分类： sports

BRISTOL, England — The ICC Women’s Twenty20 World Cup is gearing up for one of its most anticipated group stage matches after the West Indies secured a hard-fought five-wicket victory over Sri Lanka on Sunday. The win keeps the Caribbean side’s perfect record intact, setting up a high-stakes showdown with fellow unbeaten team England at Lord’s this coming Wednesday.

The game got off to a dominant start for West Indies after captain Hayley Matthews won the pre-match toss and opted to bowl first on a turn-friendly pitch ideal for spin bowlers. Matthews made the decision pay off almost immediately, claiming the wickets of both Sri Lankan openers and top-order batter Harshitha Samarawickrama in just her opening two overs. By the end of the mandatory powerplay, Sri Lanka was in deep trouble at 23 runs for the loss of four wickets, with Matthews finishing her spell with impressive figures of 3 wickets for just 15 runs. In total, six different West Indies bowlers registered wickets throughout the innings, showcasing the depth of the side’s bowling attack.

Nilakshika Silva put up a valiant resistance for Sri Lanka, top-scoring for her team with 30 runs. But once Silva departed, the Sri Lankan lower order collapsed: the team went six consecutive overs without hitting a single boundary, and added three more wickets to the scoreboard via two run outs and a stumping. Sri Lanka was eventually bowled out all out for just 98 runs, a total that quickly looked under par even early in the West Indies chase.

Despite the solid start with the ball, West Indies made the chase far harder than necessary, stumbling through the middle overs to put their undefeated record at risk. In the very first over of West Indies’ innings, a misfield let batter Deandra Dottin survive when she should have been run out. Captain Matthews was eventually run out for 17, and Dottin followed shortly after for 12, leaving the Caribbean side at 36 runs for 2 wickets at the end of the powerplay. By the 12th over, West Indies had slipped further to 70 runs for 5 wickets, leaving the door open for a major Sri Lankan upset.

That upset never materialized, thanks to a steady, match-winning innings from experienced all-rounder Stafanie Taylor. Taylor remained unbeaten on 27 runs to guide the West Indies across the finish line in the 17th over, with the winning run coming after Sri Lanka spilled a catch at midwicket.

Sri Lanka’s unforced errors ultimately cost the side any chance of an upset. Costly mistakes including wayward bowling that delivered 23 extra runs, multiple dropped catches, sloppy wicket-keeping and inaccurate in-field relays, left the team with far too many concessions. The 23 extras ended up as the second-highest individual score on the West Indies team scorecard, a statistic that underscores just how much Sri Lanka’s errors undermined their own performance.

With the win, both West Indies and England advance to Wednesday’s clash at the iconic Lord’s Cricket Ground holding a perfect 3-win, 0-loss record in group play. In the final match of Sunday’s World Cup slate, South Africa and India faced off in a late game at Manchester, with the result still pending as of this update.

Reporting by the Associated Press.

In a dominant display of aggressive batting at the Chattogram venue on Sunday, Australia delivered a resounding seven-wicket victory over Bangladesh in the third and final T20 international, capping off a flawless 3-0 clean sweep of the bilateral series. Australia’s chase of a modest 110-run target was wrapped up in just 11 overs, powered by a devastating, quick-fire knock from captain Mitchell Marsh, who notched an unbeaten 60 off only 28 deliveries to set the tone for the win.

Marsh’s innings was a masterclass in controlled aggression: the all-rounder smashed seven boundaries and four towering sixes, putting the Bangladeshi bowling attack under relentless pressure from the early overs. He and wicket-keeper batter Josh Inglis built a solid foundation for the chase, putting on a 54-run partnership during the mandatory opening powerplay before left-arm spinner Nasum Ahmed broke the stand, removing Inglis for 17.

By the 23rd ball of his innings, Marsh had already notched his 14th career T20 half-century, sealing the milestone with a slog sweep for six off Bangladesh leg-spinner Rishad Hossain. It looked as though he would see Australia across the finish line, but a late breakthrough from Bangladeshi paceman Shoriful Islam – one of three team changes Bangladesh made in a last-ditch effort to avoid a series sweep – ended his innings, with Shamim Hossain holding the catch when Australia was still 22 runs short of victory.

