England and Australia's long cricket rivalry touched new heights of drama on Saturday when they tied in the final of the NatWest one-day international series, sharing the title in a thrilling contest that went down to the last ball.
Reduced to 33 for five in their quest for a modest Australian total of 196, England looked down and out. But wicketkeeper Geraint Jones, with 71, and allrounder Paul Collingwood's 53 dragged England back into the game.
Australia still looked likely to win when Jones and Collingwood were dismissed. But spinner Ashley Giles emerged as an unlikely hero, calmly accumulating runs although 10 were still needed from the last over.
PHOTO: AFP
The normally rock solid Glenn McGrath bowled a no ball from his first delivery but recovered to coolly run out Darren Gough with two balls to go. England needed three to win from the last ball with Giles and last man Steve Harmison at the crease.
McGrath bowled a yorker but the ball ran away into the gully and Australia could not prevent the batsmen running two to tie the match. Giles ended 18 not out, leaving Australia fuming at having thrown away what should have been a comfortable victory.
"We were outstanding in the field to restrict them to 196 and at 33 for five we were really out of the game," said England captain Michael Vaughan.
Australian captain Ricky Ponting said the final reflected the series.
"We said coming into this game that honors had been pretty evenly shared through the preliminary games," he said. "As it turned out today, this final's been one of the great games of one day cricket even though the scores were low."
England was reduced to 19 for four and then 33 for five by pacemen McGrath and Brett Lee in a punishing 36-ball spell. McGrath posted three for 25 and Lee, at his hostile best and battling for a test spot, two for 36.
Marcus Trescothick had only scored six when he was caught at slip by Ponting off McGrath's bowling.
Five balls later Andrew Strauss was beaten by the raw pace of Lee and bowled for two. Things got worse for the English when the out-of-form Vaughan decided to pull McGrath, only to play onto his stumps for a duck.
Kevin Pietersen also found himself beaten by Lee's pace as England plunged to 19 for four and Andrew Flintoff fared little better, scoring just eight before dangling his bat and being caught by Matthew Hayden at slip.
Collingwood and Jones then calmly rebuilt the innings, putting on 116 for the aixth wicket in a patient stand that set up the dramatic finish.
After Vaughan won the toss and put the tourists in to bat, Adam Gilchrist and Hayden smashed the first 50 off just 39 balls.
In the seventh over, Hayden miscued a Gough delivery and spooned the ball to Giles at mid off for just 17, continuing his poor run of form in England.
With only four more runs added, Gilchrist, troubled by the introduction of Flintoff, tried to break loose. But he skied a short ball to Pietersen at deep square leg and was dismissed for 27.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite