Intermittent rain came in the way  of what promised to be an absorbing day of Test cricket,  forcing a washout of the third day's play in the series opener  between India and South Africa here.
No play was possible in the morning or post-lunch  sessions. Finally, around 3.30pm local time, close to the  scheduled start time of post-tea session, the day was called  off.
There will be 98 overs bowled on days four and five with  bright sunshine predicted for the remainder of the game.
Despite the loss of an entire day, a result is still very  much possible in this match. P
Play will start at the scheduled 10.30am local time. The  last two sessions of the day will be extended by 15 minutes  each, with a further 30 minute customary extension available  at the end of the third session.
Heavy showers had been forecast for Sunday and they duly  arrived early in the morning. It didn't stop raining at all,  instead picked up as the scheduled start time of play  approached.
It did stop raining ...

Rain washes out day three of first Test

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Bangladesh today dropped opening  batsman Soumya Sarkar and paceman Taskin Ahmed from their 16-  man squad for the opening two matches of the forthcoming tri-  nation one-day international tournament.
Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka will also take part in the  tournament, Bangladesh's first ODI competition at home in more  than a year. It will begin in Dhaka on January 15.
"Taskin and Soumya both were dropped for their poor form.  They will play in the BCL (a franchise-based first-class  competition) to improve their skills," chief selector Minhajul  Abedin told a press conference.
Soumya has been a regular face in the Bangladesh squad  for all three formats since making his international debut in  2014 but paid the price for a prolonged spell of poor form.
The left-hander played just one ODI in the South Africa  tour last October and scored only eight runs.
Fast bowler Taskin also fared poorly in South Africa,  picking up two wickets in three ODIs.
Left-arm fast bowler Mustafizur Rahman ...

Bangladesh drop Soumya, Taskin from ODI squad

Back from England after playing two  seasons with West Ham United Ladies Football Club, goalkeeper  Aditi Chauhan is hopeful of regaining her spot in the national  women's team for the Asian Games later this year.
Aditi is anticipating a better show from the team at the  Asian Games to be held in Jakarta, Indonesia.
"I am coming back from an injury and this year. The Asian  Games are taking place in August. So my target is to return to  the senior team and represent my country in Indonesia," Aditi  told a select group of media persons here.
Aditi, daughter of Inspector General of CRPF, Jammu,  A V Chauhan, is the only Indian woman footballer who played  for the top English club for two seasons from 2015.
West Ham Ladies are currently in the Football  Association's (FA) Women's Premier League Southern Division, a  league in the third level in the women's football structure in  England.
She is here to spend time with her parents and is  leaving for Delhi next week to resume her training 

Goalkeeper Aditi eyes return to Indian team for Asian Games

A new-look Mohun Bagan beat  defending champions Aizawl FC 2-0 to finally arrest their  four-match winless streak in the I-League football tournament,  here today.
The win, however, did not come easy for a wasteful Mohun  Bagan who got a dramatic 53rd minute lead with Masih  Saighani's own goal, while Aser Dipanda Dicka (75th) sealed  the issue as the Mariners got off to a winning start under new  coach Shankarlal Chakraborty.
The former champions' last win came about a month ago on  December 10, a 5-0 rout of Churchill Brothers but since then  their campaign hit a roadblock with three successive draws and  a loss.
The win pushed Mohun Bagan to fourth position with 13  points from eight matches, while Aizawl remained on 10 from  six games.
Having promoted to chief coach after Sanjoy Sen stepped  down following their slump, Chakraborty rung in six changes  including their new recruit Aussie midfielder Camron Watson  and a fit-again Arijit Bagui.
Watson and Raynier Fernandes did a fine .

