Stand-in England captain Matthew Prior praised his team for improving during their tour opener against the Western Australia Chairman’s XI despite managing only an unconvincing draw against the second-string side.
The three-day match in Perth ended when the home team called a halt at 168-5 in their second innings, representing an overall lead of 228 after England were dismissed for 391 in reply to the Chairman XI’s 451-5 declared.
Up against a side comprising fringe first-class players, the tourists were largely disappointing, apart from centuries by key batsmen Ian Bell and Jonathan Trott.
They do not appear to have gained much insight into their best side for the first Test, starting in Brisbane on Nov. 21, with almost all their fringe players failing to fire.
However, Prior said the England team got exactly what they needed from the outing, claiming the tourists improved markedly as the match went on.
“I think we got a huge amount from it,” he said. “In all departments, we gradually got better throughout the game, certainly in the field, and from a fielding and bowling point of view.”
England rested several key players for the match, including captain Alastair Cook (sore back), allowing the opportunity for some Test hopefuls to push their claims, most notably for the third seamer’s position and the spot at No. 6 in the batting order.
Pace trio Chris Tremlett, Steven Finn and Boyd Rankin all labored with the ball, taking seven wickets between them in the match, but just two in the home team’s first innings.
Tremlett finished with just one wicket, while Finn and Rankin picked up three each. The trio conceded 425 runs between them.
Batting hopefuls Gary Ballance, who was dismissed first ball, and Ben Stokes (4) also failed to grasp their opportunity, although Michael Carberry made the most of his chance at the top of the order, hitting 78 to advance his cause.
One positive for England was the form of key batsmen Bell and Trott, who both scored centuries.
Trott hit an unbeaten 113 and Bell retired when on 115, the pair spending valuable time in the middle as they shared in a 197-run partnership before the latter decided to give his teammates the chance for some time in the middle.
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