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AMMAN — Orthodoxi ended the Jordan Premier Basketball League play-offs at Match 4 beating Ittihad 76-65 to win the series 4-2 and regain the title Monday evening.

Orthodoxi led the series 3-2 and needed just one more win to seal the series, while Ittihad needed a win to extend it to a deciding match hoping to win the title for the first time. 

On their way to the title, Orthodoxi beat Ittihad once in Round 2 and twice in the playoffs, 79-69 and 71-69. Ittihad beat Orthodoxi once in Round 2 and had closely contested matches managing to beat them again 82-76 in the previous match to slash their lead 3-2. 

It was Orthodoxi’s record 23rd title. They last won the League title in 2011 ending a 10-year drought when they beat titleholders Applied Science University (ASU). 

This year, Riyadi secured third place after ASU withdrew from the competition which saw a three-way fight for the title between ASU, Orthodoxi and Ittihad. However, ASU withdrew from their match against Orthodoxi in Round 2 in the final minutes of the match with Orthodoxi leading 73-69 after disputing the referee’s call and also gaining a technical foul. Efforts to convince the team to continue the competition failed as they announced they would suspend the team. According to Jordan Basketball Federation (JBF) regulations, the team’s withdrawal would entail fines and relegation to Division 1. The JBF is yet to announce their decision.

At the other end of the standings, Jalil took fifth place and Ghazzet Hashem settled for sixth leaving Nashama and Awdeh to be relegated. Nashama will now be back in the league if ASU are relegated.

ASU had won the season’s first basketball competition when they beat Ittihad for the Jordan Cup title. 

Last season, ASU beat Ittihad to win the League for the second consecutive and fourth time in their record, while Riyadi won third place after beating Kulieh. Orthodoxi finished fifth.

The Jordan Premier Basketball League which started in 1952 has had 58 editions with eight teams crowned champions. It was cancelled in three seasons and discontinued once. Orthodoxi have won 23 times, Ahli 21, Zain-Fastlink six times, ASU four times, Jazira-Aramex twice, Urdun, Watany and the Electricity Co. once each.

CHRISTCHURCH — England completed a clinical 119-run victory over Scotland in its cricket World Cup Pool A match at Hagley Oval on Monday to record its first win in the tournament.

After they were crushed in their opening games by co-hosts Australia and New Zealand, England posted 303 for eight after being asked to bat then dismissed Scotland for 184 from 47.2 overs on a day which began under dark clouds and concluded in bright sunshine.

Moeen Ali (128) produced a stream of delightful drives to reach his second One-Day International (ODI) century and shared a 172-run opening partnership with Ian Bell (54) to give England a grip on that match it was never to relinquish.

Although wickets fell regularly after their departures, captain Eoin Morgan at last found some form to strike 46 with four boundaries and two sixes and guide his team past the 300 mark.

Left-hander Ali was in prime form from the outset, driving the ball fluently through the off-side and punishing any short-pitched deliveries with some booming pulls.

He reached his century from 91 deliveries with his fourth six of the innings, lofting off-spinner Majid Haq high over mid-wicket.

Bell, who had been content to rotate the strike to give Ali the bowling, fell in the following over when he pushed a simple catch to Kyle Coetzer at cover from the bowling of Richie Berrington.

Ali pulled a fifth six into the crowd but then lofted Haq straight to Freddie Coleman at long-on.

After the interval, England’s pace attack, which had been slaughtered by New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum in Wellington last Friday, took control.

Opener Kyle Coetzer took two boundaries off James Anderson’s opening over and continued to drive and cut confidently to reach his half-century off 64 balls.

Runs dried up at the other end against disciplined bowling and his dismissal for 71 with 11 boundaries was the beginning of the end.

Ali took two for 47 from 10 overs, bowling in tandem with another occasional off-spinner Joe Root, as the wickets fell and the required run rate rose.

Finn, who was smashed for 49 from two overs in the humiliating loss to New Zealand last Friday, returned to help clean up the tail. He finished with three for 26 from nine overs.