The match did not last long after Marsh’s departure, however. Batter Tim David sealed the win in dramatic fashion, hitting two consecutive sixes off Hossain to push Australia to a final score of 112 for three. David remained unbeaten on 12 at the close, while Matt Renshaw, who hit a match-winning 89 not out in the second T20, finished unbeaten on six.

Earlier in the day, Bangladesh captain Towhid Hridoy put on a lone standout performance with the bat after his side won the toss and elected to bat first. Hridoy carried his team to a total of 109 for eight from the full 20 overs, scoring an unbeaten 61 off 51 deliveries that included three fours and three sixes. Hossain was the only other Bangladeshi batter to reach double digits, finishing with 16 runs.

Australia’s bowling attack was in formidable form, with fast bowlers Spencer Johnson and Nathan Ellis, and leg-spinner Adam Zampa each taking two wickets to restrict Bangladesh’s scoring. Notably, the series sweep comes after Bangladesh claimed a 2-1 victory over Australia in the preceding three-match one-day international series, making Australia’s clean sweep in the T20 leg all the more impressive. The first T20 of the series was won by Australia by four wickets, while the second ended in a seven-run win for the side.

On the fifth and final day of the second Test between New Zealand and England at London’s iconic Oval ground, fast bowler Matt Henry produced a career-defining performance to deliver a crushing 253-run victory for the Black Caps, pushing the three-match series to a decisive decider in Nottingham kicking off this Thursday.

England resumed play on Sunday morning at 182 for five wickets, chasing an improbable 463 runs to secure victory. What followed was a relentless masterclass in fast bowling from Henry, who ripped through the hosts’ lower order to claim the final five wickets in just 31 balls, a stretch that yielded only three runs. By the end of the innings, Henry finished with sensational figures of six wickets for 29 runs, combining this with his first-innings five wickets for 80 runs to end the match with 11 wickets for just 109 runs.

This extraordinary haul marks the best match bowling figures ever recorded by a New Zealand seamer against England, and also marks Henry’s first 10-wicket match haul across his 35-Test career. He is also the first bowler to claim 10 wickets in an Oval Test since legendary Australian spinner Shane Warne during the 2005 Ashes series, and the first fast bowler to hit the milestone since Devon Malcolm’s 1994 performance against South Africa.

Henry’s late-match spell included two consecutive double-wicket maidens that removed England star Joe Root, Jofra Archer, Matthew Fisher and Josh Tongue. The seamer even came within one delivery of a hat trick, only for Jordan Cox to successfully defend the final ball. Root, who carried England’s last faint hope of a comeback overnight on 75, added just two more runs before he was trapped lbw between bat and pad, ending his innings at 77 off 145 balls. His review of the decision was rejected, and England’s chances of a win departed with him.

Archer fell to an unplayable delivery that skidded under his bat, ending his innings on a two-ball duck, while Fisher chopped onto his own leg stump and Tongue edged a catch to first slip—both batters gone without scoring. Henry celebrated his milestone five-wicket innings haul and 10-wicket match haul with a quiet roar before he was mobbed by his celebrating teammates. Cox, who resumed on zero, managed a quick 25 runs before he was bowled attempting a sweep, bringing the match to a close just 48 minutes after play began on the final day. Tailender Sonny Baker failed to score.

This win marks only New Zealand’s seventh Test victory in England across 95 years of touring, and just their second at the Oval, with the last coming back in 1999. It follows a dominant England victory at Lord’s in the first Test of the series, setting up an all-or-nothing decider in Nottingham.

For Henry, the historic performance marked a personal redemption arc. The senior seamer suffered back spasms on the first morning of the Lord’s Test, leaving him sidelined and unable to contribute meaningfully to the team’s effort. A 10-day break between matches allowed him to make a full recovery heading into the second Test.

