England yesterday needed eight more wickets to claim an emphatic series victory as South Africa lost both openers in the morning session at the start of their bid for a two-day vigil at the crease to save the fourth Test at the Wanderers.
South Africa were 90-2 at lunch on the fourth day, still needing 376 to claim an improbable victory and draw the series.
Rassie van der Dussen was not out after a brisk 39 off 45 balls, with captain Faf du Plessis having just arrived at the crease.
Photo: AFP
England had two days to bowl the hosts out and took an hour before claiming the wicket of Pieter Malan, who scored 22 in a 38-run opening partnership with Dean Elgar.
Malan chased after a wide ball from Chris Woakes and got a healthy edge straight after the drinks break to be was caught by Ben Stokes in the slips.
Three balls later, Woakes trapped Van der Dussen leg before wicket.
The South Africa batsman almost ran out of time to review, but then won a reprieve as the ball was shown to be missing the wickets and the umpire’s decision was overturned.
England captain Joe Root used six bowlers in the first session in a bid to keep the batsmen from embedding themselves, with the wicket not proving as variable as expected.
Root conceded 22 in two overs after bringing himself on, allowing Elgar and Van der Dussen to post a 50-run partnership, but then Elgar (24) fended off a rising ball from Stokes and succeeded only in playing it back to the bowler.
ZIMBABWE V SRI LANKA
AFP, HARARE
Brendan Taylor and Kevin Kasuza yesterday combined to give Zimbabwe a solid start on the first day of the second Test against Sri Lanka in Harare, taking the hosts to 96-2 at lunch.
After winning the toss and choosing to bat, Zimbabwe lost Prince Masvaure and Craig Ervine cheaply, before Taylor joined opener Kasuza in a third-wicket partnership of 47.
Taylor was the dominant partner thrashing 41 from just 35 balls, including six fours and one six over long-off from left-arm spinner Lasith Embuldeniya.
Kasuza, who was “substituted” in the second innings last week after being hit on the head while fielding at short-leg, was more circumspect, batting through the morning to reach 33 not out from 90 balls.
Sri Lanka began the day well with Lahiru Kumara finding the edge of Masvaure’s bat for 9, before Craig Irvine nudged Dhananjaya de Silva to short-leg where Oshada Fernando snapped up a sharp catch.
The Minnesota Timberwolves, with so many promising performances spoiled by late mistakes fresh in their memory bank, sure timed this strong finish well. Jaden McDaniels scored a career playoff-high 30 points and spearheaded Minnesota’s stifling defense on an ailing Luka Doncic, and the Timberwolves beat the Los Angeles Lakers 116-104 to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference first-round series in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Friday night. “Jaden never looks tired. He looks like he could play 48 minutes,” said teammate Anthony Edwards, who had 29 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. Julius Randle added 22 points for the Wolves, who outscored
Inter’s defense of their Italian Serie A title was hit with a setback on Sunday as they lost 1-0 at home to AS Roma, while Scott McTominay netted a brace as SSC Napoli beat Torino 2-0 to go top of the table. No fixtures were played on Friday or Saturday because of the funeral of Pope Francis in Rome, meaning the full round of Serie A matches took place on Sunday and yesterday. Matias Soule’s first-half strike for Roma knocked Inter off top spot earlier in the day before new Napoli opened up a three-point buffer with victory in Sunday’s
FOCUS: ‘We came out here with a goal in mind ... to keep our foot on their throat and on their neck, and continue to play 48 minutes of basketball,’ Donovan Mitchell said The Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday thrashed the Miami Heat to cruise into the next round of the NBA playoffs as the Golden State Warriors battled past the Houston Rockets 109-106 to move to the brink of a series victory. After pounding Miami 124-87 in game three on Saturday, No.1 Eastern Conference seeds Cleveland once again piled on the misery for their outclassed opponents with a crushing 138-83 victory to complete a 4-0 series win. The 55-point drubbing was the largest series-clinching victory in NBA playoff history and sets up a series against either the Indiana Pacers or Milwaukee Bucks in
Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa yesterday set a women’s only world record of 2 hours, 15 minutes, 50 seconds as she won the London Marathon, while Kenya’s Sabastian Sawe put a star-studded men’s field to the sword. For 28-year-old Assefa it was ample compensation for finishing runner-up in London and the Paris Olympics last year — especially as bitter Dutch rival, the Ethiopia-born Sifan Hassan, finished third. Assefa dropped Kenya’s Joyciline Jepkosgei as the race, played out in blazing sunshine and with thousands lining the route, entered its business end. She came home almost three minutes clear of the Kenyan. Hassan, who beat her in