22 NEWS
THEWEEK1February 2020SportFACupManchester
United beat Tranmere 6-0.
Manchester City beat
Fulham 4-0. Newcastle drew
0-0 with League One side
Oxford United.
TennisSerena Williams was
knocked out of the Australian
Open in the third round by
China’s Wang Qiang, the
27th seed.
Rugby unionIn the
Premiership, Harlequins beat
Saracens 41-14. Sale beat the
league leaders Exeter 22-19.
Bristol beat Gloucester 34-16.
Bristol also agreedadeal to
sign England prop Kyle
Sinckler from Harlequins in
the summer.“Ofallsport’sicons,itisavanishingfewwho
evergraspthedistinctionofbeingknownbytheir
firstnamealone,”saidOliverBrowninTheDaily
Telegraph.KobeBryantwasoneofthem.Itis
“impossibletooverstate”theimpactthathisdeath
onSunday,inahelicoptercrashwhichalsokilled
his 1 3-year-olddaughterGianna,willhaveon
basketball.Inhis 2 0yearsattheLosAngeles
Lakers,theclubatwhichhespenthisentire
career,heelectrifiedthegame,winningfive
nationaltitles.Hewas,withoutquestion,oneof
thegreatestplayersinthesport’shistory:athis
best,hewas“agiddyingforceofnatureoncourt”.Evenasateenager,Bryantwas“abasketball
phenomenon”,saidIanWhittellinTheTimes.
Atatimewhenthetraditionalroutetogoing
professionalincludedastintincollegebasketball,
hetookthebolddecisiontoskipthatstep–makinghimonlythe
sixthplayerinNBAhistorytodoso.Bryantmodelledhisstyleon
MichaelJordan,saidMartinSamuelintheDailyMail.Like
Jordan,hewasamasterofthefade-away,ashot takenwhile
jumpingbackwards,awayfromthebasket.Andhehadan
incredibleknackforscoringinthedyingmomentsofagame,
“surroundedbyopponentsawareofhisaudacitybutunable to
preventit”.Hisrecordspeaksforitself:he wasthefirstplayerin
NBAhistorytoscore30,000 careerpoints,andthe firstto have6,000careerassists;theonlyplayertobepicked
fortheAll-StarGame,featuringtheleague’s 24
bestplayers,in 18 consecutiveseasons.In2006,
hescored8 1 pointsagainsttheTorontoRaptors,
thesecondhighesttotalinagameinNBAhistory.
Andadecadelater,intheverylastmatchofhis
career,hescoredaremarkable 6 0points.Bryantleavesa“glittering”butcomplicated
legacy,saidMarcSteininTheNewYorkTimes.
HeclashedwithShaquilleO’Neal,anotherLakers
legend.A“relentlesscompetitor”,hewouldshoot
wheneverhehadthechance,oftenattheexpense
ofhisside,missingmoreshotsinhiscareerthan
anyotherplayerinNBAhistory.Andasexual
assaultallegationin 2003 “wouldchangehow
manypeoplesawBryant”:thecasewasdropped
becausetheaccuserwasunwillingtotestify,and
Bryantlatersettledacivilcaseoutofcourt.A“geniusonthe
court”,andasometimesflawedcharacteroffit,Bryantseemedto
besolvingtheproblemof“lifeaftersport”,saidTomFordyceon
BBCSport.Jordan,forinstance,hasstruggledto“findanything
thatsatisfieshimasmuchasthefirstact”.ButBryantwas
dedicatedtoGianna’spromisingbasketballcareer,andheeven
wroteanOscar-winningshortfilm,DearBasketball.Hewas
“navigatingthesecondact,becomingsomethingthatallaround
himhopedwouldlast”.Kobe Bryant: abasketball greatEngland’stour ofSouthAfricacouldhardlyhave
ended onamorestraightforwardnote, saidValkerie
BaynesonESPNcricinfo.On Monday,theywrapped
up thefourth Test withinfour days,beatingthe
hostsbyan“emphatic” 19 1 runstowintheseries
3-1.It was only theirsecond overseas seriesvictory
infouryears,anditgivestheside “hugecausefor
optimism”: thiswasthemomentwhenDomSibley,
ZakCrawley andDomBessannouncedthemselves.
England’sstrugglesatthestartoftheseries,when
they lost the first Testasplayerafterplayerwashit
byavirus, “seemsolongago”.Therealpleasure ofthis TestwasseeingMark
Wood bowl“aswell ashehaseverdonein England
colours”,said Mike Athertonin TheTimes.Heis agenuinelyfast
bowler–hedismissedPieterMalanon Saturday withaball
movingat 94mph–butthesport takes arealtollonhisbody,andhehas sufferedalong runof injuries.In
Johannesburg,however, playingback-to-backTests
forthefirsttime since 2017 ,hetookninewicketsin
a“hostile,accurateandthreatening”performance.It
wasn’t just Wood whoimpressed,saidSimonWilde
inthesamepaper.As adryrun for theAshes tour in
two years’ time,thisseries“couldhardly havegone
better for England’sbowlers”:they“operated
superblyasaunit,disciplined and patient”.Before
theseriesbegan,England appeared incapable of
taking20wicketsinanoverseasmatch. Yethere,
theytook 2 0ineachof the four Tests.Theonlyreal
worry inthisside isJos Buttler,saidChrisStocksin
TheObserver.Hisbattingnumbersinthisseries
were “pitiful”: heaveraged just 17.83runsper
innings.Inwhite-ballformats,Butt lerremainsperhapsthefinest
bat smanin theworld –soit’stimehe focused onhisstrengths.
“Hehasalotstillto offerhiscountry, just notinTestcricket.”Cricket: England’s uplifting South Africa tourBryant:“aforceofnature”Wood:“threatening”Shrewsbury prove Liverpool’s match Sporting headlinesLiverpool are “the champions of
the world”, said Matt Barlow in
the Daily Mail. Since the start of
the season, they have been on
“a near flawless procession
towards the Premier League
title”. But on Sunday evening,
in the fourth round of the FA
Cup, they were held 2-2 by
Shrewsbury Town–ateam
languishing in the lower reaches
of League One. It wasn’taresult
anyone would have predicted with an hour
gone, when the Reds were two goals up. But
when Jason Cummings came off the bench, he
led Shrewsbury’s fightback, scoring twice in ten
minutes. With an already packed schedule, it
was the last thing Jürgen Klopp, the Liverpool
manager, wanted: the two teams will meet at
Anfield next Tuesday forareplay. However, thiswasn’t quite the upset it looks
on paper, said Henry Winter in
The Times. Few of Liverpool’s
first-team players were on the
pitch. But the side’s “lax
attitude” and complacency
were “unforgiveable”. Their
opponents, meanwhile, put in
some fantastic performances:
in midfield, Josh Laurent was
superb; Shaun Whalley “kept
running at Liverpool’s
defence”. If anything, they were unlucky. But
they might be luckier next time, said James
Pearce on The Athletic. The replay falls in the
middle of English football’s first ever winter
break, so Klopp has decided to fieldateam
made up entirely of youth players. It shows
how little he cares about the FA Cup–and it
makesamockeryofthe competition.Shrewsbury’s Laurent: superb