Sports
Historic feats as Thompson-Herah wins third gold of the Games
Bahamian Shaunae Miller-Uibo defended her 400 metres title, US legend Allyson Felix became the most decorated track and field athlete in history, Joshua Cheptegei bagged a first 5000m gold for Uganda, and Elaine Thompson-Herah won her third gold of the games to grab headlines in another exciting day in track and field at Tokyo Olympics on Friday.
While Faith Kipyegon defended the women’s 1,500 metres title Jamaica and Italy grabbed the 4×100 metres relay golds.
Shaunae Miller-Uibo wins women’s 400m title
Shaunae Miller-Uibo who is well remembered for her dive at the line to win gold at the Rio Olympics needed no such attempts to win her second consecutive 400m Olympic gold.
In Rio, Miller-Uibo dove at the line to edge U.S. legend Allyson Felix by 0.07 to claim her maiden title. In Tokyo she beat the legend by a comfortable margin yesterday.
Again lining up against Felix, Miller-Uibo removed any doubt about the winner coming out of the bend with a commanding lead which she held to win in a new personal best of 48.36 seconds. Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic claimed the silver medal with a time of 49.20.
Racing on Miller-Uibo’s outside, the 35-year-old Felix produced a run that belied her years as she finished in third-place to win a record 10th medal becoming the most decorated female Olympian in track and field.
Faith Kipyegon defends women’s 1,500m title
Faith Kipyegon defended her Olympic title in the 1500m. In doing so the mother-of-one registered a new Olympic record of 3:53.11. Great Britain’s Laura Muir won her first major international outdoor medal, passing the Dutch athlete, Sifan Hassan on the final lap, crossing the finish line in a British record time of 3:54.50.
Hassan, who changed tactics to take out the race at a fast pace right from the start, was aiming to claim the top step as part of her distance golden treble attempt. She has already won the 5,000m gold and aim the 10,000 metres gold today, so is still on course for a distance medal treble.
Cheptegei bags 5,000m gold
World record holder Joshua Cheptegei took the gold in the gruelling men’s 5000m final, finishing ahead of Mohammed Ahmed of Canada, who took the silver, and Paul Chelimo of the United States who scooped the bronze.
Cheptegei, with a time of 12 minutes, 58.15, became the first Ugandan to win the event as he bagged the Olympic gold that has eluded him for so long.
Jacob Kiplimo of Uganda was in front of the pack early, but his countryman Cheptegei took over the front spot midway through the race and didn’t let go of it until a six-man pack pushed ahead of the rest to set-up the final push. Cheptegei sealed the gold with a ferocious charge over the last section, with Ahmed nipping second.
The American Chelimo, with his second medal in as many Games, nearly fell at the line to secure bronze in front of Kipkorir Kimeli of Kenya.
Liu Shiying first Asian to win javelin gold
China’s Liu Shiying became the first athlete from an Asian country to win an Olympic gold medal in the women’s javelin.
The 27-year-old produced the standout performance of the event with her first round throw of 66.34m at the Olympic Stadium. It was a season’s best for the 2019 World Championships silver medallist.
Her nearest rival to claim silver was Poland’s Maria Andrejczyk, 25, who threw 64.61m, which was seven metres short of her mammoth 71.40m throw in Croatia earlier this year. In bronze was reigning world champion, Australia’s Kelsey-Lee Barber, 29, who also threw a season’s best of 64.56m.
The upset of the discipline was two-time Olympic champion, Czech Republic’s Barbara Spotakova, failing to progress to the final. On her disappointment, she said: “It was just not my day. I could not do anything with that. It’s very hard if you don’t feel it, if you don’t feel the click which throws the javelin.”
Jamaica reign women’s 4x100m relay
With the Tokyo 100 metres gold, silver and bronze medalists lining up in the same team that Jamaica would win the gold in the 4×100 metres was a foregone conclusion. Briana Williams, Elaine Thompson-Herah, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Shericka Jackson clocked a Jamaican national record time of 41.02 seconds to win their first Olympic women’s 4x100m title in 17 years. The USA came away with silver in 41.45 and Great Britain took bronze in 41.88. Thompson-Herah will leave this Olympics with three gold medals around her neck after having won the 100 and 200 metres individual golds earlier.
Italy wins first 4x100m relay title
The Italian 4x100m relay quartet of Olympic 100m champion Marcell Jacobs, Lorenzo Patta, Eseosa Desalu and Filippo Tortu raced to win their first gold in the event since London 1948.
Lead-off runner Patta handed the baton to Jacobs, who produced a storming run down the back end, with Tortu on the anchor leg crossed the line in a new Italian record of 37.50 seconds. Great Britain, pipped at the line by 0.01s, claimed the silver medal, with Canada bagging bronze, clocking 37.70.
Jacobs will bow out of the Games as a double Olympic gold medallist in the sprint events while Canadian sensation Andre de Grasse won his third medal at Tokyo 2020. De Grasse opened his campaign at the Games with a bronze medal in the 100m final before being crowned Olympic 200m champion.
Great Britain had one hand on their first gold medal in the event since Athens 2004, with Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake gaining a slight lead in the home straight.
But Tortu, on his outside, would not be denied as he produced a blistering anchor for Italy inching ahead to out dip Mitchell-Blake.
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Delhi Capitals humble Gujarat Titans in low-scorer
Delhi Capitals put on a stellar show with the ball to bowl Gujarat Titans out for a paltry 89 before finishing off the chase with ease. It left Gujarat with their third loss in their last four games.
Gujarat Titans just couldn’t break free from the chokehold that Delhi Capitals had them in since asking them to bat. The tone was set by the pacers – Ishant Sharma had Shubman Gill chipping to cover and Mukesh Kumar cleaned up Wriddhiman Saha. So regular were they with the breakthroughs that the highest partnership Gujarat managed through the innings was just 18. Sai Sudharsan’s run out, a double-wicket over for Tristan Stubbs all contributed to DC’s relentless excellence with the ball on a pitch that was on the stickier side.
Adding to the bowlers’ accuracy was Rishabh Pant’s excellent wicket-keeping. It kick-started with a brilliant diving catch off Ishant to get David Miller and the quick stumping of Abhinav Manohar, followed by another to get Shahrukh Khan. Pant’s four dismissals was the joint-most for a Delhi franchise wicket-keeper in IPL.
No one stayed in long enough to create an impact with all that could go wrong for them, did. Only Rashidh Khan chanced his arm from the lower-order to score 31 which ended up as the highest score of the innings. The unabated fall of wickets meant that Gujarat were bowled out for the lowest total in their home ground. This was the first time a team didn’t manage to score 100 since the introduction of the Impact Sub.
Mostly smooth, and very quick. Having already suffered heavy defeats in the tournament, DC’s NRR needed a big boost. This presented an opportunity to redeem some of that, and so they came all guns blazing. Jake Fraser-McGurk first set the tone with a 10-ball 20 but with the high-risk approach came the chances. Spencer Johnson got Fraser-McGurk before Sandeep Warrier struck twice to get Prithvi Shaw and Abhishek Porel despite being picked off for boundaries. Eventually, they finished it off under 9 overs to pick up a massive win. The win gave their NRR a much-needed boost as it went from -0.975 to -0.074, which took them up to sixth on the points table.
Brief Scores:
Gujarat Titans 89 in 17.3 overs (Rashid Khan 31; Khaleel Ahmed 1-18, Ishant Sharma 2-08, Mukesh Kumar 3-14, Tristan Stubbs 2-11, Axar Patel 1-17) lost to Delhi Capitals 92/4 in 8.5 overs (Jake Fraser-Mcgurk 20; Sandeep Warrier 2-40, Spencer Johnson 1-42, Rashid Khan 1-12) by 6 wickets
(Cricbuzz)
Sports
Buttler nullifies Narine to orchestrate Rajasthan Royal’s thrilling win
Jos Buttler smashed a century – his second of the season – and nullified Sunil Narine’s first triple-figure score in the tournament to pave the way for the joint-highest run-chase in IPL history. Narine’s reprise of the opening role for KKR hit a new peak as the West Indian scored 109 off 56. KKR, backed up by their 200-plus total, looked set to usurp RR to the summit of the points table but were undone by a brilliant Buttler, and a six-over mania at the end in which RR got 96 runs.
