha Mendis, Anamul Haque, Angelo Mathews, Chaturanga de Silva, Lahiru Thirimanne, Mahela Jayawardene

Sports FRIDAY, MARCH 7, 2014 beat Bangladesh, gear up for final

DHAKA: Sri Lanka fought hard to beat hosts Bangladesh by three in the last league match of the Asia Cup in Dhaka yesterday, gearing up for the final with an all-win record. Sri Lanka, who will meet defending champions in the final on Saturday, kept Bangladesh down to 204-9 before overcoming early jitters to chase down the target in 49 overs. The four-time champions won all their four matches, this time with some PRETORIA: Oscar Pistorius, puts his hand to his face while tight and resilient led listening to evidence from a witness speaking about the morning of the shooting in court on the fourth day of his by skipper who hit an trial at the high court in yesterday. — AP unbeaten 74. It was Mathews and Chaturanga de (44) who lifted Sri Pistorius weeps as Lanka from a struggling 75-5 through their sixth stand of 82 runs. witness recalls Mathews was in command through- out his 103-ball knock, hitting seven shooting scene horror boundaries and a six, while de Silva ably SCOREBOARD supported him during his 52-ball knock, PRETORIA: A weeping Oscar Pistorius shielded his ears as a smashing five fours. DHAKA: Complete scoreboard of the Asia Cup match between Bangladesh and witness in his murder trial yesterday gave harrowing evidence Despite two late wickets, Mathews Sri Lanka played at Sher-e-Bangla stadium on Thursday. about desperate attempts to save Reeva Steenkamp’s life kept his cool, hitting the winning after she was shot. boundary towards mid-wicket. Bangladesh: Sri Lanka: Rocking back and forth in the dock, Pistorius put his hands Paceman Al-Amin Hossain finished with A Haque c Thirimanne b Priyanjan 49 K. Perera c Anamul b Al-Amin 0 over his ears as neighbor and radiologist Johan Stipp recount- 2-42. Bangladesh, whose dreams of Shamsur Rahman lbw b Mendis 39 L. Thirimanne c Hossain b Sunny 33 ed how he entered his house to find the distraught reaching the final were shattered after b Mendis 1 K. Sangakkara c Nasir b Al-Amin 2 lbw b de Silva 4 Paralympian bent over, attempting to resuscitate his girl- Tuesday’s three wicket defeat against M. Jayawardene run out 0 friend. Stipp noticed a wound on Steenkamp’s right thigh, S Al Hasan c Mathews b Priyanjan 20 A. Priyanjan c Anamul b Rahman 24 Pakistan, had a sniff of a victory after Al- c Jayawardene b Lakmal30 right upper arm, and “blood, hair and what looked like brain Amin removed (nought) A. Mathews 74 tissue intermingled with that” on top of the skull. Mohammad b Lakmal 30 C. de Silva c Anamul b Mahmudullah 44 and in-form (two) in Ziaur Rahman b Thisara 12 Amid the scene of horror, Stipp said he quickly realised the T. Perera run out 15 29-year-old model’s injuries were too severe to be survivable. his first two overs. not out 2 b Thisara 0 S. Senanayake not out 7 “She had no pulse in her neck, she had no peripheral pulse, (nought), Al-Amin Hossain not out 0 Extras: (b4, w5) 9 she had no breathing movements that she made. She was (33) and Ashan Extras: (b4, lb3, w10) 17 Total: (For seven wkts; 49 overs) 208 clenching down on Oscar’s fingers as he was trying to open Priyanjan (24) were also removed Total: (for nine wkts; 50 overs) 204 Fall of wickets: 1-0 (Perera), 2-6 her airway.” before Mathews took over the responsi- Fall of wickets: 1-74 (Shamsur), 2-76 (Sangakkara), 3-8 (Jayawardene), 4-47 “I opened her right eyelid, the pupil was fixed dilated and bility of steering the team to winning (Haque), 3-87 (Rahim), 4-106 the cornea was milky, in other words it was already drying out, shores. (Priyanjan), 5-75 (Thirimanne), 6-157 (Anamul), 5-119 (Shakib), 6-174 so to me it was obvious that she was