Sports
Rishad and Taskin bowl Bangladesh to 2-0 lead against Zimbabwe
Towhid Hridoy kept his calm and hit pressure-releasing boundaries to steer Bangladesh to a six-wicket victory in the second T20I against Zimbabwe in Chattogram. The home side chased down the target of 139 with six wickets and nine balls in hand to go 2-0 up in the five-match series.
Hridoy struck two sixes and three fours in his unbeaten 25-ball 37, adding 31 runs for the fourth wicket with Jaker Ali, and another 49 for the fifth with Mahmudullah, who struck a massive six in his unbeaten 26 off 16 balls.
The victory was once again underpinned by Bangladesh’s bowlers, who restricted Zimbabwe for the second successive game. Taksin Ahmed was the best of the attack, taking 2 for 18 in four overs, while legspinner Rishad Hossain struck twice in an over to jolt Zimbabwe’s middle order.
Zimbabwe owed most of their runs to newcomers Johnathan Campbell and Brian Bennett who added 73 runs off 43 balls for the sixth wicket to rescue them from 42 for 5. Campbell’s 45 is now Zimbabwe’s highest score on T20I debut, while Bennett scored an unbeaten 44.
The Zimbabwe top order struggled to get going in the powerplay. Though they lost only one wicket – Tadiwanshe Marumani pinned lbw by Taskin – they kept hitting the fielders or were late on shots. They scored only 22 runs in the first six overs and did not hit a boundary in that phase for only the second time in T20 cricket. It was also only the second time that Bangladesh did not concede a boundary in the powerplay.
Joylord Gumbie finally found the boundary in the seventh over but fell in the next, holing out to mid-off for 17, the lowest score for a Zimbabwe opener in an innings of at least 30 balls. Rishad ‘s double strike in the tenth over was a crucial phase of the game, as he got rid of Zimbabwe’s captain Sikandar Raza and Clive Madande, their top-scorer from the first T20I
Craig Ervine’s mis-timed sweep off Mahedi Hasan reduced Zimbabwe to 42 for 5 in the 11th over and another sub-par total seemed inevitable.
Johnathan Campbell, the son of former Zimbabwe captain Alistair, gave his team something to bowl at with a brisk innings on debut. He was dropped when he was on 1 – wicketkeeper Jaker Ali ran towards square-leg but could not catch the mis-hit off Mahedi Hasan – and went on to hit three sixes and four fours in his innings off 45 off 24 balls, adding 73 for the sixth wicket with Bennett.
Campbell swung Shoriful Islam for Zimbabwe’s first six in the 13th over and Bennett smacked Taskin over midwicket in the 15th. Campbell then hammered Rishad and Saifuddin for sixes in the next two overs; Bennett slammed Shoriful straight in the 18th over.
After Campbell’s dismissal, Bennett gave Zimbabwe a strong finish, hitting a four and a six as they took 18 off the final over. He finished on an unbeaten 44 off 29 balls, and Zimbabwe ended on 138 for 7.
Bangladesh made a decent start in their chase. Litton Das, struggling for runs in white-ball cricket this year, ramp-scooped Blessing Muzarabani for a six over the wicketkeeper in the second over. His opening partner Tanzid Hasan slugged Ainsley Ndlovu for his first six in the fourth over. But left-arm spinner Ndlovu made the first breakthrough for Zimbabwe in the sixth over when Tanzid mistimed a slightly quicker delivery to the midwicket.
Just when it looked like Bangladesh had the chase in their grasp, things started to happen. Litton was dropped by Luke Jongwe off Raza on 21. Jongwe then made up for the mistake with two wickets in his following over: captain Najmul Hossain Shanto caught at long-and Litton at backward point for 23
Towhid and Jaker Ali steadied the chase before picking up boundaries from the 12th over. Jaker launched Jongwe over midwicket for his first six after Hridoy slapped him through point for four. Hridoy’s finesse came to the fore when he lightly cut Raza for four through third-man.
When Richard Ngarava dismissed Jaker in the 14th over, it brought Bangladesh’s best finishers together. With 33 needed in the last four overs, Hridoy and Mahmudullah brought the chase under control by scoring 16 off the 17th over from Jongwe.
Mahmudullah launched Richard Ngarava over midwicket for a 103m six, and then Hridoy’s dispatched him over fine leg for six more to all but end the game.
Brief scores:
Bangladesh 142 for 4 in 18.3 overs (Litton Das 23, Towhid Hridoy 37*, Mohammad Mahmudullah 26*; Richard Ngarava 1-32, Luke Jongwe 3-35, Ainsley Ndlovu 1-25) beat Zimbabwe 138 for 7 in 20 overs (Jonathan Campbell 45, Brian Bennett 44*, Shoriful Islam 1-26, Mahedi Hasan 1-18, Taskin Ahmed 2-18, Mohammad Saiffudin 1-37, Rishad Hossain 2-33) by six wickets
by Reemus Fernando
Supun Chathura of Welimada Central and Tharindi Chamalka of Nuwara Eliya High School claimed the boys’ and girls’ titles at the All-Island Schools Games Half Marathon, held in Colombo on Sunday.
Chathura won the boys’ race in a notable 1:14.51. Sameesha Nimsath of St. Pope Paul the Sixth MV, Gampaha, took second in 1:16.40, while Suranga Lal Kumara of Pussadewa Secondary School, Batagolla, clinched third in 1:16.42.
In the girls’ category, Chamalka won in 1:28.56. D.M.S. Nimsarani of CWW Kannangara MMV, Matugama (1:31.09), and W.S.C. Priyadharshani of President’s College, Ambagasdowa (1:33.10), finished second and third respectively.
