All posts by csb10.top

ScorecardQueensland joyfully accepted a desperate declaration and charged to their first Sheffield Shield title in six years during a rain-interrupted conclusion at Allan Border Field in Brisbane on Tuesday.Tasmania gambled after a lengthy delay in the hope of a last-minute heist, but Queensland moved swiftly through the South Africa-bound Matt Renshaw to secure the nine-wicket win.Renshaw learned of his national call-up during the day, and he celebrated it with an unbeaten second-innings 81. While he waits to learn whether he replaces Cameron Bancroft or David Warner in the fourth Test, he warmed up with a muscular display of 12 fours and two sixes, including crashing a cut to the boundary for the winning runs.Queensland are full of potential and this was the right result perhaps, but neither side was able to show their full wares in a truncated game. Tasmania returned on the final morning at 0 for 10, with Alex Doolan and Jordan Silk trying to transform the game into a T20 contest and an unlikely victory push.As the batsmen opened their shoulders, Queensland spread the field. At one point during the 160-run stand, everyone but the bowler and wicketkeeper was on the boundary. Silk cleared the ropes twice in his 74 and Doolan was even more destructive in his unbeaten 82 off 74 deliveries, striking four sixes before bad light and heavy rain arrived at the stroke of lunch.That meant the outfield was unsuitable for play during the four-hour delay. This forced Tasmania into declaring at 1 for 166, setting Queensland 128 in at least 32 overs, but the locals would not be stopped. Joe Burns kept Renshaw company with 41 on the way to the state’s eighth Shield trophy.Queensland’s golden age began under Stuart Law’s captaincy in the 1990s and included players of the stature of Allan Border, Matthew Hayden, Carl Rackemann, Andy Bichel, Michael Kasprowicz and Andrew Symonds. The current squad is filled with young faces and even the committed cricket fan might struggle to recognise anyone other than Burns or Renshaw when they are wearing whites.Captained by Jimmy Peirson, the side has the 33-year-old paceman Luke Feldman as its elder statesman, but is mostly a band of up-and-comers alongside the journeyman from England, Charlie Hemphrey. Until Tuesday, Burns was the only player in the side to have lifted the Shield, when Queensland beat Tasmania at the Gabba in 2011-12.Queensland finished the group rounds comfortably on top, winning a game more than any other opponent, and its players were able to stare down Tasmania’s regularly-interrupted challenge throughout this contest.After the first-day abandonment, Tasmania posted a healthy 477, but Queensland went further in their response, with everyone contributing at least double figures. The coach Wade Seccombe, who was the wicketkeeper in the state’s first Shield victory in 1994-95, now has the opportunity to build the outfit into a unit craving long-term success.

