MONDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2019 16 Bahrain, Saudi tie for top spot Bahrain men’s team, Mubarak move into share of leads in GCC Golf Championships

also dropped to a tie at the top of Bahrainis three players in the Bahrainis carded the leaderboard following the top five, while rounding out the • second round. top six individual players was a day two score of He carded a three-over-par 75 Saudi’s Almansour tied with Qa- four-over-par 220, just yesterday to add to his opening tari Jaham Jassim Al Kuwari, a single shot behind day score of 72, putting him on both with 150 totals. KNOW WHAT the 219 of the Saudis a 147 total that is shared by the Bahrain are competing with Saudi pair of Ali Al Sakhi and four teams in Oman as there are Saud Abdullah Al Sharif. also a ladies’ team composed of TDT | Manama The championships contin- Bahrainis brought Habiba Maher Yusuf, Haya Adel ue today with the third and pe- Alqawadhi and Maryam Raed ahrain and Saudi Ara - nultimate round of play in the their two-day totals to Alansari; an under-18 squad of bia moved into a tie for men’s events. The final day is 12-over-par 444 Eid Aeel Meftah, Faris Isa Alqet- Bfirst place yesterday on tomorrow when this year’s GCC ami and Manaf Yusuf Ahmed; the men’s teams’ standings fol- champions will be crowned. and an under-15 team compris- lowing the second round of the In the men’s teams, Bahrain’s ing Abdulrahman Ebrahim Saad, 2019 GCC Golf Championships, Mubarak, along with teammates Yousuf Ebrahim Habib and Ab- being played at Ghala Golf Club Al Mohamed Al Kowari and Mo- dulla Rashid Saeed. in Muscat. hamed Dian Alnoaimi, all con- In the men’s individual stand- The ladies ranked fourth from After leading by one stroke at tributed to the day’s score. For ings, Al Sakhi was one of two five teams with a 124-over-par the end of day one, the Bahrainis the Saudis, they relied on their players to post an even-par 72 gross score and now head into carded a day two score of four- trio of Al Sakhi, Al Sharif and on day two, helping him move their final round of play. The over-par 220, just a single shot Abdulrahman Almansour. into the share of the lead. The under-18s were third from three behind the 219 of the Saudis. The top two were followed other was Bahrain’s Alnoaimi, teams but were just five shots That brought their two-day to- on the standings by Qatar eight who went to fifth place on the behind leaders Qatar after the tals to 12-over-par 444, earning shots behind with a 20-over-par individual classification with a first 18 holes, while the un - both teams a share of the lead. two-day total of 452. The UAE two-day total of 149. der-15s were fourth from from Bahrain’s Sultan Mubarak, the (456, +24) were fourth, Oman Going fourth was Bahrain’s five teams, well behind the lead- solo leader after the first day on (484, +52) fifth and Kuwait (510, Al Mohamed Al Kowari with ers with just the final round left the individual players’ rankings, +78) sixth. a gross score of 148, giving the to play today. Bahrain’s Mubarak in action South Africa see off Australia thrash New Zealand stubborn England despite battling Blundell century AFP | Melbourne

athan Lyon took four as Australia Nthrashed New Zealand by 247 runs to win the second Test at Melbourne and the se- ries yesterday with a battling century from opener Tom Blun- dell proving futile. The Black Caps, chasing a massive 488 to win, were in se- rious trouble after a fiery James Pattinson ripped through the top order to leave them reeling at 38 for three. England batsmen Joe Root walks off after being dismissed by Anrich Nortje But some fighting partner- ships spearheaded by Blundell with the second ball of a new delayed the inevitable until South Africa win spell after he made the first Lyon worked his magic as the • breakthrough of the day by pitch deteriorated. first Test by 107 runs dismissing top-scorer Rory Blundell was last man out for after new ball leads Burns for 84. a swashbuckling 121 -- his sec- to England collapse The remaining wickets fell ond Test century and his first quickly, with Rabada finish- for two years -- as New Zealand AFP | Centurion ing with four for 103 and fel- were dismissed for 240 with low fast bowler Anrich Nortje Trent Boult not batting after Australia’s Nathan Lyon celebrates the of New Zealand’s BJ Watling claiming three for 56. fracturing his hand in the first Zealand’s