FOOTBALL | Page 3 TENNIS | Page 10 England Serena To Advertise here to take on holds on to Call: 444 11 300, 444 66 621 Germany in advance in friendly Miami Saturday, March 26, 2016 CRICKET Jumada II 17, 1437 AH West Indies in GULF TIMES semis aft er thrilling win over S. Africa SPORT Page 2 MOTORSPORT KUWAIT INTERNATIONAL RALLY Al-Attiyah in cruise control ‘We win all the stages and I have a big lead now. The objectives change now though. We have to conserve that lead and make no mistakes on the last day. It is very important for me to win in Kuwait and extend my lead in the championship’ By Our Correspondent Kuwait’s Meshari al-Thefi ri Julai’a, Kuwait produced the standout local performance of the day in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X to atar’s Nasser Saleh al-Atti- hold third overall and second in yah may well be able to hit MERC 2, despite a minor incident the cruise control button on on the second stage when he the fi nal leg of the Kuwait damaged the intercooler QInternational Rally, after he surged into a staggering lead of 6min 23.2sec after lem. I lost third gear and continued the six timed special stages in the southern stage. On the next stage only the fourth Kuwait deserts on Friday. and fi fth gears were working. I retired He and French navigator Matthieu before the last stage.” Baumel were never troubled during a Leader al-Attiyah said: “I fi nish faultless day, where their Skoda Fabia three stages and I am leading and was R5 won every stage to take fi rm control fastest on all three stages. I feel com- and push the 11-time regional cham- fortable and in a safe mood with the pion towards a record sixth win in Ku- Skoda. The Michelin tyres are working wait. well in Kuwait. Everything is fi ne.” “A perfect day for our team, really,” The event is being organised by the refl ected al-Attiyah. “We win all the Basil Salem al-Sabah Motor Racing stages and I have a big lead now. The Club (BMRC) under the chairmanship objectives change now though. We of Sheikh Athbi Nayef Jaber al-Ahmad have to conserve that lead and make al-Sabah and in conjunction with the no mistakes on the last day. It is very General Authority for Sport. important for me to win in Kuwait and Today, teams tackle the remaining extend my lead in the championship.” six desert special stages of the event, A fi erce desert battle raged behind commencing with the fi rst of two runs the leading drivers in the MERC 2 class through the 16.61km of the Bnaider that could well become the highlight of stage. The ceremonial fi nish is sched- the regional championship this year. uled for 16.30hrs outside the Safi r Ho- Yigit Timur began to up his pace tel and Residences in Fintas, south of as the day progressed and the Turk Kuwait City. snatched the MERC 2 lead and second Positions after SS7 (top 5): overall at the end of the sixth stage in a Nasser Saleh al-Attiyah 1. Nasser Saleh al-Attiyah (QAT)/Mat- Tok Sport Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution powers his Skoda across the thieu Baumel (FRA) Skoda Fabia R5 X. By the end of the leg, that advantage Kuwait desert yesterday. 1hr 09min 36.1sec was a mere 4.1 seconds. 2. Yigit Timur (TUR)/Ufuk Uluocak Kuwait’s Meshari al-Thefi ri pro- (TUR) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X duced the standout local performance 1hr 15min 59.3sec of the day in his Mitsubishi Lancer sixth stage and the gap is very small. I navigator Savvas Laos rounded off the rounded off the 10 survivors. “The stages are really nice. I was not 3. Meshari al-Thefiri (KWT)/Nasser al- Evolution X to hold third overall and have the advantage tomorrow, because top fi ve in their Subaru Impreza. Qatar’s Khaled al-Suwaidi and Ital- taking risks or adventures. Nasser is Kuwari (QAT) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X second in MERC 2, despite a minor I know the stages very well. The most The Lebanese duo of Rodolphe As- ian co-driver Giovanni Bernacchini not an easy driver to beat, so I was be- 1hr 16min 03.4sec incident on the second stage when he important thing is to fi nish to celebrate mar and experienced co-driver Joseph were a comfortable second in their ing logical,” said al-Suwaidi. “I did a 4. Rashed al-Nuami (QAT)/Nicola damaged the intercooler. winning the national championship.” Matar held sixth and Saudi rookie Ford Fiesta R5 until they lost over fi ve mistake with the tyres. I put the hard Arena (ITA) Subaru Impreza “I am very happy to fi nish the day Qatar’s Rashed al-Nuami and Ital- Rakan al-Rashed and Finnish naviga- minutes with a broken gearbox in stage compound and was afraid of punc- 1hr 16min 28.2sec