No: 17264 Friday, June 23, 2017

44

S p o r t s

FRIDAY, JUNE 23, 2017

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka fast bowler Lasith Malinga

faced an investigation yesterday after he compared a

government minister to a monkey following criticism

that the country’s cricketers were too fat. Sports min-

ister Dayasiri Jayasekera said he ordered an inquiry

after Malinga lambasted him for questioning the

endurance of Sri Lankan players following their fail-

ure to reach the Champions Trophy semi-finals.

“He is now under investigation for making state-

ments to the media in breach of his contract with Sri

Lanka Cricket (board),” Jayasekera told AFP.  “In my

criticism of the appalling fitness levels of our players,

I did not name Malinga, but he has chosen to put the

hat on and attack me publicly.” Malinga told a televi-

sion network the minister knew nothing about crick-

et. “I don’t care about criticism from those who are

simply warming chairs,” he said. “What does a mon-

key know about a parrot’s nesting hollow? This is like

a monkey getting into a parrot’s nest and talking

about it.”

Jayasekera said some Sri Lankan players had pot

bellies that stopped them moving and that often

they could not hold catches. Pakistan skipper Sarfraz

Ahmed was twice dropped in his side’s Champions

Trophy win over Sri Lanka. Both catches were off the

bowling of Malinga, who ended up with just one

wicket for 52 runs. Jayasekera said he ordered a fit-

ness test on the team after their return from England

last week and found that most of them carry too

much fat.

“The typical body fat amounts for a cricketer

should be about 16 percent, but most of our players

have over 25 percent,” Jayasekera said. “I want the

results analysed and in future no one will be included

in a national squad if they are above 16 percent.”

Malinga, 33, was a surprise choice for the Sri Lanka

squad as he has played little international cricket in

the previous 18 months because of injury.

Just prior to the Champions Trophy, however,

Malinga won the cash-rich Indian Premier League

(IPL) title with the Mumbai Indians. Malinga was the

only player excused from Sri Lanka’s high altitude

training camp before the Champions Trophy,

because of the IPL campaign. “They improve their fit-

ness level just to bowl four overs at the IPL,”

Jayasekera said, referring to Malinga. “These guys are

not interested in playing for the country, they play

for the IPL because of the money they get.”

Jayasekera said he was also making fitness a key

requirement for other sports before an athlete can

participate in overseas tournaments. — AFP 

SL’s Malinga in hot water over ‘monkey’ comment

Afghanistan,

Ireland face

their Test D-Day

LONDON: Afghanistan and Ireland are poised to become

the 11th and 12th members of Test match cricket’s close-

knit club yesterday when the sport’s governing body

meets in London. It’s been almost two decades since

Bangladesh were the last country to be granted Test sta-

tus but International Cricket Council (ICC) chief executive

David Richardson believes both Afghanistan and Ireland

have impressive credentials.

“It’s never wise to try and make a call too early, but cer-

tainly the applications of both are very well founded,” said

Richardson. “They both, on the face of it, meet the majori-

ty, if not all, of the full member criteria that has been set.

“I’m optimistic that they’ll be given serious consideration

to have every chance of succeeding.” No longer rank min-

nows, Asghar Stanikzai’s Afghanistan are up for considera-

tion following their victories over Ireland in the

Intercontinental Cup in March.

Unlike the sport’s other major players, Afghanistan

was never a colony of the British Empire. Instead many

Afghans’ first contact with the sport took place during

the 1980s and 1990s, as refugees fled to Pakistan to

escape the Soviet invasion. Cricket struggled under the

hardline Islamist Taliban, who viewed sports as a distrac-

tion from religious duties-and famously shaved the

heads of a visiting Pakistani football team as punishment

for wearing shorts.

But it has become hugely popular in the country since

the regime was toppled in a US-led invasion in 2001.

Recent successes, particularly in last year’s ICC World

Twenty20, have further raised the country’s profile.

