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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News Network
June 13,2020

New Delhi, Jun 13: Five centrally contracted Indian cricketers including Cheteshwar Pujara, Ravindra Jadeja and KL Rahul have been issued notices by National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) for failing to disclose their whereabouts as the BCCI cited "password glitch" as the reason for delay.

The other players to have received the notice include women stars Smriti Mandhana and Deepti Sharma, who are among the five cricketers in the 110 strong National Registered Testing Pool (NRTP). Speaking to PTI, NADA DG Navin Agarwal confirmed that BCCI has sent an official explanation for their five NRTP players' failure to submit whereabouts.

"There are two ways to fill up the whereabouts form in the ADAMS (Anti Doping Administration & Management Systems) software. Either athlete does it himself or association fills it up on his or her behalf," Agarwal said. "Now athletes in some discipline aren't educated enough or do not have access to internet and find themselves unable to handle the whereabouts clause of the ADAMS or upload the filled up

"They use assistance of their concerned federations. So federations have accepted responsibility of uploading their whereabouts," Agarwal said.

He said cricketers too at times find it tough to complete the process on their own. "Similarly in cricket also, although these people are well qualified and they can do it, perhaps they don't have the time for whatever reasons, so the federation concerned, the BCCI has taken upon itself the responsibility of uploading their whereabouts." So why didnt BCCI upload the the three-month whereabouts this time?

"Well they have given an explanation which appears to be reasonable but a decision will be taken. They have said that there has been a glitch with regards to password in ADAMS. Now they have said that issue has been resolved," Agarwal added. NADA DG added that "BCCI's explanation will be discussed as to whether it will be counted as one of three filing failures or not. It will be decided on the explanation given and how they (BCCI) proceed from here."

While country has been under lockdown, the rule to submit three months of whereabouts is mandatory. Three such failures to disclose leads to one Anti Doping Rule Violation (ADRV), which could lead up to two years of suspension upon hearing.

While BCCI has "officially gagged" its employees from talking to the media, it couldn't be ascertained that why as normal a glitch as a password error took days to resolve. A BCCI veteran, who has been privy to cricket operations, asked why the five cricketers were not told to upload the form themselves.

"This was lockdown period where they are not living out of suitcases. Some of the names have also engaged in multiple instagram chats and podcasts which their agents are managing," he said.

"If cricket operations team were having a glitch in fixing password, well the five cricketers could have been asked to do so and they would have done it individually with some guidance. "Probably NADA would be lenient this time but if it becomes an official warning, then who's responsible," he added.

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News Network
April 5,2020

New Delhi, April 5: England batsman James Vince lashed out at people for not taking proper measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus pandemic and said people are going out as if "everything is normal".

"Just seen the pictures of people out and about today as if everything is normal. What selfish people, surely by now they've realised this is serious. Well done to everyone who's doing their bit and staying in," Vince tweeted.

On March 13, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said that Europe was now the 'epicentre' of the disease.

The death toll due to the novel coronavirus in the UK has exceeded 4,313 with at least 708 new deaths in the last 24 hours, the largest one-day rise since the start of the outbreak as confirmed by the Department of Health and Social Care.

The total number of cases in the UK as on Saturday is 41,903, a rise of 3,735 cases in the last 24 hours.

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Agencies
April 12,2020

London, Apr 12: Former Formula 1 legendary driver Stirling Moss died at the age of 90 on Sunday.

"All at F1 send our heartfelt condolences to Lady Susie and Sir Stirling's family and friends," Formula 1 said in a statement.

Often referred to as the greatest driver never to win the world championship, Moss contested 66 Grands Prix from 1951 to 1961, driving for the likes of Vanwall, Maserati and Mercedes, where he famously formed a contented and ruthlessly effective partnership with lead driver Juan Manuel Fangio.

In his 10-year-long stint at the tracks, Moss took 16 wins, some of which rank among the truly iconic drives in the sport's history - his 1961 victories in Monaco and Germany in particular often held up as all-time classics.

Moss won the 1955 Mille Miglia on public roads for Mercedes at an average speed of close to 100mph, while he also competed in rallies and land-speed attempts.

Following an enforced retirement from racing (barring a brief comeback in saloon cars in the 1980s) after a major crash at Goodwood in 1962, Moss maintained a presence in Formula 1 as both a sports correspondent and an interested observer, before retiring from public life in January of 2018.

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