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SUNDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2014 SPORTS Steyn rips through Windies

PRETORIA: ripped through the a groin problem but showed no signs of West Indies top order to claim his 25th five- discomfort as he steamed in to skittle the haul in test and give South West Indies top order in a spell that lasted Africa an innings and 220-run victory on 90 minutes. the fourth morning of the first test yester- The loss of (39) and day. The West Indies’ frailties with the bat (four) early left the were cruelly exposed by the top-ranked West Indies in trouble, but their situation South Africans, with Steyn leading the became a hopeless one when Marlon charge as he finished with six for 34 having Samuels looped up a catch for Dean Elgar gone wicketless in the first innings. The visi- off a rampant Steyn with his score on 17. tors resumed in the morning session on 76 (four), who had for two in their second innings, still trailing called for greater grit and application from by 275 runs, with hopes of batting deep the batsmen in the lead-up to the test, last- into the day to save the test. ed just two balls as Steyn claimed his But a fired-up Steyn sparked a preces- fourth by inducing an edge off the shoul- sion of as the West Indies were der of the bat to a leaping De Villiers. bowled out for 131, unable to cope with The game was up for the tourists and the hostility of the home quicks. Steyn picked up the final two wickets, with “We didn’t expect it to finish so early, taking an easy catch off but Dale bowled exceptionally well to get at mid-wicket to end the us started and the wicket got difficult to match with bowler not bat- bat on,” Proteas captain , who ting in the innings as he rests his injured was adjudged Man of the Match for his ankle. 208, said at the post-match presentation. “In the first innings when we batted we He also gave credit to AB de Villiers, his showed some signs of partnerships with partner in a South African record fourth- our guys getting starts but we couldn’t car- wicket partnership of 308 and the player ry them on,” Ramdin said. who also donned the gloves with regular “We need to show a lot of character to wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock injured on give them a fight and hopefully we can day three. take some positives out of this match and “Having AB in the team is a great bless- do something special in the other games.” ing, he is a wonderful fielder, a great bats- The West Indies were bowled out twice man and he even bowls a bit these days. He in the test in just under 103 overs, leaving is also our spare keeper and he showed his them with much to contemplate ahead of class with the gloves on,” Amla said. Steyn the second test in Port Elizabeth that starts had limped off on the third afternoon with on Boxing day.—Reuters SCOREBOARD

CENTURION, : Final scores on the fourth day of the first Test between South Africa and the West Indies at SuperSport Park in Centurion yesterday: South Africa, first innings,552-5 dec S. Cottrell c Morkel b Steyn 4 BRISBANE: India’s Shikhar Dhawan plays a shot during their play on day four of the second cricket Test against Australia. —AP West Indies, first innings, 201 K. Roach absent injured West Indies, second innings (overnight 76-2) Extras (lb3, nb1, w4) 8 K. Brathwaite c Petersen b Morkel 20 Total (42.3 overs) 131 D. Smith c sub (Bavuma) b Philander 5 Fall of wickets: 1-8 (Smith), 2-52 (Brathwaite), 3- Magic Johnson inspires L. Johnson c De Villiers b Steyn 39 87 (Johnson), 4-91 (Chanderpaul), 5-101 M. Samuels c Elgar b Steyn 17 (Samuels), 6-105 (Ramdin), 7-117 (Blackwood), 8- S. Chanderpaul c De Villiers b Steyn 4 : Steyn 8.2-2-34-6, Morkel 11.1-1-43-2 J. Blackwood c sub (Bavuma) b Morkel 15 (1w), Philander 7-4-6-1 (inb), Abbott 3-0-11-0 Australia to Gabba win D. Ramdin c De Villiers b Steyn 4 (1w), Van Zyl 10-2-22-0 (2w), Elgar 3-0-12-0. J. Taylor c Amla b Steyn 9 Result: South Africa won by an innings and S. Benn 6 220 runs BRISBANE: Mitchell Johnson inspired balls. “I thought today’s first session was behind off Johnson for 30 to end the Australia to a four-wicket win over India to very crucial and I don’t think we handled it innings. Wicketkeeper Brad Haddin finished take a 2-0 series-lead with a day to spare in really well,” skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni with three catches for the innings and nine the second Gabba Test yesterday. said. for the match. The Australians lost David The ICC Cricketer of the Year condemned “If we had got a decent partnership Warner (6), (0), Rogers (55), India to defeat with a hostile spell of three for going and got a few more runs then we (17), (28) and Brad 10 in the space of 11 balls, ripping the heart could have exploited the conditions Haddin (1) on the way to victory with out of the tourists’ top order in the morning more, but it was the morning