25
GUYANA CHRONICLE Monday February 8, 2016
Mourinho’s shadow looms over Chelsea-United draw By Mike Collett LONDON, | (Reuters)-Jose Mourinho’s former club drew with what could well be his next one when Chelsea and Manchester United drew 1-1 at Stamford Bridge in the Premier League yesterday, a result that did not help either team’s ambitions. Although the Portuguese was nowhere to be seen at Stamford Bridge, his presence still loomed large over the match. He made headlines earlier yetserday by being widely quoted as saying he was ready to return to work in England after losing his job at Stamford Bridge seven weeks ago, with Old Trafford strongly tipped as his next destination. Current United manager Louis van Gaal retorted by saying he did not believe his club’s board had opened talks with Mourinho about taking his job, but Sunday’s draw at Chelsea would not have
Chelsea equalised in stoppage time for the second successive home league game.
increased his chances of keeping it. Although United played the better football, especially in the first half, Diego Costa’s equaliser in the first minute of added time to cancel out Jesse Lingard’s superb strike on the hour, left United fifth on 41 points from 25 matches. They are 12 adrift of leaders Leicester City and six points behind the fourth Champions League spot oc-
cupied by local rivals Manchester City. The result also did little for Chelsea’s immediate aim of moving up the table, and left them stranded in 13th place on 30 points, seven points clear of the relegation zone but 17 points away from the Champions League places. Dutchman Van Gaal, who must have thought his team had done enough to end the home side’s unbeaten run
under his compatriot, interim Chelsea manager Guus Hiddink, could not hide his frustration. VERY FRUSTRATING “We played very well until maybe the last quarter and it was very frustrating they scored so late. We played like we played today but we are not making the gap smaller (on the Champions League places),” said Van Gaal. Chelsea skipper John Terry, who said last week he was
SL thump England to book U-19 semi-final berth A fine performance by Sri Lanka’s spinners was capped by a stroke-filled 95 from opener Avishka Fernando as they brushed England aside by six wickets to move into the semi-final of the Under-19 World Cup. (Scores: Sri Lanka Under-19s 186 for 4 (Avishka 95) beat England Under-19s 184 (Taylor 42, Hasaranga 3-34) by six wickets). England had won the toss and opted to bat, a decision their captain Brad Taylor defended quite strongly at the presentation. “We didn’t think it did an awful lot early,” he said and thought 250 could have been within their reach had the middle overs gone better. As such they were all out for 184 without facing their full quota of overs. Not that the first few overs went England’s way either. Opener Dan Lawrence dragged one onto his stumps for 9, his partner Max Holden was caught at slip for 8 and the tournament’s top scorer Jack Burnham could only manage 11 at No. 3. Callum Taylor tried to res-
Avishka Fernando scored a 96-ball 95 for Sri Lanka against England urrect the innings with 42 off 57 balls, but his wicket triggered a middle-order collapse. What would rankle England more was the ball that got Taylor lbw had pitched outside leg stump while he was playing a shot. England fell from 120 for 4 in the 35th over to 136 for 7 in the 40th as Sri Lan-
ka strangled the innings with spin. Legbreak bowler Wanidu Hasaranga picked up 3 for 34. Out walked the Sri Lanka openers and cashed in 51 runs in eight overs before the lunch break. Avishka battered left-arm seamer Sam Curran for four successive fours in the third over and never
looked back. He got to his 50 off 44 balls and looked set for a hundred until he chose to swipe at a bouncer he had originally seemed to duck under and was caught behind for 95. It was only a minor roadblock for Sri Lanka though, who coasted to victory with six wickets and 86 balls to spare.(ESPN Cricinfo).
leaving the club at the end of the season, told Sky Sports the draw was not what they wanted either. “To be honest we need to start winning games because we are in mid-table and teams are dropping points around us so we need to start winning because of late we are drawing too many.” For most of the past decade this fixture has been one of the highlights of the season, and often a potential a title-decider, but with both teams off the pace this season, there was a subdued atmosphere at the ground in the first half. The game finally came to life when Lingard put United ahead with a superb goal, turning and shooting after a cross from the left had
been touched on by Wayne Rooney. Chelsea had a strong penalty appeal turned down at the end of the first half when Daley Blind appeared to stop Terry’s goal-bound shot by putting both hands in front of his face. But they suffered a bigger blow in the second period when they lost central defender Kurt Zouma, who was carried off on a stretcher shortly before United took the lead after landing awkwardly on his right leg and seemingly damaging his knee. Their efforts were finally rewarded in stoppage time when Costa rounded his Spain team mate David De Gea to score as Chelsea drew at home for the fourth successive league match.
Pakistan’s Shah banned for three months for doping offence DUBAI, (Reuters)-Pakistan leg-spinner Yasir Shah has been given a three-month ban after pleading guilty to an inadvertent doping offence, the International Cricket Council (ICC) said yesterday. The 29-year-old’s urine sample, provided in an in-competition test conducted on Nov. 13, was found to contain the presence of chlortalidone and he was subsequently provisionally suspended in December. Chlortalidone is a diuretic drug which features in the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) list of prohibited substances. Shah pleaded guilty to the charge and said he had mistakenly taken his wife’s blood pressure medication which contained the banned substance. “While making the decision, the ICC accepted that Shah had inadvertently ingested the ‘specified substance’ for therapeutic reasons, specifically to treat his blood pressure,” the ICC said in a statement. “He was able to satisfy the ICC through evidence and submissions prepared on his behalf by the Pakistan Cricket Board that he had no intention to enhance his sporting performance or to mask the use of another performance enhancing substance.” Shah’s sample was taken in Abu Dhabi which hosted the second match of Pakistan’s one-day series against England and the ban will rule him out of the World
Yasir Shah
Twenty20 in India, starting from March 8. A wily leg-spinner who has bagged 76 wickets in 12 Tests, Shah has also played 15 one-dayers and can return to playing cricket again on March 27. Shah said his case should be a reminder for all cricketers that they have to take responsibility and be extra cautious towards what goes into their body. “I assure all fans and followers of the Pakistan cricket team that I have never taken a performance enhancing substance nor have I ever had the intent of masking any such substance,” he said. “I have always been careful to check my medication with doctors and medical support staff to ensure it does not contain any substance on the prohibited list. “However, I acknowledge that I should have taken extra precautions to ensure that my blood pressure medication was stored separately from my wife’s medication so that there was no possibility of my wife’s medication being mistaken for my own.”