MELBOURNE Friday: Chamara Kapugedera smashed a four off the last ball to give Sri Lanka a thrilling five-wicket victory over Australia in their first Twenty20 international at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Friday.

The win kept Sri Lanka unbeaten in four T20 internationals in Australia and followed their 2-1 series win over South Africa last month.

The pulsating win was made possible by a dashing 52 off 37 balls by Asela Gunaratne, who was named man-of-the-match for his match-turning innings.

Gunaratne slammed seven fours to share in a decisive 60-run stand with Milinda Siriwardana to put the Sri Lankans just 18 runs short of victory with 17 balls remaining. It was a tense finish with skipper Aaron Finch making fielding changes before every ball to prevent Sri Lanka from getting home.

But it was Kapugedera who stood up to the pressure and slammed fast bowler Andrew Tye’s final delivery through the covers to the boundary rope for the winning hit.

The win put Sri Lanka one up in the series with two matches to play in Geelong on Sunday and Adelaide on Wednesday.

For a time it looked as though the Australians, playing without their leading stars, Steve Smith, David Warner, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood all on tour in India, would hold off the fast-finishing Sri Lankans.

The home side posted a competitive total of 168 for six off their 20 overs with skipper Finch smashing two sixes and two fours in his topscoring 43 off 34 balls.

Finch shared in an opening stand of 76 with T20I debutant Michael Klinger.

Klinger, making his debut at the age of 36 after starring with the Perth Scorchers in the domestic Big Bash League, hammered 38 off 32 balls with four boundaries.

Lasith Malinga, who has played virtually no cricket for nearly a year due to injuries, was an influential figure taking two wickets in two balls and taking two catches.

Malinga claimed the wickets of Travis Head for 31 off 24 balls and debutant Ashton Turner for 18 off 13 balls, both caught by Seekkugge Prasanna at deep mid-wicket.

Malinga finished with two wickets for 29 off his four overs.

Paceman Pat Cummins struck with the last ball of his opening over getting skipper Upul Tharanga to edge to wicketkeeper Tim Paine for a duck in the first over of the Sri Lanka innings. Leg-spinner Adam Zampa claimed the big wicket of free-scoring opener Niroshan Dickwella for 30 off 25 balls.

Dickwella, who slammed four fours and a six, looked to flick Zampa over mid-wicket only to lob a leading edge to Klinger at short third man in the ninth over.

Dilshan Munaweera smashed a breezy 44 off 29 balls with six fours before he hit a short ball from Zampa to mid-wicket where Finch took a head-high catch. But Gunaratne took charge and his half-century turned the tide to set up the thrilling victory for the Sri Lankans.

Australia’s world champion one-day outfit is aiming to crown the country’s national day with a clinically “perfect” performance in the final of the VB ODI Series against Pakistan.

With the trophy already secured and the prospect of myriad overseas assignments beckoning for Australia’s Test and limited-overseas personnel, it would be reasonable to assume that little rides on tomorrow’s Australia Day ODI at the Adelaide Oval.

Quick Single: Wade’s potential move won’t impact Maxwell

But that’s not the view within the Australia dressing room, with all-rounder Glenn Maxwell citing future selection prospects, the need to maintain winning momentum and the importance of the national celebration as motivation for the home side.

Australia secured the five-match series with last Sunday’s 86-run victory at the SCG, which carried Steve Smith’s team to an unassailable 3-1 lead.

But Maxwell, the only member of the Australia squad to take part in his team’s optional training session in Adelaide this morning, dismissed any suggestion that there was a feeling of ‘mission accomplished’ within the camp.

Or that the upcoming Qantas Tour of New Zealand (a three-match Chappell-Hadlee Trophy Series starting next week), Test training camp in Dubai or the four-Test Qantas Tour of India beginning next month had assumed priority in the eyes of any players.

“For a lot of people it might seem like a dead rubber, but there’s still a lot to play for, especially individually,” Maxwell said today.

“There’s still a lot of Champions Trophy (ICC tournament in the UK next June) places up for grabs which is in the distance, and there’s still a New Zealand series around the corner as well.

“I think it’s a really important game to not only make sure you’re winning as a team, you’re keeping that winning momentum because it’s sometimes an easy thing to lose.

