ICC Women's World Cup: India's winning run ends with heavy loss to South Africa

Agencies
July 9, 2017

Leicester, Jul 9: India's four-match winning streak in the Women's World Cup was brought to a crashing halt with a 115-run loss against South Africa, following an abject batting surrender here on Saturday.ICCQ

The star South African performer was captain Dane van Niekerk who first made a valuable 57 off 66 balls to guide South Africa to 273 for nine before taking four wickets with leg-spin to help her team bundle out the Indians for 158 in 46 overs.

Besides the South African skipper, opener Lizelle Lee too made a significant contribution by hammering 92 off 65 balls after India put the opposition in at Grace Road.

India would have sealed their semifinal berth with a win today but now have their task cut out in the remaining round robin matches against the mighty Australia and New Zealand.

The game was pretty much done and dusted when India collapsed to 56 for six in the 17th over of the chase.

Deepti Sharma saved India the blushes of getting bowled out for under 100 by scoring a solid 60 off 111 balls with support from number nine Jhulan Goswami, who remained unbeaten on 43.

It was a good batting wicket, something that Lee herself mentioned, but the Indian batsmen were all at sea and crumbled under the scoreboard pressure.

Opener Smriti Mandhana, who took the tournament by storm with a 90 and 106 in the first two games, suffered a third failure in a row.

In-form captain Mithali Raj fell for her maiden golden duck while Harmanpreet Kaur too departed without scoring, both getting out to Niekerk.

While Niekerk foxed the Indians by mixing leg-breaks with the straighter ones, medium pacers Shabnim Ismail, Marizanne Kapp and Ayabonga Khaka were equally effective.

Earlier, Indian bowlers bounced back after Lee's brutal attack at the top of the order before Niekerk revived the South African innings with a crucial half century.

India were put under severe pressure early on as Lee's brutal attack propelled South Africa to 71 for one in 10 overs.

The conditions were ideal for batting and Lee made the most of it, hitting as much as 10 fours and seven sixes.

She missed out on a well deserved hundred after being trapped in front of the stumps by offie Harmanpreet (2/18), leaving South Africa at 134 for three in the 21st over.

From there on, the Indian bowlers were able to contain the opposition batters by taking wickets at regular intervals.

Pacer Shikha Pandey, brought back into the side in place of Mansi Joshi, was the pick of the bowlers taking three wickets for 40 runs from nine overs.

India's most prolific spinner in the tournament, Ekta Bisht, proved expensive leaking 68 runs in nine overs though she did take a couple of wickets.

She went for as much as 20 runs in the 46th over when Niekerk and Chloe Tyron whacked her for three sixes.

India were well on course to restrict South Africa under 250 but Niekerk spoiled their plans with her late onslaught.

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Agencies
June 7,2020

Mumbai, Jun 7: The Mumbai airport became home for a 23-year-old Ghanaian footballer for 74 days after he got stranded there due to the coronavirus-induced lockdown that led to cancellation of flights.

The ordeal of Randy Juan Muller reminded people of Tom Hank's character in the Hollywood film "The Terminal", and it ended after Yuva Sena, the youth wing of the Shiv Sena, reached out to help him.

Muller has now shifted to a local hotel and is waiting for airlines to resume operations so that he can fly home.

The Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL) also provided him all help, including food, and allowed him to use the airport WiFi network to make calls, an official said.

Muller, a Ghana national who used to play for a club in Kerala, was scheduled to fly home by Kenya Airways flight when the lockdown was announced and he found himself stranded at the Mumbai airport.

"He would spend his time at the airport's fancy artificial gardens and somehow buy food from stalls and pass his time with the airport staff. Muller told me the airport staff was very helpful," Yuva Sena office-bearer Rahul Kanal said.

A security officer at the airport gave him mobile phone to call his family back home.

A Twitter user brought Muller's plight to the notice of Maharashtra Tourism Minister Aaditya Thackeray following which Kanal reached out to the footballer and helped him move into a hotel.

On Saturday, Muller thanked Thackeray and Kanal for their help.

"Thank you Aaditya Thackeray, Rahul Kanal. Thank you very very so much. I appreciate what you have done. Salute," he said.

Kanal in a tweet said when he met Muller at the airport, the latter cried with happiness.

"Have no words to salute his willpower and fight for survival in such circumstances at this age," Kanal said.

An official at the Mumbai International Airport Ltd said the footballer was provided all help.

"All personnel at the airport, including from MIAL and CISF, gave him every possible help during his stay at the airport. Besides food, he was also allowed to use the airport WiFi network to make calls. Airport staff would recharge his phone at their own expense," the official said.

The 2004 film "Terminal" of Steven Spielberg was about a man stranded at a US airport after being denied entry into the country and a military coup back home.

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Agencies
April 12,2020

London, Apr 12: Former Formula 1 legendary driver Stirling Moss died at the age of 90 on Sunday.

"All at F1 send our heartfelt condolences to Lady Susie and Sir Stirling's family and friends," Formula 1 said in a statement.

Often referred to as the greatest driver never to win the world championship, Moss contested 66 Grands Prix from 1951 to 1961, driving for the likes of Vanwall, Maserati and Mercedes, where he famously formed a contented and ruthlessly effective partnership with lead driver Juan Manuel Fangio.

In his 10-year-long stint at the tracks, Moss took 16 wins, some of which rank among the truly iconic drives in the sport's history - his 1961 victories in Monaco and Germany in particular often held up as all-time classics.

Moss won the 1955 Mille Miglia on public roads for Mercedes at an average speed of close to 100mph, while he also competed in rallies and land-speed attempts.

Following an enforced retirement from racing (barring a brief comeback in saloon cars in the 1980s) after a major crash at Goodwood in 1962, Moss maintained a presence in Formula 1 as both a sports correspondent and an interested observer, before retiring from public life in January of 2018.

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News Network
June 3,2020

Colorado, Jun 3: Formula One boss Chase Carey has said that races will go ahead even if a driver tests positive for coronavirus.

His remarks come as organisers revealed a revised 2020 calendar and the schedule for the first eight races was put in the public domain.

"An individual having been found with a positive infection will not lead to a cancellation of a race. We encourage teams to have procedures in place so if an individual has to be put in quarantine, we have the ability to quarantine them at a hotel and to replace that individual," the official website of Formula One quoted Carey as saying.

"Some things we'd have to talk through and work through. The array of 'what ifs' are too wide to play out every one of them, but a team not being able to race would not cancel the race. I do not think I could sit here and lay out the consequences," he said.

Carey added the organisers will be having the necessary procedures in place so that the race does not get cancelled if a driver ends up testing positive for coronavirus.

"But we will have a procedure in place that finding infection will not lead to a cancellation. If a driver has an infection, teams have reserve drivers available," Carey said.

"We would not be going forward if we were not highly confident we have necessary procedures and expertise and capabilities to provide a safe environment and manage whatever issues arrive," he added.

The Formula One 2020 season will be beginning with the Austrian Grand Prix in July.

F1 currently expects the opening races to be closed events but hopes that fans will be able to attend again when it is safe to do so.

The season will kick off with the Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring on July 5, followed a week later by a second race on the same track.

The Hungarian Grand Prix will follow a week after that, before a break. There will be then two back to back races at Silverstone, followed by the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona.

The Belgian Grand Prix will follow that, with the Italian Grand Prix at Monza a week later on September 6.

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