NNBABA | Page 5 RRUGBYUGBY | Page 6 Celtics edge Cokanasiga Raptors in strikes as battle of England beat Eastern powers Japan 35-15 Sunday, November 18, 2018 TENNIS Rabia I 10, 1440 AH Zverev shocks GULF TIMES Federer to reach final of ATP Finals SPORT Page 4 MANATEQ INTERNATIONAL RALLY OF QATAR CRICKET Leach takes Stajf is fi rst non-Arab four as England close in on winner of Qatar rally series victory Al-Attiyah, who had already bagged a Reuters record-breaking 14th MERC title, had Pallekele, Sri Lanka to retire on the first stage of the day ngland’s left-arm spin- since 1986 ner Jack Leach led a strong spin bowling dis- By Sports Reporter play that put the tour- Eists within three wickets of a Losail series-clinching victory against Sri Lanka on an intriguing fourth zech driver Vojtech day of the second Test yesterday. Stajf and his female Chasing 301 to win on a turn- navigator Veronika ing Pallekele track, Sri Lanka Havelkova created their reached 226 for seven when rain Cown little piece of history with ended play for the second con- the fi rst innings, was on 21 when a shock victory in the Manateq secutive day with the hosts still his edge off Moeen fl ew past International Rally of Qatar, the needing 75 to square the three- Stokes at slip and the batsman fi nal round of the FIA Middle Test series at 1-1. also successfully overturned a East Rally Championship, yes- Combative half-centuries leg before decision off Adil Rash- terday. from former captain Angelo id on review. Following Nasser Saleh al- Mathews and opener Dimuth Karunaratne was fi nally out to Attiyah’s retirement on the fi rst Karunaratne had set Sri Lanka up some brilliant fi elding at short leg stage of the day, Stajf cruised to nicely in their chase after Leach’s from Jennings, who anticipated an emphatic win. His success brilliant spell of spin bowling a sweep shot from the batsman marked the fi rst victory in the with the new ball had reduced and moved smartly to his left to Qatar International Rally for a them to 26-3. parry the ball to wicketkeeper Ben non-Arab driver since the late But off -spinner Moeen Ali and Foakes for a catch off Rashid. Bjorn Waldegard’s success with Leach, who has already taken a Stokes missed a relatively co-driver Fred Gallagher in a career-best 4-73 in an innings, easier chance when he dropped Toyota Celica Turbo way back brought England right back in Mathews at slip with the bats- in 1986. The win also marked the game by dismissing Mathews man on seven. The right-hander the fi rst for a non-Qatari driver for 88 and Dilruwan Perera for made England pay dearly with since 2002 and the fi rst MERC two respectively in quick succes- another stand of 73 with Roshen win for the Czech at the end of sion after the tea break. Silva for the fi fth wicket. his debut season. Sri Lanka’s hopes on the fi - England missed a chance to Stajf won the fi rst stage of nal day will rest on wicketkeeper dismiss Silva, who had top- the day and then extended his Niroshan Dickwella, who was un- scored for the hosts with 85 in advantage over Adel Abdulla to beaten on 27 at the close of play. the fi rst innings, on 32 when they 1min 50sec with the fastest time Leach had given England the failed to review a not-out verdict through Al Ghariyah. The Skoda ideal start when he lured Kaushal to an lbw shout off Moeen. Re- Fabia R5 driver’s eventual win- Silva out of his crease with a plays showed it would have been ning margin was 4min 07.8sec. fl ighted delivery to be stumped overturned in their favour. Havelkova is a two-time Slova- for four. Moeen sent Silva back on 37 kian national champion, but this Dhananjaya de Silva was out to with England captain Joe Root was her fi rst event with Stajf. a smart catch by Keaton Jennings opting to successfully review an- The delighted Czech said: “I Czech driver Vojtech Stajf (third from right) and his navigator Veronika Havelkova (third from left), winners of the Manateq International Rally at short leg for one while Kusal other not out decision for a bat- feel sorry for Nasser, but that of Qatar pose on the podium with runners-up Adel Abdulla (second from left) of Qatar and navigator Ziad Chebab (left), and third-placed Mendis was also trapped lbw for pad catch. happens sometimes. That