Brendon McCullum smashed a record 123 off 58 balls and Luke Wright made an unbeaten 99 as New Zealand and England eased to emphatic wins in the World Twenty20 on Friday.
McCullum plundered seven sixes and 11 boundaries to notch up the highest individual score in T20 internationals as the Black Caps piled up 191-3 in a Group D match against Bangladesh in Pallekele.
Bangladesh managed only 132-8 to lose by 59 runs, with Tim Southee (3-16) and Kyle Mills (3-33) sharing the spoils.
Photo: AFP
Defending champions England brushed aside Afghanistan by 116 runs in Group A in Colombo, knocking the minnows out of the 12-nation tournament to ensure a place in the Super Eights round along with India.
Wright’s 55-ball knock was the best effort by an English batsman in T20 cricket as his team piled up 196-5 after being sent in to bat, before Afghanistan were dismissed for 80 in 17.2 overs.
Afghanistan, reduced to 26-8, were in danger of falling below the lowest ever total in T20 internationals of 67 by Kenya against Ireland in 2008, when Gulbodin Naib and Shapoor Zadran provided unexpected resistance by adding 44 for the ninth wicket.
Naib, who came to bat at No. 8, scored more than half of his team’s runs before he was last man out for 44 off 32 balls that included five fours and three sixes.
However, none of the other batsmen reached double figures as Jade Dernbach, skipper Stuart Broad, Samit Patel and Graeme Swann picked up two wickets each.
Afghanistan’s second successive defeat in the tournament — they had lost to India by 23 runs on Wednesday — meant both England and India entered the second round even before their league match in Colombo today.
“Wright’s innings was outstanding and when the guys came in at the end and struck the ball, it was very powerful and exciting to see,” Broad said. “It was a good win. We’ll be fired up and wanting a win against India and that’s the only attitude to take when you cross the line.”
Wright, who helped England add 87 runs in the last five overs, was delighted with his man-of-the-match winning effort.
“It was a bit of a special evening,” the 27-year-old said. “I was desperate to play well and win games for England, so it’s special to be man of the match. As I’ve got older I’ve gone away and tried to work on my game and prove that I’m a better player.”
In Pallekele, New Zealand captain Ross Taylor was all praise for McCullum’s century and hoped the win will provide the necessary momentum in a group that also includes Pakistan.
“When you have someone score a century in T20 you’re always in the box seat,” Taylor said. “Hopefully this win will give us momentum.”
Bangladesh captain Mushfiqur Rahim conceded McCullum made the difference between the two sides.
“We bowled well in the first few overs, but McCullum ... even when he doesn’t hit the ball well, it’s still going for six,” Rahim said. “We’ll look at our strengths and come up with a new strategy for the next game.”
New Zealand next play Pakistan today and Bangladesh clash with Pakistan on Tuesday. The top two teams from the group will qualify for the Super Eights round.
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