TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2019 16 Australia thrash Sri Lanka Mitchell Starc’s ten-for powers Australia towards crushing victory results for troubled Sri Lanka, Starc snapped up 10 who were missing their three in- • jured strike bowlers in Canberra. wickets in the match They have now lost a home se- to recover from a lean ries to England 3-0, then away to spell and wilt Sri Lanka New Zealand 1-0 to go with their under a pace onslaught two defeats in Australia. Australia won the first Test in Brisbane by an innings and AFP | Canberra, Australia 40 runs and end their summer on a high after losing an intense resurgent Mitchell Starc home series against top-ranked took five wickets as India. A Australia wrapped up a While they were outplayed by confidence-boosting 2-0 series Virat Kohli’s men, they at least thrashing of Sri Lanka yesterday, broke a century drought stretch- with the tourists skittled for 149 ing back to October in Canberra, in the second Test at Canberra. with Joe Burns, Travis Head, In front of a sparse crowd on Kurtis Patterson and Usman day four, Sri Lanka resumed on Khawaja all cashing in. 17 without loss, needing a daunt- Their knocks put them in ing 516 to win and ending 366 prime position for the Ashes short. tour to England -- their next There was little resistance Test assignment later this year, from the under-strength visitors where champion seam bowl- who wilted under a pace on - ers Jimmy Anderson and Stuart slaught led by spearhead Starc, Broad await. who ended with 5-46 and took 10 wickets in the game as he Australia 1st innings 534-5 dec emphatically bounced back from Pat Cummins of Australia takes a catch to dismiss Lahiru Thirimanne of Sri Lanka off his own bowling (J. Burns 180, T. Head 161, a lean spell. K. Patterson 114 no; Fernando 3-126) “It’s nice to get some reward. ing their mammoth first innings momentum ahead of an upcom- only the third over of the day. nership before Thirimanne was Sri Lanka 1st innings 215 I’ve said all summer this group 534 for five declared. Sri Lanka ing Test tour to South Africa. It was a big blow with the removed by Cummins for 30. (D. Karunaratne 59; M. Starc 5-54) has been working really hard,” were bowled out for 215 in reply. But Karunaratne failed to add experienced opener their best Thirimanne tried to fend off Australia 2nd innings 196-3 said skipper Tim Paine. “I think “We were outplayed as a team to his overnight eight with Starc, batsman in the first innings be- a short ball but it ricocheted off dec (U. Khawaja 101 no, we’re starting to build towards in all departments,” Sri Lankan bowling at close to 145 kph (90 fore he was struck in the head by his bat and Cummins took an T. Head 59 no; Rajitha 2-64) something so it’s great to get skipper Dinesh Chandimal said. mph), clipping his leg bail in a Pat Cummins bouncer. athletic diving catch. Sri Lanka 2nd innings (overnight 17-0) some reward for the work we’ve “Credit goes to Australia. They Chandimal also failed to deliv- It went from bad to worse D. Karunaratne b Starc 8 been putting in.” have played some outstanding er, struggling against the speed with Dickwella bowled by Starc L. Thirimanne c & b Cummins 30 He was especially pleased cricket throughout the series,” and bounce of a fired-up Starc, for 27 just before lunch and Kus- D. Chandimal c Labuschagne b Starc 4 with his bowlers, who worked he added. bowling at perhaps his best over al Perera, cleared to play after N. Dickwella b Starc 27 well as a unit. “It was really tough. Espe - We were outplayed the past year. taking a hit on the helmet on K. Mendis c Patterson b Lauschagne 42 “The wicket didn’t offer a lot cially in the last six months we as a team in all He poked at an away swinger Sunday, out for a golden duck K. Perera c Paine b Starc 0 but they kept smacking away couldn’t get the right combina- departments. Credit and was caught at slip for four by next ball. D. de Silva c Head b Richardson 6 and bowled beautifully. For our tion to finalise our best XI.” goes to Australia. They Marnus Labuschagne, capping Dhananjaya de Silva fell soon C. Karunaratne c Paine b Cummins 22 group to get some belief out of Dimuth Karunaratne and La- have played some a miserable series in which he after the break and while young D. Perera c Paine b Cummins 4 this will be excellent moving hiru Thirimanne had survived a managed just 24 runs in two gun Kusal Mendis added a brisk K. Rajitha not out 2 forward.” tough six overs on Sunday ahead outstanding cricket Tests. 