NNBABA | Page 3 CCRICKETRICKET | Page 5 Lakers set Silverwood to sign guard backs Stokes Smith for rest of to step up as the season England captain Wednesday, July 1, 2020 FOOTBALL Dhul-Qa’da 10, 1441 AH Lampard GULF TIMES hails Chelsea’s ‘men of steel’ SPORT Page 2 OPINION Education City Stadium’s completion a key step on the road to 2022 World Cup ‘TO ME, IT WAS FITTING THAT THE CEREMONY WAS DEDICATED TO THOSE WHO ARE WORKING ON THE FRONTLINE’ By Xavi Hernandez working hard to feed us, look af- tion of Education City Stadium. Doha ter us, provide medicine and take It signalled better times ahead The new brand stranded people home to their and also the progress Qatar con- Education City families. Your eff orts through- tinues to make in the face of so Stadium. PICTURE: arlier this month, from out this once-in-a-lifetime cri- many challenges. Noushad Thekkayil my home in Qatar, I sis make you the real heroes of To me, it was fi tting that the watched intently as the our generation. And for that, I ceremony was dedicated to those Ecountry announced the am eternally grateful to each and who are working on the frontline. completion of Education City every one of you. It made me proud to be part of Stadium and paid tribute to Qatar, where I currently live this journey with Qatar and the frontline healthcare workers – in with my family, has not been Supreme Committee for Delivery this country and beyond – who spared from this crisis. It has & Legacy – for whom I have been pandemic. These sentiments sponsibility) to truly make a dif- ing in many parts of the world. Cup in 2022 the event which have risked their lives to help us been a challenging time – but an ambassador since 2016. were also echoed by Qatar 2022 ference in delivering not only the The pandemic has been a life les- brings the world together after all during these unprecedented thanks to the eff ort and work of My fellow ambassador, Tim CEO Nasser al-Khater on beIN greatest World Cup in tourna- son for us all. I think we will all the pandemic, and I look forward circumstances. the authorities and all the popu- Cahill, wrote a piece recently SPORTS during the launch show. ment history, but also a uniquely appreciate the little things in life – now more than ever before – to I must start this piece by lation, I do see some light at the saying that Qatar 2022 has a I could not agree more with unifying tournament that pulls after this testing time. this tournament truly delivering thanking our key workers in the end of this long, dark tunnel, unique opportunity to be the both Tim and Nasser. All of us, us together, after this unprec- I believe football is the best something more than amazing… healthcare sector, along with both here and around the world. means to help those who have including fans, players, coaches, edented period of separation. and most powerful tool to unite something unique. At a time those working in essential activi- One clear symbolic sign of suff ered so much in this health ambassadors, country leaders I have no doubt that football cultures, countries and people when the world needs it most. ties, for their dedication during hope was this month’s an- crisis, given it is likely to be the and residents of the region, have will help us return to some kind of all backgrounds. We have the Take care of yourselves and these months. All of them are nouncement about the comple- fi rst global football event post- an amazing opportunity (and re- of normalcy. The sport is resum- opportunity to make the World your loved ones. CRICKET Pakistan squad in UK test negative for virus AFP the virus last week will have to stay in secure training camp at the Ageas Bowl the time they face Pakistan, with their ence in their bowling,” captain Azhar London Pakistan for now after failing further ahead of next week’s opening Test home series against West Indies next said before leaving for England on tests. against the West Indies. month to be played in the same kind of Sunday. Mohamed Hafeez, Wahab Riaz, This fi rst fi xture in the three-match bio-secure environment. “But we have the skills: (our bowl- ll 20 players and 11 manage- Mohamed Hasnain, Shadab Khan, series will mark the return of major in- Pakistan left England with their ers) are young and have a lot to offer. ment personnel in the Paki- Mohamed Rizwan and Fakhar Zaman ternational cricket from lockdown. heads held high after their last two They can give trouble to any team in stan touring party have test- are now eligible to travel to England Meanwhile, coach Misbah-ul-Haq tours, drawing both, most