Sports
Ibrahim, Omarzai and Naveen power Afghanistan to series win
Ibrahim Zadran smashed an unbeaten 72, his highest T20I score, Azmatullah Omaeazi took more wickets than the amount of runs he has scored in the entire series and Naveen-ul-Haq found himself in plenty of action on the field. As a result, Afghanistan won the third T20I against Ireland by 57 runs, and with it, came back from 1-0 down to win the series 2-1.
Ibrahim was on 10 when Delany dropped a simple catch off Campher in the sixth over. Placed at deep square leg, he didn’t move as much forward as he should have even while keeping his eyes on the skier.
When Delany came on to bowl the seventh over, he failed to collect a throw from short third, and allowed Sediqullah Atal an extra run. Next over, Delany dropped a difficult catch of Omarzai after turning around and running forward from point off Campher again. But on 1 at that point, Omarzai fell for 3 just two balls after. Then there was another misfield from Delany in the ninth over.
As if that was not enough, Ireland faced more misfortune – exactly like in the first T20I. Ben White had Mohammad Ishaq caught at deep midwicket in the 13th over, but the umpire ruled it to be a no-ball even as replays indicated that the heel, which was the first point of impact, had landed just behind the line. Ishaq was on 15 at the time, and went on to score 27, before a great catch by Paul Stirling off White had him caught in the 15th over.
Coming into this game, Ibrahim’s T20I strike rate was just short of 105. But on Monday night, be scored his runs at 141. He had hit only one four in a sedate start before he was dropped, as he managed just 12 from his first 13 balls. But his next 38 deliveries saw him smash 60.
Ibrahim kept finding the occasional boundary during the fourth-wicket stand of 54 with Ishaq, while also ticking over singles and twos. He pulled and slog swept off White, and drilled Josh Little to extra cover after making room. But Ibrahim reserved two stylish shots for Mark Adair, whom he swatted wide over long-off for six, and scooped over short fine for four in the 18th over.
Omarzai came into the game after successive first-ball dismissals, and ended the series with only three runs to his name. But he got going with the ball. Moving one away from Tector, he had the batter caught at deep midwicket in the eighth over, before Ireland threatened to rebuild. In the tenth over, Omarzai spotted George Dockrell’s front leg was out of the way, and followed him by angling one in. Dockrell also ended up finding deep midwicket, where Naveen took his second catch.
With the game all but done, Omarzai had Adair chopping on before taking a return catch of Barry McCarthy – both in the 16th over. While the slowness of the pitch had Adair pulling early, Omarzai saw McCarthy skipping down, and went short to cramp him for room. A comfortable take to his left gave him four wickets, and Afghanistan the match.
Scores:
Afghanistan 155 for 7 in 20 overs (Ibrahim Zadran 72*, Mohammad Ishaq 27; Gareth Delany 1-05, Mark Adair 1-35, Josh Little 1-27, Barry McCarthy 1-34, Curtis Campher 1-23, Ben White 1-30) beat Ireland 98 in 17.2 overs (Curtis Campher 28, Gareth Delany 21; Fazallhaq Farooki 1-19, Azmatullah Omarzai 4-9, Naveen-ul-Haq 3-10, Rashid Khan 1-12, Nangeyalia Kharote 1-26) by 57 runs
(Cricinfo)
A Sri Lankan innings that never really got going eventually parked itself at middling total of 219, as they were bowled out in 49.3 overs in the second ODI in Colombo. It’s a total England will fancy themselves to chase down as they look to level this three-match series.
Sri Lanka’s innings was headlined by Charith Asalanka’s 45 off 64 and Dhananjaya de Silva’s 40 off 59, but at strike rates of 67.79 and 70.31 it tells you all you need to know about how well England kept a lid on the innings.
For the visitors the wickets were spread out, with Adil Rashid, Jamie Overton and Joe Root picking up two apiece, the latter with the final two balls of the innings. There were also wickets for Liam Dawson, Rehan Ahmed and the returning Will Jacks.
And much like in the first ODI, England’s varied attack – no less than eight options were used across the innings – sought to give little away. “Keeping the stumps in play,” was Harry Brook’s refrain, speaking after losing the toss, and on an uber-dry surface with boundaries square and behind mostly protected, the onus was on the Lankan batters to use their feet in order to access the boundaries at extra cover and deep midwicket.
That sort of strokeplay however proved detrimental to the Lankan cause with four of their top five falling in their attempts to access the boundaries in front of square. Kamil Mishara sought to bring some impetus to the innings after a miserly early burst from the England seamers, but his attempted lashing cover drive could not clear Ben Duckett in the circle, who held on at the second attempt.
Pathum Nissanka, who had patiently waded through the opening powerplay when the scoring rate sat below four an over, then sought to capitalise on his added time in the middle, but only managed to loft an inside-out drive to long-off.
Later on in the innings Dhananjaya whacked one low to Root at midwicket, before the set Asalanka found deep midwicket with a slog sweep.
And arguably Sri Lanka’s best batter at accessing those regions, Kusal Mendis, ran himself out for a ground-out 26, when he cut one straight to point and absentmindedly set off for the single. The throw from the fit-again Jacks was pinpoint and found Mendis easily short as he sought in vain to fling himself back to safety.
There were promising stands between, notably a 42-run effort between Nissanka and Mendis and 66 between Dhananjaya and Asalanka, but none of the batters involved were able to push on and up the rate of scoring over any concerted period of time.
Pavan Rathnayake’s 29 off 34 had also shown promise, but he fell foul looking to clear the straight boundary as he sliced one to long-off, and in the process silenced an energetic Khettarama crowd.
The frustrating nature of Sri Lanka’s innings was illustrated by the fact that five batters scored at least 25 and faced at least 30 deliveries, but the highest score remained Asalanka’s 45.
England, to their credit, stuck to and executed their plans well. The use of eight bowlers – six of them spinners – meant Sri Lanka’s batters were ever really able to get a measure of any one bowler. And while the lengths were consistent, the pace of the deliveries was varied. It meant that even when a set batter such as Nissanka sought to take on the attack, Rashid was able to successfully deceive him in the flight.
Dunith Wellalage once more looked enterprising during a late cameo, but despite finding two boundaries in his brief stay, his 20 off 19 was far less damaging to England’s cause than had been in the first ODI.
England bowled 40.3 overs of spin across their innings, breaking their previous record of 36. That came in Sharjah in 1984-85, when Norman Gifford captained England at the age of 44, and took four wickets. The team wore black armbands during the first ODI after his death last week.
Brief scores:
Sri Lanka 219 in 49.3 overs (Charith Asalanka 45, Dhananjaya De Silva 40; Joe Root 2-12, Jamie Overton 2-21, Adil Rashid 2-34) vs England
(Cricinfo)
(Cricbuzz)
Sri Lanka elected to bat first in the second ODI against England at the R Premadasa International Stadium
Sri Lanka: Pathum Nissanka, Kamil Mishara, Kusal Mendis (wk), Dhananjaya de Silva, Charith Asalanka, Janith Liyanage, Pavan Rathnayake, Dunith Wellalage, Pramod Madushan, Jeffrey Vandersay, Asitha Fernando
England: Rehan Ahmed, Ben Duckett, Joe Root, 4Jacob Bethell, Harry Brook (capt), Jos Buttler (wk), Will Jacks, Sam Curran, Jamie Overton, Liam Dawson, Adil Rashid
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