Sports
Historic feats as Thompson-Herah wins third gold of the Games
Bahamian Shaunae Miller-Uibo defended her 400 metres title, US legend Allyson Felix became the most decorated track and field athlete in history, Joshua Cheptegei bagged a first 5000m gold for Uganda, and Elaine Thompson-Herah won her third gold of the games to grab headlines in another exciting day in track and field at Tokyo Olympics on Friday.
While Faith Kipyegon defended the women’s 1,500 metres title Jamaica and Italy grabbed the 4×100 metres relay golds.
Shaunae Miller-Uibo wins women’s 400m title
Shaunae Miller-Uibo who is well remembered for her dive at the line to win gold at the Rio Olympics needed no such attempts to win her second consecutive 400m Olympic gold.
In Rio, Miller-Uibo dove at the line to edge U.S. legend Allyson Felix by 0.07 to claim her maiden title. In Tokyo she beat the legend by a comfortable margin yesterday.
Again lining up against Felix, Miller-Uibo removed any doubt about the winner coming out of the bend with a commanding lead which she held to win in a new personal best of 48.36 seconds. Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic claimed the silver medal with a time of 49.20.
Racing on Miller-Uibo’s outside, the 35-year-old Felix produced a run that belied her years as she finished in third-place to win a record 10th medal becoming the most decorated female Olympian in track and field.
Faith Kipyegon defends women’s 1,500m title
Faith Kipyegon defended her Olympic title in the 1500m. In doing so the mother-of-one registered a new Olympic record of 3:53.11. Great Britain’s Laura Muir won her first major international outdoor medal, passing the Dutch athlete, Sifan Hassan on the final lap, crossing the finish line in a British record time of 3:54.50.
Hassan, who changed tactics to take out the race at a fast pace right from the start, was aiming to claim the top step as part of her distance golden treble attempt. She has already won the 5,000m gold and aim the 10,000 metres gold today, so is still on course for a distance medal treble.
Cheptegei bags 5,000m gold
World record holder Joshua Cheptegei took the gold in the gruelling men’s 5000m final, finishing ahead of Mohammed Ahmed of Canada, who took the silver, and Paul Chelimo of the United States who scooped the bronze.
Cheptegei, with a time of 12 minutes, 58.15, became the first Ugandan to win the event as he bagged the Olympic gold that has eluded him for so long.
Jacob Kiplimo of Uganda was in front of the pack early, but his countryman Cheptegei took over the front spot midway through the race and didn’t let go of it until a six-man pack pushed ahead of the rest to set-up the final push. Cheptegei sealed the gold with a ferocious charge over the last section, with Ahmed nipping second.
The American Chelimo, with his second medal in as many Games, nearly fell at the line to secure bronze in front of Kipkorir Kimeli of Kenya.
Liu Shiying first Asian to win javelin gold
China’s Liu Shiying became the first athlete from an Asian country to win an Olympic gold medal in the women’s javelin.
The 27-year-old produced the standout performance of the event with her first round throw of 66.34m at the Olympic Stadium. It was a season’s best for the 2019 World Championships silver medallist.
Her nearest rival to claim silver was Poland’s Maria Andrejczyk, 25, who threw 64.61m, which was seven metres short of her mammoth 71.40m throw in Croatia earlier this year. In bronze was reigning world champion, Australia’s Kelsey-Lee Barber, 29, who also threw a season’s best of 64.56m.
The upset of the discipline was two-time Olympic champion, Czech Republic’s Barbara Spotakova, failing to progress to the final. On her disappointment, she said: “It was just not my day. I could not do anything with that. It’s very hard if you don’t feel it, if you don’t feel the click which throws the javelin.”
Jamaica reign women’s 4x100m relay
With the Tokyo 100 metres gold, silver and bronze medalists lining up in the same team that Jamaica would win the gold in the 4×100 metres was a foregone conclusion. Briana Williams, Elaine Thompson-Herah, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Shericka Jackson clocked a Jamaican national record time of 41.02 seconds to win their first Olympic women’s 4x100m title in 17 years. The USA came away with silver in 41.45 and Great Britain took bronze in 41.88. Thompson-Herah will leave this Olympics with three gold medals around her neck after having won the 100 and 200 metres individual golds earlier.
