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Harmeet and Anderson the heroes as USA stun Bangladesh
United States of America, the No. 19 ranked cricket team in T20Is, shocked Bangladesh, the ninth ranked team in the world, with a five-wicket victory in Texas. More impressively, the hosts dominated most of the proceedings, as they took a 1-0 lead in the three-match series, picking up their second win against a Full Member in T20Is, following their victory against Ireland in 2021.
Harmeet Singh, the former India Under-19 cricketer, struck the winning runs in a chase of 154 after his three consecutive sixes turned the tide in favour of the USA. He finished unbeaten on 33 off 13 balls, adding 62 runs in 4.4 overs for the unbroken sixth wicket stand with Corey Anderson who was not out on 34.
The USA also bowled superbly to restrict Bangladesh to 153 for 6. The visitors had slipped to 68 for 4, with Litton Das and Najmul Hossain Shanto continuing to struggle. However, Towhid Hridoy and Mahmudullah continued to rescue the side from tough situations as they have done all year, helping the team to a respectable score.
Hridoy top-scored with 58, lasting till the 20th over. He added 67 runs for the fifth wicket with Mahmudullah, who also showed that he can adapt to conditions faster than most in this batting line-up.
Litton couldn’t do justice to the faith shown on him by the Bangladesh team management, as he fell for 14 in the fifth over. He had already survived when he was on 2, when the US captain Monank Patel dropped a sitter behind the stumps. Litton also survived a run-out when the cover fielder couldn’t hit the stumps as he was stranded a few feet away from the crease.
Litton had struck a nice straight six in the third over but looked increasingly edgy. He missed the ramp-scoop in the fifth over against Ali Khan before falling lbw to Jasdeep Singh’s superb first over. Jasdeep’s delivery jagged back into Litton.
Soumya Sarkar followed him back to the dugout three balls later when he struck Steven Taylor right down deep midwicket’s throat. Najmul Hossain Shanto, another top-order Bangladesh batter now out of form, got stumped off Taylor. He couldn’t time any ball as he made three off 11.
Hridoy made things worse before making them better. When he nudged the ball towards the cover, Hridoy stood still as Shakib Al Hasan came down the pitch looking for a quick single. The run-out made it 68 for 4 in the 12th over. Hridoy made it up with two sixes off Jasdeep, but then he was caught in the covers in the 14th over.
Thankfully for the batter, left-arm spinner Harmeet bowled the first of his two no-balls. Mahmudullah struck Khan for a four and a six in the 17th over, but fell trying to heave Saurabh Netravalkar over long-on, where Nitish Kumar took a good catch. Mahmudullah made 31 off 22 balls, but more importantly added 67 runs for the fifth wicket with Hridoy. Jaker Ali and Hridoy took 17 runs off the last over, but Khan at least managed to remove Hridoy with the last ball of the innings.
Monank Patel couldn’t take advantage of being dropped by his opposite number Shanto in the third over, when he was run out from Taylor’s straight drive. The ball brushed against Shoriful Islam’s fingers as Patel stood out of his crease at the non-striker’s end.
Within two balls, USA’s No. 3 Andries Gous got going with a punched four through the covers. Taylor slammed Shakib for a six before Gous hit Rishad Hossain for two fours in the seventh over. He repeated the dose on Rishad in the legspinner’s next over, but then top edged a sweep to the deep backward square-leg boundary, where Mustafizur Rahman took a good tumbling catch.
Gous’ wicket slowed down the USA batting approach. Aaron Jones couldn’t time the ball which forced Taylor to try to clear mid-off. Mahmudullah ran back and took a good catch, ending Taylor’s stay on 28 off 29 balls. One ball later, Jones departed, skying Mustafizur to get out on 4 off 12.
Nitish Kumar struck a six off Shakib in the 14th over to break a 31-ball sequence of no boundaries but he fell trying to clear Shoriful in the 15th over. The left-arm quick had conceded just one run in that over, leaving the US to get 60 off the last five overs.
The required run-rate was going out of the home team’s control when they needed 50 off the last 20 balls. Harmeet, having scratched around for five balls, pinged Mustafizur for two straight sixes to hand back the pressure to Bangladesh. When he got the strike in the next over, Harmeet slammed Shoriful straight down the ground again. He finished the 18th over with a carved four through point, as the USA collected 31 runs in two overs, leaving them needing 24 off the last 12 balls.
Anderson was minding his own business even as Harmeet was landing the big sixes. The former New Zealand allrounder finally struck a six off his 22nd ball when he crashed Mustafizur over long-on in the penultimate over. Off the first ball of the last over, he drilled Mahmudullah for another six. It left the USA with just three runs to win off five balls. Harmeet struck the third ball for a four, bringing the home side a historic win.