session that Warner getting a painful blow on the left session. had a big impact on the game.” Pacemen thumb in Yadav’s first over. Johnson snared four wickets for 61 off 17.3 Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc com- Team officials said that Warner had not overs as Australia dismissed India for 224 and pounded India’s woes with the wickets of suffered a fracture, raising his chances of were left needing 128 runs for victory. The skipper Dhoni (0) and Ravichandran Ashwin being fit for the third Test in the four-match hosts made getting the job done difficult (19) to leave the tourists hanging on. series, starting in Melbourne on Boxing Day. despite veteran opener Chris Rogers’ sec- Pujara was out just before lunch for 43, India were critical of the state of practice ond half-century of the match. caught by Nathan Lyon off a short ball from wickets with Dhawan and Kohli both hurt in At the close, Australia were 130 for six Hazlewood. the morning hit-up before play. with Mitchell Marsh hitting the winning Dhawan, who returned to bat later in the The tourists said they had been asking for runs and finishing six not out with Johnson morning, skilfully farmed the strike with fresh net practice wickets for two days on two. Umesh Yadav, but the stubborn partnership instead of using the worn-out strips that had The victory continued Australia’s formi- ended, together with India’s hopes of an uneven bounce, but they said ground dable record at “fortress” Gabba where they mounting a lead big enough to defend, officials had been preparing new practice have not lost a Test since 1988. Johnson fol- when Dhawan attempted an audacious wickets for upcoming matches. Queensland lowed up his game-changing knock of 88 sweep shot off spinner Lyon only to be Cricket later tweeted: “Australians say no off 93 balls in Australia’s first innings with a trapped leg before wicket. problems with them (practice wickets) and dynamic spell of fast bowling to power his Varun Aaron then skied Lyon to curator says they mirror exact state of the team to victory. Hazlewood for three and Yadav was caught Test pitch in middle”. —AFP Steve Smith, captaining Australia for the : West Indies batsman plays an LBW from South first time since replacing the injured Africa’s bowler Vernon Philander on the third day of their first cricket Test match at Michael Clarke, was named man of the SCOREBOARD Centurion Park. —AP match with his 133 in the first innings. “Mitch certainly did it today for us with BRISBANE, Australia: Scoreboard at the close on the fourth day of the second Test between Australia and that little spell. He cracked the game open India in Brisbane yesterday: Morgan replaces Cook as for us. All the bowlers produced the goods India 1st innings 408 (M. Vijay 144, A. Rahane 81; J. Bowling: Johnson 17.3-4-61-4 (1nb, 5w), Hazlewood in this game,” Smith said. Hazlewood 5-68) 16-0-74-2 (1nb), Starc 8-1-27-2, Watson 13-6-27-0, England World Cup captain “It was just amazing the way that Mitch Australia 1st innings 505 (S. Smith 133, M. Johnson Lyon 10-1-33-2 came out yesterday and took the bowlers 88; U. Yadav 3-101, I. Sharma 3-117) on from ball one was outstanding. That was India 2nd innings (overnight 71 for 1) Australia 2nd innings LONDON: Eoin Morgan has replaced the ed the need to give Cook full support as a big turning point in the game, to get that M. Vijay b Starc 27 C. Rogers c Dhawan b I. Sharma 55 out-of-form as England’s one of the reasons behind its decision to partnership there with Mitch.” S. Dhawan lbw b Lyon 81 D. Warner c Dhoni b I. Sharma 6 World Cup captain, the England and Wales end ’s England career earlier C. Pujara c Lyon b Hazlewood 43 India went into the fourth day at 71 for S. Watson c Dhoni b I. Sharma 0 Cricket Board (ECB) announced yesterday. this year. V. Kohli b Johnson 1 S. Smith run out (Yadav) 28 one but they never recovered from A. Rahane c Lyon b Johnson 10 Cook has scored just one fifty in his last But Downton said he had “complete S. Marsh c Dhoni b Yadav 17 22 one-day innings for England and has confidence” in the decision made by the Johnson’s whirlwind bowling spell and they R. Sharma c Haddin b Johnson 0 B. Haddin c Kohli b Yadav 1 paid the price for failing to stop the rot dur- selectors. “Having spent time with Alastair were bundled out in 64.3 overs. M. Dhoni lbw b Hazlewood 0 M. Marsh not out 6 ing his country’s recent 5-2 series defeat in yesterday (Friday), he accepts that it has Only Shikhar Dhawan (81) and R. Ashwin c Haddin b Starc 19 . been made in the best interests of the one- Cheteshwar Pujara (43) offered any resist- U. Yadav c Haddin b Johnson 30 M. Johnsonnot out 2 Morgan will lead the side for the tri- day side,” he said. ance in a meek Indian batting performance. V. Aaron c Hazlewood b Lyon 3 Extras (b4, 4lb, w1, nb6) 15 series in Australia after Christmas and then “Eoin has held a senior role in our limit- Nothing went right for