SPORTS 15
Saturday, 2 April, 2016
Great Great Great! StunninG Win helpS WindieS Smile aGain
MUMBAI
W
AGENCIES
EST Indies captain Darren Sammy said he hopes to help Caribbean fans smile again by completing a unique hat-trick at the World Twenty20 after stunning India to reach the final. An emotional Sammy said the West Indies had their backs to the wall before shocking India by seven wickets to emulate their women’s team, who also won their semi-final hours earlier. After the West Indies won the Under-19 World
Cup in February, a double victory in Kolkata on Sunday would seal an unprecedented treble and hint at a cricketing revival for the islands after years of decline. Sammy’s team, champions in 2012, will face England in Sunday’s men’s title match while the West Indies women will play their first World Twenty20 final against Australia. “We came here on a mission. We were inspired by the U-19 boys earlier this year, the ladies won earlier today, now we have two West Indies team in the final,” said an emotional Sammy at the post-match presentation. “We feel this is this West Indies team against everyone else.”
Chasing 193, the West Indies were struggling at 19 for two after losing star batsman Chris Gayle for five, when Lendl Simmons rose to the occasion to become their unlikely hero. Fighting jetlag after flying in as a late replacement for the injured Andre Fletcher, Simmons, who survived two no-ball catches, hit an unbeaten 82 to silence a raucous crowd. “Great great great!!! Well done Windies!!! #silence #wankhede #WestindiesvsEngland #ICCWT20 #finals proud to be West Indian,” tweeted Caribbean legend Brian Lara. Before the match, Sammy had said the semi-final was a “David and Goliath” encounter, with more than a billion Indians willing their team to win. The West Indies dominated cricket in the 1970s and 1980s, winning the 50-over World Cup in 1975 and 1979, but they have since fallen on hard times. A bitter pay dispute with the West Indies Cricket Board on the eve of the tournament did not raise optimism about their chances of making an impression in the tournament. But the former Test powerhouse defied their doubters to beat England, Sri Lanka and South Africa in the group stage and then make India eat humble pie in Thursday’s semi-final. The women’s victory earlier also came as a surprise and captain Stafanie Taylor hoped the win would act as a catalyst for women’s cricket in the Caribbean. “I don’t think it’s that popular,” said the destructive opening batswoman. “If you look at Australia, they have that foundation which we’re trying to build in the West Indies. After being in the final, and I hope that we win, it might change everything in the West Indies. “People will know more about females playing the game, which we want. We want girls coming out to play the game.”
Northants bring in Sri Lanka’s Prasanna SportS DeSk
SportS DeSk Once derided as the tinkerman while in charge of Chelsea, Claudio Ranieri’s secret for Leicester City’s Premier League title charge this season is astonishingly straightforward a settled team that virtually picks itself. The statistics tell the tale after 31 games Leicester have used only 18 players in their starting lineups. To put that into perspective, title rivals Tottenham Hotspur, five points adrift of Ranieri’s men, have used 20 players, Arsenal 23, Manchester City 22 and United 26, according to website. While other managers rotate their squads, sometimes, but not always, to cope with demands in Europe, stability has been at the core of Leicester’s relentless consistency. The spine of the team, goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel, defensive rocks Wes Morgan and Robert Huth, midfield workhorses Marc Albrighton and Danny Drinkwater and 35-goal striking duo Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez, have started 29 or more league games while French midfielder N’Golo Kante has started 26.
SportS DeSk India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni laughed off talk of retirement as he put a brave face on the devastating World Twenty20 semi-final loss to the West Indies. The hosts came into the tournament with sky-high confidence but also widespread speculation that it could be the last international outing for Dhoni, 34. But after India’s stunning defeat by seven wickets, it was left to an Australian journalist to put the burning question to Dhoni at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium. Dhoni then asked the somewhat stunned Sam Ferris of the website onto the dais, put his arm around him, and turned the tables by becoming the interviewer. “Do you want me to retire?” he said. “Do you think I am unfit, looking at my running? Do you think I can survive until the 2019 World Cup?” When Ferris replied that Dhoni indeed looked more than capable of staying in shape until the next 50-over World Cup, a laughing Dhoni then responded: “Then you have answered the question.” “I wished it was an Indian media guy because I would have asked him if he had a son old enough, and a wicketkeeper, to play!” he said. The light-hearted exchange came at the end of a painful loss for the wicketkeeper-batsman’s team who had been red-hot favourites to win the trophy on home soil.
