Oman stun Ireland with two-wicket win::

DHARAMSALA:  Minnows Ireland defeated experienced ICC associate Ireland by two wickets in an exciting World Twenty20 first round group A match here at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium on Wednesday night.

Chasing 155, openers Zeeshan Maqsood (38) and Khawar Ali (34) provided a fine start of 69 and later Jatinder Singh (24) and Aamer Ali (32) gave a boost to their team.

However, Oman completed the sensational victory with two balls remaining when Max Sorensen bowled a noball fulltoss which beat the batsman (Munis Ansari) and also the wicketkeeper (Niall O’Brien) for four byes.

Off-spinner Andy McBrine, pacers Kevin O’Brien and Sorensen claimed two wickets each for Ireland.

Earlier, Ireland made a good start after electing to bat first as their three top-order batsmen took them to 112 in 15 overs but later they failed to maintain the tempo and were restricted to 154 for five.

Openers captain William Porterfield and Paul Stirling scored 29 each while Gary Wilson top-scored with 38.

Oman seamer Munis Ansari captured three wickets for 37.

Debutant Aamer of Oman was declared the Player of the Match at the end of the match.

South Africa women clinch thriller to take series 2-1::

 CAPE TOWN: South Africa staged a sensational comeback in defence of a below-par total to claim a first T20 series win over West Indies and sound a warning ahead of the World T20.

South Africa's victory came less than three weeks after they beat England for the first time in a T20 and illustrated the progress the team has made since September 2014, when they were beaten 4-0 by England.

West Indies, who have not lost a series in the same period of time, will be disappointed with their failure to complete a straightforward chase, especially as they were well on course.

They had reached 81 for 3 in the 15th over and even though their captain Stafanie Taylor had been bowled around her legs by Dane van Niekerk, they had their other stalwart Deandra Dottin on hand.

Dottin seemed to be striking the ball better than any of her team-mates but when she attempted a loft over long-on, she mistimed to spark a collapse. South Africa took four more wickets in the next 18 balls and then squeezed at the end to pull off a remarkable win.

South Africa recovered from an early blow when Shamilia Connell had Trisha Chetty caught at slip and rebuilt cautiously through van Niekerk was joined and Mignon du Preez.

The pair found the boundary just five times but rotated strike well to score at more than a run-a-ball and put on 48 for the second wicket. When van Niekerk was bowled as she tried to slog sweep Taylor over midwicket, and with the run-rate stagnating, du Preez took it on herself to try and force the pace. She managed only to gift a catch to short midwicket.

Marizanne Kapp and Lizelle Lee also found it heavy going but with South Africa yet to reach 100 and only two overs left, they took some risks. Lee was the only batsman to clear the boundary and her efforts at the end gave South Africa something to defend but when West Indies knocked off the first 14 runs inside two overs, they would not have expected to be successful.

Moseline Daniels had Kycia Knight trapped lbw to provide some early hope but that only brought Taylor to the crease. She tried to end matters quickly with her aggressive approach and when she was bowled, Dottin took over. It was only when Dottin was caught that South Africa fought back.

Kyshona Knight departed soon after Dottin, sharp fielding resulted in the run-outs of Shermaine Campbell and Shaquana Quintyne and Shabnim Ismail took a good catch off her own bowling to give South Africa belief. Daniels and Ismail bowled tightly at the end and South Africa's fielders were on high alert to deny West Indies.

South Africa bat in decider against Australia::

CAPE TOWN: After South Africa's success chasing in recent matches, Faf du Plessis decided they needed to have another go at defending a total and opted to set Australia a target on a slow Newlands pitch. South Africa opted to rest AB de Villiers and give Hashim Amla an opportunity to open with Quinton de Kock.

That was one of three changes South Africa made to their XI. Rilee Rossouw was given another chance with Farhaan Behardien missing out and South Africa dispensed with one of their allrounders to fit Kyle Abbott into the XI. Abbott was included ahead of Chris Morris.

Australia also changed their top two and left out Aaron Finch to allow Usman Khawaja to open with his Sydney team-mate Shane Watson. Their other changes came in the bowling department with Adam Zampa returning in Ashton Agar's place and Nathan Coulter-Nile displacing Josh Hazlewood.

South Africa: Hashim Amla, Quinton de Kock (wk), Faf du Plessis (captain), JP Duminy, David Miller, Rilee Rossouw,  David Wiese, Kagiso Rabada, Kyle Abbott, Dale Steyn, Imran Tahir

Australia: Shane Watson, Usman Khawaja, David Warner, Steve Smith (captain), Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Marsh, James Faulkner, Peter Nevill (wk), Adam Zampa, John Hastings, +Nathan Coulter-Nile.

Nadal points to Maria Sharapova´s negligence::

CALIFORNIA: While Maria Sharapova´s fellow players were shocked by the Russian´s announcement that she failed a drug test at the Australian Open, most of them felt the "huge mistake" could have been avoided.

World number three Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland described it as "a very sad day for tennis" but expressed the views of many by saying it was down to every player, via their doctor, to check whether prescribed medications were legal.

Five-times grand slam champion Sharapova tested positive for meldonium, which some researchers have linked to increased athletic performance and endurance, after failing by her own admission to realise that it had been outlawed since Jan.1."I don´t check those emails," Radwanska told reporters on Wednesday about receiving notification of which substances and medications were on the banned list before the start of every year.

"That is what my doctor is doing and my agent. "I am scared because I know every pill can have something in it so when I am sick I am just taking aspirins 100 percent because I am always afraid that it is going to be something else.

(To be safe) I had better play with the flu. "Men´s world number five Rafael Nadal pointed to Sharapova´s negligence while also hoping that the Russian had made an innocent mistake.

"Everybody can have mistakes," the Spanish left-hander said at Indian Wells. "I want to believe for sure that it is a mistake for Maria, she didn´t want to do it. "But it is obvious that it is negligence. The rules are like this. It is fair and now she must pay for it.

Eighth-ranked Czech Petra Kvitova, Wimbledon champion in 2011 and 2014, expressed sympathy for Sharapova but felt that the doping system was working well.

"Of course it´s not great for her," the 26-year-old left-hander said. "It´s something which we all should know, what we are taking and what we are putting into the body.

"It´s a huge mistake unfortunately and she has taken responsibility for it. We see that they (doping authorities) are trying to have a clean sport.

The system is working, they are doing a good job on that.  "Sharapova, who faces a ban of up to four years pending an investigation by the International Tennis Federation, has got vocal support from fellow Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova but other players have taken a less charitable view.

Three-time grand slam champion Jennifer Capriati tweeted earlier this week: "I´m extremely angry and disappointed.

I had to lose my career and never opted to cheat no matter what. I had to throw in the towel and suffer.

"I didn´t have the high priced team of drs that found a way for me to cheat and get around the system and wait for science to catch up.

"In stark contrast, twice grand slam champion Kuznetsova tweeted on Wednesday: "First of all, I want to say that Maria is a great athlete, and even this "strange mistake" will not be able to outshine all of what she has achieved in tennis.

"And most importantly, none of us, especially me, have no rights to comment this story - not to criticize or evaluate Maria.

Doping agency has to see this case, not others.  "Sharapova also has been backed by both world number ones, Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams.

"I obviously wish her all the best," Djokovic told TMZ Sports.  "I´ve known her for a long time and I feel for her for what´s happening. I just hope she gets out of this stronger. "Williams said: "It´s just taking responsibility, which she admitted that she was willing to do and ready to do. She showed a lot of courage and a lot of heart.

She´s always shown courage and heart in everything she´s done, and this is no different.