Page 27 - Pakistan Link - November 15, 2019

SPORTS NOVEMBER 15, 2019 – PAKISTAN LINK – P27
SPORTS
NOVEMBER 15, 2019 - PAKISTAN LINK
England seal T20 series over NZ in Mohammad Asif return home

super over finish KARACHI: Returning to Karachi was dedicating his award to Kash-
after winning the title of the IBSF
miris. “We always ask the govern-
World Snooker Championship, sec- ment to support us so that players are
gave New Zealand a flying start after ond seed Mohammad Asif on Mon- encouraged,” Asif said, adding that
they lost the toss and were sent into day said that his victory was not just he was hopeful that the current gov-
bat. Guptill peppered the short Eden his win alone, but one for all of Pa- ernment will support snooker.
Park boundaries with five sixes and kistan. On Saturday, Asif coasted to The snooker champion thanked
three fours and needed only 19 deliv- an 8-5 victory over unseeded Jefrey the federation for supporting him,
eries to reach his 50 before being re- Roda of Philippines in the final of the adding that the PBSF had supported
moved by Adil Rashid one ball later. championship in Antalya. them in tough times. He requested
Munro had four sixes and two Carrying his trophy, he was greet- the government to support the sport
fours in his 46 off 21 balls. ed today at Karachi’s Jinnah Interna- as well. The last time Asif won the
England were rocked early in re- tional Airport by representatives of title was in 2012 in Bulgaria. With
ply with Trent Boult removing Tom the Pakistan Billiards and Snooker this victory, Faisalabad-born Asif has
Banton (7) and Eoin Morgan (17), Federation (PBSF) who adorned him become the fifth cueists to win the
while Tim Southee accounted for with garlands. Speaking to reporters world snooker title twice since its in-
James Vince (1) to have the tourists on his return today, he said that he ception in 1963.
at 39 for three after three overs.
Sam Curran pulled England back
into the game with 20 runs off Scott
Kuggeleijn’s sole over and Bairstow
belted three sixes off Ish Sodhi in the
AUCKLAND: England snatched the and take the series 3-2. next over. The pair put on 61 in 24
Twenty20 International series against “New Zealand’s total was pretty balls before they fell on consecutive
New Zealand in dramatic fashion in imposing,” Bairstow said. “To try to deliveries with Bairstow caught be-
Auckland on Sunday, with a super chase down 150 was tough but a lot hind on the last ball of a Jimmy Nee-
over required in the rain-truncat- of the guys played in the T10 last year sham over and Curran (24) stumped
ed fixture to break the deadlock in and said we’re not far off here. If we on the first ball of Mitchell Santner’s
scenes reminiscent of the World Cup can get within striking distance and next over.
final four months ago. with the short boundaries we’ve got In the final over of regular play,
A Chris Jordan boundary on a chance.” England needed 13 from the last three
the last ball of the England innings Bairstow said the close finishes in balls by Neesham when Jordan went
brought the tourists level with New recent matches against New Zealand to the middle and belted six, two, and
Zealand’s 146 pushing the rain-short- had been nerve-wracking. four to set up the tiebreaker.
ened match at Eden Park into a tie- “We don’t want to keep this hap- The right-arm seamer then ex-
breaking super over. pening, I don’t think anyone wants to pertly defended the touring side’s su-
Jonny Bairstow, whose thumping keep that going,” he said. “But it just per over score of 17, taking a wicket Two Pakistan officials elected to
man-of-the-match innings of 47 en- shows how close the sides are and while giving away just eight runs.
abled England to catch New Zealand how close they’ve been throughout “There was nothing between the world scrabble committee
after they lost three early wickets, the series.” sides in the 11-over game. And in the
partnered Eoin Morgan in a 17-run Somewhat surprisingly, Tim Sei- super over I thought the standout was KARACHI: Two Pakistani represen- Goa, India recently. Chris Lipe of
stand in the match- and series-decid- fert opened their super over and was Chris Jordan,” England captain Eoin tatives have been elected to the exec- the US is the new chairman, replac-
ing over. out of six after four balls while the Morgan said at the presentation. “The utive committee of the World English ing UK’s Elie Dangoor who retired
But unlike the World Cup final, hard-hitting Martin Guptill stood un- guy is extremely calm under pressure Scrabble Players Association; the after serving as a chairman for over
when even the super over was tied, employed at the non-striker’s end. and delivers.” The first of two Tests regulatory body of scrabble world- a decade. Carol Johnsen of Austra-
this time New Zealand finished nine In a match reduced to 11 overs between New Zealand and England wide. Tariq Pervez, who has already lia is the new secretary while Jason
runs short to give England the win per side, Guptill and Colin Munro starts in Tauranga on Nov 21. served as the chairman of the promo- Broersma of Canada was re-elected
as the treasurer.
tions sub-committee in the past, is
Pattinson eyes back-to-back Tests Hope’s ton guides now elected to the main committee as committee are Toke Aka (Nigeria),
Other members of the executive
an executive member while Waseem
against Pakistan, NZ WI to series sweep Khatri is the new addition from Pa- Karen Richards (Australia), Pe-
kistan.
ter Thorpe (UK), Tony Leah (US),
LUCKNOW: Opener Shai Hope The elections took place in the Douglas Tsang (Hong Kong) and
MELBOURNE: Australia paceman bowl again, I was like, ‘What is this struck an unbeaten century as West biennial general meeting held in Brett Smitheram (UK).
