The big story: Kiwis clinch Chappell-Hadlee series

New Zealand lifted the Chappell-Hadlee series in Hamilton on Sunday with left-armer Trent Boult proving to be the difference between the two teams, registering career-best figures of 6/33. Batting first, the Kiwis posted 281/9, led by Ross Taylor’s 107. It was the former Black Caps skipper’s 16th hundred in One-Day Internationals.

Australia started well with Aaron Finch scoring a breezy 56 but yet another below-par performance from the world champions’ middle-order signaled the end of their hopes despite being on course with the required run-rate. Boult was in fine form and ran through the Aussie tail to close down the game. Australia were bundled out for 257, falling short by 24 runs.

Cricket:

  • India A impressed in the two-day tour game against Bangladesh at Hyderabad. The visitors declared at 224/8. Soumya Sarkar and Mushfiqur Rahim scored fifties. For India A, Aniket Choudhary impressed with the ball, registering figures of 4/26. 
  • The dates for the 2017 Women’s World Cup to be held in England was announced on Sunday. The tournament will get underway on June 24. The two semi-finals will be played on 18 July and 20 July respectively. The final will be played at Lord’s on July 23.
  • Former Indian skipper MS Dhoni will be the chief batting mentor of a residential cricket academy in Bengal, state reports. The academy will be started in Barasat and Dhoni’s longtime friend and former Bengal cricketer Subhomoy Das will be one of the directors in the academy.

Football:

  • Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola stated that his side’s indifferent home form has cost them the English Premier League title this season, “If you are not able to make victories in a row in the Premier League you will not be able to fight until the end,” Guardiola was quoted as saying. City have only taken 22 points from 11 games. 
  • Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho said the era of buying players from rival clubs to “kill competition” is over in the English Premier League. The Portuguese took a dig at Bayern Munich’s transfer policy, accusing them of  pricing away Borussia Dortmund’s best player every summer. 
  • After his four-goal haul in Everton’s 6-3 win against Bournemouth on Saturday, Blues boss Ronald Koeman hailed striker Romelu Lukaku as “world class, “I have the pleasure every day to be on the pitch and watch his finishing,” Koeman was quoted as saying. 

Tennis:

  • Serbia have stormed into the last-eight of the Davis Cup after beating Russia. If Spain beat Croatia, heavyweights Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic will possibly face each other in the quarter-final.
  • Leander Paes insisted that he will be available for national duty despite his loss in the Davis Cup and his attempt at securing a record 43 doubles wins in the tournament, “I will continue to be available for the country if chosen. Finally, the world record belongs to the country,” the 43-year-old was quoted as saying. 

Squash:

  • Favourites India defeated Malaysia 2-0 to win the gold medal in the boy’s team event at the Asian Junior Squash championship on Sunday at Hong Kong. This was their second win after lifting the trophy in 2011. 
  • Debendranath Sarangi was elected as the vice-president of the Asia Squash Federation On Sunday with a two-thirds majority.