Sports

MNA Sports Desk: England beat Bangladesh by 21 runs in the first ODI as England pacer Jake Ball has starred on debut with a five-wicket haul on Friday. The Tigers lost six wickets for 17 runs and were bowled out for 288 as England took a 1-0 lead in the three-match series at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium. Bangladesh’s start to their massive chase, however, was not smooth. England had other plans as debutant Jake Ball picked 5 wickets to spark a dramatic collapse for the home-side who lost 6 for 17 runs inside 7 overs. Jake Ball struck in ...

MNA Sports Desk: Australia has someway forced to lose the third one-day international against South Africa despite posting the fourth-highest total in its limited overs history. Lifted by hundreds from David Warner and skipper Steve Smith, Australia posted an imposing 6-371 at Kingsmead — at the time the highest ODI score in Durban. However an excellent victorious 118 by South Africa’s David Miller guided the Proteas to the victory target with four balls remaining and four wickets in hand. The victory means South Africa takes an unquestionable 3-0 lead in the five-match series. Warner’s 117 and Smith’s 108 appeared to ...

MNA Sports Desk: FIFA president Gianni Infantino, whose election promises included expanding the World Cup finals to 40 countries, on Monday proposed a tournament involving 48 teams, reported news agency. However, he recommended that 16 of those teams would go home after just one knockout match, and the remainder of the tournament would be played, as now, with a 32-team group stage, followed by a knockout phase. Infantino, speaking during an event at Bogota’s Sergio Arboleda university, said a final decision would be taken by the FIFA Council in January, Colombian media reported. A FIFA spokesperson confirmed that the reports ...

MNA Sports Desk: The 141-run dominating win over Afghanistan in the third ODI will lift the Tigers’ spirits as they sealed their 100th ODI victory at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium on Saturday. This was Bangladesh’s sixth consecutive series victory in ODIs. The winning streak started in November 2014 when they blanked Zimbabwe 5-0 at home. Tamim Iqbal went on to hit a run-a-ball 118, studded with 11 fours and two sixes. It was Tamim’s seventh ODI century and the second in this series. He was adjudged both the Man-of-the-Match and the Man-of-the-Series for scoring 218 runs in the series. ...

MNA Sports Desk: Bangladeshi tigers made a thrilling win of seven-run in the first one-day international against Afghanistan in Dhaka on Sunday. Replying to Bangladesh’s 265 runs, Afghanistan looked to be well in control when Hashmatullah (72) and Rahmat Shah (71) put on a solid 144 runs for the third wicket partnership. Shakib Al Hasan broke the stand before the hosts clawed their way back to dismiss Afghanistan for 258 runs in the last ball of the final over. The Afghans never seemed to lose the match until the last over when Taskin Ahmed took wickets of Mirwais Ashraf and ...

MNA Sports Desk: Bangladesh cricket team will be hoping their long absence from international cricket does not hurt their form when they play a three-match one-day international series against Afghanistan in Dhaka on Sunday, reported news agency. The home side last played an international match during the ICC World Twenty20 in India in April this year and has played no one-dayers since hosting Zimbabwe in November last year. The Afghanistan series was hastily arranged to give Bangladesh some cricket ahead of a more serious engagement against England, who will be visiting the country in October for three ODIs and two ...

MNA Sports Desk: Bangladesh fast bowler Taskin Ahmed and spinner Arafat Sunny have been cleared to bowl in international cricket with immediate effect, after their remedied actions were found to be legal by the ICC. Both bowlers had their actions reassessed at the National Cricket Centre in Brisbane on September 8 and their elbow extensions for all deliveries were found to be within 15 degrees, which is the upper limit according to ICC regulations. “The umpires are free to report Arafat and Taskin in the future if they believe they use a suspect action,” the ICC said in a release. ...

MNA Sports Desk: New UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin unveiled the logo for Euro 2020 at the tournament’s official launch in London on Wednesday, reported news agency. The logo showed multicolored fan silhouettes standing either side of the competition’s Henri Delaunay Trophy on a green bridge, representative of the links between the 13 host countries. The 2020 European Championship is being staged in 13 cities across Europe to mark the 60th anniversary of the competition, with the semi-finals and final to take place at London’s Wembley Stadium. “UEFA wanted the 2020 tournament to be a true celebration of the game we ...

MNA Sports Desk: Abdul Matin, father of former captain of Bangladesh national cricket team Mohammad Ashraful, died at a city hospital early Tuesday. The family members said that Abdul Matin breathed his last around 1:10am at Apollo Hospital. He had been undergoing treatment at the hospital since 11 September for heart disease. He will be buried in Brahmanbaria district. Between 2007 and 2009, Ashraful captained Bangladesh in 13 Tests, and 38 One Day Internationals (ODIs) of which Bangladesh won eight. In 2014 the Bangladesh Cricket Board banned him for eight years after he was found guilty of match-fixing. The ban ...

