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6/10/2015
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THE HIMALAYAN TIMES, THURSDAY, JUNE 11, 2015
Sports
Women’s national cricket tourney kicks off
Rup Narayan Dhakal /
Tilak Rimal
Pokhara / Chitwan, June 10
Nepal APF Club, Region-V
(Nepalgunj),
Region-IX
(Dhangadhi) and Region-VII
(Janakpur) started the Prime
Minister Cup Women’s National Cricket Tournament with
victories on Wednesday.
In the matches played at the
Pokhara Stadium, APF defeated Region-I (Biratnagar) by six
wickets, while Nepalgunj registered a nine-wicket victory
over Region-VIII (Pokhara).
APF bowled out Biratnagar
for 48 runs in 19 overs before
racing to 49-4 in 12.5 overs. Sita
Rana Magar was pick of the
APF bowlers as she grabbed
three wickets, while Sarita Magar scored an unbeaten 23
runs for the departmental
team. None of the Biratnagar
players could reach doublefigure mark.
In a rain-affected six-over-aside match, Pokhara opted to
bat first and managed a paltry
16 runs for the loss of six wickets. Nepalgunj, who received a
revised target of 14 runs from
five overs after another rain delay, reached the target in just
11 balks for the loss of a wicket.
In the matches played at the
• TIME OUT
CAN announces
final squad
Himalayan News Service
Kathmandu, June 10
THT
A player of Region-VIII (Pohara) bats against Region-V (Nepalgunj) druing the Prime Minister
Cup Women’s National Tournament in Pokhara on Wednesday.
Campachaur in Chitwan,
Dhangadhi thumped RegionIV (Bhairahawa) by seven
wickets,
while
Janakpur
thrashed Region-II (Birgunj)
by nine wickets.
Batting first, Bhairahawa
were bowled out for 84 runs in
20 overs, while Dhangadhi
made 87-3 in 15.2 overs in reply. Barsha Rana Magar top
scored for Bhairahawa with 19
runs, while Sonu Khadka
claimed two wickets for
Dhangadhi. Nirmala Shahi's
unbeaten 31 guided Dhangadhi to easy victory.
In the second match of the
Minnows Bhutan, Guam, East
Timor pursue unlikely quest
Agence France Presse
Hong Kong, June 10
Ultra-minnows Bhutan, Guam and East
Timor will be among the 28 teams in action on Thursday as they pursue their unlikely quest to reach the 2018 World Cup.
While normally consigned to the lower
reaches of the FIFA rankings, recent performances have earned these underdogs
the right to join powerhouses Japan, South
Korea, Australia and Iran in the second
round of qualifying. Thirty-nine teams —
after Indonesia were suspended by FIFA
for political interference — will fight it out
over nine months for 12 spots in the third
round and a place at the 2019 Asian Cup.
Guam are in the second round for the
first time after being given a bye because of
their improved position in the world rankings, following a win against Taiwan and a
draw with Hong Kong in last year’s East
Asian Cup. The tiny western Pacific island
will host Turkmenistan in their Group D
opener on Thursday before traversing the
continent to face India, Oman and four-
time World Cup contestants Iran.
Bhutan were bottom of the rankings in
209th place just three months ago, but
back-to-back wins against Sri Lanka
pushed them 50 places higher and gave
them a spot in Group C alongside China,
Qatar, Maldives and Hong Kong, who they
will visit for their opening game at
Mongkok Stadium. East Timor, one of the
most recent FIFA members, also qualified
for the first time after a convincing 5-1 aggregate triumph over Mongolia. They have
been drawn in Group A and visit Kuala
Lumpur for their opening match against
Malaysia at the Bukit Jalil Stadium.
Also in Group A, at the other end of the
Asian footballing scale, are regional giants
Saudi Arabia, who are bidding to reach
their fifth World Cup but their first since
2006. With caretaker coach Faisal Al Baden
at the helm following the January sacking
of Cosmin Olaroiu after just two months in
charge, the Green Falcons will host Palestine in Dammam. The top seeds in each of
the eight groups will begin their campaigns next Tuesday.
India’s Dhawan,Vijay pummel
hapless Bangladesh
Agence France Presse
Fatullah, June 10
Indian openers Shikhar Dhawan and Murali Vijay flayed Bangladesh’s bowlers with
an unbeaten 239-run partnership on the
rain-curtailed opening day of the one-off
Test match in Fatullah on Wednesday.
Dhawan was unbeaten on a stroke-filled
150 off 158 balls and Vijay was on a more
sedate 89 after Virat Kohli won the toss on
the easy-paced wicket at the Khan Shaheb
Osman Ali stadium. Left-hander Dhawan,
who had been dropped for India’s previous
Test against Australia in Sydney in January,
marked his comeback with 21 boundaries
in his third century.
Vijay, lucky to survive a lbw appeal before he had scored, proved the perfect foil
at the other end as Bangladesh employed
seven bowlers to try to break the partnership. Just 56 of the stipulated 90 overs were
bowled during the day as rain, which arrived 25 minutes before lunch, washed out
the entire post-lunch session. Floodlights
had to be switched on in the morning session to allow play to take place as threatening dark clouds loomed overhead.
