14 SPORTS
Monday, 27 January, 2014
AUSTRALIA HIT BACK
for five-run win aDelaiDe
B
aGeNcIeS
RILLIANT for much of this summer, Australia settled for simply being the lucky country on their national day, as a fortuitous moment at the pointy end of the final ODI effectively handed the hosts a fourth limited-overs victory out of five over England and a ninth from 10 encounters including the Ashes clean sweep. In a scrappy contest dictated largely by the sluggishness of Adelaide Oval's drop-in pitch, Australia posted a mediocre total but defended it grandly against an England team who threatened to take control at several stages of the chase but could never quite manage to wrest command of the evening. Alastair Cook, Joe Root and Eoin Morgan all contributed useful scores to take England close, but it was left to Ravi Bopara to try to take his team to a second win in a row. He seemed likely to carry them there, until falling victim to a most unfortunate end, as Matthew Wade's fumble behind the stumps bounced back onto the leg bail with the batsman's foot barely raised. The Australians celebrated their win raucously and fittingly - it was one more moment of joy in a summer brimful of them, while England rued the swings of outrageous fortune that inevitably seem to go against the side to fall behind. The hosts owed much to Nathan Coulter-Nile, who delivered perhaps his best and most disciplined spell for Australia, before Clint McKay gave nothing away in the closing overs. James Faulkner also bowled well despite complaining of knee soreness earlier in the day, while Shaun Marsh may be under his own fitness cloud having left the field midway through England's chase.
AUSTRALIA FRET OVER BIRD BACK INJURY
Aaron Finch was the beneficiary of two dropped chances in the afternoon but was beaten for pace by a revved up Stuart Broad, before Shane Watson, Michael Clarke and Shaun Marsh all perished to loose strokes as they tried to raise the hosts' run rate. The remainder of the innings was a struggle despite the best efforts of George Bailey, the only batsman to pass 50 in the face of a diligent England bowling line-up. Broad's pace and direction showed the way for his colleagues, while Ben Stokes, Tim Bresnan, Chris Jordan and James Tredwell also delivered sturdy spells. Ian Bell and Cook began smartly, until the difficulties posed for shot-making on a decidedly slow surface began to rear. Bell tried to drive on the up and was taken at mid-off. Stokes' attempted pull shot was not middled and settled in the hands of midwicket. Then after a partnership with Root that hinted at success, Cook himself mistimed to short cover. Root showed admirable composure on his return to the team, unhurried and unflustered while building another stand with Morgan. At 3 for 154 they were close to breaking the back of the chase, only for Morgan to follow his predecessors in perishing to a lofted stroke, this time finding Shane Watson at mid-off from the bowling of James Faulkner. Three runs later and Root was trudging off too, his attempted paddle only succeeding in picking out short fine leg. A previously restive Australia Day crowd found its voice as the Australian huddle grew more enthusiastic. Jos Buttler enhanced their anticipation when he picked out deep midwicket with a pull shot, and Bresnan's one mowed six over wide long-on was cancelled out when he was thrown out by Glenn Maxwell, running in from cover.
Jackson Bird will enter the South Africa tour under something of a fitness cloud after he was pulled out of a warm-up appearance due to a back complaint, with James Pattinson now taking up his spot in the Western Australia second XI team for the first two days of the fixture against the Queensland Academy in Brisbane. In an alarming development for Australia's tour plans, Bird jarred his back while fielding in his most recent Big Bash League appearance for the Melbourne Stars against Hobart Hurricanes on Tuesday, and has been undergoing treatment since. It has now been decided that Bird should not bowl in the Futures League match on Monday, opening the way for Pattinson to play on the first two days after he was not selected for the fifth and final ODI against England at Adelaide Oval on Australia Day. "Jackson Bird jarred his back whilst diving in the field for the Melbourne Stars on Tuesday night which has resulted in some back soreness," the Australian team physio Alex Kountouris said. "As such, he has been withdrawn from the second XI fixture whilst he receives treatment ahead of his departure for South Africa." Bird has spent most of this summer recovering from a back injury he sustained in the fourth Ashes Test in Durham during the England tour, his only appearance in the back-to-back series. His action was remodeled under the guidance of the Test bowling coach Craig McDermott, before he put in a string of encouraging displays in the BBL.
