27 November 2018

Yasir Shah's 10-wicket day leaves
New Zealand with uphill battle
LONDON:
DUBAI: Yasir Shah's legspin
defined the third day of the Dubai
Test against New Zealand in a manner
that would have made his childhood
hero Shane Warne beam with
pride. The Pakistan spinner became
the first bowler since Anil Kumble,
in 1999, to take ten wickets in a day,
eight of them coming in a remarkable
passage of play that sent New
Zealand spiralling from 50 for no
loss to 90 all out. New Zealand
found respite in the follow-on
through an unbroken 65-run thirdwicket
partnership between Ross
Taylor and Tom Latham. But all that
did was make sure they could go
into the fourth day without the
match already being a lost cause.
The harbinger of the remarkable
day would be an over of pure sorcery
from Yasir, which completely
changed the tide of the match from
a gritty, even contest to one that
New Zealand are now resigned to
battle for their lives in. He lay
waste to a dogged opening partnership
with a flurry of wickets that
tore through New Zealand's middle
order. The 50-run partnership
between Raval and Latham had
ended after Raval clumsily
dragged the ball back onto the
stumps off Yasir, but the real magic
was yet to happen. In the penultimate
over before lunch, the
legspinner ripped through Latham,
Ross Taylor and Henry Nicholls to
DUBAI: A day after the
Women's World T20 2018 concluded
in the Caribbean with
Australia beating England in the
final, ICC confirmed it had submitted
a bid for women's T20
cricket to be included in the
2022 Commonwealth Games
that will take place in
Birmingham, England.
ICC chief executive David
Richardson said the move
would bring in several new fans
and inspire more women to take
up cricket. "We would like
cricket to lead the way in the
Commonwealth in inspiring
more young girls to take up
sport regardless of their background
or culture," Richardson
said. "Creating a new partnership
between women's cricket
and the Commonwealth Games
leave New Zealand tottering at 63
for 4 at the break.
It began with the first ball of the
over, when he drew Latham into a
prod and Imam-ul-Haq scooped up
a catch at short leg. That opened up
demonstrates the commitment
both organisations have to
growing women's sport and
delivering greater equality, fairness
and opportunity in sport
across the Commonwealth.
"There's a saying that 'you
can't be it if you can't see it' -
imagine the impact of millions
of young girls around the world
watching women's cricket in the
Commonwealth Games and
being empowered with the
knowledge that they too can
play cricket, represent their
country and compete on a global
stage." The bid has been made
in partnership with the ECB,
and the possibility of cricket
being part of the
Commonwealth Games was
welcomed by leading women
cricketers.
the opportunity to toy with the new
batsmen; Taylor's second delivery
was a ball that evoked memories of
Shane Warne to Mike Gatting. It
pitched around middle and leg
before spinning past the dead bat
PSL franchises want tax
exemption before clearing dues
LAHORE: In a bid to
attain tax exemption, the
franchises of Pakistan
Super League (PSL) have
not yet cleared their annual
dues despite the issuance of
invoice by the Pakistan
Cricket Board (PCB), local
media reported.
According to the
report, franchises are
demanding for the exemptions
of taxes from the
fees, which the board is
not willing to accept.
The board had issued a
deadline of November 14
for the submission of the
annual fee; however, not a
single franchise followed
it up.
The report further stated
that till date, only four franchises
had deposited their
bank guarantee while one
franchise has deposited the
half amount and asked the
board that they will pay the
players and the coaches on
their own.
The board responded
against it and asked the
franchise to follow the procedure.
A source inside the
board also revealed that a
franchise has asked the
board the return their bank
guarantee, and has offered
to deposit the complete fee
in return, however, the PCB
did not accept not accept
that offer as well.
PCB has an option to
cash the bank guarantee if a
franchise fails to deposit
their fee by the end the
deadline and in past it has
been done as well.
Currently, franchises
have to pay 26% amount in
taxes, where 16% of the
amount goes to Punjab
Government in shape of
sales tax while the federal
government takes remaining
10% in the form of
withholding tax.
The franchises are
demanding to give relaxation
on taxes till they overcome
their financial loses
and, in this regard, and
have also formed a twomember
committee, which
include Karachi Kings
owner Salman Iqbal and
Peshawar Zalmi’s Javed
Afridi, who will meet the
government officials in the
coming days in order to get
exemption from taxes.
Ash Barty and Alex de Minaur share Newcombe Medal
SYDNEY: Young guns Ashleigh
Barty and Alex de Minaur have been
named as joint winners of the
Newcombe Medal on a historic night
for Australian tennis.
