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LAHORE: The Pakistan Cricket Board is ready to share sports expertise with Saudi Arabia, its new chief told Arab News, as the game grows increasingly popular in the Kingdom.
Cricket matches have been organized in Saudi Arabia since 1960s, when the game was introduced by expatriates from Pakistan and India. As years passed, the sport became more structured and local clubs began to form.
The Kingdom became an affiliate member of the International Cricket Council in 2003 and, in 2016, was promoted to associate membership.
But the game’s real boom began only recently, with the establishment of the Saudi Arabian Cricket Federation in 2020. The federation has since lined up a series of programs to promote the sport at home and prepare national teams to compete with the world’s best in the future.
Among the sport’s leading nations is Pakistan, where cricket is the most popular sport — played, watched and loved by people across the country that for decades has been one of the top players in the International Cricket Council’s Test, ODI and Twenty20 rankings.
“We would be more than willing to go and help the Saudis put up a cricketing structure there, if asked,” Najam Sethi said in an exclusive interview with Arab News on Sunday.
Sethi last month took charge of the board that controls the South Asian nation’s domestic cricket and national teams.
Pakistan is home to some of the world’s best cricketers, including the all-rounder and former prime minister Imran Khan, who led the country to the 1992 World Cup victory; legendary fast bowler Wasim Akram; current chief selector Shahid Afridi, one of the greatest ODI all-rounders of all time; and Pakistan team captain Babar Azam, the only cricketer to feature in the top five rankings across all formats.
“We have the expertise, we have the talent, we have the knowledge, and if the Saudis want us to help them, we’ll certainly do that,” Sethi said, citing successful experiences in cricket cooperation with other countries, including neighboring Afghanistan, which has recently become a top world player.
Many Afghan players were trained by Pakistani coaches, and the creation of the Afghanistan Cricket Federation in 1995 was supported by Pakistan. Since then, the game has exploded in popularity in Afghanistan, and cricketers such as spin bowler Rashid Khan and batsman Mohammad Nabi have become global stars.
Afghanistan is now ninth in the ICC’s ODI rankings and, in 2017, became the first country to achieve ICC full member status after holding affiliate membership.
LONDON: Liverpool lost more ground in the race for a top-four English Premier League finish when it lost to Brentford 3-1 on Monday.
Sloppy defending cost Liverpool twice in the first half, prompting angry boss Jurgen Klopp to substitute key defender Virgil van Dijk at halftime.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain pulled one back but Bryan Mbeumo killed off Liverpool as Brentford beat the visitors for the first time since 1938 in all competitions.
Brentford rose from 10th to seventh in the standings. It was two points behind Liverpool.
Ibrahima Konate’s own goal gave the Bees the lead and Yoane Wissa’s header just before halftime put them in control.
Wissa, the replacement for Ivan Toney, the Bees’ 13-goal top scorer, had two goals ruled out for offside before he scored in a breakneck first half.
Liverpool’s Darwin Nunez added to his growing catalogue of wasted opportunities in front of goal. He was slipped in behind by Mohamed Salah and took the ball around Bees goalkeeper David Raya and rolled it toward goal, only for Ben Mee to arrive in the nick of time to slide in and block.
At the other end, Wissa sent Mbeumo clean through on goal but the latter’s shot was well saved by Alisson. However, from the corner, Brentford took the lead when the ball ricocheted off the knee of France World Cup finalist Konate and squirmed past Alisson.
Mbeumo’s corners continued to cause the visitors problems and Wissa put two of them into the net only for both goals to be chalked off.
However, the winger made it third time lucky four minutes before halftime when he buried a superb header from Mathias Jensen’s cross. Alisson got a hand to the ball and scooped it out but referee Stuart Attwell’s watch buzzed to confirm Wissa finally had his goal.
Klopp had seen enough of the shambles at the back and replaced Van Dijk with Joel Matip as one of three halftime changes.
The luckless Nunez managed to find the net shortly after the restart after breaking through one on one with Raya, only for VAR to pull him up for offside.
Moments later, Liverpool made one count, Oxlade-Chamberlain glancing in a header from Trent Alexander-Arnold’s tempting cross.
They pressed for an equalizer but Raya did well to keep out a Fabinho shot and Konate headed wide.
Brentford ended their hopes six minutes from time after Mbeumo brushed off a feeble challenge by Konate and tucked away the third.
SYDNEY: World No. 2 Rafael Nadal slumped to a second-straight defeat at the United Cup Monday in a setback to his Australian Open preparations, but Stefanos Tsitsipas and Iga Swiatek were both on song.
There was also more misery for former world No. 2 Alexander Zverev, who, like Nadal, suffered a second loss to start his season, this time at the hands of Taylor Fritz.
Spanish 22-time Grand Slam winner Nadal surprisingly crashed in his season-opening match on Saturday to 14th-ranked Cameron Norrie.
And he again succumbed after winning the first set, going down 3-6, 6-1, 7-5 to Australia’s 24th-ranked Alex De Minaur in Sydney, including losing six games in a row in the second set.
