09-03-2021

TUESDAY, MARCh 9, 2021
9
Allen cameo helps Windies clinch
T20 series against Sri Lanka
Manchester United's Luke Shaw doubles the lead during their EPL match away to Manchester City
Sunday.
Photo: Reuters
Man Utd shatter Man City's winning run
SPORTS DESK
United ruined City's 28-game unbeaten
run in all competitions thanks to an
early penalty from Fernandes and
Shaw's second-half strike at Etihad
Stadium, reports BSS.
Manchester United shattered
Manchester City's record winning
streak with an impressive 2-0 victory
against the Premier League leaders
Sunday.
Pep Guardiola's side were on an
English top-flight record run of 21
successive wins in all competitions
heading into the Manchester derby.
But United ruined City's 28-game
unbeaten run in all competitions
thanks to an early penalty from Bruno
Fernandes and Luke Shaw's secondhalf
strike at the Etihad Stadium.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's team,
unbeaten in their last 22 away league
Tigers to
leavefor Sri
Lanka on
April 12
SPORTS DESK
The Bangladesh national
cricket team is all set to leave
the country for Sri Lanka for
a much-talked two-match
Test series on April 12,
reports BSS.
The date of departure
however quelled the
uncertainties over the tour,
that was postponed twice in
the pandemic-hit 2020.
Firstly the outbreak of the
Covid-19 forced the
postponement of the
tournament in last year's
July and then when there
was a slot to make the tour
happen in October, it was
again postponed.
Sri Lanka hard quarantine
rules were responsible in the
second time to force the
postponement of the tour
further.
The two Tests however are
the part of ICC World Test
Championship. The ICC
however had already got the
two finalists of the WTC in
India and New Zealand who
would fight for the
championship title in June.
In the wake of the
situation, the series between
Bangladesh and Sri Lanka
won't matter but for both of
them the Test series is
imperative given the fact
that they hardly got the
chance to play Test cricket.
The Bangladesh Cricket
Board (BCB) CEO Nizam
Uddin Chowdhury informed
that all of the two Test
matches will be held in one
venue to reduce the risk of
Covid-19.
"Bangladesh team will stay
in Colombo and both Test
matches will be held in one
venue," the CEO said here
today.
"If everything is okay,
Bangladesh will leave the
country on April 12 for the
two-match Test series."
Chowdhury also said
Bangladesh team would
have to stay quarantine for
six or seven days after
arriving in Sri Lanka but the
quarantine rules were not
hard like the past the Sri
Lanka Cricket (SLC)
imposed.
games, moved above Leicester City into
second place, but they are still 11 points
behind City with 10 games left.
Despite surrendering their 15-match
winning league run in their first defeat
since losing at Tottenham Hotspur in
November, City remain firm favorites
to lift the title for the third time in four
seasons.
Barring a dramatic collapse from City
in the closing weeks, United's third win
in the last four league meetings with
their bitter rivals is likely to be
remembered for cementing a top-four
place rather than rekindling their title
hopes.
United will be left to rue the recent
slump that allowed City to pull so far
ahead in the title race, but at least they
slowed their neighbors' march towards
the trophy.
With just 34 seconds gone, Anthony
Martial made a dangerous raid into the
City area and Gabriel Jesus responded
with a needless, clumsy challenge that
sent the French striker sprawling.
Fernandes stepped up to take the
penalty and squeezed his shot past
Ederson, who got a hand on the ball but
couldn't keep it out.
It was United's first goal in four
games, putting City were behind for the
first time in 20 league games.
Guardiola's men gradually wrestled
control and had a strong penalty appeal
rejected by referee Anthony Taylor
when Raheem Sterling was blocked by
Fred.
Riyad Mahrez shot inches wide and
Rodri's drive hit the bar, but City were
caught with a 50th-minute sucker
punch. United left-back Shaw broke
from deep inside his own half, played a
one-two with Marcus Rashford and
fired a fine finish past Ederson from
just inside the area.
Roger Federer never contemplated retirement as he spent 13 months on
the sidelines due to double knee surgery last year and the 39-year-old says
he is now pain-free and ready to play again.