is ral- driver Abdullah al-Kuwari and navigator Nasser al-Kuwari, both from Qatar, yesterday. the same score, with England Mathews and Dickwella lying. We were keeping the pace overturning the umpire’s not out thwarted England further with to be safe from the beginning, decision on review. an attacking 45-run stand for the holding back and waiting for Karunaratne made a dogged 57 sixth wicket before Moeen dis- a possible problem for Nasser. and it was his fourth-wicket stand missed Mathews leg before. That’s what happened. My fi rst of 77 with the experienced Math- England had batted for about rally was actually in 1986 with ews that revived Sri Lanka’s chase. 20 minutes in the morning be- my uncle. That’s when I decided fore they were all out for 346 for to become a rally driver. I am MISSED CHANCES a lead of 300. Foakes followed up so happy for my sponsors, who England wasted chances to dis- his debut century during the win have supported me to experi- miss Karunaratne and Mathews in Galle with an unbeaten 65. ence such a hard and challeng- with all-rounder Ben Stokes the Akila Dananjaya, who was ing event like Rally Qatar. guilty fi elder and off -spinner reported for a suspect bowling “This year’s Middle East Moeen Ali the unfortunate bowl- action after the Galle Test but is Championship was very hard for er on both occasions. free to play, notched up career- me. All the rallies were new for Karunaratne, who made 63 in best fi gures of 6-115 for the hosts. me and all the events were very diff erent. I am still learning at the age of 44, even though I have Scorecard been doing rallies for 22 years. This has been a great challenge.” Qatar’s Nasser Saleh al-Attiyah assesses the damage to the Fiesta R5 Qatar’s Adel Abdulla and navigator Ziad Chebab were impressive on ENGLAND 1st inn 290 all out Bowling: Perera 20.4-2-96- Al-Attiyah and French navi- at the end of SS5 yesterday. debut in a Ford Fiesta R5 to finish runners-up. SRI LANKA 1st inn 336 all out 3, Pushpakumara 27-1-101-1, gator Matthieu Baumel headed Dananjaya 25-0-115-6, De Silva ENGLAND 2nd inn (o/n 324-9) into the opening Al Khor stage ished behind him. But it was puncture and a turbo issue in OVERALL CLASSIFICATION 4. Roger Feghali (LBN) 38pts 4-0-7-0, Lakmal 4-0-14-0 defending a lead of just over two over for us.” stage six. But the Qatari and his (TOP 5) 5. Henry Kahy (LBN) 33pts J. Leach lbw b Perera 1 minutes, but the Qatari’s hopes Qatar’s runner-up Adel Ab- nephew Nasser al-Kuwari se- 1. Vojtech Stajf (CZE)/Veronika 6. Khaled Juma (JOR) 32pts R. Burns lbw b Pushpakumara 59 SRI LANKA 2nd inn of securing a record 14th home dulla and new Lebanese navi- cured the fi nal podium place and Havelkova (CZE) Skoda Fabia R5 7. Adel Abdulla (QAT) 29pts D. Karunaratne c Foakes b Rashid 57 event win were ruined just me- gator Ziad Chebab delivered an won the MERC 2 category. 1hr 39min 46.7sec 8. Christos Demostheous (CYP) K. Jennings c de Silva b Dananjaya tres into the stage when the rear impressive debut performance Mohamed al-Meer was un- 2. Adel Hussein (QAT)/Ziad 25pts 26 K. Silva st Foakes b Leach 4 left-hand drive fl ange broke in a Ford Fiesta R5. able to capitalise on al-Kuwari’s Chehab (LEB) Ford Fiesta R5 1hr 9. Abdullah al-Kuwari (QAT) J. Root lbw b Dananjaya 124 D. de Silva c Jennings b Leach 1 on his Ford Fiesta R5. The crew Abdulla got to grips with the delays when he suff ered his own 43min 54.5sec 24pts B. Stokes lbw b Perera 0 struggled to the stage fi nish, increased performance quickly, time loss in Al Ghariyah. He and 3. Abdullah al-Kuwari (QAT)/ 10. Rodolphe Asmar (LBN) 24pts K. Mendis lbw Leach 1 dropping 2min 40.9sec to new although the loss of over two Ahmad al-Fares reached the fi n- Nasser al-Kuwari (QAT) Mit- J. Buttler b Dananjaya 34 A. Mathews lbw Ali 88 M. Ali lbw b Dananjaya 10 leader Stajf, but retired after the minutes in the seventh stage be- ish in fourth. subishi Lancer Evo X 1hr 52min 2018 FIA MERC 2 STANDINGS R. Silva c Root b Ali 37 fl ying fi nish. cause of power steering issues MERC 3 champion Henry 48.0sec (TOP 10) B. Foakes not out 65 Al-Attiyah said: “The upright cost him any realistic chance of Kahy and Jordanian navigator 4. Mohamed al-Meer (QAT)/Ah- 1. Meshari al-Thefiri (KWT) 117pts N.