e_Paper, Sunday, August 13, 2017

DT
18
Sports
SUNDAY, AUGUST 13, 2017
Burnley stun nine-man Chelsea
• AFP, London
Sam Vokes scored twice as Burnley
torpedoed defending champion
Chelsea 3-2 at Stamford Bridge
yesterday in one of the most sensational
opening-weekend results in
English top flight history.
Chelsea had captain Gary Cahill
and Cesc Fabregas sent off
and Burnley took full advantage
through Vokes’s brace and a superb
Stephen Ward effort, with goals
from Alvaro Morata and David Luiz
coming in vain.
Leicester City lost 2-1 at Hull
City on the first day last season,
but given the unexpected nature of
their title win, this was the biggest
opening-day shock since Aston Villa’s
3-1 win over Manchester United
in 1995.
Huddersfield Town marked their
top flight return with a remarkable
3-0 win at Crystal Palace that sent
them top of the table, while Wayne
Rooney bagged the winner on his
Everton comeback in a 1-0 victory
over Stoke City.
Burnley’s win further blackened
the mood around Stamford
Bridge after a close season during
which manager Antonio Conte has
grown frustrated by his side’s lack
of transfer activity.
Conte was without the injured
Eden Hazard and out-of-favour
striker Diego Costa and started
with £58m signing Morata on the
bench.
Vokes put Burnley ahead in the
24th minute, volleying in from
Matthew Lowton’s cross.
Ward doubled the visitors’ advantage
in the 39th minute with a
blistering left-foot strike from Jack
Cork’s lofted pass and Vokes added
a third before half-time, heading in
Steven Defour’s cross.
Half-time substitute Morata and
Luiz reduced the arrears in the second
half, either side of Fabregas’s
81st-minute dismissal for a second
yellow card, but Burnley hung on
for a famous victory.
Liverpool were denied a winning
start as Miguel Britos claimed
a contentious stoppage-time leveller
to earn Watford a 3-3 draw at
Vicarage Road. Watford twice went
in front through Stefano Okaka and
Abdoulaye Doucoure, but Liverpool
equalised each time via Sadio
Mane and Roberto Firmino, who
then teed up new boy Mohamed
Salah to put the Reds 3-2 up.
In the third minute of injury
time, a shot from Richarlison was
pushed against the bar by Liverpool
goalkeeper Simon Mignolet and
Britos, who appeared to be offside,
nodded the ball over the line. •
RESULTS
Chelsea 2-3 Burnley
Morata 69, Luiz 88 Vokes 24, 43, Ward 39
Crystal Palace 0-3 Huddersfield
Ward 24-og, Mounie 26, 78
Everton 1-0 Stoke
Rooney 45+1
Southampton 0-0 Swansea
Watford 3-3 Liverpool
Okaka 8, Doucoure 32, Mane 29,
Britos 90+3 Firmino 55-P, Salah 57
West Brom 1-0 Bournemouth
Hegazi 31
PLAYED FRIDAY
Arsenal 4-3 Leicester
Lacazette 2, Welbeck 45+2, Okazaki 5,
Ramsey 83, Giroud 85 Vardy 29, 56
Burnley's Sam Vokes celebrates scoring their third goal against Chelsea during their EPL match at Stamford Bridge yesterday
Gilchrist: Fatullah hundred
my greatest ever innings
• Agencies
While Jason Gillespie’s heroics in
Chittagong are the most easily-recalled
highlight of that tour for
most cricket fans, the performance
of Test teammate Adam Gilchrist
just a week earlier has been all but
forgotten by even the most ardent
Australian supporters.
Gilchrist says his century in the
first Test of that series was the best
of his distinguished career.
“We had this long hard summer,
we went to South Africa, had this
really tight series there that we just
got over the line,” Gilchrist recalled.
“Then we tagged on a little two-
Test tour to Bangladesh thinking,
‘We’ll get over there, we’ll wipe
those muppets, they’ll be useless’.
“They ambushed us badly. I
walked to the crease…and it was
panic time.”
“I managed to have a couple of
allies stay with me in the lower order
(and) I got to 100,” Gilchrist said.
“And it was my slowest most
hard fought 100 in my career.” •
Fatullah uncertain as venue for
Australia practice match
• Ali Shahriyar Bappa
The Khan Shaheb Osman Ali Stadium
in Fatullah has become uncertain
as the two-day practice match
venue for the visiting Australia team.
The BCB however, is still trying
to prepare the venue and also considering
other options, informed the
board’s media and communications
committee chairman Jalal Younus.
The Fatullah stadium has been
waterlogged for quite some time
now due to constant rainfall in
the last few weeks. Contaminated
water from the adjucent industrial
factories has also leaked into the
ground in the last few months.
The National Sports Council,
who owns and maintains all sporting
venues across the country,
including Fatullah, has been criticised
for its lack of initiatives in
dealing with the problem.
REUTERS
Ahead of the practice match, the
BCB is trying to clear the water surrounding
the wickets by the use of
machine pumps. But seasonal rain
is pouring persistently and thus
the stadium is highly unlikely to be
ready before the scheduled time.
“We are still trying to get Fatullah
ready. We are using pumps to
drain out the water. Fatullah was
set as the venue for the practice
match almost a year ago, when we
had done the tour MoU with Cricket
Australia. As rain falls every day,
the situation is becoming more delicate,”
Jalal told the media.
“The possibility is decreasing,
so we are now are thinking of alternative
venues like the BKSP. An
Australian delegation team will
arrive on Tuesday. We will discuss
with them regarding alternative
venues for the practice match.
“We will hold talks with CA’s security
team about the venue, whether
we can have it somewhere other
than Fatullah. If we can shorten the
travel time to BKSP, maybe there can
be a solution. Sylhet is also an option
but we have to see how viable it can
be. Going for a practice match in Sylhet
and then coming back to Dhaka
for the first Test match could be the
main point of negotiation with the
CA security team if we chose Sylhet
as the practice match venue,” he said.
The Mirpur stadium hasn’t hosted
any cricket for almost nine months
now. Renovation programme was
carried out during this long break,
including the installation of new
grass across the field and the preparation
of pitch, among other things.
The BCB informed that despite
a long break, the Mirpur stadium
is in absolutely fine condition and
ready to host the first Test against
Australia, beginning August 27. •