Viviani completes set of grand tour stage wins in Tour de France WEDNESDAY, JULY 10, 2019 PAGE 14 Ooredoo is national partner IAAF WIMBLEDON World Championships 2019 PAGE 15 MEN’S SINGLES QUARTERS Attiyah wins Silk Way Rally Stage 3 in Mongolia, stays in lead QNA vised rally ran for 207.67km in ULAN BATOR a days route of 409.34km be- Rally across tween Baikalsk and the night QATARI champion Nasser halt in Ulan-Ude. It ran on three countries Saleh Al Attiyah extended his gravel tracks through a moun- The rally is held in Russia, lead on the Silk Way Rally 2019 tain pass, taiga forests and in its ninth edition, after win- across various bridges and Mongolia, China and is ning the first place in the third spectacular Siberian terrain to considered as the most stage in Mongolia on Tuesday. finish on the steppes plateau. difficult with a total The rally is held in Russia, Attiyah carded a time of distance of 5000 km. Mongolia, China and is con- 2hrs 15min 51sec for the var- sidered as the most difficult ied special to beat second- conditions and we found a with a total distance of 5000 placed Chinese driver Lui Kun good pace today and now have km and enjoys a large par- by 7min 40sec. a comfortable lead to manage ticipation of cars, motorcycles Attiyah said, “I pushed hard over the coming days. There is Qatar’s Nasser al Attiyah in and trucks. on the first stage to gain the a long way to go over many dif- action in 2019 Silk Way Rally. The second stage of the re- advantage, despite the muddy ficult and varied stages.” CUP TALES Rain pushes India-NZ semis to reserve day dicate skipper Kane Williamson’s only six of the New Zealand innings and success- Williamson, Taylor fifties decision to bat first at Old Trafford. fully overturned a leg-before decision when on 56. Williamson unsurprisingly India’s trusted five-bowlers policy nearly save Kiwis the blushes elected to bat at a venue where backfired with Hardik Pandya hobbling off the India supporters cheer on their team during the 2019 Cricket World teams batting first had won all five field with a hip injury before returning to com- Cup semi-final against New Zealand in Manchester on Tuesday. (AFP) REUTERS previous matches. plete his full quota of 10 overs. MANCHESTER Openers Martin Guptill and Hosts England play defending champions Henry Nicholls found themselves Australia in the second semi-final on Thursday. Tickets at Old Trafford go India’S disciplined bowling attack dominated straitjacketed by India’s new ball New Zealand before intermittent rain washed pair of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and SCOREBOARD out the rest of Tuesday’s play in the first Crick- Jasprit Bumrah, both of whom be- New Zealand for throwaway prices! et World Cup semi-final which will continue on gan with maiden overs. M. Guptill c Kohli b Bumrah 1, H. Nicholls b Jadeja Wednesday. New Zealand had to wait until the 17th 28, K. Williamson c Jadeja b Chahal 67, R. Taylor Ajay Naidu The 2015 finalists were 211-5 in 46.1 overs when delivery to get off the mark, while their not out 67, J. Neesham c Karthik b Pandya 12, C. MANCHESTER rain forced the players off the field and match offi- first boundary came in the final delivery de Grandhomme c Dhoni b Kumar 16, T. Latham not cials waited for more than four hours before decid- of the fourth over. out 3. TUESDAY morning was a very different from the usual scenario ahead ing to take the game to its reserve day. Bumrah dismissed Guptill for one but Extras: (lb4, w13) 17 of an India match. Every time India plays in a big tournament, there is a “Weather permitting, play will recommence to- Williamson again came to his team’s res- Total: (5 wkts, 46.1 overs) 211 great demand for tickets near the stadium where touts have a field day. morrow at 10.30 a.m. (12.30pm Doha time) from cue with a classy 67, his fourth 50-plus Fall of wickets: 1-1 (Guptill), 2-69 (Nicholls), 3-134 However, this time around, one could see only the sellers and no the point at which it was halted,” the governing score in the tournament which includes (Williamson), 4-162 (Neesham), 5-200 (De Grand- buyers. There were a dozen odd touts wanting to sell tickets. To their International Cricket Council said in a statement. two centuries. homme). shock, however, almost everybody who was walking in had a ticket. “New Zealand will be required to complete More importantly, the right-hander Did not bat: M. Santner, M. Henry, L. Ferguson, T. Some others even had an extra ticket or two. their 50-over innings, with India still to bat. stitched together two half-century part- Boult In fact, as the teams lined up for the national anthem, a Gold Stand “Should adverse weather continue through- nerships, first with Nicholls and then Bowling: Kumar 8.1-1-30-1, Bumrah 8-1-25-1, ticket priced at 130 pounds was going for 80 pounds. Silver Stand tick- out the reserve day the match may be shortened. Taylor, to resuscitate New Zealand even Pandya 10-0-55-1 (w5), Jadeja 10-0-34-1, Chahal ets priced at 80 pounds were selling for 60 while Bronze tickets priced India will be required to bat for at least 20 overs though boundaries dried up. 10-0-63-1 (w8). 