Perth Scorchers beat Brisbane Heat to win fifth Big Bash title

PERTH Scorchers won the Big Bash for the fifth time with a thrilling five-wicket victory over Brisbane Heat.

Nick Hobson hit a six and a four in successive balls as the Scorchers chased down their target of 176 with just four balls to spare in Perth.

A half-century from Ashton Turner and a lively cameo from Cooper Connolly helped set the platform for the win.

(Scores): Brisbane Heat 175-7 (20 overs): McSweeney 41 (37), Heazlett 34 (30),

Bryant 31 (14); Behrendorff

2-26

Perth Scorchers 178-5 (19.2 overs): Turner 53 (32), Inglis 26 (22), Connolly 25no (11)

Nathan McSweeney earlier top-scored with 41 for the Heat as they posted 175-7 of their passport".

The move prompted condemnation, with the UK Government saying the plan was a "world away from the reality of war".

Ukraine sports minister Vadym Guttsait said the country's sporting bodies needed to "strengthen communication" with international federations to keep a ban in place on Russian and Belarusian athletes, which was imposed by the IOC's executive committee immediately after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

However, IOC president Thomas Bach has since said that was only intended as a "protective" measure towards those athletes, and now insists they should not be discriminated against.

On Thursday, sports min- isters from Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Poland said "any effort by the International Olympic Committee to bring back Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete, even under a neutral flag, should be rejected".

They added: "Efforts to return Russian and Belarusian athletes to international sports competitions under the veil of neutrality legitimize political decisions and widespread propaganda of these countries."

And they called on "all international sports organisations and federations" to remove Russian and Belarusians athletes from international competitions until the war ends.

The IOC reiterated that no discussions on the return of Russian and Belarusian athletes to competition had yet taken place and warned Ukraine and other nations about the implications of threatening a boycott.

"Threatening a boycott of the Olympic Games, which the NOC of Ukraine is currently considering, goes against the fundamentals of the Olympic movement and the principles it stands for," the IOC wrote in a question-and-answer document published on Thursday."A boycott is a violation of the Olympic charter, which obliges all NOCs to 'participate in the Games of the Olympiad by sending athletes'. As history has shown, previous boycotts did not achieve their political ends and served only to punish the athletes of the boycotting NOCs.

London Marathon 2023: Double Olympic champion

REIGNING Olympic

from their 20 overs.

The Scorchers, who were the defending champions, went into the game as favourites after topping the table and having beaten Brisbane Heat in both meetings during the regular season.

In contrast, the Heat were bottom of the table in mid-January but three wins from their final four games took them to fifth, before they came through three knockout games to reach their first final since 2013.

After the Heat won the toss and chose to bat, McSweeney anchored their innings, putting on 79 for the second wicket with Sam Heazlett.

Their momentum was checked by the loss of three wickets for 13 runs, but Max Bryant's lively 31 from 14 balls and and unbeaten 21 from 16 from Warwickshire's Sam Hain lifted them up to a competitive score.

The Scorchers were reduced to 54-3 early in their reply, but then Turner, who hit 53 from 32, and Josh Inglis (26 from 22) put on 80 for the fourth wicket.

The game swung the Heat's way again when they both fell in quick succession, but some incredible power hitting from Hobson and teenager Connolly, who smashed 25 from just 11 balls, took them over the line.

5,000m and 10,000m champion Sifan Hassan says she is ready to take a "step into the unknown" when she takes on the 2023 London Marathon.

The Dutch athlete, who also won Olympic 1500m bronze in Tokyo, will come up against a trio of world record holders in her marathon debut on 23 April.

But she will still also target a summer track season as she considers her plans for the next Olympics in Paris in 2024.

"I'm a curious person," said the 30-year-old Hassan.

"I don't know if I can be great at the marathon or not. Even the distance is so challenging," she added.

"It's different. I will dream about [targets] after I even finish the distance [in training]."

Hassan, only the second woman to complete an Olympic distance double, will come up against a world-class field in London which also includes Kenya's marathon record holder Brigid Kosgei and Olympic marathon champion Peres Jepchirchir.

Genzebe Dibaba, owner of the 1500m record, will also line up alongside fellow Ethiopian and 2022 winner Yalemzerf Yehualaw.

The 23-year-old Yehualaw, who set a 10K world record in February 2022, ran the third fastest women's London Marathon time in history to win in two hours, 17 minutes and 26 seconds last year.

Eilish McColgan will make her marathon debut in the 2023 race.

"Before I can make a final decision on which direction to go, I need to test myself over the marathon distance," said Hassan.

"It will be a step into the unknown in many ways for me but I'm looking forward to it."

Britain's Commonwealth Games 10,000m champion

Ethiopian Kenenisa Bekele is among four of the five fastest runners in history announced in the London Marathon's elite men's field, which will also see British four-time Olympic track champion Mo Farah say an "emotional goodbye" to his home support.

The London Marathon returns to its pre-pandemic spring slot in 2023 for the first time in three years and will be broadcast live on BBC TV, iPlayer and online