Yesterday in Chiayi City saw a tough battle for top spot in the Formosa Cricket Cup. All five teams staked their claim for the title, to be decided today.
The Badshaws won a last-ball thriller over the Daredevils to start the day. They chased the 114 target set up by Daredevils captain Duane Christie (45) with some comfort until Caleb Kenyon bowled the last three balls of the last over for no runs. Mujahid Hamid (41 not out) scrambled the winning runs from the last ball.
It was the youngest player, James Daly (3-11), who set up the Daredevils’ fight with some good straight bowling in a pressure situation backed up by one stinging catch at point by Kenyon.
In the morning’s other match, Taipei’s Pakistan side saw off Taipei’s Indian side comfortably. Pakistan captain Mujahid Mohammad saw his side to 150-3 and despite a blazing 44 from Anant Patel, the Indian side fell 18 runs shy.
The host team took on the bruised egos of the Daredevils next, but fell victim to the wiles of Graham Terblanche (2-18) and Daly (1-17) trying to chase 144. Christie was again in the runs with a chancy 66.
The Badshaws made huge inroads into the Pakistan batting lineup in the other afternoon match, sending back the top order very cheaply. However, a fighting 40 from Amjad Zafar saw them to 130, which proved too much, especially against a fired-up Shezhad Khan, who claimed two big wickets and a catch.
Then came the biggest boilover of the day as the Indian side bowled up a storm to dismiss the Badshaws for only 66 runs. Sachin Bhimani (1-15) bowled with swing and Anant (3-2) sent down three unplayable overs. The match was completed with only 6 overs needed for the Indian batters to slam the runs needed.
Formosa kept up the upset trend by defeating the Pakistan side. Dhananjay Magar was the star, picking up 37 runs and buying the key wicket of Khan (35).
The standings, with four matches to be played today, are:
Pakistan Cicket Club Tapei: 7 points (3 matches); Daredevils (TSCC): 4 points (2); Formosa Cricket Club: 4 points (2); Indian Cricket Club Taipei: 4 points (2); Pakistan Badshaws Cricket Club: 5 points (3).
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
If all goes well when the biggest marathon field ever gathered in Australia races 42km through the streets of Sydney on Sunday, World Marathon Majors (WMM) will soon add a seventh race to the elite series. The Sydney Marathon is to become the first race since Tokyo in 2013 to join long-established majors in New York, London, Boston, Berlin and Chicago if it passes the WMM assessment criteria for the second straight year. “We’re really excited for Sunday to arrive,” race director Wayne Larden told a news conference in Sydney yesterday. “We’re prepared, we’re ready. All of our plans look good on
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
When details from a scientific experiment that could have helped clear Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva landed at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the leader of the organization’s reaction was unequivocal: “We have to stop that urgently,” he wrote. No mention of the test ever became public and Valieva’s defense at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) went on without it. What effect the information could have had on Valieva’s case is unclear, but without it, the skater, then 15 years old, was eventually disqualified from the 2022 Winter Olympics after testing positive for a banned heart medication that would later