SPORTTuesday 20 March 2018

Bangladesh’s ‘fearless cricket’ praised after

near-miss in final

Thunder end Raptors run as Trail Blazers streakto 13th straight win

PAGE | 31 PAGE | 32-33 PAGE | 35

Superstar Hamilton wants fast start to

Formula One season

rs runak

Qatar Cup to kick off on April 21THE PENINSULA

DOHA: The Qatar Stars League Management (QSLM) has announced the dates, venue and kick-off times of the Qatar Cup. The tournament features the top four clubs in the QNB Stars League (QSL).

Al Duhail, Al Sadd and Al Rayyan have been assured of the first, second and third place respectively this season. Al Gharafa and Umm Salal, on same number of points (32) with the former having better goal dif-ference, are battling for the fourth position that has gone right down to the wire.

The Qatar Cup format is one-off sem-ifinals and final. The semif-inals will pit the first against fourth-placed team and second against third-placed side. In case of tie after regular time, matches will be decided in tie-breaker without extra time.

The semi-finals will be played on April 21 and 22, and the final is scheduled for April 27. All matches will kick off at the Al Sadd Stadium at 7.00pm.

The Qatar Cup is organised, managed and supervised by the QSLM as part of its mission to develop professional football in Qatar. The tournament has immensely contributed to the game’s growth in the country.

The 2013-14 season marked a new beginning in the history of the Heir Appar-ent’s Cup when it was renamed as Qatar Cup.

Al Sadd are the defending champions.

Qatari football players take part in a training session in Doha ahead of the International Friendly Championship which will be held in Basra, Iraq from March 22 to 27.

Al Sadd players and officials celebrate after winning the 2017 Qatar Cup final in Doha in this file photo.

THE PENINSULA

DOHA: Al Kharaitiyat and Al Wakrah will vie for a place in next season’s QNB Stars League when they face each other in the play-off on April 14, at the Al Ahli Stadium. The match will kick-off at 18:20.

The play-off is between the 11th-placed team in the QNB Stars League and Second Division runners-up.

Al Kharaitiyat were assured of the 11th spot following their 3-2 victory over Qatar SC in Week 21, while Al Wakrah finished second behind Al Shahania in the Second Division whose champions directly qualify

for the QNB Stars League. Al Kharaitiyat moved to 16 points, four more than Al Markhiya, who were relegated after losing to new champions Al Duhail 2-4 with only one round of matches remaining.

According to the Qatar Stars League Man-agement, if the tie ends in a draw after regular time, an extra time of 30 minutes (divided into two halves) will be allowed. If the deadlock still continues, it will be decided in tie-breaker.

It may be recalled that Al Shahania got relegated to the Second Division last season after losing the play-off to Qatar SC by a lone goal.

Al Kharaitiyat, Al Wakrah to battle for next season’s QSL spot

THE PENINSULA

DOHA: Uzbekistan’s Oksana Chusovitina who competed solely on vault at the 2017 World Championships in Montreal, Canada, and qual-ified for the event final, is upbeat ahead of the Doha event.

“I’ve been preparing all-around and will be performing all-around events at all com-petitions and all four appa-ratus,” Oksana told www.dohagym.com.

She is probably the oldest gymnast competing at the highest level but don’t even try to tell her she is ‘old’ because the word doesn’t exist in her dictionary.

Oksana’s fans likely to watch her in all the four women’s events at the 11th FIG Artistic Individual World Cup, which starts here at the Aspire Dome from March 21-24.

The 42-year-old has a

bundle of energy and amazing fitness level as we saw at last year’s edition when she had beaten Australia’s Emily Little and Slovenia’s Teja Belak -- gymnasts half her age – to win the vault gold.

The seven-time Olympian has also announced that she already has her eye on the Asian Games in August and record-breaking eighth Olympics in Tokyo 2020.

She have five moves named after her in interna-tional gymnastics’ Code of Points, the ‘grand lady’ of modern gymnastics is still hoping to win a medal at the elite level.

“I still remember all my old elements and even learned one new element on the uneven bars,” said Oksana, who won a gold with Uzbekistan team at the 1992 Barcelona Games.

If you are still wondering what keeps her ticking, do visit Doha during the FIG event.

Gymnasts takeing part in a training session at the Aspire Dome in Doha ahead of the 11th FIG Artistic Individual World Cup, which starts tomorrow.

Qatar Gymnastics Federation (QGF) President Ali Al Hitmi (left) and officials during a visit to Aspire Dome ahead of the 11th FIG Artistic Individual World Cup, which starts tomorrow.

Chiellini doubtful for Juve-Real quartersAFP

ROME: Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini has a hamstring injury that will rule the defender out of friendly internationals against Argentina and England that should have provided his swansong, the Italian feder-ation said yesterday.

Juventus will also be worried over getting the 33-year-old fit for their Champions League quarter-final against Real Madrid with the first leg April 3.

Chiell ini and his defensive partners provided a defending masterclass in their recent last-16 Cham-pions League victory over Tottenham.

Italy play Argentina at Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium March 23 and England at Wembley March 27.

Interim Italy coach Luigi Di Biagio has called up West Ham’s Angelo Ogbonna to replace Chiellini.

Oksana upbeat ahead of Doha Championship

All set for 11th FIG Artistic Individual World Cup in Doha

30 TUESDAY 20 MARCH 2018SPORT

Barca race towards title; Ronaldo scores four in win over GironaREUTERS

BARCELONA: Barcelona took a giant step towards winning the La Liga title after they beat Athletic Bilbao 2-0 on Sunday and nearest challengers Atletico Madrid lost 2-1 at Villarreal, giving the Catalans an 11-point lead at the top of the standings.

Cristiano Ronaldo scored four times as champions Real Madrid thrashed Girona 6-3 in a hugely entertaining game and moved to within four points of unseating Atletico in second place.

Paco Alcacer took the place of suspended striker Luis Suarez in the starting line-up and scored a first goal in three months to put Barca ahead in the eighth minute at the Nou Camp, side-footing home a pass from Jordi Alba.

Lionel Messi scored for the sixth game in a row in all com-petitions and for the 25th time in this league campaign when he doubled Barca’s lead in the 30th minute with a deadly strike into the bottom corner from the edge of the area.

Atletico forward Antoine Griezmann won and converted a penalty to put his side ahead at Villarreal in the 20th minute.

However, Turkey striker Enes Unal headed in a deserved equaliser in the 82nd and then struck the winner from close range in stoppage time. The vis-itors had forward Vitolo sent off moments later for pushing Vil-larreal forward Nicola Sansone.

Barca lead the standings on 75 points with nine games remaining. Atletico are second with 64, while Real are third on 60. Valencia are fourth while

Villarreal climbed above Sevilla into fifth after Vincenzo Mon-tella’s side were beaten 2-1 at Leganes.

The Catalans were rampant in the first half and could have taken a heavier lead into the break as Brazilian midfielder Philippe Coutinho hit the woodwork twice and his com-patriot Paulinho struck a post.

The unbeaten league leaders slowed down in the second half and Athletic came into the game for the first time but they rarely came close to troubling goal-keeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen.

“We scored twice in the first

half and could have really fin-ished them off, then in the second half we took our foot off the pedal without realising,” Barca coach Ernesto Valverde told a news conference.

“The two halves were very different, perhaps conditioned by the first. There weren’t many chances in the second half, for us or them.” Atletico have not managed to beat Villarreal at home or away since April 2015 and were fortunate to take the lead from the spot after Griezmann appeared to go down easily following a challenge from Jaume Costa.

The home side pushed for an equaliser in the second half and Atletico coach Diego Simeone sacrificed Griezmann for captain Gabi with 10 minutes remaining to try and protect the lead but his side ended up losing the game due to slack defending.

“There’s no explanation for what happened, we didn’t defend well from the two set pieces and next time we need to be more focused,” said Atletico midfielder Saul Niguez.

Ronaldo struck four goals in a game for the first time this season in Real’s thrilling win over Girona.

The Portuguese striker has now netted 22 times in the league this season, trailing Messi by just three goals. Ronaldo leapfrogged Luis Suarez into second place on the Liga’s top scorer’s list.

“Cristiano is very important to us, he transmits an incredible amount of energy for the team,” Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane said.

“Cristiano’s ambition is tre-mendous. But I also want to high-light the work of his team mates, who help him a lot. We scored some spectacular goals today which was down to the whole team.”

Players clash as Lyon beats MarseilleAP

PARIS : Memphis Depay scored in the last minute of a frantic match to give Lyon a 3-2 win at third-placed Marseille that keeps alive its chances of Champions League soccer next season.

In the fight for a Champions League playoff spot, fourth-placed Lyon closed the gap on Marseille to two points with eight games left. Monaco is seven points ahead of Marseille in second spot.

The match at Stade Velo-drome ended with players pushing and shoving after the final whistle. Lyon defender Marcelo then mockingly bran-dished a Lyon jersey in front of Marseille’s players as they were walking off. It sparked a further

melee which took more than a minute before security officials brought it under control. Several players from both sides tried to get at each other, rather than walking away when they had the chance.

It was the latest volatile incident in the French league.

On Thursday, several police officers were injured after clashes with Lyon fans before a Europa League game against CSKA Moscow.

This followed on from a mass pitch invasion by angry fans of struggling Lille on March 10, when about 200 fans charged onto the pitch to confront players after a home draw with Montpellier.

The acrimony continued on Sunday.

As the players walked back through the tunnel to the dressing rooms, Marseille center back Adil Rami had to be held back as he launched himself at Lyon goal-keeper Anthony Lopes.

Marseille goalkeeper Steve Mandanda also had to be pushed away moments later as he sought to back Rami up.

“When I see that it just makes me sad,” said Lyon defender Jeremy Morel, who formerly played for Marseille. “This isn’t even about football. I think we’ve really had enough of this, we don’t need it.” Marseille winger Florian Thauvin saw it differently.

“Some Lyon players took the liberty of mocking us. It’s not pro-fessional on their part,” Thauvin said.

“They lacked respect. (Marcelo) is a professional player, he should be leading by example. They shouldn’t behave like that.” Greece striker Kostas Mitroglou’s looping header in the 84th minute appeared to have earned Marseille a point, after Lyon mid-fielder Houssem Aouar put Lyon ahead 2-1 shortly after the break with a sweetly struck shot from winger Betrand Traore’s pass.

Mitroglou then almost went clean through from the halfway line in the 89th, only to be incor-rectly called back for offside. It proved a key moment as Depay scored the winner one minute later.

Lopes took the free kick after the offside decision, striker Mariano Diaz headed the ball on just outside the edge of the

penalty area and Depay read it well to nod it over the advancing Mandanda from just inside the area.

Rami’s own-goal late in the first half canceled out center back partner Jorge Rolando’s opener in the 31st.

“We defended really badly,” Mandanda said. “We just didn’t match them in the challenges.” _

Dani Alves took Paris Saint-Germain a step closer to the French title, scoring his first league goal of the season with a late header as PSG won 2-1 at Nice.

The 34-year-old Brazil defender met midfielder Adrien Rabiot’s astute curling pass with a powerful header into the bottom right corner in the 82nd minute.

AFP

LONDON: Chelsea were made favourites to win the FA Cup after being drawn against outsiders Southampton in the semi-final on Sunday.

The two other fancied sides, Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United were thrown together in a glam-orous tie.

Both ties will be at Wembley Stadium, which has been Spurs’ home ground this season while White Hart Lane is being rebuilt.

The matches will take place on 21 and 22 April.

Bookmaker William Hill made Chelsea 13/8 favourites with Tottenham 2/1, United 9/2 and Southampton 9/1.

It was a good day for Chelsea manager Antonio Conte, who is widely expected to leave at the end of the season, only 12 months after winning the Premier League.

Losing to Barcelona in the Champions League in midweek meant the FA Cup was the last trophy his team could win to salvage a disap-pointing season.

They were taken to extra time in the quarter-final at Leicester City, but substitute Pedro scored to earn a 2-1 win.

Now they will be up against a former Stamford Bridge hero in Mark Hughes, whose first match as manager of Southampton brought a 2-0 win at Wigan Athletic in S u n d a y ’ s o t h e r quarter-final.

Hughes played for them from 1995-98, winning the cup in 1997.

This season Chelsea beat Southampton 1-0 at Stamford Bridge in December. The teams will meet on successive weekends as the return game is at Southampton on 14 April.

“When you arrive at this point, every game is difficult,” Conte said.

“Southampton have just changed coach but now it is important to be happy and to go for another game at Wembley. If you can win a trophy it is important for a team like Chelsea.” Spurs and Manchester United have shared the points in their two league meetings this season.

United won 1-0 at Old Trafford in October but were beaten 2-0 at Wembley in January, conceding the opening goal to Christian Eriksen after 11 seconds.

Pedro keeps Chelsea in the hunt for FA Cup glory

Salah giving Liverpool confidence like Suarez did, says captain Henderson

REUTERS

LONDON: Mohamed Salah’s goalscoring exploits this season are having a similarly positive impact at Liverpool to that of Luis Suarez had when the Uruguayan was at Anfield, according to club captain Jordan Henderson.

Manager Juergen Klopp said Salah was close to the same level as Barcelona’s Lionel Messi after the Egyptian scored four goals in Satur-day’s 5-0 league win over Watford, taking his tally to 36 goals in 41 games in all competitions.

The 25-year-old’s prolific debut season has also led to comparisons with Suarez, who moved from Liverpool to Barcelona in 2014 after helping the Merseyside club come close to winning the league title with 31 goals in 33 matches.

“They are both fantastic players in their own right and you can’t compare them,” Henderson said.“They are different players. I know they score a lot of goals and both work hard off the ball but it is very difficult to make that comparison.

“Luis moved on to Barcelona and is doing

fantastically well. He is a fantastic player who I was privileged to play with.

“But Mo this season has been unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable. He is doing it every week, without fail.” Henderson believes that Salah’s strike rate this season has given Liver-pool’s other players the assurance of knowing there will usually be an end product to all their hard work, much as they had when Suarez was leading the line.

“It’s the confidence,” Henderson added. “You have someone like Mo who does the hardest part of the game, which is putting the ball in the back of the net.

“Then, as a team, if we work as hard as we possibly can, Mo (is) going to finish it in the final third. We had that with Luis. You know when you are walking out there are so many goals out there for you.” Liverpool booked a Cham-pions League quarter-final tie against league rivals Manchester City last week following their 5-0 aggregate win over Porto in the last-16.

Klopp’s team are third in the league, two points behind second-placed Manchester United having played one game more, and travel to Crystal Palace on March 31.

Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah celebrates after the match against Watford at Anfield, Liverpool, Britain in this file picture.

Barcelona’s Lionel Messi scores their second goal during the La Liga match against Athletic Bilbao at Camp Nou, Barcelona, Spain on Sunday.

French Ligue 1 results on SundayNice 1 (Saint-Maximin 17) Paris Saint-Ger-

main 2 (Di Maria 21, Dani Alves 82)

Metz 1 (Roux 12) Nantes 1 (Rongier 23)

Saint-Etienne 2 (Subotic 29, Cabella 79)

Guingamp 0

Marseille 2 (Rolando 31, Mitroglou 84) Lyon

3 (Rami 42-og, Aouar 52, Depay 90)

Played on Saturday Bordeaux 0 Rennes 2 (Sarr 49, Gourcuff

86)

Amiens 1 (Konate 38-pen) Troyes 1 (Niane

47-pen)

Angers 3 (Tait 10, Toko Ekambi 43, Oni-

angue 74) Caen 0

Montpellier 2 (Skhiri 59, Sio 66) Dijon 2

(Said 27, 90+1)

Toulouse 2 (Sanogo 89, 90+1) Strasbourg 2

(Blayac 46, Kone 90+5)

Played on Friday Monaco 2 (Rony Lopes 44, Jovetic 61) Lille

1 (Mothiba 16)

Spanish La Liga results on Sunday: Leganes 2 (Bustinza 41, Eraso 69) Sevilla 1

(Layun 90)

Barcelona 2 (Alcacer 8, Messi 30) Athletic

Bilbao 0

Villarreal 2 (Unal 82, 90+1) Atletico Madrid

1 (Griezmann 20-pen)

Celta Vigo 0 Malaga 0

Real Madrid 6 (Ronaldo 11, 48, 64, 90+1,

Lucas 59, Bale 86) Girona 3 (Stuani 29, 67,

Juanpe 88)

FOOTBALL RESULTS

31TUESDAY 20 MARCH 2018 SPORT

Fangio in his sights: Superstar Hamilton wants fast start to the new F1 seasonAFP

MELBOURNE: Lewis Hamilton will try to lay down a marker in this week’s season-opening Australian Grand Prix as he sets his sights on beating fierce rival Sebastian Vettel to a fifth F1 world title.

