Joe Root completed his first one-day international century to help guide England to a 25-run victory over the West Indies on Wednesday in the deciding match of their three-game series in Antigua.
Root made 107 off 122 deliveries to help the tourists compile an imposing total of 303-6 after opener Moeen Ali had laid the foundations with 55 and wicketkeeper Jos Buttler added 99 late in the innings.
The West Indies, in reply, were bowled out for 278 in the 48th over to concede the series 2-1, despite a heroic batting performance by Denesh Ramdin.
Photo: Reuters
The home side were in early trouble after slumping to 43-4 in the eighth over when Ramdin came to the crease. The West Indies ’keeper proceeded to blast a career-best 128 off 109 deliveries, pummeling 12 fours and five sixes.
His explosive innings threatened to turn the match around, but the fightback ended when he was the last man out, bowled by a yorker from all-rounder Tim Bresnan (3-45) that knocked his leg stump out of the ground.
“We were confident to chase, it was a good wicket, but the top order failed and it didn’t quite come off at the end,” West Indies captain Dwayne Bravo said at the post-match presentation. “I think Root and Buttler batted well, they capitalized on the start they had ... we didn’t get it right at the key moments, the first 10 overs, it’s something we have to work on, as a team and a batting group.”
Root came out with England in a sticky situation at 37-2 after Ben Stokes went for a golden duck, but calmly set about rebuilding the innings, hitting seven boundaries to reach his ton, despite being hit on the thumb.
Buttler was unlucky not to reach triple figures as well.
He struck seven boundaries and four sixes only to fall in the last over when he misjudged a slower ball from Ravi Rampaul, which he chipped in the air for a return catch.
The teams are scheduled to play each other in three Twenty20s in Barbados, starting on Sunday.
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