MNA Sports Desk: Andrew Strauss has said there will be no “blacklist” for Eoin Morgan despite the one-day captain opting out of the Bangladesh tour on security grounds, reported news agency. Morgan led the ODI side to home series wins over both Sri Lanka and Pakistan this season but, together with fellow batsman Alex Hales, has decided against tour to Bangladesh for next month’s series. But ex-England captain Andrew Strauss said the decision would not be held against the pair, with Morgan set to lead the one-day side on their subsequent tour of India. “Right from the start we said ...

MNA Sports Desk: Manchester City maintained their imperious start to the season with a fifth straight victory on Saturday as Bournemouth were swept aside 4-0 to become the latest victims of Pep Guardiola’s table-toppers. Goals from Kevin De Bruyne, Kelechi Iheanacho, Raheem Sterling and Ilkay Guendogan, on his Premier League debut, wrapped up the points after another scintillating display from the title favourites who continue to lay down a marker to their rivals, reported news agency. Heading the chasing pack are Everton, who stayed two points behind City with a 3-1 home win over Middlesbrough, Gareth Barry marking his 600th ...

MNA Sports Desk: UEFA, the richest and most powerful continental football confederation, elects a new president this week as it confronts a growing challenge to its cash-cow Champions League, reported news agency. The 55-member European confederation must choose between Slovenian Aleksander Ceferin, 48, and veteran Dutch administrator Michael van Praag, 68, to finish the term of the tainted Michel Platini at a special congress in Athens on Wednesday after an increasingly tense campaign. Ceferin has the heavyweight support of more than 20 federations including Germany, France, Portugal and Russia, according to the Slovenian Football Association. England, Belgium and the Netherlands ...

MNA Sports Desk: England limited-overs captain Eoin Morgan and batsman Alex Hales have both made themselves unavailable for next month’s tour of Bangladesh, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) confirmed on Sunday. The tour, which begins on 30 September and will include two Tests and three ODIs, had been called into question after an attack in July on a cafe in Dhaka in which 20 hostages were killed, including 18 foreigners. Morgan had already spelled out the reasons for his personal concerns about travelling following his previous experience of security alerts in both India and Bangladesh. And the ECB ...

MNA Sports Desk: Jos Buttler will lead the England cricket one-day team to tour Bangladesh, in the tournament of regular captain Eoin Morgan deciding to pull out of the tour starting on 30 September, reported news agency. The English one-day team vice-captain Buttler led England only once before, in a T-20 international against Pakistan last winter, but steps in to fill the void left by Morgan. The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) had been expecting to change his mind and Andrew Strauss, the team director, has given him until Sunday night to confirm his availability before the selectors meet ...

MNA Sports Desk: Neymar’s second-half goal gave Brazil a 2-1 victory over Colombia on Tuesday as the former world champions registered their second consecutive win to take the second place in the South America qualifying group for Russia 2018. The home side got the perfect start after just 80 seconds when Miranda rose to head home a corner and score his first goal in 33 appearances for the national side, as news agency reported. Brazil, playing just their second game under new coach Tite, dominated the first half with a high-pace pressing game but struggled to make clear cut chances ...

MNA Sports Desk: Bangladesh girls have thrashed the United Arab Emirates 4-0 in their AFC U-16 Women’s Championship match on Monday morning. The team of young stars put up another sparkling display of attacking football match to get all 15 points on offer in Group C. The home team protected a berth in the finals of next year’s 2017 AFC U16 Women’s Championship event in Thailand with a 4-2 win against Chinese Taipei on Saturday. The determined Bangladesh team have scored a amazing 26 goals in just five games of the event and that proved that why they are now ...

MNA Sports Desk: Bangladesh girls beat Kyrgyzstan with a 10-0 thumping for a third straight victory in the AFC Under-16 Women’s Championship qualifiers on Wednesday at Bangabandhu National Stadium. The triumph comes after 3-0 victory over Iran in the opener which was followed by a 5-0 rout of Singapore in their previous match. With the feat, Bangladesh upheld their all-win record to share the top slot in Group C with Chinese Taipei securing full nine points from straight three matches. In the day’s one-sided match, captain Krishna Rani Sarkar made a hat-trick scoring three goals while forward Anuching Mogini and ...

MNA Sports Desk: England set record the highest-ever team total in a ODI (one-day international) when they made total of 444 for three against Pakistan at Trent Bridge on Tuesday. In what was the 3,773rd match at this level England’s total surpassed the previous record of 443 for nine by Sri Lanka against the Netherlands at Amstelveen in 2006. It was also the highest ODI total in a match between two Test nations, topping South Africa’s 439 for two against the West Indies at Johannesburg last year. Alex Hales, on his Nottinghamshire home ground, made an England ODI record 171 ...

