Sport news in brief
Brook wins ICC award after Pakistan success
England’s Harry Brook has been named as the International Cricket Council’s men’s player of the month following his outstanding Test series in Pakistan. The 23-year-old, who had played just one red-ball match for his country prior to the tour, scored centuries in Rawalpindi, Multan and Karachi as he racked up 468 runs at an average of 93.60.
He edged out Pakistan captain Babar Azam and Australia’s Travis Head for the award. “It is an honour to have won the ICC player of the month for December. To win a Test series 3-0 in Pakistan was an incredible achievement and contributing with the bat in my first Test tour with England was a dream come true,” said the Yorkshireman. PA
Boulter advances in Australian Open qualifying
Katie Boulter battled past American Caroline Dolehide to reach the second round of Australian Open qualifying. The Briton prevailed 6-2 3-6 7-6 (10/5) in a match that lasted more than two hours. Liam Broady suffered defeat though, despite a heroic effort, which forced Colombian Emilio Gomez to battle through in just short of three hours. Gomez took the final three points of a tiebreaker to prevail 6-3 6-7 (4) 7-6 (10/7). Broady had fought back from 3-1 down in the deciding third set to lose 4-3 but Gomez then broke back and each held serve as a second consecutive set went to a tiebreaker.
Kyrgios takes dig at critics before Djokovic match
Nick Kyrgios took a cheeky dig at his critics after tickets for Friday’s practice match with Serb Novak Djokovic sold out in 58 minutes, proving the Australian’s huge box office draw. Kyrgios had pulled out of the United Cup with an injury just minutes before his pre-tournament press conference, drawing the ire of Australian co-captain Lleyton Hewitt, his teammates and the media.
The 27-year-old has not played since October and an ankle injury forced him to skip warm-up tournaments in Adelaide as well, before Djokovic offered to play him in a practice match that will be played at Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena. “Wow Nick Kyrgios is bad for the sport! Wow what a disgrace, a national embarrassment! How dare he sell out another stadium, the arrogance,” Kyrgios said in a sarcastic tweet.
Georgia defend national title with dominant win over TCU
Stetson Bennett threw two touchdown passes and ran for two scores in the first half as Georgia demolished TCU to become the first team to win consecutive College Football Playoff national championships. The Bulldogs (15-0) became the first repeat champs since Alabama went back-to-back a decade ago and left no doubt that they have replaced the Crimson Tide as the new bullies on the block.
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