Women’s Asia Cup: Dominant India crush Pakistan to enter final

Agencies
June 9, 2018

Kuala Lumpur, Jun 9: A dominant India sailed into the final of the women’s Asia Cup Twenty20 tournament with a seven-wicket drubbing of arch-rivals Pakistan in their last round robin match here on Saturday.

Electing to bat, Pakistan were restricted to 72 for 7 in the allotted 20 overs at the Kinrara Academy Oval.

Left-arm spinner Ekta Bisht was the most successful India bowler, claiming impressive figures of 3/14 in her four-over spell. The others chipped in with a scalp apiece, although pace spearhead Jhulan Goswami went wicket-less surprisingly.

Bisht was named Player of the Match.

Chasing a meagre target, India completed the task with as many as 23 balls to spare.

Opener Smriti Mandhana top-scored with 38 off 40 balls while skipper Harmanpreet Kaur made 34 in 49 deliveries.

Veteran Mithali Raj and Deepti Sharma failed to open their account, but their failures did not come in the way of India’s win.

India were off to a disastrous start as they lost Raj and Sharma with just five runs on the board in the third over, but the low target allowed them the liberty of taking things easy.

The duo of Mandhana and Harmanpreet then added 65 runs for the third wicket, a recovery act that powered the team to within striking distance of another victory.

Even as Mandhana got out within three runs for a win, Harmanpreet was there to guide her side home.

Earlier, Pakistan’s decision to bat did not yield the desired result as they lost wickets at regular intervals, and were stopped at 72.

Sana Mir, one of the most well-know names of Pakistan women’s cricket, top-scored for the side with 20, but she consumed as many as 38 balls.

Opener Nahida Khan (18) was the only other Pakistan batswoman to reach double digits.

This was India’s fourth win in five matches, their only reverse being the shocking defeat to Bangladesh. But they bounced back in style, winning against Sri Lanka and Pakistan.

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Agencies
July 31,2020

Hampshire, Jul 31: David Willey's maiden five-wicket haul guided England to a six-wicket victory over Ireland in the first ODI here on Friday.

With this win, the hosts have taken a 1-0 lead in the three-match ODI series.

Chasing a small target of 173 runs, England got off to a bad start as opener Jonny Bairstow was given LBW in the third over, bowled by Andy McBrine. Jason Roy was then joined by James Vince and the duo added 22 runs on the board before the former was dismissed.

Craig Young then got hold of Vince, who was caught behind after scoring 25 runs. Sam Billings and Tom Banton then took the charge of the chase but the latter too was caught behind which ended his 11-run innings.

Banton's dismissal brought skipper Eoin Morgan on the field. Billings and Morgan played stunning innings and kept scoring boundaries. Morgan struck a scintillating six on the last bowl of the 28th over to take England over the line. Morgan scored 36 runs while Billings played a knock of 67 runs.

Earlier, after being asked to bat first, Ireland witnessed a poor start as Paul Stirling was dismissed in the very first over of the innings, bowled by Willey. Andy Balbirnie then joined Gareth Delany but Willey struck again in his next over, removing Balbirnie.

Delany then played furiously and smashed three consecutive boundaries to Saqib Mahmood in the fourth over. However, the fall of wickets did not stop as England took three wickets in quick succession. Mahmood bowled Harry Tector while Delany and Lorcan Tucker were sent back to the pavilion by Willey.

Kevin O'Brien and Curtis Campher then took the charge and played cautiously, taking their struggling side over the 50-run mark. Adil Rashid got hold of O'Brien (22) in the 22nd over before Simranjit Singh was run out in the same over.

Andy McBrine was the next batsman and he played brilliantly along with Campher, who went on to complete his half-century. Both formed a 66-run partnership before McBrine (40) was dismissed by Tom Curran.

Campher remained unbeaten on 59 but failed to find a partner as England bundled out Ireland on 172 runs.

The second ODI between both teams will be played on Saturday.

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Agencies
January 9,2020

Jeddah, Jan 9: Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde criticised the new Supercopa format and said that "football has become a business and as a business it looks for income".

"The bottom line is football has become a business and as a business it looks for income. That's the reason we are all here," Goal.com quoted Valverde as saying ahead of Barca's semi-final against Atletico.

"It's a completely different format to what we're used to. It was always the first title and the opener of the season and to me, that seemed fine," he added.

The Supercopa was traditionally a two-legged affair played between the winners of La Liga and the Copa del Rey at the beginning of the season, but following last term's one-off meeting between Barca and Sevilla in Tangier, Morocco, the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) went ahead with a full revamp.

Instead of just two teams being involved, the Supercopa has been expanded to also include the runners-up from La Liga and the Copa - meaning Barca and Valencia are joined by Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid. It is also set to be hosted in Saudi Arabia for the next three editions.

"It's been changed and let's see, it will be judged once it has happened. It's interesting, with four good teams, but from a sporting point of view, I'm not sure," Valverde said.

"We must bear in mind that the football we are involved in is an industry, sources of income are sought and in the same way that there are special connotations in this country, there are also in Morocco, where we played last year," he added.

Barcelona will face Atletico Madrid in the semifinal of the Supercopa at King Abdullah Sports City Stadium in Jeddah on January 10.

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Agencies
June 6,2020

Malappuram, Jun 6: One more COVID-19 death was reported in Kerala on Saturday taking the toll in the State to 15.

The 61-year-old deceased, Hamsa Koya, a former footballer who represented Maharashtra in Santosh Trophy, had returned from Mumbai with his family on May 21.

Koya was undergoing treatment at Manjeri Medical College in Malappuram. The medical bulletin issued said that he was suffering from pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome.

On June 5, as his health deteriorated, he was administered plasma therapy on the advice of the state medical board. However, he did not respond to medicines and breathed his last at 6:30 am on Saturday.

The medical bulletin said that his family members including his wife, son, daughter-in-law and grandchildren of 3 years and a 3 month-old child also had tested COVID-19 positive and were earlier shifted to hospital for treatment.

With this, the total death toll in Kerala has reached 15. 

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