Judges were unable to split Barty
and de Minaur after both enjoyed
stellar seasons, ensuring Australian
tennis' highest individual honour was
shared for the first time in the award's
nine-year history.
Barty joins former US Open
champion and French Open finalist
Samantha Stosur (2010, 2011, 2012)
as only the second multiple recipient
after ending 2018 as Australia's highest-ranked
player at No.15 in the
world.
Last year's Newcombe Medallist
won the WTA Elite Trophy in Zhuhai,
another singles title on grass in
Nottingham as well as four doubles
titles - including her maiden grand
slam alongside American Coco
Vandeweghe in New York.
Barty amassed 46 singles wins for
the season, reaching the Sydney final,
semi-finals in Strasbourg, Montreal
and Wuhan and making a career-best
fourth-round run at the US Open in
addition to her two title successes.
De Minaur could not be denied
either after being named the ATP's
Newcomer of the Year following his
meteoric rise from No.208 to a
career-high 31st in the rankings in
2018.
The 19-year-old's breakout season
began with runs to the Brisbane semifinals
and Sydney final, which earned
the teenager a Davis Cup debut,
where he pushed then-world No.4
Alexander Zverev to five sets.
Taylor was offering to it to clatter
into off stump. Nicholls' second
delivery, too, was the stuff of nightmares,
screaming through the gap
between bat and pad to smash into
middle stump.
After lunch, Yasir sliced through
the New Zealand innings like a hot
knife through butter, finishing with
the third-best figures in Pakistan's
history. New Zealand could add just
27 runs to their lunch tally of 63 for
4, with Yasir responsible for four
more wickets. He finished with 8
for 41, giving Pakistan a monumental
328-run lead, and made
Pakistan's first-innings declaration
look infinitely more prescient than it
had yesterday.
Kane Williamson had played a
lone, forlorn hand at the other end,
seemingly batting on a different
pitch, but could do little about the
carnage unfolding around him as
his side lost 10 wickets for 40 runs
to be bowled out for 90. With BJ
Watling and the skipper himself
being the last specialist batsmen at
the crease as the second session
commenced, how that partnership
went was to be pivotal to New
Zealand's hopes in the Test. Four
balls after lunch, Watling was run
out after a devastating mix-up
with his captain, and even luck
went Yasir's way as the ball he
fumbled with went on to hit the
stumps anyway.
Smith and Warner
help Aussie bowlers
combat Kohli
SYDNEY: Banned
Steve Smith and David
Warner won’t be playing
any of Australia’s upcoming
Tests against India, but
they are being quietly
eased back into the fold to
help their bowlers combat
Virat Kohli..
The duo, once national
captain and vice-captain
respectively, were suspended
from state and
international cricket for 12
months over the ball-tampering
scandal in South
Africa. Despite a run of
dire results, Cricket
Australia last week ruled
out relaxing their bans
after a push to do so by the
Australian Cricketers’
Association.
But with batting maestro
Kohli and dangerous
opening pair Rohit
Sharma and Shikhar
Dhawan awaiting
Australia in the first Test
in Adelaide from
December 6, they have
been enlisted to help the
pace attack prepare.
ABU DHABI: Fernando
Alonso has revealed that the
“magic” donut gesture from
Lewis Hamilton and
Sebastian Vettel had not
been planned.
After the race in Abu
Dhabi, possibly Alonso’s
final race in Formula 1, he
performed some donuts in
his McLaren, in tandem
with the two other World
Champions.
With 11 Drivers’ titles
England captain Heather
Knight felt there were many positives
to the move. "It would
mean a lot. There's always prestige
around something like that,"
Knight said. "The women's
game has gone from strength to
strength, and this would be
Somerset
have confirmed the return
of Pakistan batsman Azhar
Ali as overseas player for
the whole of the 2019 season.
Azhar, 33, will be
available to play a full part
in the Specsavers
Championship and the
Royal London Cup.
Azhar is currently
Pakistan's leading active
Test run-scorer, but he
retired earlier this month
from playing ODIs. With
the 2019 summer dominated
in part by the World
Cup in England, and
Pakistan only playing
white-ball cricket between
January and October,
Azhar can throw himself
into a full campaign at
Taunton.
"We are delighted to
have secured a player of
Azhar's quality and experience
for the duration of the
summer and having him
available for all our
Tuesday, November 27, 2018
Sportlight
Specsavers County
Championship and Royal
London One-Day Cup fixtures
fits our needs perfectly,"
Somerset's director of
cricket, Andy Hurry, said.
