Mahendra Dhoni and Mahela Jayawardene hammered centuries in a record stand to set up Asia's 13-run win over Africa in the third and final match of the Afro-Asia one-day series on Sunday.
Dhoni (139 not out) and Jayawardene (107) put on 218 for the sixth wicket as Asia posted a challenging 331-8 before restricting Africa to 318-7 in an exciting day-night match to complete a 3-0 sweep.
The previous best for the sixth wicket in one-day internationals was 165.
PHOTO: AFP
Skipper Justin Kemp posed the main threat to Asia's total with a blazing 76-ball 86 including seven sixes, but his team's hopes virtually ended when he was bowled by left-arm spinner Mohammad Rafique (4-65) in the 46th over.
Africa were struggling at 159-5 before Kemp added 122 for the sixth wicket with Shaun Pollock, who remained unbeaten with 58 off 49 balls.
Africa began the chase on an impressive note as AB de Villiers and Vusi Sibanda added 117 for the opening wicket before faltering against Asian spinners Rafique and Harbhajan Singh (3-48).
South African De Villiers hit three sixes and seven fours in his 63-ball 70 before becoming Bangladeshi Rafique's first victim and Boeta Dippenaar lasted just one ball before falling in the same over.
Africa slipped to 138-3 when the well-set Zimbabwean Sibanda (45) was stumped by Dhoni while attempting a big shot off Rafique.
Man-of-the-match Dhoni brought off two more stumpings to account for Steve Tikolo and Mark Boucher, this time off Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh before Kemp and Pollock gave Asia a scare.
Asia were earlier reeling at 72-5 following Kenyan Peter Ongondo's triple strike, but Sri Lankan Jayawardene and Indian Dhoni came to their team's rescue with robust knocks.
Jayawardene hit two sixes and nine fours in a 106-ball knock before falling in the closing overs.
Dhoni gave a superb exhibition of power hitting as he struck five sixes and 15 fours in a 97-ball innings.
Asia were in trouble in the initial overs against disciplined African bowling and fielding before Jayawardene and Dhoni altered the course of the innings.
Seamers Ongondo (3-35) and Morne Morkel (3-50) were brilliantly backed by their fielders, with Kemp and De Villiers taking spectacular catches to keep pressure on the Asian side.
But Dhoni and Jayawardene put paid to Africa's hopes of restricting Asia to a modest total with their exciting strokeplay. They helped their side plunder 108 in the closing 10 overs.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier