Cricket news round-up – 23 August: Sri Lanka 85/2, Australia 179, India 203/6

Cricket news round-up – 23 August: Sri Lanka 85/2, Australia 179, India 203/6

England Australia Ashes 2019 Headingley

All three Tests were hit by rain in the ICC Test Championship. At P Sara Oval, Sri Lanka made slow progress to reach 85/2; at Headingley, Jofra Archer shot out Australia for 179; and at North Sound, India recovered from an early collapse to reach 203/6 by stumps. Elsewhere, Namibia won the T20I series against Botswana.

Karunaratne bats through

Rain washed all but 36.3 overs of cricket at P Sara Oval, in which Sri Lanka put up 85/2. They began cautiously, playing out testing new-ball spells from Trent Boult and Tim Southee. Lahiru Thirmanne’s 35-ball 2 ended when he hit William Somerville tamely to mid-wicket.

Dimuth Karunaratne (49*) and Kusal Mendis (32) then added 50 before the latter was caught behind off Colin de Grandhomme.

Archer rips through Australia

Australia were bowled out in 53rd – and last – over of Day 1 at Headingley, for 179. This, after they were placed comfortably at 136/2. Then Jofra Archer’s devastating spell (5/15; innings figures 6/45) triggered a collapse from which they never recovered. Stuart Broad (2/32) contributed too, with two crucial top-order wickets, but really, it was Archer’s pace and accuracy that undid Australia.

Australia’s only bright phase was the 111-run third-wicket partnership between David Warner (61), who finally reached double figures, and Marnus Labuschagne (74), who seems to improve with every outing. The rest of the innings was a blur, the batsmen often finding Archer too hot to handle.

Rahane helps India recover

Ajinkya Rahane (81) helped India recover from what seemed like a hopeless 25/3 to reach 203/6 at stumps on Day 1. Kemar Roach (3/34) and Shannon Gabriel (2/49) extracted bounce at great pace, while Jason Holder (15-9-27-0) stemmed the flow of runs, but Rahane, despite a slow start, seemed to have regained his lost form.

India lost Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, and Virat Kohli to some excellent new-ball bowling from Roach and Gabriel. KL Rahul (44) held the fort, adding 68 with Rahane before getting caught-behind tamely off Roston Chase. Hanuma Vihari (32) contributed as well before Chase and Gabriel came back to remove both men.

Namibia clinch series

With a 78-run win at Windhoek, Namibia took an unassailable 3-0 lead in the 4-match T20I series against Botswana. Batting first, Namibia, powered by Stephan Baard’s 58-ball 92, posted 174/8 even as Dhruv Maisuria got 4-0-28-4.

In response, Botswana collapsed to 96 against Craig Williams (2-0-9-3) and Gerhard Erasmus (3-0-12-3).