Clarke reaches milestone; Australia leads by 82

December 27, 2012
clarke

Melbourne, December 27: Michael Clarke became Australia’s highest-ever run scorer in a calendar year Thursday while sharing an unbeaten 121-run partnership with Shane Watson to help Australia take an 82-run lead over Sri Lanka on the second day of the second test.

Clarke was 56 not out at lunch, taking his run total to 1,545 for 2012 and eclipsing recently retired Ricky Ponting’s record of 1,544 in 2005.

Watson was at 60 as Australia confidently moved to 238-3 in reply to Sri Lanka’s paltry 156 all out on the first day.

After resuming on the overnight score of 150-3, Clarke made a watchful start before loosening his strokes to build a challenging lead. He timed seven boundaries, showing little sign of the hamstring strain sustained in the first test at Hobart.

One of Clarke’s fours came courtesy of an error when Shaminda Eranga fielded a straight drive off his own delivery only to beat Kumar Sangakkara behind the wicket with a return that carried to the boundary.

Clarke brought up his 50 with a nick to fine leg off a short ball from Angelo Mathews.

At the other end of the wicket, Watson looked untroubled by the increasingly frustrated Sri Lankan bowlers and brought up his 50 with a boundary off Mathews two overs later.

Sri Lanka’s injury woes worsened on the second morning when paceman Chanaka Welegedara pulled up while running in to bowl to Clarke and limped from the field. He left the grounds for scans on a strained hamstring.

The visitors lost regular wicketkeeper Prasanna Jayawardene to a fractured right thumb on Wednesday and his place behind the stumps was filled by Sangakkara.

Mitchell Johnson claimed four wickets Wednesday to help dismiss Sri Lanka in under two sessions. The only highlight of the Sri Lankan innings was a defiant 58 from Sangakkara that included his 10,000th test run.



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News Network
February 29,2020

Feb 29: India were all out for 242 in their first innings following a stunning battling collapse, triggered by paceman Kyle Jamieson on the opening day of the second cricket Test against New Zealand at the Hagley Oval, here on Saturday.

India were steady at 194 for five at tea but lost wickets in quick succession after the play resumed. Jamieson returned figures of 14-3-45-5.

Hanuma Vihari top-scored for India with his combative 55 while Prithvi Shaw (54) and Cheteshwar Pujara (54) hit contrasting half-centuries.

Virat Kohli's (3) poor run continued while his deputy Ajikya Rahane (7) also fell cheaply.

India lost last five wickets for 48 runs, of which 26 were contributed by last-wicket pair of Mohammed Shami (16) and Jasprit Bumrah (10).

Brief Scores:

India 1st innings: 242 all out in 63 overs. (H Vihari 55, P Shaw 54, C Pujara 54 batting; Kyle Jamieson 5/45, Tim Southee 2/38, ).

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News Network
May 18,2020

Karachi, May 18: Former Pakistan captain Younis Khan believes it is at least five years too early to compare Virat Kohli and Babar Azam as the Indian skipper has proven himself in "every kind of situation" and the latter has not.

"Virat Kohli is far more experienced than Babar. He has at least five years more experience of top cricket and he is at the peak of his career," said Younis, Pakistan's leading run-getter in Tests.

"Kohli has far more exposure than Babar and he has been in every kind of situation and proven himself. No one gets 70 international centuries like that and this are proof of his class and abilities. He has scored runs in every situation and all opposition."

Younis said said Babar still has a long way to go.

"Babar has been in top cricket for just around five years. He has got a very impressive batting average across all three formats and he is getting better by the day.

"You see him batting and you can see he has got the same qualities that Kohli had at the start of his career."

Besides amassing 70 international hundreds, 31-year-old Kohli averages more than 50 in all three formats. The India skipper has scored more than 20,000 runs while 25-year-old Babar has 6680 runs across formats though the Pakistan limited overs skipper has played significantly lesser number of games.

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News Network
March 19,2020

London, Mar 19: Talking about the break in cricketing activities due to the COVID-19 pandemic, South Africa pacer Dale Steyn said that the disease seems to be to the only topic of conversation these days.

"I don't know how to describe it. Doesn't matter where you go, everyone is talking about it - whether it is on an airplane or you are just popping into a grocery store. It just seems like it is the only topic of conversation," ESPN Cricinfo quoted Steyn as saying.

"Yeah, it's so strange. Normally if I am on holiday I'll be planning a fishing trip or a surfing trip. At the moment I am just chilling at home," he added.

Steyn was last seen in action in the Pakistan Super League where he took two wickets in two matches.

When asked whether he has enough hand sanitizers, he replied: "We just decided that stockpiling is definitely not the way to go. It is not fair on everybody who needs that stuff. I went to the grocery store the other day and everyone had bought all the toilet paper. We have what we need, and when that runs out, that runs out, and we need to go and get some more".

"We didn't feel it was necessary to go and absolutely just, like, zombie our lives up. There's other people that live on a day-to-day basis. They are not going to get all of that stuff, so we thought it was best not to do that".

Steyn also had a message for the fans, "Stay healthy, wash your hands, look after yourself, don't be greedy. Right now they are saying old people are really struggling, so if in a position to help, rather help them than help yourself. Pretty simple, really."

Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the ODI series between India-South Africa and Australia-New Zealand have been postponed.

The start of the Indian Premier League (IPL) has also been postponed until April 15.

Cricket South Africa has suspended all forms of cricket for 60 days while Cricket Australia has advised all its employees to work from home.

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