Saturday 18th December, 2010Published by Upali Newspapers (Private) Limited, 223, Bloemendhal Road, Colombo 13 and Printed at 195/187, High Level Road, Homagama on

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PERTH, Australia (AP) - Swingbowler Mitchell Johnson claimed asix-wicket haul Friday to dismissEngland for 187, and put Australia incontrol of the third Test to rekindle itshopes in the Ashes series.

Australia was 119 for three in thesecond innings at stumps, a lead of 200runs on a greenish pitch offering con-stant assistance to the swing bowlers.

Shane Watson, 61 not out, andMike Hussey, 24 not out, will resumetheir 55-run stand Saturday aiming tolead the home side to a series-levelling

win.Australia was dismissed for 268

runs on the first day after being askedto bat first. In reply, England looked incontrol at 78-0 before Johnson’sinspired spell gave him figures of 6-38on his home WACA Ground, justifyingthe selectors’ decision to recall himafter he was dropped for the secondTest.

After helping Australia post acompetitive first innings with a topscore of 62 on the first day, Johnsonwas even more impressive with the

ball, denting England’s hopes of a vic-tory that would ensure the touristsretained the Ashes.

England started the day on 29without loss, and looked like buildinga third straight imposing total, butinstead the visitors’ top order col-lapsed to 98-5.

Ian Bell scored a defiant 53 tostand between England and a meekcapitulation, his fourth successiveTest half-century.

Johnson’s recall to the teamappeared to signal desperation amongthe selectors after Australia enduredan innings defeat in the second Test.However he silenced the critics with afiery 24-ball spell that broke the backof an England batting order that hadlooked impregnable over the past twoinnings.

England’s openers AndrewStrauss (52) and Alastair Cook (32)shared a strong opening stand beforeleft-armer Johnson started England’sslide by finding the edge of Cook’s bat,with the chance taken by Hussey atgully.

He then followed up by trappingJonathan Trott (4), Kevin Pietersen (0)and Paul Collingwood (5) lbw withnearly identical late inswingers, asEngland lost five wickets for 20 runs.

Pietersen challenged his dis-missal but the video review upheldumpire Marais Erasmus’ decision.Later, Johnson successfully chal-lenged Erasmus’ decision to giveCollingwood not out, with replaysshowing the ball straightening to beon track to hit off stump.

This is second time Johnson hastaken five or more wickets in a Testinnings in Perth, following his 8-61against South Africa in 2008.

England’s batsmen had amassed1,137 runs for the loss of just six wick-ets over the past two innings, butJohnson and the all-pace Australiaattack relished the bowler-friendlyconditions.

Johnson returned to the attackjust before the tea break, removingChris Tremlett’s off stump and thenluring James Anderson into an edge tofirst slip to claim his seventh five-wicket haul in his 40th Test appear-ance.

Ryan Harris, the other swingbowler, took 3-59 including the scalpsof Strauss, Bell and Graeme Swann.

Batting again, Australia lost open-er Phil Hughes for 12 and skipperRicky Ponting was out for 1, havingfaced just nine balls before a videoreview found him gloving a catchdown leg side off Steve Finn, who fin-ished with figures of 2 for 48.

Ponting, Australia’s leading runscorer, has managed 81 runs in sixinnings with a high score of 51 not outin the drawn first Test in Brisbane.

