Starc set to miss World T20 after ankle surgery HOBART (Australia)—Australia pace spearhead Mitchell Starc will have ankle surgery and is “unlikely” to play in the World Twenty20 tournament in India n e x t year, Cricket Australia said o n Thursd a y . Starc, w h o has had trouble with his right ankle stemming back to the Ashes series in England this year, suffered a stress fracture of the same foot in the daynight third Test against New Zealand in Adelaide late last month. It has now been decided he needs ankle surgery meaning Starc will miss the remainder of the Australian season. “After discussions with specialists, and in consultation with Mitchell, we believe the best course of action would be for Mitchell to have the surgery for his ankle impingement now while he is currently laid off with the stress fracture in his foot,” CA physiotherapist David Beakley said in a statement.—AFP
Platini appeal decision to be announced today: CAS LAUSANNE—The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) will announce a decision on whether Michel Platini’s suspens i o n from football should b e lifted on Friday at about 0900 GMT, the tribunal said. The FIFA vice president appeared before CAS judges on Wednesday with his lawyers to plead the case for him to be allowed to return so that he can take part in FIFA’s election campaign for a new president. Platini has been named in a Swiss criminal investigation into FIFA leader Sepp Blatter. Platini received a two million Swiss franc ($2 million) payment from FIFA which is under investigation. The two acknowledge there was no contract for the fee, but insist that their “oral contract” is valid under Swiss law and deny any wrongdoing. Platini’s lawyers say FIFA’s ethics watchdog wants him banned for life. — AFP
Guptill breaks ton drought as NZ take charge against Sri Lanka DUNEDIN—Martin Guptill smashed 156 to bring up his 100 when he drove Suranga and a single in successive deliveries from on Thursday as he bounced back from a horror series in Australia to put New Zealand in the driving seat on day one of the first Test against Sri Lanka. On a Dunedin pitch said to be ripe for seam bowlers, Sri Lanka were left to rue putting New Zealand in to bat as the Black Caps amassed 409 for eight by stumps. Opener Guptill fell just before the close, after hitting just his third Test century and his first in four years, coming 33 runs short of his highest score of 189 against Bangladesh in 2010. Meanwhile the ever-reliable Kane Williamson made 88 and Brendon McCullum 75 as New Zealand exposed the raw Sri Lankan attack. New Zealand were cruising 229 for two at tea before Sri Lanka fought back in the final session when they took six wickets, albeit for an expensive 180 runs. There were only seven maiden overs bowled and New Zealand cracked 57 fours, of which Guptill contributed 21. The opener’s position in the side was precarious after he averaged just 13 in the recent tour of Australia, and said he “didn’t have a lot to lose” as he took to the Sri Lankan attack. His third Test century came 41 innings and four years after he last posted three figures against Zimbabwe. Inconsistent form saw him out of the Test side for two years before the shortform of the game resurrected his career when he played a starring role at this year’s World Cup. Guptill got off the mark with an offdrive to the boundary and in an elegant innings, he used the same front-foot stroke
Dushmantha Chameera. McCullum reached 75 in 57 balls and belted 13 fours and a six before Mathews turned to Milinda Siriwardana, his seventh bowler for the day. With his third delivery in his third Test, Siriwardana bowled full on the leg side and McCullum sent a top edge to Kithuruwan Vithanage at deep square leg. For Sri Lanka, Suranga Lakmal took two for 69 while Nuwan Pradeep and 23year-old Chameera both finished with two for 101.—AFP
New Zealand 1st innings: Guptill c Chandimal b Mathews .. 156 Latham c & b Lakmal .................... 22 Williamson b Pradeep .................... 88 Taylor lbw Pradeep .......................... 8 McCullum c Vithanage b Siriwardana75 Santner c Chandimal b Chameera .. 12 Watling c Vithanage b Chameera ..... 5 Bracewell not out ........................... 32 Southee c Siriwardana b Lakmal ..... 2 N. Wagner not out ............................ 0 Extras: (b4, lb3, w1, nb1) ................ 9 Total: (for 8 wickets, 90 overs) .... 409 Fall of wicket: 1-56, 2-229, 3-245, 4334, 5-359, 6-365, 7-394, 8-399 Bowling: ........................... O-M-R-W Lakmal ............................... 16-1-69-2 Pradeep ............................ 20-2-101-2 Mathews .............................. 9-2-28-1 Chameera ......................... 17-1-101-2 Herath ................................ 19-1-46-0 Jayasundera .......................... 5-0-33-0 Siriwardana .......................... 4-0-24-1
Martin Guptill and Kane Williamson of New Zealand touch gloves during their 173-run partnership against Sri Lanka in 1st Test at Dunedin on Thursday.
