Sports
Season steps up a gear as athletes head to Gaborone
As the outdoor season ramps up, some of the sport’s leading stars will be looking to make a statement when they compete at the Botswana Golden Grand Prix, this year’s second World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meeting, in Gaborone on Saturday (29).
Local talent Letsile Tebogo takes on the 100m and 200m against global medallists such as Andre De Grasse, Marvin Bracy and Kenny Bednarek, while Sha’Carri Richardson tests herself over 200m.Ese Brume and Lorraine Ugen renew their rivalry in the long jump, and Kirani James opens his season in the 400m.
Gaborone hosts the first World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meeting in southern Africa and Botswana’s world U20 100m record-holder Tebogo will hope for a strong performance on home soil.
First up is the 100m, where the 19-year-old – who clocked 9.91 to retain his world U20 title in Cali last year – will race against USA’s world silver medallist Bracy and Kenya’s African record-holder Ferdinand Omanyala, plus USA’s Olympic and world 200m medallist Bednarek.
Tebogo opened his 200m season with a 20.00 run in Florida earlier this month and could get closer to the 19.96 PB he ran when he was narrowly pipped to the world U20 200m title in Cali. Among some strong opposition is Canada’s Olympic champion De Grasse, racing his first 200m of the year, plus the world fourth- and fifth-place finishers: Liberia’s Joseph Fahnbulleh and Dominican Republic’s Alexander Ogando.
The women’s 100m features USA’s 4x100m champion Twanisha Terry, who ran her PB of 10.82 last year and opened this season with a wind-assisted 10.83 in Florida, as she goes against Olympic relay medallists Teahna Daniels and Javianne Oliver, plus South African record-holder Carina Horn.
USA’s Richardson races her first 200m of the season after storming to a wind-assisted 10.57 100m earlier this month. She lines up alongside The Gambia’s African 100m champion Gina Bass and USA’s Dezerea Bryant, Kiara Parker and Kayla White.
Kenya’s world 800m bronze medallist Mary Moraa, who also claimed Commonwealth and Diamond League crowns in 2022, drops down to race the 400m against Jamaica’s Olympic and world finalist Candice McLeod, Belgium’s Cynthia Bolingo and USA’s Kyra Jefferson, plus Botswana’s Naledi Lopang and Thompang Basele. In the men’s 400m, Grenada’s 2012 Olympic champion James races for the first time this year and takes on Botswana’s Olympic finalist Isaac Makwala and South Africa’s world U20 champion Lythe Pillay.
USA’s world 400m hurdles bronze medallist Trevor Bassitt, who has run a 45.25 PB for the 400m flat this month, contests his speciality against Ireland’s Thomas Barr and African champion Sokwakhana Zazini of South Africa.
Nigeria’s Brume and Great Britain’s Ugen claimed long jump silver and bronze, respectively, at last year’s World Indoor Championships in Belgrade. They clashed again in the world final in Oregon – where Brume secured silver – and in the Commonwealth Games final in Birmingham – won by Brume – and now they meet again.
In the men’s event, USA’s 2016 world indoor champion Marquis Dendy takes on his compatriot Jarrion Lawson, the 2017 world silver medallist, plus Commonwealth Games champion LaQuan Nairn of the Bahamas, South Africa’s Ruswahl Samaai and Cheswill Johnson, and Botswana’s Thapelo Monaiwa, who has jumped a PB of 8.12m this season.
The men’s shot put pits Italy’s Zane Weir and Leonardo Fabbri against South Africa’s Kyle Blignaut, while the women’s contest features USA’s NCAA champion Adelaide Aquilla, Felisha Johnson and Rachel Fatherly.
Global medallists will clash in the men’s 800m as Kenya’s Olympic silver medallist Ferguson Rotich races his compatriot Abel Kipsang, who claimed world indoor 1500m bronze last year, plus USA’s 2016 Olympic bronze medallist Clayton Murphy. Ethiopia’s Olympic finalist Habitam Alemu opens her season in an 800m race that features South Africa’s African bronze medallist Prudence Sekgodiso.
(World Athletics)
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]
US sports envoys to Lanka to champion youth development
Rahuman questions sudden cancellation of leave of CEB employees
