Sports
Hobbs and Hall go No.2 all-time at US Indoor Championships in Albuquerque
Aleia Hobbs and Anna Hall stormed up to second on the respective world all-time lists for their events at the US Indoor Championships in Albuquerque, Hobbs blazing a 6.94 60m and Hall scoring a 5004-point pentathlon as they both set North American indoor records.
Hobbs was already the joint ninth-fastest women’s 60m sprinter in history thanks to the 6.98 PB she ran in Fayetteville at the end of last month. But on Saturday (18) at the Convention Center in Albuquerque the 26-year-old launched herself up to No.2 all time with a performance just 0.02 shy of the 30-year-old world record.
Her 6.94 takes 0.01 off the North American indoor record set by Gail Devers, also in 1993, and saw her win the final by 0.15 ahead of world indoor bronze medallist Marybeth Sant-Price. Hobbs, who finished sixth in the world 100m final in Oregon, also ran 7.02 to win her heat.
This latest performance extends an impressive win streak for Hobbs this season, following her victories at the World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meetings in Boston and New York earlier this month.The men’s 60m final was also held on Saturday and that was won by JT Smith in 6.53 after a 6.55 semifinal victory. Two-time world 200m champion Noah Lyles won his semifinal in 6.56 but decided not to contest the final due to a tight hip flexor.
Freddie Crittenden took the men’s 60m hurdles title ahead of Robert Dunning as both athletes ran PBs of 7.49 and were separated by just four-thousandths of a second. The women’s race was won by Alaysha Johnson in 7.83. Nikki Hiltz kicked to the 1500m title, holding off Sage Hurta-Klecker, 4:17.10 to 4:17.26.
Two-time world pole vault champion Sam Kendricks claimed his fourth US indoor title with a 5.91m clearance, while Olympic and world champion Katie Moon won her third US indoor gold with a best of 4.80m.
World shot put gold medallist Chase Ealey threw 19.87m to win the women’s national title ahead of Maggie Ewen with 19.41m, while Joe Kovacs won his first US indoor shot put title with a 21.55m throw in the men’s event. Jumps titles went to Keturah Orji in the women’s triple jump (14.31m) and Will Williams in the men’s long jump (8.20m PB).
Hall hits pentathlon heights
For Hall, her North American indoor record-breaking performance came on Thursday (16), and she returned to the track on Saturday to also take the 400m title in a PB of 51.03 after a 53.66 heat win on Friday.With her 5004 points in the pentathlon, Hall achieved the second-best women’s pentathlon score in history, just nine points shy of the world indoor record.
The 21-year-old, who claimed world heptathlon bronze in Oregon last year, opened her pentathlon campaign with a PB of 8.04 in the 60m hurdles and went on to record outright lifetime bests of 1.91m in the high jump and 13.80m in the shot put, before an indoor PB of 6.34m in the long jump.
She rounded out her series with a 2:05.70 800m, becoming the third athlete in history to achieve 5000 points or more.
The performance puts her second on the world all-time list behind world record-holder Nataliya Dobrynska of Ukraine, who recorded 5013 points in 2012, and ahead of Britain’s Katarina Johnson-Thompson, who scored 5000 points in 2015.
Hall’s previous pentathlon best had been the 4618-point performance she achieved at the SEC Indoor Championships last year, and she improved the previous area record held by Canada’s Brianne Theisen-Eaton since 2016 by 123 points.
Finishing second to Hall in Albuquerque was Hope Bender on 4445 points.Also on Thursday, the men’s 3000m race walk was won by Nick Christie in 11:56.67, while Miranda Melville claimed the women’s title in 13:37.69.
Price gets world indoor weight throw best
More history was made on Friday (17) when DeAnna Price broke the world indoor weight throw best, becoming the first woman to ever surpass 26 metres in the event and adding 42cm to the previous world best.
First recording 25.77m in the third round, she then improved to 26.02m in the fifth round to twice improve the world indoor weight throw best of 25.60m that had been set by Gwen Berry in 2017 and then equalled by Janeah Stewart last month.Two world hammer gold medallists led the competition, 2019 champion Price winning ahead of 2022 world title winner Brooke Andersen with a 24.97m throw. Daniel Haugh won the men’s contest with 25.44m.
Friday’s action also saw Tara Davis Woodhall soar to success in the women’s long jump as she leapt a world lead of 6.99m to add 6cm to her previous indoor best and win by 36cm. That jump came in the fifth round and the 23-year-old also recorded 6.94m in the second round.
Vashti Cunningham, the 2016 world indoor champion, matched her indoor PB with a 2.00m clearance to win the women’s high jump, while Donald Scott took the men’s triple jump title with a best of 16.96m.
Valerie Constien won an exciting battle with Whittni Morgan in the women’s 3000m, Constien kicking past to win in 8:48.29 to Morgan’s 8:48.42. Sam Prakel judged his race to perfection to win the men’s 3000m, surging to victory in 8:12.46 ahead of Eduardo Herrera with 8:13.11.Steven Bastien claimed the heptathlon title with 6012 points after a series that included a 7.55m long jump, 2.06m high jump and 4.95m pole vault. Will Daniels finished second with 5946 points.
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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