Chelsea’s Costa handed extra one-match ban
Seekkuge Prasanna, the Sri Lanka allrounder, has signed to play for Northamptonshire in 2016. He will primarily be involved in Northamptonshire’s NatWest T20 Blast campaign but could feature in other competitions, depending on the availability of the club’s main overseas player, Rory Kleinveldt. Prasanna, 30, has taken 25 wickets and scored 242 runs in 32 appearances for Sri Lanka, across all three formats. His most recent international appearances came in Sri Lanka’s three-match T20s series in India in February but he missed out on World T20 selection. “We’re delighted to have completed the signing of Seekkuge for the coming season, “ Northamptonshire head coach David Ripley said. “He’s an exciting cricketer with plenty of experience and good stats, and having him for the whole NatWest T20 Blast campaign is obviously a big plus for us. There’s a chance we may also see him in other formats during the summer.” Northants have been working in straitened financial circumstances for some time but Prasanna’s arrival will bolster one of the circuit’s thinnest squads. Last week, the club announced an investment scheme aimed at raising £1m to safeguard their future.
Leicester’s title surge built on simple foundations
Dhoni laughs off retirement talk after T20 exit
SportS DeSk Chelsea striker Diego Costa must serve an extra one-match ban after being sent off in last month’s FA Cup tie at Everton, the Football Association said on Friday. “Following an Independent Regulatory Commission hearing on Thursday, Chelsea’s Diego Costa has been given a one-match suspension, fined 20,000 pounds ($28,600) and warned as to his future conduct,” the ruling body said in a statement. Costa admitted a charge of improper conduct in relation to his behaviour after he was shown a second yellow card in the FA Cup quarter-final at Goodison Park. “This suspension will follow immediately on the conclusion of the player’s current ban,” the FA added.
BOLAND AND BANCROFT WIN STATE AWARDS SportS DeSk Victoria fast bowler Scott Boland and Western Australia batsman Cameron Bancroft have both taken home trophies at their state award ceremonies to cap off a summer in which they both made their international debut for Australia. In Melbourne, Boland received the Bill Lawry Medal as Victoria’s best Sheffield Shield player in a season in which they won the title. Boland collected 33 wickets at 20.93 in the Shield campaign and was rewarded with a debut in Australia’s ODI and T20 teams in January, having been also been part of the Test squad earlier in the summer. Spinner Jon Holland was handed the Dean Jones Medal as Victoria’s best Matador Cup player in a campaign that brought him 14 wickets at 17.85. The Melbourne Renegades BBL player of the Season was Dwayne Bravo, while Kevin Pietersen was named the BBL Player of the Season for the Melbourne Stars. Meg Lanning won the Sharon Tredrea Award and also took home the Melbourne Stars WBBL Player of the Season title, while Molly Strano was the
Player of the Season for the Melbourne Renegades in the WBBL. In Perth, opening batsman Bancroft claimed the Laurie Sawle Medal as Western Australia’s Player of the Year in a season that brought him 732 runs at 45.75 in the Sheffield Shield. Bancroft was named in Australia’s Test squad to tour Bangladesh at the start of the summer but the cancellation of that trip meant he had to wait until a T20 against India in January to make his Australia debut. Bancroft also piled up 335 runs at 55.83 in the Matador Cup, but it was Shaun Marsh who was named WA’s one-day player of the year for his 390 runs at 65.00. Fast bowler Michael Hogan, with 37 wickets at 24.64 for the Warriors in his last season before his retirement from Australian first-class cricket, was named WA’s Sheffield Shield Player of the Year. David Willey was the recipient of the Simon Katich Medal as the Perth Scorchers’ BBL Player of the Year. Nicole Bolton picked up the Zoe Goss Medal as the best women’s player for Western Australia, while the WBBL
CMYK
Perth Scorchers award went to Katherine Brunt. In Hobart, Ben Dunk was honoured for a season in which he led all Sheffield Shield run scorers by being handed the Ricky Ponting Medal as Tasmania’s player of the season. Dunk also collected the Jack Simmons Medal as limited overs players of the hear, while
Jackson Bird claimed the David Boon Medal as winner of the Shield award. Dan Christian was garlanded with the Hobart Hurricanes MVP for his allround displays in the BBL, and Heather Knight was recognised as the best Hurricane in the inaugural WBBL. Veronica Pyke was named the best WNCL cricketer for the Tasmania Roar.