14 Established 1961 Sports Monday, November 27, 2017 Australia on brink of victory after England crumble for 195

Openers Warner, Bancroft score half-centuries

BRISBANE: A pulsating Ashes opener that had promised a grandstand finish will more than likely end early with a handsome win to Australia after Steve Smith’s side pushed with- in 56 runs of victory at the close of day four yesterday. The teams will return to the Gabba today to go through the motions, with Australia openers David Warner and Cameron Bancroft looking to mop up the winning runs after protecting their with aplomb after tea. Australia were 114 without loss at stumps, with Bancroft (51) celebrating his maiden half- century in his test debut after vice-captain Warner (60) raised his 25th as shadows crept across the ground. “Obviously a great day for our team, to finish the way we did with the bat, none down with 56 runs to get,” Australia pace- man Mitchell Starc told reporters. “Heading over to (the second test in) Adelaide, England will have to chase us. “I’d rather be in our changeroom than theirs.” The denouement happens yesterday but the game SCOREBOARD broke open after lunch, however, when England’s middle order suffered a ruinous col- Scoreboard at stumps on the fourth day in the first Test between Australia and lapse for the second time in the match. England yesterday in Brisbane, Australia. The loss of captain Joe Root for 51 before the England 1st innings 302 (J. Vince 83, D. Malan 56, M. Stoneman 53) first break was a blow but there was still hope Australia 1st innings 328 (S. Smith 141no, S. Marsh 51) as Moeen Ali and Jonny Bairstow drove England England 2nd innings (Overnight: 33-2) to 155 for five. From there it went sour as the BRISBANE: Australia’s David Warner plays a shot against England during their Ashes A. Cook c Starc b Hazlewood 7 tourists fell for 195, the capitulation triggered by M. Stoneman c Smith b Lyon 27 a third decision that may be debated for Test in Brisbane, Australia, yesterday. —AP J. Vince c Smith b Hazlewood 2 years to come. J. Root lbw b Hazlewood 51 Having breezed to 40, Moeen was beaten by D. Malan c Smith b Lyon 4 spinner Nathan Lyon and wicketkeeper Tim Broad was Starc’s third victim four balls later match and he concedes an emphatic first-up M. Ali st Paine b Lyon 40 Paine whipped the bails off in a flash. The all- J. Bairstow c Handscomb b Starc 42 when he feathered a nick and Pat Cummins defeat in his ongoing duel with Smith. C. Woakes c Smith b Starc 17 rounder’s foot was planted squarely on the line wrapped up England’s innings with another “Obviously very disappointed,” said Moeen. S. Broad c Paine b Starc 2 and long, tortuous deliberations followed as “I thought the first three days we played well J. Ball c Handscomb b Cummins 1 New Zealander Chris Gaffaney pondered vari- and we were in the game and then today we let J. Anderson 0 ous angles. ourselves down with the bat. “It was a good Extras (nb-2) 2 None of the footage showed Moeen’s foot pitch to bat on ... We got in and never really got Total (all out, 71.4 overs) 195 safely behind the line, so Gaffaney sent him on to get that score that we needed.” Fall of wickets: 1-11 A. Cook, 2-17 J. Vince, 3-62 M. Stoneman, 4-74 D. Malan, 5-113 J. Root, 6-155 M. packing. It was Lyon’s third of a fine test Obviously a England’s veteran quicks James Anderson Ali, 7-185 C. Woakes, 8-194 J. Bairstow, 9-195 S. Broad, 10-195 J. Ball for the offspinner and England’s breaking point and Broad were left to try to pull off a miracle Bowling: M. Starc 16-1-51-3(nb-1); J. Hazlewood 16-3-46-3; P. Cummins 12.4-4-23-1; N. Lyon 24-4-67- 3(nb-1); S. Smith 3-0-8-0. after three days of mostly valiant cricket. great day for but they washed harmlessly against the wall of They lost 4-40 and their last three wickets our team Warner and Bancroft, who opened their shoul- Australia 2nd innings (Target: 170 runs) for 10 runs as Starc awoke to trample