Australia 1st Innings 268England 1st Innings (O/n 29-0)A. Strauss c Haddin b Harris 52A. Cook c Hussey b Johnson 32J. Trott lbw b Johnson 4K. Pieterson lbw b Johnson 0P. Collingwood lbw b Johnson 5I. Bell c Ponting b Harris 53M. Prior b Siddle 12G. Swann c Haddin b Harris 11C. Tremlett b Johnson 2J. Anderson c Watson b Anderson 0S. Finn not out 1Extras (8b, 4lb, 1w, 2nb) 15Total: (all out) 187Overs: 62.3.Fall of wickets: 1-78, 2-82, 3-82, 4-94, 5-98, 6-145, 7-181, 8-186, 9-186.Bowling: Hilfenhaus 21-6-53-0 (1nb),Harris 15-4-59-3 (1w), Siddle 9-2-25-1(1nb), Johnson 17.3-5-38-6.Australia 2nd InningsS. Watson not out 61P. Hughes c Collingwood b Finn 12R. Ponting c Prior b Finn 1M. Clarke b Tremlett 20M. Hussey not out 24Extras (1nb) 1Total: (For three wickets) 119Fall of wickets: 1-31, 2-34, 3-64.Bowling: Anderson 11-5-25-0, Tremlett 9-2-20-1, Finn 9-1-48-2 (1nb), Swann 4-0-26-0.Overs: 33.Umpires: M. Erasmus (SA) and B.Doctrove (WI)TV Umpire: Aleem Dar (Pak)Match Referee: J. Crowe (NZ).Toss: Eng

Mitchell Johnson has creditedJames Anderson’s persistent sledgingfor inspiring him to the stunning six-wicket haul that breathed life intoAustralia’s Ashes campaign.

And Johnson revealed that watch-ing video footage of his devastatingseries against South Africa last yearhelped him solve the confoundingissues behind his insipid form of late.

The Australians appear to havemade a conscious decision to adopt amore hostile and confrontationalapproach in Perth, and a series ofheated verbal altercations with theirEnglish rivals have resulted.Anderson sledged Johnson relentless-ly throughout his innings of 62 onThursday, and the Australian pace-man - largely a dormant presence inBrisbane - returned serve throughoutthe English innings.

Johnson harangued AndrewStrauss during England’s short bat-ting session on Thursday evening,and maintained his aggressiveapproach yesterday as he single-hand-edly dragged Australia back into thecontest.

‘’Jimmy [Anderson] tried givingme a bit of lip and that fired me up aswell,’’ Johnson said. ‘’That [sledging]was another thing that was spokenabout before the series. We saw it lastyear in England with JimmyAnderson and Stuart Broad and a fewother guys. I think the crowd like tosee a bit of fire if it is not over theline and it hasn’t been.’’

Johnson’s low arm action and lackof swing have confounded Australiafor the majority of this year, prompt-ing selectors to demote him from theAdelaide Test after an uninspiringouting in Brisbane. The left-armerspent much of the second Test work-ing with Troy Cooley in the AdelaideOval nets to address mechanicalfaults in his action, but a video ses-sion of his greatest ever series,against the Proteas, proved the cata-lyst for his brilliant return to form.

‘’I think the major thing for me wasgetting momentum forward throughthe crease … I was coming over theball too early, my arm was dropping,’’he said. ‘’I looked back at that footagein South Africa [from early 2009]where it was going really well for me.I just saw the position of my body andwhere my momentum was going. Thatis really the key … momentum.

‘’I saw the ball I got Graeme Smithout with [at The Wanderers], it wasswinging away and surprised him alittle bit. I was trying to get that backinto my head. Being dropped from theTest team in Adelaide was disappoint-ing but it was a good wake-up call forme, it got me working.’’

Johnson returned to form with 27balls that emboldened one nation ofcricket fans and startled another’s.

Until yesterday, he was the manwhose confidence was as low as hisarm action after the Brisbane Test. Hewas the fast bowler who had beliedhis lofty world ranking in almostevery appearance against England. Hewas controversially ordered to avoidSheffield Shield cricket after hisaxing to instead work in the nets withthe bowling coach who had allowedhis imperfections to fester.

Now, Johnson has emerged as thebiggest obstacle to England claimingthe Ashes in a canter. He is the pace-man who has revived out of nowherehis ability to swing the ball late backinto the right-hander and, as a result,claimed six wickets. He is the manAustralia is pinning its hopes on for acome-from-behind Ashes victory.

