England put a ball-tampering row behind them to book their place in the semi-finals of the Champions Trophy with a 10-run win over New Zealand in Cardiff on Sunday.
New Zealand, chasing 170 for victory in a match reduced by rain to 24 overs per side, were held by the tournament hosts to 159-8.
Victory saw England, yet to win a major 50-over competition, into the last four as one of two qualifiers out of Group A after their build-up for this match was overshadowed by ball-tampering allegations made against them by former captain Bob Willis.
Photo: Reuters
If Sri Lanka beat champions Australia in yesterday’s final Group A fixture at The Oval they would also feature in a last four that already includes Group B winners India and runners-up South Africa.
New Zealand could reach the semi-finals themselves if Australia won but failed to do so by a large enough margin to better the Black Caps’ net run-rate.
James Anderson, who finished with 3-32 in five overs, reduced New Zealand to 14-2 by dismissing openers Luke Ronchi and Martin Guptill in the space of three balls.
Photo: Reuters
Medium-pacer Ravi Bopara, in overcast conditions assisting seamers, took 2-26 in five overs.
England captain Alastair Cook, the man-of-the-match, was dropped three times by Nathan McCullum on his way to top-scoring with 64 in a total of 169 all out.
Off-spinner Nathan McCullum finally clung on to a return offering from his own bowling to dismiss left-handed opener Cook.
“It was quite a stressful day. I always felt we were just above the rate, but you can get as many as you want, but you always want more,” said Cook at the post-match presentation ceremony.
“It was a very fine bowling performance. We were very good in the field today and good with the bat,” he said. “We were 10 runs short, but 170 is still a very good score.”
After New Zealand slumped to 61-5, Kane Williamson (67) and one-day international debutant Corey Anderson (30) kept them in the hunt with a partnership of 73 before they both fell in the closing stages.
“England bowled outstandingly well at the start of our innings and set us back,” said New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum, Nathan’s younger brother.
“Kane and Corey gave us a real opportunity but we fell short in the end,” he said. “We did drop some catches, but Nathan is usually a good catcher so it is one of those things. We’ll be supporting Australia now, which is not something that we normally like to do.”
Coming into the match, England and New Zealand had already played each other in six one-dayers this year, winning three each across series in both countries.
The gap between the sides in this match narrowed when Williamson completed a 48-ball 50 by striking Anderson for his seventh four before lofting Tim Bresnan for six.
Suddenly, New Zealand needed 36 to win off 18 balls with five wickets left.
However, Williamson then holed out off Stuart Broad, although the paceman had a nervous wait before a review for a tight no-ball call went in his favor.
And 135-6 became 140-7 when Corey Anderson was caught by Anderson off Bresnan. That left New Zealand needing 30 to win off 10 balls.
It was just too much and Anderson wrapped up victory when Nathan McCullum was caught behind off the final delivery of the match.
After New Zealand won the toss, England were 25-2 when Jonathan Trott chipped Kyle Mills to Nathan McCullum at mid-wicket.
Trott’s exit gave Mills his 25th Champions Trophy wicket, surpassing the competition record of retired Sri Lanka off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan.
James Franklin almost struck first ball when Cook pulled him to mid-wicket only for Nathan McCullum to drop the chance.
Franklin almost had him again only for Nathan McCullum to drop a juggled chance at mid-wicket.
Nathan McCullum then put down a relatively easy catch when, at backward point, he dropped Cook’s cut off Williamson.
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
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
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