Ready to fire up

Despite a poor start to the World Cup and eight innings since his last ODI half-century, West Indies opener Chris Gayle is “awake” and ready to fire up the Caribbeans with a big score, according to captain Jason Holder.

Gayle managed a scratchy 36 from 65 balls in the opening loss to Ireland and scored four in Saturday’s big win over Pakistan.

Though the win over Pakistan was a relieving return to form for the under-pressure islanders, Gayle’s second World Cup failure overshadowed it, with board president Dave Cameron re-tweeting a post from a Twitter user suggesting the 35-year-old should quit.

“Gayle goes... Can’t buy a run. Let’s give him a retirement package... Can’t fail repeatedly and still front up based on reputation,” read the post, re-tweeted by Cameron during play.

Cameron later tweeted an apology but it did little to dismiss the impression that tensions still exist between players and administrators months after a contracts dispute scuppered a lucrative tour of India.

Given the hard-hitting Gayle has not scored a one-day century in 19 innings, his last coming in mid-2013, the tweet may have had some currency among West Indies fans.

On the eve of West Indies’ third World Cup match against Zimbabwe in Canberra, Holder said he was “fully confident” the opener was primed to turn things around.

“Chris is awake. I can assure you he’s awake. He was awake from the beginning of the tournament,” Holder told reporters at Manuka Oval.

“Every time I see Chris Gayle, I expect to see one Chris Gayle, and that’s a positive Chris Gayle.

“Although he hasn’t been getting runs, we still have a lot of confidence in him. I just hope that he can come tomorrow and just get us in and just take it as deep as possible for us.”

West Indies’ top order has failed in both World Cup matches, but the team has still posted 300-run scores due to rescue efforts by the middle order.

West Indies has won its last seven matches against Zimbabwe and should be too strong for the Africans at Manuka Oval if its batsmen and bowlers gel.

“I think we still have room for improvement,” fast bowler Holder said.

“If we can get a few more contributions going deeper into the innings in terms of the top order, I think we can get close to 350 plus, and I think that is not beyond us because of our firepower in the middle and the end.”

AMMAN — Jordan’s Jazira and Wihdat are set as they represent Jordanian clubs at the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Cup kicking off on Tuesday.

League champs Wihdat have played the AFC Cup in the past seven editions and hope to win a regional title while Jazira will be playing for the first time after two-time AFC Cup champs and Jordan Professional League runner-up Faisali declined.

Playing in Group A, Wihdat will host Lebanon’s Salam Zgharta before they play Oman’s Nahda and Syria’s Wihda. In Group B, Jazira will play Palestine’s Wadi Nes before facing Bahrain’s Hidd and Iraq’s Shurta.

Both Jordanian teams will start the event on a down note. Jazira are embarking on their first Asian competition without their coaching staff present after Israeli border authorities barred four delegation members — head coach Issa Turk, coach Amer Aqel, therapist Jibreel Manasrah and player Omar Manasrah — from entering the Palestinian territories. 

Turk expressed disappointment at having his team travel without its staff but described the match as “historic” for his club who will play at the Faisal Husseini Stadium in Ramallah.

On the other hand, Jordan Professional League champs Wihdat will play their first match after a slump that saw them exit the AFC Champions League earlier this month where they lost to titleholder Kuwait’s Qadissieh 1-0 in the preliminary round. 

Wihdat are hoping to rebound from their latest defeats after their League lead was slashed following their 1-0 loss to Ahli and 0-0 draw with bottom-placed Ittihad Ramtha. They had earlier lost 5-2 to the U-23 squad in a friendly match.

Team official Ziyad Shilbayeh said Wihdat were confident that the coach and squad can handle the job ahead. “We are self-assured. Every team has ups and downs. This is the same squad that won the League and Cup Winners’ Cup last season and had an unbeaten record until their recent results cast some doubt on their preparedness”.

The AFC Cup will have 32 clubs from across the continent competing in eight groups with the top two from each group going on to the Round of 16.

Last season, first time AFC Cup competitors and Jordan Cup champs That Ras exited the Round of 16 while former AFC Cup champs Shabab Urdun exited in Round 1. They were also eliminated by Bahrain’s Al Hidd in their preliminary round of the AFC Champions League.

The second-tier Asian club competition was won by Syria’s Jeish in its inaugural edition in 2004. Jordan’s Faisali won in 2005 and 2006, and Shabab Urdun won in 2007.

CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand — Having suffered humiliating defeats in its opening two World Cup games, England’s tournament survival will be on the line when it takes on Scotland on Monday, with the Scots relishing an opportunity to inflict further misery on their southern neighbour.

England’s first World Cup meeting against Scotland appeared an easy assignment when the draw was released, but with confidence at rock bottom after thrashings by Australia and New Zealand, this match suddenly looms as a dangerous fixture.

The patriotic fervour will be high when the nations meet on cricket’s world stage for the first time. The words of the anthem “Flower of Scotland” — of defeating the English and sending them “homeward tae think again” — could be an unnerving premonition.

The song will be apposite before Monday’s match, though England has been shorn of the hubris the song derides. The English know they simply must win the game to prevent their World Cup campaign descending into farce.

It could hardly face a more determined opponent. The sporting rivalry between England and Scotland, infused with lingering animosity by battles of the distant past, is bitter and long established. Football matches between the nations date back to 1872 and are acknowledged as the oldest international sporting event in the world, in rugby they compete annually for the Calcutta Cup, dating to 1879.

The cricket rivalry is much more recent. Scotland devolved from England to become an associate member of the International Cricket Council in its own right in 1994. It has met England in three One-Day Internationals since that schism and never won.

Yet it may never have a better chance to do so than in Monday’s match at Hagley Oval. England’s confidence has been all but shattered by its 111-run loss to Australia and it’s eight-wicket defeat by New Zealand in which it was bowled out for 123, a total New Zealand surpassed in 12.2 overs.

Scotland, in contrast, was emboldened by its start to the tournament against New Zealand. Though it was bowled out for 142, it defended that total tenaciously, claiming seven New Zealand wickets in a narrow defeat.

Taking a simple line through the respective performances against New Zealand, Scotland is in better form and, as coach Grant Bradburn said, “any day’s a good day for Scotland to play England”.

Scotland captain Preston Mommsen is South African-born and coach Bradburn is a New Zealander and yet each has a deep understanding of the importance of Monday’s occasion.

“There’s always a huge rivalry between Scotland and England in any sporting event,” Mommsen said. “I’ve been to Murrayfield [in Edinburgh] for a Scotland-England [rugby] clash and the passion that’s on display there is pretty awesome and hopefully that’ll come out again tomorrow.

“We’re up for this game. We’ve got a very passionate 15 players there who will fight tooth and nail for every run and try and save every run in the field, as well. We’ll be fighting for it tomorrow.”

MELBOURNE — India announced itself as genuine contenders to defend its World Cup title on Sunday by humbling South Africa’s vaunted pace attack before bowling out the Proteas for an emphatic 130-run victory at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

In front of a heaving crowd of 86,000, opener Shikhar Dhawan struck a sparkling 137 and Ajinkya Rahane an explosive 79 to fire India to a mammoth 307-7 and ensure its opponents would need a record chase at the stadium to win.

India was then outstanding in the field, sharing the wickets and running out two batsmen as South Africa was skittled for 177 with 10 overs to spare, losing its last seven wickets for 44 runs.

It was India’s first win against South Africa at the World Cup after three previous losses.

Though the match may have little consequences for their respective campaigns, India, roared on by a blue-clad, flag-waving army of fans will have reaped a huge confidence boost from downing the highly-fancied South Africans following its emotional opening win over Pakistan.

Melbourne resident Dhawan’s sparkling tonne anchored century-plus partnerships with Virat Kohli (46) and Rahane as AB de Villiers’ men toiled on a steamy day in the field after losing the toss.

In an uncharacteristically clumsy fielding display, the Proteas dropped three catches, including a sharp chance to Hashim Amla at backward point that reprieved Dhawan on 53.

Adding to their Proteas’ pain was an apparent hamstring injury to seamer Vernon Philander who bowled just four overs.

Indians by contrast were positively South Africans in their fielding, with Mohit and India captain and wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni combining to run out de Villiers for 30, an important breakthrough to end a 68-run partnership with Faf du Plessis.

Du Plessis was unable to dig in after raising his half-century, miscuing a slog straight to Dhawan at mid-off to be out for 55 and leave his team reeling at 133-4.

JP Duminy (6) and David Miller (22) followed quickly, the latter run out by an excellent throw from Umesh Yadav at square leg. The South African tail then expired quickly.

Ravichandran Ashwin finished with 3-41 to lead the India bowling, with fast bowler Mohammed Shami and medium pacer Mohit grabbing two wickets each.

South Africa’s selectors dropped Farhaan Behardien in favour of Wayne Parnell and the move back-fired with the fast-bowling all-rounder conceding 85 runs from his nine overs.

Parnell would eventually dismiss Dhawan in the 44th over after the 29-year-old skied a pull shot to Amla at long leg, having raised his seventh ODI century.

The faith in Imran Tahir was better-placed, however, with the leg-spinner capturing Kohli’s wicket with a full toss.

Rahane bashed three sixes in a glittering 60-ball knock before being trapped lbw by Steyn with four overs to spare.

Jayawardene century

Of all the 19 One-Day International centuries Mahela Jayawardene has scored, the one he made on Sunday to rescue his side from a potential loss to Afghanistan is arguably the one that could be the most important in his storied career.

Jayawardene’s 115 not out against New Zealand in the 2007 World Cup semifinal was on the bigger stage, but his 100 on Sunday kept Sri Lanka’s 2015 tournament chances alive.

Afghanistan was within sight of its fourth victory against a top-tier cricketing nation, but first against any team other than Zimbabwe or Bangladesh when he strode to the crease at University Oval in Dunedin.

AMMAN — The Soccerex Asian Forum, hosted in conjunction with the Asian Football Development Project, was rescheduled to May 3 and 4 due to a decision by the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) to bring forward their congress to April, according to a statement from Soccerex CEO Duncan Revie.

“The aim of the Soccerex Asian Forum is to promote the development of football and football business in Asia, through providing a platform for the whole world of football to gather in Jordan. The rescheduling of the CONCACAF congress meant that it would be very difficult for many of the decision makers from this important region, and the industry worldwide, to attend the Asian forum. We have long enjoyed a good working relationship with CONCACAF and were delighted to welcome a significant CONCACAF delegation, led by President Jeffrey Webb, to two of our events in 2014.” The rescheduling means the Soccerex Asian Forum will now take place just two days after the Asian Football Confederation (AFC)  congress in Bahrain draws to a close hopefully seeing a significant AFC presence at the Asian Forum, according to the statement.

MELBOURNE, Australia — India is brimming with renewed self-belief after an opening World Cup win against Pakistan and star batsman Virat Kohli says a victory over South Africa on Sunday would take that confidence level to even greater heights.

After a lacklustre Test and one-day series against Australia this summer, India has been buoyed by victory over its arch rival, and is again upbeat as it heads into a tough Cricket World Cup Pool B match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) against one of the tournament favourites.

“South Africa is, as we all know, one of the top sides in the world and they have a good balance of batting and bowling, and their fielding is a rare standard in international cricket,” Kohli said Saturday. “To get over that hurdle tomorrow will be immense self-belief booster for us in many ways.

“It’s very important to hold momentum in a tournament like the World Cup. We started off on a good note and something we’ll be looking to build on over the next few games.”