on their ders after a watchful hour. In the morning, it was C. Bancroft not out 51 wafer-thin hopes. All-rounder Chris Woakes Lyon who turned the screws with two wickets D. Warner not out 60 added 30 runs with Bairstow but his uneasy 57- before Josh Hazlewood (3-46) claimed the Extras (lb-2 nb-1) 3 ball knock ended on 17 when caught in the slips bouncer that harried Jake Ball sent to fly slip. prized scalp of Root. Total (for no loss, 34 overs) 114 by Smith after being worked over by a short ball Smith’s epic, unbeaten 141 on day three will After England resumed the day on 33 for two, Fall of wickets: from Starc. take on an even greater significance, given the Lyon had opener Mark Stoneman caught for 27 To bat: S. Smith, U. Khawaja, P. Handscomb, S. Marsh, T. Paine, M. Starc, P. Cummins, N. Lyon, J. Left to carry the tail, Bairstow instead threw scant contributions of England’s batsmen in their by Smith at slip. The spinner and captain com- Hazlewood away his wicket for 42 with a ramp shot over the Bowling: J. Anderson 8-2-17-0(nb-1); S. Broad 7-2-14-0; M. Ali 4-0-23-0; C. Woakes 7-1-31-0; J. Ball second innings. Root made the only half-century bined again when Dawid Malan nicked behind 4-1-17-0; J. Root 4-1-10-0. slips that went straight to third man. Stuart for his team, but it will be a footnote in the to fall for four. — Reuters

wicket to fall in the morning session, spectacular goal through traffic and past SCOREBOARD bowled off a Dasun Shanaka (1-62) yorker. goalie Malcolm Subban cut the lead to 3-2 Pujara passed 3000 Test runs in his with 9:25 remaining. NAGPUR, India: Scoreboard at stumps on day three of the second India cruises to Alex Ovechkin 53rd innings, becoming the quickest Indian cricket Test between India and Sri Lanka in Nagpur yesterday: batsman to do so. He added 183 runs for DEVILS 4, RED WINGS 3, OT Sri Lanka 1st innings 205 (D. Chandimal 57, D. Karunaratne 51; R. 384-run lead the third wicket. “Virat is the kind of play- has hat trick, Brian Gibbons scored at 2:32 of overtime Ashwin 4-67) er who plays the same way in all formats. to lift New Jersey past Detroit. The Devils India 1st innings (overnight 312-2) over S Lanka in The way he started off, he kept the Capitals beat squandered a 3-1 lead in the third period, L. Rahul b Gamage 7 momentum through the innings and I don’t but Gibbons was able to get his stick on a M. Vijay c Perera b Herath 128 think anyone else could have played those pass by Red Wings defenseman Nick Jensen C. Pujara b Shanaka 143 2nd Test shots in the way he did,” said Pujara after Maple Leafs and took control of the puck in front of the V. Kohli c Thirimanne b Perera 213 the day’s play. Detroit net. He beat Jimmy Howard for the NAGPUR: Sri Lanka faces an uphill A. Rahane c Karunaratne b Perera 2 “For me, it was difficult to score on this TORONTO: Alex Ovechkin had a hat trick to winner, his 11th goal of the season. David struggle after reaching 21-1 and still 384 R. Sharma not out 102 wicket. Earlier on day two, the boundaries help the Washington Capitals beat the Booth scored twice for the Red Wings and runs behind at the close of play on day weren’t coming easily and we had to rotate Anthony Mantha started Detroit’s third-peri- R. Ashwin b Perera 5 Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 on Saturday night. three of the second Test against India in the strike as well,” he added, recalling his od rally with his 11th goal of the season. W. Saha not out 1 Ovechkin scored two of his three goals in the Nagpur yesterday. The tourists started 209-run partnership with Murali Vijay. opening period for the Capitals. Jakub Vrana Brian Boyle and Taylor Hall scored in the first Extras (b4, lb4, w1) 9 their second innings after Virat Kohli (213) Dilruwan Perera (3-202) was the visi- period for New Jersey, and Nico Hischier Total (6 wickets dec, 176.1 overs) 610 also scored, and Braden Holtby made 27 scored his fifth test double