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GUYANA CHRONICLE Friday October 28, 2016
Kerber & Cibulkova reach semi-finals (BBC)- WORLD number one Angelique Kerber and Slovakia’s seventh seed Dominika Cibulkova secured semi-final places at the WTA Finals as both players won their final group matches in Singapore. Kerber beat American Madison Keys 6-3 6-3 to claim her third win of the week. Cibulkova had required the German to win in straight sets to progress from the White Group, having earlier beaten Romania’s Simona Halep 6-3 7-6 (7-5).
Kerber took the number one ranking from Serena Williams last month
R u s s i a ’s S v e t l a n a Kuznetsova had already qualified from the Red Group. Kuznetsova, who only qualified for the season-ending event last Saturday, will play Cibulkova in the last four, while Kerber will face the winner of Friday’s final round-robin match between Poland’s defending champion Agnieszka Radwanska and Czech fourth seed Karolina Pliskova. Cibulkova’s straight-set victory guaranteed Kerber’s place in the semi-finals, and the Slovak then had to wait
and hope that Kerber would return the favour with a twoset win over Keys. “Probably I’ll be checking the score, but that’s the worst thing you can do,” Cibulkova said after her match. “Maybe we’re going to go shopping to try and forget it, and just see the result.” Kerber duly saw off Keys in little over an hour, and said: “Today I wasn’t thinking that I already was in the semis. It was important to go out to win the match and win all three matches.
Players/Board relations could be at boiling point - Sir Viv
(Sportsmax) - WEST Indies legend Sir Vivian Richards believes the attitude of the players and results in the ongoing series against Pakistan could be a sign that relations between the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and players could be at boiling point. The regional team lost its eighth straight match against Pakistan in the ongoing series by 133 runs, which condemned it to a third series
loss across three formats on the ill-fated tour so far. The Windies, the reigning Twenty20 World Champions, were whitewashed 3-0 in the Twenty20 and suffered a similar drubbing in the One-Day International series. Ahead of the series the WICB removed Phil Simmons as coach of unit and Darren Sammy as Twenty20 captain and a member of the squad. While the board has dismissed sug-
Sir Vivian Richards
gestions that the decisions continue to affect the team, Richards is of a different view. “Everyone seems to be of the belief that the administration in some way has become totally dictatorial, and is not a process that I believe some of the individuals feel totally comfortable playing under,” Sir Viv told Antigua Observer’s Radio Sports. “I don’t know whether this can go on for much
longer, but it was just sad, to a degree, to see some of the guys who were not quite in it,” he added. “I felt like what took place in the T20 [series] and the ODIs is that the guys were not here, meaning they were here [physically] but still not here [mentally],” he continued. “There is a whole lot still going on in terms of administration, and it’s getting a little much in my view.”
Rahim backs spinners against England (Reuters) - BANGLADESH captain Mushfiqur Rahim is banking on his spinners to inflict maximum damage against England’s batting in the second test at Dhaka on Friday. The hosts’ spin trio of Mehedi Hasan, Shakib Al Hasan and Taijul Islam combined to take 18 out of 20 wickets in the first test at Chittagong, but England eked out a thrilling 22-run victory despite the collapse of their top order. Rain could be a factor in Dhaka, and Mushfiqur anticipates that any moisture in the wicket will help his three-pronged spin at-
tack. “The wicket is mostly prepared but if the sun was out today, it would have dried up further,” he said. “If there’s a bit of moisture, the ball would be gripping on the surface for the spinners. “Their spinners don’t have to attack because of their pace bowlers. For us, the spinners are the main weapon. They have to attack and take the wickets. “I think in that sense, our spinners are ahead of them. They are natural at bowling with the new and old ball, defensively or aggressively. But I would
still say that our spinners have room for improvement.” The skipper said his side’s narrow defeat still rankled, but appeared determined to use the disappointment as a driving force to secure what would be a famous win against England. “We are still hurting from the loss in Chittagong,so it is best to move on from that game,” he added. “We know that had we given one percent more, the test would have been in our favour. We would like to take the positives from that game, and use them in Dhaka.”