Sports
Crawley, Root & Bairstow stretch England’s lead to 377
After the first two days where honours were shared between the two teams, Day 3 saw England take a giant step in leveling the series. Fifties from Crawley, Root and Bairstow helped them gain a lead of 377 in the final Ashes Test at The Oval.
The tempo for the day was set right from the first ball when Crawley crunched Mitchell Starc to the fence and wiped Australia’s lead of 12 in the very same over. Ben Duckett was the aggressor in the opening partnership as he struck six fours in the first overs and got England off to a flying start. The pair followed up their 62-run stand in the first innings with another 50+ partnership before Starc broke through.
Moeen Ali, who has been batting at number 3 since the last four innings, was injured and could not come in to bat at the fall of Duckett, so skipper Ben Stokes walked out and carried on with Crawley. They kept the boundaries coming especially Crawley who took a liking towards Todd Murphy and ended the session with 130 for 1.
Australia came out after the break with better discipline and Hazlewood should have had Stokes in the first over if not for Starc misjudging a catch on the rope. But Cummins struck in the very next over and ended Crawley’s quickfire knock of 76. Just when the visitors had started to string in some quiet overs, Root unleashed himself and started to play his shots, his reverse lap for six against Mitchell Marsh being the standout.
The runs were flowing at a quick rate and Australia were running out of options, that’s when Stokes threw it away trying to hit Murphy out of the ground and Hazlewood produced a snorter in the next over to send back Harry Brook. At that stage, England had a lead of 210 and Australia would have fancied restricting them to under 350.
However, Bairstow joined Root and though the former took his time in getting going, Root kept the scoreboard ticking. Once Bairstow was set then runs started to come from both ends and the pair added the first 100-plus partnership of the innings. They got to their respective milestones and seemed set to bat Australia out of the game. It needed something special to break the stand and Murphy produced a dream delivery to go through Root who fell nine short of his hundred.
Moeen finally walked out at number seven and copped a few blows from Starc, but he hung around with Bairstow and together they took the score past 350. There was a mini collapse after Bairstow nicked off as England lost 4 wickets for 19 runs with Murphy and Starc doing the damage.
With well over ten minutes left for stumps, Australia needed just one wicket to bowl England out and they did their best to delay proceedings and ensure their openers wouldn’t have to face that one tricky over. Anderson and Broad too didn’t throw it away and made sure Australia came back on Day 4 for that one final wicket.
Bangladesh’s veteran all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan has finally been cleared of suspect action after suffering months of negativity regarding the same. The 37-year-old had failed the test twice but the latest results suggest that Shakib has finally managed to clear the air around his bowling action.
The development comes as a huge sigh of relief for Shakib who had been excluded for Bangladesh’s Champions Trophy squad as the selectors didn’t want to pick him as a specialist batter. Having been suspended to bowl meant that the all-rounder couldn’t take part of the ICC event which had been earmarked as a farewell tournament for him in international cricket.
The phrase third-time lucky proved right for Shakib who cleared his latest bowling action test in England. When contacted by Cricbuzz, he confirmed the news with an understandable air of happiness.
“The news is right (passing about the bowling test) and I am cleared to bowl again,” Shakib said.
Shakib’s bowling action first came under scrutiny during a County Championship match for Surrey against Somerset in September 2024. Subsequently, the England and
Wales Cricket Board [ECB] suspended him following an independent evaluation that declared his action illegal.
Shakib then underwent two separate reassessments, first in England and then in India, failing both attempts, following which he was suspended from bowling.
Sri Lanka at World Indoor Athletics Championships
In the absence of Aruna Dharshana, Kalinga Kumarage is shouldering an extra burden in living up to the reputation of Asian Champions in the 4×400 metres relay when the World Indoor Championship commences in Nanjing China on Friday.
