MONDAY, AUGUST 1, 2016 SPORTS Ashwin torments WI with five- haul

KINGSTON: Indian spinner Ravichandran 38-run last-wicket stand with Shannon Ashwin tormented the West Indies yet Gabriel before leg-spinner Amit Mishra again to claim a second consecutive five- ended the innings to put the seal on anoth- wicket innings haul and dismiss the home er efficient effort in the field by the visitors. side for 196 on the opening day of the sec- India were in control virtually from the ond Test at Sabina Park in Jamaica on start of the match after Holder’s decision to Saturday. bat first on winning the toss as the West Lokesh Rahul then made the most of his Indies slid to seven for three within 25 min- inclusion in the final 11 in place of the utes of play. Ishant Sharma removed Kraigg injured Murali Vijay, reaching an unbeaten Brathwaite and Darren Bravo off successive 75 as India closed the first day at 126 for deliveries in just his second over. one in reply. With a reputation of susceptibility to the Ashwin followed up his haul of seven for short ball early in his innings clearly on the 83 in the final innings of the first Test a fast bowler’s mind, Brathwaite failed to week earlier with five for 52 on a pitch negotiate a lifting in Sharma’s sec- offering turn and bounce from the very first ond over and Cheteshwar Pujara held the session of play. simple catch at short-leg. He became just the third Indian bowler Bravo’s weakness outside the off-stump to have five-wicket innings hauls in three was then immediately capitalised upon, consecutive Test matches after fellow spin- the left-hander failing to cover a full-length ners Bhagwat Chandrasekhar and current delivery properly for a delighted Indian coach Anil Kumble. to take the catch at sec- Having ended the only substantial ond slip. resistance from the home side when he dis- Rajendra Chandrika, the other opener, missed Jermaine Blackwood for a run-a-ball then gave catching practice to Rahul in the 62 in the last over before the lunch interval, slips as he guided a lifting delivery from Ashwin added swiftly to his tally in the Mohammed Shami unerringly into the afternoon session, accounting for Marlon hands of the fielder. Samuels for 37 to a sharp catch at short-leg In stark contrast to the West Indian by Rahul and following up with the experience at the start of the match, the of Shane Dowrich, Devendra Bishoo and Indian top-order had things pretty captain in quick succession. much their own way in the final session of Blackwood and Samuels had put on 81 the day. Rahul and Shikhar Dhawan put on for the fourth wicket in the morning with 87 for the first wicket before Dhawan Blackwood the dominant partner, stroking became Roston Chase’s first Test wicket, seven fours and four sixes in his counter- well caught by Bravo at short extra-cover attacking innings. But it was not enough as for 27. None of the other bowlers looked the clatter of wickets resumed after he was particularly threatening though and Rahul trapped LBW by Ashwin. and Cheteshwar Pujara will resume on the second morning expecting to put India INDIA IN CONTROL firmly in control in pursuit of a second win Debutant Miguel Cummins heaved his in a row at the start of the four-match way to an unbeaten 24 in an entertaining series. —AFP

BULAWAYO: Zimbabwe capatin Graeme Cremer (R) plays a ball as BJ Watling looks on during the fourth day of the first test match ni a series of two tests between New Zealand and hosts Zimbabwe at Queens Sports Club, in Bulawayo yesterday. — AFP NZ thrash Zimbabwe to win first Test

BULAWAYO: Dominant New Zealand New Zealand captain . next over, but he became visibly strained wrapped up an emphatic innings victory “It’s useful on surfaces that are not offering thereafter as the toll of his effort became against Zimbabwe in the first Test in Bulawayo swing. That first innings put us ahead of the clear. After Regis Chakabva was bowled by yesterday despite a maiden Test from game, where he showed some hostile bowl- , the centurion attempted one Sean Williams finally giving the hosts some- ing on a surface that didn’t offer much.” big stroke too many and was caught off the thing to smile about. New Zealand began the day needing just bowling of Santner. New Zealand went on to New Zealand bowled Zimbabwe out for five wickets to win, and grabbed one of them wrap up their second-biggest Test win away 295 to win the game by an innings and 117 in the second over when Craig Ervine was from home soon after. runs, with left-arm seamer Neil Wagner finish- caught behind off the bowling of Boult for 50. ing with eight wickets in the one-sided match Having lost their top four for just 17 runs PRAISE FOR WILLIAMS at Queens Sports Club. on the third evening, another Zimbabwean Williams though earned plaudits from both The second and final Test gets under way collapse looked likely but Williams and his home crowd and the opposition. “He was at the same venue on Saturday. After three Cremer instead gave the home side