Canada, Ireland, Kenya and the Netherlands will represent the minnows of cricket at the 2011 World Cup after a thrilling climax to the qualifiers on Friday.
Ireland and Canada occupied the top two places on the final World Cup Qualifier Super 8 standings despite losing their final mini-league games, while Kenya and the Netherlands triumphed to snatch the other top-four places.
Kenya upset Ireland by six wickets in Pretoria thanks to undefeated knocks from Collins Obuya (66) and Thomas Odoyo (50), who stabilized an innings in trouble at 96-4 with Regan West claiming two wickets. Niall O’Brien (59) and John Mooney (34) were the only significant run getters as Ireland reached 208-9 in their alloted 50 overs, a target Kenya overtook with 12 balls to spare.
The Irish clinched their place on Wednesday, leaving the other seven survivors fighting for three places at the quadrennial showcase of international one-day cricket.
The Canadians fared poorly with the bat against the Netherlands in Johannesburg and only Sandeep Jyoti (46) passed the 40-run mark against an attack in which Eric Szwarczynski and Mudassar Bukhari grabbed two wickets each.
Bukhari was even deadlier with the bat, contributing 84 to a 167-run opening stand with Alexei Kervezee (77) before both departed within eight runs to trigger a mini-collapse. Sunil Dhaniram (3-38) was the only bowler to enjoy success for Canada, who suffered a major blow last week when injury ruled star batsman John Davison out of the tournament.
Meanwhile, the Afghanistan cricket dreamers are at it again. Not satisfied with a meteoric rise from fifth-division non-entities to the verge of World Cup qualification within one year, they have adjusted their sights to facing the likes of Australia and Pakistan at one-day level.
By finishing among the top six, the sporting warriors from the war-torn country have earned one-day international status for the next four years.
Manager Sayed Aminzai said that a team used to overcoming obstacles faced another with their new-found position — where to stage one-day matches. Aminzai said the Afghanistan players and officials had fallen in love with South Africa.
“Much as we would like to play in South Africa, it is too far from home and I believe Afghanistan officials will seriously consider India as a temporary base,” Aminzai said. “Given a choice of opponents, I would want Afghanistan to play Pakistan owing to all the help they gave us in developing as a cricket nation and Australia because they are the world champions.”
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and partner Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia yesterday advanced to the women’s doubles final at the Australian Open after defeating New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe and Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada 7-6 (7/3), 3-6, 6-3 in their semi-final. Hsieh has won nine Grand Slam doubles titles and has a shot at a 10th tomorrow, when the Latvian-Taiwanese duo are to play Taylor Townsend of the US and Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic in the championship match at the A$96.5 million (US$61 million) outdoor hard court tournament at Melbourne Park. Townsend and Siniakova eliminated Russian pair Diana Shnaider and Mirra Andreeva 6-7
Manchester City have reached do-or-die territory in the UEFA Champions League earlier than expected ahead of what Pep Guardiola has described as a “final” against Club Brugge today. City have disproved the suggestion a new format to Europe’s top club competition would remove any jeopardy for the top clubs as Guardiola stares down the barrel of failing to make the Champions League knockout stages for the first time in his career. The English champions have endured a torrid season both in their English Premier League title defense and on the continent. A run of one win in 13 games, which included Champions League
FINAL WEEK LOOMS: PSG rose to 22nd place to set up another tense challenge against 24th-placed Stuttgart, while Man City require victory against Club Brugge Manchester City are on the brink of a humiliating UEFA Champions League exit after a stunning loss to Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday, while Real Madrid is no longer at risk after routing Salzburg. Man City blew a two-goal lead in a high-stakes clash of super-wealthy underachievers that PSG won 4-2 in Paris, who could still be eliminated alongside the English champions after the final round of games next week. Only the top 24 in the 36-team standings are to advance. Man City, the 2023 champions, are in 25th place, but could squeeze into the knockout playoffs round by beating Club Brugge. “We will
Things are somewhat out of control at the Australian Open this year, and that has only a little to do with the results on the courts. Yes, there were some upsets, including Madison Keys eliminating No. 2 Iga Swiatek in the women’s singles semi-finals on Thursday. It also was the first time since 1990 that three teenagers beat top-10 men’s seeds at a Grand Slam tennis tournament. The loser of one of those matches, Daniil Medvedev, got fined US$76,000 for behaving badly. Last year’s women’s singles runner-up exited in the first round. However, the real fuss is happening elsewhere. The rowdy fans, for one
RSS