Northamptonshire [UK], March 8 (ANI): Northamptonshire County Cricket Club on Monday announced the signing of South African pacer Wayne Parnell for the entire 2021 season.
Parnell will be available in all three formats as an overseas player for County Championship, Vitality Blast, and Royal London Cup.
“I am delighted to be joining Northants for the 2021 season across all formats. I love county cricket and I hope I can contribute to the club being successful on all fronts,” Parnell said in an official statement.
Steelbacks Skipper Josh Cobb felt Parnell will be a great asset to the Club.
“Looking at our attack we’ve got a lot of bases covered now with pace, spin, control and now he gives us a left-arm option as well so when you’re looking at matchups, I feel we’ve got everything we need,” Cobb said.
Having played at the highest level in both red and white-ball cricket, Parnell has scored more than 6000 career runs and is approaching 700 career wickets across all formats.
Wayne Parnell joins Afghanistan’s Mohammad Nabi as the Steelbacks’ two overseas players in the Vitality Blast and Skipper Josh Cobb believes having both available for all 14 games is an important factor.
“With the way international cricket is at the minute it can be hard to get players who are available for big chunks of the competition. So to have two overseas players for 14 games each is huge because you can build some momentum up and hopefully get on a run towards the backend of the group and really attack the finals,” said Cobb. (ANI)

Antwerp [Belgium], March 8 (ANI): Indian Men’s Hockey Team ended their Tour of Europe with a splendid 3-2 win against Great Britain here on Monday. Harmanpreet Singh’s goal in the very first minute and two goals by Mandeep Singh in the 28th and 59th minute helped India remain undefeated on the tour. For Great Britain, James Gall (20′) and striker Adam Forsyth (55′) scored.
In their previous match, India’s Simranjeet Singh had scored a late goal to hold Great Britain to a 1-1 draw and against Germany, the PR Sreejesh-led side had secured a 6-1 win and a 1-1 draw in the first and second match respectively.
In today’s match, India started off aggressively and earned themselves a PC in the very first minute of the game. The opportunity was duly converted by India’s Vice Skipper Harmanpreet Singh to give his side an early lead. Though Great Britain replied to the setback with a structured attack that helped them make a foray into the striking circle, a goal was denied by the alert Indian goalkeeper Krishan B Pathak. The early advantage helped the Indian Men maintain pressure on their opponents, ending the first quarter with a 1-0 lead.
Great Britain drew parity in the 20th minute through midfielder James Gall’s field goal. The much-needed equaliser helped his team gain the right momentum. Putting India under pressure, GB earned themselves a PC, but their attempt was derailed by a brilliant save by India Skipper PR Sreejesh. India’s moment to regain the lead came in the 28th minute when forward Mandeep Singh successfully converted the PC on a rebound.
Ahead by a goal, India rallied to extend the lead further with an aggressive attack in the third quarter. Though they fetched a PC in the early minute of that quarter and even made as many as five circle entries, they were denied each time. India’s defence, however, remained resolute as they held on to the 2-1 lead.
Though India dominated the proceedings at the start of the fourth quarter, a quick turnaround saw Great Britain grabbing the opportunity as Alan Forsyth scored an equalizer in the 55th minute. The last few minutes was a battle of nerves as both teams lived up to the billing, but it was Mandeep who rose to the occasion as his late strike helped India cap off their first assignment of 2021 with a 3-2 win against Great Britain. (ANI)

Ahmedabad (Gujarat) [India], March 8 (ANI): England’s Sam Curran feels there is still a long way to go before the Test series against Kiwis but the all-rounder admitted that if Chennai Super Kings (CSK) fails to qualify for the playoffs in upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL), he will likely be available for the New Zealand series.
The IPL Governing Council on Sunday announced the schedule for IPL 2021 to be held in India across six venues from April 9. England are scheduled to play a two-match Test series against New Zealand, starting June 2.
“Yesterday only the IPL dates came out. Any time there are England games in the summer you do want to play in them. You’ll have to see how the IPL tournament pans out. I guess if you miss the qualification then most likely you’ll be available for those Tests,” said Curran in a virtual press conference.
“If you’re in the final it might be a bit different. No one really knows how it will gonna pan out. Those New Zealand Tests have come into the calendar recently and there’s a lot of Test cricket,” he added.
India and England will face each other in the first T20I on Friday at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
“It is a World Cup year so there’s going to be a lot of emphasis on us doing really well, especially being in India now the World Cup is going to be here as well in October time, so that’s really exciting for us as players,” said Curran.
On Sunday, England coach Chris Silverwood said that England players will be available for the whole of the IPL.
“We have not looked at selection for the Test matches yet. For me, playing for your country is a big thing. It is always difficult to change anything. So, they will be staying for the whole IPL as it stands at the moment,” Silverwood said during a virtual press conference.
Defending champions Mumbai Indians will take on Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in Chennai in the tournament opener.
The final of the 14th edition of the tournament will be played on May 30 at Narendra Modi Stadium. Playoffs will also be played at the same venue. (ANI)