Quick Single: Scorchers enforcer pledges commitment

“If you take the foot off the gas at any stage it can be a long bumpy road back, so we’ll be keeping the foot on the gas and all guns blazing forward.”

Maxwell, who made his return to the ODI starting XI after missing out for all three matches against NZ last month, claimed the reigning World Cup holders had been incrementally improving their performances as the current summer has progressed.

And even though they have lost just one match – the six-wicket loss to Pakistan at the MCG 10 days ago – since their disastrous 0-5 whitewash at the hands of South Africa late last year, the all-rounder believes the Australians have yet to hit their straps.

With the Australia Day holiday, which sees the once traditional Adelaide Oval ODI reinstated for the first time in three years, the ideal platform on which to unveil a complete performance.

“A lot of the Australia Days I remember growing up were pretty similar to Boxing Day (Test match in Melbourne) – it’s very iconic, you love sitting sown on Australia Day with a barbie and watching Australia play one-day cricket,” Maxwell said.

“And generally an entertaining game of one-day cricket.

Quick Single: Boof launches at KP

“So that’s something that we’ll be hoping to provide, and having built up the whole series – getting better and better as the series has gone on – I think we’ll be looking forward to putting on a fully clinical performance throughout the whole game.

“We’ve shown glimpses with the bat, glimpses with the ball and glimpses in the field.

“But to put that perfect game together, which is what we’re always striving for in the one-day set is what we’ll be aiming for tomorrow.”

Having been dumped from the ODI set-up after last year’s tri-series win over the West Indies and South Africa in the Caribbean, and overlooked for the one-dayers in Sri Lanka, South Africa and Australia (against NZ) that succeeded it, Maxwell has been buoyed by his recent returns.

Scores of 60, 23 and 78 batting in the lower middle-order built upon a keener understanding of his own game and the match situations confronting him.

“To come back and get two fifties out of three innings and feel like I’ve hit the ball nicely and do it in my way was really pleasing,” he said today.

“I think that comes from being a little bit calmer at the crease and probably having more trust in my game.

“I probably put a lot of pressure on myself in years gone by to score at a fast rate and – I wouldn’t say (not) fully concentrating on the job at hand, I’d say more worried about scoring fast and worrying about if I was hitting consistent boundaries.

“But taking a backwards step and being able to assess the conditions and knowing you have so much more time than you (thought) and just trying to back the fact that I can clear the ropes at the end (of the innings).”
Hazlewood snags three at the SCG

The 28-year-old also played down suggestions he no longer qualifies as an all-rounder, given he has been tossed the ball just once (for two overs) in his past seven ODI appearances.

And in that time, part-time spinner Travis Head has been used with much great regularity by skipper Smith.

“It’s just about me working hard and continuing to be an option if he (Smith) needs me,” Maxwell said when asked where his bowling was at.

“It’s not something I’ve really worried about too much.

“I think in the first (VB Series) match Heady bowled 10 overs for 28, and I didn’t do that too many times in my career.

“He’s been a great off-spin option for us and I’ve just got to be that other option if need be.”

Smith’s side depart for a tour of South Africa on Tuesday, with pacemen Starc and Josh Hazlewood both rested from the five-match ODI series that starts next week.

But Starc won’t be putting his feet up in a traditional sense.

The left-armer required 30 stitches after a freak fielding accident at training last week, when he slashed his leg on a stump that had been dug into the ground.

Starc held the catch but Smith was among shocked teammates to see the resultant deep gash that prompted medical staff to call an ambulance.

“It wasn’t nice at all. It was probably one of the most gruesome things I’ve ever seen,” Smith said on Monday.

“He was aware it (the stump) was there. It was just one of those things, you go for the ball and sort of almost block everything out. As he was catching it, a few us were saying ‘no, just don’t go for it’.

“He wasn’t overly impressed … he was about to have a bit of a rest and chill out, they’re the kind of things you don’t want happening.

“It wasn’t great but I’m sure in a couple of weeks he’ll be ok and back into things .. we’re confident he’ll be ok for the first Test.”

Starc was expected to play a handful of games for NSW in the second half of the domestic one-day competition, which starts on October 1.

The express paceman, who will be in a knee brace for a further fortnight, will now instead aim to be ready for the Blues’ Sheffield Shield opener that begins on October 25.