recently the world. Rory Burns, Dom Sibley, Aed negative for coronavirus and join the original squad that left has left no stone unturned in his prep- under Misbah in 2018. Joe Denly and Zak Crawley are vying since arriving in Britain, the England on Sunday, the Pakistan Cricket Board arations but Pakistan still look decid- But England have not lost a home se- for the top three spots in England’s and Wales Cricket Board said yester- said. edly undercooked for their three-Test ries since 2014 and Pakistan’s callow top order and Azhar saw an opportu- day. “All the six players were re-tested on series against England in August-Sep- pace attack looks ill-equipped to end nity. “Looking at their batting, their The ECB added that England’s latest Monday, following their fi rst negative tember. that streak. top order has been fragile for some round of tests, for their training group test on June 26,” the PCB confi rmed. Skipper Azhar Ali and his squad Of their frontline quicks, only time since Alastair Cook retired,” he and management conducted on Mon- However, Imran Khan, Kashif Bhat- will discover how much cricket has Mohamed Abbas has played Test said. day had also yielded a complete set of ti, Haider Ali and Haris Rauf tested changed in the six months since their matches in England, with the excit- Pakistan’s bowlers will also be able negative results. positive for a second time. last test, with Covid-19 curbs putting a ing Shaheen Afridi and 17-year-old to call upon the knowledge and expe- England players and staff have now They will not be allowed to travel to stop to the use of saliva to shine the ball Naseem Shah having only 12 Test caps rience of coaches Waqar Younis and had three Covid-19 tests. England until they have recorded two and forcing games to be played without between them. Mushtaq Ahmed, who won a Test se- The ECB’s announcement followed consecutive negative tests. fans. The bulk of the squad arrived on Medium pacer Sohail Khan, who ries in England in 1996. a statement from Pakistan that six Pakistan will play three Tests and Pakistan coach Misbah-ul-Haq Sunday after clearing a battery of tests toured England in 2016 but has not Former captain Younis Khan has also more players had been cleared to join three Twenty20 internationals against and the matches will be staged in a bio- played a Test since the Boxing Day come on board as batting coach for the the tour after recording two successive England starting in August, with the 14-day mandatory quarantine period secure bubble, which will undoubtedly match in Australia that year, has been series and has emphasized the impor- negative Covid-19 tests. exact dates still to be confi rmed. before intra-squad practice games. take some time to get used to. recalled to add his experience. tance of Pakistan’s batsmen posting But the other four of the 10 play- The Pakistan squad arrived in Eng- A 30-strong England squad and England, however, should be well- “In terms of number of games, of a fi rst-innings total in excess of 300 ers who originally tested positive for land late Sunday and have started a support staff are currently in a bio- versed in cricket’s ‘new normal’ by course England have tons of experi- runs. Gulf Times 2 Wednesday, July 1, 2020 FOOTBALL FOCUS UEFA insists ‘no Plan B’ for CL amid virus concerns AFP UEFA announced earlier this edges of Lisbon will go back into Saint-Germain, RB Leipzig Lausanne month that the latter stages of lockdown. and Atalanta all qualifi ed for the Champions League would be Gatherings will be limited to a the quarter-fi nals before the staged exceptionally as a straight maximum of fi ve people in these competition was suspended in EFA president Ale- knockout competition from the areas, compared to 10 people March. ksander Ceferin insists quarter-fi nals onwards with all in the wider Lisbon area and 20 The remaining last 16, sec- Uthere is “no reason to matches in Lisbon. people across the rest of Portu- ond legs are: Juventus v Lyon; prepare a Plan B” for Earlier this month, Ceferin gal. Manchester City v Real Madrid; the fi nal eight of the Champions said UEFA was “assessing the However, Costa is confi dent Bayern Munich v Chelsea and League in Lisbon despite Portu- situation, not week by week but the Champions League will not Barcelona v Napoli. guese authorities reintroducing day by day, and we will adapt be aff ected and said “all meas- It is hoped those matches – set restrictions to curb the spread of when the time comes, if neces- ures are being taken to ensure for August 7 and 8 – will not need coronavirus.