Colin de Grandhomme yesterday returned from time out following the death of his father to spur New Zealand to a five-wicket win over Pakistan in the fourth one-day international and grab a 4-0 lead in the five-match series.
De Grandhomme was playing for New Zealand for the first time since the middle of last month, when he returned to his native Zimbabwe after the sudden and unexpected death of his father, aged 61.
New Zealand’s unbeaten record at home this season was under threat until De Grandhomme went to the crease at No. 7 and hit 74 not out, including a half-century from 25 balls with five sixes, to guide the hosts to their target of 263 with 4.1 overs remaining.
Photo: AFP
Pakistan produced their best batting performance of the series so far to reach 262-8, led by Mohammad Hafeez with 81, and half-centuries to Haris Sohail and Sarfraz Ahmed.
New Zealand started strongly with an 88-run opening partnership between Colin Munro, who made 56 from 42 balls, and Martin Guptill (31), but teenage leg-spinner Shadab Khan turned the match with three quick wickets as the hosts slumped from 88-1 to 90-3 in the space of 24 deliveries.
New Zealand crumbled further to 99-4 before captain Kane Williamson steadied the innings in a 55-run fifth-wicket partnership with Henry Nicholls.
Williamson’s innings of 32 from 54 balls contained only one boundary and he scored almost entirely in singles as he attempted to turn around the innings.
New Zealand appeared to be regaining the upper hand when Williamson, attempting to step up the run rate, was lured into a loose shot by Haris and was brilliantly caught on the long-on boundary by Rumman Raees.
The match was again in the balance with New Zealand at 154-5 after 35 overs, but De Grandhomme blasted Pakistan out of the match.
De Grandhomme’s half-century included 42 runs from boundaries — three fours and five sixes — and his 74 came from only 40 balls.
He was well supported by Nicholls, who reached his half-century from 69 balls and hit the winning run next ball to finish on 51 not out.
“I just took what I’d been doing in the nets and brought it out here,” De Grandhomme said.
New Zealand remain unbeaten in 12 matches at home this summer after winning two Tests, three one-day internationals and three Twenty20 internationals against the West Indies, and the first four one-day internationals against Pakistan.
SOUTH AFRICA V INDIA
Reuters, PRETORIA
Seamer Ishant Sharma yesterday bagged a brace of wickets to keep India in the hunt for victory as South Africa crawled to 230-7 at tea in their second innings on the fourth day of the second Test.
The hosts scored just 57 runs in 27 overs in the session to extend their lead to 258, leaving India needing a record chase in Tests at Centurion Park to win the game, but with key batsman Virat Kohli in excellent form, they might well fancy their chances.
South Africa captain Faf du Plessis (37) and Kagiso Rabada (0) were to resume in the evening session.
The previous record chase in Pretoria was 251-8 by England in 2000, but that was on a fresh wicket after both sides forfeited an innings to force a result.
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