mortally wounded.” Bangladesh, who won the toss and (de Silva), 7-193 (Thisara) (Mahmudullah), 7-183 (Nasir), 8-203 During the testimony sobbing could be heard around the opted to bat, were left stranded after a Bowling: Al-Amin 10-2-42-2 (1w), (Rahman), 9-203 (Hossain) courtroom as Steenkamp’s family and friends sat arm in arm, Hossain 6-0-25-0, Shakib 10-0-27-0 good start. Spinners Priyanjan (2-11) Bowling: Lakmal 10-0-32-2 (1w), disconsolate. Stipp continued: “While I was trying to ascertain and (2-55) put the Thisara 8-0-29-2 (1w), Senanayake 10- (2w), Rahman 10-0-34-1, Sunny 7-0- if she’s revivable, Oscar was crying all the time, he prayed to brakes on before (2-29) 1-37-0 (2w), de Silva 10-0-33-1, Mendis 46-1 (1w), Mahmudullah 6-1-30-1 (1w) God to please let her live, she must not die.” and (2-32) wrapped up 9-0-55-2 (6w), Priyanjan 3-0-11-2 : Sri Lanka won by three wickets “He said at one stage, while he was praying, that he will the middle and lower order. dedicate his life and her life to God if she would just only live Opener , who scored and not die that night.” “I couldn’t do anything for her, she a brilliant hundred in Bangladesh’s was way too seriously injured for that.” highest one-day score of 326-3 against Stipp also said he wanted to locate Pistorius, fearing the Pakistan on Tuesday, was once again sprinter may have been a danger to himself. “Oscar was emo- the mainstay of the batting with an 86- tionally very, very upset and I didn’t know the situation in the ball 49. house so I thought maybe he was going to hurt himself.” Anamul and Shamsur Rahman (39) SCREAMS AND GUNSHOTS gave the home team a solid 74-run start Stipp’s evidence is the first eye-witness account of what before Mendis struck twice, dismissing happened inside Pistorius’s home that evening since the trial Shamsur and Mominul Haque (one) in began on Monday. Pistorius stands accused of murdering the 18th over. Steenkamp, a 29-year-old model and law graduate. He claims Anamul hit two boundaries and a six to have shot her through a locked toilet door after mistaking during his 86-ball knock while her for an intruder. Shamsur’s 57-ball innings included six Stipp also testified to being woken by gunshots and hits to the fence.Nasir Hossain (30) and screams coming from Pistorius’s home on the night of Mohammad Mahmudullah (30) shared February 14, 2013, and then rushing over to see if he could an innings-repairing sixth wicket stand help. But the sequence of events appeared not to tally exactly of 55 to give the total some respectabil- with the evidence from three other neighbours who heard ity. made 20. screams then shots. Five-time champions crashed Pistorius’s defence lawyer earlier accused one of those wit- out of the event on Wednesday after nesses of tailoring his evidence to fit his wife’s account in losing two of their four matches against order to “incriminate” the athlete. Sri Lanka and Pakistan. Bangladesh, “There is a design on your side to incriminate,” advocate who were runners-up to Pakistan in the Barry Roux said, claiming Charl Johnson’s evidence was made last Asia Cup in 2012, finished the event in collusion with that of his wife and fellow key witness, with four defeats in as many matches. Michelle Burger. “You desperately want her version not to form part of this Afghanistan was the fifth team who document,” said Roux, pointing at the witness. “You want to upset Bangladesh in their maiden DHAKA: Bangladesh’s wicketkeeper Anamul Haque (right) unsuccessfully extricate any suggestion that this version was also your wife’s appearance in the Asia Cup but lost appeals for an LBW of Sri Lanka’s during the version.” —AFP their remaining three matches.—AFP Asia Cup one-day international cricket tournament yesterday. — AP