Euro 2016: Gareth Bale's Wales outgun Russia 3-0 to take top spot from England

June 21, 2016

Haute-Garonne, Jun 21: Gareth Bale kept up his goal-a-game Euro 2016 campaign Monday to guide Wales to a 3-0 win over Russia and push them ahead of rivals England in their group.

Euro

England could only manage a frustrating goalless draw against Slovakia and dropped to second place in Group B.

Aaron Ramsey and Neil Taylor also scored in Wales` easy win in Toulouse against a limp Russian side whose campaign has been tainted by their roughhouse fans.

In the last 16, Wales will play one of the four best third-placed finishers at the Parc des Princes in Paris on Saturday.

Manger Chris Coleman said the European Championship finals -- where Wales are appearing for the first time -- could expect a lot more from his side.

"I said before that there`s more to come for this group.

"Even after this tournament is over, this group are on the way to something else. I`m just glad me and the staff are here with them. We have no fear. And after playing like that, why should we?" Coleman said.

England must now take on the runners-up of Group F in Nice next Monday. Depending on Group F`s final results on Wednesday it could throw up a clash against Cristiano Ronaldo`s Portugal.

Wales came into the competition bursting with confidence. Coleman has inspired an underacheiving group to support Bale as he tears through opposing defences.

After two free-kick goals against Slovakia and England, the Real Madrid forward did it again against Russia.

Arsenal`s Ramsey put the ball behind the ineffective Russian defence to Bale who pushed the ball past goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev.

The game in Toulouse started with drama in the stadium when police arrested Russian far-right football fan leader Alexander Shprygin who had sneaked back into the country two days after being expelled over fan violence.

The rot started on the field in the 11th minute.

A brilliant Joe Allen ball through the middle set up Ramsey and the peroxide blonde-haired midfielder confidently lifted the ball over Akinfeev.

Russia manager Leonid Slutsky spend much of the match grabbing at his hair in frustration. Wales gave him plenty of reason.

On 20 minutes, Bale wove through the Russian defence and fed the ball to Taylor, whose last goal was in 2010.

Left free on the left-hand side of the penalty area with only Akinfeev to beat, his first shot hit the goalkeeper but he made no mistake with the second.England fans suffered another night of frustration after seeing their side held to a 1-1 draw in Marseille.

Prince William was in Saint-Etienne for the match, sitting next to English FA chairman Greg Dyke who has set manager Roy Hodgson the target of reaching at least the semi-finals.

The England boss made six changes to the team, starting strikers Jamie Vardy and Daniel Sturridge, who came on to score in the 2-1 win over Wales, and leaving skipper Wayne Rooney among the replacements.

Vardy squandered two clear chances of England`s nine first-half attempts on goal to Slovakia`s single effort.

He fired over early on, then had his shot blocked by goalkeeper Matus Kozacik in a one-on-one after winning a sprint against Slovakia captain Martin Skrtel.

Only a fine tackle from right-back Peter Pekarik denied Sturridge at the near post in the opening 10 minutes. And Adam Lallana was denied by Kozacik`s reflex save with half an hour gone.

The game became tougher for England as it went on.

A mix-up between centre-back Chris Smalling and goalkeeper Joe Hart allowed Slovakia winger Robert Mak a half-chance.

At the other end, only the slightest of deflections off Kozacik`s shoulder blocked Nathan Clyne`s shot.

There was a big cheer from travelling England fans when Rooney came on for Jack Wilshire with 56 minutes gone. He was a constant menace but the pressure came to nothing.

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News Network
July 25,2020

New Delhi, Jul 25: Former India spinner Anil Kumble said that he has never understood why people compared him with Australia's Shane Warne.

Kumble was doing an Instagram live session with former Zimbabwe pacer Pommie Mbangwa and it was then that the spinner also talked about being the third-highest wicket-taker in Test cricket.

"It feels really wonderful to finish with these many wickets. I never bothered about statistics or what my average should be, I wanted to bowl the whole day and be the one to take wickets. To finish as the third-highest wicket-taker in Tests alongside Murali and Warne is very special. All three of us played in the same era, there were a lot of comparisons, I do not know why people compared me with Warne. Warne was someone really different and he was on a different plane," Kumble told Mbangwa during the interaction.
"These two guys could spin the ball on any surface so it became really difficult for me when they started comparing me with Warne and Murali. I learnt a lot by watching them both bowl," he added.

The Indian spinner announced his retirement from international cricket in 2008. He finished with 619 wickets in the longest format of the game.

He has the third-highest number of wickets in Tests, only behind Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan (800) and Australia's Shane Warne (708).

Kumble is the second bowler in the history of international cricket after England's Jim Laker to take all ten wickets in an innings of a Test match.

He had achieved the feat against Pakistan in 1999 at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium in Delhi. Kumble had bowling figures of 10-74 from 26.3 overs in the second innings of the Test match.
Kumble will be coaching Kings XI Punjab in the Indian Premier League (IPL). 

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News Network
March 12,2020

Miami, Mar 12: The NBA has suspended its season "until further notice" after a Utah Jazz player tested positive Wednesday for the coronavirus, a move that came only hours after the majority of the league's owners were leaning toward playing games without fans in arenas.

Now there will be no games at all, at least for the time being. A person with knowledge of the situation said the Jazz player who tested positive was center Rudy Gobert. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because neither the league nor the team confirmed the test.

"The NBA is suspending game play following the conclusion of tonight's schedule of games until further notice,'' the league said in a statement sent shortly after 9:30 p.m. EDT. "The NBA will use this hiatus to determine next steps for moving forward in regard to the coronavirus pandemic.''

The test result, the NBA said, was reported shortly before the scheduled tip-off time for the Utah at Oklahoma City game on Wednesday night was called off. Players were on the floor for warmups and tip-off was moments away when they were told to return to their locker rooms. About 30 minutes later, fans were told the game was postponed ``due to unforeseen circumstances."

Shutdown for two weeks?

Those circumstances were the league's worst-case scenario for now -- a player testing positive. A second person who spoke to AP on condition of anonymity said the league expects the shutdown to last a minimum of two weeks, but cautioned that time-frame is very fluid.

"It's a very serious time right now," Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "I think the league moved appropriately and prudently and we'll all just have to monitor the situation and see where it goes from here."

The Jazz released a statement saying a player -- they did not identify Gobert -- tested negative earlier Wednesday for flu, strep throat and an upper respiratory infection. That player's symptoms diminished as the day went along, but the decision was made to test for COVID-19 anyway. That test came back with a preliminary positive result.

"The individual is currently in the care of health officials in Oklahoma City," the Jazz said, adding that updates would come as appropriate.

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Agencies
January 19,2020

Bengaluru, Jan 19: Opening batsman Rohit Sharma on Sunday became the third-fastest batsman to register 9,000 runs in the 50-over format.

He achieved the feat in the ongoing third ODI against Australia here at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium.

Only Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers have achieved the feat faster than Rohit.

Sharma brought up the milestone in the first over of the Indian innings as he clipped Mitchell Starc away for a single.

With this, the right-handed batsman has become just the sixth Indian to achieve the milestone.

Apart from Sharma, Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, and Sachin Tendulkar have more than 9,000 runs in the 50-over format.

Overall, 20 batsmen have more than 9,000 ODI runs to their name.

In the match between India and Australia, the former won the toss and elected to bat first.

Steve Smith played a knock of 131 runs to propel Australia to 286/9 in the allotted fifty overs.

 

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