Southampton [UK], March 8 (ANI): Southampton manager Ralph Hasenhuttl has said that Danny Ings is likely to be absent for the remainder of this month’s fixtures due to injury.
The striker was replaced by Che Adams in the 13th minute during the match against Sheffield United on Saturday, and will now miss games against Manchester City, Brighton and AFC Bournemouth, with a return date expected to fall after March’s international break.
“I think it is a serious one but not too serious. I think three weeks it’ll be, expect him back after the international break,” the club’s official website quoted Hasenhuttl as saying when asked about Ings’s injury.
Southampton had secured a 2-0 win over Sheffield United in the match.
James Ward-Prowse had scored the opening goal of the match before Adams doubled the lead in the 49th minute. Southampton then defended well against Sheffield United and claimed three points from the game.
Southampton will next take on Premier League table-toppers Manchester City on March 10. (ANI)

New Delhi [India], March 8 (ANI): Three in men’s recurve Pravin Jadhav, Atanu Das, and Tarundeep Rai and three in women’s recurve Deepika Kumari, Ankita Bhakat, and Komolika Bari have made to the Indian Archery team for the Tokyo Olympics after the final selection trial (Trial 3) concluded on Monday at the Army Sports Institute in Pune.
The selection for the Olympic team on a points system took into consideration the scores of Trial 2 that took place in November 2020, the scores of this trial, and whether the archer had won an Olympic quota.
The men’s recurve team comprising of the above three archers had already won a quota at the 2019 Archery World Championships that were held in the Netherlands after winning a silver medal.
By winning this quota, they were eligible for single athlete quotas in the men’s individual recurve event as well.
Pravin Jadhav topped the trial held on Monday and was also in the overall first place, with this he will be playing his first-ever Olympics. Atanu Das came second while Tarundeep Rai finished overall third across all three criteria.
Tarundeep is a two-time former Olympian having represented India in 2004 and 2012 and will be playing his third Olympics in Tokyo.
Atanu Das who will be playing in his second Olympics after 2016, said, “I am very happy with the way the trial went and I am now confirmed for the Olympics. Have gone through a long process between the 2016 Olympics to now and have realised that the mental aspect of the game is very important. I am looking forward to perform at my best in both the individual and team events in Tokyo.”
Deepika Kumari who has already won an Olympic quota at the 2019 Asian Archery Championships, topped today’s trial. This will be Deepika’s third Olympics after 2012 and 2016. Ankita Bhakat came second while Komolika Bari came overall third.
The women’s recurve team is yet to win an Olympic quota and they will get an opportunity at the Final Team Qualification event scheduled to take place in Paris from June 18-21.
The trio of Deepika Kumari, Ankita Bhakat and Komolika Bari will represent India at that event and if they earn the quota will go on to represent India at the Olympics following the results of today’s trial. (ANI)

Doha [Qatar], March 8 (ANI): Ace paddlers Achanta Sharath Kamal, Sathiyan Gnanasekaran, and Manika Batra started their campaign at the WTT Star Contender Doha on a winning note and progressed into the second round of their respective singles categories on Monday.
The Melbourne Commonwealth Games champion Sharath Kamal was seen struggling in the initial stages of the game as he went down in the first game against Brian Afanador. The World No. 32 recovered well to gain the required momentum and gave no further chance to his opponent before sealing the match 8-11, 11-8, 11-7, 11-1 against the Puerto Rican in the men’s singles first round. The Indian paddler will face World No. 16 Patrick Franziska of Germany in the next round on Tuesday.
World No. 37 Sathiyan was also trailing 0-2 in the match. However, he made a remarkable comeback with a counter-attacking display and pulled off a sensational come-from-behind 9-11, 7-11, 11-7, 11-4, 11-4 victory against his French opponent Emmanuel Lebesson in the first round of men’s singles event. Sathiyan will now have a tough task in the next round as he is set to take on World No. 5 Japanese paddler Tomokazu Harimoto.
In the women’s singles opening round match, Commonwealth Games gold medallist Batra notched up a comfortable straight-set 11-5, 11-9, 11-9 victory against Chinese Taipei’s Hsein-Tzu Cheng to progress into the next round where she will face challenge from World No. 3 Mima Ito of Japan.
Sathiyan, Sharath Kamal and Batra have earned direct entries into the singles draw in the tournament. The second-round matches will take place on Tuesday.
Earlier in the first qualifying round of men’s singles, Anthony Amalraj suffered a 6-11, 11-9, 3-11, 7-11 defeat against Mizuki Oikawa of Japan while Harmeet Desai lost to Ukraine’s Yevhen Pryshchepa with 10-12, 9-11, 11-13, 9-11 scoreline. While in the women’s singles qualifiers, Sutirtha Mukherjee and Ahyika Mukherjee couldn’t progress into the third round. Sutirtha lost the hard-fought match 11-9, 11-6, 5-11, 9-11, 9-11 to Hayeong Kim of Korea andAyhika suffered a 5-11, 11-13, 7-11 loss against Irina Ciobanu of Romania. (ANI)