MNA Sports Desk: Bangladesh will host first ODI (one-day international) series against Afghanistan in late September in preparation for the arrival of the England team, as the president of Bangladesh cricket board informed. Nazmul Hassan said that the Afghan team had agreed to play three ODIs at Dhaka’s Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on September 25, 28 and 30. “Our senior players recommended the series. So we invited Afghanistan to play against us,” Hassan told reporters late Sunday. However, Afghanistan and Bangladesh have never played a two-sided series in any format but they have played each other in tournaments, including last year’s ...

MNA Sports Desk: Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo won the UEFA Best Player in Europe Award on Thursday after winning both last season’s Champions League and Euro 2016 with Portugal. Ronaldo, 31-year-old, received the accolade for the second time in his career after finishing ahead of Real team-mate Gareth Bale and Atletico Madrid’s Antoine Griezmann. “I’m obviously delighted to receive this award; it’s been an incredible season. But these two other players deserve it as well,” said Ronaldo. Ronaldo struck the winning spot-kick as Real claimed a record 11th European Cup title, beating city rivals Atletico on penalties in May, ...

MNA Sports Desk: As news agency reported, ECB (England and Wales Cricket Board) security chief, Reg Dickason, fears for travel safety on tour in Bangladesh. Dickason flew back from Dhaka at the weekend after a fortnight’s inspection of India and Bangladesh, along with the head of ECB cricket operations, John Carr, and the chief executive of the Professional Cricketers Association, David Leatherdale. The three-man delegation was given many assurances of security by the Bangladesh Cricket Board and the country’s home ministry ahead of the tour, which will consist of two Tests and three one-day internationals. The job of Dickason – ...

MNA Sports Desk: Pakistan have become the world’s No1 ranked test side after a wet ground at the Queen’s Park Oval in Port of Spain denied India the chance to beat West Indies and so retain their position at the top of the list. It is the first time Pakistan has topped the Test rankings. In order to remain the top Test side, India needed to win and claim a 3-0 victory in the four-match series. However, heavy showers left the ground saturated meaning that no play has been possible since lunch on the first day of the fourth Test ...

MNA Sports Desk: Brazilian superstar Neymar scored the winning penalty as hosts Brazil beat Germany 5-4 on penalties in Rio and won their first men’s Olympic football gold medal. Neymar had put the hosts ahead with a superb free kick after 27 minutes but Germany captain Maximilian Meyer equalized just before the hour to take the game into the extra period at 1-1. In front of 78,000 at the Maracana, Brazil got a measure of revenge as they finally won the Olympic title after losing in the finals in 1984, 1988 and 2012. Two years ago, World Cup hosts and ...

MNA Sports Desk: Jamaican superstar Usain Bolt drew down the curtain on his brilliant Olympic career by securing a sweep of the sprint titles for a third successive Games to complete his unprecedented — triple-triple when Jamaica successfully defended the 4×100 meters relay crown on Friday. The 29-year-old, seen as the greatest sprinter in history, ran the anchor leg as the Jamaicans won in 37.27 seconds to add the relay gold to the 100 metres and 200 metres titles he had won for a third straight Olympics. “There you go, I am the greatest,” Bolt told reporters. “I am just ...

MNA Sports Desk: Two goals from Manchester City new boy Gabriel Jesus and skipper Neymar, including the fastest goal in Olympic history, helped Brazil made a spot in the men’s Olympic football final with a 6-0 semi-final success over Honduras on Wednesday. The home side, playing in front of a packed Maracana stadium and desperately seeking the only international title they have yet to win, got off to the perfect start by scoring after just 15 seconds. The win raises the tantalizing possibility of a Brazil-Germany final, and a repeat of the 2014 World Cup semi-final in which Germany hammered ...

MNA Sports Desk: Joao Havelange, the former president of FIFA, died in Rio de Janeiro’s Samaritano Hospital on Tuesday. The former Olympic swimmer and water polo player for Brazil had been in and out of the hospital in recent months with respiratory problems. Havelange, who was 100-year-old, was the first non-European to head the International Football Federation (FIFA), world football’s governing body. He was a Brazilian lawyer, businessman, and athlete who served as the 7th President of the FIFA, from 1974 to 1998. His tenure as President is the second longest in FIFA’s history, behind only that of Jules Rimet. ...

MNA Sports Desk: Pakistani batsman Younis Khan has returned as the world’s top 5 batsmen in the MRF Tyres ICC Player Rankings for Test Batsmen following his commanding double century against England at The Oval. The 38-year-old scored 218, his sixth double century at this level, set up Pakistan’s 10-wicket win in the fourth Test at The Oval on Sunday, a result which saw them draw the four-match series with England at 2-2. Australia captain Steven Smith continues to head a list where England’s Joe Root and New Zealand’s Kane Williamson are still second and third respectively. However, James Anderson, ...