South Africa captain A.B. de Villiers is putting less stock in India’s performances, or anyone’s, bar that of his own team.

“I’m not too worried about other teams’ results, even though we are part of the whole tournament, and it does influence us,” he said. “We know India is still the world champions. We know they are an incredible cricket team, so the respect factor is definitely still there.”

South Africa also opened its World Cup with a win, albeit a slightly less convincing 62-run victory over neighbour Zimbabwe.

The Proteas were in trouble at 83-4 before David Miller and J.P. Duminy smashed game-saving centuries in a 256-run, fifth-wicket stand.

“Sometimes the top three is going to score a hundred, sometimes 200, sometimes 300. There will be games where we’ll be 10-3, maybe even 20-4,” de Villiers said. “That’s a team. You operate together as a unit. Sometimes the bowlers will win you games, sometimes the batters will.”

A crowd of more than 85,000 — mostly India fans — is expected at the MCG.

“I’m pretty happy that it’s going to be packed. The last few games I played here it wasn’t full, and it almost feels wrong in a way,” de Villiers said. “It should be good to get the blood flowing tomorrow playing in front of the big crowd in a big stadium with great tradition and history.”

South Africa has won 43 of its 70 one-dayers against India, and all three at the World Cup. De Villiers’ side also won both games of the most recent one-day series between the teams in December 2013, with the third game rained out.

Kohli, who assumed the Test captaincy from Mahendra Singh Dhoni during the series against Australia, has had a prolific southern summer with the bat, with his century against Pakistan being the latest in a string of tons during the tour.

Back at his preferred spot of No. 3 in the batting order after an experiment at No. 4 during last month’s tri-series against Australia and England, Kohli recognised the growing level of expectation surrounding his performances and role in the team.

“If you do well regularly, people want you to play well in every game,” he said. “I can’t virtually score a century in every game that I play. As long as I know what I’m doing with my batting and the kind of mindset I’m in, I’m not really worried about anything else.”

BRISBANE, Australia — The residual effect of a strong cyclone made its presence felt at the World Cup on Saturday, with heavy rain forcing Australia’s Pool A match against Bangladesh to be abandoned without a ball being bowled.

Pakistan may have been hoping for some of the same from Mother Nature that might have prevented a heavy loss to the West Indies in New Zealand.

But the weather was mostly sunny and a perfect day for cricket in Christchurch. More perfect, it turned out, for the West Indies in a big 150-run win.

After the West Indies piled on the runs at the end of their innings to amass 310-6, Pakistan lost four wickets for one run in a disastrous start to its reply and never recovered to lose its second match of the tournament by a big margin — it was defeated by archrival India by 76 runs last weekend.

Jerome Taylor took three wickets in a destructive opening spell while Andre Russell followed his unbeaten 42 from 13 balls with 3-33 in a player-of-the-match performance.

“It was a wonderful performance,” West Indies captain Jason Holder said. “I thought we really batted well at the end of the innings. It wasn’t an easy total to defend but I thought what made the job easier was the start we had.”

In Brisbane, organisers finally called off the match about three hours after it was supposed to begin, due to heavy rain associated with Cyclone Marcia.

The match would have marked the return to the Australian lineup of captain Michael Clarke after hamstring surgery. Instead all it gave was one competition point to each team for a no result.

“It was obviously disappointing not to get out there today,” Australia batsman Steve Smith said. “It’s a place that we play really well at the Gabba.

“We’ll take the point [and] hopefully continue to play some good cricket throughout the tournament.” The no result adds extra emphasis to four-time champion Australia’s next match in Auckland against co-host New Zealand, which has three wins from three starts to lead the group.

Two matches are scheduled for Sunday, with defending champion India playing South Africa at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, where both teams are attempting to win their second match of the tournament. Two teams bidding for their first victory will meet in Dunedin, New Zealand, where Sri Lanka plays newcomers Afghanistan.