Mercedes’s reigning world champion and Ferrari’s Vettel can both join the legendary Juan Manuel Fangio as five-time world title-holders this year, second only to Michael Schu-macher’s seven.

Vettel swept home in last year’s opening race against Hamilton in Melbourne before the British ace went on to land the championship with two races to spare from the German.

Ferrari once again have sizzled in pre-season testing along with Red Bull, pointing to a potential three-team assault on this season’s constructors’ title.

But Hamilton, who is reportedly about to sign a new contract with Mercedes which could earn him up to £40m ($55m) per year, says at 33 he’s motivated to blaze on.

“It doesn’t feel like the start of the final chapter, and I don’t feel as though I am about to embark on my last contract,” Hamilton told reporters.

“I want to arrive in Mel-bourne fit. I want to hit my target weight. I want to kill it through practice, get pole position and I want to win the race convincingly.

“I don’t know how long this feeling is going to last when I go into a new season, but as long as I am still feeling like this I will keep going.”

Hamilton has won twice in Melbourne, in 2008 and 2015. But Vettel, also chasing his third Australian victory, is in a simi-larly feisty mood ahead of the new season.

“We know what we need to do,” Vettel said. “There are lessons that were obvious, some were a bit more hidden, but I’m sure we’ll dig deep enough and try to find all of them.

“We are completely fired up.”

Hamilton also expects the Red Bulls of Australia’s Daniel Ricciardo and Dutchman Max Verstappen to close the gap during the 21-stop season, based on winter testing.

“I think Red Bull are the fastest at the moment, poten-tially,” he said.

“I’m super-confident in my team and the work they’ve done, I just think it’s going to be close.”

Starting the new campaign in a home GP places Ricciardo under extra pressure as he bids to become the race’s first Aus-tralian winner since Alan Jones in 1980.

“Starting the F1 season in Australia means there is so much hype and so much build-up, with me being the only Australian on the grid there is extra attention, extra questioning and expec-tation,” Ricciardo said.

“Melbourne in 2017 was a

combination of my errors and some misfortune, I crashed in qualifying and then we had a technical issue for the race. So 2018 is definitely time to get what we deserve in Melbourne.”

The new season also marks the introduction of governing body FIA’s new mandatory safety halo head protection device, which has drawn ire from some teams.

“I’m not impressed with the whole thing and if you give me a chainsaw I would take it off,” bristled Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff.

“I think we need to look after the driver’s safety, but what we have implemented is aestheti-cally not appealing and we need to come up with a solution that simply looks better.”

FIA chief Jean Todt hit back, saying the measure had been introduced to save lives and at the request of drivers’ body the GPDA.

“I am amazed to hear some people say: ‘OK, motor racing is dangerous, if it happens, it happens,’” Todt said.

“Can you imagine how we would all feel if something hap-pened and if we would have had the halo it would not have happened?”

Although a majority of drivers are in favour of the device, some have said they are opposed to it. Others have raised objections about the difficulty of getting in and out of the car and identifying drivers on the track.

This combination of pictures created yesterday shows the top six driver rankings of the 2017 Formula 1 World Championship from (top left): Mercedes AMG Petronas British F1 driver Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel of Germany, Mercedes AMG Petronas’s Valtteri Bottas of Finland. (Bottom from left): Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen of Finland, Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo of Australia and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen of the Netherlands. The Formula One Grand Prix 2018 season opens on March 25, 2018 in Melbourne, Australia.

This file photo taken on March 06, 2018 shows Ferrari’s German driver Sebastian Vettel driving at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo on the outskirts of Barcelona during the first day of the second week of tests for the Formula One Grand Prix season. Vettel and Ferrari again loom as the major threat to Lewis Hamilton-led Mercedes’s bid for a fifth-straight constructors’ title. The Italian giants, who last won the teams crown in 2008, were quickest in pre-season testing, with Vettel declaring Ferrari was heading to Melbourne for the first race of the 2018 Formula 1 season on March 25, 2018 in as good a shape as their main rivals.

The five talking points going into new seasonAFP

MELBOURNE: We looks at five talking points ahead of the 2018 Formula One season, which starts this week in Melbourne:

Ferrari threat

Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari again loom as the major threat to Lewis Hamilton-led Mercedes’s bid for a fifth-straight con-structors’ title.

The Italian giants, who last won the teams crown in 2008, were quickest in pre-season testing, with Vettel declaring Ferrari was heading to Melbourne in as good a shape as their main rivals.

“We’re starting from a good base with our SF71H car,” he said yesterday.

“I have a lot of confidence in our team.

“And I can’t wait to be in Aus-tralia, because once we get on track there, we will all be driving and racing under the same conditions.”

Toto’s chainsaw massacre

There have been plenty of unflattering comments over F1’s new halo head protection device for drivers, with Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff declaring he would take a chainsaw to the safety system if he could because of its weight.

FIA chief Jean Todt fired back, saying it had been introduced to save lives and at the request of drivers’ body the GPDA.

The halo has been under development in recent years, and has emerged in testing as the most effective of the designs at protecting the driver’s head from impact with large external objects.

Its introduction follows the death of Jules Bianchi following a collision at a wet Japanese Grand Prix in 2014 -- F1’s first fatality since Ayrton Senna in 1994.

‘Grid girls’ hit the skids

Liberty Media, the sport’s

American owners, have done away with the practice of using scantily-clad “grid girls” before races.

Liberty, embarking on their second season in charge fol-lowing the long era of British impresario Bernie Ecclestone, said the practice of having the women in the grid area before races was “clearly at odds with modern day societal norms”.

Among other changes is the installation of 360-degree cameras on all cars to create a better experience for TV viewers.

Threat for Hamilton

World champion Lewis Ham-ilton may see Sebastian Vettel and the Red Bull pair of Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen as his main rivals this season, but what about the threat from within Mercedes: his team-mate Valtteri Bottas?

In his first season with Mer-cedes, Bottas had three wins, but for the Finn to retain the seat in 2019 he may need to be closer to

his team-mate Hamilton in the final standings -- or even beat him.

“I know someone who did,” quips Nico Rosberg, who beat Hamilton to the 2016 title before immediately retiring.

‘Crazy’ engine limit

Toro Rosso has complained that it’s “crazy” that F1 has stuck with the three-engine limit for the demanding 21 grand prix season.

F1 teams are bracing them-selves for a tough time in man-aging engine life in 2018, with new rules limiting them to just three power units. “Last year manufacturers tried with four engines and less races, and this year we have more races and less engines,” team principal Franz Tost said. “I must only say they are totally crazy with this regu-lation.” Tost thinks as a conse-quence it will be inevitable that Honda will discuss tactical engine change penalties with his team during the season.

In this file photo taken on November 23,

2017 Mercedes’ British driver

Lewis Hamilton gestures during a press conference at the Yas Marina

Circuit.

1 Australian Grand Prix, March 252 Bahrain Grand Prix, April 83 Chinese Grand Prix, April 154 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, April 295 Spanish Grand Prix, May 136 Monaco Grand Prix, May 277 Canadian Grand Prix, June 108 French Grand Prix, June 249 Austrian Grand Prix, July 110 British Grand Prix, July 811 German Grand Prix, July 2212 Hungarian Grand Prix, July 2913 Belgian Grand Prix, August 2614 Italian Grand Prix, September 215 Singapore Grand Prix, September 1616 Russian Grand Prix, September 3017 Japanese Grand Prix, October 718 United States Grand Prix, October 2119 Mexican Grand Prix, October 2820 Brazilian Grand Prix, November 1121 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, November 25

2018 F1 Calendar

32 TUESDAY 20 MARCH 2018SPORT 33TUESDAY 20 MARCH 2018 SPORT

Bangladesh’s ‘fearless cricket’ praised after near-miss in final

Sharma hails Karthik for last-ball six

Rabada to learn ban appeal result by tomorrowAFP

CAPE TOWN: Fast bowler Kagiso Rabada will learn the result of his appeal against a ban for the remaining two Tests against Australia within 48 hours following a hearing yesterday, Cricket South Africa said.

The hearing, via teleconfer-e n c e w i t h j u d i c i a l commissioner Michael Heron of New Zealand, lasted for more than five hours.

Cricket South Africa said the International Cricket Coun-cil would announce the outcome by Wednesday, the day before the start of the third Test against Australia. The series is currently 1-1.

Rabada, who has been highly influential in the two Tests so far, was given the ban for making physical contact with Australian captain Steve Smith during the second Test in Port Elizabeth.

Rabada’s brush with Smith led to him being given three demerit points which took him to the eight-point threshold that triggers an automatic two-Test ban. South African captain Faf du Plessis attended the early part of the meeting before leav-ing to join the team but team manager Mohammed Moosa-jee and advocate Dali Mpofu remained with Rabada.

Australia’s tour has been marred by altercations on and off the field. In the first Test, the visitors’ vice-captain David Warner was involved in an altercation with South Africa wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock in a stairwell.

Former Australia fast bowler Brett Lee has told AFP that while he did not want to see behaviour “crossing the line”, emotion and aggression were part of the game.

“In all honesty... we don’t want robots on the field,” Lee said.

Still plenty of needle with or without Rabada, says ElgarREUTERS

CAPE TOWN; There will still be plenty of needle in the third Test between South Africa and Australia whether or not Kagiso Rabada wins his appeal against suspension, opener Dean Elgar said yesterday.

South Africa fast bowler Rabada is appealing against a ban handed down for brushing the shoulder of Australia captain Steve Smith in the hosts’ six-wicket victory in the second Test in Port Elizabeth which levelled the four-match series at 1-1.

The sanction of three demerit points took Rabada past the threshold of eight in the past 24 months to trigger an automatic two-match suspension.

His appeal takes place on Monday and although Elgar says the side will cope whatever the outcome, having the number one ranked Test bowler in the team would be a huge lift for the hosts.

“Having him in the side is massive for us, massive for the game and massive for the format, because KG is such a special cricketer,” Elgar told reporters on Monday.

“But there are rules that are implemented for certain instances. As cricketers we respect that, if he is good to go for the third Test it will be good for us and good for the game.”

Elgar does not expect the intensity in what has been an acri-monious series to drop off, especially after a social media comment by South African seamer Vernon Philander suggested Smith was equally at fault for the incident.

Philander said his account was hacked, but Elgar thinks the all-rounder should expect plenty of chatter from the Austral-ians in Cape Town.

“There has been a lot of niggle from both sides, but it is what you expect when you play quality opposition,” Elgar said.

“The intensity should be there, that is what makes this for-mat so special in my eyes. I am also one to give it out a bit in all the right measurements.

“He will take it in his stride as Vern always does. He is quite a relaxed human being but on the field he is as competitive as anyone else.

“He is going to expect that they will come out and say some-thing to him.”

Philander will be a key bowler for South Africa whether Rabada plays or not and has an outstanding record at his home ground with 47 wickets in eight Tests at an average of 16.34.

“It (Newlands) is a special venue for any South African cricketer, but more so for him. He has got a pretty special record throughout South Africa, but at this place it is magnified even more,” Elgar said.

Bancroft confident of Starc’s recovery for third Test against South Africa

REUTERS

CAPE TOWN: Australia opening

batsman Cameron Bancroft is unsure what

to expect from the Newlands pitch for the third Test against South Africa starting on Thursday

but he is expecting Mitchell Starc (pictured) to overcome

a sore calf in time to play.Australia’s players had a

four-day break after their six-wicket defeat in the second Test in Port Elizabeth to level

the four-match series at 1-1, but fast bowler Starc was a nota-ble absentee from training yesterday.

All-rounder Mitchell Marsh, who has been battling with a groin injury, bowled in the nets, though not at full pace, and Bancroft does not believe there is too much to read into Starc’s absence.

“The four days off have been good for everyone, espe-cially our bowlers, they have done a lot of work in the last six months,” Bancroft told reporters yesterday.

“Sometimes the bowlers just work their way into the games a little bit differently, his (Starc’s) preparation might be a little bit different going into this game.

“I think in the past, he’s bowled a couple of days out and had that third day as a bit of a rest day. Hopefully he’ll bowl (on Tuesday), I’m sure he’ll be ok.”

For Bancroft the time off was an important chance to recharge batteries, but Aus-tralia are now fully focused for preparing for another

hard-fought Test on a seamer-friendly wicket.

“I have had a bit of a squizz (look) at the wicket. I’ve not played a Test match here before, but in the games gone by the wicket has offered a lit-tle bit more with the ball and been challenging for batters,” he said.

“We will prepare for a lot of different scenarios. But we also know in history gone by when Australia have played here what the wickets are like.”

Bancroft, 25, believes Aus-tralia are in a good frame of

mind for the third Test, even if his own build-up has been a bit rocky.

“A few of the guys went shark diving the other day, I was pretty sea sick for the whole time, so I will be laying off boats for now,” he said.

“Some guys went up Table Mountain, others went away on safari. That is the beauty of play-ing cricket around the world, you get to come to amazing places like Cape Town.

“It has been a good refresher, but now time to get our heads back on.”

Stokes return will lift England: Moeen

REUTERS

AUCKLAND: The return of all-rounder Ben Stokes (pictured)

will be a welcome boost to the England squad as he provides much-needed

balance and lifts morale, team-mate Moeen Ali said

ahead of the two-match Test series in New Zealand.

Stokes returned for the one-day internationals against New

Zealand last month after a lengthy absence due to an affray charge relat-

ing to an incident in September, helping England win the series 3-2.

The 26-year-old faces a late fitness Test after sitting out the warm-up game against New Zealand XI due to a back injury. Stokes also missed the Ashes series in Australia which England lost 4-0.

“He’s always great for the team,” Moeen told The Telegraph. “The balance of the team is pretty much sorted when he’s in the team.

“It’s just having him in the side, knowing we’ve got a much stronger side when he’s playing. It gives everyone else a good lift, and obviously him being at slip for me, he’s very good in that position.

“He’s ready to go and ready to per-form and give back to the team, which I’m sure he wants to do for what hap-pened earlier.”

New Zealand put up a fight in the ODI series, taking a 2-1 lead before England won the last two games and Moeen is expecting another tough challenge from the hosts.

“I think it’s going to be quite a tight series. I think they’ve got a very good side and some world-class players who are in good form and some very good bowl-ers as well,” Moeen added.

“I think the difference will be how low we bat - our tail, with (Chris) Woakesy probably going to be number nine now, we bat all the way down.”

Moeen, 30, will play his 50th Test in New Zealand’s first home day-night Test starting on Thursday in Auckland.

New Zealand add Guptill to squadREUTERS

WELLINGTON: New Zealand have added experienced batsman Martin Guptill to their 13-man squad for the first test against England in Auckland, a day-nighter which starts on Thursday.

With Ross Taylor battling a thigh injury sustained during the one-day series against the touring side, Guptill’s inclusion will give New Zealand a extra option across the batting order.

“We opted for extra batting cover for that final spot and with Martin having been playing in the middle-order recently, he can cover a number of positions for us,” selec-tor Gavin Larsen said in a statement from New Zealand Cricket.

The first match in the two-test series at Eden Park will be the maiden day-nighter in New Zealand.

Bangladesh’s cricket captain Shakib Al Hasan reacts

after losing the final of the Nidahas Twenty20 Tri-

Series international cricket match against India at

the R. Premadasa stadium in Colombo on Sunday.

AFP

COLOMBO: India captain Rohit Sharma praised Bangladesh for their “fearless cricket” after the Twenty20 minnows came within one ball of a shock victory in the tri-series final in Colombo.

Tenth-ranked Bangladesh pushed their illustrious neighbours all the way in Sunday’s final before wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik smashed a six off the last ball to secure a four-wicket win.

With the packed 20,000 crowd cheering India, in anger at Bangla-desh’s tactics in the semi-final, Karthik’s eight-ball 29 clinched it after a tense, 167-run chase that saw Bang-ladesh concede 35 runs off the final two overs.

But Sharma, who gave his team a blazing start with a 42-ball 56, said Bangladesh were a “very good team” who have vastly improved over the past three years.

“(Bangladesh) play fearless cricket, it’s always good. Sometimes, it can bite you when things don’t go your way but that is the style of cricket they want to play,” Sharma told reporters after the final.

“They are certainly a very good team... in the last three years, we’ve seen how they’ve changed their style of cricket.

“A few of the guys who are expe-rienced are nurturing the younger guys.”

Sharma said the unusual Sri Lankan support for his team had been “very crucial” at the R. Premadasa Stadium.

Home fans were angry at Bang-ladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan briefly withdrawing his batsmen in the final over of their win over Sri Lanka in protest at an umpiring decision.

“We didn’t feel that we were play-ing outside India,” the captain said. “They supported us throughout the course of 40 overs.”

Wicketkeeper-batsman Mushfiqur Rahim, who registered two half-cen-turies in the series, senior batsman Mahmudullah and skipper Shakib Al Hasan played key roles as the Tigers beat hosts Sri Lanka twice to book the title clash with third-ranked India.

Bangladesh’s Rubel Hossain, who sent down the 19th over in the final that conceded 22 runs, and Soumya Sarkar, who was entrusted with the final six balls which went for 13, were

the unfortunate bowlers on the receiv-ing end of Karthik’s explosive innings.

But Sharma had comforting words for Soumya, an occasional medium-pace bowler, after his final ball disappeared for six as Karthik took India to 168 for 6. Soumya conceded just seven runs from his first four deliveries and then had Vijay Shankar caught at long-on with the fifth, leav-ing India needing five runs.

But his wide half-volley was drilled over the extra cover rope by Karthik as the India dressing room erupted in wild celebrations.

“We always knew Soumya Sarkar is not a premier bowler. He’s a part-time bowler at the most,” said Sharma.

“It can happen to anyone when you bowl those big overs. It’s never easy at the death. The pressure is always on the bowler not the bats-man,” he added.

Shakib also lauded the performance of his team , who have never won a T20 match against India in eight meetings so far and have also lost 11 of their last 14 games in the shortest format.

“We were very close but in the end India was on the winning side. Credit goes to them but we cannot take any-thing away from us for the way we played throughout this tournament,” said Shakib.

“We have showed some good character and played the game in the right spirit and I cannot ask more than that from my team,” the all-rounder added.

AFP

COLOMBO: India skipper Rohit Sharma lauded Dinesh Karthik’s ability to handle pressure after the wicketkeeper-batsman hit a last-ball six to help his side clinch the tri-series final against Bangladesh.

Karthik showcased nerves of steel during his eight-ball 29 to help India pull off a tense 167-run chase and win by four wickets at Colombo’s R. Premadasa Stadium.

India were pushed to the brink needing 34 off the last 12 balls but Karthik’s whirlwind knock ensured that they stay unbeaten against Bangladesh in eight T20 meetings between the two sides. Sharma, who set the chase with his 42-ball 56, said that dropping down Karthik to number seven was part of a plan that came off well.

“He has batted in that position in a list of games for his state teams. Even when he was

playing for Mumbai Indians (in the Indian Premier League) with me, I knew his ability with the bat,” Sharma told reporters.

“He’s got some different types of skill shots that would probably be required at that point at the death overs. That was the only reason we held him back. I can proudly say it paid off,” said Sharma.

Needing 12 to win off the last over, India lost Vijay Shankar on the penultimate ball but Karthik held his nerve to hit Soumya Sarkar for six, triggering wild cel-ebrations in the dressing room.

Fast bowler Mustafizur Rah-man gave away just one run in the 18th over and took the crucial wicket of Manish Pandey, who made 28, to give Bangladesh the edge.

Karthik, who was named man of the match, then stepped up to clobber paceman Rubel Hossain for two sixes and two fours as India took away 22 runs in the

19th over and make the equation easy.

“Dinesh and Manish and Vijay (Shankar) knew that the pressure is on them, so one mistake here and there, and pressure does play a big part. That’s exactly what happened. We knew he (Karthik) could finish off the game for us,” said Sharma.

Earlier put into bat, Bangla-desh rode on Sabbir Rahman’s 50-ball 77 to post 166-8 against a disciplined Indian bowling.

Leg-spinner Yuzvendra Cha-hal claimed three wickets to rattle the Bangladesh batting early including the prized scalp of the in-form Mushfiqur Rahim for nine. He returned figures of 3-18.

Sabbir then went after the Indian pacemen Vijay Shankar and Shardul Thakur, who gave away 93 runs between them.

Left-arm quick Jaydev Unad-kat struck late to get two wickets in an over as he finally got Sab-bir, who hit seven fours and

four sixes, bowled on a slower delivery. Lanky off-spinner Wash-ington Sundar also returned miserly figures of 1-20 and was named man of the series for lead-ing the wicket-takers chart alongwith Chahal -- they both got eight wickets each in five games.

“Anybody could’ve won the game but credit to India, they held their nerves, especially Dinesh Karthik for the way he played,” Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan said in praise of his opponents.

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Windies edge Zimbabwe to stay on course for World CupAFP

HARARE: West Indies edged closer to a place in the 2019 World Cup when they defeated Zimbabwe by four wickets in the latest qualifying match yesterday.

Chasing 290 to win, the two-time champions reached their target with six balls to spare after surviv-ing a worrying mid-innings collapse.

The West Indies lead the Super Sixes qualifying table with six points but will still need to avoid defeat against Scotland on Wednesday in their last pool match to be sure of a place in next year’s finals.

Zimbabwe, on five points, can still make the 2019 finals by beat-ing the UAE on Thursday although the Scots, Ireland and Afghanistan all remain in contention for a spot in the showpiece in England and Wales.

Brendan Taylor top scored for Zimbabwe with 138 which included 20 boundaries and two sixes.

For the West Indies, Marlon Samuels smashed 86 off 80 balls with four sixes while Evin Lewis and Shai Hope also contributed half centuries.

Brief scores:Zimbabwe: 289 all out in 50

overs (B. Taylor 138; J. Holder 4-35) West Indies: 290-6 in 49 overs

(M. Samuels 86, S. Hope 76, E. Lewis 64)

Quetta Gladiators’ Sarfraz Ahmed (second right) plays football with team-mates during a practice

session at the Gaddafi Cricket Stadium in Lahore yesterday, ahead of the Pakistan Super League

(PSL) cricket match. Lahore will host two play-off games today and tomorrow. Karachi will host

the PSL final on March 25.

Pakistan Super League set for play-offs

They are certainly a very good team... in the last three years, we’ve seen how they’ve changed their style of cricket: Rohit Sharma

32 SPORT

Rubel seeks forgiveness after nightmarish 19th overIANS

DHAKA: A crestfallen Bangla-desh pacer Rubel Hossain, who leaked 22 runs in the 19th over to help India claw back chasing 167 and win the final of the Nidahas Trophy Twenty20 International (T20I) tri-series, wants to be forgiven by fans.

“I am feeling terrible after the defeat. I never thought I would be the reason for Bang-ladesh’s defeat. We were so close to winning in the final but because of me, we lost. I want to apologise to the fans and ask for forgiveness,” Rubel was quoted as saying by Bangla-desh’s leading newspaper Prothom Alo.

Wicketkeeper batsman Dinesh Karthik (29 runs off eight balls) played a brilliant cameo towards the end, hitting a six off the last ball to win the final for India, who chased down Bang-ladesh’s 166/8.

Karthik came into bat with scoreboard reading 133/5 at the end of 18 overs. He announced his arrival at the crease by smoking two sixes and a four off first three balls from Rubel. In the next three deliveries, Karthik accumulated six runs which left India needing 12 off the last over.

The drama further unfolded

when India needed five runs in the last ball. Kathik slammed a flat six over extra cover off Sou-mya Sarkar to clinch the issue.

The Bangladesh captain, in the post match press conference, backed Rubel.

“To be honest he did not

miss much of the plan when he bowled.”

“I don’t know if there are many batsmen who can come and hit a six off the first ball, the next for a four and then again a six,” Karthik was quoted as say-ing by The Daily Star.

Bangladeshi cricketer Rubel Hossain reacts during the Nidahas

Trophy Twenty20 Tri-Series final against India on Sunday.

Kagiso Rabada

34 TUESDAY 20 MARCH 2018SPORT

World Rugby looking into controversial referee appointmentAP

DUBLIN: World Rugby is looking into the appointment of a Romanian referee for a crucial match between Spain and Belgium that determined whether Romania qualified for the 2019 Rugby World Cup.

Spain’s surprising 18-10 loss in Brussels on Sunday meant Romania advanced to the World Cup through a second-place finish in the Rugby Europe Championship. Spain would have qualified with a win.

The referee for the match, Vlad Iordaschescu, had to be escorted from the field by security after Spain players angrily confronted him. The two assistant referees were also Romanian.

World Rugby, which does not appoint match officials for Rugby Europe Championship qualifiers, said yesterday it has contacted Rugby Europe “to understand the context of events relating to the Belgium v Spain match in Brussels on Sunday.”

All of Belgium’s points came from penalty kicks.

The Spanish Rugby Fed-eration has said it will file a complaint to tournament organizer Rugby Europe about the refereeing, and request video of the match be analysed to check if decisions were “deliberately partial to favor the interests of Romania.”

The Spanish federation had asked Rugby Europe to change the officials for the Belgium match because all three were Romanian. The federation said Patrick Roben, president of Rugby Europe’s referees’ commission, denied the request because the match appointments were done weeks in advance.

