A career-best spell from Ryan McLaren bowled South Africa to a 13-run victory in the first of two Twenty20 Internationals against West Indies on Wednesday.
McLaren captured five wickets for 19 runs from 3.5 overs to earn the Man-of-the-Match award, as the West Indies, chasing 137 for victory from their 20 overs, were dismissed for 123 with one ball to spare at the Vivian Richards Cricket Ground.
The 27-year-old McLaren finished with the second-best figures in a T20 behind Pakistan’s Umar Gul, who collected five for six from three overs against New Zealand last year at The Oval in London in the T20 World Cup.
PHOTO: AFP
“It’s a good way to start off the tour having practiced indoors and not outdoors for the last few weeks,” McLaren said.
“But it’s only the first day, and there’s plenty more cricket to come, so hopefully, I can better this performance,” he said. “We all know the nature of T20 cricket — the bowler is always up against it. You can take five wickets one day, and the next day take a thumping, but I enjoyed it.”
“It was not an easy day for the batters, and you had to graft pretty hard. Playing shots was not easy, and there was a strong wind, so there were a lot of things you had to take into consideration,” he said.
“It was obviously nice to start with a win. This was the most important thing for us. We have worked really hard over the last few days here in Antigua, had a few discussions, the energy has been good around the team, and a lot of new faces have come in,” he said. “We want to have a good tour of the Caribbean, so success in this match was very important to getting us off on the right foot.”
Earlier veteran South African batsman Jacques Kallis had struck one four and three sixes in 53 from 45 balls, as South Africa labored to 136 for seven from their 20 overs, after deciding to bat on an uneven pitch.
He added 73 for the second wicket with South Africa captain Graeme Smith, whose 37 from 31 balls included three fours and one six. Once they were separated, South Africa’s batting collapsed, and they lost their last five wickets for 16 runs from 26 balls.
McLaren then became only the fourth bowler to collect five wickets in a T20 match, when he ripped out Andre Fletcher caught behind by stand-in keeper Abraham de Villiers for a duck, and had the dangerous West Indies captain Chris Gayle caught at long-on for 14 to leave the hosts on 28 for two in the sixth over.
Johan Botha snuffed out a West Indies revival, when he had Dwayne Bravo caught at long-on for 20 in the 10th over, and Narsingh Deonarine was stumped by de Villiers for a duck two balls later.
When Roelof van der Merwe had Ramnaresh Sarwan caught at cover off the leading edge in the 11th over, West Indies still needed 85 from 56 balls, and there was little or no substance nor stability from the rest of the batting.
“It was a disappointing start for us,” Gayle said. “We wanted to put our dismal performance in the T20 World Cup behind us, but this was not the best way to do it, and was not the best start to the series.”
“We still have a match on Thursday, so we have to pick ourselves up. This is no time for pointing fingers,” he said. “We have a lot of corrections to make out there, and we have to return to the drawing board to try and get the best out of the players.”
SS Lazio on Monday fired the far-right sympathizer who handles their eagle mascot after he posted online a series of videos and pictures of his erect penis. Falconer Juan Bernabe, who has been present at Lazio home matches with Olimpia the eagle since the 2010-2011 season, posted the footage on social media after having surgery on Saturday to implant a penile prosthesis to improve his sexual performance. Lazio said that they had “terminated, with immediate effect” their relationship with Bernabe “due to the seriousness of his conduct,” adding that they were “shocked” by the images. The Serie A club added that Bernabe’s dismissal
‘TOUGH TO BREATHE’: Tunisian three-time Grand Slam finalist Ons Jabeur suffered an asthma attack in her 7-5, 6-3 victory over Colombia’s Camila Osorio Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday cruised into the second round of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while Iga Swiatek romped into a third-round women’s singles showdown with Emma Raducanu and Taylor Fritz was just as emphatic in his pursuit of a maiden Grand Slam title. Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, the third seeds, defeated Slovakia’s Tereza Mihalikova and Olivia Nicholls of Britain 7-5, 6-2 in 90 minutes in Melbourne. Ostapenko and Hsieh — who won the women’s doubles and mixed doubles at the Australian Open last year — hit 25 winners and converted five of nine break points to set
Dubbed a “motorway for cyclists” where avid amateurs can chase Tadej Pogacar up mountains teeming with the highest concentration of professional cyclists per square kilometer in the world, Spain’s Costa Blanca has forged a new reputation for itself in the past few years. Long known as the ideal summer destination for those in search of sun, sea and sand, the stretch of coast between Valencia and Alicante now has a winter vocation too. During the season break in December and January, the region experiences an invasion of cyclists. Star names such as three-time Tour de France winner Pogacar, Remco Evenepoel and Julian Alaphilippe
AGING WELL: Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen, 22, was sent packing after being dispatched by world No. 97, Laura Siegemund, the second-oldest player in the draw at 36 Novak Djokovic yesterday created a slice of Grand Slam history on his way into the Australian Open third round, but last year’s women’s finalist Zheng Qinwen was knocked out in the biggest shock so far. Defending champion Aryna Sabalenka, in-form Coco Gauff, two-time Melbourne winner Naomi Osaka and a rampant Carlos Alcaraz were all victors on a rainy day four. Play was suspended on the outside courts for a couple of hours in the early evening because of the wet weather. That led to the rescheduling of a women’s doubles match between wild-cards Tsao Chia-yi of Taiwan and Thailand’s Peangtarn Plipuech and 11th
RSS