Mohun Bagan return to winning ways under new coach

Persistent rain washed out the  morning session on day three of the first Test between South  Africa and India here.
Heavy showers had been forecast for Sunday and they duly  arrived early in the morning. It didnt stop raining at all,  instead picked up as the scheduled start time of play  approached.
At the time of writing there were huge puddles of water  all across the Newlands' outfield. The weather forecast says  that conditions are expected to improve around 3pm local time  (6.30pm IST), and there might be chance of play in an extended  final session.
The match hangs in balance, meanwhile. On day one, South  Africa were bowled out for 286 runs in the first innings with  Bhuvneshwar Kumar taking 4-87. India were reduced to 28/3 at  stumps.
On day two, India finished with 209 runs in their first  innings, surrendering a 77-run lead. South Africa were 65/2 at  stumps with an overall lead of 142 runs.
Hardik Pandya single-handedly kept his side in contention  with 93 runs off 95 ...

Rain washes away morning session on day three

Scoreboard at the close on day four  in the fifth Ashes Test between Australia and England in  Sydney today:
England first innings 346 (J. Root 83, D. Malan 62; P.  Cummins 4-80)
Australia first innings (overnight 479-4)
C. Bancroft b Broad
0
D. Warner
c Bairstow b Anderson  56
U. Khawaja  st Bairstow b Crane
171
S. Smith
c and b Ali
83
S. Marsh
run out (Stoneman)
156
M. Marsh
b Curran
101
T. Paine
not out
38
M. Starc
c Vince b Ali
11
P. Cummins  not out
24
Extras (b2, lb4, w1, nb2)
9
Total (7 wickets dec; 193 overs)  649
Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-86, 3-274, 4-375, 5-544, 6-596,  7-613.
Bowling: Anderson 34-14-56-1, Broad 30-2-121-1, Ali 48-  10-170-2, Curran 25-3-82-1, Crane 48-3-193-1, Root 8-3-21-0
England second innings
A. Cook
b Lyon
10
M. Stoneman  lbw b Starc
0
J. Vince
c Smith b Cummins
18
J. Root
not out
42
D. Malan
lbw b Lyon
5
J. Bairstow  not out
17
Extras (LB-1)
1
Total (4 wickets; 46 overs)
93
Fall of wickets: 1-5, 2-15, 3-43, 4-68.
Bowling: Starc 9-2-17-1, Hazlewood ...

Sydney, Jan 7 (AFP) Scoreboard at the close on day four

He does not have either a powerful  serve or flashy ground strokes to intimidate his rivals, yet  Gilles Simon scripted the fall of big guys on the Tour  Marin  Cilic and Kevin Anderson  to lift his first title in almost  three years.
Ranked a humble 89, Simon landed on his visit to India  without his coach and other support staff but was ready for  the grind and scalped the two Grand Slam finalists in 2017 at  the Tata Open Maharashtra.
The 33-year-old parted ways with his coach Jan de Witt  mental coach Ronax Lafaix and physical trainer Milos  Jelisavic.
His rivals admitted that Simon played smart and the  affable French man, who became a crowd favourite, too endorsed  their view.
"This is something I always did. I never hired a coach to  help me with strategy. The previous coach I had was a massive  mind in the game and knows a lot about the tactics. The  strategy was always a strong part for me," said Simon after  winning his 13th ATP singles title.
"To understand what is ...

Strategy was always a strong part of my game: Simon

Former Chelsea manager Andre  Villas-Boas admits that driving in the gruelling Dakar Rally  is an all together different ball game than executing the  tactics in a football match from the touchline but says team  work and passion remains the same.
Villas-Boas, who has coached top English Premier League  sides like Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur before helming the  affairs of wealthy Chinese Super League side Shanghai SPIG,  made his debut in the motorsport's most gruelling endurance  event behind the wheel of a Toyota Overdrive car yesterday.
The Portuguese was celebrating his 40th birthday and also  carrying a family tradition (his uncle Pedro Villas-Boas  competed in the Dakar Rally in 1982 and 1984) by taking part  in the 9,000km rally through Peru, Bolivia and Argentina.
"It (this rally) is a bit different (from football). Of  course, there is a lot of teamwork (in both) that has to be  done, with the mechanics, with the team management and the  logistics and in the car also with ..

