Steyn boosts depleted Kandy Tuskers

The closer the Lanka Premier League (LPL) gets, the more that seems to change. 

Player withdrawals and positive Covid-19 tests left franchises scampering to fill their rosters, with only around half of the overseas players who were picked at the player draft in October committing to play for the inaugural season of the LPL. 

Most of those players dropped out during the last week, a week that seemed to bring nothing but bad news for the LPL. The withdrawals of Lasith Malinga and Chris Gayle seemingly took away some of the spark out of the tournament, but the week ended on a good note with a tweet from South African fast-bowler Dale Steyn that confirmed he would feature for the Kandy Tuskers franchise. 

The Tuskers were the hardest hit with both their Marquee Overseas players, Gayle and Liam Plunkett, pulling out and fast bowler Sohail Tanvir testing positive for Covid-19. Steyn’s arrival however will bring a sense of calm to coach Hashan Tillakaratne, who will also have Zimbabwean veteran Brendan Taylor on his team. 

Steyn is fresh off a stint with Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League, though his contribution was limited to three matches before being dropped. 

Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) said final squads will be released on Tuesday, two days before the opening match of the tournament.  

For more details on the week’s developments in the LPL click the links below

Dale Steyn to join Kandy Tuskers
Shahid Afridi to lead Galle Gladiators, Brendan Taylor joins Tuskers
Sohail Tanvir tests positive for Covid-19
Colombo Kings’ Ravinderpal Singh tests positive for Covid-19
Chris Gayle withdraws from LPL

No Salah, no problem for Liverpool

Egyptian forward Mohammed Salah’s Covid-19 positive test while on international duty was the latest in a series of set-backs for defending Premier League champions Liverpool, who were without at least six of their preferred starting XI ahead of Sunday’s league match against Leicester. 

But you couldn’t say they are a club in crisis from the final result, a 3-0 win at home against an opposition that had won all its away games this season. 

The win put Liverpool second in the league table, behind Tottenham only because of an inferior goal difference, exhibiting either an embarrassing depth of quality or just the uncanny ability of coach Jurgen Klopp to get the best out of his not-quite-best players. 

Elsewhere, Leeds United failed to make an extra-man advantage count drawing 0-0 against ten-man Arsenal, while Everton held on for a 3-2 victory over Fulham and West Ham needed just a single goal to beat Sheffield United. 

Come from behind, maiden ATP Finals title for Medvedev

The top four seeds made it into the semi-finals of the ATP Finals, but it was the fourth seed Danii Medvedev who walked away with the title. 

Medvedev overcame Dominic Thiem, the third seed, 4-6 7-6 6-4, having looked second best for the first set and a half. 

But after swinging the momentum in his favour, Medvedev took the second and thid sets, condemning Thiem to a second straight defeat in the final of the tournament.