The men’s 400 metres is Sri Lanka’s biggest strength in track and field events though two javelin throwers currently dominate world athletics top lists for the 2025 season. With the track and field season still in its start, the country’s top sprinters were yet to flex their muscles when the opportunity arose for the 400 metres sprinters to compete at the World Indoor Championships.
Kalinga Kumarage
Kumarage is the only experienced campaigner in the men’s 4×400 metres relay team scheduled to compete against world leading USA, Jamaica, Hungary, Nigeria and China in the men’s 4×400 metres final. Both Aruna Dharshana and Kalinga Kumarage had been involved in some of the fastest relay performances for Sri Lanka at international arena including the Asian Games, Asian Championship and Asian Relays. But Dharshana is not available for the event as he is currently competing in Australia. Kumarage is the only member from the gold winning team at last year’s Asian Relays competing in Nanjing. However, it will be a huge opportunity for Randima Madushan and the two juniors Sadew Rajakaruna and Omel Shashintha when they brush shoulders against top sprinters in a global final.
Apart from the relay, Kalinga will also compete in the men’s 400 metres where he will look to produce a top performance in a bid to improve his rankings.
Sri Lanka is fielding its biggest contingent to a world indoor championship this year. The team is inclusive of sprinter Chamod Yodasinghe who will compete in the 60 metres, hurdler Kaveesha Bandara (60 m hurdles) and the men’s and women’s 4×400 metres relay teams.
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Rajakaruna clarifies on behalf of Dharshana
Asanka Rajakaruna, the coach of leading 400 metres specialist Aruna Djarshana said that his charge was unaware of the 4×400 metres relay invitation extended by World Athletics to Sri Lanka for this week’s World Indoor Championships.
He said this with reference to our article on Tuesday which quoted a Sri Lanka Athletics official as having said that Dharshana had decided to stay in Australia to complete his commitments and was not available for the World Indoor Championships.
“We were not informed about the World Indoor Championships. We have always given priority to national duty. Dharshana would have taken the opportunity with open arms had he been informed of the opportunity to compete at the World Indoor Championship,” Asanka Rajakaruna told The Island.
Sri Lanka received the invitation to include relay teams for the World Indoor Championships well after Aruna Dharshana left for Australia.
by Reemus Fernando
Sri Lanka Athletics has invited India, the Philippines and the Maldives for next month’s Relay Championships conducted by Sri Lanka Schools Athletics Association in a bid to provide the men’s 4×400 metres relay quartet with a chance to reach qualifying standards for the World Relays.
Currently Sri Lanka men’s 4×400 metres relay team is within the required ranking position to compete at the prestigious World Relays taking place in Guangzhou, China. The 3:04.48 seconds finish to win the gold medal of the men’s 4×400 metres at the Asian Relays in May last year has placed Sri Lanka in the 31st position in the ‘Road to Guangzhou’ rankings.
But with many competitions coming up within the next couple of months Sri Lanka Athletics wants to leave no stone unturned in their quest to keep the ranking position within the qualifying range.
The teams in the first 32 positions according to the times produced within the qualifying period (January 1, 2024 to April 13, 2025) become eligible for the World Relays taking place on May 10 and 11 in Guangzhou.
Sri Lanka’s chances of improving the current standings (31st) at this week’s World Indoor Championship in China are minimal as Olympian Aruna Dharshana, who is the fastest of the current crop of athletes will not be available for the event.
Dharshana is currently training and competing in Australia. He is looking forward to reach qualifying standards or reach the required ranking position for World Championships in the 400 metres.
The World Athletics has set a tough standard of 44.85 seconds for the men’s 400 metres. While only 17 are selected through direct qualifying standards, 31 athletes are selected through rankings for the 400 metres. Dharshana is yet yo enter rankings to be eligible for the World Championships.
Sri Lanka Athletics will field Dharshana, Kalinga Kumarage, S.B.R. Madushan and Sadew Rajakaruna for the relay event in April.
by Reemus Fernando
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