Torrential rain dashed New Zealand’s hopes of building an imposing first-innings lead in the one-off Test against Zimbabwe yesterday, with an injury to captain Ross Taylor further frustrating the home side.
The New Zealanders began the day at 331 for five and looked to be comfortably approaching Taylor’s stated target of 450-plus as they advanced to 392 without further loss.
However, a downpour ended play midway through the first session and officials abandoned play late in the afternoon when it became apparent the weather would not clear.
In a further setback for the Black Caps, Taylor was forced to retire hurt early in the day after taking his overnight score of 111 to 122.
He took off for a quick single, but pulled up mid-wicket clutching his right calf and limped to the non-striker’s end, unable to continue despite on-field treatment from the team physio.
Under rule changes introduced in October, Taylor was unable to call for a runner, bringing tail-ender Doug Bracewell to the crease.
Bracewell should have been dismissed two overs later, but was given a life when Forster Mutizwa grounded an easy catch at extra cover.
B.J. Watling, shouldering responsibility as the last established batsman, upped the tempo after previously contenting himself with a support role and brought up his half-century just before the heavens opened.
Watling ended the day on 52 not out, with Bracewell on 11.
With fine weather forecast for today, New Zealand will be looking to add runs early and hoping an attack that includes four seamers can find the penetration that has so far eluded Zimbabwe’s bowlers.
There have only been two results in nine Tests at Napier and New Zealand have never won at the venue.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier