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TURIN: Manuel Locatelli (front) of Juventus takes part in physical drills along with team-mates at the club’s training centre on Monday.—AFP MADRID: Real Madrid begin their bid for a record-extending 16th European Cup on Tuesday at home to Olympique de Marseille with coach Xabi Alonso insisting Kylian Mbappe is not impatient to win the trophy and is valued as one of the leaders in the team. The 26-year-old striker, who helped France lift the 2018 World Cup and reach the 2022 final, has won seven Ligue 1 titles and multiple individual accolades but is still chasing an elusive Champions League…
DUBAI: Sri Lanka were made to sweat before edging Hong Kong by four wickets in the Asia Cup on Monday, as Wanindu Hasaranga’s late cameo spared the former champions an embarrassing stumble. Chasing 150 on a sluggish surface, Sri Lanka looked comfortable at 119 for two with 31 needed off 30 deliveries, but a flurry of wickets, four for eight runs, set nerves jangling. Hasaranga steadied the innings with an unbeaten 20 off nine balls, striking two fours and a six to seal victory with seven balls left. Pathum Nissanka was again the batting linchpin, cracking 68 off 44 balls…
ASIA CUP 2025 India and Pakistan did not shake hands after the end of the Asia Cup game © AFP After India beat Pakistan by seven wickets in their Asia Cup fixture in Dubai, the post-match presentation was held up for several minutes. When it did take place after a short delay, Salman Ali Agha didn’t show up for it. India captain Suryakumar Yadav as well as Player-of-the-Match Kuldeep Yadav were in attendance though. “Team manager Naveed Cheema lodged a strong protest against Indian players’ behaviour of not shaking hands,” PCB said in a statement. “It was deemed as unsporting…
In a state that has not produced a regular men’s Test batter this century, there is mounting optimism that drought could soon break. In Campbell Kellaway, Harry Dixon and Ollie Peake, Victoria coach Chris Rogers believes his side has the equivalent of “three top-five draft picks”. It’s a future he hopes the footy-mad state can get excited about, particularly given the sad recent exit of another great Victorian batting hope, Will Pucovski.The Kellaway-Dixon-Peake holy trinity are involved in the current Australia A tour of India having all finished the 2024-25 domestic summer strongly. Peake and Dixon, now 19 and 20…
Languishing in sixth place on the Sheffield Shield table at the halfway point of last season, Queensland’s 2024-25 summer looked to be heading for disaster. But the Bulls, under new coach Johan Botha, rallied to win three of their final five matches to qualify for the decider against South Australia.The returns of Usman Khawaja and Marnus Labuschagne boosted an otherwise inexperienced red-ball top order and saw Queensland finish the season with plenty of momentum. And for Botha and his Bulls, avoiding another slow start is high on the agenda for the new season. Queensland one-day squad v Victoria (Wednesday, September…
DECISION MUDDLE Pakistan lost 6 for 65 in 13 overs of India’s spin © Getty From the unique build-up to the unusual post-match scenes for this India-Pakistan game, what got lost was how both the teams read the conditions very differently. Salman Ali Agha, the Pakistan captain, won the toss and chose to bat first on a fresh pitch, despite numbers looking the other way. The last time a Full Member team won after opting to bat first in a night game in Dubai was in November 2018, when Pakistan beat New Zealand. But head coach Mike Hesson offered an…
Matt Fisher’s fifth career five-wicket haul put Surrey on top on day one of their top-of-the-table Division One clash with Nottinghamshire, the only Rothesay County Championship fixture to get under way on a weather-hit day.Fisher took 5-61, including the key wickets of Ben Slater and Freddie McCann, as the visitors were bowled out for 231 at the Kia Oval. After the early fall of Nottinghamshire skipper Haseeb Hameed, Slater and McCann moved the visitors on to 89-1 before Fisher removed their pair of them in the space of a few overs.After Gus Atkinson ripped through the middle order, finishing with…
Skipper Muhammad Waseem and Alishan Sharafu struck attacking half-centuries to lead the United Arab Emirates to a thumping 42-run win over Oman in the men’s Asia Cup on Monday. Waseem, who hit 69, and Sharafu, who made 51, put on 88 runs for the opening wicket to guide hosts UAE to a challenging 172-5 in Abu Dhabi. The home bowlers then combined to dismiss Oman for 130 in 18.4 overs for their first win in this edition of the regional tournament played in the T20 format. Medium-pace bowler Junaid Siddique stood out with figures of 4-23. Haider Ali and Muhammad…
The Pakistan Cricket Board has called for match referee Andy Pycroft to be withdrawn from the Asia Cup in an escalation of the row over India’s refusal to shake hands on the field.The sides met in Dubai on Sunday, the first match between the rivals since the major political conflict between the nations earlier this year. India won the game by seven wickets but pointedly declined the traditional show of respect at the end of the game.Pakistan captain Salman Ali Agha responded by failing to speak at the post-match presentation, with opposite number Suryakumar Yadav dedicating the win to his…
JOIN OUR WHATSAPP CHANNEL Kane Williamson has confirmed his availability for the T20 World Cup as part of a group of New Zealand players signed up for casual contracts, but the Black Caps batting great will miss next month’s T20I series against Australia. Finn Allen, Devon Conway, Lockie Ferguson and Tim Seifert also agreed to casual deals for the 2025/26 season, locking them in for the global showpiece in India and Sri Lanka starting in early-February, New Zealand Cricket (NZC) said on Monday. New Zealand’s casual contracts system allows players to take part in lucrative T20 leagues around the globe…