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GUYANA CHRONICLE Monday, December 25, 2017
Aussies looking to demoralise England (Reuters) - AUSTRALIA will look to extend their Christmas cheer into the dead rubber Boxing Day test by subjecting a demoralised England to a fourth consecutive loss in the Ashes at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Anchored by the brilliant batting of captain Steve Smith, the hosts have barely put a foot wrong in the fivematch series and will head to the MCG confident of pushing England towards a second successive whitewash on home soil. However, they will have to do it without their pace spearhead Mitchell Starc, who is nursing a heel injury and has been replaced by Jackson Bird. While Starc’s absence is a big relief for the tourists, Tasmania paceman Bird has been in impressive form in the domestic Sheffield Shield. Right-armer Bird also has ample MCG experience, having made his test debut against Sri Lanka at the Melbourne colosseum and also bowled in last year’s Boxing Day test against Pakistan. More of a line and length bowler, Bird’s inclusion robs
Steven Smith studies the pitch at the MCG © Getty Images
Australia of the express pace, swing and left-arm variation of Starc, however. “They’ve had three bowlers who can all bowl 90 miles an hour (144 kph),” England paceman James Anderson told the BBC of Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins. “But you look beyond that, they’ve got problems.” England have a few of their own issues to deal with, not least the worrying form of their senior players. With opening batsman Alastair Cook and paceman Stuart Broad both enduring a poor series, pundits have called on selectors to be ruthless and start the regeneration of Joe Root’s team now rather than later. The calls are almost certain to be ignored given the players’ long service and lofty standing, but the pair will hope to prove they still belong at the highest level in the final tests in Melbourne and Sydney. England’s pace stocks have been gutted by injuries and they are another man down with Craig Overton ruled out of the Melbourne match with a broken rib. The tourists’ lack of
pace has been exposed on Australia’s flat wickets, so selectors might opt to recall Durham fast man Mark Wood rather than pick the slower Jake Ball. Queries over Moeen Ali also linger, the all-rounder struggling with the bat and his off-spin doing little to support England’s fast bowlers. Uncapped Mason Crane, a legspinner with an average of 43.98, is in reserve in the squad but battling Australia’s pressure-free batsmen in front of a huge Boxing Day crowd could prove a harrowing debut for the 20-year-old. England’s last trip to Melbourne was a miserable one, as Michael Clarke’s Australia thrashed Cook’s tourists by eight wickets to take a 4-0 lead in the series. Dead rubber aside, the Boxing Day test is one of the great carnivals of Australian sport but a heavy security blanket at the MCG will add a sombre tone. A driver with a history of mental illness but with no known extremist links injured 19 people in the nearby CBD on Friday when he ploughed through Christmas shoppers.
India sweep T20 series against Sri Lanka
India completed their home season with another clean sweep
(Reuters) - INDIA completed a 3-0 series sweep against Sri Lanka on Sunday following their five-wicket victory in the final Twenty20 International at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. Chasing a modest 136 to win, the hosts lost opener
Lokesh Rahul early, but standin skipper Rohit Sharma made 27, Shreyas Iyer chipped in with 30, and Manish Pandey top scored with 32 to set India on course for victory. Sri Lanka’s bowlers did manage to inject some excitement towards the end,
leaving India needing 15 runs from the last 12 balls. Dinesh Karthik, who remained not out on 18, then hit Nuwan Pradeep’s final delivery in the penultimate over for a six to tilt the balance in the hosts’ favour. Mahendra Singh Dhoni,
who made 16 not out, sealed India’s victory with four balls to spare when he sent Thisara Perera’s miscued yorker to the leg-side fence. Earlier, India’s bowlers laid the foundation for their win by restricting Sri Lanka to a modest 135-7 after Sharma
won the toss and opted to field. Jaydev Unadkat was the pick of the Indian bowlers claiming 2-15, while Hardik Pandya also claimed two wickets. Asela Gunaratne made 36 and Dasun Shanaka scored 29 not out down the order
but Sri Lanka could not put enough runs on the board to give their bowlers a fighting chance against their hosts. India, who beat Sri Lanka 1-0 in the three-test series, prevailed 2-1 in the one-dayers before stretching their domination in 20-overs.