aUSTraLIa aJ Finch b broad 7 Se Marsh c cook b Stokes 36 0 Sr Watson c †buttler b broad MJ clarke* b bresnan 8 GJ bailey c broad b Stokes 56 GJ Maxwell c †buttler b Stokes 22 MS Wade† b broad 31 JP Faulkner c Morgan b Jordan 27 NM coulter-Nile lbw b Jordan 15 cJ McKay not out 1 XJ doherty not out 1 eXTraS (lb 9, w 4) 13 ToTaL (9 wickets; 50 overs) 217 FaLL oF WIcKeTS 1-14 (Finch, 4.4 ov), 2-22 (Watson, 6.2 ov), 3-43 (clarke, 13.6 ov), 4-64 (Marsh, 19.4 ov), 5-112 (Maxwell, 29.2 ov), 6-167 (bailey, 40.5 ov), 7-176 (Wade, 42.5 ov), 8-215 (Faulkner, 49.3 ov), 9-215 (coulter-Nile, 49.4 ov) boWLING: ScJ broad 10-2-31-3, cJ Jordan 10-0-37-2, TT bresnan 10-0-51-1, Jc Tredwell 7-0-28-0, ba Stokes 10-043-3, rS bopara 3-0-18-0 eNGLaNd INNINGS aN cook* c bailey b coulter-Nile 39 14 Ir bell c Finch b coulter-Nile 0 ba Stokes c Marsh b McKay
Je root c doherty b Faulkner 55 eJG Morgan c Watson b Faulkner 39 rS bopara st †Wade b McKay 25 5 Jc buttler† c McKay b coulter-Nile TT bresnan run out (Maxwell) 13 ScJ broad b McKay 7 cJ Jordan not out 4 Jc Tredwell c †Wade b Watson 0 eXTraS (b 1, lb 4, w 6) 11 ToTaL (all out; 49.4 overs) 212 FaLL oF WIcKeTS 1-23 (bell, 5.6 ov), 2-29 (Stokes, 8.3 ov), 3-90 (cook, 23.5 ov), 4-154 (Morgan, 35.4 ov), 5-157 (root, 37.5 ov), 6-174 (buttler, 42.3 ov), 7-194 (bresnan, 45.5 ov), 8-204 (broad, 46.6 ov), 9-209 (bopara, 48.4 ov), 10-212 (Tredwell, 49.4 ov) boWLING: cJ McKay 10-1-36-3, NM coulter-Nile 10-1-34-3, JP Faulkner 10-0-37-2, XJ doherty 10-1-40-0, Sr Watson 6.4-035-1, GJ Maxwell 3-0-25-0 MaTch deTaILS Toss australia, who chose to bat Series australia won the 5-match series 4-1 Player of the match JP Faulkner (australia) Player of the series aJ Finch (australia) Umpires Sd Fry and reJ Martinesz (Sri Lanka) TV umpire hdPK dharmasena (Sri Lanka) Match referee aJ Pycroft (Zimbabwe)
Mirpur Bangladesh captain Mushfiqur Rahim has plenty to ponder, particularly after he became the first international cricketer to talk openly about the 'position paper' on Saturday. His focus has shifted to the Test match at hand, and although he sounds tired, the best thought in his mind right now might be to recall how he took on the Sri Lanka attack in Galle last March. He scored the country's first Test double-hundred, helping the side to its first drawn game against Sri Lanka. He hasn't scored a Test century since that innings, but has played vital knocks in the Test win against Zimbabwe, and in home ODIs against New Zealand. During this time, his leadership qualities have seen some success, as Bangladesh continued to have one better year after another since he took over. There have been bad times too, like when he prematurely resigned after losing
COOK TO MISS WEST INDIES SERIES SpOrTS DeSk
Confident of taking 20 wickets: Mushfiqur aGeNcIeS
SpOrTS DeSk
Scoreboard
in Zimbabwe, but throughout all this, he has kept his own batting form intact. "I want to bat consistently," Mushfiqur said. "This is the first Test of the year so I hope that whenever I get set, I should get a big score. I want to make as much
contribution for the team as possible. "We are playing to win, so if our performers raise their hand, anything is possible in this Test match. We want to continue playing consistent cricket as we have played at home recently. If we do so over the next five days, even a loss wouldn't feel bad. We played very well in Sri Lanka last year. We lost the Test series because we couldn't play to our potential in the second Test." His comfort at the helm means that now he has come to a position from where he believes that results will only come with an extra push. Mushfiqur believes that if the pace bowlers can put in their contribution, it will be easier for the batsmen and spinners. "Our batting is getting consistent, and for them too, batting strength is much heavier than their bowling," Mushfiqur said. "The challenge will be for our pace bowlers, who are yet to play to their full potential. I hope they keep on improving as they have in the last 12 months.