"Azhar fitted in seamlessly
during his time with
us towards the back end of
the 2018 season. Knowing
the positive impact that he
will have both on and off
the field, alongside his
availability all summer
were key factors in wanting
to secure him.
"Whilst he was here, he
spent a lot of time working
alongside the Second XI
7
Azhar Ali agrees
Somerset return in 2019
COLOMBO: Skipper
Joe Root hailed England’s
“complete team-effort”
Monday after his team
sealed a tense victory over
Sri Lanka in the third and
final Test to record their
first overseas series sweep
in 55 years.
In the face of stubborn
Sri Lankan resistance,
spinners Jack Leach and
Moeen Ali took four wickets
each to set up the 42
run win inside four days in
Colombo. Needing 327 for
an unlikely victory, Sri
Lanka reached 284.
Leach trapped captain
another platform to show that."
Australia captain Meg
Lanning thought would have an
added benefit too. "To have
Suranga Lakmal lbw for
11 to trigger celebrations
for England who have not
won all the games in an
overseas series of three or
more Tests since Ted
Dexter’s side won 3-0 in
New Zealand in 1963.
It was the third time Sri
Lanka have been whitewashed
at home after India
last year and Australia in
2004.
The third Test highlighted
England’s pool of
talent with Leach coming
in as the third spinner with
Ali and Adil Rashid, and
Ben Foakes taking the
cricket in there would be amazing,"
Lanning said. "It shows
how far the game is coming It
would give us another really big
tournament to look forward to.
The opportunity to win a gold
medal at the Commonwealth
Games would be great as an athlete."
If the bid is successful, it
would mark the second time that
cricket has been part of the
Commonwealth Games. The
men had competed at 1998
event, with South Africa beating
Australia in the gold medal
match.
A report in The Guardian
said there would be a presentation
to the organising committee,
and the Commonwealth
Games Federation would then
make the final decision, to be
ratified by September 2019,
players and giving them the
benefit of his experience.
That is exactly the sort of
support you want from
your overseas signing and I
can't speak highly enough
of him as a person." Azhar,
a former captain of the oneday
team, helped Pakistan
lift the 2017 Champions
Trophy in England. He has
been a mainstay of the
Test side since 2010, averaging
close to 45 with 14
hundreds.
England claim landmark Test
series sweep in Sri Lanka
between them, they are the
three best drivers of this
generation, and they put on
one last show for the crowd.
Alonso said that the gesture
from the pair was
“magic” and he thanked
them, saying he was privileged
for his career.
“The whole weekend
has been amazing and the
in-lap was not planned,”
Alonso said.
“I saw them doing
donuts at Turn 8 and then I
saw one car on the left and
one car on the right and
they kept going like this
until the finish line.
“It was a nice touch by
them, so thank you
Sebastian and thank you
Lewis.
“They are both great
champions and I feel very
privileged to race with
them; it was a great race to
be fighting with the Haas
wicketkeeper’s gloves but
also scoring big runs.
“That’s been a big
secret in our success —
being able to bring different
guys in, and pick a
team that is going to take
20 wickets and score
enough runs to put teams
under pressure,” said Root.
“The experienced players
have taken the extra
responsibility. It’s been
exceptional. It’s been a
complete team effort, it’s
been a great tour,” said
Root, who has set the target
of overtaking India as world
number one Test team.
Alonso: Hamilton, Vettel donuts were ‘magic’
drivers to the very end.”
Despite everything having
finished on Sunday
evening, the Spaniard still
needs some time to let it all
sink in.
“I think I need a couple
of days to realize the whole
weekend, because I have
been very busy and I
haven’t had five minutes for
myself to think about it but
it has been a very good
weekend,” he added.
ICC bids for Women's T20 cricket to be part of Commonwealth Games 2022
while also elaborating on the
process and the issue with West
Indies, which is made up of several
countries and cannot thus
compete as 'West Indies'.
"According to the submission,
Edgbaston would be the
primary venue for the eightteam
competition, with county
grounds at Worcester,
Derbyshire and Leicester under
consideration to serve as the
secondary host during the group
stages," the report said. "The
top-eight ranked T20 sides
would be granted qualification.
The complication, as it was in
1998, is West Indies, who represent
several nations. It is understood
they would be asked to
nominate one country from the
region to take part as an imperfect
solution to the problem.