Black Cap Taylor fit for first Test against England
1 Dustin Johnson opens his WGCDell Match Play title defence in Texas on Wednesday in a dangerous group that includes fellow American Kevin Kisner, Canadian Adam Hadwin and Austrian Bernd Wiesberger.
They make up one of 16 four-player groups that will play round-robin matches from Wednesday through Friday at the Austin Country Club with the winner of each group advancing to a single elimination bracket at the weekend.
Johnson survived a late push by Spanish 21st seed Jon Rahm to win the 18-hole final at the tournament last year.
Justin Thomas can take the rankings top spot from Johnson with a tournament win, but will first need to get through a group that includes Luke List, who Thomas defeated in a playoff at the Honda Classic last month, Patton Kizzire and Francesco Molinari.
J a panese players Hideki Matsuyama and Yusaku Miyazato are in group five along with Patrick Cantlay and Cameron Smith. Fresh off his win at Bay Hill, Rory McIlroy has been handed a favorable draw as part of a group that includes Brian Harman and Peter Uihlein, who will be making their Match Play debuts, and Texas native Jhonattan Vegas. Defending Race to Dubai champion Tommy Fleetwood will square off against Daniel Berger, who has four top 14 finishes this year, and Kevin Chap- pell, who tied for seventh at Bay Hill.
The group also includes Ian Poulter and Fleetwood said he looks forward to doing battle against his fellow Englishman today.
“He was described as a match play ninja and I’ve never really gone up against a ninja before in my life, so it will be a new experience,” Fleetwood told reporters yesterday.
The tournament comes to Austin at a time when police are searching for suspects linked to five bomb attacks that have rocked Texas this month.
South African Dylan Frittelli said he had noticed increased security at the course on Monday.
“They had security officials on every corner of the clubhouse and on the exterior, as well,” he told reporters.
“It was pretty tough to get through all the protocols,” he said. – Reuters NEW ZEALAND received a boost yesterday, on the eve of the first Test against England at Auckland’s Eden Park, with confirmation senior batsman Ross Taylor is fit to play. Taylor, who has a Test average of 48.04, had been battling a groin injury and a stomach bug but captain Kane Williamson said he had completed a full training session without problem.
“He’s good to go so that’s great news for us. Roscoe has played beautifully every time he’s walked out to the crease, the calmness at the crease, the confidence. It’s reflected in how much success he’s had this year. It’s important for us as a team that he’s there,” Williamson said.
The clash will be the ninth day-night Test and the first to be played in New Zealand. Williamson described it as a “slightly unique and an exciting opportunity”, but did not want to over-think the possible pitfalls of heading into the unknown.
“There is probably a danger of over complicating some of the finer parts of the pink-ball game,” he said, pointing to variable characteristics at different stages of the ball, times of day and in different climates.
“There’s definitely some unknowns. There’s a lot of talk about the evening session and the condition of the ball in that time.
“There’s heaps of different stats but there’s still unknowns. The sample size of pink-ball cricket is fairly small but it’s important that you adapt as a change of conditions may happen coming into different stages of the day.” – AFP