Sports

USA and Canada claim 4x100m upsets on dramatic penultimate day in Oregon

Published

4 years ago

2022/07/25

On paper, Jamaica’s women’s 4x100m team looked unbeatable. The US squad shredded those predictions, using better teamwork to win the gold medal at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22.Similarly, the Canadian team claimed an upset in the men’s 4x100m on Saturday (23), as Andre De Grasse anchored the quartet to gold ahead of USA.

On a day of 4x100m surprises, there was also a second world javelin title for Anderson Peters, Pedro Pichardo added world gold to his Olympic triple jump title, Gudaf Tsegay took the 5000m title and Emmanuel Korir kicked to 800m victory.

In the women’s 4x100m final, as Twanisha Terry held off a hard-charging Shericka Jackson on the home stretch, the crowd at Hayward Field produced the loudest roar in nine days of competition.

“It was not expected of us today and I am glad we pulled it through,” said Melissa Jefferson, who ran the first leg for USA.

She added that she and her teammates “have a lot of confidence in ourselves and I knew we would show the world what we are capable of.”

The US team ran a world-leading 41.14, the second-fastest ever at a World Championships, with Jamaica clocking 41.18. They reversed positions from the Tokyo Olympics, where Jamaica claimed the gold and the US won the silver.

“The race was electrifying,” said Terry. “You heard the stadium. The stadium went crazy. We just brought it home.”

The US won its eighth gold medal and 13th overall in the event after placing third in 2019.

Jamaica, which captured its 16th medal, not only fielded the three world and Olympic medallists in the 100m, but in Elaine Thompson-Herah, the nation had the fastest woman alive in the 100m. Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce is the five-time and reigning world champion in the 100m and Jackson is the fastest woman alive in the 200m. They had five individual medals from this World Championships between them.

Kemba Nelson, the leadoff leg, was the 60m champion for the University of Oregon in 2021 and running on her home track.The members of the US team, by comparison, had no hardware to show from their individual events in Eugene. Jefferson was eighth in the 100m, Abby Steiner placed fifth in the 200m, Jenna Prandini did not reach the final in the 200m and Terry did not make the 100m final.But the US team had experience from the preliminary round, with Steiner replacing Aleia Hobbs as the only difference in team composition. For Jamaica, Nelson was the only carryover.

“Of course, we wanted to win,” said Thompson-Herah. “But we are glad for the silver tonight and we cannot complain.”

Fraser-Pryce won her third medal in Eugene — one gold and two silvers — for a total of 14 World Championships medals, tying compatriot Usain Bolt.

Germany won its first medal since 2009 in the 4x100m, clocking 42.03, while Nigeria placed fourth with an African record of 42.22.Dina Asher-Smith pulled up with an injury ahead of the final hand-off for Great Britain, the team going on to finish sixth.With a better final handoff and a determined De Grasse, Canada reclaimed the top spot on the men’s 4x100m podium for the first time since 1997.

“It’s not on home soil, but it felt like it,” De Grasse said of the cheering Canadians who came down for the World Championships.

The tight-knit Canadian quartet, who have grown up together in the sport, clocked a world-leading 37.48, with De Grasse running a final leg of 8.79 to keep Marvin Bracy-Williams-Williams of the US in his rear-view mirror. The US ran 37.55, with Great Britain taking the bronze in 37.83.

Aaron Brown led off for Canada, followed by Jerome Blake, Brendon Rodney and De Grasse. The US had a formidable team of Christian Coleman, the 2019 world 100m champion, two-time world 200m champion Noah Lyles, Elijah Hall and Bracy-Williams, who was second in the 100m. Fred Kerley, the world 100m champ, suffered an injury in the 200m and was not available for the relay.

“When Andre got (the baton) with the lead,” said Brown, “there’s no way they are going to catch him.”

However, De Grasse, who has struggled with injuries and Covid-19 this season, said he was tightening up a little bit. “I was hoping not to get caught,” he said.With a semifinal exit in the 100m and withdrawal from the 200m, the Olympic 200m champion said it was an advantage to have fresh legs instead of running six races.Bracy-Williams said the US had a “few things to clean up” on the exchanges. “Mine was not very good and that may have cost us the race,” he said. “Nonetheless, we got a medal, got the stick around. We will win next time.”

And after failing to make the final at the Tokyo Olympics, the US appreciated a medal of any kind. De Grasse’s victory brought some joy to his household after his partner, defending world champion Nia Ali, crashed out of the 100m hurdles heats.