James Pattinson is targeting back- all about?’ “I think it’s just things like Indies beat Afghanistan by five wick-
to-back Tests in the upcoming series that where you pinch yourself a little ets in the third One-day International Chahar’s record-breaking haul helps
against Pakistan and New Zealand as bit and go: ‘This is good.’” in Lucknow to complete a 3-0 sweep
he savours a rare run of fitness head- Seen as a potential 100-Test on Monday. India clinch T20 series
ing into the home summer. cricketer when he broke into the Aus- Hope, declared man-of-the-
The 29-year-old’s successful re- tralia team as a fiery 21-year-old, Pat- match, made 109 off 145 balls NAGPUR: Paceman Deepak Chahar wickets from successive balls as
turn during the Ashes in England was tinson has managed only 19 Tests in (eight fours and three sixes) and claimed the best-ever Twenty20 Inter- Bangladesh slipped to 12-2, broke
a feel-good story for Australian crick- a career interrupted by frequent back built crucial partnerships includ- national bowling figures of six wick- the threatening third-wicket stand af-
et and a triumph of perseverance for problems. ing an unbeaten 71-run stand with ets for seven runs as India clinched ter sending back Mithun.
an outstanding bowler restricted to He was picked for the first and man-of-the-series Roston Chase, a 2-1 series triumph over Bangladesh Dube struck with the first ball
six Tests in the past five years. third Ashes Tests in England, where who finished on 42 not out, to an- with a 30-run win on Sunday. of the very next over as Mushfiqur
Pattinson was relieved to head Australia drew the series 2-2 to retain chor West Indies’ chase of 250 with Chahar finished the match with Rahim played on for a golden duck
home at the end of the series without the urn, and is now hoping to prove to eight balls to spare. a hat-trick to bowl out Bangladesh to give the medium-pace bowler his
having to contemplate another long selectors he is ready to stand up to the Paceman Keemo Paul returned for 144 in 19.2 overs while chasing maiden T20 scalp.
spell of rehab. strain of back-to-back matches. figures of 3-44 in Afghanistan’s 249- 175 for victory at the VCA Stadium, Dube then got Naim’s prized
“When I got back from England “I have been injury-free for the 7 play a key part in the win. while becoming the first Indian bowl- scalp with a perfect yorker that rattled
I sort of didn’t know what to do be- most part of a year now. The body The two teams will now play er to get a T20 hat-trick as he went the stumps of the left-hander and was
cause I’d usually be nursing a stress is feeling good,” he said. “I think three Twenty20 Internationals start- past Sri Lanka’s Ajantha Mendis, on a hat-trick after getting new bats-
fracture or something like that,” he the next process for me, if I do get a ing here from Thursday. who had figures of 6-8 against Zim- man Afif Hossain caught and bowled.
told reporters on Monday. “So, to chance in the test arena, is to try and AFGHANISTAN: babwe in 2012. Earlier, K.L. Rahul made 52, and
rock up and have four days off and play more back-to-back cricket now.” Hazratullah Zazai c Lewis b Paul Left-handed opener Mohammad Shreyas Iyer 62 as the hosts reach
50 Ibrahim Zadran lbw b Joseph Naim made 81 and put on 98 for 174-5 after being put in to bat first.
2 Rahmat Shah c Pooran b Paul 10 the third wicket with Mohammad Iyer and Rahul put on a crucial 59-
Ikram Alikhil b Paul 9 Asghar Afghan Mithun, who made 27, but the rest of run stand for the third wicket to give
c Shepherd b Joseph 86 Najibullah the batting faltered in the chase. the hosts a challenging total.
Zadran c King b Chase 30 Moham- Chahar, who wiped out the tail Rahul raised his fifty in 33 balls
mad Nabi not out 50 Rashid Khan c with a wicket with the last ball of his as he hit seven fours before falling to
Walsh b Shepherd 0 EXTRAS (B-1, third over and two at the start of his paceman Al-Amin Hossain.
LB-3, W-8) 12 TOTAL (for seven fourth, was ably supported by Shi- Iyer made the most of a reprieve
wkts, 50 overs) 249 vam Dube who claimed three wick- on nought when dropped by Aminul
WEST INDIES: ets. It was a special effort by the In- Islam off Shafiul to bring up his
S.D. Hope not out 109 E. Lewis dian bowlers who found it difficult to maiden T20I fifty. Iyer took the at-
lbw b Mujeeb 1 S.O. Hetmyer lbw grip the ball due to late-evening dew. tack to the opposition with a flurry of
b Mujeeb 0 B.A. King b Rashid 39 “It were the bowlers who won sixes including three successive hits
N. Pooran c Ibrahim b Sharafuddin us the game. I know how tough it over the fence off Afif.
21 K.A. Pollard c Najibullah b Nabi was in the middle considering the Sharma insisted that the team will
32 R.L. Chase not out 42 EXTRAS dew factor,” stand-in-skipper Ro- continue to find the right balance for
(B-4, LB-1, W-4) 9 TOTAL (for hit Sharma said after the win. “But the T20 World Cup in Australia next
five wkts, 48.4 overs) 253 FALL this must be one of the best come- year. “Until we get close to the World
OF WKTS: 1-4, 2-4, 3-68, 4-119, backs in this format for India. It was Cup, we got to find the right balance.
5-182. DID NOT BAT: K.M.A. easy for them at one stage, with 70 There are a few guys missing, but
Paul, R. Shepherd, A.S. Joseph, needed in eight overs. But the boys they’ll come back. Keeping every-
H.R. Walsh. RESULT: West Indies showed characters, took up the re- thing in mind, we have few games in
won by five wickets to win three- sponsibility.” mind before we get into that flight to
match series 3-0. Chahar, who took two early Australia,” said Sharma.

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