 Lanka salvage pride by
beating Australia
MELBOURNE, Feb 29: Australia suffered
a jolt ahead of their cricket tri-series
finals against India when they lost an
inconsequential cricket tri-series game
against Sri Lanka by a narrow margin of
13 runs here today.
Chasing
Sri Lanka’s competitive total of
221, the world champions got off to a
flying start with Adam Gilchrist (83 off
50 balls) launching a blistering assault
but completely lost the plot after his
dismisal to be bundled out for 208 in
48.1 overs.
It was
dramatic collapse by the Australians who
were cruising comfortably at 113 for one
at one stage before losing their
remaining nine wickets for just 95 runs
in a thrilling floodlit encounter at the
MCG, allowing the islanders to salvage
some pride.
The Sri
Lankans, who have already been eliminated
from the title race, fought back
brilliantly after an early collapse to
not only end the series on a winning note
but also dent Australia’s confidence
a little bit ahead of the best-of-three
finals against India beginning in Sydney
on Sunday.
The two
Aussie tailenders Brett Lee (37) and
Nathan Bracken (14 not out) raised hopes
of a stunning victory by putting on 35
runs for the last wicket leaving the Sri
Lankans a little worried.
With the
home team needing 14 runs in the last two
overs, the Sri Lankan captain gambled by
bringing in Sanath Jayasuriya and the
wily veteran struck in his first ball by
castling Lee.
The
victory was the perfect give the Lankans
could give to their two senior teammates
— Sanath Jayasuriya and spin wizard
Muthiah Muralitharan — who played
their last match on Australian soil.
Electing
to bat, Tillakaratne Dilshan (61) and
captain Mahela Jayawardene (51) were the
main contributors for Sri Lanka as the
duo pulled the team out of a precarious
61 for four to give some respectability
to the total.
The home
team began the run chase with a flourish
as retiring wicketkeeper-batsman
Gilchrist plundered runs at will,
clobbering 11 boundaries and two sixes in
his 50-ball 83. But the complexion of the
game changed in a dramatic fashion from
the 15th over onwards.
With the
burly Matthew Hayden being rested for the
game, Gilchrist had James Hopes as his
opening partner and the two added 107 for
the first wicket.
Muralitharan
provided the breakthrough by getting rid
of of Hopes and paceman Kulasekara
brought more joy for the team by evicting
the dangerous Gilchrist which turned out
to be the turning point.
The
Australian innings suddenly went
topsy-turvy from then on as captain Ricky
Ponting (1) Michael Clarke (0), Andrew
Symonds (0), Michael Hussey (5) and Brad
Haddin (7) returned to the pavilion
without troubling the scorer much.
Electing
to bat, the islanders found themselves in
trouble at a precarious 61 for four by
the 20th over before captain Jayawardene
(51) and Tillakaratne Dilshan (61) pulled
the team out of the pits with a fighting
batting display.
SCOREBOARD
Sri Lanka
innings:
M Perera
lbw b Lee 5
Jayasuriya
c Hussey b Bracken 23
Sangakkara
c Hussey b Johnson 11
Jayawardene
lbw b Hogg 51
Kapugedera
c Gilchrist b Hopes 2
Dilshan
run out (Hopes) 61
Silva c
Johnson b Bracken 35
Kulasekara
b Bracken 14
Malinga c
Hopes b Lee 0
Muralitharan
b Bracken 1
Amerasinghe
not out 5
Extras
(b-1l, w-8, nb-4) 13
Total (all
out, 50 overs) 221
Fall of
Wickets: 1-12, 2-32, 3-42, 4-61, 5-125,
6-185, 7-206, 8-208, 9-212.
Bowling:
Lee 10-1-55-2, Bracken 10-3-29-4, Johnson
10-1-54-1, Hopes 8-0-32-1, Hogg
10-1-33-1, Clarke 2-0-17-0. (PTI)
India
can beat Aussies in finals: Rohit Sharma
SYDNEY, Feb 29: Young Indian middle
order batsman Rohit Sharma feels the
youngsters in the team would need to rise
up to the occasion to win the cricket
tri-series finals against Australia
starting sunday.
"In
the absence of seniors there is pressure
and it would be good for the youngsters
if we were to win the trophy," said
Sharma.
Rohit has
played in all the games of the triangular
league and scored a mere 167 runs at
33.40 but a couple of his knock have
drawn heaps of praise from the likes of
Ian Chappell and Sachin Tendulkar.
Chappell
has been very impressed with
Sharma’s technique and so has been
the case with Tendulkar who rates his
backfoot play of good quality.
Sharma,
though, feels he has not quite done
justice to his talent in the series.
"I
feel I could have done better and in this
regard this series has been a learning
experience. I have learnt how to build
innings when I walked in to bat against
Australia in Melbourne we were five down
for 102, needing 160 runs to win.
"The
one advice (Mahendra Singh Dhoni) Mahi
gave me was if we stayed at the wicket
the runs would come and so it
happened," he said.
India put
it across Australia in that game of the
triangular series and Sharma feels that
it’s not beyond them to beat the
world champions again in the
best-of-three finals.
"I
feel we can do it. We were 54 for 4 the
other night against Australia and ended
up scoring 300 runs," Sharma said.
Not one to
get overawed by reputations, Sharma has
taken the likes of Brett Lee as just
another bowler in international circuit.
"Even
when I was young, there were a few
bowlers in our "galli" cricket
whom batsmen used to dread to face. I
always accepted the challenge as these
things keep confronting you all the time.
"It
doesn’t matter to me if I am playing
Brett Lee or Shoaib Akhtar," he
said. (PTI)
CA
blames players for double standards
MELBOURNE, Feb 29: Cricket Australia
has blamed its players for acquiring
double standards by complaining of a lack
of support from the board and charging
the officials of bowing down to the BCCI
might too often this season.
CA’s
reprimand to opener Matthew Hayden for
calling Indian off-spinner Harbhajan
Singh an ‘obnoxious little
weed’ has not gone down well with
the Australian players as they felt the
board overreacted to the "flippant
remark".
The board
and players were also facing each other
in the sponsorship deal related to the
Indian Premier League and the racism row
involving Harbhajan and all rounder
Andrew Symonds.
"We
have supported the players getting a $1
million paycheque in India in the
IPL," a CA official said.
"We
have done all the work there to get that
going. And not one cent of that comes
back to us or to grassroots cricket. We
don’t hear anything about
that," he said.
The
official also noted that captain Ricky
Ponting regularly attended CA board
meetings, and often expressed his thanks
and appreciation for the work the
governing body does, the ‘Daily
Telegraph’ said. (PTI)
3
JKP jawans to participate in SSC
Excelsior
Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 29: Three constables of
Jammu and Kashmir Police namely Constable
Suresh Singh, Ganesh Dass and Davinder
Singh belonging to 8th, 9th and 12th
Battalion of Armed Police are
participating in Sea Swimming
Competition. The competitions would be
held at Long Distance Swimming Club
Maaneek Bunglow, Surekh Society Law
College road Gulmohar Path, Pune from
March 2.
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