QQQ Daily Mail, Friday, August 30, 201984 THE ASHES 4th TEST^ 5 DAYS TO GO
SPORT IN BRIEF
UNAI EMERY is ready to
launch his £180million attack
on Tottenham this Sunday,
with the Arsenal manager
prepared to start Pierre-
Emerick Aubameyang,
Alexandre Lacazette and
record £72million signing
Nicolas Pepe together.
Lacazette (right) did not start against
Liverpool last week because of a minor ankle
complaint, though Emery brought him on at
3-0 down. Now the Arsenal boss will make a
late call on whether to start all three of his
big guns when Spurs visit.
Speaking yesterday, Emery said: ‘They can
start together and play during the match as a
three. I am very optimistic for that situation.’ARSENAL’S BIG THREE TO
BE UNLEASHED IN DERBY
KIERAN GILLIAN
HERBERT
Deputy Chief Sports
Writer at DerbyI
t was supposed to
have been the day
when a returning steve
smith would demon-
strate what England
have to worry about in
Manchester next week.
Instead, host county Derbyshire
dispensed with etiquette, batted
themselves and by the time
Mitchell starc started generating
some volts of electricity, it was
becoming one of those days for
australia.
smith (below) put down a
comfortable catch off starc,
one-handed, rubbed his left wrist
vigorously, and was limited to a
terribly ragged over of leg spin
just before the lunch interval.
Peter siddle’s football skills at
mid-on — flicking up and juggling
the cricket ball on foot and thigh
before acknowledging the chants
of ‘Rooney’ from his corner of the
ground behind him — were about
as vibrant as it got from an
australian perspective.
and then, with the sun high and
the clock on the roof of the
groundsmen’s hut at two minutes
past three, starc signalled his
intent. He loomed into view from
the City End on that pounding,
scowling run-up and dispatch,
sometimes waiting until the last
moment to transfer the ball from
right hand to left, so the batsman
can’t be sure. Five balls later, he
had prised out Matt Critchley,
alfie Gleadall and tony Palladino.
two of them were bowled;
Gleadall first ball, Palladino with
a fourth-ball yorker.
Over the past 10 years, starc has
seemed to need greater residues
of self-belief than the rest of the
australian pace bowlers,
because the selectors
have never had much
enduring faith in him.
Captain tim Paine
spoke earlier in this tour of
starc’s need for greater
control and last night said:
‘we know what he
can do in terms of
blowing teams
away, but we also
know that in the
past it’s not
always worked.’
By the time
starc reached
his 16th test,
there had been
11 occasions
on which the
left-arm quick
had missed a
match immedi-
ately after playing
one. He never
managed three on
the trot. He’s been
back on the outsidethis past month or so,
absent in this ashes series,
leading former captain
Ricky Ponting to suggest
this week that if the
29-year-old did not
‘bowl the house down’
in Derby, the selectors
would be reluctant to
pick him for Manches-
ter. James Pattinson
would be most likely
to make way.
the equation is
simple. starc brings
the unexpected and
very serious pace — it
looked like 90mph yes-
terday — as well as a
track record for ripping
through teams in short
order. Old trafford is
the fastest deck in this
ashes. Yet initially, thepicture was scrambled. the two
Derbyshire wickets claimed
before a run was on the board
were taken by Michael Neser, the
south african-born Queenslander
whose chances of making Old
trafford are the most remote.
the game began to belong to
Leus du Plooy, the 24-year-old
south african batsman whose
previous highest score this month
— 82 — came for Derbyshire
seconds. He cover drove starc on
the up for four then pushed him
through the cover point bound-
ary off the back foot on his way to
a score of 86.
the bowler’s sustained cam-
paign to bounce Derbyshire out
was ineffective, as the missiles
sailed high, troubling no one. sid-
dle’s short bowling was far more
assured. the contours of starc’s
face told you this mattered for anindividual whose ashes opportu-
nities are not exactly running out,
yet are finite. a broad smile broke
out when he drew the loose shot
which dismissed Critchley and in
the huddle around him there
seemed to be awareness of the
significance.