Thailand Golf Championship
Flawless Donaldson With 308 cricketers on board, PSL to kick off drafting on Dec 21 opens up three-shot lead LAHORE—The draft event for the inaugural edition of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) is set to take place on Dec 21 and 22, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) announced on Thursday. With 308 top local and foreign cricketers on the draft list, the five franchise
Lizarazu to conduct Euro 2016 draw PARIS—France’s World Cupwinning left-back Bixente Lizarazu and former Dutch star Ruud Gullit will conduct Saturday’s draw in Paris for next y e a r ’s Euro 2016 finals to be held i n France. Lizarazu, a member of France’s 1998 world champions as well as the side that won Euro 2000, will be joined by Gullit, who captained the Netherlands to European glory in 1988, as the six groups for the 24-team tournament are decided. The duo will be assisted by a handful of other former stars including Lizarazu’s international team-mate David Trezeguet, whose golden goal saw France beat Italy 2-1 in the 2000 final, and Antonin Panenka. Panenka wrote his name into the history books with his winning penalty for Czechoslovakia in the shootout of the 1976 final against West Germany.—AFP
Lakmal to the boundary. “I was trying to go out and be as positive as I could be,” Guptill said, as he repaid the faith shown in him by the New Zealand selectors. “I didn’t have a lot to lose so I just tried to go out and be as positive as I could and have some fun.” “They [selectors] have been good to me and given me a good run in the Test side and I thank them very much for that and today capped off a lot of hard work over the last 18 months,” Guptill added. Guptill had a few chances — two shaky edges and a near run-out early in the innings, and two lbw shouts on 78. Had Sri Lanka appealed the second one, replays showed the not out decision may have been overturned. But with luck going his way, Guptill shared a 173-run partnership with Williamson, a New Zealand record for the second wicket against Sri Lanka, then added 89 with McCullum. He was eventually undone six overs from stumps when captain Angelo Mathews swung the ball away and the batsman feathered a catch to wicketkeeper Dinesh Chandimal. Williamson fell on the last ball before tea, lashing out at a rough delivery from Nuwan Pradeep to be caught in the slips by Dimuth Karunaratne reaching high above his head. He left the ground requiring only eight more runs to become the fifth player to reach 1,000 runs this calendar year. McCullum, who like Guptill failed to fire in Australia, also found the Sri Lankan attack more to his liking. He was at his belligerent best as he raced from 35 to 50 with a six, two fours
owners will select players for their respective teams. The PSL has already finalised the sale of commercial rights for franchises, broad-
cast, and title sponsorship. In a press statement issued today, the PCB said: “By opting for a draft system in place of a player auction, PSL will ensure a level-playing field as each team will have to choose a certain number of players from each category.
The PSL player list includes 137 Pakistani and 171 foreign players. The short-listed players have been divided into five categories: Platinum Diamond Gold Silver Emerging Cricket stars such as Shane Watson, Wahab Riaz, Kevin Pietersen, Shahid Afridi, Chris Gayle, James Anderson, Shoaib Malik, Darren Sammy, Grant Elliott, Lasith Malinga, Andre Russell, TM Dilshan, Marlon Samuels, Angelo Mathews and Shakib al Hasan have made themselves available for the draft. Each team will be required to pick three players per category from each of the top three categories (Platinum, Diamond and Gold). While drafting of two emerging players will be mandatory, a team will also be able to pick up to five players from the ‘Silver’ category in order to complete the squad. Each team will have a minimum of four foreign players in the playing 11. However, leading cricketers who have signed up for other international or national commitments can feature for a portion of the league. Yesterday, the PSL invited top cricket professionals to sign up as coaches with the five franchises of the league. “Only highly qualified coaches and exTest cricketers will be entertained under this initiative. “Any interested applicant who is involved in any sort of conflict with the PCB and its functionaries or with the International Cricket Council is not eligible to become a part of the coach roster,” a PCB statement had said. The inaugural edition of the PSL is scheduled to take place from Feb 4-23, 2016 in Dubai and Sharjah.—APP
Germany, and the exciting young English prospect Matthew Fitzpatrick were among a group of five players on 68. “I couldn’t do anything wrong today,” said Donaldson, who opened up with four straight birdies and sunk another five on the back nine. “I never missed any fairways.” However, he said he would not get carried away. “I’ll take it day by day and see what happens,” he said. “I just need to continue this form.” He was particularly pleased as it was his first competitive round on the Amata Spring course. “It’s a great course and the weather was great too,” he said. Garcia surged up the leaderboard with a spectacular back nine. After reaching the turn one-under, he went on to sink six birdies on the back nine, with just one bogey. “That was a wonderful back nine,” said Garcia, fresh from winning the Ho Tran Open in Vietnam last week. “Actually, I played okay on the front nine but the putts just didn’t go in,” he said. “I’m feeling good and playing steady shots. I’m in a good position going in to the next day.” It was a good showing by the young Thai players. Chanat Sakulpolphaisan, 25, a native of Chonburi where the course is located, hit seven birdies and just the one bogey. He said he Jamie Donaldson plays his approach shot to the 15th hole of was surprised at his score as he the Thailand Golf Championship at the Amata Spring Coun- had to qualify to play in the try Club on Thursday. event.—AFP
