Category: 6. Sports

BASSETERRE:

Cameron Green hit an unbeaten 55 and Josh Inglis added 51 to lift Australia to a three wicket win over the West Indies on Saturday in the fourth match of their Twenty20 International series.

West Indies were 205 for nine after being sent to bat first after the visitors won the toss, but took five wickets after the midpoint to keep the pressure on Australia chasing 206 to win.

The Aussies seized a 4-0 lead in the five-match series and can complete a sweep by winning Monday’s finale at Warner Park.

Green struck his half-century off 35 balls with three sixes and three fours while Inglis had one six and 10 fours in 30 balls and Glenn Maxwell had 47 runs off 18 balls, hitting six sixes and a four.

But a night after Tim David bashed Australia’s fastest T20I century off only 37 balls, he was rested from the Aussie lineup and the chase had some tense moments.

Australia’s Mitchell Marsh was out lbw for a second-ball duck from West Indies left-arm fast-medium pace bowler Jediah Blades.

Inglis entered to partner with Maxwell but flew out to deep backward square, caught by Sherfane Rutherford off a ball from Romario Shepherd to start the seventh over, leaving the Aussies on 66 for two.

The visitors reached 129 for two at the drinks break but on the next ball to start the 11th over, Maxwell was caught by Jason Holder at long on from a AkealHosein delivery.

Blades bowled Mitchell Owen for two thanks to Rutherford’s deep cover grab and two balls later Blades got his third wicket, sending off Cooper Connolly for a duck on Holder’s mid-off catch, the Aussies stuck on 134 for five.

Holder took Aaron Hardie for 23 on a long off catch by ShimronHetmyer to open the 17th over with the Aussies still 21 runs from victory.

A drive by Green deflected off Shepherd’s fingers and into the stumps of Xavier Bartlett out of his ground, his seventh wicket gone for nine and the Aussies two runs from victory.

Green, however, scored runs off the next two deliveries and Sean Abbott pushed Australia across the line, scoring the final run with four balls to spare.

Aussie fielding solid

West Indies managed only a top score of 31 as Aussie fielders shone.

Bartlett bowled out Brandon King for 18 when he chipped out midwicket to Hardie and removed Shai Hope for 10 after Maxwell made a diving catch mid-on.

Maxwell made a one-handed grab to retire Roston Chase for nil off a Hardie delivery, leaving West Indies on 42 for three only one ball into the fifth over.

Rutherford went out for 31 when caught by Marsh at backward point off a nice delivery from Adam Zampa to make it 67 for four.

Owen made a diving catch at deep backward point to retire Hetmyer on 16.

Maxwell struck again for the seventh wicket, flicking the ball before going over the boundary so Green could make the catch and send off Shepherd on 28.

Green then caught Matthew Forde for 15 to put the West Indies on 184 for eight.

Rain hit with four balls remaining but after a 55-minute delay, the hosts scored two final runs.

From the beginning, Leylah Fernandez was all over Anna Kalinskaya, crowding the baseline and running down virtually every ball.

But with the end in sight, at 4-1 in the second set, Fernandez visibly tightened. She lost the first two points on her serve and the Tennis Channel announcers broached the subject of the inevitable “complications.”

But the nerves they conjured evaporated as Fernandez geared up and won four straight points — the last two on an ace and another unreturnable serve.

Fernandez won the biggest title of her career on Sunday with a resounding 6-1, 6-2 win over Kalinskaya at the Mubadala Citi DC Open. With a strong field featuring four Top 20 players, this 70-minute result was totally unexpected.

Fernandez came into this Washington, D.C. tournament scuffling a bit. The 22-year-old Canadian hadn’t won a tournament in nearly two years, had a middling record of 3-3 at the Grand Slams and a losing record overall.

But amid the oppressive heat and humidity and on the hardcourts that seamlessly suit her game, Fernandez was unstoppable. She took out No. 1-seeded Jessica Pegula in the second round and backed it up with a terrific victory over No. 3 Elena Rybakina in the semifinals, in a match that ran 3 hours and 12 minutes.

This was Fernandez’s fourth career title, the first since Hong Kong in late 2023.

