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.”
For the first time in almost 36 years, a Parisian derby will be played in French soccer’s top flight when reigning champions Paris Saint-Germain FC take on the nouveau riche Paris Football Club (PFC) today. Not one of the players involved in today’s match — PFC’s 38-year-old third-choice goalkeeper Remy Riou is almost certainly not going to be involved — was born the last time there was a Parisian derby in Ligue 1. That was on Feb. 25, 1990, when Moroccan midfielder Aziz Bouderbala scored a brace as Racing Paris 1 beat PSG 2-1 at the Parc des Princes home that
Stan Wawrinka’s 40-year-old legs did not let him down over three-plus hours in his first singles match of a farewell tour yesterday. Three-time Grand Slam singles champion Wawrinka beat Arthur Rinderknech of France, who is ranked 29th to Wawrinka’s 157th, 5-7, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5). The match went 3 hours, 16 minutes. Wawrinka last month announced that this year would be his last on the ATP tour. “Today was a tough battle ... it’s amazing to come here for the first time, to have so much support,” Wawrinka said yesterday. “Twenty years on tour, you kind of always play in the same place
BOUNCING BACK: Antetokounmpo had just returned from an eight-game injury absence last month, leading the Milwaukee Bucks to their third win in four games Giannis Antetokounmpo threw down the game-winning dunk with 4.7 seconds remaining to lift the Milwaukee Bucks to a 122-121 victory over the Charlotte Hornets and grab a slice of NBA history on Friday. The Bucks trailed by as many as 16 on their home floor, but Antetokounmpo scored 12 of his 30 points in the final quarter to help seal the win in a frantic finish that saw five lead changes in the final 45.7 seconds. The two-time NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) added 10 rebounds and five assists. It was his 158th regular-season game with at least 30 points, 10 rebounds and
Four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka yesterday got her season off to a winning start for Japan in the United Cup, after the UK’s Emma Raducanu pulled out of their singles clash with a fitness issue, while in Brisbane, Taiwan’s Latisha Chan and Wu Fang-hsien crashed out of the women’s doubles. In Perth, despite Osaka’s win, the UK took the match 2-1 with a deciding mixed doubles victory. Osaka was too strong for reserve and 276th-ranked Katie Swan, winning 7-6 (7/4), 6-1 as Raducanu watched from the sidelines. “I’m proud of how I fought,” Osaka said. “I’d never played here, it was tough.” Britain
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