BRIDGETOWN, Barbados: Shannon Gabriel produced an outstanding effort of consistently fast bowling to lead the West Indies to a 106-run victory over Pakistan 80 minutes after lunch on the final day of the second Test at Kensington Oval in Barbados on Thursday.
Set a target of 188 after leg-spinner Yasir Shah’s seven for 94 wrapped up the home side’s second innings at 268 at the start of the day, the tourists were never in contention after the pace barrage on a deteriorating pitch led by Gabriel, whose innings figures of five for 11 contributed to Pakistan’s demise for just 81 off 34.4 overs.
It equaled the lowest total ever in a Test innings at the venue set by India, also in a losing effort chasing 120, against the West Indies in 1997 and leaves the series at 1-1 going into the final Test in Dominica starting next Wednesday.
Troubled by injuries and no balls throughout his comparatively brief career, the burly fast bowler earned the Man of the Match award with overall figures of nine for 92, the third-best by a West Indian against Pakistan.
Only wicketkeeper-batsman Sarfraz Ahmed and fast bowler Mohammad Amir, who contributed 23 each, offered any resistance to Gabriel, Alzarri Joseph (two for 42) and Jason Holder (three for 23), the West Indies captain having the satisfaction of taking the final wicket when Ahmed was caught by Roston Chase on the long-on boundary to trigger the Caribbean side’s celebrations.
“We knew we had a chance once we got a lead over 150,” said Gabriel as he savored the success.
“I just concentrated on bowling the right areas at pace and everything worked out for me and the team. This was a total team effort.”
Gabriel started the rout with the wicket of first innings century-maker Azhar Ali as the opening batsman miscued an attempted pull for Shimron Hetmyer to take a diving catch at midwicket.
Joseph, sharing the new ball with Gabriel, struck in the very next over when Babar Azam flicked at a leg-side delivery for wicketkeeper Shane Dowrich to snare the chance and consign Pakistan’s brightest batting talent to the indignity of a “pair.”
Joseph should have also accounted for Ahmed Shehzad but the opening batsman, who enjoyed generous slices of luck in scoring 70 in the first innings, was missed at first slip edging an attempted drive.
That disappointment was replaced by even more jubilation in the West Indies camp though, as Holder replaced Gabriel and immediately earned the prized scalp of Younes Khan. Adjudged LBW by on-field umpire Richard Kettleborough, Younes challenged the decision only to have it confirmed by the television replays.
With Joseph tiring, Gabriel was recalled into action to replace the gangling Antiguan and the burly Trinidad and Tobago tear away responded with two critical wickets in the space of three deliveries.
Captain Misbah-ul-Haq was first ruled “not out” to vociferous appeals but replays following a challenge showed an inside-edge that lobbed to Shai Hope at gully and sent the Pakistan captain back to the pavilion without scoring.
He was joined just a few minutes later by Asad Shafiq when the new batsman edged his second delivery for Powell to take the catch at first slip at the third attempt.
“West Indies deserve all the credit for the way their bowlers performed today but I felt we let the match get away from us by letting them get so many runs in the second innings,” said Misbah.
“Our intention was to bat normally and put away the scoring opportunities but they never really came early enough for us to get going.”
Pakistan were in danger of their lowest-ever total when Shehzad and Shadab Khan fell shortly after lunch at 36 for seven. However Ahmed and Amir took them past the ignominious low of 49 in a 42-run stand that only delayed the inevitable.
Gabriel was brought back into the attack to the break the partnership with the wicket of Amir and completed a five-wicket innings haul when he bowled Shah for the fourth duck of the innings.
It was then left to Holder to finish off the match with the wicket of Ahmed even if it meant denying Gabriel a first ten-wicket match haul in Test cricket.
SCOREBOARD
West Indies (first innings): 312
Pakistan (first innings): 393
West Indies (second innings): 268
Pakistan (second innings):
A. Ali c Hetmyer b Gabriel 10
A. Shehzad lbw Joseph 14
B. Azam c wkpr Dowrich b Joseph 0
Y. Khan lbw Holder 5
Misbah ul Haq c Hope b Gabriel 0
A. Shafiq c Powell b Gabriel 0
S. Ahmed c Chase b Holder 23
S. Khan c wkpr Dowrich b Holder 1
M. Amir c Singh b Gabriel 23
Y. Shah b Gabriel 0
M. Abbas not out 0
Extras: 8
Total: 81
Fall of wkts: Fall of wickets: 1-10, 2-11, 3-27, 4-30, 5-30, 6-35, 7-36, 8-78 (Amir), 9-81, 10-81.
Bowling: S. Gabriel 11-4-11-5 (1nb), A. Joseph 12-1-42-2, J. Holder 11.4-4-23-3 (2nb).
Windies levels series as Pakistan falls under Gabriel’s spell
Windies levels series as Pakistan falls under Gabriel’s spell
Jake Paul beats 58-year-old Mike Tyson as hits failed to match the hype
- Downdetector reported that the outage primarily impacted users in major metropolitan areas, including New York, Seattle and Los Angeles
ARLINGTON, Texas: Jake Paul won a unanimous decision over Mike Tyson as the hits didn’t match the hype in a fight between a young YouTuber-turned-boxer and the 58-year-old former heavyweight champion Friday night.
All the hate from the pre-fight buildup was gone, with Paul even stopping to pay homage with a bow to Tyson before the final bell sounded at the home of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys.
The fight wasn’t close on the judge’s cards, with one giving Paul an 80-72 edge and the other two calling it 79-73.