a glimmer still a bit ill, so credit to him,” said Cremer. “He days of brutal domination at the hands of the of hope. While Williams leapt at any opportu- was a little bit loose when he came out to bat Kiwis, Williams rose from his sick bed to hit nity to score and stroked 21 boundaries, and got a bit lucky, but from there he domi- KINGSTON: India’s Cheteshwar Pujara takes evasive action to avoid being hit by a the fastest Test century by a Zimbabwean as Cremer blocked up an end and made the nated. “The player that he is, he can do that on delivery off West Indies’ captain Jason Holder during day one of their second he reached three figures in just 106 deliveries. Black Caps work hard for his wicket. It took a wickets like that. He has got good hands and Test match at the Sabina Park Cricket Ground in Kingston, Jamaica, Saturday. — AP The left-hander spent the past two days off debatable lbw decision to prise the good eyes.” “He played a fantastic knock. It’s a the field due to illness as New Zealand racked Zimbabwe captain from the crease after huge effort,” added Williamson. “He wasn’t up a first-innings lead of 412, and came to the lunch, when he was dismissed by an Ish Sodhi well, which adds to what a good knock it was. SCOREBOARD crease early on the fourth morning with delivery that looked to be bouncing over the “When you are in the position that he was in, Zimbabwe tottering on 124 for six, still need- stumps. a lot of fight is required. It was an outstanding KINGSTON, Jamaica: Scoreboard Saturday at stumps on the first day of the second cricket test ing 288 runs to make the Black Caps bat Williams went to his hundred in Sodhi’s hundred.” — AFP between West Indies and India at Sabina Park: again. Williams added 118 for the seventh West Indies 1st Innings 1nb), Umesh Yadav 6-1-30-0 (1w), Ravichandran wicket with captain Graeme Cremer, who SCOREBOARD Kraigg Brathwaite c Pujara b Sharma 1 Ashwin 16-2-52-5, Amit Mishra 10.3-3-38-1 (2nb). made 33, and went on to make 119 before Rajendra Chandrika c Rahul b Shami 5 succumbing to the left-arm spin of Mitchell ZBULAWAYO, Zimbabwe: Scoreboard at the end of the first Test between Zimbabwe and New Zealand yesterday: Darren Bravo c Kohli b Sharma 0 India 1st Innings Santner. Marlon Samuels c Rahul b Ashwin 37 Lokesh Rahul 75 Wagner claimed the final wicket to fall, imbabwe first innings 164 all out (D. Tiripano 49 not R. Chakabva b Southee 11 Jermaine Blackwood lbw b Ashwin 62 Shikhar Dhawan c Bravo b Chase 27 which gave him a match haul of eight for 103, out, P. Masvaure 42, N. Wagner 6-41, M. Santner 2-16) D. Tiripano c Watling b Wagner 14 Roston Chase c Dhawan b Shami 10 Cheteshwar Pujara not out 18 New Zealand first innings 576-6 dec (R. Taylor 173 not M. Chinouya not out 0 Shane Dowrich c Saha b Ashwin 5 Extras: (4b, 1lb, 1nb) 6 but Ross Taylor scooped the man of the match out, BJ Watling 107, H. Masakadza 1-25, C. Chibhabha 1- Extras (6b, 9lb) 15 Jason Holder c Rahul b Ashwin 13 Total (for 1 wicket) 126 award for his unbeaten 173 in New Zealand’s 44) Total (all out, 79 overs) 295 Devendra Bishoo c Dhawan b Ashwin 12 Overs: 37. innings. Wagner used the short ball to espe- Zimbabwe second innings Fall of wickets: 1-7 (Masakadza), 2-12 (Chari), 3-17 Miguel Cummins not out 24 Fall of wickets: 1-87. cially good effect in the first innings when he C. Chibhabha c Taylor b Boult 7 (Chibhabha), 4-17 (Masvaure), 5-86 (Sikandar Raza), 6- Shannon Gabriel c Kohli b Mishra 15 To bat: Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Wriddhiman H. Masakadza c Taylor b Southee 4 returned figures of 6 for 41, bowling 124 (Ervine), 7-242 (Cremer), 8-277 (Chakabva), 9-285 Extras (2w, 10nb): 12 Saha, Ravichandran Ashwin, Amit Mishra, B. Chari b Boult 5 Zimbabwe out for 164 to set the game up for (Williams), 10-295 (Tiripano). Total 196 Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav. C. Ervine c Watling b Boult 50 Overs: 52.3 Bowling: Shannon Gabriel 6-1-18-0 (1nb), Miguel the tourists. P. Masvaure lbw b Boult 0 Bowling: Southee 15-3-68-2, Boult 17-3-52-4, Wagner Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-4, 3-7, 4-88, 5-115, 6-127, 7- Cummins 7-0-31-0, Jason Holder 8-2-23-0, Roston “Neil and Trent (Boult) have shown how Sikandar Raza c Latham b Wagner 37 17-1-62-2, Santner 17-6-32-1, Sodhi 12-1-66-1, 131, 8-151, 9-158, 10-196 Bowling: Ishant Sharma Chase 11-2-28-1, Devendra Bishoo 2-0-13-0, good they can be, and Neil was showing us he G. Cremer lbw b Sodhi 33 Williamson 1-1-0-0. 10-1-53-2 (7nb), Mohammed Shami 10-3-23-2 (1w, Kraigg Brathwaite 3-0-3-0. can be pretty creative with the older ball,” said S. Williams c Williamson b Santner 119 Result: New Zealand won by an innings and 117 runs. Djokovic beats Monfils to reach Toronto final

