De Villiers praise for Hashim Amla, Imran Tahir

June 4, 2017

London, Jun 4: South Africa captain AB de Villiers praised opener Hashim Amla and leg-spinner Imran Tahir in South Africa's huge 96-run win over Sri Lanka in their Champions Trophy opener.

DeVilliers

The Proteas posted 299 at The Oval on Saturday thanks to former captain Hasim Amla, who scored his 25th ODI century. He was the fastest to the milestone having got there in 151 innings.

"It was an amazing innings by Hashim. He did really well to assess the conditions, and communicated well with us what kind of score is going to be good," De Villiers said.

Sri Lanka were cruising at 116 for two when Imran Tahir was introduced to the attack and the momentum swung South Africa's favour immediately.

Tahir was Man of the Match after finishing with four wickets for 27 runs.

"It was close to ten out of ten," said De Villiers.

"Not only with the ball in hand but that run out, it always shows me where the player is at when he shows that kind of dedication and commitment in the field. He is a great asset for us.

"He takes wickets and he is also economical most of the time. He had a fantastic performance today."

South Africa's fielding was outstanding as they produced two run outs through direct hits while the catching was top class.

"It's always important to take those moments. Those little opportunities that come your way, which we did.

"So I was very happy with the way we fielded. We worked really hard at that part of our game, and very happy with the way it went today," De Villiers added.

Sri Lanka, meanwhile, were in trouble after they took four hours and seven minutes to finish their 50 overs.

The time allocated to bowl the 50 overs in an innings is three and half hours.

The ICC banned captain Upul Tharanga for the next two games against India and Pakistan and the Sri Lankans were fined.

"We were slow between the overs. The Umpire brought it to my notice in the 40th over that we were three overs behind," Tharanga told journalists after the game.

Sri Lanka got off to a solid start reaching 82 for one at the end of the tenth over, but failed to capitalize.

"When Chandimal and I were batting, we were trying to build a partnership.

"The run out of Chandimal was costly and then after that Kapugedera got out soon. We still had a good run rate, but we lost too many wickets half-way through the innings.

"Someone needed to make a big score when chasing a target of 300," Tharanga added.

Lasith Malinga was returning to ODI cricket after 19 months having been sidelined due to injury and Tharanga was pleased with the effort of the fast bowler.

"He is playing a game after two years. He is getting better and better. He bowled well up front and finished things off well for us although he didn't get a wicket."

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April 5,2020

New Delhi, April 5: England batsman James Vince lashed out at people for not taking proper measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus pandemic and said people are going out as if "everything is normal".

"Just seen the pictures of people out and about today as if everything is normal. What selfish people, surely by now they've realised this is serious. Well done to everyone who's doing their bit and staying in," Vince tweeted.

On March 13, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said that Europe was now the 'epicentre' of the disease.

The death toll due to the novel coronavirus in the UK has exceeded 4,313 with at least 708 new deaths in the last 24 hours, the largest one-day rise since the start of the outbreak as confirmed by the Department of Health and Social Care.

The total number of cases in the UK as on Saturday is 41,903, a rise of 3,735 cases in the last 24 hours.

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June 5,2020

Jun 5: The Asian Football Confederation has awarded the hosting rights of the 2022 Women's Asian Cup to India for the first time since 1979.

The decision was taken at the AFC Women's Football Committee meeting. In February, the AFC Women's Football Committee had recommended India to be hosts.

In a letter to the All India Football Federation, Dato Windsor John, General Secretary, AFC wrote: "The Committee awarded the hosting rights of the AFC Women's Asian Cup 2022 Finals to the All India Football Federation."

The tournament will likely be held in the second half of the year. In the 1979 edition, India had finished as runners-up.

"I need to thank the Asian Football Confederation for finding us suitable to host the AFC Women's Asian Cup in 2022," AIFF President, Praful Patel said.

"The tournament will galvanise the aspiring women players and bring in a holistic social revolution as far as women's football in the country is concerned," he added.

The tournament will feature 12 teams, expanded from the previous slot of eight teams.

India qualifies directly as hosts. The event will also serve as the final qualification tournament for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup.

The tournament comes as the latest boost to AIFF as India is slated to host the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup next year.

India had also hosted the AFC U-16 Championships in 2016 and the FIFA U-17 World Cup in 2017.

"The tournament will play a huge role in further popularising women's football in India. The Women’s Asian Cup 2022 comes on the back of the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup India 2020, and will help us sustain, and build on the momentum gained," AIFF General Secretary, Kushal Das said.

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June 29,2020

Jun 29: The West Indies cricketers will sport a 'Black Lives Matter' logo on the collars of their shirts during the upcoming three-Test series against England to protest against racism in sports.

Skipper Jason Holder, who has voiced his support to the cause that has once again come to the forefront after the killing of American George Floyd, said in a statement on Sunday: "We believe we have a duty to show solidarity and also to help raise awareness."

The ICC-approved logo, designed by Alisha Hosannah, will be the one which featured in the shirts of all 20 Premier League football clubs since the sport's resumption earlier this month.

"This is a pivotal moment in history for sports, for the game of cricket and for the West Indies cricket team," Holder was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.

"We have come to England to retain the Wisden Trophy but we are very conscious of happenings around the world and the fight for justice and equality. "As a group of young men, we know of the rich and diverse history of West Indies cricket and we know we are guardians of the great game for a generation to come."

Holder, who wants racism to be treated at par with doping and corruption, said they arrived at the decision to wear the logo after much thought.

"We did not take our decision lightly. We know what it is for people to make judgments because of the colour of our skin, so we know what it feels like, this goes beyond the boundary. There must be equality and there must be unity. Until we get that as people, we cannot stop," he said.

"We have to find some way to have equal rights and people must not be viewed differently because of the colour of their skin or ethnic background."

The West Indies players are likely to wear the shirts for the first time in this week's four-day warm-up match at Emirates Old Trafford, starting on Monday.

The opening Test of the series, which will mark the resumption of international cricket after the coronavirus-forced hiatus, will get underway at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton on July 8.

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