John Hastings sends social media into a frenzy after bowling a bizarre 18-ball over
Former Australia all-rounder John Hastings sent social media into a frenzy after bowling a bizarre 18-ball over during a World Championship of Legends (WCL) match against the Pakistan Champions on Tuesday. Chasing 75 for the win, Pakistan were cruising at 55/0 when Hastings was brought into the attack. In total, Hastings bowled 12 wides and one no-ball. In fact, he couldn’t complete his over as Pakistan won the game after the fifth legal ball, What followed was one of the longest overs in recorded cricket history. Hastings started with five wide deliveries, all well outside the off-stump to right-hander Sohaib Maqsood. After a change in strike, Sharjeel Khan put the next ball away for a boundary. Hastings followed with a no-ball and a wide bouncer outside the leg-stump, before a leg-bye changed the strike once again. Desperation took over as he changed angles again, only to fire more deliveries far from the stumps. In total, the over included 12 wides and one no-ball, and was never even completed, as Pakistan reached the target before it ended. Pakistan will now take on India in the semi-final on Thursday, while Australia will also face South Africa for a place in the final. Earlier, the India-Pakistan league stage clash was officially called off, following strong objections from Indian players and a principal tournament sponsor in the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack earlier this year, which escalated military tensions between both nations. Earlier, Pakistan had bundled out Australia for just 74 in 11.5 overs after electing to field. Sohail Tanvir and Sohail Khan removed the openers before Saeed Ajmal ran through the middle and lower order with an outstanding spell of 3.5-0-16-6. Imad Wasim provided able support with 2-11 in three overs. Australia’s innings never really took off. Ben Dunk (26) and Callum Ferguson (10) were the only batters to reach double figures. Such was the collapse that Australia lost their last eight wickets for just 25 runs in 39 balls. In the second innings, John Hastings, who had come on as a substitute for Chris Lynn, was handed the ball when Pakistan needed only 20 runs in seven overs. But the over turned into a comedy of errors, including five consecutive wides to start and three more later after he tried switching to round the wicket. The over ended with Pakistan comfortably reaching the target. Hastings’ outing was best summed up by the numbers: 18 balls, 12 wides, 1 no-ball, and just 5 legal deliveries.
Pep sticks to his decision of quitting after the end of his contract
Pep Guardiola, the most successful manager in Manchester City’s history, has once again reiterated his firm intention to quit coaching after his contract at Manchester City ends. “I know that after this stage with Manchester City I’m going to stop, that’s for sure; it’s decided, more than decided,” Guardiola said. “I’m going to leave after this stage with City because I need to stop and focus on myself, on my body.” In a long ranging interview with the lifestyle major, Guardiola would start off when asked what he feels his age to be when Cridtiano Ronaldo said he reckoned he was 28. “I’m now, I’m 75 years old [laughs]. I’m a wreck, everything hurts right now. So, if it’s my biological age… Maybe if I take the test, it’ll come out younger. I hope to be better than I am now in a while. That’s why I need places like this to get better,” he would say on the sidelines of a longevity, neuroscience facility in Barcelona. Speaking about last season’s woes, Guardiola told GQ, “I don’t think I’d attribute it so much to last year, but rather to the last seven years. When you win six Premier Leagues, there comes a time when you go downhill. It’s human nature. Back then, we probably should have moved more players, but it’s very easy to say that after the fact. It’s a process that had to be experienced, which happens, which took longer to happen, and when it happened, it went deeper than we could have imagined. Not deep in the sense of ending badly, because in the end, we reached the Copa del Rey final and finished third, not twelfth. It hasn’t gone so badly. In retrospect, we’ll see that it hasn’t been such a bad season. But we have gone for many months without winning games. We’ve gone like 13 or 14 without winning, and that was… It had never happened before. But it puts you in your place.” Guardiola said sport was tightly wound up with failures, even the most successful careers. “In sports, you can’t always win every competition you play. He told GQ You know why? Because it’s impossible. Impossible. So you lose sometimes, well yes, that’s part of sports. Michael Jordan was the greatest. He won six rings playing for fifteen years. He lost more than he won. Tiger Woods was the greatest. He won fourteen Grand Slams. Do you know how many he’s played in his life? More than a hundred. He lost more than he won. In sports, you lose more than you win. I’ve played in 16 leagues and won thirteen. So, well, yes, I’ve lost some. But it hasn’t gone badly. And then, as part of sports, part of the process is thinking that the others are also good, that they also do well, that they also prepare, that they also have the people to do well. Ah, this year, if we give up, I’ll tell you, we’re twelfth, and we’re not giving up. We were very bad, very bad, but we were there, we were there… And in the end we finished third, which in the Premier League, I can tell you, isn’t bad,” Guardiola, widely regarded as one of the greatest managers in football history, has won 18 trophies with Manchester City, including six Premier League titles and a long-awaited Champions League crown. Yet the relentless pressure of elite coaching has taken its toll. “There’s no profession where 60,000 people want you to lose your job. But we’re so well-paid, we can accept this. The emotional stakes are high; if I win, I laugh at my neighbour; if I lose, he laughs at me.”
Oval curator reportedly threatens Gambhir to lodge a complaint
Indian cricket team head coach, was involved in a heated spat with Lee Fortis, the chief curator of The Oval, on Tuesday, two days before the venue hosts the final Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy. The video of the clash has gone viral on social media. While it was not clear why the two got into an argument, Gambhir and Fortis appeared to be arguing over the conditions of the pitches for practice. Batting coach Kotak then intervened and took Fortis to one corner of the practice arena and had a lengthy discussion with him. Fortis and Gambhir then went their separate ways, with the India coach returning to oversee the net session. “You don’t tell us what we need to do,” Gambhir told the curator, according to news agency PTI. According to a report in TOI, The Oval’s ground staff threatened to lodge a complaint against Gautam Gambhir. Undeterred, Gambhir replied: “You can go and report to whoever you want, but you can’t tell us what to do!” Despite the confrontation at the nets, Gambhir remained focused on the task ahead. Speaking at the event, he acknowledged the high stakes of the final Test: “Both teams have thrown a lot of punches and have fought for every inch. We have got one more week to go, one final push to make and one more opportunity to make our country and people out here proud.” Tensions have simmered throughout the series, spilling over on multiple occasions. It began at Lord’s, where Shubman Gill visibly expressed his displeasure at England openers Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett arriving nearly 90 seconds late for their second innings.
