22 NEWS
THE WEEK 9 April 2022Sport
Tennis Poland’s Iga Świątek,
the world No. 1, defeated
Naomi Osaka of Japan
6-4, 6-0 in the final of the
Miami Open.
Football Brentford beat
Chelsea 4-1 in the Premier
League. Manchester City
remain one point ahead of
second-placed Liverpool
after beating Burnley 2-0. In
the Women’s Super League,
top-placed Chelsea beat
Reading 5-0.
Golf America’s Jennifer
Kupcho won her first major
at the Chevron Championship
in California. The 24-year-old
beat her compatriot Jessica
Korda by two strokes.It has been obvious for a while now to fans of
women’s cricket that Australia are the “best team
in the world”, said Raf Nicholson in The
Guardian. And last Sunday, they “made it official”.
Facing reigning champions England in the final
of the Women’s World Cup, Meg Lanning’s side
confirmed their dominance with a comprehensive
71-run victory. Australia are a class side, but
they were handed a huge advantage by Heather
Knight’s decision to bowl first on a flat wicket
at Christchurch’s Hagley Oval. And their task
became simpler still when England’s fielders
dropped several chances. Australia’s openers alone
put on 160 runs; Alyssa Healy struck 170 off 138
balls; and they finished on 356 for five – easily the
highest total of the tournament. Faced with such a
daunting target, “England might as well have got
on the plane then and there”. That they even made
a fist of it was entirely due to vice-captain Nat Sciver, who struck
a heroic unbeaten 148 as her team were bowled out for 285.It’s a pity the final was so one-sided, because overall this was a
“sensational” tournament that will do much to boost the standing
of the women’s game, said Milly McEvoy in The Independent.
Past World Cups have been somewhat marred by the gulf between
the strongest and weakest teams. But here, even the two weakest
sides – Pakistan and Bangladesh – were good enough to challengethe top nations, with lots of “nail-biting finishes”.
Of the 31 matches played, no less than ten “went
down to the final over”. And the competition was
a hit with the New Zealand public, who – after
two years of punishing Covid restrictions –
joyfully “attended in their droves”.Still, it was somewhat disheartening to watch
England being so comprehensively outplayed by
Australia in the final, said Paul Newman in the
Daily Mail. The side’s 2017 World Cup victory –
sealed against India “on a glorious day at Lords” –
represented a “massive opportunity for the English
women’s game”. Their uneven performance in this
tournament – they also lost their first three group
matches – suggests they have failed to grasp that
opportunity, whereas Australia have spent the past
five years transforming themselves into a winning
machine. One thing that is surely holding England back is the
team’s “lack of diversity”, said Scyld Berry in The Daily Telegraph.
Sophia Dunkley is their only regular non-white player, and one of
only four “cricketers of colour to represent England Women since
their inaugural game in 1934”. This “uniform mindset” spills over
into the team’s tactics, which tend to be timid and unimaginative
in pressure situations. The ECB must address these problems, if
the already “wide margin” between England and Australia is not
to become wider still.Cricket: England flattened by Australia
“Remember the name,” said Stuart Fraser in The
Times: we’ll be hearing a great deal of Carlos
Alcaraz in the coming years. On Sunday, the 18-year-
old Spaniard showed why he’s considered the hottest
prospect in men’s tennis by “becoming the youngest
male champion in the history of the Miami Open”.
His 7-5, 6-4 victory over world No. 8 Casper Ruud
was the culmination of a “momentous two weeks”
that also saw him defeat two other top ten players,
Stefanos Tsitsipas and Hubert Hurkacz. Ranked 31
at the start of the season, Alcaraz is now up to 11: he
has won 18 of the 20 matches he’s played this year.Make no mistake, Alcaraz is the real deal, said Joel
Drucker on Tennis.com. He grew up in Murcia in
southeastern Spain; he’s coached by former world No. 1
Juan Carlos Ferrero; and he’s not just a potential star, he’s a
“supernova” – the sort of player who comes along once a decade.His game is a “rare synthesis of tenacity and artistry”
that seems custom-built to terrify opponents. His
ground strokes are phenomenally powerful; no one
is faster round the court; and his game has wonderful
variety: feathery drop shots, deft angled volleys... the
lot. Such a breadth of skills would be impressive in
any player. “To see it in an 18-year-old is staggering.”Alcaraz’s emergence may also answer the “lingering
question” of what will happen in men’s tennis once
Nadal, Djokovic and Federer retire, said Tumaini
Carayol in The Guardian. So many new players have
“risen to immense fanfare” then fallen away. But
with his sublime skills, Alcaraz looks a class apart.
The season is about to enter its clay court swing, said
Matthew Futterman in The New York Times, and clay happens to
be Alcaraz’s best surface. Depending on how the next two months
go, he “could arrive at Roland Garros as a favourite”.Tennis: the emergence of a new superstar
Sciver: a heroic 148Alcaraz: sublime skillsControversy at the Boat Race Sporting headlines
Having been cancelled in 2020
and moved to the Great Ouse
in Ely in 2021, the Boat Race
finally returned to its traditional
home last Sunday, said John
Aizlewood in The Times. And
the “200,000 hardy souls” who
lined the Thames witnessed
two emphatic victories – one
by each university. Oxford were
favourites in the men’s race:
though they hadn’t won since
2017, their crew featured some superlative
rowers – including Angus Groom, an Olympic
silver medallist for Great Britain in Tokyo. And
they put in a performance “as ruthless as it was
perfect”. The Cambridge crew stroked “long and
languidly”, but Oxford’s superior physicality
made the difference and they won comfortably.
In the women’s race, Cambridge maintaineda dominance that now
“stretches to five successive
wins”, said Luke McLaughlin
in The Guardian. With Grace
Prendergast of New Zealand –
the No. 1 female rower in the
world – on board, it was no
great surprise that Cambridge
clocked 18min 22sec, breaking
the record set in 2017 by 11
seconds. The race proved
controversial, however,
said Ben Rumsby in The Daily Telegraph.
Cambridge’s cox, Jasper Parish, was repeatedly
warned for moving to the “Surrey side” –
cutting, that is, in front of Oxford – and this led
to the Oxford crew unsuccessfully protesting
that the result be overturned. Cameras also
picked up Parish using the “F-word” as he urged
his team – leading to an apology by the BBC.Parish and the victorious crew