Should Starc suffer any setbacks in his recovery he will be racing the clock to be fit by November 3, when Australia’s three-Test series against South Africa starts in Perth.

In sharp contrast Smith is feeling refreshed after he was sent home to rest during a recent ODI series in Sri Lanka, much to the consternation of many former players.

“Everyone’s entitled to their opinion .. we could have got the messaging across a little bit better,” Smith said.

“We knew a fair way out that I was going to be leaving … (but) it shocked a few people.

“It will do me the world of good looking at what’s coming up.”

Smith hoped Australia could gain a mental edge over the Proteas by winning the upcoming ODI series but acknowledged the next few months would feature a lot of tough cricket.

“The South African team probably won’t be too different from the one-dayers to the Test matches,” Smith said.

“It’s a very fiercely-contested series every time you play against South Africa.”

Chaplow, who joined US third-tier side Orange County in July, was also fined.

The incident occurred during Saturday’s game against LA Galaxy II, when ex-Leeds midfielder Robbie Rogers says he was subject to a repeated “gay slur”.

Chaplow, 31, denies using homophobic language and said “to suggest I’m homophobic is ridiculous”.

“The United Soccer League (USL) has zero tolerance for this type of behaviour,” Jake Edwards, the league’s president, said in a statement. “We cannot, nor will we, condone any language that is counter to the values we have instilled throughout the USL.”

Chaplow, who has played for clubs including West Brom and Southampton, was suspended for “offensive and abusive language”.

“I swore several times at Rogers for overreacting to a foul, but at no time was the language homophobic and no evidence has been found of this,” he told the Telegraph.

“I have a close family member that is openly part of the LGBT community so to suggest I’m homophobic is ridiculous and there is no evidence to support this.”

Rogers, 29, who was making his return from an Achilles tendon injury in the fixture, said he had not heard another “gay slur” in four years since returning to the MLS.

“I spent the drive home wishing I had channelled my inner Zidane and punched or head-butted this player,” he wrote on Facebook. “Even though I knew punching this person wouldn’t have helped either of us, my team, or the greater cause of advancing equality in sports.”

The Aussies put aside their embarrassing 3-0 Test whitewash to grind out a hard-fought victory on a dry slow wicket and take an early advantage in the five-match series. A determined looking Smith led the way with a gritty 58 under lights in the Sri Lankan capital, as the Aussies survived a late flurry of wickets to reach 7-228 and pass the victory total with 3.1 overs to spare.

Finch settled early nerves in the run chase with some hard-hitting that included a six in the first over, eventually scoring 56 off 46 deliveries against an attack shorn of injured spin king Rangana Herath.

Dinesh Chandimal celebrates his seventh Test century on the second day of the third and final Test against Australia at the SSC grounds yesterday. Pictures by Rukmal Gamage,

The pair batted with determination and using their feet well to the Lankan spinners has so far put together their first century partnership of the series – 120 off 234 balls, after losing David Warner to the last ball before the tea break for 11.

Australia still trail Sri Lanka by 214 runs and have a lot of batting ahead of them because they will be batting last on this pitch which is expected to take more spin with the passing days.

The fact that there were no lbw dismissals in the Sri Lanka or the Australian innings so far gave an indication of how the pitch is playing compared to the 20 lbw decisions that were given in the first two Tests at Pallekele and Galle.

If Australia took the honours in the final session, the first two were dominated against by Sri Lanka with vice-captain Dinesh Chandimal producing a workmanlike century to carry his team to a respectable first innings total of 355.

Chandimal’s seventh Test hundred and his first against Australia coupled with that of Dhananjaya de Silva’s knock of 129 saw Sri Lanka lift themselves off the floor from a lowly 26-5 courtesy of a record sixth wicket partnership of 211 between the two centurions.

De Silva captured the headlines on the opening day with his maiden Test century, and yesterday it was the turn of Chandimal who displayed great resolve to play a responsible innings for his team.

Chandimal played second fiddle to De Silva in the big partnership but after his partner was dismissed in the 14th over of the morning for 129 after hitting 18 fours off 280 balls, he took control of the innings to reach his century which he celebrated with an eruption of emotion leaping in the air and punching it. It was the first time in 82 years that numbers six and seven had made centuries in a Test, the last occasion being England pair Maurice Leyland and Les Ames against Australia at Lord’s in 1934.

