THE GUARDIAN, Wednesday, March 20, 2013
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CricketWeekly ICC WCL Division Seven Play-Off
Excited Sharma dreams Nigeria’s passage to Division Six By Christian Okpara ICKY Sharma is a happy man right now. The Lagos Asians Cricket Club strongman is about to realise his ambition of playing for the Nigerian national team and he cannot hide his excitement about that. Sharma was among the 14 players selected to represent Nigeria at the World Cricket League (WCL) Division Seven Play-off scheduled for Botswana from April 6 to 13. Sharma, who is currently training with the national team at the Tafawa Balewa Square Cricket Oval, is among the growing band of players of Asian descent that have chosen to represent Nigeria in international cricket. He says his involvement is not just to earn international cap, but also to help the country qualify for the Division Six of the 50-overs, one-day international competition. Speaking with The Guardian yesterday before the national team took on an NCF selected side in a friendly game at the Tafawa Balewa Square oval, Sharma promised to show that his invitation to the team is something that he has earned after so much hard work. “I have been looking forward to the day I will wear Nigeria’s colours and this call to the national team is a realization of my dream. But it will not end there because I intend to work hard and fight to ensure that we picked the ticket to Division
R
Rangana Herath struck in his first over on his 35th birthday in the Sri Lanka versus Bangladesh second Test…yesterday.
Sri Lanka Versus Bangladesh, Second Test, Colombo
Birthday boy Herath stars in Sri Lankan win Muttiah Muralitharan’s ShadINCE retirement in 2010, Sri Lanka won only four tests. Rangana Herath’s figures in those are: Nine for 128, 12 for 171, 5 for 121 and 11 for 108. It completed its fifth victory yesterday at the R Premadasa Stadium, and Herath was instrumental yet again - marking his 35th birthday with figures of 12 for 157 to strangle Bangladesh and set up a 1-0 series win. There was the added joy of completing 200 Test scalps for Herath. In the last two years alone, he has taken more Test wickets than any Sri Lankan has in their career, barring Murali and Chaminda Vaas. His heroics have smoothed Sri Lanka’s transitional phase. Regulars like Thilan Samaraweera and Prasanna Jayawardene have been discarded, and the Sri Lankan captaincy spot has been a bit of a merry-go-round in the past few years. Anything less than a victory in this series would have heaped the pressure on the new leader, Angelo Mathews, who hasn’t had the best of times in the two tests. The experienced Herath began the trek towards victory with his bagful of wickets, after which two other senior statesmen, Tillakaratne Dilshan and Kumar Sangakkara, quickened the march with brisk half-centuries that left Sri Lanka on the brink of another series win over Bangladesh. Herath had undone 80 overs of good work from Bangladesh yesterday with a double-strike late in the final session. In his first three overs yesterday, Bangladesh’s chances nearly evaporated. The sixth ball of the day spun and Mominul Haque’s attempt at working it to the leg side resulted in a catch at short leg, and soon after he removed the usually reliable Nasir Hossain, who
looked to launch the ball towards long-on only for it to turn past his bat and hit the middle of middle stump. With the lead only 65, it left Mushfiqur Rahim as the only recognised batsmen. To the credit of the Bangladesh lower order, they didn’t collapse completely against the rampant Herath. Even between those two early Herath strikes, Mushfiqur charged out and slammed a straight six, and the big strokes regularly flowed as the Bangladesh tail searched for quick runs. Sohag Gazi typified that approach. In the first over of the second new ball, he was put down in the cordon by Dimuth Karunaratne, which only prompted a series of boundaries - three off his next four deliveries before he was caught at long-on looking to clear the rope. Sri Lanka’s catching has been below-par in this match, but Angelo Mathews snapped up his second sharp take at slip to dismiss Mushfiqur for 40, with the lead at 122. There was no quick finish as Abul Hasan, who hit the headlines with a whirlwind debut century last November, again showed off his hitting ability, striking a couple of big sixes to push the lead past 150. With the tailenders hitting out against the spinners, Sri Lanka turned to the pace of Shaminda Eranga. It took him only five deliveries to finish off the innings, following up a bouncer with a yorker that cannoned towards the base of offstump, leaving Sri Lanka a target of 160. Sri Lanka began the chase brightly, but Dimuth Karunaratne failed again, which means he has only one half-century in his previous 10 Test innings. Karunaratne shouldered arms to an incoming delivery to be lbw for 16. Any nerves for the home side though were eased by a stream of boundaries from Dilshan, while Sangakkara continued to
show the form that has fetched him three centuries in three innings in this series. The pair put on a 94-run stand to erase any doubts over a Sri Lankan victory. • Culled from espncricinfo.com
Six. “Fortunately, we have a very talented squad; these are players out to do the country proud and I am lucky to be playing with them.” On Nigeria’s chances in the competition that will also feature hosts, Botswana, Fiji, Germany, Ghana and Vanuatu, Sharma said he was sure the country would triumph despite the obstacles posed by these countries. “Don’t forget that the country was in this competition in the same country two years ago and we did very well to move to Division Six. We will do that again this time. “I know that some people are
skeptical because of the poor performance at the African T20 in Uganda, but no tow competitions are the same. Coach Uthe Ogbimi has been working hard to correct all the errors we made in Kampala, so Nigerians should be rest assured that we shall succeed,” he said. Nigeria is fighting to place either first or second at the WCL Division Seven play-off to gain promotion to Division Six. Failure to pick any of the tickets means the country will leave the world stage, as the Division Seven would be scrapped after this season. The national team began its second week of camping for the championship yesterday.
Bangladeshi umpire Nadir Shah, gets 10-year ban for corruption MPIRE Nadir Shah has U been banned for 10 years by the Bangladesh Cricket Board on charges of corruption. The 49-year-old, who stood in 40 one-day internationals, was one of six Asian officials mentioned in an expose on Indian television last year. “The decision is totally wrong as there was no proof of my guilt,” said Shah, who is taking legal advice and plans to appeal to the BCB against the decision. Another Bangladesh umpire, Sharfuddoula Saikat was
cleared of any misconduct. The Indian TV programme broadcast in October alleged that six umpires were willing to give decisions favouring players for money in Twenty20 warm-up games ahead of the 2012 World Twenty20 tournament in Sri Lanka. Shah, who has also officiated in three Twenty20 internationals, was the only umpire shown in the sting operation to have met the undercover reporters in person, the others operated through internetbased video chats.