Finch stars as Oz finally win
Southampton: Aaron Finch’s record-breaking innings saw Australia to a first competitive international win in 200 days as they beat England by 39 runs in the first Twenty20 international here. Man-of-the-match Finch’s stunning 156, the highest individual score in all Twenty20 internationals, was the cornerstone of Australia’s 248 for six, itself the second-highest team score at this level. England, who wrapped up a 3-0 Ashes series win with a draw at The Oval on Sunday, unsurprisingly lost early wickets when faced with such a colossal chase and finished on 209 for six on Thursday night. Victory saw Australia go 1-0 up in a two-match series that concludes in Durham on Saturday.
Gambhir scores a century
Bristol: Out-of-favour opener Gautam Gambhir roared back to form with a fine century for Essex against Gloucestershire in a Division II County Championship match here on Friday. After four successive failures at the start including a duck in the first innings of this match, the Delhi left-hander showed glimpses of his old self with a delightful knock at the County Ground, here on Friday. This is Gambhir’s first century in county cricket and 34th first-class century of his career.
SriniVASAN call on WC meet
New Delhi: The BCCI on Friday made it clear that it was upto N Srinivasan to take a call on whether he would like to attend the Sunday’s working committee meeting in Kolkata. “We have consulted the legal experts after today’s Supreme Court hearing. What we have gathered is that no one can and no one will in fact stop him from attending the meeting if he wishes to do so. He (Srinivasan) is well within his rights to attend the meeting but it will entirely be his call,” Patel said over phone from Baroda.
OCA to sell Ind-Aus tickets online
Bhubaneswar: In an effort to avoid duplication, Odisha Cricket Association (OCA) has decided to sell tickets online and introduce bar-code system for the ensuing ODI between India and Australia at Barabati Stadium in Cuttack on October 26. “For the first time we will introduce bar-code tickets to prevent any manipulation and duplication. Only authentic ticket-holders would be allowed to enter the stadium after thorough checking by police and private security guards,” OCA secretary Ashirbad Behera said.
Zol’s ton on 1st class debut
Visakhapatnam: Stylish left-hander Vijay Zol carried his stupendous form at the U-19 level to first-class cricket, scoring a fluent century on debut as the three-day encounter between India A and New Zealand A ended in a draw here on Friday. In reply to New Zealand’s total of 310, India A scored a healthy 388 for seven courtesy Zol’s 110 and skipper Abhishek Nayar’s unbeaten 102.