DT e-Paper, Friday, Decdember 13, 2017

26
FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 2017
DT
Sport
Bangladesh women’s football team pose for photographs during the felicitation programme in the capital yesterday. The women in red and green were honoured for their runners-up finish in the recently concluded
Saff Women’s Football Championship
COURTESY
Klopp unable to explain Liverpool
lethargy in Saints loss
• Reuters
Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp
admitted he was at a loss to explain
his side's lacklustre performance
during a 1-0 defeat to Southampton
in the first leg of the League Cup
semi-final on Wednesday.
Southampton, who created the
majority of clear-cut chances, will
take a slender advantage to Anfield
courtesy of Nathan Redmond's
20th-minute strike but the outcome
could have been a lot worse
for Liverpool at St Mary's.
"I've tried (to explain the performance)
in three or four interviews
but I cannot," the Liverpool manager
told reporters.
LEAGUE CUP
SEMI-FINAL FIRST LEG
Southampton 1-0 Liverpool
Redmond 20
"I'm actually not used to a reaction
like this from my boys but they
have to accept that tonight was
not good. We did not have a lot of
chances... if we had some (at all)."
Goalkeeper Loris Karius, who
had not played against Premier
League opposition since a 2-2 draw
against West Ham last month,
made some crucial saves that
kept the Merseyside club in the tie
ahead of the return leg at Anfield
on Jan. 25.
"You have two disappointed
managers after the game," Klopp
added. "One, because he lost and
the performance wasn't good, and
the other because he only won 1-0
and has to go to Anfield afterwards."
Saints manager Claude Puel
agreed with his German counterpart,
indicating his side needed to
be more clinical in front of goal. •
Southampton’s Nathan Redmond celebrates scoring their first goal against Liverpool during their EFL Cup semi-final first leg
at St Mary’s Stadium on Wednesday
REUTERS
Amla hits century in
100th Test
• AFP, Johannesburg
Hashim Amla made a century in
his 100th Test match as he and JP
Duminy put South Africa in command
on the first day of the third
and final Test against Sri Lanka yesterday.
Amla became the eighth player
to achieve the feat and the second
South African after former captain
Graeme Smith.
JP Duminy also hit a century
as the pair took their third wicket
partnership past 250. They came
together when South Africa were
45 for two at the Wanderers Stadium.
Amla struggled early in his
innings and took 109 balls to
reach 50 but then blossomed with
his second half-century scored
off 60 balls. It was his 26th Test
century.
Amla was dropped by Dhananjaya
de Silva at gully off Suranga
Lakmal when he had five and only
scored six in the pair’s first 50 runs
together.
Gradually, though, Amla found
his timing and he reached his first
half-century in 11 Test matches
shortly before tea. He had faced
109 balls and hit seven fours.
Duminy, by contrast, cruised to
his half-century off 62 balls with
ten boundaries and had faced
127 deliveries, adding three more
fours, by tea. •
3RD TEST, DAY 1
SOUTH AFRICA 338/3 in 90 overs
(Duminy 155, Amla 125*)
South Africa’s Hashim Amla celebrates
his century during their third Test
against Sri Lanka yesterday
AFP