CRICKET
Bangladesh win in NZ
Bangladesh yesterday needed only 15 overs with the bat to complete a nine-wicket win over New Zealand in the third ODI, ending New Zealand’s winning streak in ODIs at home at 17 matches. After rolling New Zealand for 98 in 31.4 overs, captain Najmul Hossain Shanto made an unbeaten 51 from 42 balls and Amanul Haque 37 from 33 to lead Bangladesh to their first ODI win over the Kiwis in New Zealand in 19 attempts. New Zealand won the three-match series 2-1, but the visitors gained a measure of revenge by bowling New Zealand out for their lowest-ever total in ODIs between the teams. “The ball was nipping, the ball was swinging and I knew how we started would set the tone for my team,” said Bangladesh pacer Tanzim Hasan Sakib, who took 3-14. “I tried to bowl wicket to wicket and hold my line and length. This wicket is good for pace bowlers and the wicket really helped me.”
CRICKET
Dean Elgar retires
Former South Africa captain Dean Elgar has announced his retirement from international cricket after a Test series against India concludes early next month. Elgar, who has scored more than 5,000 runs with 13 centuries in his 84 Tests, is to play his final Test at Newlands in Cape Town starting on Jan. 3. “As they say: ‘All good things come to an end,’ and the Indian home series will be my last, as I have made the decision to retire from our beautiful game,” the 36-year-old Elgar said. “The Cape Town Test will be my last. My favorite stadium in the world. A place I scored my first Test run against New Zealand and hopefully my last too.” Elgar has a high score of 199 against Bangladesh in 2017. He is South Africa’s eighth-highest scorer in Tests.
DRAG RACING
Paula Murphy dies
Paula Murphy, a Hall of Fame racer and the first woman licensed to drive a funny car, died on Thursday. She was 95. The National Hot Rod Association announced Murphy’s death on Friday. It did not provide any details. Murphy was a pioneer for women in racing. She had set a women’s land-speed record of 161mph (259.1kph) at the Bonneville Salt Flats for Andy Granatelli in 1963. It was Granatelli who sponsored a new funny car drag racing entry for Murphy, who became known as “Miss STP.” Murphy once said: “I was a real oddity, and I think a lot of strip operators thought it was pretty good to sell tickets,” according to the association’s Web site. “I didn’t have problems getting booking dates. I was very well accepted not only by the tracks, but by my fellow racers. Back then, there was a lot of camaraderie between the teams helping one another out. We were a big family.” Murphy drove at Talladega Superspeedway in 1971 in the STP Dodge of Freddie Lorenzen, going 171.499mph. She powered a dragster to a 258mph run at the Winternationals in 1973. She sustained a broken neck in a crash in early 1974 at Sears Point Raceway when her car would not shut down and flipped over and over after landing. She returned to drag racing in 1976 and toured the country before retiring. Murphy was inducted into the International Drag Racing Hall of Fame in 1992 and the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 2017. “I got really, really lucky,” she said, according to the Web site. “I don’t think many people have gotten the opportunity to do some of the things that I did.”
‘SOURCE OF PRIDE’: Newspapers rushed out special editions and the government sent their congratulations as Shohei Ohtani became the first player to enter the 50-50 club Japan reacted with incredulity and pride yesterday after Shohei Ohtani became the first player in Major League Baseball to record 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in a single season. The Los Angeles Dodgers star from Japan made history with a seventh-inning homer in a 20-4 victory over the Marlins in Miami. “We would like to congratulate him from the bottom of our heart,” top government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters in Tokyo. “We sincerely hope Mr Ohtani, who has already accomplished feat after feat and carved out a new era, will thrive further,” he added. The landmark achievement dominated Japanese morning news
When Wang Tao ran away from home aged 17 to become a professional wrestler, he knew it would be a hard slog to succeed in China’s passionate but underdeveloped scene. Years later, he has endured family disapproval, countless side gigs and thousands of hours of brutal training to become China’s “Belt and Road Champion” — but the struggle is far from over. Despite a promising potential domestic market, the Chinese pro wrestling community has been battling for recognition and financial stability for decades. “I have done all kinds of jobs [on the side]... Because in the end, it is very
No team in the CPBL can surpass the Taipei Dome attendance record set by the CTBC Brothers, except when the Brothers team up with Taiwanese rock band Mayday. A record-high 40,000 fans turned out at the indoor baseball venue on Saturday for Brothers veteran Chou Szu-chi’s first farewell game, which was followed by a mini post-game concert featuring Mayday. This broke the previous CPBL record of 34,506 set by the Brothers in early last month, when K-pop singer Hyuna performed after the game, and the dome’s overall record of 37,890 set in early March, which featured the Brothers and the
With a quivering finger, England Subbuteo veteran Rudi Peterschinigg conceded the free-kick that sent his country’s World Cup quarter-final into extra-time before smashing his plastic goalkeeper on the floor in frustration. In the genteel southern English town of Tunbridge Wells, 300 elite players have gathered to play the game they love. “I won’t say this is the best weekend I’ve ever had in my life, but it’s certainly in the top two,” said Hughie Best, 58, who flew in from Perth, Australia, to compete and commentate at the event. Tunbridge Wells is the “spiritual home” of Subbuteo, which was invented there in 1946