Alastair Cook's next international match will not be until the English season after he confirmed he would sit out the short one-day series in West Indies. The move was always on the cards after the demands on Cook during the Ashes tour and also because the West Indies trip comes just before the World Twenty20, in which Cook will not play. Stuart Broad, the T20 captain, is expected to step up and make use of an extended opportunity to work with England's limited-overs coach, Ashley Giles. Asked on Sky Sports if he would be on the West Indies tour, Cook said: "No I won't be. The Twenty20 guys have got their World Cup in Bangladesh and I think we see it as a great six weeks for them to start building the team. "They're never together very often and it gives them, and Broady and 'Gilo' time, to really have six weeks together to build for Bangladesh." Although there are three ODIs in the Caribbean before the three T20s, which Cook could have captained to further expand his skills ahead of the World Cup next year, it has been viewed as the chance to give him a longer break and allow the Twenty20 players some extra match practice even if it is a longer format. The one-day leg of the tour is now likely to be captained by Broad, who leads the T20 side, although Eoin Morgan would be another option and has been touted as the man to captain the 50-over side in the long term. However, after voicing doubts over his captaincy future after the defeat in Sydney last week, Cook was more buoyant about his role in Perth and said he was "desperate" to carry on as both the ODI and Test captain despite the debilitating tour of Australia. Pending any further changes of heart that means his first match back in England colours could be the ODI against Scotland on May 9 or the start of the one-day series against Sri Lanka on May 20. England's schedule has been switched for the 2014 season with the Tests not starting until June 12 at Lord's.
BANGLADESH'S NEW PERFORMERS IN FOCUS AGAINST SRI LANKA Dhaka aGeNcIeS
The last time Bangladesh and Sri Lanka met in a Test was in March 2013, at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo with long grass on the outfield. Tamim Iqbal went off in a huff after failing to get the ball to the boundary more times than he would have liked; match referee David Boon strolled out to talk to the curator, telling him to keep it consistent throughout the game. Sri Lanka managed to win the Test, and the series, but the game wasn't without its share of fun. Bangladesh-Sri Lanka contests have not been fun, except for those cricket fans who like heavy thrashings and batting records. That has been the real story of these two teams since 2001. Over the last three years, the big defeats have lessened but the batting records have continued. In the first Test of the 2013 series, however, some of the batting records went Bangladesh's way. Mushfiqur Rahim scored
the country's first Test double-hundred, while Mohammad Ashraful made 190, his highest Test score. Ashraful had actually been a central figure as Sri Lanka used to be his favourite opponent, the only team against whom he has scored more than 1,000 runs. But now he is no longer a part of the Bangladesh set-up, having been embroiled in the BPL corruption controversy. The focus has shifted to the likes of Mushfiqur, Shakib Al Hasan, Tamim Iqbal, and over the last twelve months to Nasir Hossain, Mominul Haque, Sohag Gazi and Robiul Islam. Bangladesh have a string of performers, all of whom have done something significant in the last 18 months. Sri Lanka will rely on the stalwarts Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene, but Angelo Mathews and Dinesh Chandimal are the newest Sri Lankan leadership pair that Bangladesh will need to watch. The form of the openers Kaushal Silva and Dimuth Karunaratne is impressive, as well as the threat that is posed by Shaminda Eranga, Suranga Lakmal and
CMYK
Rangana Herath. If Bangladesh play to form and keep the questions about their Test status away for enough time, they will give Sri Lanka a run for their money, perhaps for the first time. baNGLadeSh (ProbabLe): 1 Tamim Iqbal, 2 Shamsur
rahman/Imrul Kayes, 3 Marshall ayub, 4 Mominul haque, 5 Mushfiqur rahim (capt & wk), 6 Shakib al hasan, 7 Nasir hossain, 8 Sohag Gazi, 9 rubel hossain, 10 robiul Islam, 11 abdur razzak. SrI LaNKa (ProbabLe): 1 Kaushal Silva, 2 dimuth Karunaratne, 3 Kumar Sangakkara, 4 Mahela Jayawardene, 5 dinesh chandimal, 6 angelo Mathews (capt), 7 Prasanna Jayawardene (wk), 8 dilruwan Perera/Nuwan Pradeep, 9 Shaminda eranga, 10 rangana herath, 11 Suranga Lakmal.