The head of Rugby Europe is a Romanian, Octavian Morariu.

Rugby Europe said in a statement yesterday that it is waiting for an assessment report by the supervisor of the match officials for the Belgium-Spain game, and will devote a “large portion” of a tournament committee meeting on Friday to the “analysis of every stage of the Belgium v Spain game.”

Hosts Japan to start 2019 World Cup against RomaniaREUTERS

TOKYO: Hosts Japan will open their 2019 World Cup campaign against Romania, who qualified for the tour-nament after Spain slumped to a shock 18-10 defeat by Belgium in the Rugby Europe Championship on Sunday.

Spain’s loss meant Romania finished second in the standings behind already-qualified Georgia and the Romanians join Japan, Ireland and Scotland in World Cup Pool A. Japan and Romania meet in the first match of the World Cup at the Tokyo Stadium on Sept. 20, 2019.

The final team in Pool A will be decided via a two-legged playoff in June between Samoa and the runners-up of European qualifying. Spain need to beat Portugal in a playoff to make the two-legged tie against Samoa in order to reach the World Cup.

Rugby: Ireland early contenders to dent All Black World Cup hopesAFP

CARDIFF: Ireland emerged deserved Grand Slam champions but New Zealand will likely not be quaking in their boots at thought of competition from other Six Nations teams come next year’s Rugby World Cup in Japan where the All Blacks will be bidding for a third successive title.

Ireland, expertly guided by Kiwi coach Joe Schmidt, saw off England on Saturday to secure a third Grand Slam.

Eddie Jones saw his record as England coach go from 24 wins from 25 Tests to 24 from 28 after successive losses to Scotland, France and Ireland that left the English with their worst Championship finish since 1983, above only winless Italy in the standings.

“If you think you’re in a good place, that’s probably the time to start worrying,” Jones had predicted before the tournament.

Wales snatched second place after an unconvincing victory over France while Scotland’s win in Italy secured third place ahead of the French.

“It’s hard for it not to be the high point, because right here, right now it’s a little bit of history for us,” Schmidt said of his team’s achievement, capping a 12-match winning streak.

“It’s a really neat story of a year that has managed to see us win every game that we played which is incredibly special.”

Schmidt, who led his team to a first-ever victory over New Zealand in November 2016, has cleverly blended veterans like leading half-back pairing Jonny

Sexton and Connor Murray, full-back Rob Kearney and skipper Rory Best with the youth of James Ryan, Garry Ringrose, Dan Leavy and Jacob Stockdale.

The tournament as a whole was generally a tight, compet-itive one, and Sexton’s last-gasp 42-metre drop-goal after 41 phases to win in Paris was the pivotal moment.

That slice of brilliance was not repeated by England, whose lack of a mobile openside flanker and the absence of powerful ball-carrying No. 8 Billy Vunipola meant for a chronic time at the breakdown.

Jones remained optimistic despite his side’s failings, saying: “When you take over it is rea-sonably easy, like I did with England, it is quite easy to improve them quickly because you get fix certain things that need fixing quickly.

“But internal mechanisms take time to fix and that is the slow burner. Unless you fix them they catch up with you when you get to the big tournaments such as the World Cup. So for us it has been an enormously beneficial tournament if disappointing because we are finding out about how to be a better team.”

Jones will need to fix the breakdown as a priority, with an eye on cutting down the huge number of penalties given away. With no quick ball, the much vaunted attacking George Ford/Owen Farrell axis floundered and revealed a toothless mid-field that could perhaps be enhanced by moving the cre-ative Elliot Daly in off the wing.

New Zealand coach Steve Hansen said that England had suffered from providing the bulk

of the squad for the British and Irish Lions in last year’s drawn series against the All Blacks, citing player fatigue.

“You don’t want to be pan-icking too much up there. England are a good rugby side,” said Hansen, whose team will play England on November 10 at Twickenham.

“They have some very good players and one of the best coaches in the world. They should have a bit faith and I’m sure they’ll come back. Yes they’ve lost three in a row and that’s the reality, but it doesn’t make them a poor side and nor does it mean they’re in crisis.”

Wales coach Warren Gatland saw his side lose at Twickenham and Dublin, but notch up three

home wins. Questions persist over fly-half, but there has been a considerable strengthening in depth elsewhere. The return of Lions Sam Warburton and Jonathan Davies can only bolster its consistency.

The good news for Scotland is they are establishing a style of play that suits their resources, with an aggressive breakdown allied to a willingness to attack with ball in hand as evidenced by the creativity of Finn Russell and try-scoring exploits of Huw Jones.

Coach Gregor Townsend will have to shore up the team’s defence, not only out wide, where they look desperately vul-nerable, but also in simple first-up tackles.

France, who travel to New Zealand in June, struggled to score tries, but coach Jacques Brunel, whose captain Guilhem Guirado was outstanding, has called up a raft of inexperienced players and installed a prag-matism that means they can stay in the hunt in any match.

Italy conceded 203 points in their five matches, but coach Conor O’Shea was confident that they were moving in the right direction.

“Mark my words, we’re coming. We want to play and the more we do the better we’ll become. There are so many pos-itives... we’ve seen our future, the style and the game that we want, the quality of our young players,” he said.

Lyon’s Theophille Cotte (left) is tackled by La Rochelle’s French lock Romain Sazy during a French Top 14 Rugby Union match at the Marcel Deflandre Stadium in La Rochelle, southwestern France.

A Belgian national rugby team Black Devils player vies for the ball against a Spanish rival in a line out during their European International Championship Rugby Union match in Brussels, on Sunday.

England ‘will overcome ‘big bump’ before World Cup’AFP

TWICKENHAM: Captain Dylan Hartley said England had suffered a “big bump on the road” to next year’s World Cup but insisted they would bounce back from their mauling in the Six Nations.

England’s next assignment is a tour of South Africa in June, where they will look to pick up the pieces of their fifth-placed Six Nations finish.

The Red Roses have fallen to third in the Test rankings fol-lowing Saturday’s chastening 24-15 home defeat to Grand Slam-winners Ireland, their third straight loss.

But Hartley insisted England had time to regain their best form before Japan 2019, where New Zealand’s All Blacks will be looking to lift their third suc-cessive World Cup.

“We’ve found deficiencies in our game and at the breakdown, we’ve got to learn to adapt earlier in games,” Hartley said.

“Individual discipline has killed us. I’d rather this hap-pened to this team now than later on,” the New Zealand-born hooker added.

Coach Eddie Jones left open the possibility of resting Eng-land’s British and Irish Lions players for the tour of South Africa, after fatigue was blamed for their lacklustre form.

“We still have to look at how we look after the Lions players,” said Jones. “That’s still a concern for us.

“We will do that and that was always in the plans, but otherwise we will select how we always select.”

England’s World Cup-winning coach Clive Woodward told reporters England were paying the price for having several senior players involved in last year’s Lions tour of New Zealand.

Several Ireland stars also had key roles in the combined side’s 1-1 drawn Test series but, significantly, they have faced far less gruelling workloads since returning home.

“You can’t overstate what happened on the Lions tour,” said Woodward, whose side won the 2003 World Cup final against an Australia team coached by Jones, on BBC Radio 5 Live on Sunday.

“Every time the Lions toured, the way our players have to play so many games for their clubs, it meant you would have a bad year (afterwards),” he added.

However, Jones said facing a “rejuvenated” South Africa is just what England need to restore their confidence.

“It’s a good place, because we can get the team together and work together, day-in, day-out,” said Jones, a consultant to the Springbok side that won the 2007 World Cup.

“It’s going to be fantastic for us and they (South Africa) are going to be a rejuvenated team,” added the Australian, whose overall record as England coach stands at 24 wins from 28 Tests.

35TUESDAY 20 MARCH 2018 SPORT

Marcquise Reed (2) of the Clemson Tigers shoots against Malik Dunbar (14) of the Auburn Tigers during the second quarter of their 2018 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament game at Viejas Arena in San Diego, California. The Clemson Tigers won 84-53.

Thunder end Raptors’ run as Trail Blazers stretch their win streakAFP

LOS ANGELES: Russell West-brook’s fifth straight triple double helped the Oklahoma City Thunder end the Toronto Raptors 11-game NBA winning streak on Sunday, as the Portland Trail Blazers rumbled to a 13th consec-utive victory.

Westbrook scored 37 points, pulled down 13 rebounds and handed out 14 assists.

His heroics, including back-to-back baskets to break a tie with 54.9 seconds remaining, denied the Raptors the longest win streak in club history.