Chandimal carried the fight to the Aussies bowlers and after De Silva’s departure at 237, figured in valuable partnerships with the tail to further frustrate the opposition.

The most crucial of those stands was with Rangana Herath who went onto play another gutty knock of 33 in a stand of 73 for the eighth wicket before he was forced to retire hurt after being hit a painful blow on his groin by Jos Hazlewood.

Herath did not take the field in the few minutes Australia batted before the tea break but recovered sufficiently to resume bowling in the final session without showing any discomfort. Chandimal after his eight-hour batting marathon suffered from dehydration and although he took the field did not keep wickets – Kusal Perera taking over that role.

Mitchell Starc, Australia’s star fast bowler cleaned up the Lankan tail to finish with his third consecutive five-for in the series that took his tally of wickets to 22, more than any bowler in the series.

Australian captain Steve Smith had a horrible day on the field dropping Chandimal at 100 off the luckless Jon Holland and Herath at 28 off Mitch Marsh – both chances going abegging at slip, but later compensated to some extent with the bat. Sri Lanka leads the three-match series 2-0.

After Indian opener Rohit Sharma scored an unbeaten 171 to lead his country to an imposing 309-3, Australia got away to a rocky start when left arm seamer Barinder Sran removed both openers in his first three overs.

Playing on a lifeless pitch which offered nothing for the bowlers, Bailey and Smith played brilliantly to frustrate the Indian attack.

They rotated the strike throughout the innings to keep the score moving, taking quick singles and hitting boundaries when they needed to increase the pace.

Bailey was the more aggressive early and reached his century before his captain, taking just 106 balls with six boundaries and two sixes.

Smith began to accelerate and followed Bailey to three figures soon after, off only 97 balls including six fours and a towering six.

Bailey eventually fell when he tried to smash another six off Ravi Ashwin and was caught on the boundary by Bhuvneshwar Kumar but Smith continued his incredible vein of form.

He smashed his way to 149 but with only two runs needed for victory he chipped Sran to cover where Virat Kohli claimed an easy catch, leaving James Faulkner to hit the winning run.

“I thought we did well in the field to restrict them to 309,” Smith said.

“They looked like they were going to get 350 at one stage.”

India must have been confident of defending their total after Sran’s impressive start.

He brilliantly caught and bowled Finch (8) in his second over, then had the dangerous Warner (5) caught at midwicket by Kohli in his third.

But the ease with which Australia chased the score down showed that India had not scored quickly enough in the middle of their innings and were at least 20 runs short of a competitive total.

“I think it’s important that after you score 300 runs you bowl well and I think in the middle overs when the spinners were bowling they gave up too many runs,” Dhoni said.

“I was quite happy with the fast bowling performance — I thought they bowled well and hit the right spots.”

Earlier Sharma and Kohli (91) shared a 207-run partnership for the second wicket against a toothless Australian attack.

India lost opener Shikhar Dhawan (9) in the sixth over when he top-edged an attempted pull from Josh Hazlewood straight to Mitchell Marsh at deep backward square leg.

However, that brought Kohli to the crease and signalled a long period of complete dominance over the Australian attack as he raced to the highest individual ODI score against Australia on Australian soil, eclipsing Viv Richards’ 153 not out for the West Indies in 1979.

Sharma smashed 13 fours and cleared the boundary seven times to the delight of the large contingent of Indian fans at the ground. He built his innings steadily, bringing up his 50 from 63 balls, his century from 122 and his 150 from 155, mixing quick singles with some powerful boundary hitting.

It was the fourth time Sharma had scored 150 in ODIs, a record only surpassed by countryman Sachin Tendulkar.

Sharma lost Kohli with the score on 243 and was joined at the crease by Dhoni, who joined in with 18 rapid runs before he was caught brilliantly at mid-on by Boland.

However, despite the late flourish the Indians fell short and Australia were able to draw first blood in the five-match series.

AFP

Smith follows in the footsteps of Ricky Ponting (2006 and 2007), Mitchell Johnson (2009 and 2014) and Michael Clarke (2013) to lift the coveted trophy since the inception of the awards in 2004.

