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Jamie Smith’s 71-ball century gives England Lions a victory glimmer

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Jamie Smith brings up his century on the third day in Galle (picture SLC)
Jamie Smith struck a 71-ball century, the fastest in England Lions history, to give his side an outside chance of a victory push in the second unofficial Test against Sri Lanka A in Galle.
Smith’s effort surpassed Luke Wright’s 91-ball hundred against New Zealand A in 2008-09, and featured 13 fours and eight sixes all told. By the time he was dismissed for 126 from 82 balls, he had formed the backbone of the Lions’ 405 in 76.4 overs. Alex Lees, who himself made a 94-ball hundred in the Lions’ warm-up match earlier in the tour, chipped in with 97 from 113 balls, while Josh Bohannon made 54 from 62.
Their efforts allowed the Lions to build a first-innings lead of 73, and though Sri Lanka A responded well to reach 202 for 3 by the close, with half-centuries from Nishan Madushka and Kamindu Mendis, they did chip out three wickets in that time, including Mendis for 67 shortly before stumps.
“It is certainly the most entertaining and most enjoyable innings that I have ever played,” Smith said afterwards. “I would say it is the best innings that I have ever played.”I didn’t know that it was a record century and I didn’t go out there to achieve that obviously. When you get in that situation and you’re flying along you are just focusing on being positive and trying to hit boundaries – hit the ball as far and as hard as I can.”
The Lions team has been noticeably positive in its approach to batting on this tour, and Smith acknowledged that the success of the Test team under Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum had been an inspirational factor.
“You definitely take on board the style of play that the England team are employing because that’s the style they want to see,” he said. “I always knew I had the talent to play that way but to get out here and to do it is really positive for me.
“The coaching staff here give you the freedom to go out and play that way. There are no limits as to what you can do. I’m not focusing on whether I get out, it’s about how you can make runs and being positive. That has certainly helped me to make runs here and play the way I did.”
At the age of 22, Smith – who is also keeping wicket on this trip – is very much one of the coming men on the county circuit, and was picked for his first Lions tour after playing his part in Surrey’s County Championship victory last season.
“It is the next step in my career and it has been an opportunity to show my skills and test myself against some really good bowlers,” he said. “It’s good to get in this environment and to play against spin and try and adapt my game to that.
“The pitch is pretty flat but the beauty of us scoring so quickly is that it gives us an opportunity and time to bowl them out. We’ll aim to do that in the morning and then well hopefully have a chase. We won’t fear chasing any total.”
Sri Lanka A 332 (Croospulle 128) and 202 for 3 (Madushka 84*, Mendis 67) lead England Lions 405 (Smith 126, Lees 97, Bohannon 54) by 129 runs


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Mohammad Wasim and Fakhar Zaman help Pakistan complete whitewash

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Mohammad Wasim picked up three wickets (Cricinfo)

Pakistan eased to a six-wicket win over Sri Lanka to seal a 3-0 series whitewash. Three wickets from Mohammad Wasim and contributions from others bowled Sri Lanka out for 211, before a half-century by Fakhar Zaman took much of the jeopardy out of the chase. Sri Lanka fought hard through the middle, getting rid of Babar Azam and Salman Agha in quick succession, and though it succeeded in slowing Pakistan down, the visitors ultimately had too few runs to play with as Pakistan cantered to the win with 5.2 overs to spare.

When Sri Lanka began their innings, they appeared to have designs on a total above 300. Pathum Nissanka and Kamil Mishara were timing the ball particularly sweetly, racing along to a 50-run partnership inside the first eight overs. Shaheen Shah Afridi, in particular, was punished early by Mishara, who exploited the gaps as an opposition side racked up a 50-run opening partnership against Pakistan for the sixth ODI in succession.

But as has been so often the case for the visitors, wickets derailed their progress significantly. Mishara had chopped a few early on and survived, but Nissanka’s first inside edge clattered into the stumps, and from there Pakistan started to squeeze. Wasim found a bit of extra bounce to draw Mishara’s outside edge, and the free-flowing runs were suddenly no longer coming.

Kusal Mendis and Sadeera Samarawickrama rebuilt, but not nearly at the speed Sri Lanka needed on a wicket that looked like it would only continue to get better. Left-arm wristspinner Faisal Akram, replacing Abrar Ahmed in the side, enjoyed an excellent first spell, deploying his variations to great effect and keeping the batters honest. He had Samarawickrama trapped in front in single digits, but the batter got the decision reversed on review because the ball was turning too much.

But the pressure was invariably building up. It had taken 75 balls to score just 43 runs, and by the time Wasim returned to the attack, the urgency to score quickly had been amplified. He knocked them off course with a yorker that cleaned up the stand-in captain Kusal Mendis before a double blow from Akram blew the innings wide open. It included a splendid delivery that sliced through Samarawickrama’s defences two runs shy of a half-century, as well as a soft return catch that did for Kamindu Mendis.

Sri Lanka have set much store in 23-year-old batting talent Pavan Rathnayake, even if he was batting a tad too deep for their liking. The debutant showed impressive temperament as he shepherded the tail, and arguably played the shot of the day with a back-foot punch that flew over cover for a six. But he got limited support from the tail as Pakistan chipped away at the other end, and with nine wickets down, his desperation to get back on strike cost him his wicket. He had put up a spirited 32, but the 211 Sri Lanka ended up with never looked near enough.

