MONDAY, MARCH 6, 2017 SPORTS

Minnows Bangladesh see best chance to beat Sri Lanka

DHAKA: Bangladesh will be hoping to ing both. Sri Lanka have a good record at the tourists will not get ahead of them- Test at Galle during a previous visit in (capt), Dimuth Karunaratne, Niroshan improve their woeful away record with a home and beat Australia 3-0 in the last selves and are cautious of Sri Lanka’s 2013. “We were fortunate to get over the Dickwella, Upul Tharanga, Dhananjaya de win against an under-strength Sri Lankan series they hosted in August 2016. But impressive home record. line on that occasion. They have a few Silva, Kusal Mendis, Asela Gunaratne, side when a two-Test series against the some heavyweight stars have pulled up The hosts have won their last five Tests players who were part of that squad still Dinesh Chandimal, Suranga Lakmal, hosts gets underway in Galle tomorrow. stumps, something the tourists hope to on home soil and will be captained by playing for Bangladesh and this will be Lahiru Kumara, Nuwan Pradeep, Vikum The Test minnows have won just three of capitalise on. experienced left-arm spinner Rangana another competitive series,” he said. Sanjaya Bandara, Dilruwan Perera, their 45 away matches-two against the “This is probably our best chance to Herath, who replaces injured regular The second Test in Colombo from Lakshan Sandakan, Malinda West Indies in 2009 and one against beat Sri Lanka,” said Bangladesh captain Angelo Mathews. March 15-19 will be Bangladesh’s 100th Pushpakumara. Bangladesh :Mushfiqur Zimbabwe in 2013 — but have shown Mushfiqur Rahim. The Sri Lankan cricket board did not since gaining full status 17 years ago. Rahim (capt), Tamim Iqbal, Liton Das, considerable improvement since their last “Maybe they are inexperienced after say why Mathews was dropped, but he The teams are also scheduled to play , , Shakib victory abroad. At home, Bangladesh several retirements. We will try to match returned home last month halfway three 50-over One-Day Internationals Al Hasan, Mahmudullah Riyad, Sabbir have won four Tests since 2014, drawn five them.” Bangladesh will be buoyed by the through the South African tour after twist- before facing off for two Twenty20 Rahman, , Taijul Islam, and conceded only three. They showed return of paceman Mustafizur Rahman, ing his ankle. Sri Lanka coach Graham Internationals at the tail-end of the tour, Mehedi Hasan, Taskin Ahmed, Mosaddek impressive recent form against India and who has not played a Test since his debut Ford said he expects a tough series which wraps up on April 6. Hossain, Kamrul Islam Rabbi, Subashis New Zealand in away matches despite los- series against South Africa in 2015. But against Bangladesh, who drew their first Sri Lanka squad: Rangana Herath Roy, Rubel Hossain. — AFP

TENNIS Querrey shocks Nadal to lift ATP Acapulco title

ACAPULCO: Unseeded American Sam backhand were great and my serve bailed Querrey stunned second-seeded Rafael me out of trouble when I needed it.” Nadal 6-3, 7-6 (7/3) on Saturday to win the Nadal, playing his first tournament since ATP Mexico Open and end the Spaniard’s falling to Roger Federer in five sets in the run of perfection in Acapulco. Australian Open final, was denied his first Querrey, ranked 40th in the world, fired hard court title since Doha in 2014. 19 aces, backed up by powerful, precise Querrey surrendered just four points on groundstrokes, en route to his first career his serve in the opening set and he broke victory over Nadal in five meetings. The Nadal at love to seize a 5-3 advantage. He Spaniard, the 2005 and 2013 champion, served it out comfortably, firing a forehand had never even lost a set in Acapulco. winner on his second set point after just “I’m ecstatic,” Querrey said. “To do it half an hour. against Rafa makes it even a little sweeter.” Nadal made more inroads in the second Querrey captured his ninth ATP title in an set, but couldn’t convert any of his six break impressive week that saw him beat four chances. That included five in the eighth top-10 players-Belgian David Goffin, game-three of which Querrey neutralized Austrian Dominic Thiem, Australian Nick with aces. They went on serve to the Kyrgios and sixth-ranked Nadal. tiebreaker, where Nadal faltered first. He’s projected to return to the top 30 in A brace of baseline errors from Nadal the world rankings today. “It’s definitely a gave Querrey a 6-3 lead and a chance to tournament that I’m going to remember for serve for the title, with Nadal sending a the rest of my forehand long on the American’s first life,” Querrey said. “It’s just one of those match point. weeks where I got in the zone and every- “He played very well, almost reaching thing was working for me. I hope I can have perfection,” Nadal said. “I played under a lot more like this. of pressure because of his serve and base- “After the match against Goffin, I knew I line game. He left me with very few could go far here if I continued to play at options, and the few I had he also played that level,” he added. “My forehand and good.” —AFP BANGALORE: Australian batsman Matthew Renshaw (R) is watched by India’s wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha (L) as he plays a shot during the second day of the second cricket Test match between India and Australia at The M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore yesterday. —AFP

CRICKET Marsh and Renshaw give Australia edge in 2nd Test

BANGALORE: Opener Matt Renshaw said man- aging a challenging pitch would be the key to SCOREBOARD defeating India after his dogged half-century helped Australia take a crucial first-innings lead BANGALORE, India: Scoreboard at stumps on day two of the second Test between India and Australia in Bangalore in the second Test yesterday. on yesterday. The left-hander, who started the day on 15, made a 196-ball 60 before Shaun Marsh struck India 1st innings 189 (L. Rahul 90, K. Nair 26; N. Lyon 8-50) M. Starc 14 Australia 1st innings (overnight 40-0; D. Warner 23 not Extras (b8, lb2, nb5) 15 another half-century for the visitors on a gru- out, M. Renshaw 15 not out) elling second day in Bangalore. Total (6 ; 106 overs) 237 D. Warner b Ashwin 33 To bat: S. O’Keefe, N. Lyon, J. Hazlewood Australia were 237 for six at stumps on the M. Renshaw st Saha b Jadeja 60 Fall of wickets: 1-52 (Warner), 2-82 (Smith), 3-134 second day, leading India by 48 runs at M S. Smith c Saha b Jadeja 8 (Renshaw), 4-160 (Handscomb), 5-163 (M. Marsh), 6- Chinnaswamy Stadium. Matthew Wade on 25 S. Marsh c Nair b Yadav 66 and Mitchell Starc on 14 were at the crease. P. Handscomb c Ashwin b Jadeja 16 220 (S. Marsh) “It was a grind. The plan was to try and bat as M. Marsh lbw b Sharma 0 : Sharma 23-6-39-1 (3nb), Yadav 24-7-57-1 (1nb), long as possible and wear the Indian bowlers M. Wade not out 25 Ashwin 41-10-75-1, Jadeja 17-1-49-3, Nair 1-0-7-0. down,” 20-year-old Renshaw told reporters. “We know that the fourth innings chase is he and Wade put on 57 for the sixth . and Shaun Marsh, then we could have had com- going to be quite hard out there. Hopefully we plete control of the game.” get a substantial lead out there and the bowlers RUNS AT A TRICKLE Runs came at a trickle in the morning session, can do a successful job, like they did in the first.” Marsh had his share of luck, surviving a few with the visitors scoring just 47 in 29 overs as Marsh top-scored with a gritty 66 before close calls against the Indian bowlers, including two of their top batsmen Warner (33) and Smith Indian seamer Umesh Yadav lured him into a nicking a Yadav on 14 off the glove. The were sent back to the pavilion. Ashwin bowled tired-looking shot that was caught at short mid- appeal was turned down and India did not opt Warner to get the opener for an eighth time in wicket just before close of play. for the review. 12 Tests, while Smith battled hard for 52 deliver- Left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja claimed Earlier Renshaw put on 52 runs with Marsh to ies before being caught by Saha off a wily three wickets, including the key scalps of keep the Indian attack temporarily at bay as runs Jadeja. The morning was enlivened by banter Australia skipper Steve Smith (8) and Renshaw came at a miserly rate of roughly two an over. between the lanky Sharma and Smith, who trad- on a pitch that offered variable bounce. The left-handed opener, who had scored 68 ed barbs as the day progressed, with Indian skip- Fast bowlers Ishant Sharma and Yadav, with a in the first innings in Pune, looked ready to take per Virat Kohli also exchanging a few words with wicket each, unsettled the visiting batsmen but off after hitting Jadeja for the first six of the the Aussie batsmen. regular partnerships helped Australia surpass match, but the bowler got his revenge two balls Indian batsman Cheteshwar Pujara said India India’s first-innings score of 189. later. Jadeja saw Renshaw emerge from his would have a better game plan in their second Renshaw cited problems with variable crease and fired the ball down the leg side. innings and were still very much in the match. bounce. “It was probably a bit harder against the Wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha completed the “We have already seen the ball is keeping low. quicks because it’s not bouncing as much, and stumping in quick time. They have to bat in the last innings... we will put some (balls) are going up, so I think that chal- “We felt like we were just about to get on top up a better show in the next innings,” said Pujara. ACAPULCO: Sam Querrey of the US celebrates with the trophy after beating Rafael lenge is probably the biggest,” he said. Australia of the game when I got out, so it was quite frus- The visitors lead the four-match series 1-0 after Nadal of Spain 6-3, 7-6 (7/3) in the ATP men’s singles finals of the Mexican Tennis were faltering at the tea break on 163-5, but trating from that point of view,” said Renshaw. beating India in the first Test in Pune inside three Open in Acapulco, Guerrero State, Mexico, on Saturday. —AFP Marsh returned to score his sixth Test fifty while “If we had probably got a few more runs, me days. — AFP Kuwait 8th Open Tennis Tournament