“It feels bad when you let the guys down on day one at Lord’s,” Henry told reporters after receiving the Player of the Match award. “It was great to come here and get my quota out. I didn’t expect it to unfold like that today but probably saved a hot day in the field.”

Henry credited his wicketkeeper Tom Blundell for a key tactical contribution that unsettled England’s batters, noting Blundell’s decision to stand up to the stumps while he bowled kept batters guessing at the crease. “Having a world-class operator like Tom is huge,” he said. “He’s always up for it. You can’t do it unless you’ve got someone good behind the stumps. We know England like to create a flow of runs.”

Beyond Henry’s magical bowling performance, the Black Caps’ win was built on strong contributions across the side, Henry noted. Kyle Jamieson claimed four wickets in the match after a standout bowling spell on Saturday evening, while Glenn Phillips hit his maiden Test century in New Zealand’s first innings to put the Black Caps in a commanding position. Henry Nicholls added a second century in the second innings, combining with Rachin Ravindra for a massive partnership that effectively batted England out of the contest before the final day.

“Little moments in the first innings set the platform for the ball to get soft and Glenn to do his thing,” Henry said. “Top order did a job for us. The way the guys applied themselves with the ball, we talked about being relentless and different from each end. We stuck at it and got the rewards.”

In a dominant Group F World Cup clash held in Monterrey, Mexico, Japan delivered a spectacular 4-0 victory over Tunisia on Wednesday, moving the Asian side within touching distance of a fourth consecutive knockout stage appearance and marking the biggest ever winning margin for the Samurai Blue in World Cup history.

Japan’s clinical attacking display leaves them level on four points with group leaders Netherlands after two matches, with the Dutch holding the top spot only on the tiebreaker of one additional total goal. For Tunisia, the defeat brings an early end to their World Cup campaign, making them the first team eliminated from this year’s tournament after a second underwhelming performance.

The writing was on the wall for Tunisia from the opening minutes of the tie. Crystal Palace midfielder Daichi Kamada opened the scoring in just the fourth minute, slotting home a simple tap-in from Keito Nakamura’s perfectly placed cross. This strike stands as the fastest goal Japan has ever scored in World Cup competition, and marked Kamada’s second of the tournament.

The 2-0 lead came in the 31st minute, when Feyenoord striker Ayase Ueda cut through Tunisia’s defense from the halfway line. What looked like a lost chance after Ueda chose to hold possession rather than pass to onrushing teammates turned into a moment of magic: the 27-year-old, who finished the 2023-24 Eredivisie season as top scorer with 24 goals, unleashed a well-placed angled strike from outside the box that nestled into the left corner of Tunisia’s net.

Japan extended their advantage in the 69th minute, when a clever flicked pass from Ueda put winger Junya Itō through on a one-on-one with Tunisia goalkeeper Aymen Dahmen. Itō kept his cool under pressure, slotting the ball past the keeper to put the Samurai Blue up 3-0.

Ueda capped off the dominant performance with his second of the night in the 83rd minute, a looping header that sailed over Dahmen and into the back of the net, closing out the 4-0 win. The four-goal haul is the highest number of goals Japan has ever put past an opponent in a single World Cup match.

The result leaves Japan guaranteed at worst a third-place finish in Group F, a position that can still be enough to advance to the knockout stage as one of the best third-placed teams across all groups. For Tunisia, the elimination comes just one match after the North African side made a major coaching change, hiring two-time Africa Cup of Nations-winning manager Hervé Renard following a humiliating 5-1 opening defeat to Sweden. Renard’s arrival failed to turn Tunisia’s fortunes around, however, as the side could not contain Japan’s pacey attacking unit and failed to register a single clear goalscoring chance throughout the 90 minutes.

Japan, who have not lost a 90-minute match to a European opponent since 2019, will face off against Sweden in Dallas on Thursday in their final group stage match. Tunisia will wrap up their tournament the same day, taking on the Netherlands in Kansas City.