West Indies off-spinner Rahkeem Cornwall yesterday took a career-best 7-75 in only his second Test match to help bowl out Afghanistan for 187 as spinners dominated the first day of the one-off Test.
The stocky 26-year-old engineered Afghanistan’s top-order collapse by taking five wickets in his lengthy first spell of 21 overs. He snared two more wickets after a brief break, which somewhat bailed out captain Jason Holder’s decision to bowl first on a turning wicket in Lucknow.
The West Indies also had early trouble and reached 68-2 at stumps, with both wickets falling to Afghanistan spinners. They trail by 119 runs, with John Campbell 30 not out and Shamarh Brooks unbeaten on 19.
Out-of-form opening batsman Kraigg Brathwaite (11) fell LBW to debutant left-arm spinner Amir Hamza and Shai Hope (7) got a thick edge to slip off leg-spinner Rashid Khan’s sharp delivery as spinners took 10 of the 12 wickets.
Afghanistan’s batsmen had early success against seamer Kemar Roach, who did not hit the right lengths in hazy conditions.
However, Cornwall struck a crucial blow just before lunch when he had Ihsanullah (24) caught in the lone slip as Afghanistan slumped to 90-3 after moving comfortably to 84-1.
Afghanistan slid further to 111-7 with Cornwall running through the middle order and taking a low ankle-height catch in the slip to dismiss Afghanistan captain Rashid Khan (1).
Zazai and Hamza added 54 runs for the eighth-wicket stand before Cornwall further dented Afghanistan by taking the wicket of Zazai, who did not offer a shot to a ball that did not spin enough.
Holder was rewarded for his disciplined 17 overs when he had Hamza edged to the wicketkeeper and finished with 2-22 as Cornwall wrapped up the innings by having Yamin Ahmadzai (18) caught at the long-off boundary.
Earlier, Cornwall made most of the conditions to have Ibrahim Zadran (17) caught close to the wicket in his third over as the wicket started to look favorable for spinners.
Zadran was shaping up well with two cover-driven boundaries before he went for an extravagant sweep-shot against Cornwall and Holder snapped a brilliant one-handed diving catch to his left at leg-slip.
Cornwall could have had the wicket of Javed Ahmadi (39), but wicketkeeper Shane Dowrich could not hold on to a sharp leg-side catch off the batsman’s gloves.
Afghanistan are chasing the rare record of becoming the first nation to win three of their first four Test matches.
They lost against India inside two days in their inaugural Test, but then went on to beat Ireland and Bangladesh in their next two Tests.
Afghanistan awarded a Test debut to batsman Nasir Jamal, who fell for 4 to Cornwall, and surprisingly left out all-rounder Karim Janat, who played a vital role in Afghanistan’s victory in the Twenty20 series against the West indies.
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