Tyson came after Paul immediately after the opening bell and landed a couple of quick punches but didn’t try much else the rest of the way.
Even fewer rounds and shorter rounds couldn’t do much to generate action for a 58-year-old in his first sanctioned pro fight in almost 20 years, facing a boxing neophyte with hopes of fighting for championships somewhere in the future.
Paul was more aggressive after the quickly burst from Tyson in the opening seconds, but the punching wasn’t very efficient. There were quite a few wild swings and misses.
Tyson mostly sat back and waited for Paul to come to him, with a few exceptions. It was quite the contract the co-main event, another slugfest in which Katie Taylor kept her undisputed super lightweight championship with a decision over Amanda Serrano.
It was the first sanctioned fight since 2005 for Tyson. Paul started fighting a little more than four years ago.
The fight was originally scheduled for July 20 but had to be postponed when Tyson was treated for a stomach ulcer after falling ill on a flight.
Kosovo players walk off in Romania game after ‘Serbia’ chants
Bucharest: A Nations League game between Romania and Kosovo in Bucharest was suspended on Friday in injury time after fans in the crowd shouted “Serbia!.”
The Kosovo players left the pitch after the chants, leading to the game to be paused with the score 0-0.
Animosity between Kosovo and Serbia has persisted since the war between Serbian forces and ethnic Albanian insurgents in the late 1990s.
Kosovo and Serbia do not play each other in UEFA and FIFA tournaments.
Football’s world governing body opened disciplinary proceedings against Serbia during the 2022 World Cup after the team hung a flag in their changing room depicting Kosovo as part of Serbia.
Kosovo joined FIFA and European confederation UEFA in 2016.
When Romania played in Pristina, they beat Kosovo 3-0.
Ronaldo shines as Portugal rout Poland to reach Nations League last-eight
PORTO, Portugal: Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice as Portugal staged a second-half supershow to crush Poland 5-1 and reach the Nations League quarter-finals on Friday.
Portugal join France, Germany, Italy and Spain in the last-eight while Poland’s hopes of going through from Group A1 were ended.
Having struggled to plant a shot on target in the first half, Portugal stepped on the accelerator after the break.
Rafael Leao broke the deadlock in Porto just before the hour mark after starting and finishing the move.
The AC Milan striker raced away and passed to Nuno Mendes whose cross from the left was headed powerfully past Marcin Bulka in the Portugal goal.
Thirteen minutes later, skipper Ronaldo got his name on the scoresheet, converting a penalty after Jakub Kiwior was penalized for a handball in the area.
Manchester United’s Bruno Fernandes made it 3-0 in the 80th minute, scoring after a clever run by Vitinha.
Pedro Neto added the fourth three minutes later after Ronaldo’s fine pass which left the Polish defense stranded.
As Polish spirits sank, Ronaldo added his second and Portugal’s fifth in the 87th minute with a spectacular overhead kick before Dominik Marczuk tucked away a consolation goal for the visitors.
Poland had enjoyed the better chances before falling behind but their potency in front of goal was blunted by the absence of record goal-scorer Robert Lewandowski who was sidelined with a back injury.
Moments before Leao’s goal, Portuguese keeper Diogo Costa pulled off a fine save to deny Marczuk having also been alert to deny Nicola Zalewski in the first half.
Portugal’s best chance in the first 45 minutes had fallen to Ronaldo who fired a close-range effort over the bar from close range.
Japanese football player Kazuyoshi Miura says he will play next season at age 58
- Miura will turn 58 in February
- He intends to play next season for his fourth-tier Japanese club, Suzuka
TOKYO: Japanese football player Kazuyoshi Miura is several generations older than his teammates. His contemporaries retired decades ago. Lionel Messi is 37, and Cristiano Ronaldo is 39 — mere youngsters compared to Miura.
Miura will turn 58 in February, and the Japanese news agency Kyodo reported this week that he intends to play next season for his fourth-tier Japanese club, Suzuka. It will be his 40th season playing in professional football.
Miura is widely listed as the oldest active professional football player.
Miura scored 55 goals in 89 appearances and was a star with Japan’s national team in the 1990s.
He has played professionally in Brazil, Italy, Croatia, Australia and Portugal. He made his debut in 1986 with Brazilian club Santos, a side made famous by Brazilian star Pele.
Japan beat Indonesia 4-0 to extend group lead in Asian World Cup qualifying
- Japan tops the group on 13 points with five games remaining in the round.
- Australia, Saudi Arabia and China all have 6 points, followed by Bahrain with five and Indonesia with 3
JAKARTA: Japan defeated Indonesia 4-0 on Friday to move seven points clear at the top of Group C in the third round of Asian qualifying for the 2026 World Cup.
Two goals in each half mean the Samurai Blue stays on course for an eighth successive World Cup appearance.
After a bright start from the home team, the 78,000 fans at a sold-out Gelora Bung Karno Stadium were silenced after 35 minutes as Daichi Kamada broke down the left and sent a cross which defender Justin Hubner put into his own net from close range.
Takumi Minamino then scored from inside the area off Kaoru Mitoma’s pass to extend the lead five minutes before the break.
Hidemasa Motira took advantage of an errant pass from Indonesia’s goalkeeper to make it 3-0 early in the second half and Yukinari Sugawara rounded out the scoring in the 69th minute.
Japan tops the group on 13 points with five games remaining in the round. Australia, Saudi Arabia and China all have six points, followed by Bahrain with five and Indonesia with three.
The top two from each of the three groups will be guaranteed a place at the World Cup, with the third- and fourth-place teams progressing to the next stage.
