timesofindia.indiatimes.com - Zak Crawley's England place under threat after Lord's failure

Zak Crawley's England place under threat after Lord's failure

The 24-year-old managed scores of nine and 13 at Lord's where South Africa triumphed by an innings and 12 runs inside three days to grab a 1-0 lead in the three-match series. Crawley is now without a half-century in his last 14 innings and his unflattering Test average of 26 has prompted questions about his place in the squad. "The problem Zak Crawley has is that we haven't had the upside to go with the downside," former England captain Andrew Strauss told Sky Sports.

Under Virat Kohli India led the way in development of Test cricket, says Graeme Smith

cricket under former skipper Virat Kohli, according to South African legend Graeme Smith, who reckons only five or six countries may be playing the longest format in the coming years. Smith feels just a handful of nations are contributing to the development of Test cricket at the moment. "With Test cricket, it's just iconic nations or the big cricketing nations that are contributing to Test cricket at the moment," Smith said on 'Sky Sports' during day three of the first Test between South Africa and England.

Antim Panghal scripts history, becomes India's first-ever U-20 world wrestling champion

It was for the first time in the competition’s 34-year long history that an Indian girl has finished on top of the podium. Antim, the youngest of four siblings, dominated Shagayeva with her leg attacks and takedowns to be crowned the world junior champion. Belonging from Haryana’s Bhagana village in Hisar district, the 17-year-old won all her bouts by huge margins, including the prized scalp of European champion Olivia Andrich, whom she defeated by technical superiority (11-0).

Paula Badosa joins Iga Swiatek as she hits out at US Open balls

Swiatek said on Wednesday she did not like the balls set to be used at the US Grand Slam, which are lighter for women than those for men, adding that the female players make more mistakes while playing with them, and she doubted it was "nice to watch visually". "Very much agree," Spain's Badosa said, hailing the words of the Polish world number one on Instagram on Friday, placing her comments over a screenshot of Swiatek's statement.

Rayo Vallecano defeat Espanyol in bad-tempered LaLiga clash

Espanyol 2-0 as both sides ended with 10 men in a bad-tempered game in Spain's La Liga on Friday, as Rayo went provisionally top on four points from two games. Madrid outfit Rayo held Barcelona to a stalemate at the Nou Camp last week, and on Friday Andoni Iraola's high energy side took all three points from Barca's city-rivals. Isi Palazon smacked home the opener from outside the box on 40 minutes, while Senegalese midfielder Pathe Ciss tapped home from a corner on the hour to make it 2-0.

Praggnanandhaa's winning streak in FTX Crypto Cup ends with loss to Liem Le

Liem Le scored an emphatic 2.5-0.5 win over the teenaged Indian GM, securing victories in games two and three after the opener ended in a draw. A 43-move win in the third game sealed the deal for Liem Le as Praggnanandhaa's stupendous run was halted. World No.1 Magnus Carlsen, meanwhile, went down 2-4 in a tie-break to Jan-Krzystof Duda of Poland after the four-game match ended 2-2. The Norwegian is in sole lead after the fifth round with 13 match points, one ahead of Praggnanandhaa.

2nd ODI: Tim Southee, Trent Boult demolish West Indies top order as New Zealand level series

Tim Southee and Trent Boult combined to demolish the West Indies top-order batting as New Zealand scored a series-levelling victory in the second one-day international of a three-match series at Kensington Oval in Barbados on Friday. After Finn Allen's 96 anchored the Black Caps to 212 off 48.2 overs batting first on another challenging pitch, Southee and Bolt claimed three wickets apiece as the home side limped to 63 for seven off 22.4 overs when a second heavy shower resulted in a prolonged delay to the day/night fixture. Set a revised target of 212 off 41 overs on the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern scoring method, Yannic Cariah's 52 in his debut ODI innings and a swashbuckling 49 off 31 balls by Alzarri Joseph gave the tourists a fright in a frenetic 85-run ninth-wicket partnership. However, Southee was summoned by stand-in captain Tom Latham and he responded immediately by bowling Joseph while Allen completed an excellent boundary catch to end Cariah's effort as the West Indies were eventually dismissed for 161 off 35.3 overs to lose by 50 runs and set the stage for the series decider on Sunday. Southee's final figures were four for 19 while Boult's six-over spell at the start of the innings earned him three for 18.

Scared bat-makers refuse to revive J&K unit

cricket bat manufacturing unit in the volatile Anantnag region, officials said on Friday. As a result, the unit which was set up at a cost of nearly Rs 5 crore currently lies idle. Over a month ago, members of the Sports Goods Export Promotion Council (SGEPC), a central government-backed organisation, and officials of Process-cum-Product Development Centre (PPDC) in Meerut, a unit of Union ministry of MSME, were contacted by senior authorities of skills development in Jammu and Kashmir. They requested SGEPC to establish a bat manufacturing training centre in the Valley and urged PPDC officials to send at least six trainers from UP. A common facility centre at Sethar in Anantnag district was then set up at a cost of Rs 4.61 crore, including Rs 2.46 crore spent on plant and machinery installed by PPDC. SGEPC member Sumnesh Agarwal said, “Meerut is known for manufacturing world class cricket bats. Hence, J&K authorities are trying to rope in artisans and experts from here. But, none of them are willing to go to Kashmir due to safety issues.”

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Timesofindia.indiatimes.com Sport News

Zak Crawley's England place under threat after Lord's failure

Under Virat Kohli India led the way in development of Test cricket, says Graeme Smith

Antim Panghal scripts history, becomes India's first-ever U-20 world wrestling champion

Paula Badosa joins Iga Swiatek as she hits out at US Open balls

Rayo Vallecano defeat Espanyol in bad-tempered LaLiga clash

Praggnanandhaa's winning streak in FTX Crypto Cup ends with loss to Liem Le

2nd ODI: Tim Southee, Trent Boult demolish West Indies top order as New Zealand level series

Scared bat-makers refuse to revive J&K unit