Royal Challengers Bangalore were blindsided in their opening match against Kolkata Knight Riders, but they won’t be straying too much from their plan. At least not this early in the season, according to head coach Daniel Vettori, who said captain Virat Kohli will continue to bat at No. 3 and that a sixth bowling option is not on their minds on the eve of their first home fixture against Kings XI Punjab on Friday.”You have to be flexible,” said Vettori. “The reason we wanted Brendon [McCullum] and Quinton [de Kock] at the top is that they’re so dynamic and [we felt] Virat and AB [de Villiers] can take over. That was the thinking. We’ve obviously got Quinton’s all-round game. He’s a keeper as well and Brendon did a great job in the first game. So at this stage, that’s the plan, but it could change.”The plan did seem to work against KKR, where both McCullum and de Villiers made scores in the forties around a struggling Kohli. But a freakish over from Nitish Rana had de Villiers and Kohli falling off consecutive balls and Royal Challengers’ inexperienced middle order was forced to play a steadying job.”There’s always a lot of little things when you’re analysing a T20 game. If I were to pinpoint two things, it’d be losing those two wickets and the way we bowled to [Sunil] Narine,” Vettori said.Narine’s 17-ball fifty was his second Powerplay assault against Royal Challengers in as many games, following last year’s fixture where he had equalled Yusuf Pathan’s 15-ball fifty, which was an IPL record for the fastest fifty at the time. While that performance was symptomatic of a long-term bowling depth issue, Royal Challengers would not have expected a repeat this year. Particularly after an auction where they believed to have put together, as Kohli said to the media recently, their most balanced line-up of all time.Perhaps even more damaging was the fact that their spinners, Yuzvendra Chahal and Washington Sundar, were taken for plenty during the Powerplay – a phase where they’ve both carved good reputations for themselves in the IPL. It meant the pressure fell on the fast bowlers, one of whom was debutant Kulwant Khejroliya, who couldn’t wrest the game back in Royal Challengers’ favour. But Vettori didn’t think the bowlers did too badly apart from the spell to Narine, and he wasn’t too stressed about having a sixth bowling option, a view batsman Mandeep Singh had endorsed in the post-match conference last week.”There’s five bowlers there. Kulwant’s new to the team but we backed him because of his performances coming in, in the T20 format,” Vettori said. “We look at it more like an opportunity for five bowlers to do their job rather than wait for someone to fail and then the sixth bowler picks up [from there].”If the pitch at the Chinnaswamy Stadium is consistent with the slow turners that were produced last year, five bowlers would be enough. Even on the conditions front, Vettori seems confident.”I think the reflection after last season was that the pitch wasn’t what we’re used to. But two teams played on it and the other team won more often than not. So we don’t want to use the pitch as an excuse. We need to be adaptable and I suppose that was part of the selection criteria at the auction. [We bought] players who could perform in any conditions, not only on a 200 or 220 type of wicket. So we think we’ve got a group of guys who can really adapt to any conditions.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
1:55

Agarkar: Rayudu batting as well as he’s ever done

Chennai Super Kings all but joined Sunrisers Hyderabad in the playoffs with a dominant win over the leaders of the league on Sunday evening. The job was finished for them a few hours later by Rajasthan Royals; their win against Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede confirmed a top-four finish for CSK.Sunrisers arrived in Pune with a perfect record batting first, having successfully defended118, 132, 146 and 151. Asked to bat first, they put on their highest total of the tournament, but ran into Shane Watson and Ambati Rayudu, arguably the best opening combination this IPL.Watson began the aggression but Rayudu wasn’t too far behind. Rayudu capped a remarkable turnaround of a season with his maiden T20 hundred, and Watson fell for 57 off 35. The real damage, arguably, was done by Super Kings bowlers: a returning-from-injury Deepak Chahar at the start of the match to force a slow start on Sunrisers, and then Dwayne Bravo at the end of the innings to convert what looked like a chase of 200 into 180.Swing, the perils ofYou know the basic principles of swing, the techniques, the release, the wrist position, but the phenomenon of swing bowling sometimes surprises you by disappearing suddenly. When the ball does swing, though, it becomes difficult to take it from upwards of eight runs an over. Alex Hales and Shikhar Dhawan tried, followed by Kane Williamson, but they all struggled against the swing of Chahar. MS Dhoni cleverly gave him a change of ends to sync his outswing with the wind in Pune after giving him the customary first over. Bowling the fourth over, Chahal got rid of Hales, and Dhawan and Williamson were forced to be watchful as Chahar finished inside eight overs with figures of 4-0-16-1.Sunrisers’ 29 for 1 at the end of six was the second-lowest Powerplay this season for the loss of just one wicket. The lowest was Super Kings’ 27 against the same opposition in their first match against each other. Super Kings went slow till the ninth over – much like Sunrisers here. Super Kings were 41 after nine, Sunrisers 51 after nine.1:52

