CRICKET
Cummins sets Australia up
Skipper Pat Cummins yesterday bowled Australia into contention to pull off a remarkable victory with a fiery spell against South Africa in the Test in Sydney. Cummins captured 3-29 in a hostile 14 overs to set up Australia for a final-day charge for victory and a series clean sweep against the hapless Proteas. At the close on day 4, South Africa were batting for survival at 149-6 in reply to Australia’s 475-4 declared with Marco Jansen on 10 and Simon Harmer 6. After rain again prevented play in the morning session, Cummins declared his team’s first innings after lunch to chase victory, depriving opener Usman Khawaja (195 not out) of a first Test double century.
CRICKET
Azam dejected by results
Pakistan captain Babar Azam was dejected by his team’s winless home season, but refused to blame players’ injuries or unresponsive pitches for their lean run. Pakistan twice returned from the brink of defeat to force a 0-0 stalemate in the two-Test series against New Zealand, which followed a 3-0 whitewash at the hands of England last month. They have now gone eight Tests at home without a win. Babar said this was not how he expected the season to unfold. “The Test season hasn’t gone according to expectations,” Babar told a news conference after Pakistan narrowly avoided a third successive home series defeat. “It’s not an excuse, but some of our players were unfit which disturbed our combination.” Their bowling unit particularly suffered. Pace spearhead Shaheen Afridi remains sidelined with a knee injury, while fellow quick Haris Rauf and Naseem Shah missed the bulk of the series against England with niggles. The pitches used for the series against England and New Zealand also drew flak for being too batter-friendly and Babar said it did not help their cause either. “Of course there’s talk about the pitches, but conditions are different at every venue. We give our input on pitches, but you get the pitches you get, and after that you have to execute your plans. You can’t just complain about losing a match because of pitches.”
BASEBALL
Brewers report burglary
A man passed out in the bushes outside the Milwaukee Brewers’ stadium after a game and, upon awakening, entered the team’s clubhouse and stole electronics, a credit card, team memorabilia and other items, a criminal complaint said. The 25-year-old man was charged on Dec. 14 with felony burglary, online court records show. The complaint says the man attended a Sept. 8 doubleheader against the San Francisco Giants at Milwaukee’s American Family Field, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. He said he drank at least 10 beers, passed out, woke up and got back inside the stadium by pulling on a door until it opened. He found his way to the clubhouse and started taking stuff from a locker room, the complaint said. The man ordered an Uber to take him home. His roommate told detectives that the man showed up early on Sept. 9 with a duffel bag stuffed with Brewers memorabilia, the complaint said. Investigators recovered most of the items from the man’s apartment.
Freddie Freeman homered and drove in four runs, Shohei Ohtani also went deep and Roki Sasaki earned his first major league win as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Atlanta Braves 10-3 on Saturday night for their seventh straight victory. The Dodgers have won the first two games of the series to improve to 5-0 against Atlanta this year. Los Angeles’ three-game sweep at home early in the season left the Braves 0-7. Sasaki allowed three runs and six hits over five innings. The 23-year-old right-hander gave up a home run to Ozzie Albies, but received plenty of offensive support in his
INTER AWAIT: Superb saves by PSG ’keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma inspired the victory, as Arsenal were punished for misses, including one by Bukayo Saka Arsenal on Wednesday fell short on the big stage again as their painful UEFA Champions League semi-final exit against Paris Saint-Germain left Mikel Arteta to rue his club’s failure to provide him with enough attacking options. Arteta’s side were unable to reach the Champions League final for the first time in 19 years as PSG clinched a tense 2-1 win at Parc des Princes. Trailing 1-0 from last week’s first leg in London, the Gunners made a blistering start to the second leg, but could not convert their chances as Gianluigi Donnarumma’s superb saves inspired PSG’s 3-1 aggregate victory. Arsenal were punished for
Bayern Munich on Sunday were crowned German champions for the 34th time, giving striker Harry Kane his first major trophy, after second-placed Bayer 04 Leverkusen drew 2-2 at SC Freiburg. Bayern’s 3-3 draw at RB Leipzig on Saturday, when the Bavarians came from two goals down to take the lead before conceding a stoppage-time equalizer, meant defending Bundesliga champions Leverkusen needed to win at Freiburg to delay the title party. Leverkusen were two goals down before scoring twice in the final 10 minutes, but Xabi Alonso’s side could not find a third, as Bayern reclaimed the title at the first attempt after
THRILLER: Raphinha gave Barca a 3-2 lead with two minutes remaining of regular time, but Francesco Acerbi equalized the game in the second minute of added time Davide Frattesi on Tuesday fired Inter into the UEFA Champions League final with an extra-time winner that gave the Italians a stunning 4-3 triumph over Barcelona, 7-6 on aggregate. Italy midfielder Frattesi won a tie for the ages under a downpour in Milan when he lashed home in the 99th minute, sending a packed and rocking San Siro wild with joy. Simone Inzaghi’s team will face either Arsenal or Paris Saint-Germain at the end of this month in Munich, Germany, where they would feel they have a great chance to be crowned kings of Europe for a fourth time after
RSS