(worldathletics.org)

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Sooryavanshi blitz, Jurel 81* help Rajasthan Royals take down Royal Challengers Bengaluru with ease

Published

41 mins ago

2026/04/11

Priyan

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi struck at 300.00 [Cricinfo]

Vaibhav Sooriyavanshi equalled his own record for the fastest half-century, off 15 balls, in a six-fest on a flat Guwahati deck as Rajasthan Royals walloped Royal Challengers Bengaluru for their fourth straight win.

RCB hit seven sixes through their 20 overs in an innings where they went all out, seemingly mindful of the challenge Sooryavanshi would pose. And pose he did, hitting seven sixes off his own blade, in a scarcely believable exhibition of brutal hitting.

Reputation counted for little. If it was Jasprit Bumrah the other night, it was Josh Hazlewood’s turn to come under Sooryavanshi’s wheel on Friday. By the time he was dismissed for a 26-ball 78, toe-ending a flat-batted hit to long-on off Krunal Pandya, RR’s asking rate in a 202 chase was just over six with 11.5 overs remaining.

Sooryavanshi’s uninhibited hitting was matched by Dhruv Jurel’s scintillating stroke play, the pair effectively snuffed out RCB’s hopes in the powerplay itself as they plundered 97 – the highest of the season. Although RR lost a couple of wickets in a rush thereafter, the result was never really in doubt.

RCB’s defence was given an early lift when the returning Hazlewood struck in the second over to remove Yashasvi Jaiswal. After conceding a couple of sixes off the short ball, Hazlewood responded smartly by going cross-seam and into the pitch to induce the edge. But the delight at having struck early dissipated quickly as Sooryavanshi seized control by rattling off three boundaries and a six in succession in his next over.

Each of the four boundaries pierced a different arc. The short ball was carved behind point, the hard length into the pitch was muscled over mid-on, the fuller one driven crisply between cover and mid-off, and when tested with the bumper, Sooryavanshi fetched it from outside off and nailed the pull over deep square for six.

And remarkably, it wasn’t just Hazlewood under the pump. Bhuvneshwar Kumar – who had nearly dismissed him first ball with a late-curving inswinging yorker, only for the teenager to dig it out and shovel it straight back for four – was also taken apart. In the fifth over, Sooryavanshi swatted him for back-to-back sixes to bring up his half-century.

Keeping pace with Sooryavanshi stroke for stroke can’t be easy, but Jurel managed it seamlessly, without ever looking like he was trying to. He capped off the powerplay by hitting rookie Abhinandan Singh for a sequence of 4, 6, 4, 0, 6, 4 to end an extraordinary passage.

Jurel’s fast hands were the defining feature of that over – whether it was picking length early to pull or using his wrists to whip the ball into the top tier over deep square. He would later take charge of the innings, tightening his approach after a flurry of wickets, and finishing unbeaten on 76 off 36 balls.

Jurel’s 68-run fifth-wicket stand with Ravindra Jadeja then guided RR home comfortably, steadying things after Krunal briefly stirred RCB’s hopes with back-to-back strikes of Sooryavanshi and Shimron Hetmyer in the ninth over.

RR went through a quiet passage of four overs without a boundary, but the early onslaught from Sooryavanshi and Jurel meant they could afford to play out a few quiet overs fully knowing RCB were a spinner short, as they activated Venkatesh Iyer as an impact player for batting firepower in place of Suyash Sharma.

The match had a blockbuster opening act, with Jofra Archer’s vicious, rip-roaring bouncer sending back Phil Salt for a golden duck. But Virat Kohli fought fire with fire, hitting him for three boundaries in his next over, before Archer struck back to remove the in-form Devdutt Padikkal.

This didn’t affect Kohli, though, as he shredded a much-talked-about matchup with Sandeep Sharma (who had dismissed him seven times in 18 innings) by thumping him over the infield for two fours. But trouble soon came RCB’s way as Ravi Bishnoi struck two quick blows to leave them 73 for 4.

In his first two outings, Rajat Patidar went crash-bang-wallop from the get-go. But a top-order wobble forced him to dig deep. He played himself in, getting to 20 off 22 balls at one stage. And then, three overs later, he brought up a half-century off 35 balls. One of the reasons for this surge was his surety in stroke-making.

The two sixes he hit off Nandre Burger in the 15th had that stamp of authority. A gentle extension of his arms to loft one cleanly over long-off laid down the marker, but the hop back to whip a short ball aimed at his ribs over deep square leg was the blockbuster.