Rayudu been key to our place near top of points table – Fleming

Dhawan and Williamson turn it aroundStarting the 10th over, the next seven went for 11, 13, 14, 11, 16, 14 and 11. This was clinical hitting against bowlers who were now under pressure. The swing was gone, the pitch looked flat, and both Dhawan and Williamson took full toll. Both reached fifties, Williamson crossed 500 for the season, making it fourth season in a row for a Sunrisers captain to score 500 runs. The hitting looked effortless, even though it featured Williamson – typically accelerating manically as his innings got longer – hitting big sixes.Bravo pulls things backThe last ball of those seven overs was a slower ball from Bravo – a predictable one arguably – but it arrived so slowly that Dhawan was almost through his second shot – a ramp – by the time the ball reached him. All Dhawan managed was a lob to short fine leg. Bravo collected his cap, went to deep point, saw the first ball of the next over fly over short third man, but ran hard to his left and took with both hand catches and on both feet a catch that a few other fielders would have put in a dive for. These are catches that can be appreciated only at the ground: the anticipation, the early movement, the still head, the control. In two balls, both set batsmen were gone, and despite 21 off 11 from Deepak Hooda, only 38 came in the last four overs.No swing in the eveningIt is difficult to tell what changed in under two hours. It did become overcast, which should actually aid swing. And if there is any swing to be had, Bhuvneshwar Kumar should get it. When the best bowling side of the competition bowled, though, there was no swing, and Watson and Rayudu punished them. Watson went after young Sandeep Sharma and Bhuvneshwar, racing to 26 off 13 in three overs.Sunrisers were forced to use Rashid Khan inside the Powerplay for only the fourth time this season. Rayudu hit him for four. Williamson then went to Shakib Al Hasan probably because Watson had got out to left-arm orthodox spin twice in 11 balls this IPL. Watson hit him for four first ball. Siddarth Kaul went for four, six and four in his first over, all to Rayudu. Watson finally fell off the bowling of Shakib, run out in the 14th over, having played his part in the biggest opening stand of this IPL. With 46 required off 39, the only matter of interest was if Rayudu would get the 29 he needed for the century.A four from Dhoni, with seven required and with Rayudu on 99, might have given him a nervous moment, but Dhoni duly took the single and allowed Rayudu to take the single to bring up the hundred and level the scores, in the 19th over.

David Warner will make his first appearance in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) later this year, after being signed by the St Lucia Stars. The franchise announced that he will come in as a replacement for Australia’s D’Arcy Short, who they said is unavailable for the tournament because he is touring India as part of an Australia A squad in August and September.Warner is currently into the third month of a one-year ban handed to him by Cricket Australia for his part in the Newlands ball-tampering scandal, but has started to make his way back into competitive cricket. He was not allowed to play the IPL, but has since signed up with Global T20 Canada franchise Winnipeg Hawks for the league that will begin from June 28, and also committed to playing in the NT Strike League in Darwin starting in July, alongside Cameron Bancroft who is also serving a CA ban for the same issue.Speaking about the signing, Stars’ general manager, Mohammad Khan said: “We are excited to bring David to the St Lucia Stars. David is arguably one of the greatest batsmen of the modern era and a winning player. He is going to add a lot of value on the field and in the dressing room as we pursue our first title.”