Dhawan and Vijay attacked the fourpronged spin attack on either side of the
interruption to compile their second 200plus stand after their 289-run effort
against Australia in 2013. Vijay brought up
the double-century partnership with a six
off leg-spinner Jubair Hossain, but it was
Dhawan who dominated the stand with
attractive strokes all round the wicket.
Dhawan raced to 74 off 71 balls, but the
untimely rain interruption denied him a
chance to attempt a century before lunch.
The left-hander was on 73 when he
mistimed a shot off left-arm spinner Taijul
Islam, but Shuvagata Hom failed to grasp a
difficult chance at short mid-wicket after
getting his hands on the ball. When play
AFP
India’s Shikhar Dhawan celebrates after
scoring a century against Bangladesh on
the first day of their first Test match in
Fatullah on Wednesday.
resumed after tea, Dhawan was stranded
on 98-7 deliveries before pulling Jubair for
a boundary to bring up his third Test century. The hosts’ gameplan to play four
spinners meant Mohammad Shahid was
the lone seamer in the side, with parttimer Soumya Sarkar sharing the new ball.
Taijul was the most expensive bowler,
while Jubair went for 41 runs in his seven.
India recalled Harbhajan Singh for the
current match. Bangladesh captain Mushfiqur Rahim took the field as a batsman,
with Litton Das as wicket-keeping duties.
day, Birgunj managed to score
67 runs in 20 overs for the loss
of five wickets before Janakpur
raced to 68-1 in 11.4 overs.
Shova Ale and Mamta Chaudhary scored 19 runs each for
the winning team. Chaudhary
was announced player of the
match.
Cricket Association of Nepal
(CAN) today announced a
15-member final squad and
four reserve players for the
ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier slated for July 3-26 in Ireland and Scotland.
The squad comprises of
skipper Paras Khadka, vicecaptain Gyanendra Malla,
Binod Bhandari, Anil Mandal, Karan KC, Pradeep
Airee, Subash Khakurel,
Shakti Gauchan, Basanta
Regmi, Sompal Kami, Sagar
Pun, Siddhant Lohani, Jitendra Mukhiya and Rajesh Pulami. The reserve players are
Bhuwan Karki, Mahaboob
Alam, Prithu Baskota and
Avinash Karn.
Lohani is the new face in
the squad while, Airee,
Mukhiya and Mandal are
making comeback in the
team. Mahesh Chhetri, Hari
Shankar Sah and Saurabh
Khanal could not make the
cut in the final squad.
Currently Nepal national
players are in a 15-day training session at the Himachal
Pradesh Cricket Association
Stadium in Dharmashala,
where they will play few
practice matches against the
local teams. After the facilities at home were destroyed
by the devastating earthquake on April 25. Board of
Control for Cricket in India
(BCCI) helped Nepal to prepare for one of the most important cricket tournaments. The expense for the
training is borne by BCCI.
Joining the team in the
tour will be acting president
Deepak Koirala, manager
Chumbi Lama, coach Pubudu Dassanayake, bowling
coach Binod Das, batting
coach Monty Desai, physio
Ijaj Asai and Technical Analyst Raman Shiwakotis.
Buttler ton sets up record
England victory over Black Caps
Aid for quake victims
KATHMANDU: Nepal Automobile
Sports Association (NASA) on
Wednesday assisted sports journalist
Govinda Regmi for the reconstruction of his damaged house. Regmi’s
house at Nalang VDC of Dhading district was destroyed by devastating
earthquake that struck on April 25
claiming more than 8,600 lives across
the country. Tourism and Civil Aviation Minister Kripasur Sherpa handed over a cheque of Rs 50,000 to Regmi at a programme. Similarly, Mountaineering and Rock Climbing Association (MRCA) provided a cheque
worth Rs 25,000 to immediate past
president of Nepal Sports Journalists
Forum, Niranjan Rajbanshi to be deposited in the Relief Fund set up to
help late sports journalist Suman
Bhomjan and other affected members of the NSJF. MRCA also provided
Rs 25,000 to the family of its member
Dipesh KC. General Secretary of
MRCA Megh Raj Paudel announced
to host Suman Bhomjan Memorial
Climbing Media Cup in memory of
the late sports journalist. — HNS
Agence France Presse
Birmingham, June 10
Jos Buttler’s 129 and a hundred
from Joe Root helped England to
a record 210-run win over New
Zealand in the first one-day international at Edgbaston on Tuesday as they launched their ‘new
era’ of limited overs cricket.
It was England’s biggest victory,
in terms of runs, in all ODI cricket
beating their 202-run margin
against India at Lord’s way back
during the inaugural 1975 World
Cup. England’s total of 408-9,
their highest in all ODI cricket,
was built on the back of hundreds
by wicket-keeper Buttler and Joe
Root (104). It surpassed the 391-4
that England made against
Bangladesh at Trent Bridge in
2005 — the previous highest in
any ODI in England. Buttler’s
stand of 177 with Adil Rashid (69)
was also a new seventh-wicket
record in all one-day internationals, topping the 130 shared by
Zimbabwe’s Andy Flower and
Heath Streak against England in
Harare in 2001.
