New Zealand were up against it at stumps on the fourth day of their second Test against the West Indies at North Sound after two breakthroughs for the hosts left them at 199 for three, just 28 runs ahead.
Looking to erase a 171-run first-innings deficit, opener Martin Guptill and Brendon McCullum strove manfully to move the Black Caps toward positive territory, but both fell after taking the tourists to 170 for one at one stage in the final session.
West Indies spinner Sunil Narine, who pulled out a maiden five-wicket Test haul in the first innings, made the first breakthrough in the second innings after trapping Daniel Flynn LBW for 20 in an early blow for the Kiwis.
However, thereafter Guptill, who just missed a century in the first innings, and McCullum piled on the runs before falling for 67 and 84 as Narine and Kemar Roach claimed their respective scalps.
Guptill and McCullum had put on 123 for the second wicket before spinner Narine had opener Guptill caught by Assad Fudadin at short leg.
Kemar Roach then bowled McCullum to leave nightwatchman Neil Wagner on four not out with skipper Ross Taylor on 11.
The West Indies had earlier made the Kiwis’ opening tally of 351 look modest as they made 522 all out with skipper Darren Sammy instrumental in helping his compatriots to pass the 500 mark for the first time since Mumbai last year.
Sammy helped himself to a six over deep midwicket to bring up his third Test half-century before falling next ball to Daniel Vettori.
They reached the mark when Narine hit a boundary off Vettori before getting himself run out two balls later.
It then fell to Doug Bracewell to end the West Indies’ first innings as he trapped Ravi Rampaul LBW for one before Guptill, who scored 97 in the first innings for the New Zealanders, and Flynn padded up to start chasing down the target.
Although Guptill and McCullum made light of the loss of Flynn, their own demise suggested the West Indies, cheered by centuries from Chris Gayle and Kieran Powell and 79 from Narsingh Deonarine, looked the likelier victor.
India vs Sri Lanka
Reuters, COLOMBO, Sri Lanka
Gautam Gambhir’s 11th one-day international (ODI) century laid the foundation for India’s five-wicket victory over Sri Lanka in the third one-day international on Saturday.
Gambhir scored a compact 102 off 101 balls, his sixth ODI hundred against Sri Lanka, as India chased down the home team’s total of 286-5 with two balls to spare.
India lead 2-1 in the five-match series.
Opener Gambhir was run out in the 39th over and India were guided home by sixth wicket pair Suresh Raina and Irfan Pathan who shared an unbroken stand of 92.
Raina hit an unbeaten 65 and Pathan made 34 not out.
Lasith Malinga gave Sri Lanka hope when he grabbed two quick wickets off successive balls, sending back M.S. Dhoni for 31 and Rohit Sharma for a duck at the start of the batting power play, but Raina and Pathan snuffed out the threat.
Sri Lanka slipped to 20-3 inside six overs after winning the toss, but Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene staged a recovery with a partnership of 121.
Sangakkara, hit on the right little finger by a ball from Ashok Dinda, continued to bat after being treated on the field to top score with 73.
Jayawardene made 65 before being trapped LBW by Rahul Sharma.
The Sri Lankan innings was given momentum by sixth wicket pair Angelo Mathews and Jeevan Mendis who added 104 off 73 balls.
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