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Labuschagne, Green give Australia competitive total
Marnus Labuschagne top-scored with 71 and there were other little contributions through the order as Australia posted what would appear to be a par score of 286 against England at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. For the defending champions, who have one foot out of the competition, Chris Woakes continued his late resurgence with a four-wicket haul while Adil Rashid produced another miserly spell, taking 2 for 38.
Put into bat, the five-time champions made a lethargic start after both their dynamic openers were prized out by Woakes inside the PowerPlay. Travis Head edged a delivery angled across him to slip while David Warner miscued an attempted pull shot against an off-cutter and top-edged a catch to mid-wicket.
At 38/2 in the sixth over, the onus was on Steve Smith and Labuschagne to put the innings back on track and the pair did just that with a crucial 75-run partnership. Labuschagne took his time to find his tempo on the pitch but off-drove the ninth ball he faced to the fence to kickstart his innings.
England gambled after a 48-run PowerPlay by bringing in their fifth bowling combination of Liam Livingstone and Moeen Ali ahead of the lead spinner and that was an invitation for the Australia batting pair to transfer the pressure back onto the bowling side. Both Smith and Labuschagne picked up a boundary each of Moeen’s first over and moved into the 30s forcing Rashid’s introduction.
The legspinner, one of the team’s brightest prospects in a forgettable campaign, struck in just his second over when Smith went chasing after a cleverly floated up delivery outside off-stump. Smith fell six short of a half-century and Rashid quickly added the wicket of Josh Inglis in the next over to force Australia into another period of rebuilding.
Cameron Green and Labuschagne provided just that while picking up the regular boundary against the fifth bowler. Green even got two boundaries off a Mark Wood over before the fast bowler hit back in his next over to break the stand by nipping a pacy delivery back into Labuschagne. Australia’s No.4, who made 71 off 83, took back a review with him. Another period of rebuilding followed as Green and Marcus Stoinis took the team to 220/5 at the 40th over. But Australia’s launch had to be delayed as Green fell immediately thereafter to the returning David Willey, who slipped a full delivery under his attempted slog sweep.
When Stonis fell for 35 right after hitting Livingstone for a six and a four in the 44th over, Australia faced the prospect of folding well below the 50th over. But a key cameo from Adam Zampa (29 off 19) ensured Australia missed out on only three balls of their available quota to finish with a solid total against a struggling opponent, who have chased only two scores above 250 in World Cup history.
Brief scores:
Australia 286 in 49.3 overs (Marnus Labuschagne 71, Cameron Green 47, Steven Smith 44, Marcus Stonis 35, Adam Zampa 29; Chris Woakes 4-54, Adil Rashid 2-38, Mark Wood 2-70) vs England
Ireland Women 118/9 in 20 overs (Alana Dalzelle 14, Orla Prendergast 26, Leah Paul 10, Alice Tector 10, Louise Little 26*; Lauren Bell 1-39, Linsey Smith 1-20, Sophie Ecclestone 3-22, Charlie Dean 2-11, Dani Gibson 2-10) lost to England Women 119/6 in 17.3 overs (Dani Wyatt Hodge 16, Nat Sciver-Brunt 48, Heather Knight 26; Aimee Maguire 2-23, Orla Prendergast 2-17) by 4 wickets
Lionel Messi marked his record sixth World Cup appearance with his first hat-trick at a FIFA tournament as Argentina beat Algeria 3-0 to open the defence of their global crown, he also became the joint highest scorer at World Cups with the feat.
The former 38-year-old forward thought he had opened the scoring in the eighth minute in Kansas City on Tuesday when he slotted home from close range, but the offside flag was raised.
The dream start to his record-setting appearance, which will be matched by Cristiano Ronaldo for Portugal against DR Congo on Wednesday, was not to be denied for long though.
A trademark, mazy run was capped by a drive on the edge of the box from that famed left foot. The power too much for Algeria keeper Luca Zidane, son of World Cup winner with France, Zinidine.
Messi doubled his tally on the hour mark with a simple tap in from a rebound off the keeper following a drive from Alexis Mac Allister.
The moment that even a player as decorated as Messi came in the 76th minute when he drilled low past the keeper from just outside the box.
The strike took Messi level with former Germany striker Miroslav Klose on 16 World Cup goals.
His substitution came just three minutes later to a standard ovation, even old maestro seemed disappointed to be removed – and most likely rested for Argentina’s tilt at becoming only the third side to defend a World Cup title.
Algeria – the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations winners – offered little, but were themselves denied an early goal when Fares Chaibi’s ninth minute strike was ruled out for offside.
Messi saw to it that there was no opening game upset to be had tat this edition, having lost their opening game at Qatar 2022 to Saudi Arabia.
Messi, who spent the majority of his club career in Spain with Barcelona before moving to French giants Paris-Saint Germain, plys his trade in US football’s Major League Soccer with Inter Miami.
Jordan and Austria open their account in the group later on Tuesday in San Francisco.
[Aljazeera]
United States sprinter Noah Lyles has set the world’s best-ever time over the rarely-run 150 metres race, clocking 14.67 seconds at the Golden Spike meet in the eastern Czech city of Ostrava.
The 28-year-old Lyles on Tuesday beat the previous best of 14.72 set by Kishane Thompson of Jamaica in Florida in April.
At Ostrava, Lyles beat Sinesipho Dambile of South Africa with 14.78, while Australian teenager Gout Gout finished third in 14.96.
“Was there ever any doubt? Was there ever any doubt? We came for a show,” an elated Lyles told Czech TV.
Earlier this month, Lyles took a comfortable win at the Wanda Diamond League meet in Rome with a 9.88 in the 100m, his fastest since clinching gold at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
The high-energy, anime-loving showman has had strong indoor and outdoor performances throughout the year so far, and was named on this year’s Time100 list of the most influential people.
Dutch star Femke Broeders-Bol had to bow to in-form Swiss Audrey Werro in her outdoor debut in the 800m.
The 26-year-old Broeders-Bol has switched from 400m hurdles, in which she had won two world gold medals, and clocked an impressive 1 minute 57.13 seconds for second place.
“It was so cool, I love racing in Ostrava. It was tough, but I enjoyed it,” she said.
Broeders-Bol has also claimed multiple medals as the anchor leg in 4x400m relay teams, notably a gold in the mixed event in the Paris Olympics.
She ran her first 800m since 2017 in February, clocking a national record of 1 minute 59.07 seconds before withdrawing from the rest of the indoor season to nurse a foot injury.
The 22-year-old Werro won in 1 minute 54.45 seconds, half a second behind her personal best from March, after shedding Broeders-Bol with 200 metres to run.
“It was a really crazy run, but the time is very good, so I’m really happy,” Werro said.
Having set the eighth best time ever, she stayed over a second behind the oldest world record in athletics of 1:53.28 set in 1983 by Jarmila Kratochvilova of then-Czechoslovakia, who watched the race from the stands.
South Africa’s 20-year-old Bayanda Walaza won the men’s 100m as he equalled his personal best of 9.94 seconds, beating Emmanuel Eseme of Cameroon with 9.99 seconds.
US favourites Ronnie Baker and Jordan Anthony were demoted to the fourth and fifth spots, respectively, with times well over 10 seconds.
[Aljazeera]
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