FOOTBALL | Page 5 NBA| Page 6 Messi nets Curry drops in To Advertise here 50th goal in 26 as Golden Call: 444 11 300, 444 66 621 Argentina’s 3rd Warriors beat straight win Wizards 102-94 Thursday, March 31, 2016 CRICKET Jumada II 22, 1437 AH India bank on spin GULF TIMES to blunt West Indian batting arsenal SPORT Page 2 CRICKET Roy’s belligerent knock steers England into fi nal New Zealand’s bowlers, who had shone in the team’s unbeaten run to the semis, were at the receiving end of some brutal hitting that kept the packed house in Delhi entertained AFP SCORECARD New Delhi England opener Jason Roy New Zealand: A. Hales c Munro b Santner ...................20 belts the New Zealand M. Guptill c Buttler b Willey ...................... 15 J. Root not out ....................................................27 pener Jason Roy’s 78 helped bowling in Delhi yesterday. K. Williamson c and b Ali ........................... 32 E. Morgan lbw Sodhi ....................................... 0 England sail into cricket’s C. Munro c Ali b Plunkett.......................... 46 J. Buttler not out ............................................... 32 World Twenty20 fi nal with a C. Anderson c Jordan b Stokes .......... 28 Extras (lb 1, w1) ...................................................2 crushing seven-wicket win R. Taylor c Morgan b Jordan .................... 6 Total (for 3 wickets, 17.1 overs) ..........159 Oover New Zealand in the last four in Did not bat: L. Ronchi c Willey b Stokes ........................ 3 B. Stokes, M. Ali, C. New Delhi yesterday. G. Elliott not out ...................................................4 Jordan, A. Rashid, D. Willey, L. Plunkett Chasing 154 for victory, England rode M. Santner c Jordan b Stokes .................. 7 Fall of wickets: 1-82 (Hales), 2-110 (Roy), on a brisk 82-run partnership between M. McClenaghan run out ...............................1 3-110 (Morgan) Roy and Alex Hales to canter home in Extras (b1, lb4, w6) .......................................... 11 Bowling: Anderson 1-0-16-0, Milne 17.1 overs after the bowlers had restrict- Total (for 8 wickets, 20 overs)........... 153 3-0-27-0, McClenaghan 3-0-24-0, Sant- ed a much-fancied New Zealand to 153 Did not bat: A. Milne, I. Sodhi ner 3.1-0-28-1, Sodhi 4-0-42-2, Elliott for eight. Fall of wickets: 1-17 (Guptill), 2-91 (Wil- 3-0-21-0 Roy rose to the occasion, smashing liamson), 3-107 (Munro), 4-134 (Taylor), England won by seven wickets four boundaries in the very fi rst over 5-139 (Ronchi), 6-139 (Anderson), 7-150 Toss: England against Corey Anderson to set the tone (Santner), 8-153 (McClenaghan) Umpires: Kumar Dharmasena (SRI) for what turned out to be a perfect chase Bowling: Willey 2-0-17-1, Jordan 4-0- and Rod Tucker (AUS) for the 2010 champions. 24-1, Plunkett 4-0-38-1, Rashid 4-0-33-0, TV umpire: Bruce Oxenford (AUS) New Zealand’s bowlers, who had Stokes 4-0-26-3, Ali 2-0-10-1 Match referee: David Boon (AUS) shone in the team’s unbeaten run to England: Reserve umpire: Joel Wilson (WIS) the semis, were at the receiving end of J. Roy b Sodhi ...................................................... 78 some brutal hitting that kept the packed house at Feroz Shah Kotla entertained. The introduction of spin after six kett for three straight boundaries in the slice went straight into the safe hands of overs of powerplay did little to improve sixth over of the innings to set the pace Ali at third man. England’s fi elders con- the situation but Mitchell Santner gave and his reverse-hit for a six against Adil tinued to pouch their catches and Morgan the Kiwis their fi rst breakthrough when Rashid brought the house down. dived beautifully at extra cover to get rid he got Hales (20) out. But Morgan then juggled his bowlers of Ross Taylor off Chris Jordan. Leg-spinner Ish Sodhi also tried to his hat-trick, and a composed Joe Root fi rst to restrict New Zealand after a poor Munro (46) and Williamson (32) around and off -spinner Moeen Ali’s in- The wickets quickly tumbled and bring some drama back into the game (27) then drove England to their second start. proved too hot to handle for England’s troduction in the 11th over soon saw the New Zealand’s run-rate, which had after picking the wickets of Roy and World T20 fi nal, with Buttler hitting a New Zealand lost opener Martin pacers as the duo took a special liking to back of Williamson. started impressively, plummeted. Eoin Morgan (0) to leave himself on a four and two sixes against Sodhi to fi n- Guptill early but Kane Williamson and Liam Plunkett and Stokes in the open- Plunkett did well in his second spell to Stokes was going for a hat-trick near hat-trick, but