Peter Della Penna

Nepal captain Paras Khadka’s sensational four-wicket haul gave the ODI debutants a stirring start, but his opposite number Pieter Seelaar answered the challenge with a stifling spell of left-arm spin to defend 189 in a 55-run win at the VRA Ground, denying Nepal’s effort to become the seventh country to win their maiden one-day international.Nepal were cruising at the start of their chase of 190, behind a 58-run opening stand between vice-captain Gyanendra Malla and wicketkeeper Anil Sah. Malla entertained with a classy array of flicks off his pads, striking eight fours in his 51 off 61 balls.But Seelaar sparked a middle-order collapse two balls after the first drinks break, getting Khadka to drive a catch to Michael Rippon at extra-cover for 12. Rippon trapped Malla in front in the next over after he was late on an attempted sweep. Seelaar and Rippon then led a middle-order duck parade as Aarif Sheikh, Sompal Kami and Basant Regmi all fell to the spin duo without scoring as Nepal fell to 104 for 6.Their chase was further hampered by a first-innings fielding injury sustained by Sharad Vesawkar, and the middle-order rock was kept back to No. 11. Nepal needed 67 to win by the time he walked in, as left-arm seamer Fred Klaassen, who earlier had broken the opening stand by getting Sah to edge to second slip, claimed Karan KC and Sandeep Lamichhane with a pair of steepling deliveries edged behind to Scott Edwards.Vesawkar’s right hand was still bothering him during his short innings, which ended when he edged teenaged allrounder Bas de Leede behind for the final wicket as Nepal were bowled out for 134 in 41.5 overs.Netherlands got off to a rollicking start after choosing to bat under sunny skies. After Sompal Kami beat Dan ter Braak for pace in the third over to notch Nepal’s maiden wicket in ODI cricket, Ben Cooper and Stephan Myburgh added 45 for the second wicket in just 4.5 overs. The pair smacked Karan KC out of the attack – he leaked 24 in his three-over new ball spell.The talismanic Khadka responded by taking a wicket with his fourth ball, gaining a favorable lbw decision off a ball that Ben Cooper appeared to inside-edge onto his pads. Once the stand was broken, it opened the door for Lamichhane to make his presence felt and the legspinner removed the dangerous Myburgh for 29 after the left-hander played inside a googly. Khadka struck a second time in the 16th over, getting Wesley Barresi edging to Sheikh at slip to leave the Dutch in trouble at 72 for 4.But Man of the Match Rippon began his terrific all-round show with a gritty half-century to repel the Nepal spin attack. He only struck two boundaries in his 51 off 76, but was alert to pounce on any Nepal misfields for sharp second runs to the sweeping boundary riders as the Dutch showcased aggressive running between the wickets. Rippon and de Leede’s 68-run stand got the innings back on track, with 18-year-old de Leede playing an unsung role in his 30 off 60 balls, which included an exquisite drive for six over long-on off Lamichhane.Kami backed up his sharp opening spell by coming back to remove de Leede. Left-arm spinner Basant Regmi had Seelaar slog-sweeping to short midwicket in the 38th where Shakti Gauchan, in what may wind up being his only ODI before retirement, knifed a brilliant one-handed catch reaching left. Khadka then struck twice in the next over, snaring Rippon with a slower ball mistimed to mid-on before Shane Snater inside-edged a ball onto his stumps for Khadka’s fourth to make it 159 for 8.But the Dutch tail wagged for a crucial 30 runs. Wicketkeeper Scott Edwards made 18 and added 26 for the ninth wicket with Klaassen before he fell leg-before to Karan after missing a flick across the line. Kami ended his excellent day getting Klaassen to top-edge a pull to Sah behind the stumps.All momentum was tilting Nepal’s way and it continued that way early in their reply, only for Seelaar and Rippon’s tag-team effort to derail the chase. The two teams meet again at the same ground on Friday in the final match of the series.

