Busy period ahead for Saudi Arabian cricket – Arab News PK

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Thailand: The Saudi Arabian senior men’s cricket team is in Malaysia to play in a Quadrangular T20I series against Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand.
The tournament gets underway on Thursday, April 24 at the Bayuemas Oval in Kuala Lumpur. Saudi Arabia will face Thailand at 10 a.m. followed by Malaysia against Singapore at 2 p.m. Each team will play the others twice to determine the final and third place play-off contestants. These matches will be on May 2.
Saudi Arabia last played in a T20 international tournament in December 2024. That was the Gulf Cricket T20I Championship in Dubai, involving the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman and Qatar, where the Saudi team produced an outstanding result against the UAE, the strongest team in the tournament.
Saudi Arabia made 182 for 8 in their 20 overs, Usman Khalid made 57 from 40 balls and the lower order all hit out strongly. The UAE compiled a third-wicket partnership of 144 and seemed to be cruising to victory, but Usman Najeeb claimed 4 for 25 as Saudi Arabia won by 11 runs. This was their third victory in five matches, but Kuwait beat Oman, causing the Saudi team to miss out on a place in the final.
Usman Khalid impressed throughout the tournament, scoring 185 runs. Faisal Khan hit 166 runs, including 13 sixes, at the best strike rate of 182. Usman Najeeb took 10 wickets and Ishtiaq Ahmed had the best match figures in the tournament of 4 for 12.
Saudi Arabia’s T20 credentials were displayed in early 2024 in Bangkok where the team won the second edition of the ACC Men’s Challenger Cup, part of the qualification pathway for the 2025 Asia Cup. In the final, Saudi Arabia beat Cambodia by five wickets, both teams qualifying for the ACC Premier Cup.
In the Challenger Cup third place play-off in 2024, Singapore beat Japan by eight wickets. Singapore’s most recent T20I series was a 3-0 home defeat by Bahrain. In February 2025, the team played 50-over cricket in the Cricket World Cup Challenge League Group B, part of the qualification process for the 2027 World Cup but lost nine of ten matches and were eliminated.
Malaysia won the ICC T20 World Cup Asia A Qualifier on home soil in September 2024 but failed to win a single match when hosting a T20I tri-series against Bahrain and Hong Kong in March 2025. Bahrain beat Hong Kong by six wickets in the final, having become the first team in T20I history to fail to score a run in a super over play-off against the same opponents earlier in the tournament.
Thailand is the fourth team in the competition and has been a regular opponent for Saudi Arabia, who proved their superiority in the Challenger Cup and then in a series in Bangkok which followed.
Saudi Arabia’s most recent contest against Thailand came in the Asia Qualifier B for the ICC T20 World Cup played in November 2024 in Doha when the Saudis defeated Thailand by five wickets. Neither team progressed from the tournament, both recording three wins and three defeats in six matches. Faisal Khan again showed his power with 18 sixes, while he and Abdul Waheed both hit centuries.
Thailand have an improving side, which includes three Indians who are involved in the coaching set-up as well as playing for the national team. Austin Lazarus is the captain and Akshaykumar Yadav opens the batting. All-rounder Nilesh Salekar was head coach of the Thailand women’s team for a World Cup qualifier in Lahore.
Malaysia are currently ranked 26th in the ICC world rankings. Saudi Arabia are ranked 32nd, so could move into the world top 30 with a series of victories. Singapore are 38th and Thailand 55th, so it should be a closely contested tournament with all four teams offered the opportunity to move significantly in the world rankings. If recent form is a guide, then Saudi Arabia has reason to be optimistic.
Concurrently with the senior tournament, Saudi Arabia’s young cricketers are getting the chance to compete in a high-quality under-16 cricket tournament arranged by the Asian Cricket Council. It is being held in Doha, Qatar, with matches played between April 23 and May 5.
The ACC U-16 West Zone Cup will feature the six best teams in the region playing in a five-match league. Saudi Arabia will play 50-over matches against Oman, Qatar, the UAE, Kuwait and Bahrain, with a final in which the top two teams face each other to decide the eventual winners.
This will be a tough test for the Saudi Arabian youngsters as they lost all five matches when the tournament was last held in Dubai in March 2023, when hosts the UAE, finished as champions after winning all five of their matches.
LOS ANGELES: Nelly Korda heads into her title defense in the Chevron Championship seeking her first victory of 2025, a stark contrast to the blistering early pace of her 2024 campaign but one that doesn’t bother the world No. 1 at all.
“I would say last year is last year,” Korda said Tuesday as she prepared for the first women’s major of the year to tee off on Thursday at Carlton Woods in suburban Houston.
“This is a brand new year. What I achieved last year, no one can take that from me. That’s always going to be such a great memory, but it’s a fresh week and a fresh mindset.”
Last year Korda withstood a tension-packed back nine to beat Maja Stark by two strokes and claim her fifth victory in five starts — matching an LPGA Tour record set by Nancy Lopez in 1978 and equalled by Annika Sorenstam from 2004-05.