Zaman drove that point further home as he started off in a hurry. It was almost as if he was making up for lost time after Haseebullah Khan’s brief tortured stay at the crease resulted in a 12-ball duck, the young wicketkeeper-batter getting more desperate with each ball before ultimately smearing one straight to mid-on. Babar Azam’s arrival lifted the crowd’s spirits while Zaman took care of the run-scoring, freeing his arms and finding the gaps either side of the wicket with regularity in the powerplay. Babar, meanwhile, looked like a man with rediscovered confidence, timing the ball beautifully as Pakistan cruised through the first 15 overs.

Zaman took on Jeffrey Vandersay, who was playing his first game this series, but the legspinner dragged his side back into the contest. After smacking him for his second boundary, Zaman went after Vandersay again, only for Kamindu Mendis to take a spectacular catch diving forward in the deep. Shortly after, he did for Babar with a googly that beat the batter all ends up, sneaking through the gate and making a mess of his stumps.

With their tails up, it was the first time since the opening powerplay in the game that Sri Lanka placed any kind of pressure on Pakistan. Vandersay beat Agha with a lovely legbreak that drifted in and then ripped away to trap him in front, and suddenly, the 97 runs Pakistan still needed seemed very far away.

But Rizwan and Hussain Talat hunkered down. For a while, run-scoring seemed a secondary thought; the next ten overs produced just 32 runs. But most importantly, Sri Lanka were being kept out of the wickets column, and with the asking rate far too modest to have any impact on the game, Pakistan, bit by bit, dragged themselves towards the finish line.

It left the last hour of the game in a holding pattern where the outcome was all but certain, but Talat and Rizwan were in no hurry to put Sri Lanka out of their misery. Rizwan coasted towards his half-century while Talat saw an opportunity to amass a few more runs in what has been a successful series for him. In the 43rd over, Maheesh Theekshana had Talat lbw but the batter got the decision overturned as the ball-tracking showed the ball bouncing over the stumps. It just about summed up Sri Lanka’s stuttering series in the Rawalpindi cold before the hosts finally limped over the finish line.

Brief scores:
Pakistan 215 for 4 in 44.4 overs  (Mohammed Rizwan 61*, Fakhar Zaman 55, Babar Azam 34; Jeffrey Vandersay 3-42) beat Sri Lanka 211 in 45.2 overs (Sadeera Samarawickrama 48, Kusal Mendis 34, Pavan Rathnayake 32; Haris Rauf 2-38, Mohammad  Wasim 3-47, Faisal Akram2-42) by six wickets
(Cricinfo)

 

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Former UN rapporteur who investigated Israeli abuses interrogated in Canada

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Richard Falk served as the UN's special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territory from 2008 to 2014 [File: Aljazeera]

A former United Nations special rapporteur who investigated Israeli abuses against Palestinians says he was interrogated by Canadian authorities on “national security” grounds as he travelled to Canada this week to attend a Gaza-related event.

Richard Falk, an international law expert from the United States, told Al Jazeera that he was questioned at Toronto Pearson international airport on Thursday alongside his wife, fellow legal scholar Hilal Elver.

“A security person came and said, ‘We’ve detained you both because we’re concerned that you pose a national security threat to Canada,’” Falk, 95, said on Saturday in an interview from Ottawa, the Canadian capital. “It was my first experience of this sort – ever – in my life.”

Falk and Elver – both US citizens – were travelling to Ottawa to take part in the Palestine Tribunal on Canadian Responsibility when they were held for questioning.

The tribunal brought together international human rights and legal experts on Friday and Saturday to examine the Canadian government’s role in Israel’s two-year bombardment of the Gaza Strip, which a UN inquiry and numerous rights groups have described as a genocide.

Falk said he and his wife were held for questioning for more than four hours and asked about their work on Israel and Gaza, and on issues of genocide in general. “[There was] nothing particularly aggressive about his questioning,” he said. “It felt sort of random and disorganised.”

But Falk said he believes the interrogation is part of a global push to “punish those who endeavour to tell the truth about what is happening” in the world, including in Gaza.

[Aljazeera]

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Pakistan opt to field in 3rd ODI, Asalanka out with illness

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Shaheen Afridi and Kusal Mendis at the toss [Cricinfo]

Pakistan have won the toss and elected to field first. The game is played on the same wicket the first ODI was played on, with a high-scoring affair expected.

With the series already wrapped up, the home side have rung the changes in Rawalpindi, with four men who played the second game sitting out. Haseebullah Khan makes his ODI debut at the top as Saim Ayub sits out, while Mohammad Nawaz, Naseem Shah and Abrar Ahmed all drop to the bench. Faheem Ashraf, Muhammad Wasim and Faisal Akram all come in as well.

Sri Lanka, too, have made four changes, with captain Charith Asalanka sitting out because of illness. Middle-order batter Pravan Ratnayake, fast bowler Eshan Malinga and spinner Jeffrey Vandersay play their first games this series.

Pakistan: Fakhar Zaman,  Haseebullah Khan (wk),  Babar Azam,  Mohammad Rizwan,  Salman Agha,  Hussain Talat,  Faheem Ashraf,  Mohammad Wasim Jr,  Shaheen Afridi (capt),  Haris Rauf,  Faisal Akram

Sri Lanka:  Pathum Nissanka,  Kamil Mishara,  Kusal Mendis (wk, capt),  Sadeera Samarawickrama,  Pavan Rathnayake,  Janith Liyanage,  Kamindu Mendis,  Maheesh Theekshana,  Pramod Madushan,  Eshan Malinga,  Jeffrey Vandersay

[Cricinfo]

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