The India squad is feeling confident after its opening win over Pakistan, and star batsman Virat Kholi says a victory over South Africa would set an ideal platform for the rest of the World Cup — an “immense self-belief booster”.

Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews says his squad will show some respect to Afghanistan, treating it like a Test-playing nation. Sri Lanka opened its tournament with a demoralising 98-run loss to co-host New Zealand last weekend.

Afghanistan, especially its bowling, looked extremely dangerous at times in its debut World Cup match last Wednesday, until Bangladesh exposed its inexperienced batting lineup to beat the second-tier Associate team by 105 runs.

“They’re a very dangerous team. You can’t take them lightly because they can upset a team,” Mathews said. “They’ve got nothing to lose.

“We have to expect a good challenge,” he added. “We can’t expect to just run through them. We’ve got to fight really hard from ball one to ball 300. Just take it as [we would against] a test playing nation.”

Afghanistan paceman Mirwais Ashraf, who claimed two wickets against Bangladesh, says his line-up is ready for a bigger challenge against Sri Lanka.

“We will play a positive game tomorrow,” Ashraf said. “The Sri Lankan side is a senior side, a full member nation it will be a good game tomorrow.”

AMMAN —  The Jordan Football Association (JFA) postponed Week 15 of the 63rd Jordan Professional League to kick off on February 26.

The JFA board also extended the contract of national team coach Ray Wilkins and his staff despite Jordan’s elimination from the Asian Cup, where they failed to repeat their quarter-final qualification in 2004 and 2011.

A committee was also set up to finalise the technical staff for the U-17 women’s team as Jordan prepares to host the 2016 U-17 Women’s World Cup.

AMMAN — Match 4 of the Premier Basketball League play-offs will now be played on Monday instead of Friday after a public holiday was announced in anticipation of severe snowy conditions over the weekend.

The Jordan Basketball Federation (JBF) set the match for Monday and a deciding one for Wednesday if needed. A win for Orthodoxi will secure them the title while a defeat will give Ittihad the chance to fight for the title.

Ittihad beat Orthodoxi 82-76 in the last match slashing the latter’s lead to 3-2. Orthodoxi needed to win to take home the title, now the blizzard will lengthen their wait. So far, they beat Ittihad once in Round 2 and twice in the play-offs 79-69 and 71-69.

Ittihad beat Orthodoxi once in Round 2 and have had closely contested matches, but their task is still tough as they need to win two more matches to clinch the series. 

Orthodoxi last won the League title in 2011 ending a 10-year drought to take their record 22nd League title when they beat titleholders Applied Science University (ASU). 

Riyadi have secured third place this year after ASU withdrew from the competition. This year, it was a three-way fight for the title between ASU, Orthodoxi and Ittihad. However, a disputed call in the final minutes of the ASU-Orthodoxi Round 2 match with Orthodoxi leading 73-69 prompted head coach Murad Barakat to gain a technical foul for his unsportsmanlike gesture following which the team withdrew from the match and announced suspending the team. According to JBF regulations, the team’s withdrawal would mean competition rules would be applied, which includes fines and relegation to Division 1. 

ASU won the season’s first basketball competition when they beat Ittihad for the Jordan Cup title. Last season, ASU beat Ittihad to win the League for the second consecutive and fourth time in their record, while Riyadi won third place after beating Kulieh. Orthodoxi finished fifth.

Jalil took top position in the bottom four, who played a separate round to decide the two teams to be relegated. Jalil beat Ghazzet Hashem 100-93 (81-81) in OT and settled for fifth place while Ghazzet Hashem finished sixth leaving Nashama and Awdeh to be relegated. Nashama will now be back in the League if ASU are relegated.

The Premier Basketball League which started in 1952 has had 58 editions with eight teams crowned champions. It was cancelled in three seasons and discontinued once. Orthodoxi have won 22 times, Ahli 21, Zain-Fastlink six times, ASU four times, Jazira-Aramex twice, Urdun, Watany and the Electricity Co. once each.