“Honestly, I couldn’t be happier that I managed to get my first win over Rafa on this court, it’s no secret this is my favorite court in the world,” said De Minaur.
“Rafa is a hell of a competitor and what he has been able to do for this sport is truly astounding so I’m just honored. It’s a dream come true.”
It went with serve to 2-2 in the first set, but Nadal played some loose shots and a double fault handed De Minaur a break point, then he sent a forehand long to go 2-3 behind.
But the Australian couldn’t sustain the pressure and Nadal broke straight back.
After a slow start, the Spaniard found his groove and in a devastating burst won the next three games to take the set.
De Minaur appeared deflated and was broken again on his first serve of the second set, but he flicked a switch to reel off six games in a row to leave Nadal stunned.
They exchanged breaks in the third set before a string of unforced errors from Nadal allowed De Minaur to break again for 6-5 and serve out for the win.
There was also more misery for former world No. 2 Alexander Zverev, who, like Nadal, suffered a second loss to start his season, this time at the hands of Taylor Fritz.
The mixed-team tournament features 18 countries playing in Sydney, Brisbane and Perth.
The winners of the two groups in each city advance to a city final on Wednesday, with whoever comes through that making the final four.
Neither Spain nor Australia can progress from Group D in Sydney, with Norrie’s Britain already the confirmed winner.
They will play the United States in the city final after Fritz and Madison Keys put their country through against Germany.
Meanwhile, world No. 9 Fritz beat Zverev 6-1, 6-4 in just 64 minutes.
It followed the German’s loss to 81st-ranked Czech Jiri Lehecka on Saturday in his first competitive match since tearing three right ankle ligaments during his French Open semifinal against Nadal in June.
“It was tough to judge my level because I feel he’s coming back from injury, he’s a bit rusty, he was giving me a lot of free points,” said Fritz, who had a breakthrough year in 2022 with titles at Indian Wells, Tokyo and Eastbourne.
“But I’m really happy with it.”
Keys swept past Jule Niemeier 6-2, 6-3.
World No. 1 Swiatek gave Poland a 1-0 lead against Switzerland in a winner-takes-all tie that will decide Group B in Brisbane, beating Belinda Bencic 6-3, 7-6 (7/3).
“I’m a perfectionist, but I’m super happy with my performance today,” said Swiatek.
“On this fast surface it was really, really hard so I’m really happy that I could close it.”
NEWCASTLE: Eddie Howe believes Newcastle United’s trip to leaders Arsenal is a litmus test for the club’s Champions League ambitions.
The Magpies signed off an impressive 2022 with an underwhelming point against a well-organized but struggling Leeds United side at the weekend — but nevertheless sit in third place in the Premier League as they head to the Emirates.
While Howe has steered clear of talking his team up as title or top-four contenders, he does think taking on the best tomorrow night will show just how far his side have progressed.
“We’ll learn a lot,” said the Newcastle head coach. “It’ll be a fascinating and high-level game. I’ve watched a lot of Arsenal this year and been hugely impressed. I think Mikel (Arteta) has done an incredible job. You look at the turnaround of the team and how they play, their identity is clear every week.
“Players look like they’re enjoying their football and playing a high level game. It’s going to be a really good examination of how far we’ve come.”
Howe’s first proper game in charge came in the same fixture last season, having been forced to sit out an earlier dugout debut due to contracting COVID-19.
Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli netted in a one-sided win for the Gunners in November 2021 as Howe was still getting to grips with his squad low on morale after the two-year tenure of Steve Bruce.
A lot has changed in that time — and not just for United.
On Arsenal, Howe said: “I just think they’ve continued to grow from that moment. They were on a journey of improvement throughout last season. This season they’ve really carried that on and gone again.
“The consistency has been hugely impressive for me, home or away, they’ve got the hallmark of a team that is free-flowing, scoring a lot of goals and are tight defensively, so a really good examination for us.”
Howe admits United go everywhere to win now — including Arsenal. That approach is a far cry from that of Magpies managers before him.
“There are certain times in games where you might need that mindset within the game but I think as a starting point, how do you grow if that is your consistent way of approaching these types of games? I’m not sure you can,” he said.
“We’ve tended not to go down that route, we want players to believe they can win every game and in order to do that, you have to prepare as you believe you can win the game, so we try to be consistent with that.
“But within the game, there may be moments where you have to go ‘right, batten down the hatches and see the game out,’ or whatever the situation requires. But in our preparation, those won’t be our messages.”
One player key to the Magpies’ recent rise has been midfielder Joe Willock.
Picked up from Tuesday’s opponents before Howe’s arrival, Willock has excelled with his energetic performances and will go back to his former home with a point to prove, particularly being a boyhood Gunner.
“I’ve been really pleased with Joe,” said Howe.
“He’s maturing nicely and I think he’s got really good raw ability. He’s very athletic, got an eye for goal, technically very good and tactically improving. He’s been excellent for me, I’ve forged a good relationship with him, I really like him as a person.