the tourists on the I. Sharma not out 1 Total (6 wickets; 23.1 overs) 130 the World Cup in Australia and New ed-overs teams for some time and has fourth morning with Dhawan retiring hurt Extras (lb2, w5, nb2) 9 Fall of wickets: 1-18 (Warner), 2-22 (Watson), 3-85 Zealand in February and March, with Cook impressed on the occasions he has led the on his overnight score of 26 after being Total (all out; 64.3 overs) 224 (Rogers), 4-114 (S. Marsh), 5-122 (Smith), 6-122 playing no part but staying on as Test cap- side.” struck on the wrist in the practice nets Fall of wickets: 1-41 (Vijay), 2-76 (Kohli), 3-86 (Haddin) tain. An ECB statement read: “ECB today Downton added: “Alastair remains an before the start of play. (Rahane), 4-86 (R. Sharma), 5-87 (Dhoni), 6-117 Bowling: I. Sharma 9-2-38-3 (5nb), Yadav 9-0-46-2, (Saturday) announced that Eoin Morgan integral part of England cricket and contin- Johnson then shredded the top order, (Ashwin), 7-143 (Pujara), 8-203 (Dhawan), 9-211 Aaron 5.1-0-38-0 (1nb, 1w) Result: Australia won by has replaced Alastair Cook as England one- ues to have a vital role in developing our removing Virat Kohli (1), Ajinkya Rahane (Aaron), 10-224 (Yadav) 4 wickets. day captain with immediate effect. emerging Test side. (10) and Rohit Sharma (0) in the space of 11 “Selectors recommended to managing “I would like to thank him for his leader- director England cricket Paul Downton a ship of the one-day side since 2011, a peri- change in captaincy, which has now been od which saw the team reach number one approved by the ECB chairman. Cook will in the world, Alastair lead the team to more Jeptoo fails second continue as England Test captain.” wins than any previous England captain After England’s series-ending defeat in and also make the final of the ICC doping test Colombo on Tuesday, Cook, who has not Champions Trophy.” scored a one-day century since June 2012, Cook led England in six of their seven NAIROBI: Kenyan Rita Jeptoo, winner of the Boston conceded he could have “no complaints” if matches in Sri Lanka, making just 119 runs and Chicago marathons for the last two years, has he lost the one-day captaincy. at an average of 19.83. Morgan made 90 at But the decision to remove him from the 12.85. He also led the team in the other fix- tested positive for a banned substance in a B sample role with the World Cup looming is still a ture, a defeat for which Cook was banned taken after she failed an out-of-competition check in major reversal by Downton and head coach because of an over-rate offence. September. “The results of the analysis of the B sam- Peter Moores, who have given Cook Cook’s omission was one of three ple which was conducted on 17th to 19th December absolute backing this year. changes to the squad that toured Sri Lanka, 2014 at the WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency} Cook, who turns 30 on Thursday, said: “I with Yorkshire batsman Gary Ballance com- accredited laboratory of Lausanne confirmed the find- am gutted to be left out of the World Cup ing in and seamers James Anderson and ing of the A sample,” Athletics Kenya said in a state- squad, and it is likely to take me a while to Stuart Broad returning from injury. ment on Friday. get over the disappointment. Durham all-rounder Ben Stokes and “That said, I wish Peter, Eoin and the lads Nottinghamshire bowler Harry Gurney Jeptoo, provisionally suspended from athletics all the best for the World Cup. I would also were the other players to make way. after the A sample tested positive, had asked for a B like to thank all the players and fans who England will travel to Australia on January check. She told reporters at the time that the accusa- have supported me during my time as one- 6 for the tri-series, which also features tion was false. day captain.” India. They open their World Cup cam- Dozens of Kenyan athletes have failed doping Morgan described being handed the paign against Australia in Melbourne on tests in the past two years. Government officials captaincy as “a huge honor”. The 28-year- February 14. have blamed the growing amount of cases on for- old Irishman added: “I firmly believe that eign agents and Athletics Kenya’s failure to educate with the players currently involved in the England World Cup squad: its sportsmen and women properly. The country’s one-day set-up we have the makings of a Moeen Ali, James Anderson, Gary very good one-day side, a young side that Ballance, Ian Bell, Ravi Bopara, Stuart Broad, triple world 3,000 metres steeplechase champion can surprise people at the World Cup.” Jos Buttler, Steven Finn, Alex Hales, Chris Moses Kiptanui has called for tough sanctions Morgan’s elevation to the captaincy rep- Jordan, Eoin Morgan (capt), Joe Root, James against those who fail doping tests, saying “big resents a U-turn by the ECB, which had cit- Taylor, James Tredwell, Chris Woakes. —AFP money” was behind the cheating. —Reuters Rita Jeptoo