She’ll take away nearly $200,000 and those 500 PIF WTA Rankings points — but perhaps more important a growing confidence that maybe reaching that US Open final four years ago wasn’t some kind of random accident.

Emma Raducanu, who won that final, has talked about the difficulty that followed the breakthrough — the pressure and expectations, hers and everybody else’s. Fernandez acknowledges that she struggled with the same thing.

“It was mainly my own expectations,” Fernandez told wtatennis.com an hour after winning. “I played some great tennis in New York — a lot of my balls were going in. At some point, post-2021, I let my guard down a little bit. To be fair, my coach [and father Jorge] had warned me about it and I was just too naïve at the time to believe him.

“To say, `No, I’ve got to keep working, I’ve got to keep earning my spot. It’s not going to be easy here on out.’ So, post-US Open, it was hard to battle through that. And it’s still hard, because we’re still connected to that result until we both do another good result.”

This was also Fernandez’s seventh final and, despite the fact Kalinskaya is four years older, that championship experience showed up in the final. Kalinskaya — still a sparkling 9-3 in D.C. main draw matches — came in without a dropped a set, but now she’s 0-3 in Hologic WTA Tour finals.

Fernandez’s ranking will rise a dozen spots, to No. 24 on Monday, and she’ll play a first-round match, likely Tuesday, against Maya Joint for the second time in two weeks.

Fernandez spent a few minutes afterward fielding questions from wtatennis.com:

Your first title in almost two years, what does it mean to you?

It’s been a long, long couple of years with a lot of ups and downs. Getting this title is great not only for confidence and self-belief, but also for the whole team and family. The past couple of years, we’ve gone through a lot of tough moments. This trophy just indicates how much they have fought. And it shows me if they can fight through their difficulties, I can do it in a little tennis match with a tennis ball coming back at me. That’s the goal and the mentality. 

Talking to you all week, you seemed so confident, so upbeat … based on the work you’ve been putting in, did you have any sense this might be a successful tournament for you?

I had no idea [laughing] it was going to be a nice tournament for me. I just went in thinking … enjoy my time. I put in the work, I put in the hours. The important thing was to get here and do what I trained for. If there’s things to work on — there’s always things to work on — and it will be good preparation for Montreal and Cincinnati. It’s a great steppingstone going into Canada.

You beat No. 1 seed Jessica Pegula and No. 3 seed Elena Rybakina. How does that make this title even more satisfying?

It’s very satisfying. We’ve gone through some very tough opponents, from the first round all the way through to the final. Maya [Joint], she’s a tough opponent and she’s had an amazing year. Playing Jess in Washington, it’s never easy. She loves hard courts, had some great results here. She wasn’t going to give me anything. Taylor [Townsend] was another battle, physically and mentally. I’ve played doubles with her and we’re pretty good friends, so setting that aside wasn’t easy. I was cramping and back in the locker room, I told her ‘You killed me.’ It wasn’t going to be an easy tournament from the get-go, so to get through all those tough opponents and challenges was great.

How does winning in DC help you prove to people — and maybe yourself — the US Open final was not a fluke?

It definitely helps a little bit. It gives us some good momentum going into bigger tournaments. To play against the big players here in Washington — it wasn’t an easy draw — it’s a good feeling to get my first 500. And I hope — hope — I can continue with that momentum the next few tournaments, but also stay grounded and not forget there’s a new beast every week. That we’ve just got to start from zero.

 

 

HOVE: Pakistan Shaheens sealed a 2-1 series win over the PCC Select XI on Sunday, chasing down the target with five wickets to spare at the 1st Central County Ground. 

Azan Awais and Haider Ali starred with match-winning half-centuries to guide their side to victory in the final one-dayer.

Chasing a target of 261, the Shaheens got off to a dominant start, with openers Azan and Shamyl Hussain forging a solid 102-run partnership, putting the hosts’ bowling attack under pressure. 

Azan showcased a composed approach, bringing up a well-deserved fifty.

The opening stand was broken in the 19.5th over when Shamyl, after scoring 40 off 55 balls, was dismissed by Calvin Harrison.

Muhammad Suleman walked in and made an immediate impact, hitting boundaries at will and smashing three sixes.

He contributed a brisk 44 off 40 balls, featuring four fours and three sixes, before being dismissed with the score at 131-1 in 24 overs.

In the following over, Pakistan lost their third wicket as skipper Saud Shakeel was dismissed by Tom Lawes for just one, leaving the team at 171-3 in 31.2 overs.

Haider Ali then joined Azan Awais in the middle, and the duo continued to build the innings.

Azan appeared poised for a century but fell short, getting out for a crucial 88 off 104 balls, which included 12 boundaries and a six. His dismissal left Pakistan at 204-4 in 36.4 overs.

With only a few runs needed to win, the Shaheens suffered their fifth and final setback as Mubasir Khan was dismissed by Harrison, who claimed his second wicket. Mubasir contributed 11 off 12 balls.

Haider held firm and brought up a composed half-century, guiding the Shaheens to victory.

The right-handed batter remained unbeaten on 55 off 40 deliveries, hitting five fours and three sixes, while Rohail Nazir remained not out on 6 as they successfully chased down the target in 46.4 overs.

Earlier, PCC XI opted to bat first but were jolted early when in-form opener Will Smeed was dismissed by Ubaid Shah for eight runs. The hosts were 11-1 in 3.2 overs.

Captain Luc Benkenstein tried to stabilise the innings but failed to rotate the strike effectively and was dismissed by Musa Khan for 14.

In the very next over, Ubaid struck again, removing Hamza Shaikh for 13 on the final ball of the powerplay, reducing PCC to 53-3 after 10 overs.

Tom Lawes and Ollie Sykes stitched together a crucial 86-run partnership to resurrect the innings. Lawes narrowly missed his half-century, falling to Mir Hamza for 49 off 52 balls with the score at 139-4 in 22.4 overs.

Sykes completed his fifty but was soon dismissed for a well-played 64 off 56 balls, leaving the hosts at 169-5.

Rocky Flintoff added 13 before being run out by Mubasir Khan, followed by Musa Khan removing Dan Douthwaite for seven, pushing the score to 184-7.

Wicketkeeper Thomas Rew and Calvin Harrison then put together a valuable 66-run stand for the eighth wicket, helping PCC cross 200 and edge closer to a defendable total.

The partnership was broken when Saud Shakeel dismissed Harrison for 34 off 27.

In the next over, Ubaid claimed his third wicket by bowling Rew for 44. The innings ended at 260 in 46.4 overs after Scott Currie was run out by Muhammad Suleman for three.

For Pakistan, Ubaid Shah was the standout bowler with figures of 4/41 in 9.4 overs. Musa Khan picked up two wickets, while Mir Hamza and captain Saud Shakeel claimed one each.

HARARE:

New Zealand seamer Matt Henry restricted South Africa to three runs from the last over to seal a three-run victory in the Twenty20 International Tri-Series final at the Harare Sports Club in Zimbabwe on Saturday.

Chasing 181 for victory, South Africa needed eight off the last eight balls with six wickets in hand, and seven from the final over, but brilliant catches in the outfield by Michael Bracewell and Daryl Mitchell helped restrict them to 177 for six.

Dewald Brevis looked as though he had won the game with 31 from 16 deliveries and was an inch or two from completing the job as he launched Henry towards the square-leg boundary, only for Bracewell to juggle the ball as he stepped over the rope back into play to complete the catch.

Mitchell took a superb diving effort at long off to dismiss George Linde, who looked as though he would win the game for the South Africans with a big hit down the ground.

Senuran Muthusamy could not get bat to ball on the final delivery of the game from Henry, who finished with figures of 2-19 from three overs.

“As a group we have been playing some really good cricket and to get over the line in a really tight game, I am proud of the guys,” Henry said.

“It is credit to the attitude of our team, making sure we stay in the fight and knowing that wickets can change things.”

New Zealand were sent into bat and amassed 180 for five. Devon Conway and Rachin Ravindra both scored 47.

Teenager Lhuan-dre Pretorius scored 51 from 35 balls in South Africa’s reply and they looked to be coasting home before Brevis’ dismissal and the excellent final over from Henry.

“We played a pretty good game, it was a match of millimetres,” South Africa captain Rassie van der Dussen said.

“We have had guys making debuts and experimented a bit (in the series), so for the young guys to come in and get so close, we will learn a lot from this.”

