54 2GM Tuesday May 24 2022 | the times
Sport
5
Football
Vanarama National League
Play-off quarter-final
Notts County (0) 1 Grimsby (0) 2
Rodrigues 73 (pen)
12,023
Holohan 90+6
Dieseruvwe 119
(aet; 1-1 after 90min)
Today’s quarter-final Halifax Town v
Chesterfield (7.45).
Cinch Scottish Premiership
Play-off final, second leg
St Johnstone(0) 4 Inverness CT(0) 0
May 46, MacPherson 53
Hendry 88, Rooney 90
(St Johnstone won 6-2 on agg)
Cricket
Second Test: Bangladesh v Sri Lanka
Mirpur (first day of five; Bangladesh won
toss): Bangladesh have scored 277 for five
wickets against Sri Lanka
Bangladesh First Innings
Mahmudul Hasan Joy b Rajitha 0
Tamim Iqbal c Jayawickrama
b A M Fernando 0
Najmul Hossain Shanto b Rajitha 8
*Mominul Haque c Dickwella
b A M Fernando 9
Mushfiqur Rahim not out 115
Shakib Al Hasan lbw b Rajitha 0
†Litton Das not out 135
Extras (b 6, lb 3, w 1) 10
Total (5 wkts, 85 overs) 277
Mosaddek Hossain, Taijul Islam, Khaled
Ahmed and Ebadot Hossain to bat.
Fall of wickets 1-0, 2-6, 3-16, 4-24, 5-24.
Bowling Rajitha 19-5-43-3; A M Fernando 17-2-
80-2; Jayawickrama 29-9-81-0; Wanigamuni
12-0-41-0; De Silva 4-0-15-0; Karunaratne
4-1-8-0.Sri Lanka *F D M Karunaratne, B O P
Fernando, B K G Mendis, A D Mathews, D M de
Silva, L D Chandimal, †D P D N Dickwella,
R T M Wanigamuni, P Jayawickrama, A M
Fernando, C A K Rajitha.
Umpires J S Wilson (West Indies) and
Sharfuddoula Saikat (Bangladesh).
Tour match
Hove: Final day of four New Zealand 342-3
dec (T W M Latham 65, W A Young 55, T A
Blundell 51, M G Bracewell 51) and 40-0;
Sussex 247 (A G H Orr 59). Match drawn.
Tour match
Guildford: Final day of four Sri Lanka Cricket
Development XI 372-9 dec (N P Dananjaya
150 not out) and 290-6 (K K A C Tharindu 103
not out, N P Dananjaya 81); Surrey 556 (R S
Patel 126, B B A Geddes 104, A A P Atkinson 91,
N M J Reifer 68; D N Wellalage 5 for 143).
Match drawn.Ice hockey
World Championships
Helsinki: Group A Canada 2 Denmark 3;
Kazakhstan 5 Italy 2. Group B Austria 5 Great
Britain 3; United States 0 Czech Republic 1.
Netball
Vitality Superleague London Pulse 50
Manchester Thunder 56.
Rugby league
Betfred Championship Sheffield Eagles 34
Widnes Vikings 24.
Tennis
French Open
Roland Garros, Paris: First round (seeds in
brackets): Men (5) R Nadal (Sp) bt JThompson (Aus) 6-2, 6-2, 6-2; C Moutet (Fr)
bt S Wawrinka (Switz) 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-2), 6-3;
C Norrie (GB) bt M Guinard (Fr) 7-5, 6-2, 6-0;
B Gojo (Cro) bt Al Giannessi (It) 6-4, 6-7 (3-7),
6-7 (4-7), 7-6 (7-4), 6-4; S Baez (Arg) bt D
Lajovic (Serbia) 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3; (13) T Fritz
(US) bt S Rodríguez Taverna (Arg) 7-6 (7-2), 3-
6, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4; (27) (29) D Evans (GB) bt F
Cerundolo (Arg) 7-6 (7-3), 6-4, 6-4; (22) N
Basilashvili (Geo) bt M Cressy (US) 3-6, 2-6, 7-6
(10-8), 6-4, 6-4; F Krajinovic (Serbia) bt (17) R
Opelka (US) 7-6 (7-5), 6-2, 6-3; M McDonald
(US) bt F Agamenone (Arg) 1-6, 6-2, 6-3, 7-6
(7-3); B Nakashima (US) bt K Majchrzak (Pol)
6-4, 2-6, 4-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-2; P Cachin (Arg) bt N
Gombos (Slovakia) 6-1, 3-6, 6-2, 6-3; M
Fucsovics (Hun) bt G Blancaneaux (Fr) 6-2, 6-
4, 6-4; M Ymer (Swe) bt J Duckworth (Aus) 6-2,
6-4, 6-2; (20) M Cilic (Cro) bt A Balazs (Hun)
6-0, 6-1, 6-2; (28) M Kecmanovic (Serbia) bt T
Etcheverry (Arg) 6-3, 7-5, 6-3; (1) N Djokovic
(Serbia) bt Y Nishioka (Japan) 6-3, 6-1, 6-0.Women (1) I Swiatek (Pol) bt L Tsurenko (Ukr)
6-2 6-0; D Parry (Fr) bt (2) B Krejcikova (Cz)