Don’t participate in T20 WC: Miandad
I SLAMABAD —Legendary batsman Javed Miandad believes that Pakistan should not par“As a result of this, each team will ticipate in the Twenty-20 World Cup to be held spend an equal amount on drafting playin India next year in protest against the Indian ers. Top players will, therefore, play for government which did not give a ‘go ahead’ to all five teams.” the much-awaited Indo-Pak series. It is added here that the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Shaharyar Khan has said that the series will be called off if the Indian government does not give its approval in the next couple of days. PCB would wait for a day or two before shelving plans for the series which is planned to be held this month in Sri Lanka. Talking to APP, Miandad said the national team should not participate in the T20 WC as to our batting, particularly in the lower or- Parnell, Keshav Maharaj, Chris Morris, the security situation is not better in India for der and the change in AB’s role means that Pakistanis and in order to protest against them we can now have a specialist batsman at number seven,” he said. “We now feel that the side has a much better balance about it without in any way reducing the tactical options available to our captain, Hashim Amla.” Uncapped Rilee Rossouw was named as an extra batsman, but a statement from Cricket South Africa indicated he was unB IPIN D ANI likely to play, with Dean Elgar and Stiaan van Zyl expected to open the batting. O BSERVER CORRESPONDENT Temba Bavuma, who impressed as an MUMBAI—The recent report and the confiopener in the final Test in Delhi last week, dential letter which was written by the then will bat in the middle order. Security Consultant Lawrence Fernando to the Test squad: Hashim Amla (captain), AB Indian team manager during Asia Cup in 2010, de Villiers (vice-captain, wkt), Kyle Abbott, was discussed in Sri Lanka parliament late last Temba Bavuma, JP Duminy, Faf du Plessis, week, according to the Hon. sports minister Dean Elgar, Morne Morkel, Dane Piedt, Dayasiri Jayasekara. Kagiso Rabada, Rilee Rossouw, Dale The Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) board letSteyn, Stiaan van Zyl . ter, which was exclusively obtained by South Africa A: Dane Vilas (captain, Daily Mirror, claimed that not only had one wkt), Stephen Cook, Reeza Hendricks, player entertained a female guest for an Rilee Rossouw, Quinton de Kock, entire night in his room, but another player Omphile Ramela, Khaya Zondo, Wayne Marchant de Lange.—AFP
De Villiers to keep wicket against England JOHANNESBURG—AB de Villiers will keep wicket in South Africa’s first two Tests against England. He was named on Thursday as the only wicketkeeper in a 13-man squad for the matches starting in Durban on December 26 and Cape Town on January 2. Fast bowler Dale Steyn was named in the squad after missing the final three Tests against India recently because of a groin injury. Fellow fast bowler Vernon Philander is not in the squad after suffering an ankle injury in India. Off-spinner Dane Piedt was the only slow bowler named in the squad, with legspinner Imran Tahir and off-spinner Simon Harmer dropped after India beat the world champions 3-0 in India. Also dropped was wicketkeeper Dane Vilas, who will captain South Africa A in a three-day match against England in Pietermaritzburg from December 20. Selection convener Linda Zondi said the selection of De Villiers as wicketkeeper would strengthen the batting. “One of the issues that concerned us during the tour to India was the lack of depth
CHONBURI (Thailand)—Ryder Cup star Jamie Donaldson from Wales fired a stunning nine-under par 63 to take a three-stroke lead in the opening round of the Thailand Golf Championship at the Amata Spring Country Club on Thursday. Donaldson, who secured the winning point for Europe at the 2014 Ryder Cup, enjoyed a faultless round playing exquisite golf in perfect conditions with little wind. His nearest challengers on 66 were Spain’s Sergio Garcia and two Thais, Chanat Sakulpolphaisan and Chinnarat Phadungsil. A shot further behind was another Thai, Natipong Srithong, and American Brett Munson. Another Ryder Cup star, Martin Kaymer of
for not playing a series with Pakistan. “The Indian Government is lingering on to the issue which is not the way to treat things,” he said. He said if they don’t want to play against Pakistan then why we should go to participate in the World Cup in their country. “We should give them a tit for tat reply,” he said. He said the whole world knows how are players and others were treated in India last month. “The Hindu fanatic organization Shiv Sena’s agitation against Pakistani players, artists and officials such as against PCB Chairman himself is known to everybody,” he said adding therefore boycotting the T20 WC would be a wise decision.—APP
Dambulla incident discussed in Sri Lankan parliament had also entertained a male guest in his room for a night while staying at a hotel in Dambulla. “The report came for discussions in the parliament and it is (now) for the Indian cricket board to investigate. Our government will fully co-operate, if the request is made to us”, the minister, speaking exclusively over telephone from Colombo, said. It could not be confirmed whether Ranjib Biswal, the manager of the Indian team on that tour made a mention of the incident in his tour report. But it can be confirmed that no proper co-operation was extended to the Mudgal panel which was investigating the case.