Mathews rallies Sri Lanka past winless Bangladesh

March 7, 2014

Mathews_ralliesDhaka, Mar 7: Sri Lanka battled hard to beat hosts Bangladesh by three wickets in the final league match of the Asia Cup in Dhaka on Thursday, reaching the final with a perfect record.

Sri Lanka, who will meet defending champions Pakistan in the final on Saturday, restricted Bangladesh 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 tight bowling and resilient batting led by skipper Angelo Mathews, who hit an unbeaten 74.

Mathews and Chaturanga de Silva (44) lifted Sri Lanka from a perilous 75-5 with a sixth-wicket stand of 82 runs.

Mathews was in command throughout his 103-ball knock, hitting seven boundaries and a six, while de Silva ably supported him during his 52-ball innings, smashing five fours.

Despite two late wickets, Mathews kept his cool, hitting the winning boundary toward mid-wicket.

Paceman Al-Amin Hossain finished with figures of two wickets for 42 runs.

Bangladesh, whose dreams of reaching the final were shattered by Tuesday’s three-wicket defeat at the hands of Pakistan, had a sniff of a victory after Al-Amin removed Kusal Perera (naught) and in-form Kumar Sangakkara (two) in his first two overs.

Mahela Jayawardene (naught), Lahiru Thirimanne (33) and Ashan Priyanjan (24) were also removed before Mathews took over the responsibility of steering the team to victory.

Mathews was happy with his team’s performance.

“I was under a little bit of pressure, to be honest,” said Mathews. “We were losing wickets and had to consolidate. Chaturanga batted beautifully and we had a good partnership, which augurs well.” Bangladesh captain Mushfiqur Rahim said his side had room for improvement.

“We have a couple of areas to work on. We had a chat and said what we showed against Afghanistan (defeat) was not good enough for international cricket, and was disappointing for the fans.” Bangladesh, who won the toss and opted to bat, struggled after a good start.

Sri Lankan spinners Priyanjan (2-11) and Ajantha Mendis (2-55) put the brakes on before Thisara Perera and Suranga Lakmal, also with two wickets apiece, wrapped up the middle and lower order.

Opener Anamul Haque, who scored a brilliant hundred in Bangladesh’s highest one-day score of 326-3 against Pakistan on Tuesday, was once again the mainstay of the batting with an 86-ball 49.

Anamul and Shamsur Rahman (39) gave the home team a solid 74-run start before Mendis struck twice, dismissing Shamsur and Mominul Haque (one) within the space of a few balls.

Nasir Hossain (30) and Mohammad Mahmudullah (30) shared an innings-repairing sixth-wicket stand of 55 to give the scoreboard some respectability. Shakib Al Hasan made 20.

Bangladesh, who were runners-up to Pakistan in the last Asia Cup in 2012, finished the event with four defeats in as many matches.

Five-time champions India lost two of their four matches, against Sri Lanka and Pakistan, while Afghanistan recorded one win and three defeats.

SCOREBOARD

Bangladesh innings:

A. Haque c Thirimanne b Priyanjan 49

S. Rahman lbw b Mendis 39

M. Haque b Mendis 1

Mushfiqur Rahim lbw b de Silva 4

S. Al Hasan c Mathews b Priyanjan 20

N. Hossain c Jayawardene b Lakmal 30

M. Mahmudullah b Lakmal 30

Z. Rahman b Thisara 12

A. Sunny not out 2

R. Hossain b Thisara 0

A. Hossain not out 0

Extras: 17

Total: (for 9 wkts; 50 overs) 204

Fall of wkts: 1-74, 2-76, 3-87, 4-106, 5-119, 6-174, 7-183, 8-203, 9-203.

Bowling: Lakmal 10-0-32-2 (1w), Thisara 8-0-29-2 (1w), Senanayake 10-1-37-0 (2w), de Silva 10-0-33-1, Mendis 9-0-55-2 (6w), Priyanjan 3-0-11-2.

Sri Lanka innings:

K. Perera c Anamul b Al-Amin 0

L. Thirimanne c Hossain b Sunny 33

K. Sangakkara c Nasir b Al-Amin 2

M. Jayawardene run out 0

A. Priyanjan c Anamul b Rahman 24

A. Mathews not out 74

C. de Silva c Anamul b Mahmudullah 44

T. Perera run out 15

S. Senanayake not out 7

Extras: 9

Total: (For 7 wkts; 49 overs) 208

Fall of wkts: 1-0, 2-6, 3-8, 4-47, 5-75, 6-157, 7-193.

Bowling: Al-Amin 10-2-42-2 (1w), Hossain 6-0-25-0, Shakib 10-0-27-0 (2w), Rahman 10-0-34-1, Sunny 7-0-46-1 (1w), Mahmudullah 6-1-30-1 (1w).

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Agencies
August 9,2020

Manchester, Aug 9: Chris Woakes and Jos Buttler played knocks of 84 and 75 respectively as England gained an improbable three-wicket win over Pakistan in the first Test of the three-match series here at the Emirates Old Trafford.

England chased down a total of 277 on the fourth day of the first Test.

Chasing 277, England openers Rory Burns and Dom Sibley put on 22 runs for the first wicket, but Mohammad Abbas finally provided the breakthrough to Pakistan as he had Burns (10) adjudged leg-before wicket in the 12th over.

Skipper Joe Root came to the crease next, and he along with Sibley ensured that the side does not lose any more wickets before the lunch break, and England went into the lunch break at 55/1.

