South Africa made light work of England in the second one-day international in Southampton, England, on Tuesday, defeating the hosts by 80 runs to take a 1-0 lead in the five-match series after being set up by Hashim Amla’s 150.
England were set a target of 288 to win following Amla’s stellar innings after the Proteas, who now top the world rankings in all three forms of the game, won the toss and elected to bat.
The hosts would have loved to have mirrored outcast Kevin Pietersen’s innings on the same day, after he thrashed a quick-fire 163 for Surrey in the County Championship match against Somerset, but it was not to be as England’s run chase got off to a horrible start before they were bowled out for 207.
Photo: AFP
England captain Alastair Cook was clean bowled for a duck by left-arm opener Lonwabo Tsotsobe with just the second ball of the innings.
Jonathan Trott and Ian Bell put on 64 runs to steady the hosts, but the promising partnership came to an end after Trott departed for 23 courtesy of Dean Elgar’s delightful catch in the deep off the bowling of Morne Morkel.
As he approached his half-century, Bell was next to fall for 45, bowled by deceptive spinner Robin Peterson to leave England 77 for three.
Photo: AFP
South Africa began to take control of the match when Peterson struck for a second time in his next over, Ravi Bopara out for 16 as he struck a back-foot drive direct to Faf du Plessis at extra-cover.
England lasted just 40.4 overs.
Earlier, Amla had scored a magnificent 150 to lead South Africa to an imposing total of 287 for five.
Graeme Smith and Amla shared a fluent opening partnership of 89, seeing off the early threat of James Anderson and Steven Finn with ease.
Smith struck five crisp fours in his 52, before skying a catch to wicketkeeper Craig Kieswetter off Tim Bresnan, but Amla continued his rich vein of form.
The bearded right-hander lost partner J.P. Duminy for 14, run out by Anderson after a mix-up, while Elgar was bowled by Graeme Swann for 15 on his debut, but Amla, who scored 482 runs in the recent Test series win against England, including a triple-century, moved serenely on, striking 16 fours in his highest one-day international score.
The first match of the series was washed out.
England can reclaim their spot at the top of the one-day world rankings if they beat South Africa in the next match at The Oval in London tomorrow.
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
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB