15 MONDAY, MARCH 9, 2020 10DAYS TO BAHRAIN sports GRAND PRIX 2020 England’s Archer likely to miss IPL Aussies seal women’s T20 World Cup and play for Sussex Dominant Australia crush India to win fifth T20 World title AFP | Melbourne rampant Australia em- phatically swept to their A fifth women’s Twen - ty20 World Cup title yesterday, crushing India by 85 runs in 99 front of more than 86,000 fans at runs were onl y scored by India before being England’s Jofra Archer looks on the Melbourne Cricket Ground. during a match Alyssa Healy smashed a quick- all out fire 75 and Beth Mooney an Reuters | London unbeaten 78 as the defending champions plundered an omi- ngland’s Jofra Archer is nous 184 for four -- the highest quietly went about her busi - Elikely to miss the Indi- score ever in a women’s T20 ness to bring up her ninth T20 an Premier League (IPL) as final. half-century before three late national team coach Chris India could only manage 99 wickets fell. Silverwood wants the fast all out in reply to end a 17-day bowler to play cricket with tournament that reinforced Horror start for India Sussex to get up to speed Australia’s dominance, having India got off to a horror start before the home test series now won five of the seven World with explosive 16-year-old against West Indies in June. Cups held. opener Verma, who has used Archer, who has a con - “I’m just really proud of this the tournament to announce tract with the Rajasthan group of players,” said Australi- herself, out for two. Royals franchise in the IPL, an skipper Meg Lanning. Taniya Bhatia retired hurt has been out of action since “There was a lot of expecta- after being hit on the helmet January with an elbow in- tion on us, inside and out. Defi- Australian team members celebrate their victory before Jemimah Rodrigues fell jury. nitely some tough times in there, without scoring. India were in The 24-year-old said ear- but we stuck with each other, or played behind closed doors. team in the opening game of Opening partner Mooney also big trouble at 32 for four after lier this week he had his had each other’s backs. They were targeting the of- the tournament, but they never had an early let-off, with Rajesh- Smriti Mandhana and Kaur both “fingers crossed” on play- “It’s been massive, 86,000 ficial world record for a wom- got a look in yesterday. wari Gayakwad putting down a went cheaply. ing at some stage in the IPL, people at the MCG, I’ve never en’s sporting fixture -- set at the “I still have a lot of faith in my caught and bowled chance when Sharma hit a battling 33 but it which begins on March 29, seen it before and didn’t think 1999 football World Cup final team,” said disappointed Indian she was on eight. was never going to be enough as but Silverwood wants him I’d be part of it in the middle,” when 90,185 watched the United skipper Harmanpreet Kaur. India was jittery and an ag- Megan Schutt took 4-18. to rebuild his fitness under she added. States beat China in California “We need to focus, especially gressive Healy smashed two big It capped an engrossing fi - the watchful eye of the staff The blockbuster showdown -- but fell just short. in fielding. But I trust this team. sixes in succession off Gayak- nal that Cricket Australia chief at Sussex. between the world’s top-ranked It was nevertheless a record It’s part of the game, sometimes wad before bringing up her 12th Kevin Roberts said reflected “My priority is getting team and fast-improving India crowd for a women’s crick - you win and sometimes you lose. T20 half-century. the sport’s growing popularity, him right for England and was billed as the biggest in wom- et game helped by the lure of You have to keep learning.” They reached 91 without loss while a boost in prize money our international summer,” en’s cricket history. pop superstar Katy Perry, who After Australia won the toss, at the halfway mark, with Healy strengthened a push for gender Silverwood told reporters A #FilltheMCG campaign was performed before and after the Healy showed her intent with then hitting three consecutive equality. during England’s warm-up launched to help bring the sport game. a boundary off Deepti Sharma’s sixes off Shikha Pandey. The International Cricket match ahead of a two-test to a new generation and fans re- Australia came into their sixth first