42, the tail soon folded. V. Fernando b Starc 0 Paine set the big run chase af- of stumps, and they resumed throughout the series Niroshan Dickwella, promot- Extras (lb1, b1, w2) 4 ter declaring Australia’s second with hopes high of taking the DINESH CHANDIMAL ed to number four from his usual Dire run Total: (10 wickets; 51 overs) 149 innings at 196 for three, follow- game into a fifth day to provide six, was building a handy part- It extended a dire run of Test Herrera wants United to maintain Smith and Warner to play ‘huge’ Fulham focus ahead of PSG clash AFP | London ond-bottom Fulham Saturday. nder Herrera has urged United midfielder Herre- part in Ashes series - Paine AManchester United to ra, however, said: “It will be a maintain their concentration big mistake if we think further AFP | Canberra, Australia against an England side reeling on the task facing them at Ful- than Fulham, that’s a massive from an embarrassing capitula- ham this weekend as they head game for us because (fourth- kipper Tim Paine yesterday tion in the West Indies. into a month of crunch games. placed) Chelsea are playing Ssaid he expects the banned Following a 381-run defeat Sunday’s 1-0 win at Leices- (Manchester) City. Let’s go Steve Smith and David Warn- by the hosts in the first Test in ter extended caretaker man- game by game, because if you er to play “a huge” role in this Barbados last month, England ager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s lose one game you regret. year’s Ashes series against Eng- suffered a 10-wicket thrashing unbeaten start to 10 games and “Now for Fulham, then we land, with Australia now in “a in Antigua on Saturday to lose saw United move up to fifth will think about PSG. The best really good place.” the three-match se- place in the Premier League way to prepare for the PSG After a torrid 12 months ries 2-0. table, just two points adrift of game is to try and win away marred by the ball-tampering the top four. at Fulham and that’s the way row and poor form without Won back respect Next week they face Paris I think.” their top stars, Australia ended With the immi- Saint-Germain in the last Meanwhile the Spain inter- their summer on a high by em- nent return of Warn- 16 of the Champi- national said talk of United re- phatically winning two Tests er and Smith, there ons League before maining unbeaten under Sol- against Sri Lanka. are now question a fifth-round FA skjaer this season was fanciful They claimed the first in Australia’s captain Tim Paine walks off the field after winning against Sri Lanka marks over Mar- Cup tie against given the quality of opposition Brisbane by an innings and 40 cus Harris and Chelsea on Feb- they must face in the remain- runs and the second in Can - part in us winning the series. number four Mar- ruary 18 which der of the campaign. berra by 366 runs, following a That’s how I see how important nus Labuschagne. is in turn fol- “That is impossible, the Pre- tough home series defeat to top- they are to this team. Harris strug- lowed by an mier League is so tough, City is ranked India. “We know how good they are gled in Canberra on Old Traf - a fantastic team and they lost Smith and Warner’s bans for and hopefully once their bans a batting-friendly ford clash away at Newcastle the other their role in trying to alter the are up they’ll be welcomed back wicket as fellow open- with Premier day,” he said. KNOW WHAT ball in South Africa expire late and they will win Test matches er Burns hit 180, while La- League leaders “In the Premier League it’s next month and they are widely like they did before.” buschagne managed just six Liverpool, United’s impossible to go unbeaten expected to quickly return to Without the experienced pair, and four in his two innings. arch-rivals. from when the manager came Australia broke a cen- the national set-up. Australia struggled. But at least Khawaja’s snapping of a run But before all in, to have 25 or 30 games un- tury drought stretch- “I think everyone to a degree they broke a century drought drought is widely seen as being those fixtures beaten.” ing back to October has to earn their stripes. I think stretching back to October enough for him to remain at United have the United’s form has improved those two have got plenty of in Canberra, with Joe Burns, first drop, with Head’s 161 and seemingly more hugely under Solskjaer since in Canberra, with Joe runs in the bank if you like,” Travis Head, Kurtis Patterson 59 not out sealing his place at straightfor- he replaced the sacked Jose Burns, Travis Head, Paine said when asked if they and Usman Khawaja all cash- number five.