The big news: Aussies tame the Lankan lions

Australian fast bowler John Hastings was at his fiery best when he demolished the Sri Lankan batting line-up by taking six wickets for 45 runs in the fourth One-Day International (ODI). These were his career-best figures and it could not have come at a better time for Australia. After a forgettable Test series against Sri Lanka, Australia needed to win the ODI series to save them the blushes.

At Dambulla, Hastings and George Bailey powered Australia to a six-wicket victory on Wednesday. Opting to bat first, Sri Lanka were bowled out for 212, with Hastings being the root cause of the batting collapse. Australia seemed to be in a hurry when they came out to bat because Aaron Finch blasted a 19-ball 55 to ensure that they had the perfect start. In came George Bailey who played a splendid innings of 90 and took Australia comfortably home with 19 overs to spare.

Other top stories

  1. India’s Ravichandran Ashwin slipped to third place in the International Cricket Council's Test rankings, as South Africa’s Dale Steyn beat England’s James Anderson to take the top spot.
  2. The Justice Lodha committee has given the Board of Control for Cricket in India another set of timelines besides setting a December 15 deadline for forming an apex council. The panel has told the board to create a new Indian Premier League governing council by December 30.
  3. The ICC will discuss the debacle in the recently held T20 International between West Indies and India in Florida next month. A 40-minute delay, because of technical reasons, robbed the match of a result with rain arriving in the second innings.
  4. Anurag Thakur, who is the president of the BCCI, has put plans of hosting a mini IPL on hold in the United States. Thakur cited the time difference as the main reason for the sudden development considering the fact that they were looking at USA as a potential market.
  5. Pakistan head coach Mickey Arthur has successfully convinced the country's cricket board to end the restrictions it has put on the Pakistani players. The curfew timings have ended, but the players will have to be on their best behaviour or face the stick if not.
  6. Sheldon Jackson and Dinesh Karthik held the innings together for India Blue as they went from 200/5 to 285/5 on another rain-hit day in the Duleep Trophy against India Red. Only 16.2 overs were bowled and with one day to go, a result looks highly unlikely.
  7. In the Tamil Nadu Premier League, Lyca Kovai Kings beat Albert Tuti Patriots by nine wickets. The next match will see the Dindigul Dragons take on VB Thiruvallur Veerans.