hundred while tors’ most successful bowler, picking up saves for his 13th victory of the season. Jake added a goal in the third. New Jersey moved Fall of wickets: 1-7 (Rahul), 2-216 (Vijay), 3-399 (Pujara), 4-410 Rohit Sharma (102 not out) scored a third the wickets of Kohli, Ravichandran Ashwin past Columbus into first place in the (Rahane), 5-583 (Kohli), 6-597 (Ashwin) Gardiner and Nikita Zaitsev scored in the century as India declared their first (5) and Ajinkya Rahane earlier. “The target third period for Toronto. Ovechkin opened Metropolitan Division. Did not bat: R. Jadeja, U. Yadav, I. Sharma innings at 610-6. is to get 20 wickets. We have not been able the scoring when he skated with the puck Bowling: Lakmal 29-2-111-0, Gamage 35-8-97-1, Herath 39-11-81-1, Kohli and Sharma increased their fifth- to do that against India this year. We have through the neutral zone before taking a BLACKHAWKS 4, PANTHERS 1 Shanaka 26.1-4-103-1, Perera 45-2-202-3, Karunaratne 2-0-8-0. wicket partnership to 173 runs. They came slowed down their pace of scoring a bit, wrist shot from just outside the left face-off Jonathan Toews had a goal and two out and attacked the bowling, scoring 76 but that is not a compliment in our minds. circle and beating McElhinney at 12:03. It assists and Corey Crawford made 37 saves in Sri Lanka 2nd innings runs in less than an hour after tea. In the We now need to take this game into the was Ovechkin’s 574th goal, which moved his 400th NHL game to help Chicago beat S. Samarawickrama b Sharma 0 process, Kohli reached his double hundred fifth day,” said Sri Lankan bowling coach him past Mike Bossy for 21st on the career Florida. Brandon Saad had a goal and an D. Karunaratne not out 11 off 259 balls. Overall, he batted for 387 Rumesh Ratnayake. list. The Russian scored his second goal with assist, and Patrick Kane and John Hayden L. Thirimanne not out 9 minutes, facing 267 balls, in a knock that With nine overs remaining, Sri Lanka 47 seconds left in the period on a power also scored for Chicago. Jared McCann Extras (lb1) 1 included 17 fours and two sixes. made a poor start to their second innings play. The goal was Ovechkin’s 217th of his scored for the Panthers, and Roberto Luongo Total (1 wicket, 9 overs) 21 Sharma then reached his milestone off when Sadeera Samarawickrama (0) was career with the man advantage, which stopped 35 shots. Fall of wicket: 1-0 (Samarawickrama) 160 balls and India declared their innings bowled off Ishant Sharma (1-15) early. At moved him into a tie with Jaromir Jagr for Still to bat: A. Mathews, D. Chandimal, N. Dickwella, D. Shanaka, D. with a 405-run lead. Earlier in the day, stumps, Lahiru Thirimmane (9 not out) and the most among active NHL players. BLUES 6, WILD 3 Perera, R. Herath, S. Lakmal, L. Gamage Cheteshwar Pujara scored 143 runs after a Dimuth Karunaratne (11 not out) were Ovechkin added an empty-netter to give Jaden Schwartz scored twice and Kyle Bowling: Sharma 4-1-15-1, Ashwin 4-3-5-0, Jadeja 1-1-0-0. mammoth 502 minutes, when he faced 362 holding the fort but have a long way to go him 18 goals this season. Brodziak added a short-handed goal in St. balls and hit 14 fours. He was the only to save the Test. — AP Louis’ victory over Minnesota, Paul Stastny, PENGUINS 5, LIGHTNING 2 Dmitrij Jaskin and Sammy Blais also scored Sidney Crosby and Phil Kessel each for the Blues, who jumped out to a 3-0 lead four each taking over the top spot. Moelgg had scored twice and Pittsburgh beat Tampa Bay in the first period. Jake Allen made 22 saves been third after the first run and went into the to end a season-high three-game losing to help St. Louis win for the third time in four Rebensburg lead with a strong run. Then Shiffrin took her turn. streak. Tristan Jarry, making his first home games and improve its points total to an She is a product of Burke Mountain Academy in start, stopped 33 shots for his first NHL win. NHL-best 35 at 