Sports

SOUTHAMPTON: Jos Buttler is convinced Zak Crawley’s double century against Pakistan will be the curtain-raiser ‘to a very special career’ after sharing a huge stand with his England team-mate during the third Test on Saturday. Crawley converted an overnight 171 not out, his maiden Test century, into an epic knock of 267. Together with Buttler, whose 152 was just his second …

SOUTHAMPTON: Pakistan captain Azhar Ali led from the front with a brilliant undefeated 141, but England still enforced the follow-on at Southampton on Sunday as James Anderson was left frustratingly short of becoming the first paceman to take 600 Test wickets. Pakistan were dismissed for 273, a huge 310 runs behind England’s imposing 583-8 declared, on the third day of …

The new coronavirus is circulating four times more among people under 40 in France than over among 65-year-olds, France’s health minister said, though he warned that contamination was on the rise among the elderly and more vulnerable too. “We’re in a risky situation,” Olivier Veran said in an interview with France’s Journal Du Dimanche (JDD) published on Sunday, adding that …

mud LAHORE: Former Test all-rounder Mudassar Nazar on Saturday strongly criticised the Pakistan Cricket Board for what he claimed ignoring merit in the appointments of new panel of coaches, particularly of the six provincial cricket associations. Mudassar, who featured in 76 Tests and 122 ODIs between 1976 and 1989, expressed his regret over the recent appointments of 36 coaches with …

PERTH: Alex Carey said on Saturday he is disappointed to no longer be a vice-captain but understands why the decision was made to streamline the leadership of Australia’s white-ball cricket teams. Skipper Aaron Finch will now only have Pat Cummins as his deputy in the One-day International and Twenty20 teams, after a review found joint vice-captains were no longer needed. …

PARIS: Two positive novel coronavirus (Covid-19) cases within a week for a Tour de France team will result in the outfit being kicked out of the event starting on Aug 29, the race organisers said on Friday. “If a team has two positive cases or [members] with strong symptoms within a seven-day period, they will be out of the race,” …

LONDON: Former captain Nasser Hussain urged the England batsmen to learn from their approach against Pakistan leg-spinner Yasir Shah with tours to Sri Lanka and India coming up in the winter. Hussain, writing in his column for the Daily Mail, pointed out how the English batsmen were trying to play the Pakistan leg-spinner on the backfoot ‘as if he were Shane Warne’. He …

SOUTHAMPTON: Veteran seamer James Anderson made early inroads to leave Pakistan tottering at 24-3 after England rode on brilliant knocks from Zak Crawley and Jos Buttler to post 583-8 declared on the second day of the third and final Test against Pakistan on Saturday. England, 1-0 up in the rubber and looking for a first series win over Pakistan in …

NEW YORK: Men’s world top-ranked tennis star Novak Djokovic says he nearly skipped the US Open but plans to play the Grand Slam event despite novel coronavirus (Covid-19) concerns in part to chase history. Djokovic, a 17-time Grand Slam singles champion, told the New York Times that trying to catch Roger Federer’s men’s record 20 Slam crowns was ‘of course’ a major …

MELBOURNE: Former Australia all-rounder Cameron White ended his nearly two-decade-long professional cricket career on Friday, saying he wants to focus on coaching. “I’ve definitely finished up playing, that’s for sure,” White, who turned 37 this week, told Cricket Australia website. “To be totally honest, I’m pretty content. I think my time is definitely up, I’ve had enough from a playing …