England made sure they ish things off in style. Colin Munro counter-attacked with a ing stages, both of whom came back deny the dangerous Munro, whose 32- the end after sending back Luke Ronchi stayed on course. Earlier, England’s bowlers responded 74-run partnership to lay a solid foun- well in their second spells. ball knock included seven boundaries and for three and the hard-hitting Ander- Jos Buttler (32), who denied Sodhi well to their captain’s decision to fi eld dation before the Kiwis faltered late on. Left-hander Munro smacked Plun- a six. He was denied his fi fty when a wild son for 28. BOTTOMLINE Al Ahli’s Meshal wins player of the month award, Adam takes coaching honours By Sports Reporter Doha l Ahli striker Meshal Ab- dulla has been announced as the QSL player of the month for March. The player will Areceive the award at Al Ahli’s training ground. The Qatari international has been in fi ne form this month, scoring cru- cial goals against Umm Salal and local rivals Al Arabi helping the Brigadiers pull away from the QSL relegation zone. His record of four goals in three QSL games has helped him pick up the coveted trophy. Statistics from Prozone, The QSL’s statistical partner, show how Meshal Al Ahli coach Yousuf Adam led the way in the month of March. Firstly, the striker sprinted more to glory as he claimed his fi rst ever Perhaps more impressive is that the than many of his peers – on average QSL player of the month award. victories came over teams in a higher he clocked up 458m of sprinting per QSL Coach of the month- league position. match – which is signifi cantly higher Yousuf Adam In front of goal, Al Ahli scored nine than the QSL average of 329m for a Al Ahli’s head coach Yousuf Adam times in just three QSL games. Sta- striker. has been awarded the coach of the tistics from Prozone, QSL’s statistical Meshal is dangerous with the ball at month award for March. This is the partner show that Ahli had an average his feet and can threaten any defence fi rst time that a QSL head coach has of 7 shots on target per game. How- on his day. No wonder then that the goal was typifi ed with his brace in the It’s unsurprising then that the Al their target, with 1.7 of his shots hit- picked up the award. ever, the sides overall fi tness running veteran attacker drew the most fouls 4-2 victory over Umm Salal. His goals Ahli man excelled at goals in the pen- ting their mark again much higher The Brigadiers have put in impres- can be a measure of their success in from his opponents in March, being eff ectively assured Ahli of all three alty area. In March, he averaged an than the average tally of 0.98 for QSL sive performances during the month March. The side totaled 11,332 meters on the receiving end of 2.3 tackles, points against a spirited Umm Salal impressive 1.3 goals per game from strikers. of March picking up wins against Umm this month, more than the QSL average higher than the average of 2.21. outfi t. inside the box, signifi cantly higher So from sprinting, plenty of shots Salal and Al Arabi. Crucially these of 10,400 metres. Meshal scored some crucial goals in The result gave his side relief from than the QSL average of 0.4 shots. and crucially plenty of goals Meshal timely wins have helped Al Ahli pull Ahli are set to play bottom placed February, his hard running and eye for the QSL relegation zone. Importantly most of his eff orts found has fi red his side to safety, and himself away from the QSL relegation zone. Mesaimeer in round 24 of the QSL. Gulf Times 2 Thursday, March 31, 2016 CRICKET PREVIEW REASON Unfancied Windies out to win back India bank on spin respect: Sammy to blunt West Indian batting arsenal ‘You can’t rely on one batsman, yes the others have contributed, but still at the same time, if we can do a bit more... I think we will feel the pressure slightly less’ West Indies captain Darren Sammy at a news conference. Reuters and, with the next World Twen- Reuters Mumbai ty20 scheduled in four years’ Mumbai time in Australia, the current campaign could be the swansong est Indies’s tumul- for a few of them. he second World Twenty20 tuous build-up to Sammy felt it had made the semi-fi nal is likely to hinge on the World Twen- players more focused. who emerges on top in the bat- ty20 has knit the “Looking at the calendar year tle between the big-hitting West Wplayers together and they will after this World Cup, I don’t see TIndian batsmen and India’s wily spinners have no better stage than today’s any T20 internationals sched- when the former champions clash at the semi-fi nal against India to ex- uled,” said the ever-smiling Wankhede Stadium today.