17-6-1. Charlie Coyle, Zack northern Vermont and was greeted with thunder- He also assisted on the first goal of the game. Mitchell and Eric Staal scored for the Wild. edges Shiffrin for ous cheers as she left the gate. The noise followed Pittsburgh hasn’t lost four straight in regula- Devan Dubnyk made 34 saves. her all the way down the course. She had a great tion overall since Dec. 14-19, 2015, the first run and wound up 0.82 seconds ahead of Moelgg. four games of coach Mike Sullivan’s tenure. CANADIENS 3, SABRES 0 giant slalom win But the day belonged to Vebensburg, who had The Penguins, playing without injured star Carey Price made 36 saves in his return a superlative second run despite what she forward Evgeni Malkin, also ended a two- from a lower-body injury and Montreal beat KILLINGTON: Mikaela Shiffrin had a roaring described as a big mistake at the top of the game home regulation losing streak. Kessel Buffalo to snap a five-game losing streak. crowd in her corner, possibly the biggest to watch course. She said she was surprised she came out also had two assists, and Crosby had one. Price missed 10 games with the injury. The a women’s World Cup race. But it was not enough on top, and by the margin of victory. Bryan Rust scored a short-handed goal. shutout was his 40th in the NHL. Jeff Petry, to overcome Germany’s Viktoria Rebensburg in a “Sometimes when you make a mistake, you Ondrej Palat and Cory Conacher scored for Alex Galchenyuk and Paul Bryon scored. stirring duel Saturday on Killington’s aptly named know you have to charge, to go 100 percent,” Tampa Bay. Montreal’s last previous victory was against Superstar trail. Rebensburg won her second Rebensburg said. “Sometimes mistakes can make the Sabres two weeks ago. Buffalo has lost straight World Cup giant slalom by edging you faster.” Still, Shiffrin was pleased with her GOLDEN KNIGHTS 4, COYOTES 2 eight of its last nine games. Shiffrin, the overall points leader who was skiing progress in giant slalom since the opener in Tomas Nosek, William Karlsson and Erik in the state where she attended school. Soelden. “This was a step in the right direction,” Haula scored in a 1:42 span of the second FLAMES 3, AVALANCHE 2 The German finished two runs on Killington’s she said, adding she felt more confident at period and Vegas beat Arizona for its fifth Micheal Ferland and Mikael Backlund Superstar trail in 1 minute, 57.63 seconds, with Killington. She made a few adjustments to her straight victory. Jonathan Marchessault had scored in the final minute of the second peri- Shiffrin 0.67 back. Manuela Moelgg of Italy held equipment and her attitude. “I felt like I made an empty-net goal right before the buzzer od to help rookie goalie David Rittich get his on for third, 1.49 seconds off the lead. The race some good turns,” she said. and an earlier pair of assists for the Knights. first NHL victory in Calgary’s win over took place before about 18,000 fans - organizers Stephanie Brunner of Austria was fourth in KILLINGTON: Viktoria Rebensburg #3 of They improved to 3-0 against Arizona and Colorado, Dougie Hamilton also scored, and believe it the largest crowd for a women’s World 1:59.28 and Federica Brignone of Italy was fifth in Germany celebrates on the medals podium solidified their spot in first place in the Pacific Backlund added an assist for the Flames. Cup race. 1:59.38. Tessa Worley of France - the giant slalom after winning the Giant Slalom during the Division in their inaugural season. Oliver Nikita Zadorov and Mikko Rantanen scored And what a race they saw. The second run winner at Killington last season in the first World Audi FIS Ski World Cup - Killington Cup in Ekman-Larsson and Brendan Perlini scored for the Avalanche, and Jonathan Bernier turned into a showdown star skiers, with the last Cup race held at the resort - was sixth. — AP Killington, Vermont. — AFP in a third-period Coyotes comeback. Perlini’s stopped 25 shots.—AP