75 pounds were going for anything between 40 to 50 pounds. to complete the match.” The abandoned June 13 His side went through nearly 14 overs An hour into the match, tickets were being offered at throwaway group contest between the teams was one of the without a boundary and Williamson fell to India: Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli (capt), prices. For an India match point of view this was very unusual. And record four ‘no-result’ matches in the rain-hit an uncharacteristic soft dismissal, slicing Rishabh Pant, MS Dhoni (wkt), Dinesh Karthik, for a match as big as a World Cup semi-final featuring India, this tournament. Yuzvendra Chahal to Ravindra Jadeja at Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Ku- was shocking because people usually come in large number and Ross Taylor will resume on 67 with Tom backward point. mar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah pay alarming sums to buy tickets. There were two big reasons cited Latham on three after New Zealand failed to vin- Taylor brought up his fifty with the Toss: New Zealand. for such a scenario. One most of the Indians fans expected to come to England had not anticipated a last minute change in the semi-final line ups. They expected India to play England on July 11 in Birmingham and they booked their flights and hotels accordingly. The other reason is that many Indian fans who live in London thought they had very little chance of getting a ticket. And they all stayed away from taking the five-hour road journey from London to Manchester. Whatever may be the reason the fans who came ready to buy tickets at expensive rates weren’t complaining one bit. In fact, they spread the word fast to all their friends and relatives that tickets were available at throwaway prices. India’s possible chase scenario In case New Zealand doesn’t bat again, India’s target to win would be In 46 overs will be 237 runs; In 40 overs will be 223; In 35 overs will be 209; In 30 overs will be 192; In 25 overs will be 172; And in 20 overs will be 148. If a 20 overs per side match cannot be completed on Wednesday as well, India would go through to the final on the basis of having finished first to NZ’s fourth in the 10-team group stage. A rain-soaked Old Trafford after the 2019 Cricket World Cup first semi-final between India and New Zealand was suspended in Manchester on Tuesday. (AFP) Plunkett warns Australia: England a ‘different animal’ now AFP ence and have won the past four man of the current England this four-year cycle. This jour- being the top-ranked side on BIRMINGHAM World Cup meetings between squad, making his interna- ney we’ve been on, with this home soil. the teams – including a group tional bow as far back as 2005 group of boys, it comes down “People can thrive on it, LIAM Plunkett has warned match earlier in this tourna- and earning his previous taste We’re a different sort of to this.” people step out there and enjoy Australia that England are a ment – but paceman Plunkett of World Cup cricket 12 years animal compared to our last The hosts slipped up three those moments. Other people “different sort of animal” from insists times have changed. ago in the West Indies. teams. We’re ranked number times in the group stage, suf- have played under pressure, their predecessors as they pre- “They’ve been there and He has witnessed the evo- one and we feel in a good fering defeats to Pakistan, Sri they’ve played in IPL and com- pare for a blockbuster World done it before but not against lution of England’s one-day place. On our day we can Lanka and Australia. petitions around the world. Cup semi-final. this bunch of players,” he said. cricket and has never known a beat anyone in the world. One consistent factor in “Australia is a game that The Ashes rivals meet in “We’re a different sort of ani- better mood in the camp.