Moeen Ali yesterday moved to within 15 runs of what would be his second Test century as England amassed an impressive first-innings total by lunch on the second day of the second Test against Sri Lanka in Durham.
The all-rounder was unbeaten on 85, with England 408-8 having added 98 runs for the loss of two wickets from their overnight position of 310-6.
Ali, who passed 1,000 runs in Test cricket earlier yesterday, was fortunate to survive on 36 when Dimuth Karunaratne put down a catchable chance off Nuwan Pradeep at gully.
Photo: Reuters
With Chris Woakes also being dropped, this time by wicketkeeper Dinesh Chandimal off Shaminda Eronga on 12, Sri Lanka failed to reproduce their expert catching of the first morning.
They did eventually dismiss Woakes, who feathered a ball to substitute wicketkeeper Kusal Mendis off Suranga Lakmal, for 39 after a stand of 92 with Moeen.
Mendis also caught Stuart Broad for seven to give Pradeep his fourth wicket, but England will feel they are moving to a position of dominance.
England won the first Test in the two-test series by an innings and 88 runs.
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