The game reached a juncture where KKR had the upper hand. Buttler was still in the middle but wasn’t quite at his best, while RR were down to 128 for 6, needing 96 off 36 balls. This was the epicentre of RR’s turnaround. Varun CV, who’d bowled three good overs, was hit for four fours by Buttler to signify that this game was far from over. Rovman Powell joined in to reiterate that as he hit Andre Russell for a six in the 16th over, which also went for 17 runs, and then went 4 6 6 against Narine to put the pressure back on KKR. Narine hit back by trapping the West Indian leg before, leaving Buttler to find his way around with RR’s long tail.
Mitchell Starc was back with RR needing 46 off 18 and was thoroughly smashed around by Buttler. The over began with a six, had the run out of Trent Boult in it but ended with RR wiping out 18 more from the target. Harshit Rana, who has been one of KKR’s better death bowlers this season, missed his mark repeatedly against Buttler and was duly punished. Buttler hit two sixes and a four in the 19th over to drag the equation down to just 9 off 6. That became 3 off 5 when Buttler hit a six over long-on off Varun. The spinner tied the limping Buttler to his crease on the next 3 balls but the fifth was a full toss that fetched 2 runs. On the last ball, Buttler pulled away to complete a sensational victory.
Phil Salt was offered a reprieve first over – a dropped catch by Riyan Parag at point – and then sent packing by a blinder of a return catch from Avesh Khan but KKR once again had a fantastic start to their batting innings. KKR were at 26/1 in 4 overs but then flew off the blocks. Narine and the impressive Angkrish Raghuvanshi went hard, even against RR’s fantastic powerplay bowler Trent Boult to guide the side to 56/1 in 6 overs. Boult, who operated at an economy rate of 6.06 in the PowerPlay until this game, was hit for 24 runs in three overs. Narine went after Kuldeep Sen in the sixth over to get warmed up for the exceptional innings that was to follow.
KKR’s risk-taking opener maximised facing a bowler who he matches up well against in the middle-overs – R Ashwin. Heading into this game, Narine had hit 60 off 22 from Ashwin in the IPL. Tonight, he scored 34 off 17 – with four fours and two sixes. Ashwin set a packed off-side field with a long off, deep point and deep extra cover but the left-hander repeatedly pierced it. Ashwin even got a couple of dots by flirting with the wide line outside the off-stump. Even with those, he got the runs to dent RR in the middle.
Yuzvendra Chahal dismissed Shreyas Iyer to move to 199 IPL wickets, but finished with his worst IPL figures – of 1 for 54, after being taken apart by Narine – particularly in his last over where he conceded 23 runs. Ashwin’s returns of 0 for 49 were his second-worst – also stretching his wicketless streak to five games this season. In the eight overs between them, they conceded 103 runs at an economy rate of 12.87.
After Narine brought up his century in the 16th over, the stage was set for Andre Russell to punish RR further. Avesh came back to deny the big West Indian a late flourish, getting him caught at extra cover by Dhruv Jurel for a 10-ball 13. Only seven runs came off that over, and the next from Boult, which also included the wicket of Narine. Rinku Singh and Venkatesh Iyer however, hit 25 off the last two overs to take KKR to 223/6.
Jos Buttler and Riyan Parag got the start the visitors needed in a chase as daunting as this one, as they amassed their best PowerPlay score of the season – 76/1. Yashasvi Jaiswal had another underwhelming outing and Sanju Samson fell after a couple of promising, but Parag continued to bring his audacious batting to the middle in the company of Buttler. Parag outpaced Buttler as he took down Harshit Rana, and Vaibhav Arora in a 23-run over in the sixth. Parag was particularly brutal against Rana but fell to the bowler’s slower one, with Andre Russell taking a good catch in the deep.