It was put to Paine last night
that if starc worked too much on
his control he may lose an
element of the unpredictability
which he is all about. ‘If anyone
stops trying to get better there’s
a problem,’ the captain replied.
the simmering intent to avenge
those events at Headingley is only
just below the surface. when it
was put to Paine that Ben stokes
has scored successive hundreds
and become a problem, he replied:
‘Holding our chances would be a
good start. Nathan Lyon in the
past two tests got him out five orsix times (if chances had been
taken).’ Paine gave no indication
that starc had done enough, with
two days of play here remaining,
having added two more wickets as
Derbyshire were bowled out for
172, with australia closing on 77
for no wicket.
But Ponting believes the thrilling,
unexpected commodity he brings
could yet be decisive. ‘I must
admit, as the game was sort of
slipping away the other day at
Headingley, the only image I had
in my head was starc bowling
stokes at the Oval in that world
Cup with a yorker right at the
base of off-stump,’ he said.
‘and even with someone like
Jack Leach — I’m not sure he
would have been that keen on
facing Mitchell starc at 150kph
with the ball reversing back on to
his toes.’Serious
pace: Starc
thunders in
yesterday
REX
SHUTTERSTOCKSmith
made
to wait
as Starc
stakes
Ashes
claim
EUROPA LEAGUE
Play-off round, 2nd leg
AIK ............(1) 1 CELTIC ........(2) 4
Larsson 33 (pen) Forrest 17, Johnston 34
Agg: 1-6 Jullien 87, Morgan 90
QARABAG .......(1) 2 LINFIELD ......(0) 1
Romero 6, Zoubir 88 Lavery 90
Agg: 4-4; Qarabag win on away goals.
RANGERS .......(0) 1 LEGIA WARSAW (0) 0
Morelos 90 Agg: 1-0.
WOLVES ........(1) 2 TORINO ........(0) 1
Jimenez 31 Belotti 58
Dendoncker 59 Agg: 5-3.
Others: Antwerp 1 AZ 4 (AET: 1-1 at
90min, AZ win 5-2 on agg), A Limassol
0 PSV 4 (PSV win 7-0 on agg), BATE 2
Astana 0 (Astana win 3-2 on agg), B
Yehuda 0 Malmo 1 (Malmo win 4-0
on agg), E Frankfurt 3 Strasbourg 0
(E Frankfurt win 3-1 on agg), F91
Dudelange 2 A Armenia 1 (AET: 2-1 at
90min, agg 3-3, Dudelange win 5-4 on
penalties), Ferencvaros 4 FK Suduva
2 (Ferencvaros win 4-2 on agg), Gui-
maraes 1 FCSB 0 (Guimaraes win 1-0
on agg), H Beer Sheva 0 Feyenoord 3
(Feyenoord win 6-0 on agg), Maribor2 Ludogorets 2 (Agg 2-2, Ludogorets
win on away goals), Molde 1 P Bel-
grade 1 (P Belgrade win 3-2 on agg),
PAOK 3 S Bratislava 2 (Agg 3-3; S
Bratislava win on away goals), Riga
1 FC Copenhagen 0 (FC Copenhagen
win 3-2 on agg), Rijeka 1 Gent 1 (Gent
win 3-2 on agg), S Moscow 1 Braga 2
(Braga win 3-1 on agg), Trabzonspor
0 AEK Athens 2 (Agg 3-3; Trabzonspor
win on away goals), Zorya 2 Espanyol
2 (Espanyol win 5-3 on agg).
÷CRICKET
T20 BLAST — NORTH GROUP
P W L T NR Pts Rr
Lancashire (Q) .. 13 7 2 0 4 18 0.77
Notts (Q) ............ 13 6 3 0 4 16 0.67
Derbyshire (Q) .. 14 7 5 0 2 16 0.02
Worcs (Q) ........... 13 6 4 0 3 15 0.28
Yorkshire ........... 13 3 5 1 4 11 0.27
Warwickshire .... 13 4 6 1 2 11 -0.42
Leicestershire... 13 4 6 0 3 11 -0.47
Durham .............. 13 4 7 0 2 10 -0.28
Northants .......... 13 3 6 0 4 10 -0.65
Emerald Headingley, Yorkshire
187-7 (20 overs, Kohler-Cadmore 51,
Lyth 50), Northamptonshire 107 (18
overs, Willey 4-18). Yorkshire (2pts)
beat Northamptonshire by 80 runs.SOUTH GROUP — The Ageas Bowl,
Middlesex 153-5 (20 overs, De Villiers
52no), Hampshire 155-2 (18.3 overs,
Vince 66no, Donald 51). Hampshire
(2pts) won by 8 wickets.