Photo: AP
Federer feels his story is unfinished,
eyes full fitness by Wimbledon
SPORTS DESK
Roger Federer never contemplated
retirement as he spent 13 months on the
sidelines due to double knee surgery last year
and the 39-year-old says he is now pain-free
and ready to play again with a feeling that his
story is not over yet, reports BSS.
Federer, tied with Rafa Nadal on a record
20 Grand Slam singles titles, has not played
a competitive match since losing to world
number one Novak Djokovic in the
Australian Open semi-finals in 2020.
The Swiss maestro will make his highlyanticipated
return at this week's Qatar Open,
where he is seeded behind U.S. Open
champion Dominic Thiem.
"I'm very happy to be back playing a
tournament again. It's been a long time. I
never thought it would take this long,"
Federer told reporters on Sunday.
The Swiss has a bye in the first round in
Doha, where he is a three-time winner, and
his return match will either be on Tuesday or
Wednesday against Briton Dan Evans or
Frenchman Jeremy Chardy.
Tennis is like "riding a bike" for Federer,
who is not worried about his game or
starting with "really low" expectations, but is
more interested to see how his knee reacts to
the rigours of competitive tennis.
"It's just about 'Let's see how matches go, let's
see how training goes with all the top guys and
professional players, not just sparring
partners'," he said, adding that he has not
decided his schedule beyond this week.
"I was playing a lot of two-on-ones the last
few months and so forth. I know I need to go
back to training after here again so from this
standpoint it's just about building up to
being stronger, better, fitter, faster and all
that stuff.
WIMBLEDON TARGET
"I hope then by Wimbledon I'm going to be
100% and that's when the season starts for
me. Everything until then it's just 'Let's see
how it goes', he added of the championships
starting on June 28, which were cancelled
last year due to COVID-19.
"I might surprise myself but then
actually I've already done in practice the
last few weeks, I was surprised at actually
how well it did go. But like we know,
matches are a different animal." The Swiss
proved that he can quickly get back into his
groove when he won the 2017 Australian
Open despite missing the second half of
the 2016 season because of knee surgery.
Federer said he keenly kept track of results
on the ATP Tour as he worked his way
back to fitness and the complications after
his first knee procedure motivated him to
return healthy.
"Retirement was never really on the cards.
I think it's more of a conversation if the knee
keeps bothering me for months and months
- then let's look at it," he said. "I just feel like
the story is not over.
"It's not like there's one particular reason
that I wanted to keep playing tennis other
than I enjoyed playing tennis, I enjoy being
on the road.
"I'm still a work in progress but probably
one of the other reasons for coming back is I
want to get that high again of playing against
the biggest players and in the biggest
tournaments and hopefully winning them
again," he added.
SPORTS DESK
All-rounderFabian Allen clobbered
three sixes off the penultimate over to
lead West Indies to a nervy threewicket
win against Sri Lanka in the final
Twenty20 International on Sunday.
Chasing a modest target of just 132, the
two-time world champions struggled in
the run chase as their star trio of Chris
Gayle, skipper Kieron Pollard and
Dwayne Bravo all flopped, reports
UNB.
Allen's three sixes came off spinner
Akila Dananjaya as the 25-year-old
Jamaican smashed a desperately
needed 21 off just six balls faced at
Coolidge Cricket Ground.
West Indies finished on 134-7,
clinching the three-game series 2-1
after a four-wicket win in the first
match followed by Sri Lanka's 43-run
victory in the second.
Dananjaya was again the victim of
some explosive West Indies batting
after Pollard hit six sixes off one of his
overs in the first game on Wednesday.
"I prepare for everything, including
bowling in the powerplay," said Allen,
who earlier took 1-13 opening the
bowling.
"When I look in the dressing room we
have a lot of batting power.
"I told (batting partner) Jason Holder
that I'm not comfortable batting
against (Wanindu) Hasaranga, so I told
him to bat him out and I'll be finishing.
I just backed myself in the end. It was a
good performance overall."
