SPORTS Saturday, February 10, 2018 21 Barca reach Dimuth Karunaratne steers one through the off side King’s Roshen Silva fifty puts Sri Lanka on top Dhaka Bangladesh for 110 in the oshen Silva hit morning session. BRIEF SCORE Barcelona an unbeaten Silva was batting on Cup final R Sri Lanka 200 for 8 (Silva 58*, arcelona reached the King’s Cup final for a record fifth year in a row on half-century to 58, his second fifty in the Thursday with a 2-0 second leg win at Valencia in which Philippe Coutinho put Sri Lanka in game, which came amid Karunaratne 32, Mustafizur 3-35) scoredB his first goal for the club as they secured a 3-0 aggregate semi-final command of the a regular fall of wickets and 222 lead Bangladesh 110 success. second Test after on what seemed a difficult (Mehidy 38*, Dananjaya 3-20, Valencia bossed the first half at a packed Mestalla as the hosts chased down stretching their batting pitch at the Sher-e- Lakmal 3-25) by 312 runs a 1-0 deficit but their hopes of a comeback were dashed when Brazilian lead to 312 against Bangla National Stadium. Coutinho slid in to turn home a cross from his old Liverpool team mate Luis Bangladesh in The highest successful Dhananjaya de Silva, who Suarez in the 49th minute. Dhaka on Friday. run-chase at the ground is hit 28, got starts but failed Coutinho, who joined Barca from Liverpool for a club record 142 million The visitors England’s 209-1 against the to convert them into bigger pounds ($197.66 million) in January, had been on the pitch less than three reached 200-8 at hosts in 2010. scores. minutes when he scored, while Ivan Rakitic stretched the visitors’ lead eight stumps on day two in Suranga Lakmal, who Silva got to the minutes from time. their second innings. claimed three wickets grind building crucial Barcelona have won the trophy for the last three years and face Sevilla in the The batting effort came with his pace bowling, was partnerships including a final on April 21, a re-run of the 2016 showpiece which the Catalans won 2-0 after debutant spinner keeping Silva company on 51-run fifth-wicket stand after extra time. Akila Dananjaya led an seven as the islanders kept with skipper Dinesh Sevilla beat Leganes 2-0 on Wednesday in the other semi-final to inspirational attack building on their sizable Chandimal, who made 30. advance 3-1 on aggregate. to dismiss first-innings lead of 112. Earlier Bangladesh, who ”I feel very happy to be able to play in a final while being Paceman Mustafizur started the day on 56-4 in at the club for only a couple of months,“ Coutinho Rahman took three wickets response to Sri Lanka’s told reporters. ”We still have to play it and we’ve while spinners Taijul Islam 222, faltered against got a lot of things to do before the final. and Mehedi Hasan Miraz Dananjaya’s mystery spin ”I have been trying to score since my first claimed two each. that rattled the hosts’ game and I‘m happy to have done that, Opener Kusal Mendis middle and lower-order. although the most important thing is was out early after veteran Dananjaya, who is that the team won the game and we are left-arm spinner Abdur playing his first Test after able to leave here happy. Razzak trapped the 19 one-day internationals “Everyone told me we could be batsman leg-before and nine Twenty20 games, the first team to reach five finals for seven. returning impressive in a row, we all knew it and it’s a Left-handed figures of 3-20. great achievement.” opener Dimuth The 24-year-old Valencia were looking to Karunaratne, Dananjaya has off-spin as reach the final for the first who made his stock delivery but can time in a decade and coach 32, and can surprise the batsmen Marcelino deployed an with leg-spin googly and attacking 4-3-3 formation carrom balls. which helped his side put Dananjaya cleaned up Barca on the back foot in skipper Mahmudullah the early stages of the Riyad for 17, and got two game. more wickets in Sabbir Rodrigo Moreno Rahman -- out for a duck came closest to scoring -- and Razzak to flatten the for the hosts when Bangladesh batting. he crashed a header Mehedi, who was sent in against the bar in the as nightwatchman on day 13th minute and the Spain one, remained unbeaten on international was thwarted 38 -- the highest score in again later in the half by Barca the Bangladesh innings. goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen. The first Test ended in “We played a very good first half and we had some very a draw in Chittagong. good chances to score and level the tie, but when you’re (AFP) playing against these teams if you don’t score the chances Philippe Coutinho celebrates after putting you get you pay a price,” said Valencia keeper Jaume Barcelona ahead at the Mestalla Domenech. (Reuters).