Italy wins first 4x100m relay title
The Italian 4x100m relay quartet of Olympic 100m champion Marcell Jacobs, Lorenzo Patta, Eseosa Desalu and Filippo Tortu raced to win their first gold in the event since London 1948.
Lead-off runner Patta handed the baton to Jacobs, who produced a storming run down the back end, with Tortu on the anchor leg crossed the line in a new Italian record of 37.50 seconds. Great Britain, pipped at the line by 0.01s, claimed the silver medal, with Canada bagging bronze, clocking 37.70.
Jacobs will bow out of the Games as a double Olympic gold medallist in the sprint events while Canadian sensation Andre de Grasse won his third medal at Tokyo 2020. De Grasse opened his campaign at the Games with a bronze medal in the 100m final before being crowned Olympic 200m champion.
Great Britain had one hand on their first gold medal in the event since Athens 2004, with Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake gaining a slight lead in the home straight.
But Tortu, on his outside, would not be denied as he produced a blistering anchor for Italy inching ahead to out dip Mitchell-Blake.
The first truly heavyweight clash of this expanded T20 World Cup format comes freighted with both history and subplots. A rematch of the 2010 World T20 final at Kensington Oval, the match pits Jos Buttler’s defending champions – who are aiming to become the first team to retain the trophy – against the Australian winning machine, victors at the 2021 edition and current world title-holders in Test and ODI cricket. And that’s before you throw in the Ashes for afters.
Already there is added pressure on England, after the rain in Bridgetown led to a share of the points in their opener against Scotland (and that having conceded 90 runs from 10 overs without taking a wicket in a tepid bowling display). Lose to their oldest rivals and it will leave their Super 8 prospects open to being waylaid by the perils of net run-rate calculations, or worse.
The Scotland match was the third abandonment in five suffered by England, after a rain-affected home series against Pakistan, which has clearly hampered their readiness for this campaign after almost six months without playing T20 together. It does not take much for a side to click in this format – and England looked in decent shape when they did get on the field against Pakistan – but Buttler will be anxious for things to go their way on Saturday, if only to avoid further questions referencing the team’s disastrous ODI World Cup defence last year.
Australia, under the laidback leadership of Mitchell Marsh would love nothing more than to add to the English sense of jeopardy – having helped bundle them out of the tournament in India on the way to taking the crown. Their head to head record is less impressive in T20 however, with England having won six of the last seven completed encounters, as well as that 2010 final.
Despite a wobble with the bat, Australia avoided mishap against Oman earlier in the week, the experience of David Warner and Marcus Stoinis shining through in difficult batting conditions. Surfaces in the Caribbean – not to mention those games staged in the USA – have already had teams scratching their heads; rather than the “slug-fest” England had prepared for, following a high-scoring tour of the Caribbean in December, it looks as if boxing smart may be the way to go.
Speaking of Warner, this could be the last time he faces up against England in national colours – and another match-winning contribution would likely reduce the chances of them meeting again in the knockouts. On the other side of the card is Jofra Archer, fresh from an emotional maiden outing at Kensington Oval and ready to take on Australia for the first time in any format since 2020. Can Mark Wood fire up England’s campaign, as he did during last summer’s Ashes? Will Pat Cummins be back to harass the old enemy once again? Seconds out, it’s almost time to rumble.
Cummins is set to return after being rested for the Oman game, which saw Mitchell Starc leave the field with cramp. Starc is understood to be fine and could keep his place – which would likely see Nathan Ellis miss out. Marsh is still not fit to bowl, with Australia likely to continue with the allrounder combination of Stoinis and Maxwell to give them cover.
Australia (probable XI): David Warner, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh (capt), Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Josh Inglis (wk), Tim David, Pat Cummins, Nathan Ellis/Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood
The one change England may consider is Reece Topley coming in for Wood, with the expectation that there will be some rotation among the seamers through the course of the tournament.
England (probable XI): Phil Salt, Jos Buttler (capt & wk), Will Jacks, Jonny Bairstow, Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, Chris Jordan, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Reece Topley/Mark Wood
[Cricinfo]
Once is coincidence, twice is a clue, and three times is proof.
