e_Paper, Friday, August 18, 2017

Sports
21
FRIDAY, AUGUST 18, 2017
DT
Cook, Root lead
England recovery
• Reuters, Birmingham
England recovered from a typically
stuttering start with the bat in their
first day-night Test to move on to
108 for two at lunch on the opening
day of the series against West
Indies yesterday.
1ST TEST, DAY 1, LUNCH
ENGLAND 108/2 in 27 overs (Cook 50*,
Root 40*) v WEST INDIES
Toss: England
The host lost Mark Stoneman
and Tom Westley for eight each to
slump to 39 for two, before Alastair
Cook (50 not out) and captain Joe
Root (40 not out) launched a strong
fightback at Edgbaston.
Root won the toss and would
have been hoping for a steady
opening partnership but Stoneman,
making his debut as Cook’s
latest partner, was bowled offstump
by a fine delivery from Kemar
Roach.
Miguel Cummins trapped Westley
lbw, the West Indies successfully
reviewing the umpire’s not out
decision to leave England in trouble
at the start of the three-match
series.
Cook and Root dug in, however,
and took advantage of good batting
conditions and wayward bowling
with a flurry of crisp boundaries to
give their side a solid platform.
Cook, who hit 10 fours, brought
up his fifty shortly before the interval
and will have his sights firmly
set on a 31st Test century.
England, fresh from beating
South Africa 3-1, are strong favourite
to overcome a callow West
Indies side without many of their
leading players due to contractual
disputes with the country’s cricket
board.
The fifth ever day-night Test and
the first in England, played with an
unfamiliar pink ball, was expected
to offer the touring side their best
chance to upset England. •
Lighter gloves spell quick end of
Mayweather, says McGregor
• Reuters
Mixed martial arts champion
Conor McGregor is happy about the
switch to lighter gloves for his Aug.
26 fight against undefeated boxer
Floyd Mayweather and says his opponent
will now struggle to make it
past the second round.
The Nevada State Athletic Commission
on Wednesday, just 10
days before the hotly anticipated
Las Vegas fight, approved requests
from Mayweather and McGregor
to wear eight-ounce gloves rather
than 10-ounce ones.
“That was a good thing for me.
I’m very happy with it,” McGregor
told reporters on a conference call.
Mayweather had nearly all of his
49 professional wins using eightounce
gloves, which may accentuate
one of his advantages - his hand
speed.
McGregor preferred the lighter
gloves since he is used to the fingerless,
four-ounce gloves typically
worn in MMA.
“That’s it in a nutshell, you’ve
got pros and cons on both sides,”
he said.
“Favours us both in certain
ways.
“I believe now that the gloves
England's Alastair Cook in action during day one of their first Test against the West Indies yesterday at Edgbaston
are eight ounces, I don’t believe he
makes it out of the second round,”
McGregor added.
“Part of me...kind of wants to
show some skills and dismantle
him that way. (But) I do not foresee
him absorbing the blows in the first
two rounds.”
While most pundits have McGregor,
who has never boxed professionally,
as a heavy underdog, the
Dubliner said he was determined to
prove the doubters wrong.
“I’m just looking forward to
Aug. 26, going in and proving what
I’m saying and educating the world
on what martial arts is,” he said. •
REUTERS
Pakistan’s Akmal in trouble
over Arthur outburst
• Reuters, Lahore
Umar Akmal faces sanction from
the Pakistan Cricket Board following
the out-of-favour batsman’s
public outburst against head coach
Mickey Arthur. Akmal addressed a
news conference on Wednesday in
which he lashed out at Arthur, accusing
the South African of insulting
him and refusing him access to
the coaching facilities at the National
Cricket Academy.
“I accept my fitness isn’t up to
the mark, and I am trying to work
on it, and I asked to be allowed a
trainer to help me,” Akmal said.
“But Mickey said I shouldn’t even
have come to the NCA and should
be playing club cricketinstead,” he
said, claiming Arthur’s language as
“demeaning and insulting”.
The PCB said a “show-cause”
notice has been issued to Akmal
following the outburst.
“The middle-order batsman
has seven days to file a reply,” the
board said on its Twitter feed.
Arthur had sent Akmal back
from the Champions Trophy squad
in England for failing fitness tests.
“I did tell him a few home truths
and said he was always looking for
excuses instead of looking at himself,”
the former South Africa and
Australia coach told ESPNcricinfo. •
DAY’S WATCH
CRICKET
STAR SPORTS SELECT 2
6:58PM
West Indies Tour Of England 2017
1st Test, Day 2
TENNIS
SONY ESPN HD
11:00PM
ATP 1000 Masters 2017
Cincinnati Open QFs
FOOTBALL
STAR SPORTS SELECT HD 1
11:30PM
Bundesliga 2017/18
Bayern Munich v Bayer Leverkusen
SONY TEN 2
12:00AM
Spanish La Liga 2017/18
Leganes v Alaves
Nadal’s advice for injured stars - accept, keep going
• AFP, Cincinnati
Once and future world No 1 Rafael
Nadal has some advice for men’s
tennis stars in danger of missing
the US Open due to injury - accept
it and keep going.
The 31-year-old Spaniard defeated
France’s Richard Gasquet
6-3, 6-4 on Wednesday to reach the
third round at the ATP Cincinnati
Masters, the last major US Open
tuneup with the year’s last major
starting August 28 in New York.
Nadal, a 15-time Grand Slam winner
nagged by knee injuries for years,
will overtake Andy Murray atop the
ranking on Monday, the British star
being sidelined by a hip injury.
Nadal was assured the top spot
for the first time since July 2014
when 19-time Grand Slam winner
Roger Federer withdrew from Cincinnati
with a back injury.
“I worked a lot to give me another
chance and here I am,” Nadal
said.
“Just to be back to that position
makes me happy and of course is
going to be an emotional moment
for me.”
Serbian 12-time Grand Slam
champion Novak Djokovic will
miss the remainder of the year with
an elbow injury while and Swiss
2016 US Open champion Stanislas
Wawrinka is out with a knee injury
and Kei Nishikori will miss the
rest of 2017 with a torn right wrist
tendon.
Add Marin Cilic out with an adductor
injury and Milos Raonic
withdrawing with a left wrist injury
and seven of the world’s top 10
are absent this week.
Nadal knows all too well how
that feels.
He has missed six Grand Slam
events in the 13 years since he began
winning such titles.
“I have been in that position
more than all these players that are
out now,” Nadal said.
“I know how tough it is. I’m
very sorry for all of them and I
wish all of them a fast and good
recovery.” •