Toronto remained atop the Eastern Conference with a 52-18 record, but the Raptors were fuming after a chaotic end to the contest.

DeMar DeRozan, who led Toronto with 24 points, was ejected with less than 10 seconds to play for arguing with an official.

“You know the frustration, you know what it came down to,” said DeRozan, who was still angry after the game at what he said were non-calls on obvious fouls.

“It was obvious, especially at the end of the game.”

Teammate Serge Ibaka was tossed moments later, then Toronto coach Dwane Casey was ejected -- although video appeared to show it was a fan behind him who yelled at the referee.

Casey was measured in his post-game comments, saying only that the Raptors are looking for “fairness and consistency” from officials and adding: “We’ll complain in the proper way.”

His reticence came on the same day that New Orleans coach Alvin Gentry and Detroit coach

Stan Van Gundy were fined $15,000 apiece for post-game rants about refereeing.

New Zealand center Steven Adams added 25 points and eight rebounds for the Thunder while Paul George scored 22 points and Carmelo Anthony netted 15.

“You’ve got to be able to keep your composure through it all,” Westbrook said. “That’s what the game was all about.”

The Thunder remained two games behind the surging Trail Blazers for third place in the West.

Led by Damian Lillard’s 23 points, all five Trail Blazers starters scored in double figures in a 122-109 victory over the Clippers in Los Angeles.

CJ McCollum and Maurice

Harkless scored 21 points apiece, Jusuf Nurkic added 17 and Al-Farouq Aminu chipped in 16 as Portland’s starters out-scored their Clippers counterparts 98-44.

With their 13th consecutive victory, Portland equaled the second-longest win streak in team history, behind their 16-game run in 1991.

In Minneapolis, the Houston Rockets improved their league-leading record with a 129-120 victory over the Minnesota Tim-berwolves by fending off a late surge from the hosts.

Trailing by 25 early in the second half, Minnesota rallied to trim the deficit to five with 3:58 remaining.

But the Rockets, led by 34

points from Most Valuable Player candidate James Harden, responded to beat the Timber-wolves for the fourth time this season.

“It’s good for us, man,” Harden said. “We needed it. We needed to be in games like that. Obviously, having a big lead and losing it, we can’t let it happen, but if it does we’ve got to make sure we can keep our com-posure and get a good shot every time.”

The New Orleans Pelicans, fighting for their playoff lives in the West, gained a much needed 108-89 victory over the Boston Celtics. Anthony Davis scored 34 points and pulled down 11 rebounds and the Pelicans, who trailed by two at halftime,

dominated in the second half to pull away.

Cheick Diallo scored a season-high 17 points and Nikola Mirotic added 16 for the Pelicans, who had dropped four of their previous five to see their playoff hopes dwindle.

“We know that we’re a good team when we move the bas-ketball instead of coming down and doing a one-pass shot or a no-pass shot,” Davis said. “When we move the basketball, make the defense scramble a little bit, we tend to find guys that are open.”

Jayson Tatum scored 23 points to lead the injury depleted Celtics, who remained com-fortably ahead of the third placed Cleveland Cavaliers in the East.

Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook (0) tries to knock the ball away from Toronto Raptors guard Delon Wright (55) at the Air Canada Centre. Oklahoma City defeated Toronto.

NHL round-up: Vegas’ Karlsson nets hat-trickREUTERS

NEW YORK: William Karlsson scored his second hat-trick of the season and Marc-Andre Fleury had 42 saves for his 48th career shutout as the Vegas Golden Knights cruised to a 4-0 victory over the Calgary Flames on Sunday in Las Vegas.

It was the 401st career victory for Fleury, who moved into a tie with Chris Osgood for 12th on the NHL all-time vic-tories list. It was also the fourth shutout of the season for Fleury.

Karlsson, who also had a hat-trick in a 6-3 victory over Toronto on Dec. 31, has 39 goals. That ranks fourth in the league. Mike Smith stopped 27 shots for Calgary, which lost its second consec-utive game.

Blues 5, Blackhawks 4 (OT)Patrik Berglund scored at 3:31 of

overtime, lifting visiting St. Louis past Chicago.

St Louis forced overtime when defenseman Alex Pietrangelo scored his career-high 15th goal at 18:38 of the third period, mere seconds after goalie Jake Allen was lifted for a sixth attacker.

Pietrangelo and defense partner Vince Dunn each finished with a goal and three assists, making up for the loss of forward Vladimir Tarasenko, who didn’t play after sustaining an upper-body injury Saturday.

Avalanche 5, Red Wings 1Nathan MacKinnon collected two

goals and an assist as Colorado rolled past Detroit in Denver.

MacKinnon now has 89 points this season, including at least one in 12 straight games and 38 goals total.

Gabriel Landeskog had a goal and two assists while Blake Comeau con-tributed a goal and an assist. Tyson Barrie increased his point streak to a career-high 10 games with a goal.

Lightning 3, Oilers 1Nikita Kucherov extended his NHL

scoring lead with two goals as Tampa Bay beat visiting Edmonton.

Victor Hedman also scored for the Lightning, and Steven Stamkos had two assists. Ty Rattie scored in his second consecutive game for the Oilers. In a battle of backup goaltenders, Tampa Bay’s Louis Domingue recorded 29 saves, and Al Montoya had 37 for Edmonton.

Flyers 6, Capitals 3Wayne Simmonds scored two goals

and Shayne Gostisbehere, Oskar Lindblom, Ivan Provorov and Jakub Voracek each scored once to lift Phila-delphia past visiting Washington. Flyers goaltender Petr Mrazek stopped 25 shots.

Alex Ovechkin, Chandler Stephenson and John Carlson each scored for the Capitals, who had their four-game winning streak snapped. Washington goaltender Philipp Grubauer made 29 saves on 34 shots.

Hurricanes 4, Islanders 3Trevor van Riemsdyk scored the tie-

breaking goal with 6:49 left in the third period as Carolina edged host New York.

Van Riemsdyk’s shot banged off the crossbar and into the net for the

Hurricanes, who won for just the fourth time in 15 games (4-9-2). Jaccob Slavin, Lee Stempniak and Victor Rask also scored for Carolina. Scott Darling recorded 26 saves.

Jets 4, Stars 2Patrik Laine scored two goals and

Connor Hellebuyck turned away 28 of the 30 shots he faced as Winnipeg defeated visiting Dallas.

Blake Wheeler had a goal and an assist and Ben Chiarot also collected a goal for the Jets.

Ducks 4, Devils 2Ryan Getzlaf and Rickard Rakell both

collected one goal and one assist while goalie John Gibson made 15 saves at Anaheim beat New Jersey for its third consecutive win.

Twins’ SS Polanco suspended for 80 gamesREUTERS

NEW YORK: Minnesota Twins shortstop Jorge Polanco was suspended 80 games without pay after testing positive for the performance-enhancing substance Stanozolol, the commissioner’s office announced yesterday.

The positive test violated Major League Baseball’s Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Programme. Polanco’s suspension will begin at the start of the 2018 season.

“We were disappointed to learn of the suspension,” the Twins said in a statement. “We fully support Major League Baseball’s policy and its efforts to eliminate per-formance-enhancing sub-stances from our game.”

Polanco, 24, batted.256 with 13 homers and 74 RBIs last season when the Twins made the playoffs for the first time since 2010.

The Dominican Republic native said he didn’t know-ingly take the banned sub-stance and had asked his per-sonal trainer for a “combi-nation of vitamin B-12 and an iron supplement.”

** New York Mets left-hander Jason Vargas will see a specialist after breaking a bone in his non-pitching hand, the team announced.

Vargas was injured during a minor league game when he attempted to field a line drive. A CT scan yesterday showed a non-displaced fracture of the hamate bone in his right hand.

Vargas, 35, went 18-11 with a 4.16 ERA in 32 starts last year for the Kansas City Royals after missing most of the previous two seasons recovering from Tommy John surgery.

** The Royals signed right-handed pitcher Justin Grimm to a one-year, $1.25m deal, the team announced.

The 29-year-old reliever was released by the Chicago Cubs on Thursday after five seasons with the club. He had been scheduled to make $2.2m with the Cubs after losing his arbitration case during the offseason.

The Royals also announced that right-hander Sam Gaviglio was designated for assignment.

** The New York Yankees optioned third baseman Miguel Andujar to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, the team announced.

The move ends a battle between Andujar and Brandon Drury to start the season at third base. Andujar hit.262 with four home runs and 10 RBIs in spring training.