From touchline to sand dunes, Ex-Chelsea boss follows passion

Baroda defeated arch-rivals Mumbai  by 13 runs in the West Zone Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 League opener  at the SCA Stadium here today.
Baroda, who had got the better of Mumbai in the Ranji  Trophy group league earlier in the season, once again proved  they were the better of the two sides in the shortened version  of the game.
Baroda rattled up an imposing score of 210 for 3,  powered by half centuries by wicket-keeper and opener Urvil  Patel (50 in 29 balls) and captain Deepak Hooda (66 in 39  balls), who struck eight fours and one six, besides a breezy  knock of 44 not out in 26 balls, studded with three sixes and  a four, by Krunal Pandya.
Barring Dhawal Kulkarni, who returned figures of 1 for  29, the other Mumbai bowlers were expensive by 20-over  standards with medium pacer Shardul Thakur leaking 47 runs in  his four overs without a wicket against his name.
In reply, Mumbai were stopped at 197 for 8 with  Siddesh Lad's 82 off 51 balls with four sixes and six fours  being its ...

Baroda beat Mumbai by 13 runs in T20 zonal opener

Enduring a difficult season, Churchill  Brothers would hope for a change in fortune in the new year  when they face table-toppers East Bengal in the Hero I-League  match at Tilak Stadium here tomorrow.
Two-time champions, Churchill Brothers have lost all  their five matches and are languishing at the bottom of the  table and they would hope for a new beginning in the New Year.
Nothing has worked for Churchill Brothers, who sacked  their coach Mykola Shevcheko after losing their first three  matches.
The decision, however, did not change their fortune as  they kept on losing but assistant coach Alfred Fernandes is  determined that his team will do well in the New year.
"Last season too we were in similar position but things  changed after Derrick Pereira took over the reign as we kept  on winning to finish sixth," Alfred said.
"Last time in the away match we played against East  Bengal we put up a good performance and lost narrowly 2-3 but  we want to erase that defeat tomorrow with a .

Churchill Brothers look for first win

North Korea has sent a list of its  delegation for a rare high-level meeting with the South this  week, the unification ministry in Seoul said today.
The two Koreas agreed Friday to hold their first official  dialogue in more than two years and are expected to discuss  the North's participation in next month's Winter Olympics in  South Korea.
The North Korean delegation for Tuesday's meeting in the  truce village of Panmunjom will be led by Ri Son-Gwon, the  head of the North's agency handling inter-Korean affairs, the  ministry said.
Pyongyang informed the South that four other officials  will accompany Ri, it added, including those in charge of  sports.
The tentative rapprochement comes after the North's  leader Kim Jong-Un warned in his New Year speech that he had a  nuclear button on his desk, but also said Pyongyang could send  a team to the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.
Seoul responded with an offer of talks and last week the  hotline between the neighbours was restored after ...

N Korea names delegates for inter-Korean talks

India's C S Santosh was placed  at a creditable 13th among the bikers at the end of the first  stage of the gruelling Dakar Rally while his Hero Motorsports  Rally teammate Joaquim Rodrigues met with a spectacular crash  to end his race here.
Santosh clocked 24 minute 11 seconds to cover the first  stage of 30 km. The first stage covered from Lima to Pisco.  Another 13 stages are remaining in the world's toughest off-  road rally which will end on January 20 in Cordoba of  Argentina via Bolivia.
"First day of a race is usually nervous. Today was just  30 km and tomorrow more than 200km. It is a log way to go and  anything can happen at any stage in such a long rally," he  said after the first day's race.
"This year, there is a big change in the bike from last  year and so much easier to ride. I am enjoying my time."
Riding on a vastly improved and new look Hero RR 450 bike  with the Indian tri-colour imprint on it, Santosh set off from  the starting line here in Bib No 49 ...

