NNBABA | Page 5 FFOOTBALLOOTBALL | Page 7 Warriors Kane proud down Cavs as to end year Thunder, Wiz as top scorer score wins in Europe Wednesday, December 27, 2017 CRICKET Rabia II 9, 1439 AH Warner hits ton GULF TIMES as England suffer in third Test SPORT Page 3 CRICKET Lambs abroad? Buoyant India aim for win in S Africa AFP overs side in Kohli’s recent absence. from Asia. At any given time you cannot sit on sports journalist Ayaz Memon told AFP. New Delhi “But I want to reiterate about our home sea- your past laurels,” former captain Bishan Singh “South Africa lost badly to India when they son, it’s never easy to beat anyone. We were Bedi told AFP. came here in 2015. India may have won the odd challenged at diff erent times and we came “To prove it to yourself, not to the world, that Test but they have never won a series in South irat Kohli’s India head for a gruelling back.” you are worthy of the number one position. It’s Africa and Australia,” he added. tour of South Africa today looking for Overseas success against weakened West In- not easy to get there but even more diffi cult to India are pinning their hopes on the pace a record-breaking tenth straight Test dies and Sri Lanka sides in the past two years, stay there,” the ex-spinner added. quartet of Mohamed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Is- series triumph, but they will have to and India’s invincibility at home, has led pun- Apart from hosts Australia losing to South hant Sharma and Bhuvneshwar Kumar to make Vovercome a reputation for being bad travellers. dits to back Kohli’s side to put up a strong chal- Africa 2-1 in 2016-2017, and visiting England an impact on fast-paced South African tracks. India, who beat New Zealand, England and lenge to South Africa, who are second in the beating the Proteas in 2015-2016, the top Test- The fast bowlers played a signifi cant role Australia in a powerful home season to consoli- Test rankings and have never lost to India at playing nations have enjoyed hegemony on during India’s 1-0 win over Sri Lanka as they date their number one Test ranking, celebrated home. home turf. equalled Australia’s record of nine Test series their last major away victory in 2008-2009 India will play three Tests, six one-day inter- The Indians, once labelled “tigers at home victories between 2005-2008. when they beat the Kiwis 1-0 in a three-Test nationals and three Twenty20 matches during and lambs abroad” in Test cricket, have a chance Promising fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah, who series. the two-month tour. The series begins with the of breaking new ground in South Africa’s den. awaits his Test debut, and Hardik Pandya also “Looking forward to the South Africa tour, fi rst Test in Cape Town on January 5. “Most teams are doing well at home and add to India’s pace brigade to match Proteas’ it’s going to be a diff erent challenge,” said Ro- “They had a very good 2017. They have to struggling overseas. So this is an opportunity attack of Vernon Philander, Kagiso Rabada and hit Sharma, who captained the Indian limited- carry on with the good work overseas also, away for India to move away from the pack,” veteran Dale Steyn. Gulf Times 2 Wednesday, December 27, 2017 SPORT SQUASH CRICKET Teammates and rivals marvel at Spain’s Pajares ‘freakish’ Smith AFP Melbourne avid Warner says in- beats Qatar’s form Steve Smith is a freakish tal- Dent while England’s leading bowler James Ander- son says the Australia skipper is in the form of his life. Smith was well on the way to posting his fourth consecutive al-Tamimi for title century in the showpiece Box- ing Day Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground after an un- Al-Tamimi had beaten India’s Mahesh Mangaonkar in five games in the semis on beaten 65 in Australia’s 244 for three after day one yesterday. Monday, coming from two games down and saving two match balls in the process The quirky Smith hasn’t been dismissed in a Melbourne By Sports Reporter Test match since Boxing Day come up with a game plan to Doha 2014 and was on track to re- get him out and obviously it peat the feat on a bat-friendly hasn’t worked so far in this MCG pitch. game. atar’s Abdulla al- In the last three showpiece “He’s got a unique tech- Tamimi’s bid to win a Boxing Day Tests, Smith has nique that you wouldn’t coach second home title in