England win fifth Ashes Test even as Aussies retain urn

Agencies
September 16, 2019

London, Sept 16: England crushed Australia by 135 runs in the fifth and final Ashes Test on September 15 to level the series at 2-2, ending their historic World Cup-winning season on a high.

Victory for the home side at the Oval means the Ashes ends in a draw for the first time since 1972, although holders Australia retain the urn.

The tourists, chasing an unlikely 399 to win in a shade under two days, clung on late into the evening session on the fourth day before finally collapsing as the shadows lengthened in south London.

Australia, 2-1 up going into the match, were bidding to win their first Ashes series in England since 2001 but were denied by the fired-up hosts, with paceman Jofra Archer named man of the match for his six first-innings wickets.

"A very good performance," said England captain Joe Root.

"I thought we were brilliant. To bounce back from a very difficult emotional week, to come and play in the manner we have, the team has character in abundance.

"This was more of a template of how to play moving forward. It is a step in the right direction. I am very proud of everyone's effort throughout the summer."

Stuart Broad struck early to remove openers Marcus Harris and David Warner but while former captain Steve Smith was at the crease, Australia retained a faint hope of victory.

But when Ben Stokes dived to his left at leg slip to catch Smith for 23, giving Broad his third wicket of the innings, England knew they had removed the biggest obstacle in their victory charge.

Smith, who scored an astonishing 774 runs in just seven innings, was out for a score of less than fifty for the first time in the series.

The Oval crowd gave him a standing ovation as he walked back to the dressing room in the September sunshine, with Australia in deep trouble at 85-4 in the post-lunch session.

Matthew Wade offered brave resistance, scoring 117 as Archer cranked his speed up to 95 miles-per-hour in the evening sunlight, eye-balling the Australian batsman in an attempt to intimidate him.

Occasional bowler Root finally got his man, luring him forward as Jonny Bairstow whipped off the bails.

Left-arm spinner Jack Leach removed Nathan Lyon and Josh Hazlewood in successive balls, meaning England salvaged pride two months after winning the one-day World Cup for the first time.

Broad and Leach both finished with four wickets.

Earlier, England added 16 runs to their overnight tally, with Archer and Leach the last men out.

Broad then pounded in, roared on by a packed crowd, reducing Australia to 29-2.

Warner, who returned to international cricket in June after a 12-month ban for ball-tampering, scored just 95 runs in 10 innings and was dismissed by Broad seven times.

Warner's dismissal brought Smith to the crease and he opened his account with a sweet drive through the covers for four off Archer but this time he could not find the magic.

The exit of Smith, also banned over the ball-tampering scandal, led to one or two isolated boos but they were drowned out by applause from the crowd in appreciation of his run-scoring feats.

His run haul put him fifth on the list of highest tallies in an Ashes series behind Don Bradman's two entries, England's Wally Hammond and former Australia skipper Mark Taylor.

Smith was named Australia's man of the series while Stokes won the award for England.

"It meant a lot to have that reception from the crowd today," said Smith.

"It's been an amazing couple of months with the World Cup and the Ashes, the cricket has been spectacular.

"The series has ebbed and flowed. I've loved every minute and I'm really proud of how I've been able to perform for Australia and to bring the urn home."

The tourists won the first Test at Edgbaston and the fourth at Old Trafford while Stokes inspired England to victory in the third Test at Headingley.

The second match, at Lord's, was drawn.

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Agencies
June 4,2020

Bengaluru, Jun 4: Indian men's hockey team defender Harmanpreet Singh is delighted and honoured to be nominated for the Arjuna Award by Hockey India.

The Indian women's hockey team captain Rani Rampal has been nominated for the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award while her compatriots Vandana Katariya, Monika and Harmanpreet Singh have been nominated for the Arjuna Award.

"I was extremely delighted to hear the news. It's an honour to be nominated for the Arjuna Award and I am sure the nomination will motivate me to perform even better in the upcoming years. All of us have received tremendous support from Hockey India over the years and I was extremely happy to know that Rani has been nominated for the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award and Vandana Katariya and Monika have been nominated for the Arjuna Award. They have put up some brilliant performances in the recent past and I would like to extend my congratulations to them," Harmanpreet said.

The 24-year-old dragflick sensation stepped up his role in the team and shouldered the responsibility of vice-captain with aplomb. As a defender-dragflicker, he was instrumental in the team's winning performance in the FIH Series Finals in Odisha. At the Tokyo 2020 Olympics Test Event, he captained the team to victory in the absence of Manpreet Singh who was rested for the tournament.

Harmanpreet was also part of the Indian team that won the FIH Hockey Olympic Qualifiers against Russia last year. Harmanpreet said that he has been able to perform for the team only because of the support he has received from his teammates.

