SPORTS SATURDAY, AUGUST 30, 2014 Sharma ruled out of England one-day series NEW DELHI: India opener Rohit Sharma will miss the India’s highest scorer in the test series with 402 runs at in 29 matches compared to a career mark of 35 in 193 next three one-day internationals and the one-off an average of over 40-plus including a century in the matches. “The contest between England and India is Twenty20 game against England with a finger injury first test. always challenging. We did well in the last game so the and will be replaced by Murali Vijay, the Indian cricket Suresh Raina is looking to carry on from where he atmosphere in the dressing room is very positive,” board (BCCI) said yesterday. left off in the third one-day international against Raina told reporters at Trent Bridge on Friday. “Rohit Sharma has sustained a fracture on the mid- England at Trent Bridge yesterday. “Everyone is looking forward to the next three dle finger of his right hand, and has been ruled out of The 27-year-old’s left-handed batsman’s score of games,” he said of a series that marks the start of both the ongoing ODI and T20 International series against exactly 100 was the cornerstone of world champions India and England’s preparations for next year’s World England, as a result,” BCCI secretary Sanjay Patel said in India’s dominant 133-run win over England in the sec- Cup in Australia and New Zealand. a statement. ond ODI at Cardiff on Wednesday. Reflecting on his dynamic 75-ball knock, featuring 12 Sharma scored 52 in India’s 133-run win in the rain- That victory put India 1-0 up in the five-match series fours and three sixes, Raina said: “It was good. God has marred second one-dayer at Cardiff on Wednesday to following Monday’s washout in Bristol and saw the been very kind. I love batting against England. help the visitors go 1-0 up in the five-match series. team return to winning ways against England after a “I have done it in the past. When I played first game Nottingham hosts the next match on Saturday. chastening 3-1 Test campaign defeat earlier on tour. against them in Faridabad, I got my first man-of-the- Vijay, a right-hander like Sharma, opened in the five- For Raina, it was his latest ODI success against an match. At the same time I am looking to the next game. match test series which England won 3-1. He was England side where his average now stands at nearly 48 I just want to continue my good form.”— Agencies England ponder S Africa beat Zimbabwe options after despite Utseya hat-trick Botham blast HARARE: Prosper Utseya became just the NOTTINGHAM: England will have criticism from all-round second Zimbabwean to take a hat-trick in a great Ian Botham ringing in their ears as they try to get back one-day international but South Africa still on level terms with India in the third one-day international at pulled off a 61-run victory in yesterday’s tri- Trent Bridge today. angular series clash. Wednesday’s huge 133-run defeat by India in Cardiff was Utseya sparked a remarkable collapse as almost a textbook demonstration of what have been he claimed the wickets of Quinton de Kock, England’s major weaknesses in one-day cricket in recent years. Rilee Rossouw and David Miller with consec- It prompted a disillusioned Botham, now a commentator with utive deliveries before finishing with career- Sky Sports, to write off England’s chances at next year’s World best figures of 5 for 36. Cup in Australia and New Zealand. “We have absolutely no However a last-wicket partnership of 36 chance of winning the World Cup as on the evidence I’ve seen between Aaron Phangiso and Imran Tahir here we are miles behind the rest,” said Botham. After the carried South Africa to a total of 231, which proved more than enough when Ryan match, England captain Alastair Cook labelled retired former McLaren and Dale Steyn took three wickets team-mate Graeme Swann a “so-called friend” for suggesting apiece to bowl Zimbabwe out for 170 in 38.3 in his new role as a radio commentator that England “do not overs. South Africa had been cruising at 142 have a cat in hell’s chance” of winning the World Cup and that without loss in the 25th over after being put the team would be better off if he didn’t lead them at the in to bat when Utseya turned the innings on tournament. England did have India in trouble early on at 19 its head, with Hashim Amla