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Second Healy ton takes Australia into World Cup semis | The Express Tribune

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Second Healy ton takes Australia into World Cup semis | The Express Tribune


The Australian skipper’s flawless knock powered her side to a dominant victory and early qualification

Alyssa Healy notched up her second consecutive hundred against Bangladesh. PHOTO: ICC


VISAKHAPATNAM:

Skipper Alyssa Healy hit an unbeaten 113, her second century in a row, as holders Australia booked their spot in the semi-finals of the Women’s World Cup with a crushing 10-wicket win over Bangladesh on Thursday.

Healy and fellow opener Phoebe Litchfield, unbeaten on 84, hardly put a foot wrong as Australia romped home to their victory target of 199 with 25.1 overs to spare in Visakhapatnam.

With a fourth win in five matches – the other was washed out – seven-time champions Australia become the first team to secure a final-four berth in the 50-over marquee tournament.

The left-handed Litchfield hit Fariha Trisna for two successive fours to bring up the win as they reached 202-0 in 24.5 overs.

Australia have two matches left to play in the league stage including a key clash with rivals England next week and a surprised Healy came to know about the semi-final qualification in the post-match presentation.

“We pride ourselves in professionalism, we played well today to get the two points, we’ll come back and be prepared for the next match as well,” said Healy.

“I didn’t know we have made the semi-finals.”

Wicketkeeper-batter Healy raised her second successive ton after her heroics in the previous win over co-hosts India when the captain’s 142 made Australia chase down 331.

She hammered 20 boundaries from her 77-ball knock while Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and a six as she raised her eighth ODI fifty.

Australia’s spinners set up the victory after they kept Bangladesh down to 198-9 in their 50 overs after electing to bat first, Ashleigh Gardner, Alana King and Georgia Wareham all taking two wickets each.

Sobhana Mostary hit a defiant unbeaten 66 to make Bangladesh play out their full quota of overs after they slipped to 165-9 in the 46th over but it wasn’t enough to test the Australians.

Opener Rubya Haider handed Bangladesh a strong start with her solid 44 as Bangladesh lost their first wicket in the ninth over to pace spearhead Megan Schutt.

Rubya hit eight fours before she slogged Gardner to mid-on. Sharmin Akhter followed suit at which point leg-spinners King and Wareham made further inroads.

Skipper Nigar Sultana was stumped off King, who was named player of the match, and the rest of the batting faltered with only Mostary showing grit.

“In these conditions we should get more runs,” said Nigar. “Not being consistent as a batting unit cost us.”



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NBA veteran Gallinari retires from basketball

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NBA veteran Gallinari retires from basketball


Longtime NBA forward Danilo Gallinari announced his retirement from basketball Tuesday morning.

Gallinari, 37, spent 16 years in the NBA, playing in 14 seasons — and missing two others with torn ACLs — for several teams, beginning with the New York Knicks, who selected him sixth overall in the 2008 draft.

One of 299 players, per the Elias Sports Bureau, to have played at least 14 NBA seasons, Gallinari also played for the Denver Nuggets, LA Clippers, Oklahoma City Thunder, Atlanta Hawks, Boston Celtics (no games logged), Washington Wizards, Detroit Pistons and Milwaukee Bucks.

The son of Vittorio Gallinari — a teammate and roommate of longtime NBA head coach Mike D’Antoni while the two were members of Olimpia Milano in the 1970s and ’80s — Gallinari is the second-highest-drafted Italian player ever, behind former No. 1 selection Andrea Bargnani, and his 11,607 points is the most of any Italian player in NBA history.

He was best known for his time with the Knicks, where he was the fresh-faced on-court part of their rebuilding project ahead of the star-studded 2010 free agency class while D’Antoni was the head coach, and with the Nuggets, where he arrived as part of the massive trade that brought Carmelo Anthony to New York in 2011.

It was in Denver that Gallinari was part of a 57-win Nuggets team in 2012-13 that was made up of several of the players who came with him as part of that Anthony trade and that appeared ready to make a run in the Western Conference playoffs when Gallinari tore his ACL late in that regular season.

Injuries were, unfortunately, a major storyline of Gallinari’s career, as he missed at least 10 games in all but one of his NBA seasons. He not only missed two entire seasons — 2013-14 and 2022-23 — to ACL tears but also missed the vast majority of his rookie year with a back injury.