The home side were cruising after
limiting Sri Lanka to 131-4.
Openers Evin Lewis (21) and Lendl
Simmons (26) gave them a solid start
before Sri Lanka leg spinner Hasaranga
(2-13) dismissed them both for a series
haul of eight wickets.
Wrist spinner Lakshan Sandakan
clean-bowled Gayle for 13, completing
a poor international return for the 41-
year-old who made just nought and 16
in the first two games.
Gayle has now gone five years
without a fifty in T20 internationals.
Tokyo Olympic
Pres Tries to
Assure Japan
on Safety
SPORTS DESK
The new president of the
Tokyo Olympic organizing
committee has begun
holding weekly news
conferences hoping to win
over a doubting Japanese
public with the postponed
games opening in just under
five months, reports UNB.
Hashimoto Seiko is trying
to assure everyone that the
Olympics will be safe and
secure, a phrase she
repeated a dozen times on
March 5 in her inaugural
news conference.
Polls show about 80
percent of Japanese think
the games should be
postponed again or canceled
amid the pandemic.
"The situation around
coronavirus doesn't go easy
on us," Hashimoto said. "I
understand there are a lot of
people in Tokyo and in
Japan who have concerns
about the games in Tokyo
this summer. I'd like to share
my thoughts and alleviate
some of those concerns."
She also needs to ease
fears about the torch relay,
which is set to begin on
March 25 from the
northeastern prefecture of
Fukushima. The relay
involves 10,000 runners and
goes to every corner of
Japan. The Olympics open
on July 23, followed by the
Paralympics on August 24.
They will include 11,000
Olympians, 4,400
Paralympic athletes, and
tens of thousands of judges,
officials, sponsors,
volunteers, VIPs, media, and
broadcasters.
"People need to start to
build confidence in the
safety of the games,"
Hashimoto said. "It will be
very difficult without that."
Hashimoto said she has
appointed CEO Muto
Toshiro to head the relay
effort.
Desperate trouble -
Pollard, who became only the third
man to hit six sixes in an international
over on Wednesday, was bowled by
seamer Dushmantha Chameera for
nought.
West Indies finished on 134-7,
clinching the three-game series 2-1
after a four-wicket win in the first
match followed by Sri Lanka's 43-run
victory in the second.
Bravo too went for a duck, a second
wicket in two balls for Sandakan having
also sent back Rovman Powell.
Sandakan finished with 3-29 to
follow his 3-10 from Friday's game.
But with 20 runs required off the last
12 balls, Allen smashed Dananjaya for
20 runs off the penultimate over for the
victory. It was a topsy-turvy series for
Dananjaya, who was the fall-guy for
Pollard's pyrotechnics last Wednesday
having taken a hat-trick in the same
game. Earlier, former skipper Dinesh
Chandimal hit his fifth Twenty20
International half-century as he and
promising youngster Ashen Bandara
took Sri Lanka to a modest 131-4.
Chandimal carved out an undefeated
54 with three boundaries to finish four
runs short of his best of 58 in the format
made against Australia at Pallekele in
2016.
The 31-year-old, playing in his 57th
T20 International, had contributed just
11 and three in the first two games.
Bandara, 22 and on his debut tour,
hit an unbeaten 44 with three fours and
his team's only two sixes.
Sri Lanka were in desperate trouble
early in their innings, reaching 10 overs
with just 47 on the board for the loss of
four wickets having won the toss and
deciding to bat first.
On their way to winning the second
game on Friday at the same venue by
43 runs, they had amassed 94-0 at the
halfway point.
On Sunday, they managed just two
boundaries in the first 10 overs with
opener Danusha Gunathilaka, who
top-scored Friday with 56, out this
time for just nine, caught and bowled
by Allen.
The two sides will now play three
ODIs and two Tests, all in Antigua.
Fabian Allen of West Indies hitting the winning runs as Niroshan
Dickwella (L) of Sri Lanka watch during their 3rd and final T20i
match at Coolidge Cricket Ground in Osbourn, Antigua and
Barbuda on Monday.
Photo: AP
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