During the voting period, which ran from 18 September 2014 to 13 September 2015, the 26-year-old from New South Wales finished as the leading run-scorer in Tests with 1,734 runs in 25 innings of 13 matches at an average of 82.57. This included seven centuries and six half-centuries.

In 26 One-Day Internationals, Smith scored 1,249 runs at an average of just under 60 with four centuries and eight half-centuries. He was a member of the Australia side which won the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 in Australia and New Zealand earlier this year.

South Africa’s ODI captain AB de Villiers has been named as the ICC ODI Cricketer of the Year for the second successive year. He had also won this award in 2010. In the voting period, de Villiers scored 1,265 runs in 20 innings at an average of just over 79 and a strike-rate of 128.4.

He hit two centuries and nine half-centuries. Earlier this month, de Villiers was named as the captain of the ICC ODI Team of the Year.

New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum has won the ICC Spirit of Cricket Award for inspiring his side to play the game in its true spirit.

This was clearly evident throughout the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015, and in particular in the semi-final where McCullum showed humility and exemplary sportsmanship by inviting de Villiers and his side to the New Zealand’s dressing room after a closely-fought match.

Richard Kettleborough of the Elite Panel of ICC Umpires has won his third successive David Shepherd Trophy for the ICC Umpire of the Year. He is the third umpire to a complete a hat-trick of titles after Simon Taufel (2004 to 2008) and Aleem Dar (2009-2011).

The full list of ICC Award 2015 winners is:

ICC Cricketer of the Year
(Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy)
– Steve Smith (Australia)

ICC Test Cricketer of the Year
– Steve Smith (Australia)

ICC ODI Cricketer of the Year
– AB de Villiers (South Africa)

ICC Women’s ODI Cricketer of the Year
– Meg Lanning (Australia)

ICC Women’s T20I Cricketer of the Year
– Stafanie Taylor (West Indies)

ICC T20I Performance of the Year

– Faf du Plessis (South Africa) (119, 56 balls, 11×4, 5×6 – 2nd T20I vs West Indies, 11 January 2015, Johannesburg)

ICC Emerging Cricketer of the Year
– Josh Hazlewood (Australia)

ICC Associate/Affiliate Cricketer of the Year
– Khurram Khan (UAE)

ICC Spirit of Cricket Award
– Brendon McCullum (New Zealand)

ICC Umpire of the Year
(David Shepherd Trophy)
– Richard Kettleborough

The cricket world is watching with interest as trans-Tasman rivals Australia and New Zealand face off with a revolutionary pink ball at Adelaide Oval from Friday. Zaheer Abbas, the new president of the International Cricket Council, hailed the day-night Test concept as “thoroughly enlightened”.

The pink ball’s capacity to swing freely and create collapses at night in preparatory matches means the final session of play has become more problematic than the first two sessions.

It leaves rival skippers Steve Smith and Brendon McCullum with big decisions to make this week.

Smith indicated his thinking when captaining New South Wales in this season’s day-night domestic Sheffield Shield round by declaring on day one to utilise the swing of paceman Mitchell Starc, who grabbed three wickets in the evening session with the aid of some noticable in-swingers.

Hesson said the clamour to bowl at night could be a key battle at Adelaide.

“There’s definitely something to that (declaring to bowl at night),” he told reporters.

“If you think that’s the best chance to take a few early wickets. There’ll definitely be some tactical plays throughout the Test.”

New Zealand suffered a collapse of four for 30 in their two-day practice tour match in Perth on Sunday after dinner against Western Australia.

The Blackcaps’ bowlers had created havoc by swinging the second new ball in Saturday’s night session with WA losing five for 21. Swing-induced collapses have become a regular occurrence in day-night Sheffield Shield fixtures this season leading up to the Adelaide Test.

“At night with the new ball it swings and probably more so than it does during the day,” Hesson said.

“That’s been very consistent over the past couple of years with the pink ball.

“Obviously, things can change pretty quickly at night. That was good for us to experience. We head to Adelaide knowing not everything but knowing enough.”

Hesson added that the Adelaide Oval pitch would shape the Test, especially when it came to the colour of the ball.

“All the talk is there’ll be grass on the wicket,” he said.

“Over the five days it’s certainly going to dry out so it (the ball) might hold its colour a lot more at the start of the Test than it will at the end. “We’ll have to see the wicket … it’s not a perfect science, is it?” AFP