But when he was on the court, Gallinari was a tremendously skilled offensive player — particularly given that he was 6-foot-10. His 1,456 3-pointers is the sixth most by any player in NBA history who is at least that tall. In February 2021, while playing with the Hawks, he became one of eight players in league history to hit at least 10 3-pointers while coming off the bench.

That season with Atlanta marked the only time Gallinari would make it as far as the NBA’s conference finals in his 14-year career, although he capped off his professional career by winning the Puerto Rican league title, and winning the championship series MVP award, with Vaqueros de Bayamon this past summer.

Gallinari’s last game in the NBA was Game 6 of the Bucks’ first-round loss to the Indiana Pacers in the 2024 NBA playoffs.



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Clase, Ortiz face May trial in pitch-rigging scandal

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Clase, Ortiz face May trial in pitch-rigging scandal


NEW YORK — Cleveland Guardians pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz are facing a May trial on federal charges that they took bribes to help gamblers betting on their pitches.

U.S. District Court Judge Kiyo Matsumoto on Tuesday said jury selection would tentatively begin May 4 in Brooklyn federal court, with the trial opening the following week or sooner.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Sean Sherman told the judge at the brief hearing that prosecutors anticipate the trial could last two weeks.

He said that both sides have been in discussions since the pitchers were arrested last month but that they have not yet talked about a possible plea deal in the case to avoid trial.

Matsumoto initially proposed a February trial date, but prosecutors and defense lawyers pushed for a spring start.

Sherman said prosecutors began providing defense lawyers with evidence and other materials this week in anticipation of a trial, including hundreds of gigabytes of files pulled from a number of electronic devices.

Clase, Ortiz and their lawyers declined to comment outside the courtroom. They’re due back in court Jan. 15.

The two have been out on bail since pleading not guilty last month to wire fraud conspiracy, honest services wire fraud conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy and conspiracy to influence sporting contests by bribery.

According to prosecutors, the two accepted thousands of dollars in bribes to help two unnamed gamblers in their native Dominican Republic win at least $460,000 on bets placed on the speed and outcome of their pitches.

The prosecutors allege that Clase, the Guardians’ star closer, began providing the bettors with information about his pitches in 2023 and then recruited Ortiz into the scheme earlier this year.

Lawyers for the men have denied the charges. Ortiz’s lawyer has maintained that payments between his client and individuals in the Dominican Republic were for legal activities, not payoffs.

Clase, 27, is a three-time All-Star and two-time American League Reliever of the Year who is on the fourth season of a $20 million, five-year contract.

Ortiz, 26, earned a $782,600 salary this year as a starting pitcher for Cleveland.

The two pitchers have been on nondisciplinary paid leave since July, when MLB began investigating what it said was unusually high in-game betting activity when they pitched.

The Guardians open spring training in February. The team’s home opener is April 3.



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Barcelona confirm Bonmatí out for five months after surgery

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Barcelona confirm Bonmatí out for five months after surgery


Barcelona midfielder Aitana Bonmatí will be out for five months after undergoing surgery on a broken leg on Tuesday, the Catalan club have confirmed.

Bonmatí, 27, fractured her fibula in Spain training over the weekend and returned to Barcelona immediately to begin her recovery.

“Bonmatí has undergone successful surgery on a fractured fibula in her left leg,” Barça announced in a short statement on Tuesday.

“The procedure was performed by Dr. Antoni Dalmau at Hospital Barcelona under the supervision of the club’s medical services. The expected recovery time is around five months.”

The three-time Ballon d’Or winner picked up the injury on Sunday as Spain prepared for Tuesday’s UEFA Women’s Nations League final second leg against Germany.

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She had initially wanted to stay with the Spain camp to support the team in their quest to retain the trophy, but was advised to return to Barcelona for treatment.

On Friday, she had played in the first leg in Germany, which ended in a goalless draw.

Bonmatí will now miss the majority of what remains of the club season, although there is a chance she could return for the run in.

The Champions League final, should Barça get there, is scheduled to take place in Oslo on May 22, with the final round of Liga F matches not set to take place until a week later.

The loss of Bonmatí complicates Barça’s options in the middle park, especially in the short-term, with both Patri Guijarro and Kika Nazareth also unlikely to feature again this calendar year due to injuries.

In the meantime, Laia Aleixandri will continue to push up from defence alongside Alexia Putellas, with youngsters Vicky López, Sydney Schertenleib and Clara Serrajordi set to compete for the final place in the middle of the park.



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