Sibley and Root eventually put up a 64-run stand, but their partnership was finally brought to an end by Yasir Shah as he dismissed Sibley (36) in the 36th over. Soon after, skipper Root (42) was also sent back to the pavilion by Naseem Shah, reducing England to 96/3 in the 39th over.

All eyes were on all-rounder Ben Stokes (9), but Pakistan's Yasir Shah sent him back to the pavilion in the 42nd over, and England was left in a spot of bother. Shaheen Shah Afridi, then also got among the wicket-taking charts as he scalped the wicket of Ollie Pope (7), reducing England to 117/5 in the 45th over.

Chris Woakes and Jos Buttler then got together at the crease, and the duo played in an aggressive manner to retrieve the innings for England. The hosts went into the tea break at 167/5, still, 110 runs away from the target with five wickets in hand.

Buttler and Woakes continued their march to frustrate the Pakistan bowling attack and the duo brought the target within the grasp of England. Both batsmen put up a stand of 139 runs, however, with just 21 runs away from the target, England lost the key wicket of Buttler (75) as Yasir Shah had him trapped in front of the wicket.

With England just needing four more runs for the win, Yasir Shah dismissed Stuart Broad (4), but in the end, Woakes and Dom Bess ensured England's win by three wickets.

For Pakistan, Yasir Shah was the pick of the bowlers as he scalped four wickets.

Earlier, resuming day four at 137/8, Yasir Shah (33) along with Mohammad Abbas (3*) and Naseem Shah (4) added 32 more runs to the overnight score to give England a target of 277 to win the first Test.

Stuart Broad was the pick of England bowlers as he scalped three wickets.

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News Network
June 22,2020

Zadar (Croatia), Jun 22: Grigor Dimitrov took to Instagram to announce that he has tested positive for coronavirus. The tennis star was one of the players who took part in the Adria Tour with the likes Novak Djokovic, Alexander Zverev and Dominic Thiem among others.

Taking to Instagram, the player wrote: "Hi Everyone-I want to reach out and let my fans and friends know that I tested positive back in Monaco for Covid-19. I want to make sure anyone who has been in contact with me during these past days gets tested and takes the necessary precautions. I am so sorry for any harm I might have caused. I am back home now and recovering. Thanks for your support and please stay safe and healthy."

He also urged those who had come in contact with him over the last few days in Monaco should also get tested for the deadly virus.

Meanwhile, World no.1 Djokovic reached the final of his exhibition tournament in Zadar, Croatia, after easing through the round-robin group stage on the first day. This is the second stage of the Adria Tour with Austrian Dominic Thiem winning the first leg in Belgrade, Serbia.

Djokovic started by saving three set points in his 4-3, 4-1 win over fellow Serb Pedja Krstin. He then beat home favourite Borna Coric 4-1, 4-3 in front of several thousand fans at the Visnjik tennis complex.

The tournament in Zadar is being played on red clay over two days. In the other group, Russian Andrey Rublev is in pole position to advance into the final after wins over 2014 US Open champion Marin Cilic and Serb Danilo Petrovic. He faces German star Alexander Zverev in the final round robin match on Sunday who stayed in contention after beating Cilic 4-3, 0-4, 4-3.

Djokovic''s own inconsequential final group match is against Croatian Dino Serdarusic who replaced Grigor Dimitrov after the Bulgarian pulled out of the tournament with sickness following his opening 4-1, 4-1 loss to Coric.

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News Network
July 21,2020

Melbourne, Jul 21: Cricket Australia's chief executive Nick Hockley has said that the Indian players and staff will most likely be asked to face two weeks of quarantine before the four-match Test series.

This scenario will bring the Adelaide Oval and its newly constructed hotel firmly into view as the sort of biosecure bubble, ESPNCricinfo reported.

India and Australia are slated to face each other in a four-match Test series, which is to begin from December 4 at Brisbane.

"The two-week quarantine is pretty well-defined. What we are working on is making sure that even within that quarantine environment, the players have got the absolute best training facilities, so that their preparation for the matches is as optimal as it can possibly be," ESPNCricinfo quoted Hockey as saying.

"Certainly the fact that the Adelaide Oval has a hotel. It does provide a facility not dissimilar to Old Trafford or Ageas Bowl where the hotels are integrated into the venue," he added.

Hockley also said that an exacting standard of biosecurity and testing would be applied before the series against India as the coronavirus cases are spiking in the subcontinent.

"It's widely known and it's unlikely that international travel restrictions would have lifted by the time that India will be due to come into the country. Clearly there will be testing regimes. We will be able to test people before that they get on to the plane and it is the nature of the situation of making sure we have the quarantine arrangements in line with government and health authority protocols," Hockley said.

"The key thing for the players is that there's regular testing and that we appropriately quarantine them when they come in and all of those plans are currently in development," he added.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Monday announced the postponement of the T20 World Cup 2020 slated to be held in Australia from October 18-November 15 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Following the announcement, the BCCI is likely to go ahead with the Indian Premier League (IPL) in the October-November window. However, it is known where the T20 tournament will be played as cases continue to rise in India.
"I think the BCCI has made no secrets that they are considering what that means for the IPL. For us, it's about getting a bit of an understanding and certainty around what that means. Clearly, in a normal course, some of our best players are obviously top picks for those IPL teams," Hockley said.

"It's a bit premature to speculate on that. We need to understand what the plans are if any and once we understand that we will make decisions accordingly," he added.

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