The Kia Oval, Essex 186-4 (20 overs,
Bopara 70no, Ten Doeschate 55no),
Surrey 167 (19.5 overs, J Clark 60,
Porter 4-38). Essex (2pts) beat Surrey
by 19 runs.
Canterbury, Gloucs 180-3 (20 overs,
M Klinger 102no), Kent 175-8 (20 overs,
Du Plessis 60, Billings 55). Gloucs (2pts)
won by 5 runs.
P W L T NR Pts Rr
Sussex (Q) .......... 13 8 2 1 2 19 0.91
Gloucs (Q) .......... 13 6 3 1 3 16 0.24
Kent.................... 13 6 5 0 2 14 0.05
Somerset ........... 13 6 6 0 1 13 0.61
Hampshire ......... 13 5 5 1 2 13 0.15
Middlesex .......... 13 6 6 0 1 13 0.12
Essex .................. 13 4 4 1 4 13 -0.57
Surrey ................ 14 5 7 1 1 12 -0.25
Glamorgan ........ 13 0 8 1 4 5 -1.68
TOUR MATCH — Derby, Derbyshire 172
(57.2 overs, Du Plooy 86), Australia 77-0
(23 overs, Harris 52no).
÷TENNIS
US OPEN (Flushing Meadows, New
York) — Men’s 2nd rnd: D Evans (GB) bt
(25) L Pouille (F) 6-4 6-3 6-7 (4-7) 6-4.Women’s 2nd rnd: (16) J Konta (GB)
bt M Gasparyan (Rus) 6-1 6-0.
÷GOLF
OMEGA EUROPEAN MASTERS
(Switzerland) — 1st rnd (Gbr & Irl
unless stated): 63 — M Lorenzo-Vera
(F); M Schwab (Aut); 64 — S Soderberg
(Swe); M Korhonen (Fin); L Gagli (It);
65 — D Drysdale; T Fleetwood; G
Migliozzi (Sp); J Donaldson; E Van
Rooyen (SA); G Green (Mal).
÷RUGBY LEAGUE
BETFRED SUPER LEAGUE
SALFORD ........22 WARRINGTON ... 6
Salford — T: Sio 3, Bibby. G: Inu 3.
Warrington — T: Walker. G: Ratchford.
P W D L F A Pts
St Helens .............26 23 0 3 842 383 46
Warrington .........27 15 0 12 682 491 30
Salford .................27 15 0 12 746 569 30
Wigan...................26 15 0 11 603 503 30
Hull .......................26 15 0 11 615 680 30
Castleford ...........26 14 0 12 594 516 28
Catalans ...............26 13 0 13 513 651 26
Leeds ...................26 10 0 16 576 610 20
Wakefield ............26 10 0 16 557 666 20
Huddersfield .......26 9 0 17 519 694 18
Hull K R ................26 9 0 17 492 725 18
London Broncos .26 9 0 17 465 716 18÷TODAY’S ACTION
(7.45 unless stated)
SKY BET CHAMPIONSHIP
Cardiff v Fulham ................................
Live on Sky Sports Football
LADBROKES CHAMPIONSHIP
Dundee Utd v Dundee .......................
Live on BT Sport 1
Inverness CT v Morton.............(7.05)
Live on BBC Scotland
CRICKET — Second Test—day 1 of 5:
West Indies v India (Kingston, 3.30pm).
t20 Blast - North Grp (6.30pm):
Lancs v Leics (Emirates Old Trafford).
Northants v Worcs (Northampton).
Notts v Durham (Trent Bridge).
Warwicks v Yorkshire (Edgbaston).
South: Essex v Kent (Chelmsford).
Glamorgan v Hamps (The SWALEC
Stadium). Somerset v Middlesex
(Taunton). Sussex v Gloucs (Hove).
MOTOR RACING — Formula 1 Bel-
gian Grand Prix practice (Circuit de
Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium).
RUGBY LEAGUE — Betfred Super
League (7.45): Hull v Huddersfield,
St Helens v Castleford.
RUGBY UNION — International
(8.10): France v Italy.