Vince helps England clinch series sweep over Pakistan
Westwood, still without a major, reaches unwanted milestone
BIRMINGHAM, England, July 14, (AP): James Vince posted his maiden international century to help England to a three-wicket win over a Pakistan and a sweep of the three-match one-day international series.
Vince scored 102 from 95 balls as a depleted England lineup chased down 332 at Edgbaston with two overs to spare.
Pakistan captain Babar Azam scored 158 as his team tallied 331-9 after being sent in to bat by England.
Most of England’s first-choice ODI lineup had to isolate after a COVID-19 outbreak just over a week ago following the Sri Lanka series, giving 30-year-old Vince another chance in the international arena.
“I hadn’t given up on this moment, but this time last week I didn’t expect it at all,” Vince said. ”I wasn’t sure it was going to come. There was probably a realization I wasn’t going to be in the squad or be high up in the pecking order, so I was delighted I got another opportunity.”
Vince said scoring a hundred for his country “was one of my dreams growing up.” It took until his 50th innings across all formats in international cricket to reach the century milestone.
“I don’t know when the next will be or if there will be another one,” he said, “but that was without doubt one of the best days I’ve had.”
England was 165-5 in the 24th over before Vince shared a stand of 129 with Lewis Gregory (77) to accelerate the chase. Vince chipped Haris Rauf (4-65) to mid-off in the 43rd.
Craig Overton (18 not out) and Brydon Carse (12 not out) finished things off.
Pakistan’s innings was built around Babar’s partnership of 179 with Mohammed Rizwan, who scored 74 from 58 balls.
Babar reached three triple figures from 104 deliveries, getting there with two boundaries in three balls by pulling Carse (5-61) with authority and then middling a compact cut shot.
England broke up the partnership when Rizwan went after a leg-side bouncer from Carse but feathered a nick through to John Simpson.
Carse picked up two more late wickets as the visitors moved to 309-5.
Babar was on a career-best 150 when he survived a run out attempt in the 48th over, but Carse finally ended Babar’s entertaining stay, producing a rare mis-hit to Dawid Malan with four balls remaining in Pakistan’s innings.
Carse and Saqid Mahmood (3-60) collected two wickets apiece in the last two overs as Pakistan slumped from 324-5 to 329-9 finished his 10 overs with two wickets in six deliveries.
SANDWICH, England, July 14, (AP): The unwanted milestone Lee Westwood has been creeping toward is finally here.
The British Open at Royal St. George’s will be Westwood’s 88th major championship, and no other player has competed in that many without winning one.
That’s painful, right? Apparently not.
“That’s nice, that record,” he said Wednesday. “It shows I’ve been a good player for a long, long time.”
So, it was put to Westwood, a former top-ranked player, a 27-time winner across the European and PGA Tours, and the reigning threetime European No. 1: How does it feel to be described as the best player never to win a major?
“Another accolade,” he said, in a matter-of-fact way. “Yeah, I love it.”
Glib? Maybe. Sarcastic? For sure. He’s long mastered that.
Yet there might be a hint of truth behind it all, highlighting the mental toughness and thick skin the 48-year-old Englishman has had to develop over the years after so many heartaches on golf’s biggest stage.
After all, he has been in the top 10 on 19 occasions in majors and, more pertinently, has nine top-three finishes — eight of them coming in a five-year period (2008-13) during which he became world No. 1.
Yet still Westwood comes back for more. And, make no mistake, he’s still in the conversation for the title, even approaching 50.
“I think when you get to our age,” he said, “we maybe don’t treat it as seriously as we once did, and it’s easy to play golf when you’re a little bit more flippant about it and see it for what it is — getting a small ball in a small hole.”
That almost carefree approach is serving him well. In December, he finished the 2020 season as the Race to Dubai champion — formerly known as the winner of the Order of Merit — for the third time in his career and 20 years after the first. His victory in Abu Dhabi last year ensured he is the only active golfer to win titles in four separate decades.
More recently, there were the back-to-back runner-up finishes — both by one stroke — at Bay Hill and The Players Championship on the PGA Tour in March.
A self-declared “working-class lad,” Westwood puts his ability to stay relevant at the top end of golf — he is ranked No. 29 — on staying fit, having other interests in his life like horse racing and skiing, and having a better perspective. He also got married last month for a second time, to Helen Storey, who often works as his caddie and is on the bag this week.
He said the thing that lets him down is an inability to maintain intensity week in, week out. But he knows that just comes with age.
“When the intensity is there and my game is there, mentally I think I’m stronger,” Westwood said. “Probably putt a little bit better now than I did 10 years ago. Short game is definitely better. Tee to green, probably not quite as good, but good enough.”
Westwood has missed the cut in his two appearances at Royal St. George’s but that doesn’t bother him. After all, he did the same at Muirfield in 2002, only to finish third there in 2013 when he went into the final round in the lead.
Just one of those many near-misses, which have led to him overtaking Jay Haas as the man to have played in the most majors without a win.
Provided, of course, Westwood doesn’t win this week.
“It’s a lottery,” he said. “Links golf is even more of a lottery than your week-in, week-out golf where the conditions are even more predictable. You can’t kind of overanalyze it, I don’t think.”
Meanwhile, Ted Purdy withdrew from the Barbarsol Championship after testing positive for the coronavirus, the third PGA Tour player in 12 days to get a positive test.
The Barbasol Championship is held opposite the British Open. Purdy, a one-time winner on the PGA Tour, started out as the sixth alternate when the field was posted on Friday.
He was replaced by Eric Axley. Zach Johnson had a positive COVID-19 test after the John Deere Classic and had to withdraw from the British Open.
Hideki Matsuyama received a positive test after the first round of the Rocket Mortgage Classic. Even though he is asymptomatic and completed his 10 days of isolation, Matsuyama kept testing positive and had to withdraw from the British Open.