BCCI

The Karnataka boys – Mayank Agarwal and Manish Pandey – continued to make cases for national selection by stroking half-centuries to help India B beat Australia A in the quadrangular series final in Bengaluru.For Agarwal, it was about forgetting his non-selection for the fourth and fifth Tests in England. For Pandey, it was about extending his glorious run of form after warming the bench across both short formats in England and putting himself back in the reckoning for the Asia Cup.Agarwal’s bruising 67 – to go with an unbeaten 124 earlier in the tournament – set up India B’s chase of 226. His counterattacking 76-run stand for the first wicket with Shubman Gill, after Ishan Kishan had injured his thumb and retired hurt in the seventh over, forced Australia A into the defensive. Once Agarwal fell, Pandey walloped an unbeaten 54-ball 73 to clinch victory in just 36.3 overs.Pandey added 120 for the second wicket with Gill, who made 66 not out. The India B captain finished the tournament with scores of 95*, 21*, 117* and 73*. In all, his 306 runs came at a strike rate of 99.15.Agarwal kickstarted the chase with a delightful extra-cover drive for a boundary off the first ball. But it wasn’t until he backed away and walloped a length ball from Billy Stanlake inside-out for six over the same region that his confidence soared. The shot came in the middle of an intense new-ball burst from Stanlake, who had just rapped Kishan on his thumb with a lifter.Two balls later, Australia A were celebrating again when Michael Neser threw himself to his right to pluck a one-handed catch off Gill at midwicket. However, while checking if the catch had been clean, the umpires discovered that Stanlake had overstepped. Gill, on 0 then, made use of his good fortune to punish Australia and bring up a measured half-century off 67 balls.Once he reached the landmark, Gill shifted into overdrive. His bottom-handed whip off the legspinner Mitchell Swepson and his six over long-on off Neser showed off his authority at the crease.With the foundation set and no pressure to contend with, Pandey kept himself busy, collecting his runs in typically unorthodox fashion. In his previous outing, Pandey had displayed swift footwork in trying to smother spin. On Wednesday, he brought out deft touches and stayed back in his crease. And then, once the target was within sight, he brought out the big hits.Australia, who finished the tournament with two wins in four games, had D’Arcy Short’s 72 at the top of the order among their positives. But their performance against spin will give them lots to think about leading into the two four-day matches in September. Australia A had talked up their approach to spin, and the positive influence of spin-specific camps in Brisbane and Bengaluru. However, they failed to walk the talk, losing six wickets to the spinners in the final. As a result, they conceded whatever advantage they had gained, having at one stage looked good for 250.Australia largely looked to sweep and play spin from the crease, and two of their frontline batsmen, Usman Khawaja and Alex Carey, fell to top-edges pouched by the keeper. Short and Khawaja took on Prasidh Krishna with the new ball, and hit him for five boundaries in his first two overs to force an early change. India B introduced spin in the ninth over, in the form of the offspinner Jalaj Saxena, with Australia A having raced to 48 without loss. Off Saxena’s third delivery, Khawaja survived when he stepped out to flick and sent a leading edge just out of cover’s reach. He was out next ball, though, looking to slog against the turn.In the next over, Travis Head was out to a leading edge off Navdeep Saini, with Gill running in from point to complete a superb catch. It left Australia 56 for 2 in the 10th over. Short carried on to bring up his half-century off just 43 balls, employing drop-and-run methods against Saxena instead of the sweep. He raised a half-century stand with Marnus Labuschagne before Australia A collapsed.Labuschagne failed to read a Shreyas Gopal flipper and was out lbw looking to play across the line. This wicket was offset by the arrival of Carey, whose deft touches and delicate paddles brought him a half-century. Short carried on unperturbed at the other end, even if he was at times watchful against spin. He made 30 off the 46 deliveries he faced against spin, before spooning a catch to cover off Deepak Hooda. Ashton Agar then added 44 with Carey before Australia went into freefall, slipping from 192 for 5 to 225 all out, Siddarth Kaul and Saini polishing off the tail with skiddy bouncers.

Ben McDermott steers one fine•Getty Images

Tasmania opener Ben McDermott struck his second List A century in three matches, providing nearly half the runs his team needed to win the JLT One-Day Cup game against South Australia at Bankstown Oval in Sydney. The 23-year-old batted through the innings, finishing unbeaten on 102 when the winning runs were hit in the 49th over of a low-scoring scrap.The chase of 237 had seemed straightforward while McDermott had Jordan Silk for company. They’d come together with the score at 2 for 33 in the 11th over and put on the biggest partnership of the match, Their 123-run union seemed to be the last twist in the tale but Kane Richardson had other ideas, running Jordan Silk out for 71 and creating an opening for South Australia. He also took two more wickets with his fast bowling, assisted by legspinner Adam Zampa to drag Tasmania down from 2 for 156 to 7 for 216. But McDermott was still in the middle and he made sure to stay there till the end.In the end, South Australia were left ruing a collapse of their own. Although they too had a substantial score from an opening batsman – Jake Weatherald made 79 – and the captain Jake Lehmann contributed with an unbeaten fifty, the final few overs didn’t go according to plan. A scoreline that read 2 for 168 with 15 overs left to play veered drastically off course as fast bowlers Riley Meredith, Gurinder Sandhu picked up two wickets each. South Australia could only add a further 68 runs to their total in the last 92 balls, losing five wickets in the process.