RR lost three wickets but still had 98 runs on the board in 8 overs, staying on course in the big chase. Sunil Narine then changed that by trapping Dhruv Jurel leg before in the ninth over. R Ashwin was once again promoted up the order, but he struggled to provide a push in the scoring while Buttler too went through a phase where he struggled to middle the ball. KKR spinners used the sticky pitch to make shot-making difficult as RR limped to 121/4 in 12 overs, needing 103 off the last 8 overs. Varun Chakravarthy, who was in the middle of a stirring spell, dismissed Ashwin and Shimron Hetmyer off successive deliveries to put KKR on course to finish the night on top of the points table. Buttler, however, had other ideas.
Brief scores:
Kolkata Knight Riders 223/6 in 20 overs (Sunil Narine 109, Angkrish Raghuvanshi 30; Avesh Khan 2-35) lost to Rajasthan Royals 224/8 in 20 overs (Jos Buttler 107*, Riyan Parag 34; Sunil Narine 2-30) by 2 wickets
Sports
Derek Underwood – a man who defied convention
by Rex Clementine
Derek Underwood, the man who mesmerized Sri Lankans with an eight-wicket haul in our inaugural Test match at P. Sara Oval 42 years ago, is no more. He passed away at the age of 78 on Monday.
Arjuna Ranatunga thrilled us all becoming the first Sri Lankan to post a half-century in Test match cricket. He was dismissed by Underwood. The manner in which the old fox, 37 at that time, set up the 18-year-old was a treat to watch indeed. Arjuna was cleaned up shouldering arms to the veteran, whose nickname was ‘deadly’.
Underwood took a five for in the first innings and finished with three wickets in the second essay. When he left Colombo, he was on 297 wickets. There was little doubt in us that he was going to get to the 300-wicket mark during the English summer just a few weeks away. He in fact needed only 11 more wickets to break Fred Trueman’s record for most wickets by an Englishman in Test cricket. But fate would have other ideas.
Dr. Ali Bacher, the South African supremo was masterminding a rebel cricket tour by an England team. He had roped in Graham Gooch, Geoff Boycott, John Lever, Bob Woolmer, Johny Emburey and many others. Underwood joined too. All were handed three-year international bans and that effectively ended many players’ careers.
West Indies were unforgiving for those players who toured apartheid South Africa. Sri Lanka too were somewhat rigid. England were far more lenient. Underwood played First Class cricket after the rebel tour.
Underwood’s fascination with Kent is legendary. He spent all his 24 years as a professional cricketer at Canterbury and that involved more than 900 games. He took 100 wickets for the season on ten occasions and the first time it happened was when he was just 17. After retirement, he went on to become the President of Kent County Cricket Club and later Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC).
Underwood was unlike any of the other spinners that we have seen. Spinners usually are slow and flight the ball trying to beat the batters in the air. Underwood was more of a cutter fashion bowler. He had a long run up looking similar to a medium-pacer and he fired it in.
Most good spinners prosper when there is a solid wicketkeeper. Qadir had Bari, Warne had Healy, Murali had Sanga and so did Underwood. His partnership with Alan Knott went beyond England as they both played for Kent as well.
Kent renamed The Annexe Stand at their ground as the Underwood – Knott Stand to recognize the pair’s service to the county. The press box at Kent ground is in the Underwood – Knott Stand.
Underwood was a proper tail-ender as evident by his record – no half-centuries in Test match cricket. But that didn’t prevent him from coming in as nightwatchman during many games. This was at a time when the West Indies had Marshall and Holding while the Aussies had Lillee and Thomson. In sports, they say, it’s all about the guts you show.
One is reminded of the famous story of a Sri Lankan left-arm spinner. When Duleep Mendis wanted to spare his premier batsman Aravinda de Silva and ordered the spinner to get ready to go in as night watchman, the spinner apparently was hiding in the toilet.
Underwood will be remembered. Not just for scripting many famous wins for Kent and England, but for having the courage to be different, to move away from conventional spin and to stick to his strength. That made him the most successful spinner that England have ever produced.
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