Spinners Rashid Khan, who idolises former Pakistan inter-

national Shahid Afridi, and Mohammad Nabi both made

their mark in the Indian Premier League. Khan was the

sixth-highest wicket-taker in his debut IPL with 17 scalps,

and the pair broke into the top 10 of the ICC one-day

international bowling rankings during the just-concluded

tour of the West Indies.

Their former batting coach and former Pakistan skipper

Rashid Latif said a place among the Test nations was well

deserved and would benefit them in the future.

“Afghanistan deserves Test status because their perform-

ances are good. Once they get to play Tests, more and

more players will come forward just like happened in Sri

Lanka and Bangladesh-Kenya suffered because they were

not awarded,” he told AFP. “I think it will be the ICC’s best

decision of the century.” 

Last year, Afghanistan’s national team shifted its base

from Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates to Noida, Delhi,

while India’s former batsman Lalchand Rajput replaced

Pakistan’s Inzamam-ul-Haq as their national team coach.

There are nevertheless questions about how well

Afghanistan and Ireland will do in the game’s longest for-

mat. Bangladesh famously floundered for their first

decade while New Zealand took 26 years to win their first

Test. Ireland, meanwhile, have beaten the West Indies,

England and Pakistan in their time. —AFP 

SOUTHAMPTON: Jonny Bairstow made

a dashing 60 not out as England

thrashed South Africa by nine wickets in

the first Twenty20 international at

Southampton on Wednesday. England,

set just 143 to win, reached their target

for the loss of only one wicket with 33

balls left. Opener Alex Hales was 47 not

out, his unbroken second-wicket stand

with Bairstow worth 98 runs. But the

foundations for a victory which put

England 1-0 up in this three-match

series were laid by their bowlers.

They restricted South Africa to 142

for three after Proteas skipper AB de

Villiers won the toss. De Villiers made 65

not out and Farhaan Behardien an

unbeaten 64 in an innings where fast

bowler Mark Wood took two for 36. The

fourth-wicket pair’s unbroken partner-

ship was worth 110 runs after they came

together with South Africa 32 for three-

which represented a recovery after they

had slumped to seven for two. But

South Africa’s total still looked short of a

competitive score on what is usually a

good batting pitch. Spinners Liam

Dawson (four overs for 17 runs) and

debutant Mason Crane (four overs for

24) both bowled tidily on their

Hampshire home ground.

‘Lost our way’

“The result doesn’t look good for us,”

de Villiers told Sky Sports. “We lost our

way at the start, had to rebuild and we

were 20-30 runs short in the end,” the

star batsman added after a match where

South Africa failed to get the boost they

were looking for after their first-round

exit at the Champions Trophy one-day

international tournament.

Bairstow’s innings followed his 43,

made after replacing Jason Roy, in

England’s eight-wicket Champions

Trophy semi-final loss to eventual tour-

nament winners Pakistan in Cardiff last

week. “I’m trying to progress all the time

and I played a few shots I didn’t have a

few months ago,” said Test wicket-keep-

er Bairstow, whose fifty took just 29

balls. England captain Eoin Morgan paid

tribute to Dawson and Crane by saying: 

“Our spinners were impressive and

never let AB and Farhaan get away from

us. “They managed to tie down one of

the best players of our generation (de

Villiers) and a very good international

cricketer (Behardien).” England new-ball

duo David Willey and Wood both struck

with their opening deliveries. Left-arm

paceman’s Willey’s had Jon-Jon Smuts

out for a golden duck when he pushed

forward tentatively and played on.

Wood then followed suit when Reeza

Hendricks pulled his first ball to a leap-

ing Willey at mid-wicket. Left-hander

David Miller fell for nine when caught

behind off Wood. De Villiers, stepping

well outside off stump, slog-swept

Willey to complete a 49-ball fifty.

Behardien pulled Wood for four for his

fifty and next ball hit him straight back

over his head for six but it was too little

too late. — AFP 

SOUTHAMPTON: England’s Jonny Bairstow bats during the T20 Blast cricket match between England and South Africa at

the Ageas Bowl. — AP 

Bairstow seals England 

rout of South Africa

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