With none of Romario Shepherd or Tim David coming off with the bat, RCB brought in Venkatesh Iyer as their Impact Player, leaving Suyash on the bench. And Venkatesh gave an excellent account of himself on RCB debut, finishing the innings off with a cameo 29 that pushed them past 200.

As it turned out, it was nowhere near enough.

Brief scores:
Rajasthan Royals 202 for 4 (Yashasvi Jiswal 13, Dhruv Jurel 81*, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi 78, Ravindra Jadeja 24*; Josh Hazelwood 2-44, Krunal Pandya 2-30) beat Royal Challengers Bengaluru 201 for 8 in 20 overs (Virat Kohli32, Devudutt Padikkal 14, Rajat Patidar 63, Tim David 13, Romario Shepherd 22, Venkatesh Iyer 29*; Jofra Archer 2-33, Sandeep Sharma 1-47, Ravi Bishnoi 2-32, Ravindra Jadeja 1-14, Brijesh Sharma 2-37) by six wickets

[Cricinfo]

Sports

Brazil bowler Laura Cardoso takes 9 Lesotho wickets in record-breaking T20 win

Published

19 hours ago

2026/04/10

Priyan

Laura Cardoso has taken the best bowling record in a T20 Women's International following her nine-wicket haul against Lesotho [Aljazeera]

Brazil are the unlikely candidates to have claimed two cricket records as one of their bowlers took a record nine wickets – including five in a row – in their 189-run T20 Women’s International victory against Lesotho in Botswana.

Having won the toss on Thursday, at the BCA Kalahari Women’s T20 International Tournament, Brazil posted a daunting 202-8 with wicketkeeper Monnike Machado hitting 69 off 41.

The fun, for the Brazilians, was only just beginning, though, as Laura Cardoso claimed a hat-trick with the last three deliveries of her first over – the second of the Lesotho innings – to set in motion the incredible feat that eventually saw the Africans bowled out for 13.

The 21-year-old then continued her wicket-taking achievement with a Women’s T20 International first of five dismissals in a row as she struck with the first two balls of her second over. This was all part of claiming the first nine Lesotho wickets to fall, but being denied the chance to take all 10 after a change of bowling following her third over. Her final wicket was Ret’sepile Limema, who fell to the fifth ball of the fifth over, with Cardoso replaced for the following over at that end. Her nine wickets, nevertheless, is the best return in either men’s or women’s T20 internationals.

The right-arm seamer did, indeed, come close to another hat-trick, when she claimed wickets with the last two balls of her second over, which itself totalled four victims.

Cardoso, who has has taken 55 wickets in 48 T20 matches for Brazil, replaces Indonesia’s Rohmalia Rohmalia at the top of the Women’s T20 best bowling rankings, as she finished with figures of 3-2-4-9.

Rohmalia had claimed seven wickets in 2024 in a match against Mongolia in Bali. Only three other women have claimed seven in a T20 international.

The men’s record, and the overall in the format, had been held by Bhutan’s Sonam Yeshey after ⁠he took eight wickets for seven ⁠runs against Myanmar ⁠last year.

The previous record for the number of wickets in consecutive deliveries was four, and was jointly held with the most prominent occasion in women’s cricket being when Shakera Selman pulled off the feat for the West Indies against Pakistan in 2018. Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan and Sri Lanka’s Lasith Malinga are among the most notable bowlers from the men’s game to have claimed four consecutively in the format.

Although a huge winning margin, Brazil’s overall win does not compare with Argentina’s record after they beat Chile by 364 runs in 2023. The Argentinians had struck 427-1 to set up their victory.

Lesotho’s part in the record extends to no further than Cardoso’s haul, with the record-lowest total belonging to Mali, who were bowled out for 6 in 2019 by Rwanda.

Brazil, ‌who lead the six-team tournament with five straight wins, play ‌Mozambique ‌on Friday.

[Aljazeera]

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Zimbabwe Women set for maiden tour of Pakistan

Published

21 hours ago

2026/04/10

Priyan

Pakistan and Zimbabwe will play 3 ODIs and 3 T20Is [Cricbuzz]

Zimbabwe Women are set for their maiden tour to Pakistan for three ODIs and three T20Is.

The ODIs kick off on May 3 and will be part of the ICC Women’s Championship 2025-29. The T20I series will be played from May 12. All six matches will take place at the National Bank Stadium in Karachi.

Pakistan are currently placed fifth on the Women’s Championship table after a 2-1 series loss to South Africa. Zimbabwe are placed seventh after a three-match series loss to New Zealand.

Zimbabwe are scheduled to arrive in Pakistan on April 29.