A stunning piece of fielding from the tourists was, typically, the defining moment of the fourth day’s play, as England snuffed out a fighting sixth-wicket stand, then withstood some feisty hitting from the No. 11, to complete a sensational 3-0 whitewash of Sri Lanka.Requiring six wickets at the start of the day, they were made to bowl 59.4 overs before the opposition finally succumbed, going down eventually by 42 runs. Kusal Mendis hit 86, Roshen Silva 65, and last man Malinda Pushpakumara smacked 42 off 40 that was equal parts blind luck and adventure. It was left-arm spinner Jack Leach who took the winning wicket in the over after tea, finishing with 4 for 72 for the innings, while offspinner Moeen Ali claimed 4 for 92.This is now not only England’s first 3-0 whitewash away from home since 1963, it is also only the third occasion in which Sri Lanka have lost all three Tests in a home series, having done so previously to the great Australia team in 2004, and against India last year. When the first Test began, many believed Sri Lanka to be slight favourites. That they have been beaten so resoundingly will prompt some soul-searching.England, meanwhile, could scarcely have hoped for such joy on this tour. Aside from the Tests, they also brushed Sri Lanka aside in the limited-overs formats, winning the one-off T20, and the ODI series 3-1.It was typical of this series that it was a sublime piece of England fielding that took Sri Lanka by the collar and slammed them against a wall, just as the hosts had seemed to be getting a foothold. Mendis and Silva had been cruising for the majority of their partnership, picking up regular runs into the outfield, and pouncing whenever the England spinners erred. Sri Lanka were never in control of this chase, but so long as these two were in the middle, looking as comfortable as they were, the hosts had some hope. Only the wicket of nightwatchman Lakshan Sandakan fell in the first session.Kusal Mendis was run out by a direct hit from Jack Leach•Associated Press

Soon after lunch, though Leach and Adil Rashid put together a few miserly overs, and there was suddenly a little tension. In the 57th over, a bit of foreshadowing: Mendis hits a ball to mid-off and calls his partner through for a quick single, but Roshen is busy ball-watching, and doesn’t respond. On that occasion, though Mendis was two thirds down the pitch, he was able to return safely, thanks in part to a wayward throw from Stuart Broad.Next over, though, Leach didn’t make the same mistake, running in from deep square leg. Roshen had turned the ball around the corner, run the first one hard, and turned for the second. Mendis merely ambled to the strikers’ end, and saw Roshen sprinting back as he made his own turn. Perhaps figuring he was running to the non-striker’s end, Mendis decided to go through with the second. But Leach was aware of how slow Mendis was. Picking up cleanly, he took aim at the non-striker’s stumps, and threw them down with a laser beam from 40 metres out. Mendis, who had batted so beautifully, trudged dejectedly back. He was the fourth Sri Lanka batsman to fall for 80-odd over the last two Tests. No one made a ton in the series.Until that feisty final stand, the remainder of Sri Lanka’s lower order unraveled meekly. Niroshan Dickwella made his usual lightweight contribution, sweeping a few, never quite looking settled in the middle, then coming down the pitch to smack Leach down the ground for four, before perishing next ball, caught at short leg. Dilruwan Perera was soon out to bat-pad as well, feeding Keaton Jennings his sixth catch of the match – equalling an England record.Sri Lanka’s hopes were all but snuffed out already, but when Roshen was out lbw to Moeen Ali (England brilliantly reviewing on an occasion where Roshen had hit the ball with the full face of his bat, but only after the ball had clipped his pad in front of the stumps) they appeared to properly be buried. With the last-wicket pair at the crease, they still needed 101.Then Pushpakumara’s bat glinted like a pirate’s cutlass, he slashed and swept and cut and hacked and pulled, and England, suddenly started to look a little rattled. The tea break came at the perfect time for England, however. They regrouped over the break, and Leach straightened a ball into Suranga Lakmal’s pad to raise a successful lbw appeal. Lakmal reviewed umpire S Ravi’s decision (and the way he has been umpiring, why wouldn’t you?), but the ball was projected to be hitting leg stump.