"I am very happy with the way I have been contributing to the team in the last couple of years. However, I have been able to come up with the goods only because of the way my teammates have supported me. Hockey is a team sport and all of us ensure that we are contributing to the team's cause in some way or the other. If we score a goal, then it's not only the goal scorer, who takes the credit, but the entire team is credited for a particular effort," said the defender.

Harmanpreet added that booking a place in the Tokyo Olympic Games was the biggest achievement for the team in 2019.

"It was simply amazing to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics in front of our home crowd last year. I will cherish the memory forever. The balance of our side was fantastic and everyone chipped in to make the tournament a memorable one. Now, we will give everything we can to come up with great results at the Olympics next year. It's our sole target at the moment and all of us are up for the challenge. Hopefully, we will become a much better side once we play our first match in Tokyo," he said.

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News Network
July 20,2020

The International Cricket Council (ICC) today confirmed the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in Australia 2020 has been postponed due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic

At today’s meeting of the IBC Board (the commercial subsidiary of the ICC), windows for the next three ICC men’s events were also agreed to bring clarity to the calendar and give the sport the best possible opportunity over the next three years to recover from the disruption caused by COVID-19.

The windows for the Men’s events are:

1. ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 will be held October – November 2021 with the final on 14 November 2021

2. ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 will be held October – November 2022 with the final on 13 November 2022

3. ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 will be held in India October – November 2023 with the final on 26 November 2023

The IBC Board agreed to continue to monitor the rapidly changing situation and assess all the information available in order to make a considered decision on future hosts to ensure the sport is able to stage safe and successful global events in 2021 and 2022.

The IBC Board will also continue to evaluate the situation in relation to being able to stage the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2021 in New Zealand in February next year. In the meantime, planning for this event continues as scheduled.

The Board will also continue to evaluate the situation in relation to being able to stage the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2021.

ICC Chief Executive Manu Sawhney said: “We have undertaken a comprehensive and complex contingency planning exercise and through this process, our number one priority has been to protect the health and safety of everyone involved in the sport.

“The decision to postpone the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup was taken after careful consideration of all of the options available to us and gives us the best possible opportunity of delivering two safe and successful T20 World Cups for fans around the world.

“Our Members now have the clarity they need around event windows to enable them to reschedule lost bilateral and domestic cricket. Moving the Men’s Cricket World Cup to a later window is a critical element of this and gives us a better chance of maintaining the integrity of the qualification process. This additional time will be used to reschedule games that might be lost because of the pandemic ensuring qualification can be decided on the field of play.

“Throughout this process we have worked closely with our key stakeholders including governments, Members, broadcasters, partners and medical experts to enable us to reach a collective decision for the good of the game and our fans. I would like to thank everyone involved for their commitment to a safe return to cricket.”

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Agencies
July 28,2020

New Delhi, Jul 28: 'Your character stood out for me than the number of runs you scored," said India skipper Virat Kohli while explaining his decision to give opening Mayank Agarwal a Test debut in the 2018-19 Australia series.

Mayank Agarwal had made his Test debut against Australia in the third Test of the four-match series.

Playing the third Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Agarwal managed to register a half-century in his very first innings in the longest format.

"I had seen you play for RCB, even then you played international bowlers with conviction and you would take them on. You were performing in first-class matches in a dominating way. That is something always stood out with you, I would say your character stood out for me than the number of runs. I knew you would be fearless without having any baggage," Kohli told Mayank Agarwal in a video posted on the official website of BCCI.

In the longest format of the game, Agarwal has managed to score 974 runs from 11 matches at an average of 57.29 with three centuries as an opening batsman.

The Indian skipper also explained as to what makes him notice in a player and added that it is important that guys in the team look to face new challenges and emerge triumphantly.

"For me, the biggest marker is how a person approaches the game, so for example when you opened and we made Vihari open with you. The first opportunity we presented Vihari to open the batting, he said yes to it and that matters me to the most," Kohli said.

"I opened in my first series for India, I said yes to this opportunity and things worked out fine for me. So, a guy who wants to get into tough situations will come out either holding his head high or learning from his mistakes," he added.

Kohli and Mayank would soon be seen in action for Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kings XI Punjab respectively in the Indian Premier League (IPL) starting from September 19 in the UAE.

The comparisons between Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar keep on growing and many have picked the current Indian skipper to break the records set by Tendulkar.

Tendulkar called time on his career after registering 100 international centuries, while Kohli currently has 70 centuries across all formats.

At present, Kohli is ranked at the top spot in the ICC ODI rankings while he is in the second place in Tests rankings. Kohli has so far played 86 Tests, scoring 7,240 runs with 27 centuries at an average of 53.62.

His knock of 254 against South Africa at Pune in 2019 remains his highest Test score to date. When it comes to ODIs, the current Indian skipper has played 248 matches and has 43 centuries.

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