Korda would go on to win seven titles in a spectacular 2024 campaign.
But she has just two top-10 finishes in five starts this season, having opted to skip the LPGA’s Asian swing after a runner-up finish in the Tournament of Champions in January and a tie for seventh in the Founders Cup in February.
Korda said she needed the rest, and while she faded from contention at the LA Championship last week to finish tied for 16th, the 26-year-old American says that aspects of her game are coming around.
“I think I saw some improvements in my game last week with my irons,” Korda said. “Definitely felt a little bit more comfortable with that.
“Then just need my putter to click a little bit more to make those putts. I think that’s where it’s been lacking, is the putts that I was making last year I’m just not making as many this year.
“But that’s just golf. I’ve gone through waves like this before, and if I just continue working at it, hopefully it does click.”
Unlike last season, no one has emerged as a dominant force so far in 2025 with the first eight LPGA events producing eight different winners.
All eight are in a Chevron field that features 24 of the top 25 in the world rankings.
They include world No. 3 Lydia Ko of New Zealand, the winner of the 2016 edition of the Chevron — when it was still held in California.
Ko claimed her 23rd career title at the HSBC Women’s World Championship in Singapore.
World No. 2 Jeeno Thitikul of Thailand finished runner-up to Ko there and while she is seeking her first title of the year she has five top-10 finishes in six starts.
Fourth-ranked Lilia Vu, the 2023 Chevron champion, returns after missing her title defense last year because of a back injury that caused her so much pain she wondered if she would be able to play tournament golf.
“I would say I’m in a much better place than I was last year,” said Vu, who made a triumphant return to competition last June at the Meijer LPGA Classic.
LOS ANGELES: Luka Doncic scored 31 points and LeBron James added 21 as the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 94-85 to level their NBA Western Conference playoff series at one game apiece on Tuesday.
Slovenian star Doncic, acquired in a blockbuster February trade, also had 12 rebounds and nine assists for the Lakers, who led by as many as 22 and held on late in a bruising clash at Crypto.com Arena.
The Lakers bounced back from a blowout loss on their home floor, while elsewhere the Indiana Pacers and Oklahoma City Thunder seized 2-0 leads in their best-of-seven first-round series.
The Pacers withstood another big performance from Milwaukee star Giannis Antetokounmpo and the return of Damian Lillard, beating the Bucks 123-115 in the East.
The Thunder followed up their crushing 51-point game-one victory over Memphis with another dominant win, beating the Grizzlies 118-99 in their Western Conference clash.
After a disjointed effort in their game-one loss, the Lakers rocketed out of the gate, taking a 10-point lead with 5:07 left in the first quarter and maintaining a double-digit advantage until midway through the fourth quarter.
James, chasing a fifth NBA title in his 22nd season, added 11 rebounds and seven assists for the Lakers, who persevered in a physical game that saw the teams combine for 46 personal fouls.
Caught out early by the Lakers’ increased defensive intensity, the Timberwolves managed to apply some pressure in the final period, when the Lakers suddenly couldn’t get a basket to fall.
The Lakers scored just 13 points in the final period, but Minnesota — led by 27 points from Julius Randle and 25 from Anthony Edwards — couldn’t muster enough offense to capitalize.
“We played hard for 48 minutes,” Doncic said. “We played physical, that’s how we’ve got to play over the whole 48 minutes.”
In Indianapolis, Pascal Siakam scored 24 points and pulled down 11 rebounds and Tyrese Haliburton added 21 points and 12 assists for the Pacers, who saw a 15-point fourth-quarter lead slashed to two thanks to a 13-0 scoring run from the Bucks.
Two-time NBA Most Valuable Player Antetokounmpo led all scorers with 34 points, adding 18 rebounds and seven assists.
Nine-time All-Star Lillard, playing his first game in five weeks after undergoing treatment for a blood clot in his right calf, scored 14 points and handed out seven assists for Milwaukee.
Lillard’s three-pointer with 2:33 to play pulled the Bucks within 115-113. But Siakam responded with a three-pointer.
Andrew Nembhard drilled another trey and the Pacers held on to win a game that was testy throughout.
A brief scuffle in the first quarter resulted in technical fouls for Milwaukee’s Gary Trent Jr. and Indiana’s Bennedict Mathurin. Siakam and Milwaukee’s Bobby Portis received technicals with less than two minutes to play, and there was plenty of jawing in between.
“It’s fun,” Haliburton said. “This is what everybody lives for. We’re all competitors, so having a lot of fun competing right now.”
In Oklahoma City, the Thunder showed no sign of a letdown after delivering the most lopsided game-one victory in NBA playoffs history.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 27 points, Jalen Williams added 24 and Chet Holmgren delivered 20 points, 11 rebounds and five blocked shots for the Thunder, who opened the game on a 9-0 run and led by as many as 23.
Jaren Jackson Jr. scored 26 points and Ja Morant added 23 for the Grizzlies, who showed signs of life in the third quarter only for Oklahoma City to open the fourth on a 9-0 run.
The Grizzlies wouldn’t get within 15 points the rest of the way.