The 21.0975-kilometre race, sponsored by Nestomalt, started at the Ministry of Education in Battaramulla. It passed through Polduwa Junction, Parliament Road, Ape Gama Junction, Kimbulawala Junction, Thalawathugoda, Hokandara Junction, Arangala Junction, Koswatta and Battaramulla Palanthuna Junction before returning to the starting point.
Girls winners (from left)D.M.S. Nimsarani (2nd), Tharindi Chamalka (first) and W.S.C. Priyadharshani
Pat Cummins outfoxed a lacklustre South Africa batting-order on a relatively benign Durban surface, while Steven Smith continued to showcase his mastery in the slips as Australia eyed a big first innings lead in the opening Test.
Outstanding bowling and fielding suffocated South Africa, who appeared set to be bowled out before tea on day three until a rearguard from Keshav Maharaj and Simon Harmer halted Australia’s push.
Cummins has been at his best, consistently challenging the batters as he regularly hit speeds of 140kph and above. He had 3-54 from 15 overs by tea, with all four frontline bowlers having taken wickets.
Smith backed up the bowlers by claiming three sublime catches, which lifted him past Joe Root for the most Test catches by a non-wicketkeeper.
With great anticipation, Smith moved into position to snare skipper Temba Bavuma, who had unfurled a reverse-sweep off Nathan Lyon. Smith then pulled off a stunning catch to dismiss David Bedingham, diving across first slip – it was No. 221 of his Test career.
Maaz Sadaqat crashed 96 off 51,Sahibzada Farhan clobbered 73 off 44, and Pakistan scorched their way through the last 12 overs of their innings to mount a fearsome total of 215 for 3. Pakistan reaped 156 runs just in the last 12 overs of their innings, as a 73-run stand between Sadaqat and Farhan was followed by a manic 72-run partnership between Sadaqat and Hasan Nawaz.
Sri Lanka’s batting was woeful in response. They slumped to 64 for 5 by the 11th over, with none of their top seven managing to get to 30. They limped to 133 for 7, having had their hopes of leveling the series wrecked by quicks Mohammad Imran and Salman Mirza, who took five wickets between them.
Sadaqat propels Pakistan into the stratosphere
The openers had laid a decent platform with Pakistan having got to 55 for 1 by the end of the seventh over. But it was Sadaqat who injected the energy that truly set Pakistan on course to their mammoth total. Having gone at less than a run a ball in his first eight balls, Sadaqat unleashed a spectacular lofted square drive off Eshan Malinga to collect his first six, before pumping the same bowler down the ground later in the 10th over.
Sadaqat would go on to clobber six further sixes and five further fours. The big hits tended to come down the ground, while his fours were more square of the wicket. Of the 125 runs Pakistan plundered in the second half of their innings, 79 off 40 came from Sadaqat, who pummeled both pace and spin with equal relish. Off the sixteenth over, bowled by Maheesh Theekshana, Sadaqat thumped three sixes in the arc between long on and midwicket.
Sadaqat, whose previous top score in three T20Is had been 50, could have gone to triple figures off the last ball of the innings, but holed out to deep cover instead, unable to quite find the power to lift a Malinga slower ball over the ropes. He had utterly dominated the middle and late overs, however.
Farhan sets the tone
On another flat Rawalpindi deck, Farhan made the first big charge, although he waited until spin came on to really get into high gear. Theekshana was one of his main victims as well. Farhan’s first six came from a slog sweep off Theekshana in the seventh over, before he launched the same bowler over wide long on and cow corner off successive balls in the ninth over. Getting to his 12th T20I fifty off the 31st ball he faced, Farhan began to aim big blows off the seamers as well. He was caught at deep third off the bowling of Dasun Shanaka, in the 15th over.
Sri Lanka stumble in the powerplay
An excellent Salman Mirza bouncer took the glove of Lahiru Udara in the first over, ending the innings of one of Sri Lanka’s few form batters for a mere five runs. And although Sineth Jayawardena – playing his first international in a full-strength Sri Lanka side – hit three consecutive boundaries in the third over, Sri Lanka were unable to build up any momentum in the powerplay. By the end of the sixth over, they had laboured to 35 for 2.
Imran’s spell lights up the middle overs
A full house in Rawalpindi was treated to some excellent fast bowling by Imran, who finished with the game’s best figures of 3 for 11 from his four overs. Having got Jayawardena to top-edge a desperate pull shot at the end of his second over, Imran had Kusal Mendis caught behind off a slower delivery, before two balls later (a wide in between), he took Sahan Arachchige’s edge with a quick delivery angled across the left-hander. Wicketkeeper Khawaja Nafay made two diving grabs to convert these chances in the eighth over.
All through his unbroken spell, Sri Lanka’s batter struggled to so much as hit Imran off the square, despite the good batting conditions on offer. Imran mixed up his pace, frequently going to slower balls, but his line and length control were also excellent through the spell. When he finished his unbroken spell at the end of the 10th over, Sri Lanka’s required rate had climbed past 15.
Chamindu Wickramasinghe and Theekshana struck some late boundaries, but by the time they came to the crease, Sri Lanka did not have a realistic shot at levelling this series. They lost by 82 runs in the end.
Scores:
Pakistan 215 for 3 in 20 overs (Sahibzada Farhan 73, Fakhar Zaman 22, Maaz Sadaqat 96, Hasan Nawaz 19*; Maheesh Theekshana 1-55, Eshan Malinga 1-41,Dasun Shanaka 1-30) beat Sri Lanka 133 for 7 (Sineth Jayawardena 22, Kamnbdu Mendis 23, Chamindu Wickremasinghe 29, Maheesh Theekshana 32*; Salman Mirza 2=28, Mohammad Imran 3-11, Saim Ayub 1-19, Shadab Khan 1-19) by 82 runs
[Cricinfo]
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