scored 192 against India, 134 any other kid.” a row just fell short as not out against the West In- England’s all-time leading Qhe was beaten by Spanish sec- dies and an unbeaten 165 last Test wicket-taker Anderson, ond seed Iker Pajares in the fi nal year against Pakistan. who has had a running battle of the Qatar Circuit (#5) squash So far in this series Smith with Smith during the Ashes tournament yesterday. has amassed 491 runs against series, said it was up to the In a gruelling match that last- England at a stunning average bowlers to fi gure a way to get ed 72 minutes, Pajares edged the of 163.66 from fi ve innings. him out. Qatari number one 11-9, 10-12, “I think we all wish we were “I won’t say I’m sick of the 11-9, 14-2 at the Khalifa Interna- half the batter Steve Smith is sight of him, I would like to tional Tennis and Squash Com- at the moment because he’s get him out but every now and plex. seeing them like watermelons, then you come up against a Al-Tamimi had beaten In- but he makes the game look so player who’s in the form of his dia’s Mahesh Mangaonkar in easy,” said team vice-captain life,” Anderson said. fi ve games in the semi-fi nals Warner, who scored his 21st “He’s the leading runscorer on Monday, coming from two Test century with 103 yester- in Test cricket this year and games down and saving two day. obviously he’s in a hot streak. match balls in the process. “He’s just a freak... I don’t “As a bowler it can be tough Yesterday also, al-Tamimi know how he does what he coming up against someone saved three match balls, at 10- Winner Iker Pajares of Spain (second from right) and runner-up Abdulla al-Tamimi of Qatar (third from right) pose with Tareq Darwish Zainal, does. like that, but it’s our job to try 9, 11-10 and 12-11, but couldn’t secretary-general and Qatar Tennis and Squash Federation (R) and tournament director Saad Saleh al-Mohannadi. PICTURE: Ramchand “He’s very mentally strong, and fi gure on ways of getting repeat the feat a fourth time, al- we always talk about the way him out. lowing the Spaniard to claim the Tour in 2013. Like al-Tamimi, Pajares too pointed to lose the fi nal but gave “Iker is a young talented play- that he prepares. He likes bat- “When someone’s in that trophy. “Abdulla is a very tough com- had a tough semi-fi nal, need- full credit to Pajares. er and today was his day,” added ting time in the nets then out kind of form you just got to “It was a very tough match petitor and you have to be ex- ing over 100 minutes to get past “Obviously it’s disappoint- al-Tamimi, who had won the in the game he just seems to hope that he makes a mistake and I had to play at my very tremely careful while playing former junior world champion ing to lose a fi nal in front of your Qatar Circuit (#4) tournament be hitting every ball out of the or just hope you bowl a ball best,” said the 21-year-old Pa- him because he has all the shots,” Karim El Hammamy. home supporters but you have to beating El Hammamy in the fi nal middle. that’s good enough to get rid jares, who joined the PSA World he added. Al-Tamimi said he was disap- deal with it,” said the Qatari. last month. “England said that they had of him.” Gulf Times Wednesday, December 27, 2017 3 CRICKET FOURTH ASHES TEST SPOTLIGHT Warner ton puts WI batsmen blamed for Australia on top another series aft er Day One loss to New Warner was caught on 99 but replays showed that Curran had overstepped Zealand AFP Gabriel’s fi nal over yielding 15 runs. Christchurch, New Zealand New Zealand rested senior bats- Scorecard man Kane Williamson and bowler Tim Southee, and stand-in skipper Tom he West Indies were again left Latham said less experienced players searching for ways to handle were stepping up, which was promising New Zealand’s bowlers after for the future. crumbling to a 66-run defeat “Obviously it was an outstanding Tin the third one-day international in performance today,” Latham said. Christchurch yesterday. “It was nice that... we managed to The comprehensive win in a rain- scrap to a total and the way the boys abbreviated match extended New Zea- came out and did the job with the ball land’s unbeaten run over the tourists, was outstanding.” giving them a 3-0 sweep of the ODIs The West Indies end their tour with after winning both Tests inside four three Twenty20 matches starting in days earlier this month.