Cristiano Ronaldo has rested and now is returning his attention to winning his first major trophy in Saudi Arabia.
Despite breaking the Saudi Pro League’s scoring record last season with 35 goals and leading the standings in this campaign, the 40-year-old Ronaldo is yet to collect any silverware since signing for Al-Nassr in December 2022.
On Saturday, he’ll be leading Al-Nassr against Japan-based Yokohama F.Marinos in the Asian Champions League Elite quarterfinals.
The Riyadh club, still yet to win a continental championship, is expected to progress to the last four, particularly after Ronaldo was rested this week for Al-Nassr’s domestic league win over Damac.
Even without the five-time Ballon d’Or winner, coach Stefano Pioli has a star-studded roster at his disposal. It includes Jhon Duran, signed from Aston Villa in January for over $100 million, former Liverpool star Sadio Mane and Spanish international defender Aymeric Laporte.
Al-Nassr also have home advantage, as all playoff games are taking place in Jeddah along the Red Sea coast.
“We’re now fully focused on Asia,” Pioli said Tuesday. “We have been working hard to prepare for it and I’m satisfied with the performance of the players.”
Yokohama were beaten finalists last season but are struggling in last place in Japan’s domestic league after collecting just two points from the last seven games. The club last week fired Steve Holland, a former England national team assistant to Gareth Southgate, after just four months as coach.
“To fill the void,” the club said in a statement, Australian “Patrick Kisnorbo will serve as an interim manager for the time being.”
Nassr’s Riyadh rival Al-Hilal have won a record four Asian titles and play Friday against Gwangju FC, a South Korean club making its first appearance in the tournament.
Hilal were the best performers in the ACL group stage and, as it is unlikely to catch Al-Ittihad at the top of the Saudi Pro League, are focused on their bid for a fifth continental championship.
“The Asian Champions League is a personal dream for me, as I have not yet achieved it with the team,” Hilal coach Jorge Jesus said. “It is also a dream for the fans and the club president, and we will continue to play to win every match.”
Al-Ahli are the third contenders from Saudi Arabia, and the two-time finalists are determined to lift the trophy in their home stadium in Jeddah on May 3. First, though, they must win a quarterfinal against Thai powerhouse Buriram United.
The only one of the four ties not to feature a Saudi club takes place on Sunday when two-time champions Al-Sadd of Qatar take on Kawasaki Frontale, a Japanese club looking for a first title.
LONDON: More than three decades after their fathers’ fierce boxing rivalry gripped the UK, Chris Eubank Jr. and Conor Benn are set to finally meet in the ring this Saturday at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London.
Ahead of the highly anticipated clash, long delayed after Benn’s failed drug test scuppered plans for a 2022 bout, their rivalry was reignited on Tuesday during the fighters’ pre-bout “Grand Arrivals” at The Pelligon in Canary Wharf.
For both of them, this is about more than just victory; it’s about family legacies and settling unfinished business in one of British boxing’s most storied rivalries. 
The tension between the two men crackled as they faced off, the long history between their families impossible to ignore. This is more than a fight; it is a continuation of a saga that began in the 1990s, when Chris Eubank Sr. and Nigel Benn fought two epic battles, splitting the loyalties of British boxing fans. Eubank Sr. won their first encounter, in 1990. The 1993 rematch ended in a bitter draw.
Their sons are now poised, perhaps, to settle the score, with both fighters promising fireworks. Eubank Jr., who has remained active in the ring since the previous plans were canceled said he is seeking “revenge” for the chaos caused by the 2022 fallout. 

Benn, who has spent much of the past two years involved in legal battles to clear his name, insists he is ready to deliver a “one-sided beatdown.”
The lead-up has been far from respectful. During a press conference last month, Eubank slapped Benn with an egg in a mocking reference to the latter’s claim that contaminated eggs might have caused him to fail the drug test.
Saturday’s event is expected to draw 62,000 fans and features a packed undercard, including: Anthony Yarde vs. Lyndon Arthur (light heavyweight); Liam Smith vs. Aaron McKenna (middleweight); Chris Billam-Smith vs. Brandon Glanton (cruiserweight); and Viddal Riley vs. Cheavon Clarke (cruiserweight).
Fight week also includes many fan events, including: a media workout on Wednesday; a press conference on Thursday; the public weigh-in on Friday in Islington; and even a 5 kilometer charity run through central London on Saturday morning.
Adding a modern twist, fight night itself on Saturday will feature a theme inspired by the video game Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves, merging boxing with pop culture in an attempt to broaden the event’s appeal.
RIYADH: NEOM Sports Club were promoted to the Roshn Saudi Pro League on Tuesday after defeating Al-Arabi Club 3-0 in the Saudi First Division.
A brace by Ahmad Abdo, and a goal by Saeed Bin Rahma were enough to promote the Tabuk-based club from the second tier of Saudi football to the first-tier SPL.
Celebrating their promotion after their win, NEOM said on X: “With the determination of heroes, we made history. Officially, Neom Sports Club is promoted to the Roshn League.”

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