in the top three,” said al-Thefi ri. “The ian navigator Nicola Arena were fourth tor Jarkko Kalliolepo were seventh. fi ve and slipped to eighth overall. On- tures. I will try to push a little more 5. Khalifa al-Attiyah (QAT)/Sav- Turkish guy (Timur) is second. Four and third in MERC 2 and al-Attiyah’s Germany’s Edith Weiss and the Ku- going problems cost them further time tomorrow.” vas Laos (CYP) Subaru Impreza seconds between us. I lost time in the brother Khalifa al-Attiyah and Cypriot waiti duo of Saleh Ali and Elie Chachati before they retired before stage seven. “On the fourth stage I have a prob- 1hr 16min 42.6sec CRICKET/ WORLD T20 Smith, Faulkner lift Australia to victory over Pakistan to set up knockout clash with India Reuters Mohali MOHALI SCORECARD Australia Khalid Latif b Faulkner 46 Umar Akmal ustralia beat Pakistan by 21 UT Khawaja b Wahab Riaz ...............................21 b Zampa ..............................................................................32 runs in their World Twen- AJ Finch b Imad Wasim ...................................... 15 Shahid Afridi* st †Nevill b Zampa ............. 14 ty20 Super 10 stage match in DA Warner b Wahab Riaz ................................... 9 Shoaib Malik not out ............................................40 Mohali yesterday to stay on SPD Smith* not out .................................................. 61 Imad Wasim c Coulter-Nile b Faulkner 0 Acourse for the semi-fi nals and elimi- GJ Maxwell c Ahmed Shehzad b Imad Sarfraz Ahmed† c Khawaja b Faulkner 2 nate their opponents from the tourna- Wasim ...................................................................................30 Wahab Riaz c Hazlewood b Faulkner .. 0 ment. SR Watson not out ..................................................44 Mohammad Sami not out .................................4 Australia skipper Steven Smith Extras: (lb 8, w 5)13 Total: (4 wickets; Extras: (b 1, lb 1, w 1) .......................................................3 struck an unbeaten 63 off 43 to steer 20 overs)193 (9.65 runs per over) Fall Total (8 wickets; 20 overs):.............................172 Australia to 193-4, before James of wickets 1-28 (Khawaja, 3.4 ov), 2-42 Did not bat: Mohammad Amir Faulkner took fi ve wickets, including (Warner, 5.1 ov), 3-57 (Finch, 7.2 ov), 4-119 Fall of wickets 1-20 (Ahmed Shehzad, two off consecutive deliveries in the (Maxwell, 13.4 ov) 2.5 ov), 2-40 (Sharjeel Khan, 5.3 ov), 3-85 fi nal over, to help his team seal the win. Bowling: Amir 4-0-39-0, Sami 4-0-53- (Umar Akmal, 10.3 ov), 4-110 (Shahid Man-of-the-match Faulkner gave 0, Riaz 4-0-35-2, Afridi 4-0-27-0, Wasim Afridi, 13.2 ov), 5-147 (Khalid Latif, 17.3 away just 27 runs and was helped by 4-0-31-2 ov), 6-147 (Imad Wasim, 17.4 ov), 7-164 another impressive performance by (Sarfraz Ahmed, 19.1 ov), 8-164 (Wahab Faulkner: young leg-spinner Adam Zampa, who Pakistan (target: 194 runs from 20 Riaz, 19.2 ov) five-wicket haul took two for 32. overs) Bowling: JR Hazlewood 4-0-26-1, Australia, batting fi rst on a green- Sharjeel Khan b Faulkner ...............................30 NM Coulter-Nile 4-0-45-0, JP Faulkner tinged pitch, lost three wickets in Ahmed Shehzad c Coulter-Nile b Hazle- 4-0-27-5, SR Watson 2-0-27-0, A Zampa quick succession, with fi t-again wood............................................................................................ 1 4-0-32-2, GJ Maxwell 2-0-13-02 paceman Wahab Riaz doing the ini- tial damage by bowling in-form Us- man Khawaja for 21 and castling David Warner on nine. deliveries) and then by the big-hitting Pakistan got off to a poor start, kistani skipper Shahid Afridi stumped ing the settled Khalid Latif (46 off 64 the last six balls, ran out of steam. Aaron Finch went next, bowled by Shane Watson. losing Ahmed Shehzad for one, and for 14 and bowled Umar Akmal, who balls) before striking again next ball to The win took Australia to second left-arm spinner Imad Wasim for 15 to Watson struck four fours and three Faulkner picked up the key wicket of was looking dangerous after racking up get Wasim. He was at it again at the place in the fi ve-team group, behind leave Australia struggling on 57-3. sixes to race to an unbeaten 44 off 21 opener Sharjeel Khan who smashed six 32 in 20 balls. death, dismissing Sarfraz Ahmed and New Zealand, who are already through Smith, however, steadied the ship deliveries as Australia took 66 runs off boundaries en route to a quick-fi re 30. But Faulkner took the plaudits with Riaz with his fi rst two deliveries as to the semi-fi nals and ahead of India in aided fi rst by Glenn Maxwell (30 off 24 the last fi ve overs.