Nuwan Zoysa has been charged with three counts of breaching the ICC Anti-Corruption Code. Owing to the seriousness of the charges, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has sent Zoysa on “compulsory leave”, with immediate effect.Although he has never directly worked with the national team, Zoysa is the incumbent bowling coach of the Sri Lanka A team, and was part of tours of West Indies and Bangladesh this year. He has been a fast-bowling coach in the Sri Lankan set up since September 2015, and had coached the Indian domestic team Goa prior to that.Zoysa stands accused of being involved in attempting to fix or otherwise influence improperly the result or other aspects of an international match, of soliciting fellow professionals to do the same, and for failing to disclose any approach by potential fixers to the ICC Anti-Corruption Unit.Zoysa becomes the second former Sri Lankan cricketer in less than a month to be charged by the ICC on grounds of corruption, as part of the ICC’s ongoing probe into serious allegations of corruption in Sri Lanka.Earlier this month Zoysa’s former captain and teammate, Sanath Jayasuriya, was charged by the ACU over his failure to cooperate in their investigation. In the wake of this development, ACU general manager Alex Marshall had told ESPNcricinfo that Sri Lanka was “the country where we have conducted the most investigations in the last 12 months”.Zoysa, who retired from international cricket in 2007 having played 30 Tests and 95 ODIs for Sri Lanka, has 14 days from November 1 to respond to the charges.In the media release confirming Zoysa being sent on indefinite leave, SLC also said it has begun work on setting up a “fully-fledged anti-corruption unit” and has spoken to the ICC to seek its help in doing so.”As another forward step, The Competent Authority of the SLC Mr. Kamal Pathmasiri; SLC CEO, Mr. Ashley De Silva and Deputy Solicitor General of the AG’s Department Sumathi Dharmawardena will travel to UK; in the near future; to meet the UK’s Chief Prosecutor; to discuss the modality of setting up such a mechanism in Sri Lanka,” the SLC release stated.”In the meantime, Minister of Sports Honorable Faiszer Musthapa has assured SLC that he will work towards introducing tough anti-corruption laws in Sri Lanka.”Honorable Minister is constantly engaged with the SLC on this matter and is of the view that setting up a prudent anti-corruption mechanism in Sri Lanka is vital for the future of the game.”GMT 1640 The story was updated to include SLC’s response

In what was probably another dig at the decision to cut him from the ODI team in September, Angelo Mathews performed 10 push ups upon reaching an outstanding rearguard hundred in Wellington. He then flexed his biceps in the direction of the dressing room, from where coach Chandika Hathurusingha – who had been involved in the decision to drop him – was no doubt looking on.Mathews had been axed as ODI captain then dropped from Sri Lanka’s limited-overs teams entirely based on what Hathurusingha and the former selectors said were fitness grounds. Mathews had had several injury layoffs over the past two years, with his hamstrings and calves giving him particular trouble.Following Mathews’ omission from the limited-overs sides, Hathurusingha had also called into question Mathews’ running between the wickets, describing the number of run outs he had been involved in a “world record”.In late September, Mathews had publicly given voice to the sense of betrayal he had felt at being suddenly cut from the limited-overs teams, and had carried that hurt through to his next international outing – the Tests against England last month. Through the course of that series, Mathews struck three fifties, and at least twice made a gesture toward the dressing room, pointing to his bat and making a yapping motion with his gloves, to signal that he was letting his bat do the talking.The push-ups though, were the most colourful message yet. Mathews batted out testing spells on the third evening and all through day four, to finally reach triple figures off the 248th ball he faced. Having raised his bat, he immediately dropped to the ground, performed 10 quick push ups, got up, pointed to his head, then flexed a bicep. Partner Kusal Mendis, with whom he had put on Sri Lanka’s biggest ever stand against New Zealand, watched on, grinning.Although the celebration was ostensibly a jab at Hathurusingha, Sri Lanka’s coaches may reflect that dropping Mathews achieved exactly the results they were after. He has been a fitter and more productive player over the past six weeks, and has even begun bowling in internationals for the first time in nearly two years, sending down four overs in the first innings of the ongoing Test.”We’ve seen a re-igniting in Angelo now, which was not there in the last year,” bowling coach Rumesh Ratnayake said after stumps on day four. “Even though we saw a hundred against India, in the past six or seven months we’ve something entirely different. We’re seeing a different Angelo now. It’s brilliant.”Mathews had also top-scored for Sri Lanka in the first innings, with 83. This was his first Test century in over a year.