Drury, picked up by the Yankees in a trade last month, hit.271 with 31 home runs and 124 RBIs in three seasons with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

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Afghanistan vs UnitedArab Emirates

Peshawar Zalmi vs Quetta Gladiators

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36TUESDAY 20 MARCH 2018

I just knew that she was going to fight for every point. So I couldn’t afford to

lose points based on nerves, and I had to keep making the right decisions.

Naomi Osaka Indian Wells winner

Del Potro outlasts Federer to win Indian Wells titleAFP

INDIAN WELLS, UNITED STATES: Former US Open champion Juan Martin Del Potro stunned top-ranked Roger Federer 6-4, 6-7 (8/10), 7-6 (7/2) on Sunday to win his first Indian Wells title and second consec-utive ATP crown.

The 29-year-old from Argentina handed Federer his first match defeat of 2018 and extended his own win streak to 11 matches, including a title run earlier this month at Acapulco.

“I’m still shaking,” Del Potro said.

“It’s difficult to describe with words. It’s like a dream.” Del Potro, nagged by wrist injuries throughout his career, survived three match points before claiming the championship in a third-set tie-breaker, ending a two hour, 42 minute marathon contest.

“I cannot believe I won this tournament, beating Roger in a great final and this level of tennis. We played great tennis today,” Del Potro said.

“I just want to keep winning titles like this if I can.” Del Potro won the first five points of the deciding tie-breaker then closed it out when Swiss superstar

Federer, who had won a career-best 17 straight matches to start the year, smacked a forehand long. It was an emotional match for both players as each took turns questioning the chair umpire. Del Potro urged him to stop the pro-Federer crowd from making noise on his serve and an irritated Federer also had a couple of lively conversations with the umpire. “I don’t remember half of it,” said

Federer. “I was trying to pump myself up more, get energy for me. It had no effect on the outcome.” Del Potro was com-peting in his first Indian Wells final since 2013, when he lost to Spaniard Rafael Nadal.

It was Del Potro’s seventh victory over Federer in 25 career meetings, one of those wins coming in the 2009 US Open final.

“I always play good against

him. I won a couple of finals and lost a couple of finals. In the end I was lucky to win. We played great tennis today,” Del Potro said.

World number eight Del Potro is back in the rankings top 10 after dropping to 1,045th before beginning his comeback from three left wrist surgeries in 2016. “I am excited to see what is next,” he said. “I am still sur-prising myself and I want to keep surprising the tennis tour,” Del Potro said.

Federer blasted 10 aces but had five double faults and his serve was broken twice.

- ‘It should sting’ - He said it is going to take a little longer than normal to get over this one.

“It should sting,” Federer said.

“The question is how long? It is disappointing talking about a great match like this and losing.

“You move on. There’s no time to dwell over it. I see the positives at the end of the day.” Federer sur-vived a match point in the second set tiebreaker to force the third.

“It was a lot of chances at either end,” he said. “He should have maybe closed it first in the second set I believe. Even early in the second set I think he had break point chances.

“But I was able to find my game and get out of that game.” In the 10th game of the third set Federer returned the favour with three match points of his own but Del Potro timed his forehand shots perfectly.

“It was disappointing,” Federer said.

“Juan Martin was a bit better at the end. It was maybe a point here or there, maybe a shot, maybe a forehand, maybe a chip.”

Unseeded Osaka tops Kasatkina to win first WTA titleAFP

INDIAN WELLS, UNITED STATES: Unseeded Naomi Osaka became the first Japanese player to win the Indian Wells final, routing Russian Daria Kasatkina 6-3, 6-2 on Sunday for her first WTA Tour title.

World number 44 Osaka rolled over Kasatkina, breaking her serve four times and winning the battle of the 20-year-old rising stars in just 70 minutes.

“I just knew that she was going to fight for every point, too,” said Osaka.

“So I couldn’t afford to lose points based on nerves, and I had to keep making the right decisions.” Osaka captured the title on her first match point by blasting a backhand into the open side of the court.

The Japanese dynamo improved to 13-4 on the season two days after her biggest pre-vious win, a dominating semi-final triumph over world number one Simona Halep.

She was only the fourth unseeded player to reach the Indian Wells final, with the most recent before her being Kim Cli-jsters in 2005.

The loss ends a brilliant run in the California desert by Kasatkina, who was playing in her second final in a row after a runner-up finish in Dubai.

“She was much better today than me, so she really deserved to win,” Kasatkina said. “Of course, we were both nervous at the beginning, because the biggest finals so far.

“But during the match, she was able to manage her nerves and stuff, and I was still a little bit tight during the match. So it is what it is.” Kasatkina was two points from defeat against Venus Williams in the semi-finals but rallied for the upset triumph.

Kasatkina, who wasn’t even born when Williams first com-peted at Indian Wells, said she really felt the nerves getting to her on the big stage in the final.

I cannot believe I won this tournament, beating Roger in a great final and this level of tennis. We played great tennis today: Del Potro

Morrison of West Bromwich receives treatment at AspetarTHE PENINSULA

DOHA: West Bromwich Albion F.C. playmaker, James Morrison, has completed his treatment a comprehensive treatment programme at Qatar’s world-renowned orthopaedic and sports medicine hospital, Aspetar.

After suffering an Achilles tendon injury almost five months ago, Morrison visited Aspetar hoping it will enable him to return to his pre-injury state.

Speaking about his visit to Aspetar, Morrison said: “I felt that I wasn’t progressing [from

the injury] and I needed a dif-ferent direction, so I spoke to the medical staff at West Bromwich Albion and they told me to come to Aspetar.”

He added: “I did a bit of research before I came here on the internet. I (also) spoke with Stephen Ireland, who has pre-viously visited Aspetar. He men-tioned that the facilities were top-notch. I didn’t really believe it until I came here but after the first few days I (found that) eve-rything I need (is) here. Every-thing is five-star. I was impressed with it and I fully enjoyed my time here.”

Speaking about Qatar as a host nation of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Morrison said: “I think it’s good for football. It’s (going to be) different with the climate and the timing of it. [But] looking at the facilities here, I think it’ll be a huge, huge, benefit for the teams coming here. I’m sure all the stadiums built will [meet] the high expectations of football fans.”

Looking ahead, Morrison admitted that a footballer’s career can fade very quickly, saying: “I’m going on to 32 now so, at the back of my mind, I do think about it (retirement plans). I’d probably like to stay in the game in some other aspect, whether as a coach, recruitment or even working with young kids. Football’s all I’ve known for 20 years so I’d like to think my experience and knowledge could (prove beneficial in the long-run).”

Aspetar boasts one of the most advanced medical departments in the region, which is integral to the hospital’s multidisciplinary approach to athlete management.

West Bromwich Albion playmaker James Morrison during his treatment at Aspetar.

Brazil to use Tottenham’s facilities ahead of World CupREUTERS

SAO PAULO: Brazil have signed an agreement with Tottenham Hotspur to use the London Premier League club’s facilities ahead of this year’s World Cup in Russia, the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) said yesterday.

The five-times World Cup winners will train in London for friendlies against Croatia on June 3, at an English venue yet to be decided, and Austria on June 10 in Vienna.

“In addition to the friendlies, a partnership has been made official with Tottenham FC, who will make their facilities available for training as from May 28,” the CBF said in a statement.

“The selecao will have a gym, swimming pool and two official-size football pitches available to them as well as a recently built hotel inside the training centre.” Brazil kick off their World Cup campaign against Switzerland on June 17 before facing Costa Rica and Serbia in Group E.

They play friendlies against

World Cup hosts Russia in Moscow on Friday and reigning champions Germany in Berlin four days later.

Meanwhile, the Austrian soccer federation says Brazil will play its final warmup game for the World Cup against Austria on June 10, a week before the five-time world champions take on Switzerland in their Group E opener. The match will be played in Vienna at Ernst Happel Stadium, the same venue where

both teams last met in a 2014 friendly, which Brazil won 2-1.

Brazil has further build-up games against World Cup host Russia (March 23), world champion Germany (March 27) and Croatia (June 3) ahead of the June 14-July 15 tournament, where it also meets Costa Rica and Serbia in the group stage.

Austria failed to qualify for the World Cup but will also play friendlies against Russia on May 30 and Germany on June 2.

Naomi Osaka of Japan poses with the winner’s trophy at Indian Wells, California on Sunday.

A file picture of Brazilian striker Neymar and team-mates celebrating during their match.

Juan Martin Del Potro of Argentina celebrates with the winner’s trophy at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in Indian Wells, California on Sunday.