1-6, 6-2, 6-3; (27) A Anisimova (US) bt N Osaka
(Japan) 7-5, 6-4; A Petkovic (Ger) bt O Dodin
(Fr) 6-4, 6-2; Zheng Qinwen (China) bt M
Zanevska (Bel) 6-3, 6-1; B Andreescu (Can) bt
Y Bonaventure (Bel) 3-6, 7-5, 6-0; (32) P
Kvitova (Cz) bt A Bondar (Hun) 7-6 (7-0), 6-1;
D Saville (Aus) bt V Grammatikopoulou (Gr)
6-1, 6-2; M Trevisan (It) bt H Dart (GB) 6-0, 6-2;
A Riske (US) bt D Yastremska (Ukr) 6-3, 6-3; D
Kovinic (Mont) bt (25) L Samsonova 2-6, 6-2,
6-1; (15) V Azarenka bt A Bogdan (Rom) 6-7 (7-
9), 7-6 (7-1), 6-2; L Jeanjean (Fr) bt N Párrizas
Díaz (Sp) 6-4, 6-3; E Jacquemot (Fr) bt H
Watson (GB) 6-3, 6-3; (12) E Raducanu (GB) bt
L Noskova (Cz) 6-7 (4-7), 7-5, 6-1; A
Tomljanovic (Aus) bt (5) A Kontaveit (Est) 7-6
(7-5), 7-5; (29) V Kudermetova bt Lin Zhu
(China) 6-4, 3-6, 6-3; A Schmiedlova (Slovakia)
bt K Kucova (Slovakia) 4-6, 7-6 (7-1), 6-2; (21) A
Kerber (Ger) bt M Frech (Pol) 2-6, 6-3, 7-5.Results
Ben Compton’s prodigious form this
season shows that he can play for
England, according to Paul Downton,
the Kent director of cricket.
Compton’s fourth hundred of the
summer against Northamptonshire
last week, which was followed by an
unbeaten 68 in the second innings, took
his run tally for the season to 878 at an
average of 109 and he has been called
up to play in a county XI to face New
Zealand at Chelmsford in a four-day
match starting this week.
He joins the likes of Dom Sibley and
Ollie Robinson, who have been given a
chance to impress the England select-
ors. Compton, the leading runscorer in
Dukes, the ball manufacturer, will be
carefully handpicking a batch to be
used in England’s Test series against
New Zealand in an attempt to find ones
that do not go soft.
Dukes admitted that there appeared
to have been “a problem” with the balls
used in the first six rounds of the Coun-
ty Championship that had caused them
to go soft and require replacement.
A new batch was issued to every
county before the most recent round of
matches and the feedback was that
mostly they were better, swung more
and didn’t lose their shape. However,
there were still some issues at Trent
Bridge, where the ball had to be re-
placed.
Stuart Broad said that it had felt like
bowling with a “rolled up piece of Plas-
ticine” for Nottinghamshire amid fears
that it could become an issue in En-
gland’s Test series with New Zealand,
which begins at Lord’s on June 2.
The 35-year-old seamer, who has
been recalled to England’s Test squad
after being dropped for the tour to the
West Indies in March, has taken 11
wickets in three matches for
Nottinghamshire and echoed com-
ments made by his England team-mate
James Anderson.
“They have not swung and because
they are going soft very quickly, neither
is there any bounce,” Broad wrote in his
Mail on Sunday column.
“Things have been so bad that we
have had to change the ball two or three
times every innings. It has felt like
bowling with a rolled up piece of
Plasticine and the balls are that soft you
feel like you can squeeze them even
before you have bowled a ball with
them. In the first innings against
Derbyshire this week, the ball went out
of shape after 3.3 overs and was
changed after eight.”
The ECB and Dukes admitted they
were aware of the issue and will now be
picking out a specific set of balls.
They are being tested for their hard-
ness and will be used in training and for
the upcoming three-Test series.
Broad fears that if the softness issue
persists umpires may not change theball because the gauge they use to test
the shape of the ball would not pick up
that the Dukes had gone out of shape.