To paraphrase Agatha Christie, that is the narrative around South Africa’s meeting with Netherlands at this T20 World Cup.
The Dutch beat South Africa at the 2022 tournament and ended their semi-final hopes in a match where South Africa appeared to be sleep walking, and then beat them again at the 2023 ODI World Cup, where they exposed South Africa’s vulnerability in the chase. If they to do the treble, not only will Netherlands take the lead in Group D, but they will offer conclusive evidence of the threat they pose to Full Members, especially South Africa.
Of course, it will take some doing after South Africa’s opening performance against Sri Lanka, where they reduced their opposition to their lowest T20I total and chased it down in fairly straightforward fashion thanks to the most stable middle-order of their white-ball era. In Aiden Markram, Tristan Stubbs, Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller, South Africa have bankers and big-hitters and, for this match, they also have the advantage of experience. They’ve already played at Eisenhower Park, and have first-hand knowledge that run-scoring doesn’t come easily;Klassen said they are prepared to use their “cricket brains” and play “smarter cricket”.
But the conditions could be good news for Netherlands, who are not naturally a line-up of big hitters and build their innings on a foundation of turning ones into twos. In other words, they tend to take a slightly more conservative approach to batting, which may work well here, but they’ll be wary of the uneven bounce of the surface and will have to come up with plans to counterattack especially against South Africa’s seamers. Their own bowlers were exemplary in Dallas and will look to build on that performance against a line-up that will likely be more proactive than Nepal’s, but who they have managed to keep quiet not once, but twice in the past. Third time’s the charm, they say.
Anrich Nortje’s stunning return to form against Sri Lanka means South Africa may not have to tinker with the bowling combination, and Gerald Coetzee and Tabraiz Shamsi may have to wait their turns to get a game. The batting line-up should be unchanged, with no space for Ryan Rickelton yet.
South Africa: Quinton de Kock (wk), Reeza Hendricks, Aiden Markam, Tristan Stubbs, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), David Miller, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Ottneil Baartman, Anrich Nortje
Conditions in New York may tempt Netherlands to include an extra seamer and they have Kyle Klein in their squad. But it could come at the expense of a shortened batting line-up and they may not want to risk that.
Netherlands: Michael Levitt, Max O’Dowd, Vikramjit Singh, Sybrand Engelbrecht, Scott Edwards (capt, wk), Bas de Leede, Teja Nidamanuru, Logan van Beek, Tim Pringle, Paul van Meekeren, Vivian Kingma
[Cricinfo]
Nuwan Thushara’s last over brought Sri Lanka screaming back into the match,as he first bowled Rishad Hossain, and then nailed Taskin Ahmed in front of the stumps with a pinpoint swinging yorker. This left Bangladesh eight wickets down, with 12 runs still to get.
However, the experienced Mahmudullah was at the crease for Bangladesh, and despite some further nervy moments, pushed Bangladesh across the line off the last ball of the 19th over.
But this was a match chiefly decided by Bangladesh’s own outstanding bowling. Mustafizur Rahman was the best among them, using shorter lengths and his cutters efficiently, to claim figures of 3 for 17. Rishad Hossain’s three-for through the middle overs also kept Sri Lanka quiet.
Mustafizur was instrumental in Sri Lanka’s downward spiral through the middle overs, which culminated in a crash-and-burn end. Ultimately, their inability to find boundaries, or even rotate strike against good Bangladesh bowling resulted in their downfall. A score of 125 for 9 always seemed poor on a decent pitch, even if their bowlers made a match of it in the end.
Brief scores:
Bangladesh 125 for 8 in 19 overs (Towhid Hridoy 40, Litton Das 36; Dhanajaya de Silva 1-11, Nuwan Thushara 4-18, Wanidu Hasaranga 2-32, Matheesha Pathirana 1-27) beat Sri Lanka124 for 9 in 20 overs (Pathum Nissanka 47, Dhananjaya de Silva 21; Tanzim Hasan Sakib 1-24, Taskin Ahmed 2-25, Mustafizur Rahman 3-17, Rishad Hossain 3-22) by two wickets
[Cricinfo]
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