Man City’s De Bruyne to be out for 10 weeks
LONDON: Manchester City midfielder Kevin de Bruyne will be out for about 10 weeks after sustaining a right knee injury during its League Cup semifinal win over Everton. The Belgian star, who joined Manchester City from Wolfsburg last August, said on Thursday, “I’ll be out for around 10 weeks,” reports Xinhua. De Bruyne, 24, scored one goal and set up another to help City to a 4-3 aggregate victory over the Everton on Wednesday. He could miss up to 13 league and cup games, including the League Cup final with Liverpool at Wembley on 28 February, both legs of the Champions League last-16 tie with Dynamo Kiev and the Manchester derby on March 20. (IANS)
U-19 WC: England beat Windies to step closer to quarters
CHITTAGONG: England defeated a fighting West Indies by 61 runs in a Group C match to edge closer to a quarter-final berth at the U-19 World Cup here on Friday. England’s second successive win in Group C — they beat Fiji on Wednesday — was built around an impressive 282/7 from 50 overs after they elected to bat first. There were two half-centuries from Dan Lawrence (55) and Callum Taylor (59), and useful contributions from George Bartlett (48) and Sam Curran (39). The West Indies made a strong comeback after Curran had taken two wickets in the first over, but were bowled out for 221 in the 44th over. Gidron Pope (60) put on 82 runs for the third wicket with Keacy Carty (22) before Keemo Paul took the fight into the rival camp with a pugnacious 65 off 58 balls. Lawrence followed his half-century with two wickets to be adjudged the player of the match, but the England seamer Saqib Mahmood was the best bowler in the game with 4/42. (IANS)
Shane Warne shuts down controversial charity
MELBOURNE: Australian cricket legend Shane Warne has shut his charity foundation in the face of “unwarranted speculation” that it has misappropriated funds. Warne, who claimed 708 Test wickets during his illustrious 15-year career, announced on Friday that The Shane Warne Foundation (TSWF) would close its doors, following the completion of an audit by Consumers Affairs Victoria (CAV), reports Xinhua. “In response to recent, unwarranted speculation about TSWF and its distribution of funds, we confirm we have distributed ($2.61 million) to date with an additional and final substantial cheque to be distributed on March 18, 2016. At that time, we hope to have distributed over ($2.85 million),” the statement read. “TSWF officially announces it is ceasing operations and has begun the process of closing the foundation, we will celebrate so many incredible achievements.” The statement also thanked the foundation’s many big-name backers and ambassadors, including Australian billionaire James Packer. (IANS)
BCCI moves T20 match against Lanka from Delhi to Ranchi
NEW DELHI: The Board of Control for Cricket in India on Friday announced that the venue of the second Twenty20 International of the three-match home series against Sri Lanka on February 12 has been shifted from Delhi to Ranchi as the Capital failed to get clearance to host the match. Last week, BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur asked Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) to get the requisite clearances from the various civic authorities in order to host the match at the Fereozeshah Kotla. Despite getting an extended deadline, the DDCA failed to get provisional permission to host the international fixtur even after it filed an application before the Delhi High Court on Thursday. (IANS)