Santosh 13th after 1st stage at Dakar Rally

Diego Costa was sent off after  scoring the winner on his league return for Atletico Madrid in  a 2-0 home win over Getafe, while Sevilla missed the chance to  move above Real Madrid after losing 5-3 to local rivals Real  Betis.
Atletico's win moved them to within six points of leaders  Barcelona, who host Levante on Sunday, and kept them two  points clear of third-placed Valencia, who are on 37 points  after coming back from an early deficit to beat Girona 2-1  thanks to a first-half Janos Ramalho own goal and Daniel  Parejo's penalty three minutes after the break.
Costa, playing his first La Liga game since rejoining  Atletico from Chelsea following the end last week of the  Spanish club's transfer ban, had already been booked for a  foul in the 62nd minute with the hosts 1-0 up through Angel  Correa when six minutes later he met a low cross to double his  side's lead and spark wild celebrations.
He leapt into the stands to embrace the fans and was  immediately shown his second ...

Costa sent off after scoring Atletico winner

Philippe Coutinho finally got his  wish when Barcelona agreed to sign the Brazilian star from  Liverpool for 160 million euros ($192 million) in the third  richest deal of all time.
"Barcelona and Liverpool have reached an agreement for  the transfer of Philippe Coutinho. The player will sign a  contract for the rest of the season and five more years with a  release clause of 400 million euros," said a Barcelona  statement.
The deal for the 25-year-old attacking midfielder will be  the third biggest in football after the 222 million euros  Paris Saint-Germain paid Barcelona for Brazilian star Neymar  last year and the 120 million euros that Kylian Mbappe will  cost PSG from Monaco once the French player's loan period with  the Ligue 1 champions is completed.
"It is with great reluctance that we -- as a team and  club -- prepare to say farewell to a good friend, a wonderful  person and a fantastic player in Philippe Coutinho," Liverpool  manager Jurgen Klopp told the club's official ...

Barcelona sign 160-million-euro Coutinho in 3rd richest deal

Powerful-serving Julia Goerges  stunned top seed Caroline Wozniacki with a straight sets win  in the WTA Auckland Classic final today.
The 29-year-old German, with a first serve topping 180  kilometres per hour (112 miles per hour), sent down 11 aces on  her way to winning the Auckland title for the first time in  her ninth attempt 6-4, 7-6 (7/4).
It also stretched the world number 14's winning streak to  14 matches including winning successive WTA tournaments in  Moscow and Zhuhai late last year.
Goerges made an immediate statement at the start of each  set with service breaks.
Games went with service from there in the first set,  which Goerges sealed with her seventh ace.
Wozniacki double faulted at 15-40 at the start of the  second set before she began to fight back.
Goerges needed her booming serve to save break points at  2-1 and 3-2 before Wozniacki finally broke through to level at  4-4, sending the set into a tie break which went to the  German.

Goerges stuns Wozniacki in Auckland final

Shaun and Mitchell Marsh became the  third set of brothers to score centuries in the same innings  for Australia as the purgatory continued for England in the  final Sydney Ashes Test today.
Shaun raised his second century of the series in the  fourth day's opening over and an hour later younger brother  Mitchell repeated the dose with his second hundred of the  series.
The Marsh boys joined Greg and Ian Chappell and Steve and  Mark Waugh to score brotherly centuries for Australia, while  it is the eighth time overall it has happened in Test cricket.
But Mitchell Marsh almost threw away his century in all  the excitement as he embraced his brother mid-pitch before he  had completed the second run and needed to scramble back to  his crease to avoid being run out.
Mitchell Marsh was bowled next ball by Tom Curran for 101  off 141 balls with 15 fours and two sixes. The century came  after his 181 in the third Test in Perth.
He was the third centurion of the massive Australian  first ...

Marsh brothers plunder centuries as England wilt in the heat

South African pacer Kagiso Rabada  has ascertained that his side are slightly ahead in the first  Test as they now enjoy an overall lead of 142 runs with eight  wickets in hand, going into the third day of the opening  cricket Test.
"We are slightly ahead and we are not going to give in.  We need more hard work but we will take it at the end of the  day. After the sort of momentum India got in the second  session, we would take that lead," said Rabada at the end of  the day's play.
"Obviously, we were hoping for a bigger lead but India  are not going to roll over and we expected that. That is what  they showed out there," Rabada added.
"It is tough to say what fourth innings' score we are  looking for right now. We are looking at batting time, looking  to bat normally and see what happens from there. We want to  make it hard for them to score," he added.
Steyn has been ruled of the remainder of the series with  a bruised heel. This was his comeback Test but he lasted only  18.3 overs .