The seeds for his game-changingopening spell yesterday, which yieldedfour wickets, were sown on Thursdayafternoon when he was given twoovers before stumps. Of the 12 ballshe bowled only one was scored off, astreaky boundary to Strauss just wideof gully. At least one of those deliver-ies conspicuously shaped away, andalthough none of them claimed awicket, Johnson proved he had histail up by baiting Strauss as the play-ers left the ground. (SMH)

Sledgingfired me up– Johnson

Australia’s MitchellJohnson celebrates tak-ing the wicket ofEngland’s Kevin Pietersenon day two of the thirdAshes cricket Test inPerth, Australia, Friday,Dec. 17, 2010. Pietersenwas out lbw for a duck (AP)

Australiain controlin Perth

Scoreboard

The Royal Colombo Golf Club was a hive of activity with 62young golfers showing their prowess and enthusiasm at thePrima Sri Lanka Junior Open Championship. Dhanika de Silva after a lapse of one year re-captured the titleof Junior Champion, beating last year’s winner Sachin deSilva by 6 strokes. Dhanika showed consistency withrounds of 77, 73, and 73. The level of golf played by the win-ner would have made some of the top men players proud. Itis heartening to see young players like Sachin de Silva just14 years old shooting 79, 78 and 82 and Prashan Peiris aged12 shooting 83, 79 and 87.Picture shows Isira Fernando, the champion of the bronzecategory, third from left, champion Dhanika de Silva (secondfrom right) and silver category winner Sachin de Silva(extreme right) posing for photographs. Lalith Ramanayakeof Royal Colombo Golf Club is on extreme left while SajithGunaratne, Managing Director of Ceylon Agro Industries(Prima) is second from left with Shun Tien Shing, GeneralManager of Prime fourth from left.

Dhanika wins JuniorGolf Championship

by Ravi Nagahawatte The Sri Lanka Rugby

Football Union (SLRFU) statesthat it prefers foreigners to takeover duties as national coachbecause they are highly quali-fied and do a professional job.

The SLRFU is at presentnegotiating with coaches fromScotland and Australia to fill inthe post of head coach for thecrucial assignment of preparingSri Lanka for the 2011 Asian 5Nations 15-a-side rugby tourna-ment.

Secretary SLRFU ShaneDullewa told The Island thatthe head coach will be appoint-ed before December ends.

Dullewa said that the threelocal coaches already appointedto be assistant coaches, will play

huge roles in preparing theplayers. Dullewa said that allnational coaches (head coachand three assistant coaches)would be included in the SLRFUpayroll.

He said that the SLRFU alsohad plans of recruiting a fitnesstrainer and most importantlywould contract the nationalplayers next year. ‘The wholeexercise is to ensure that SriLanka retains its slot in the TopDivision of the Asian 5 Nationswhich will also be contested byJapan, Hong Kong, ArabianGulf and Kazakhstan.

The Sri Lankans will play asvisitors in their matchesagainst Kazakhstan and Japan.The islanders will host the

matches against Hong Kong andArabian Gulf. According toDullewa, Sri Lanka has to winat least one match to remain inthe Top Division.

Dullewa also said that theSLRFU will strictly enforce theregulation that all coaches,trainers, referees and playersregister with the rugby union.According to Dullewa, the dead-line for registration has beenextended to December 30.‘Rugby is a contact sport andplayers can be prone to acci-dents. We (SLRFU) must ensurethat those who handle playersare registered with us. It’s thenthat the SLRFU can take respon-sibility when something hap-pens,’ said Dullewa.

SLRFU prefers an expatriate to take over as head coach

LONDON (AP) - A women’s beach volleyball tourna-ment will be held at Horse Guards Parade next year as atest event for the 2012 London Olympics.

FIVB says the event will take place from Aug. 9-14 andfeature 24 teams in the Olympic competition format.

A temporary arena with a capacity of 2,500 will beinstalled. Seating capacity for the Olympic tournamentwill be 12,000.

Beach volleyball test event set for London