SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2013 SPORTS England draw tour opener SYDNEY: Stand-in England captain ting order. Matthew Prior praised his team for improv- Pace trio Chris Tremlett, Steven Finn and ing during their tour opener against the Boyd Rankin all laboured with the ball, tak- West Australia Chairman’s XI despite man- ing seven wickets between them in the aging only an unconvincing draw against match, but just two in the home team’s first the second-string side. innings. The three-day match in Perth ended Tremlett finished with just one wicket when the home team called a halt at 168 for the match, while Finn and Rankin for five in their second innings, represent- picked up three each, and the trio conced- ing an overall lead of 228 after England was ed 425 runs between them. dismissed for 391 in reply to the Chairman However, Prior said he was pleased with XI’s 451 for five declared. the trio’s bowling on the final day. Batting Up against a side comprising fringe first- hopefuls Gary Ballance, who was dismissed class players, the tourists were largely dis- first ball, and Ben Stokes (4) also failed to appointing, aside from centuries to key grasp their opportunity, although Michael batsmen Ian Bell and Jonathan Trott. Carberry made the most of his chance at They didn’t appear to have gained much the top of the order, making 78 to advance insight into their best side for the first his cause. Brisbane Test, starting on November 21, The tourists’ fielding also left a lot to be with almost all their fringe players failing to desired, with six catches going to ground. fire. However, Prior said the England team One positive for England was the form of got exactly what they needed from the key batsmen Bell and Trott, who both outing, claiming the tourists improved scored centuries. markedly as the match went on. Trott hit an unbeaten 113 and Bell “I think we got a huge amount from it,” retired when on 115, the pair spending he said. “In all departments, we gradually valuable time in the middle as they shared got better throughout the game, certainly in a 197-run partnership before the latter in the field, and from a fielding and bowl- decided to give his teammates the chance ABU DHABI: Red Bull Racing’s Australian driver Mark Webber drives during the qualifying session at the Yas Marina circuit. —AFP ing point of view. for some time in the middle. “The first day obviously wasn’t great. But Trott batted for 342 minutes, hitting 10 there’s reasons for that - a bit of rustiness - fours and one six, while Bell, who led the and that’s why we’re here four weeks early. aggregates in the Ashes series earlier this “To make sure we have the games and to year, faced 165 balls with 19 fours and two clear the cobwebs before the first Test sixes. Webber on pole match.” Queensland’s Chris Lynn followed up his England rested several key players for 104 with an unbeaten 61, while star WA all- the match, including captain Alastair Cook rounder Mitch Marsh also performed (sore back), allowing the opportunity for strongly with quick-fire knocks of 58 and some Test hopefuls to push their claims, 62. England’s next tour game is a four-day- most notably for the third seamer’s posi- er against Australia A, starting in Hobart on in Abu Dhabi GP tion and the spot at number six in the bat- Wednesday. —AFP ABU DHABI: Mark Webber seized pole position tors’ crown in a row in India. gling in practice. Brazilian team mate Felipe for the floodlit Abu Dhabi Grand Prix yesterday “We lost it in turn one, sorry guys,” the 26- Massa, who is leaving the team at the end of the with Red Bull team mate and quadruple world year-old had said over the team radio. Mercedes year, qualified one place ahead of the double champion Sebastian Vettel making a rare error filled the second row at the Yas Marina circuit, champion. “All weekend we haven’t been so and having to settle for second best. with Germany’s Nico Rosberg qualifying third quick and in qualifying we were not so fast,” The pole, with Webber approaching the end and Britain’s 2008 world champion Lewis Alonso told reporters. “Also my laps were not so of his Formula One career this month, was the Hamilton fourth despite spinning off on his final clean and I lost a couple of tenths. Maybe it is Australian’s 13th in 12 years and second in three lap. Only Vettel and Hamilton, when he was with better to start in this position tomorrow.” races. McLaren, had previously qualified on pole in the Kimi Raikkonen, who is third overall and 24 “Mark did a very good lap so congratulations four races to date in the Emirate. points behind