TORONTO: Top-ranked Novak Djokovic beat 10th-seeded Gael court,” Nishikori said. “I think it’s going to be a great challenge Monfils 6-3, 6-2 on Saturday night to reach the Rogers Cup final for me to play Novak again in the final, because we played in and improve to 12-0 against the Frenchman. Miami and he dominated the game. So, I hope I can get Simona Halep advances to Rogers Cup final “You do have a certain mental comfort knowing that you revenge this time.” have had plenty of success against your opponent,” Djokovic In the doubles semifinals, Britain’s Jamie Murray and Brazil’s MONTREAL: Simona Halep beat Australian Open Kerber, the second-seeded German playing her last said. “Nevertheless, that is not a certainty. That’s not a guaran- Bruno Soares beat Canada’s Daniel Nestor and Vasek Pospisil 6-4, champion Angelique Kerber 6-0, 3-6, 6-2 on event before the Rio Olympics. “I was not playing tee that you can win the match. Actually, it actually makes him 6-7 (5), 10-7, and Croatia’s Ivan Dodig and Brazil’s Marcelo Melo Saturday to advance to the Rogers Cup final for the my best. I made lot of mistakes. That’s actually not more eager to come out and play his best tennis.” The winner in topped Romania’s Florin Mergea and Horia Tecau 6-4, 6-3. —AP second straight year. The fifth-seeded Halep will my game. I knew I had to go for it, take chances and 2007, 2011 and 2012 in the hardcourt event that rotates face American Madison Keys on Sunday in a be a little bit risky to win against her.” Kerber won six between Toronto and Montreal, Djokovic will face third-seeded rematch of the Romanian player’s three-set victory games in a row, including a service break to start Kei Nishikori of Japan on Sunday. Nishikori beat second-seeded in the round of 16 at Wimbledon. The 10th-seeded the third set, but then Halep took over again with a Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland 7-6 (6), 6-1 in the first semifinal. Keys beat Slovakia’s Kristina Kucova 6-2, 6-1 in the break to tie it 2-2 and go on a run of six consecutive Djokovic is trying to win a record 30th ATP World Tour second semifinal. “She hits the ball very strong,” game wins to end the match. “In the second set Masters 1000 title. The 29-year-old Serb has six victories this year Halep said about Keys. “Her serve is good. It will be when I lost the serve at 3-2, I was a little bit disap- and 65 in his career. He has 12 Grand Slam titles, winning this not like today, with many rallies. In Wimbledon, the pointed,” Halep said. “Also the nerves were very big. year in Australia and France. points were shorter. So I expect that I will not have a I don’t know why, but I couldn’t manage that Monfils was coming off a victory last week in Washington. “I good rhythm because she can hit a winner and you moment and I can say I gave up a little bit mentally. guess he missed a few shots at the beginning. I got some don’t see the ball. But she can miss sometimes.” But then in the third set, I said that ‘I have to calm opportunities and I took them,” Monfils said. “And then sud- Last year in the final in Toronto, Halep retired in down, to just go and play like I did in first set - denly he was not missing anymore. He was going for his shots the third set because of illness, handing the title to aggressive, to open the court, to try to finish the and being much better in the rallies. He became super solid. Belinda Bencic. Halep won two weeks ago in points with winners.’” After her singles victory, Halep When Novak is playing like that, it’s very tough to beat him.” Bucharest for her second title of the year and 13th and countrywoman Monica Niculescu teamed to Djokovic had six double-faults and one ace. overall. beat Slovenia’s Andreja Klepac and Katarina “I’ve been working on my serve a lot the last couple of years, “She gets a lot of balls back,” Keys said about Srebotnik 6-3, 2-6, 10-6 in the doubles semifinals. and I think especially on the second serve it has gave me an Halep. “Her ability to get that extra ball and become They will face Russia’s Ekaterina Makarova and Elena advantage, more depth on the second serve and so forth,” the one that’s in charge of the point is what she’s so Vesnina, 6-4, 6-2 winners over Americans Christina Djokovic said. “In this tournament it is not working very well, but good at.” Keys won the Wimbledon tuneup event in McHale and Asia Muhammad. “Actually, when I in general in past couple of years it has served me very well.” Birmingham, England, for her second career WTA started the tournament, I said with the prize money Nishikori took his fourth straight Memphis title in February Tour title. from doubles I will go shopping,” Halep said. “Now I Halep topped Kerber after losing to her in the have enough, so I will enjoy it. Maybe that’s why I for his 11th ATP Tour victory. He has lost his last eight matches TORONTO: Kei Nishikori, of Japan, celebrates winning first set Wimbledon quarterfinals. “It was not my day,” said kept winning.” — AP with Djokovic, the last loss in the Key Biscayne final in April, against Stanislas Wawrinka, of Switzerland, during men’s semi- and is 2-9 overall. “Haven’t beat Novak for a long time on hard final Rogers Cup tennis action, in Toronto on Saturday. — AP