Zimbabwe were the third team involved in the Tri-Series, but lost all four group games.

Eight women teams and eight men’s teams lined up at the start of the European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF), which took place in Skopje, North Macedonia, between 21 and 26 July, as Iceland won the title in the men’s competition and Germany secured the trophy in the women’s competition.

In both the men’s and the women’s competitions, eight Under-17 teams were lined up at the start, and they were divided into two groups of four teams each, with the top two sides in each group progressing to the next phase of the competition.

Germany proved to be too strong for the rest of the pack in the women’s competition, securing their second success in less than one week, after clinching the trophy in the W19 EHF EURO 2025.

In the preliminary round, Germany could not overpower France, as the first match between the two sides ended in a stalemate, 26:26, but then delivered two pitch perfect performances, with a 33:14 win against Hungary and a 29:25 win against the Netherlands to win the group.

Netherlands’ 24:23 win against Hungary, followed up by another nip and tuck win against France, 28:27, saw the Dutch side progress to the next phase, while in Group B, Switzerland produced a pitch perfect performance, with a 33:22 win against Norway, a 33:20 win against the hosts and a 34:21 win against Iceland.

Iceland’s 30:25 win against Norway in the second matchday of the preliminary round was enough to see them through as the second-placed side in the group, but their tough encounter against Germany proved to be too hard.

In the semi-finals, Germany’s Mia Fuchs scored eight goals in the 28:24 win against Iceland, while Switzerland overpowered the Netherlands, 31:21, looking to be the top of the crop in this competition.

But Germany delivered a clinical performance in defence to limit Switzerland’s top attack to 24 goals, taking a hard-fought 26:24 win in the final, as Fuchs scored three goals to be the top goal scorer of the competition. Iceland secured the bronze medal, with a 31:26 win against the Netherlands.

In the men’s competition, only one team created a five-match winning streak and that was the champions, Iceland.

The Nordic side started off strong, with a 31:19 win over Spain, followed up by a 35:21 win against Croatia and a 36:27 win against the hosts, with all of the three wins in the preliminary round coming by at least nine goals.

Croatia finished second in the group, with the 21:21 draw against Spain seeing them just edge their counteparts, as they boasted a -6 goal difference, as opposed to Spain’s -7.

In Group B, Germany finished first, with wins over Hungary, Portugal and Norway, with a +29 goal difference, as Hungary finished second, with two wins in three matches.

But Hungary were no match to Iceland, which jumped to a clear 40:32 win in the semi-finals, as Germany thoroughly outplayed Croatia, 35:23, to secure a place in the final, courtesy to their fourth consecutive win.

A historic performance from Iceland, which had the top scorer of the competition, Gunnar Róbertsson, score seven goals from seven shots, saw them beat Germany in the last act, 28:25, with Croatia sealing the bronze, thanks to their 37:31 win against Hungary.

Photo credit: Team Germany / Icelandic Handball Federation
 

Donnelly replaces former England lock Geoff Parling, who will return to Britain when Australia’s series with the British & Irish Lions ends next week.

Donnelly made 15 Test appearances for the All Blacks in 2009-10 and played 65 games for the Highlanders between 2004-11. He played 19 times for the Crusaders in 2012-13 and 14 games for the Blues in 2014. He had three seasons in France with Montpellier and Aviron Bayonnais.

He moved into coaching as Otago’s assistant NPC coach in 2017, before spending three years as head coach from 2020 to 2023.

He moved to Perth as an assistant coach with the Force earlier this year.

Donnelly said he is looking forward to the opportunity to contribute to the emerging side.

“Watching from afar, the journey the team is on, and the improvement they are making, is exciting.

“I’m looking forward to rolling up my sleeves and doing my part to continue the ongoing growth of the team.”

Rugby Australia’s director of high performance, Peter Horne, said, “Tom has spent the best part of the last 25 years involved in professional rugby and his expertise around the lineout and set piece will be highly valuable for the Wallabies.

“He’s got a great understanding of the Super Rugby Pacific landscape as well as experience playing at the highest level which makes him a great fit for the role.”

The Wallabies open their Rugby Championship in Johannesburg against South Africa on August 16.