Alonso, qualified fifth for Lotus in to him,” said Vettel, who is chasing his seventh Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso, currently second a race he had contemplated not coming to only win in a row after wrapping up a fourth succes- overall and fighting to lift his team ahead of days earlier. The Ferrari-bound Finn, who told sive title with victory from pole in India last Mercedes and back to second in the construc- reporters on Friday that he had not been paid all weekend. tors’ championship, had a miserable evening season and could yet walk out of the final two “I should have done a little bit better, but I and will start 11th. races in Austin, Texas, and Brazil, will have don’t know if it would have been enough. He did It was the first time this season the Spaniard Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg alongside. a great job, no mistakes,” added the German, has failed to qualify in the top 10 but it came as Raikkonen’s team mate Romain Grosjean quali- whose team also secured their fourth construc- no surprise after Ferrari appeared to be strug- fied a disappointing seventh. —Reuters All Blacks continue unbeaten run TOKYO: An unusually sloppy New Zealand contin- ued their unbeaten run this season with an eight- try 54-6 victory over a combative and tenacious Japan side in their rugby test at Prince Chichibu Memorial Stadium yesterday. Charles Piutau (two), Sam Cane, Ben Smith, Richie McCaw, Jeremy Thrush, Frank Halai, Beauden Barrett all scored tries for the All Blacks, who effi- ciently put away their scoring opportunities but were let down by messy patches. Flyhalf Daniel Carter added five conversions while Barrett added two late conversions. Japan fullback Ayumu Goromaru slotted two first half penalties for the home side, who were hemmed inside their own territory for much of the game but will take heart from their improved performance. The match was significant for being the first outside of a World Cup between the two sides, with the All Blacks having recorded victories of 145-17 and 83-7 and few had expected the result yesterday to be any different. The world champions had said they wanted to AUSTRALIA: English bowler Ben Stokes delivers the ball on day three of the Ashes use the match to introduce some of their less expe- cricket tour match against a Western Australian Chairmanís XI at the WACA ground in rienced players to test rugby, with nine players sent Perth. —AFP directly to Paris to prepare for their clash with France next week. New Zealand coach Steve Hansen gave starts to SCOREBOARD Dominic Bird and Halai and also introduced Jeffrey JAPAN: New Zealand’s All Blacks Beauden Barrett (second right) and Japan’s Yoshikazu Fujita Toomaga-Allen and Luke Whitelock off the bench (left) fight for the ball during their rugby test match at the Prince Chichibu Memorial Rugby PERTH, Australia: Scoreboard on the final day of the three-day tour match between the WA to bring the total of new caps to 21 since he took Ground. —AFP Chairman’s XI and England at the WACA Ground in Perth yesterday: over following the 2011 World Cup. vantage, and clinical at the lineout where they also against those types of teams for 50 minutes to WA Chairman’s XI 1st innings 451-5 dec (C Lynn 104) (Anderson), 10-391 (Rankin). “It was a very good game for us in a number of contested on New Zealand’s throw. keep the pressure,” Japan’s stand-in coach England 1st innings (overnight 270-2) Bowling: Cockley 3-0-7-0 (2w), Duffield 23.3-3-96- ways. We got some new people on track, they got “The Japanese put us under pressure at times. Wisemantel said. Michael Carberry c Allenby b Turner 78 2 (9nb), Dixon 18.3-1-107-0 (5nb), Beer 28-6-87-2, some experience and understood what it’s like to Joe Root lbw b Allenby 36 Allenby 22.5-6-58-4, Turner 6-0-34-1. Their scrum was pretty good, they scrummaged “We gave away a few cheap tries and that’s be an All Black,” Hansen told reporters. well,” said New Zealand captain McCaw. where we let the game slip.” The home crowd, who Jonathan Trott not out 113 WA 2nd innings “We got Richie (McCaw) and Dan (Carter) back Ian Bell retired 115 Luke Towers c Anderson b Rankin 1 All Black prop Ben Franks concurred, saying painted the sold out stadium red, greeted Japan’s Gary Ballance c Triffitt b Duffield 0 Marcus Harris lbw Rankin 22 on track and they got some time.” Japan had a trou- Japan’s low scrum, which pushed back the visiting rare attacking chances with enthusiasm, with Matthew Prior c Triffitt b Duffield 4 Chris Lynn not out 61 bled build-up with coach Eddie Jones hospitalised pack on a few occasions, gave them trouble.