“It could yet be an issue for the up-
coming Test series too, because where-
as in county cricket the rings that are
used to check if a ball is still in shape is
specifically made for Dukes, the ICCOld-style Compton backed to play at highest level
Geoffrey Dean either division this summer, could have
become the first player since Graeme
Hick in 1988 to score 1,000 first-class
runs before the end of May had Kent
not turned down his request to play
against a Sri Lanka development XI.
That was a first-class four-day match in
the first week of May but the county
wanted to give others an opportunity.
“Ben’s an opening batsman in the old-
style who knows his game and clearly
has the potential to make the step up to
international level,” Downton, the
former England wicketkeeper, said.
His views were backed up by Matt
Walker, the Kent head coach.
“I’ve been extremely impressed by
Ben since he joined us this year,”
Walker said. “I’ve watched Ben bat now
nearly 50 times, if you take pre-season,
winter nets, practice games and cham-
pionship matches, and I see the same
things every time. He is a little bit of a
throwback as an opening batter who is
prepared to trust his defence wholly;
who understands his game wholly and
then executes his skills very well.
“If you want to call him a limited
player, in terms of his runscoring shots,
you can, but that’s not a negative. He has
the cut, the flick off the hip and the cover
drive if the ball is wide of off, although
not down the ground. He plays very
straight with the ball underneath his
eyes, with his hands so close to the body.”
It is Compton’s relatively late entry
into the professional game that Walker
believes is driving him to heights thatno one foresaw. “His attributes that
most impress me are his concentration,
his resilience and his hunger to bat, and
not [to] get fazed by anything. Even
when runscorers come in who go at a
bit of a click, he stays firm and trusts his
game. And for someone who hasn’t
played much first-class cricket, that’s
incredibly impressive.
“He knows his game and is very
happy with it. He knows what works for
him and just applies it game after game.
He’s using that good form and making
the most of it, which a lot of people don’t
do. He’s been batting on good wickets
but made the most of that. He’s not
going to be everyone’s favourite cricket-
er, but he’s got a game that can cope
with high quality first-class bowling.”version used in international cricket is
also made to accommodate the
Kookaburra and SG balls that are
bigger,” he said.
There are no plans at present to
change the ball gauge ring used by ICC
umpires but the situation will be
monitored during the first Test.Dukes will handpick balls for Tests
after Broad’s ‘Plasticine’ criticism
Cricket
Elizabeth Ammon
England plan
for ‘gas and
guts’ attack
Rugby union
Will Kelleher
Deputy Rugby CorrespondentOwen Farrell and Marcus Smith have
together been tasked with rejuvenating
England’s misfiring attack before their
crucial tour to Australia.
England travel down under in July
for a three-Test series off the back of a
poor Six Nations in which they lost
three of their five games for the second
year in a row. Discounting the win over
bottom-of-the-table Italy, Eddie Jones’s
side scored only three tries in the other
four matches.
With Farrell, 30, returning to the
England fold — having missed the Six
Nations because of an ankle injury —
Jones is desperate to partner him with
Smith, 23, having only seen them to-
gether for 68 minutes against Australia
in the autumn.
The pair may face each other in the
Gallagher Premiership semi-finals
next month, as Harlequins look set to
travel to Saracens in the play-offs, but
this week in London they have been
dovetailing at an England camp.
“From the Australia tour we want to
see a significant improvement in where
we’re going,” Martin Gleeson, the
attack coach, said. “We’ll hopefully seethe biggest difference in our attack.
[Farrell] is key for us. In the autumn him
and Marcus got on really well.
“They work together well, and I think
Faz can free up Marcus a little bit so he
doesn’t have too much to think about.
“Marcus plays with a smile on his
face, plays what he sees and is pretty
instinctive. Faz can be really controlled
and methodical. The combination of
those two, from what I’ve seen, is good.”
Despite the differences between
Smith’s and Farrell’s styles, Gleeson
sees similarities in their characters.
“Look at Quins, they have that com-
petitive nature every week,” Gleeson
said of Smith’s side. “You can see on his
face when he’s playing: he’s gritty, he’s a
competitor, he wants to win.
“Owen looks hungry. He’s control-
ling the team, organising.”
Jones has a new plan for England he
is calling “gas and guts” based on allying
big ball carriers, such as Manu Tuilagi,
Mako Vunipola and Joe Cokanasiga,
with the pace of players such as
Anthony Watson and Henry Arundell,
the 19-year-old London Irish back.
Gleeson said he has rarely seen a
player with Arundell’s speed, and re-
vealed he has been clocked running at
10.5 metres per second, or over 23mph.Smith’s flair can
be a key weapon
for Jones’s sidePHILIP BROWN/GETTY IMAGESBroad, bowling for Nottinghamshire at Lord’s, says that when holding the Dukes ball it feels like “you can squeeze” it