the first to go as for two but that didn’t stop them compiling 304 for six on the he was stumped for 66 off the offspinner’s back of Suresh Raina’s hundred. England’s chase never got out bowling. of first gear and they were bowled out for 161 in pursuit of a De Kock departed for 76 in Utseya’s next rain-revised target of 295 as they struggled against spin after over before Rossouw and Miller fell first ball, Mohammed Shami removed opener Cook and Ian Bell in sparking wild celebrations as the 29-year-old quick succession. For Botham, it was a wearyingly familiar Utseya joined Eddo Brandes on the list of HARARE: South Africa’s strike bowler Dale Steyn bowls during the one-day scene “We had batsmen not scoring and too many dot balls Zimbabweans with an ODI hat-trick. “At the international triangular series cricket match between South Africa and and we have three of the top four batters-Cook, Ian Bell and time I was bowling a lot slower because I Zimbabwe at the Harare Sports Club, yesterday. — AFP Joe Root - all scoring at around the same pace, around mid- knew that I was on top and I had, I think, four 70s. “Most other countries have rates in the high 80s or 90s guys around the bat,” said Utseya. Chigumbura and Brian Vitori. been as good,” said Amla. “So in the context and that’s what wins you games, as India showed by recover- When JP Duminy was trapped lbw by “Had we scored 300 or 350 and won the of the game, we take a lot of confidence from ing from 19-2 after eight overs to amass over 300.” Utseya in the 31st over of the innings, South game, the intensity in the field wouldn’t have that.” — AFP Africa had lost five wickets for 13 runs in 39 ‘Absolutely clueless’ balls, with Utseya making the most of the SCOREBOARD Botham, a member of the England side that lost to considerable turn on offer by taking all five. Pakistan in the final of the 1992 World Cup when the tourna- Fellow offspinner John Nyumbu got in on HARARE: Scoreboard for the one-day international between Zimbabwe and ment was last staged in Australia and New Zealand, added: the act thereafter, dismissing Faf du Plessis, Ryan McLaren and Dale Steyn, before South Africa yesterday: “India also knew that all they needed to do was bring on the Phangiso and Tahir carried the Proteas to a spinners to make England look absolutely clueless. South Africa Zimbabwe more respectable total. H. Amla st Taylor b Utseya 66 T. Mawoyo run out 0 “That’s what happened...something we see everywhere we “I wouldn’t say I was confident that it was Q. de Kock c Chatara b Utseya 76 S Raza c Miller b Imran Tahir 35 go. “We also didn’t have the discipline to keep the opposition enough because I do think we were 50 or 60 F. du Plessis c S Raza b Nyumbu 15 H. Masakadza b Phangiso 25 under pressure when we had them in all kinds of trouble runs short,” said Hashim Amla, who cap- R. Rossouw c Nyumbu b Utseya 0 B. Taylor b Phangiso 0 when we were bowling.” India made hay against England’s tained South Africa in the absence of an ill AB D. Miller lbw b Utseya 0 S. Williams c Amla b McLaren 46 change seamers, with Chris Jordan’s return of none for 73 con- de Villiers. “But with these sort of totals you JP Duminy lbw b Utseya 2 M. Waller c Rossouw b Steyn 20 taining a worrying 12 wides. have to make it defendable.” Zimbabwe R. McLaren b Nyumbu 6 E. Chigumbura c Rossouw b Steyn 22 Botham urged the Sussex paceman to be left out for his twice threatened to pull off what would have D. Steyn b Nyumbu 10 P. Utseya c de Kock b McLaren 5 own good and England do have alternative options in their been a memorable upset. K. Abbott c Chigumbura b Chatara 6 J. Nyumbu c de Kock b McLaren 0 squad in left-armer Harry Gurney and Middlesex fast bowler After Tino Mawoyo was run out in the A. Phangiso c Taylor b Chatara 13 T. Chatara not out 6 Steven Finn. Finn a proven performer at international level third over, Sikandar Raza Butt and Hamilton B. Vitori c de Kock b Steyn 3 Imran Tahir not out 23 who has been making his way back after effectively losing his Masakadza played a series of adventurous Extras (2lb, 6w) 8 Extras (2lb, 12w) 14 shots against the fast bowlers before Total (all out, 38.3 overs) 170 action in Australia where he didn’t feature in the team’s 5-0 Total (all out, 49.5 overs) 231 Phangiso bowled Masakadza and Tahir Fall of wickets: 1-1 (Mawoyo), 2-43 Ashes drubbing.