Australia yesterday held their collective nerve to clinch a blockbuster five-Test series against India 3-1 to take custody of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy for the first time in a decade.
In keeping with a pulsating series where momentum swung back and forth by the session, the fifth test remained on a knife edge until the final hour when Australia eased to a six-wicket triumph.
Perhaps helped by Jasprit Bumrah’s inability to bowl because of a back injury, Travis Head and debutant Beau Webster guided Australia to their victory target of 162 runs with an unbroken fifth-wicket stand of 58.
Photo: AP
The win in front of a packed house at a Sydney Cricket Ground bathed in pink for Glenn McGrath’s cancer charity also ensured Australia would defend their World Test Championship title against South Africa at Lord’s in June.
“It felt like it was kind of seesawing throughout the whole series so to finish it 3-1, to hold the trophy, is an amazing feeling,” Australia skipper Pat Cummins said. “I’m immensely proud, I absolutely love playing with these guys and it’s been a lot of fun along the way as well.”
The match had been played on fast forward over the first two days with 15 wickets falling on Saturday, and Australia removed four more in the first hour yesterday to dismiss India for 157.
“It was a little frustrating, but sometimes you have to respect your body,” said Bumrah, who took 32 wickets over the five matches before the back spasms struck on Saturday. “It was a great series. The whole series was well fought and we were still in the match today. Our young players will take a lot of learnings for the future.”
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
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
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
RSS