Sport www.guardianonline.co.nz
Saturday, January 16, 2016
Ashburton Guardian 17
In brief Lynn stakes T20 claim Chris Lynn smashed five sixes in a row at the MCG on Thursday night in a half-century for Brisbane Heat that put an exclamation point behind a stunning Big Bash League campaign that must surely secure him a spot in Australia’s Twenty20 World Cup squad. Lynn cleared the ropes with the last five balls of Ben Hilfenhaus’ first over as he got the Heat off to a flying start that set up their 56-run upset win over the Melbourne Stars. The Heat bowed out of BBL05 despite the win but Lynn departs as the competition’s leading run scorer, with a century and three fifties, to go with a league-leading 27 sixes. - AAP
Match-fixing charge
Mid Canterbury players aged between 17 and 19-years-old took on a Trinidad and Tobago under-17 Invitational side at the Ashburton Oval yesterday. PHOTO JOSEPH JOHNSON 150116-JJ-012
■ CRICKET
Windies team on the oval By James Ford
James.F@TheGuardian.co.nz
A Mid Canterbury mixed agegroup team played host to a Trinidad and Tobago under-17 Invitational side at the Ashburton Oval yesterday. The tourists arrived in New Zealand on January 4, play-
ing twice in Auckland and two matches in Wellington before travelling to the South Island. Trinidad and Tobago under-17 coach Andre Lawrence said his young players have been making the most of the tour of New Zealand, and have adapted well to their new surroundings.
“It’s been an absolutely incredible tour for the boys. “The conditions here are totally different than we’re accustomed to, which is great for them and their development,” he said. “The pitches do a lot more, it swings a lot more, and the disci-
pline of the teams we’ve played against has been excellent.” Lawrence’s side will next be in action in Queenstown, followed by their last match of the tour in Auckland before heading home on January 24. Yesterday’s match was called off when the rain arrived.
Plans for pink ball matches put on hold Plans for a round of Plunket Shield matches with pink balls under lights next month have been scrapped. And that in turn is likely to put back the prospect of a day-night test until the 2017-18 season. New Zealand Cricket had proposed using a round of first-class matches starting on February 20 at Eden Park, Napier’s McLean Park and Seddon Park in Hamilton to test the merits of using a pink ball in New Zealand conditions. Those three venues, plus Wellington’s Westpac Stadium, are the only possible locations as they have lights. However, problems with
McLean Park’s lighting strength has meant the idea is on the shelf, but with the intention of looking again at the proposal in the next domestic first-class season. While Seddon Park was fine and it was expected Eden Park would also work, once a handful of points had been worked through, the strength of the lighting at McLean Park presented an issue. There had been the idea of New Zealand’s first day-night test at home being staged at one of those venues next season, most likely against South Africa at Eden Park. However, without a full trial run, it is unlikely to go ahead.
NZC general manager of cricket Lindsay Crocker pointed out the distinction between playing white ball limited-overs cricket under lights and using a pink ball. ‘’The white ball only has to last 25 overs (using one ball at each end in a 50-over match) whereas a pink ball has to last 80 overs,” Crocker said. He added that there was a strong collective willingness for the pink ball experiment, but having canvassed a range of options, it was felt more work was needed to get the plan over the line. NZC looked at switching the McLean Park game between Central Districts and Wellington,
to neutral Seddon Park on a different date, or Westpac Stadium, but scheduling problems eventually scuppered those ideas. Staging it as a day game would also mean an uneven playing field for the premier domestic competition. NZC are due to have talks with Cricket South Africa shortly and it may be CSA are willing to press on, even without the pink ball having been trialled. More likely, however, the target will be a test against England, who are the major incoming tour in the 2017-18 summer. There have been no talks with England about the idea, but that will happen this year. - NZME
Thunder caught in Uzzie BBL dilemma By steve Zemek The Sydney Thunder have urged a re-think of country and club relations with in-form star Usman Khawaja not being made available for tonight’s must-win Big Bash League derby with the Sixers.
The Thunder are refusing to make excuses but have been hit hard by the loss of Khawaja and South African legend Jacques Kallis ahead of the clash which will decide whether they qualify for a maiden finals appearance. Khawaja was called into the
Australian ODI squad for the second and third one-dayers against India and captain Mike Hussey implored Cricket Australia to release the opener if he was not needed. The left-hander is in superlative form this summer, clubbing four centuries and two 50s in
his past seven innings in all forms, including 109 not out and 69 in his two appearances for the Thunder. Thunder management are reportedly frustrated their best batsman will not be available for the clash despite being unlikely to get a run for Australia. - AAP
Former South Africa international Gulam Bodi has been charged with attempting to fix matches in the country’s domestic Twenty20 competition. Bodi, who played two one-day internationals and one Twenty20 match for the Proteas in 2007, has been charged with “contriving to fix, or otherwise improperly influence aspects of the 2015 competition”, they said. - Reuters
Security in spotlight A security guard is a reluctant centre of attention following a bizarre incident during Thursday’s Big Bash game between the Heat and the Stars. Kevin Pietersen swept the third ball of the innings’ third over to deep square leg. He avoided any fielders, but almost hit an over-enthusiastic security guard. The man in yellow ran out onto the MCG to collect a stray inflatable beach ball - an unbelievable decision. Channel 10 commentators couldn’t believe their eyes. “What’s he doing out there? It’s like those lunatics that run onto the grand prix track,” said Mark Howard. - AAP
Support for spinners Sympathy for India’s maligned spinners has come from an unlikely ally. Australian all-rounder James Faulkner has defended under-fire duo Ravi Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja after the pair copped a hammering in India’s opening ODI loss in Perth on Tuesday - on and off the field. Captain MS Dhoni pointed the finger at their “very bad day” after the pair conceded a total of 129 runs in 18 overs as Australia chased down a 310-run target with four balls to spare. But Faulkner said India’s spinners faced a “hard gig” Down Under. “The first two games in Perth and Brisbane, where it traditionally doesn’t spin as much in one-day cricket, it’s hard for any spinner whether it is India or Australia,” he said. - AAP
England take charge England was on top early in the third test, sending South Africa struggling to 267-7 at stumps on the first day at the Wanderers. In a match where England can claim the series with a win, its bowlers made deep inroads into the South African lineup after the home team chose to bat first. Ben Stokes and Steven Finn collected two wickets each, and substitute fielder Chris Woakes set up the run out of Temba Bavuma, South Africa’s last specialist batsman. The dismissals of Hashim Amla for 40 and AB de Villiers for 36 were the crucial wickets. - AP