ball. Her luck finally ran out going Council bumped up the tourna- series in Sri Lanka. sponded with 86,174 attending, successive final as heavy favour- She smacked two more in an for another big one, caught for ment prize pool by 320 percent “Sussex will play a big despite fears about the deadly ites, in contrast to India who eventful opening over which 75 from just 39 balls. from the 2018 event, but it still part in that and we will coronavirus that has seen other were playing their first decider. also saw her dropped by Shafali At the other end, play - fell short of what the men re- work very closely with them global sporting events cancelled India had upset Lanning’s Verma. er-of-the-tournament Mooney ceive. to make sure he gets the best preparation possible. The only things we have been talking about are what’s best for England and what’s best SPAL beat Parma Pandya back, India rest recovering to get him right for that. “We just want him to be fit, full stop. We want him to behind closed doors Rohit for South Africa series be 100% ready, 100% fresh Reuters | New Delhi and 100% fit for the inter- after delayed kickoff national season.” it-again all-rounder Hardik FPandya returned to India’s one-day squad yesterday but opener Rohit Sharma, who is Opener Iqbal named recovering from a calf injury, Bangladesh’s ODI was left out of the three-match series against South Africa be- captain ginning next week. Reuters | Dhaka Pandya underwent back sur- gery in October last year and angladesh opening bats- was in fine form on his return to Bman Tamim Iqbal has action in an invitational Twen- been named the team’s new ty20 tournament earlier this one-day international (ODI) month. captain, replacing Mashrafe Andrea Petagna of Spal celebrates after scoring a goal Opener Shikhar Dhawan also Mortaza who stepped down Reuters | Rome zo Spadafora to suspend the returned after a shoulder injury earlier this week, the coun- league amid the coronavirus kept him out of the team’s re- India’s Hardik Pandya during nets try’s cricket board said. n Andrea Petagna penalty outbreak. [nL8N2B10IF] cent tour of New Zealand. Iqbal, 30, is Bangladesh’s Aearned SPAL a 1-0 win at The game eventually start- Fellow opener Rohit, howev- India begin their series leading scorer in ODIs, hav- Parma in the first closed-door ed 75 minutes later than er, continues to be sidelined by against South Africa in Dhar- ing compiled 7,202 runs match of the Serie A season, planned, and SPAL earned a the injury which cut short his amsala on Thursday, followed since making his debut in but the game faced a long de- valuable three points thanks tour of New Zealand. by matches in Lucknow (March 2007. The left-hander also lay after scenes of confusion to a second-half Petagna spot Swing bowler Bhuvneshwar 15) and Kolkata (March 18). has the most ODI centuries before kickoff. kick, which lifted them off Kumar, who was sidelined with KNOW WHAT India’s ODI squad: Shikhar (13) and half-centuries (47) Chaos reigned minutes be- bottom and into 19th place a hernia last year, was also back Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, Virat for Bangladesh. fore the match was scheduled on 18 points, two ahead of in the Virat Kohli-led side. Kohli (Ccaptain), KL Rahul, With all-rounder and to start, as players were called Brescia. India dropped opener Ma- Pandya underwent Manish Pandey, Shreyas Iyer, former captain Shakib Al back into the dressing room All Serie A matches will be yank Agarwal, middle or - back surgery in Octo- Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Hasan unavailable until Oc- from the tunnel as they await- played without fans attending der batsman Kedar Jadhav, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvnesh- tober as he serves a one-year ed a decision on whether the until April 3 as part of govern- all-rounder Shivam Dube and ber last year war Kumar, Yuzvendra Cha- ban for breaching the Inter- game was to go ahead. ment measures put in place to quicks Shardul Thakur and Mo- hal, Jasprit Bumrah, Navdeep national Cricket Council’s That followed a call from try and stop the spread of the hammed Shami from the squad Saini, Kuldeep Yadav, Shubman Anti-Corruption code, Iqbal Italy’s sports minister Vincen- virus. which lost 3-0 in New Zealand. Gill. was handed the captaincy..