England dismissed World Cup
finalists New Zealand for 198 with
more than 18 overs to spare, fast
bowler Steven Finn (4-35) and
leg-spinner Rashid (4-55) doing
the bulk of the damage. England
had threatened a huge score
while Root, who made 104, and
captain Eoin Morgan (50) were
putting on 121 for the third wicket. But they lost four wickets for
31 runs, including the well-set
Morgan and Root, to be 202-6.
It was a slump from which recent England teams might not
have recovered, but Buttler and
Rashid continued to go for their
shots. “There was a game within a
game there,” said man-of-thematch Buttler, who faced just 77
balls including 13 fours and five
sixes. “But we saw that out and it
allowed us to attack later in the
innings. Credit to Joe Root on the
way he played. It gave everyone
confidence to follow his lead.”
Trent Boult took four wickets
for 55 runs in his maximum 10
overs, but only two of those overs
were faced by England’s seventhwicket duo. England’s total was a
far cry from their meager 123 during the Black Caps’ eight-wicket
World Cup win in Wellington in
February — the previous ODI between the teams. That result
formed part of New Zealand’s unbeaten run to the final, where
they lost to fellow co-hosts Australia, whereas for England it was
one of several defeats that contributed to a first-round exit.
However, New Zealand rested
paceman Tim Southee, the bowling star of that match with 7-33,
for this fixture following his efforts during the preceding 1-1
drawn Test series with England.
“It was certainly a different per-
THT
Pradip Khatri, bronze medalist of
the Second World Junior Soft Tennis
Tournament, after receiving Rs
50,000 from Nepal Soft Tennis Association at a felicitation programme
in Lalitpur on Wednesday.
Lotito under review
ROME: Lazio president Claudio Lotito is reportedly under investigation
for attempted extortion. The ANSA
news agency reports that the inquiry
is based on a recorded phone conversation between Lotito and a management official of the lower division Ischia club. The charges regard the distribution of funds to clubs. Lotito is
also a member of the Italian football
federation’s board of directors, and
the FIGC offices were searched by authorities on Wednesday under orders
from prosecutors in Naples. Carpi
went on to win Serie B and earn a
promotion to the top flight. — AP
WC opener sets record
AFP
England's Jos Buttler celebrates his century against New Zealand
during their first one-day international match at the Edgbaston
cricket grounds, in Birmingham on Tuesday.
formance to the World Cup,” said
Morgan. “For us to come out of
the traps like that is outstanding.”
New Zealand captain Brendon
McCullum, who won the toss, accepted his side had been overwhelmed. “It was a special performance from Root and Buttler,”
said McCullum. “To post 400 in
any game is outstanding. They
blew us off the park.”
The Wellington match saw McCullum launch a savage assault
on Finn, whose two overs cost 49
runs. But the first over of New
Zealand’s reply on Tuesday saw
Finn clean bowl the advancing
McCullum. Rashid removed dangerman Kane Williamson for 45
and he subsequently took two
wickets in two balls to reduce
New Zealand to 185-6. The Yorkshire spinner finished with ODI
best figures to set alongside his
maiden fifty at this level. New
Zealand lost their last six wickets
for just 13 runs.
England’s ‘new era’ started with
a whimper when the first ball of
the match saw Jason Roy caught
by Guptill at backward point off
Boult. But Root, making the most
of a couple of atypical New
Zealand fielding errors pressed
on to a hundred off a mere 71
balls. But he fell soon afterwards,
caught behind off Boult. However, Buttler and Rashid counter-attacked in fine fashion. Buttler,
whose maiden ODI century
against Sri Lanka last year came
in an England record 61 balls,
took 66 for his second. The 24year-old went to three figures in
style when he cover-drove
Mitchell McClenaghan for his
11th four. His superb innings
ended when he holed out off Matt
Henry. The series continues at
The Oval on Friday.
NEW YORK: The US opener has
drawn the largest television audience
on record for a Women’s World Cup
group stage game. The Americans’ 31 win over Australia on Monday night
averaged more than 3.3 million viewers on Fox Sports 1. The previous high
was nearly 2.5 million in 1999 for the
tournament in the US Nielsen doesn’t
have data on the 1991 Women’s
Women Cup. Fox said on Tuesday the
audience was more than triple the almost 1.1m for the 2011 US opener.
That game started just before noon
in the Eastern time zone with the
tournament in Germany, while
Monday’s match from Winnipeg was
in prime time. — AP
Khokhlov appointed
MOSCOW: Former Russia midfielder
Dmitry Khokhlov has been appointed head coach of Kuban Krasnodar to
replace the sacked Leonid Kuchuk,
the Russian Premier League team
said on Wednesday. The contract with
the 39-year-old will be finalised over
the next few days, Kuban said on their
website. Khokhlov played for PSV
Eindhoven, Real Sociedad and won
53 caps for national side. Kuban finished the championship in 10th place
and reached final in which they lost
3-1 to Lokomotiv Moscow. — Reuters