reach after surface.” outh Africa broke down Maharaj, who broke Eng- innings. Kane Williamson’s bold deci- Pattinson, playing for the in- Sstubborn England resist- land’s first wicket stand of It was the second heavy de- sion to bowl after winning the jured Josh Hazlewood, did the ance to win the first Test of 92 on Saturday when he dis- feat for the Black Caps, who toss. early damage. their World Test Champion- missed Dom Sibley, took two lost by 296 runs in Perth and No team had ever chased New Zealand had reached ship series by 107 runs at Su- for 37. will be playing for pride only down more than 418 in Test 32-0 when he snared the key 121 perSport Park yesterday. South Africa produced a dis- in the final Test at Sydney later history, though the record was wickets of Tom Latham, batting runs were scored by Tom England needed 376 to win ciplined bowling performance, this week. set against Australia by the West linchpin Williamson and the ex- Blundell in his second but despite some committed making scoring difficult on a “It’s very pleasing. I thought Indies in Antigua in 2003. perienced Ross Taylor for three Test century and his first batting were bowled out for pitch which always offered the way we went “I felt like just runs. for two years 268 on the fourth day of the something to the bowlers with about this Test there was Latham, scorer of a dogged five-day encounter. some sideways movement and from the mo - enough in the 50 in New Zealand’s 148 first An enthralling contest uneven bounce. ment we lost surface to bowl innings, fell for eight when he before Lyon finally broke their swung South Africa’s way England added only 50 runs the toss was out- I thought our batters first,” said Wil- edged a thunderous delivery to dangerous partnership, tempt- when left-arm spinner Keshav in 25 overs while losing two standing,” said applied themselves liamson. the diving Paine. ing an outside edge from the Maharaj bowled Ben Stokes to wickets during the morning. Australia cap- superbly on day one “It was obvi- Williamson soon followed New Zealand wicketkeeper that halt a brief flurry of strokes as Rory Burns took his over- tain Tim Paine. and made it easy for ously very im- without scoring, lbw after un- flew to David Warner at slip and Stokes and captain Joe Root night score of 77 to 84 before “I thought our Travis (Head) and I on portant for us to successfully reviewing the um- he was gone for 22. tried to lift the scoring rate mistiming a pull against Nortje batters applied the second day to set be on top of our pire’s original decision. Lyon then mopped up Colin before the second new ball was to be caught at mid-on, while themselves su- up a big total game and the Taylor didn’t fare much bet- de Grandhomme and Mitch- due. Joe Denly was leg before wick- perbly on day surface did offer ter, dragging onto his middle ell Santner before Tim Southee The new ball then had an et to for 31. one and made it TIM PAINE some sideways stump to leave Pattinson with was run out in a horror mix-up, immediate impact with Kagiso Burns and Denly saw off the easy for Travis movement and figures of 3-5 at lunch off two with Blundell swinging his bat Rabada having Jonny Bairstow threat of Vernon Philander and (Head) and I on swing. But credit overs. before he was caught by Lyon caught at gully before Anrich Rabada but found scoring dif- the second day to set up a big to Australia for getting through Henry Nicholls was the only off Marnus Labuschagne. Nortje claimed the crucial ficult. total.” that first session and putting wicket to fall between lunch and Paine earlier declared Aus- wicket of Root, who made Philander conceded only 400 on the board. tea, cleverly for 33 by tralia’s second innings on 168 a fighting 48 before he was one run in five overs. Rabada ‘Credit to Australia’ “They’ve got a fantastic attack Paine off Lyon just one ball after for five after Head was bowled caught behind. gave up 23 in six overs, which It was Head’s first innings with pace and bounce but their he smashed the spinner for six. by Neil Wagner for 28. Matthew It was the second time in the included two hooked sixes by century and Paine’s quick-fire accuracy stood apart and they Blundell, in only his third Wade was unbeaten on 30 with day Nortje claimed a wicket Denly. 79 that took the Test out of New did seem to get more out of that Test, and BJ Watling put on 72 Wagner taking 3-50.