We are still ahead in the game, says Rabada

India's ace shuttler P V Sindhu did  the star turn, winning two matches as Chennai Smashers emerged  victorious in the 'Smashers derby', beating Ahmedabad Smash  Masters 2-1 in the Premier Badminton League (PBL), here  tonight.
After having stunned the world No.1 Tai Tzi Ying in three  games in the second match of the tie, Sindhu joined forces  with B Sumeeth Reddy to pull off a 15-14, 15-13 win against  Kamilla Rytter Juhl and Lee Reginald to send the home fans  into raptures.
Sindhu, who played the mixed doubles tie as doubles  specialist Gabrielle Adcock was unavailable owing to injury,  combined well with Reddy to help Chennai Smashers win and keep  their hopes of qualifying for the knockouts alive.
Earlier in the fourth match, Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk  pulled off a stunning 15-10, 12-15, 15-14 win over HS Prannoy  to level the tie at 1-1 for Chennai.
The Thai southpaw snapped Prannoy's 10-match winning  streak in PBL to bring the Chennai team back in contention by  winning the ...

Sindhu stars as Chennai bounce back to beat Ahmedabad

Indian batsman Cheteshwar Pujara  credited all-rounder Hardik Pandya for helping India stay  afloat in the first Test against South Africa.
Pandya's 93 and 2/17 has given India some toehold despite  a 142-run lead currently enjoyed by the home team.
"Everyone believed he (Pandya) can play such an innings  and he played his shots and the environment in the dressing  room became quite positive. Those runs were very important for  the team and they kept us in the game," said Pujara after the  day's play.
"If he hadn't scored those runs, we would have been in  trouble. So I think he kept us in the game and got us two  wickets also at the end of day's play. So his performance was  outstanding," Pujara added.
What Pujara liked about Pandya's innings was the  character shown by him.
"He batted really well and showed a lot of character. He  hasn't played many Test matches away from home but this is the  kind of innings (he played) we expected it from him if he  played in the playing XI.
"I ...

Outstanding Pandya has kept us in the game: Pujara

The internal politics at the Delhi  & Districts Cricket Association (DDCA) hit a new low after  young wicketkeeper batsman and Delhi's brightest talent  Rishabh Pant was sacked from state captaincy after having led  the team to Ranji Trophy final only a week before.
In an even more bizarre move, the captaincy was handed  over to left-arm seamer Pradeep Sangwan, who last played a  competitive match in May, 2017 for Gujarat Lions in the Indian  Premier League.
Sangwan was not even fit to play in the Ranji Trophy and  has the dubious record of being the first Indian cricketer to  test positive for banned substance. Sangwan has played 77 T20  matches in his career picking up 71 wickets and his economy  rate is an unflattering 7.68.
In another significant move, senior players Unmukt Chand,  Manan Sharma and Milind Kumar were dropped from the team.  Unmukt is a former Delhi captain while Milind was vice-captain  of Ranji team at the start of the season when Pant was on  national duty ...

DDCA removes Pant from captaincy, Sangwan made T20 captain

South Africa were dealt a major  blow after seniormost pacer Dale Steyn was ruled out for the  remainder of three-match series against India after damaging a  tissue on his left heel during the second day of the opening  Test.
Steyn left the field three balls into his 18th over as he  felt a pain on his left heel.
It has been learnt that he has damaged a tissue and will  be out for a minimum period of four to six weeks which  effectively rules him out of the ongoing Test series against  the visiting Indian team.
Steyn in fact was getting into the groove as he had  figures of 2 for 51 with wickets of opener Shikhar Dhawan and  wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha during his comeback Test.
He was out of action for one year after a major surgery  for shoulder dislocation.
He recently made a comeback in competitive cricket and  Cricket South Africa (CSA) did not play im during the four-day  Test against Zimbabwe to preserve him for the India series.

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