By Abdellatif Sharaa

KUWAIT: Kuwait 8th Open Tennis Tournament continues with heavy participation of players both citizens and expats in various groups. In the Under 11 category Abdelrahman Al-Abdallah defeated Mohammad Al-Falakawi 9-2, Fahad Al-Ameera defeated Hamza Al-Sibzali 9-0, Haidar Al-Saleh defeated Fahad Al-Daihani 9-3, Abdallah Dihrab defeated Antonios Al-Samrani 9-1, Abdallah Al-Sarhan defeated Khalid Al- Mutairi 9-0 and Essa Murad defeated Eszzeldien Kamal 9-0. Abdelaziz Khalid defeated Mohammad Qalli 9-5, Hadi Sabah defeated Hamad Al-Khashnam 9-1, and Ahmad Al- Humaidan defeated Adballah Al-Nasser 9-0. In the Under 13 category Mohammad Bu Abbas defeat- ed Hazim Abu Salem 6-4, 6-2, Bader Al-Sarraf defeated Dhari Al-Naqeeb 6-0, 6-0 and Salman Taher defeated Al- Faisal Saleem 6-0. In the men singles Dawood Sayyed Hashim defeated Anand Ramakrishnan 6-0, 6-0, Ali Al-Qallaf defeated Hussein Behbehani 6-1, 6-2, Abdelrahman Burahma defeat- ed Ahmad Abdelaziz 6-2, 6-1 Abdallah Al-Qallaf defeated Tariq Al-Qaderi 6-0, 6-0, Mohammad Al-Failakawi defeated Ali Daalah 7-5, 6-1 and Hussein Shams defeated Mohammad Al-Quzuq 6-3, 6-1. In the pioneers above 55 doubles Mubarak Redha and Andy Soldmon defeated Khalid Tubailah and Shikar Shitti 6-2, 6-2.