“The big thing with Joe is I know there is a lot more in there as well, there’s a lot more to come. I’m excited about his future.”
United head to London without two players, with Matt Targett and Jonjo Shelvey carrying injuries that will keep them out until around the end of February.
Callum Wilson could feature despite not fully recovering from illness. Martin Dubravka has also returned from his Manchester United loan spell and could take a place on the bench.
On whether the injuries to Targett and Shelvey had altered his January transfer thinking, Howe said: “If we didn’t sign anybody, we didn’t sign anybody. I love the group, I think we’ve got a really strong team.
“The thing we have to guard against, of course, at this time of year, is injuries and every player we lose is a blow and it does open up potential weaknesses in the squad.
“We’re very aware of that. I think when you look at Jonjo and Matt Targett’s injury, we don’t quite know how long they’ll be out but I don’t think either of them are long-term so we will get them back.
“We obviously have to think about that as well so there’s a lot to take in.”
ALULA, Saudi Arabia: Defending champion Nasser Al-Attiyah (Toyota) used all his experience of the rocky conditions to win a tough 430km second stage from Sea Camp to AlUla in the 45th Dakar Rally on Monday.
As many of his rivals were held up by a series of punctures, including Sebastien Loeb (Prodrive) who lost almost an hour and a half, the Qatari Al-Attiyah plowed to a provisional 14-second win over Erik Van Loon (Overdrive).
Carlos Sainz (Audi) was third man home, 5 minutes 5 seconds back, which was enough to give the Spaniard the lead in the provisional general classification, 2min 12sec ahead of Al-Attiyah.
Mathieu Serradori (Century) is running third, 24min 55sec behind Sainz.
“It was absolutely the time to attack and drive a good stage,” said Al-Attiyah.
“It was not an easy day. There were a lot of rocks and the navigation wasn’t easy. We had one flat tyre, one puncture at the beginning, but after that we tried to be really careful in the stony places. In the sand we pushed and I’m quite happy.”
Loeb’s hopes of competing for a first ever Dakar title hang in the balance after a stage he described as a “car wreck.”
“The whole special was hell,” said a stony-faced Loeb as he stepped out of his car which was missing its bonnet, torn off during an impact.
“At the driving level, (it was) completely uninteresting, driving in rocks in slow motion, trying to cross without puncturing and, well, we had three punctures.
“We did everything to drive slowly but there was nothing we could do, it was not at all suitable for a car like ours.”
The nine-time world rally champion, who finished second last year, is now down in 31st in the overall standings 1hr 21min off the lead.
Meanwhile, American rider Mason Klein took the overall lead in the motorcycling category after winning Monday’s stage.
“Most of the day I was just following the other guys and then at the last part they were making jokes about me leading out or not leading out and letting them all do the work,” said Klein.
“So, I said, fine, I’ll take my turn and I just left them and it was good.”
His compatriot Ricky Brabec had led overnight but could post only the 15th fastest time and was 8min 19sec slower than KTM rider Klein.
In spite of picking up a penalty, Klein timed 1min 9sec faster than Germany’s Sebastien Buhler on the stage with another American Skyler Howes finishing third 1min 13sec adrift.
The 21-year-old Californian benefitted from some tactical slowing down from Australian rider Daniel Sanders who was comfortably leading the stage before opting to ease off in the last kilometers to avoid having to open the way on Tuesday.
“I was pushing a lot at the start to make up a lot of time and that was working, but then I knew we still had 200km to go, so I backed off a little bit and sat back for tomorrow and sit back in the pack,” said the GasGas rider.
“There’s no point, it’s only the second day, to push and risk a lot, for opening tomorrow where anything can happen.
“So, we’ll see how the front guys go and hopefully I’ll be in a good position at the back.”
Klein, who finished ninth as a rooky in last year’s edition, leads Toby Price of Australia, also riding a KTM, by 1min 41 sec with Spain’s Honda rider Joan Barreda third 2min 3sec off the pace.
Tuesday’s stage will take the competitors on a picturesque 447km route from AlUla to Ha’il.
Riyadh: After a week of media anticipation about Cristiano Ronaldo joining the Saudi Al-Nassr club, the world-renowned footballer arrived at Riyadh’s King Khaled International Airport from Madrid late on Monday.
The Portuguese international arrived with his family around 11 p.m. Saudi time.
The star has spoken #AlNassr fans.. how excited are you?
See you tomorrow #HalaRonaldo
pic.twitter.com/WQPDZGUd0V
Al-Nassr club will hold a two-hour welcoming ceremony for Ronaldo on Tuesday, Dec. 3 at Marsool Park at 7 p.m., where he will sign a contract, and address fans and media at a press conference.
The ceremony is expected to be broadcast by several TV channels.
The club has yet to announce when Ronaldo will make his Al-Nassr debut.
Al-Nassr have described his move as “history in the making,” and said that it will benefit the Saudi league in many ways.