Brief scores:
USA156 for 5 in 19.3 overs (Steven Taylor 28, Andries Gouse 23, Corey Anderson 34*, Harmeet Singh 33*; Shoriful Islam 1-31, Mustafizur Rahman 2-41, Rishad Hossain 1-16) beat Bangladesh 153 for 6 in 20 overs (Soumya Sarkar 20, Towhid Hridoy 58, Mahmudullah 31; Saurabh Netravalkar 1-27, Ali Khan 1-49, Jessy Singh 1-30, Steven Taylor 2-09) by five wickets
(Cricinfo)
The aid group Doctors Without Borders has reported recovering 11 bodies and rescuing dozens of people off the coast of Libya as it criticised the migration policies of the North African country and European countries.
In a statement on Friday, the group, known by its French initials MSF, said its Geo Barents rescue vessel managed to recover the bodies following a search operation lasting more than nine hours after being alerted by German nongovernmental organisation Sea-Watch, which also rescues refugees and migrants.
“As we cannot determine the reason behind this tragedy, we know that people will continue to take dangerous routes in a desperate attempt to reach safety, and Europe must find safe and legal pathways for them,” MSF said in a post on X. “This catastrophe must end!”
Sea-Watch said it is unclear whether the bodies were victims of a previously unknown shipwreck, adding that they tried to contact Libya’s coastguard to go and retrieve the dead, but received no reply.
“The so-called Libyan coastguard – financed by the EU – ignored our call demanding that the bodies be recovered,” the group said.
Thousands of people trying to head from Africa to Europe use Libya as a departing point, with the Italian island of Lampedusa the nearest European destination as they undertake the dangerous journey across the Mediterranean to escape war, poverty and persecution.
Italy, which wants to put a stop to the migration stream, has said Libya and neighbouring Tunisia must do more to stop people from going to sea. It has also clamped down on the operation of the rescue ships, arguing that they encourage people to head to Europe, a charge that is denied by the charities.
Emphasising its policy on the rescue ships, Italy said on Friday that it forced the MSF rescue vessel to take the 165 people that it had saved from boats in the Mediterranean operation to the northern port of Genoa. The port was more than 650 nautical miles (1,200km) from their position and much farther than the more convenient ports in nearby Sicily, significantly delaying assistance to the rescued.
The route in the central Mediterranean is the most dangerous migrant crossing in the world, with the United Nations registering more than 20,000 deaths and disappearances in the area since 2014.
More than 3,000 refugees and migrants went missing in 2023 while attempting to use the route, according to the International Organization for Migration.
According to Italy’s interior ministry, the number of arrivals in the country has dropped in 2024 to fewer than 21,800 people since the beginning of the year, compared with close to 53,300 in the same period last year.
[Aljazeera]
Nuwan Thushara’s last over brought Sri Lanka screaming back into the match,as he first bowled Rishad Hossain, and then nailed Taskin Ahmed in front of the stumps with a pinpoint swinging yorker. This left Bangladesh eight wickets down, with 12 runs still to get.
However, the experienced Mahmudullah was at the crease for Bangladesh, and despite some further nervy moments, pushed Bangladesh across the line off the last ball of the 19th over.
But this was a match chiefly decided by Bangladesh’s own outstanding bowling. Mustafizur Rahman was the best among them, using shorter lengths and his cutters efficiently, to claim figures of 3 for 17. Rishad Hossain’s three-for through the middle overs also kept Sri Lanka quiet.
Mustafizur was instrumental in Sri Lanka’s downward spiral through the middle overs, which culminated in a crash-and-burn end. Ultimately, their inability to find boundaries, or even rotate strike against good Bangladesh bowling resulted in their downfall. A score of 125 for 9 always seemed poor on a decent pitch, even if their bowlers made a match of it in the end.
Brief scores:
Bangladesh 125 for 8 in 19 overs (Towhid Hridoy 40, Litton Das 36; Dhanajaya de Silva 1-11, Nuwan Thushara 4-18, Wanidu Hasaranga 2-32, Matheesha Pathirana 1-27) beat Sri Lanka124 for 9 in 20 overs (Pathum Nissanka 47, Dhananjaya de Silva 21; Tanzim Hasan Sakib 1-24, Taskin Ahmed 2-25, Mustafizur Rahman 3-17, Rishad Hossain 3-22) by two wickets
[Cricinfo]
Afghanistan boosted their Super Eight chances with yet another dominating win, this time thumping New Zealand by 84 runs in Providence. Having beaten Uganda by 125 runs in their opening match, they are now at the top of Group C with a net run rate of 5.225.
After being sent in, Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran gave Afghanistan a start of 103 in 14.3 overs. It came off the back of the 154 the pair added against Uganda, thus making them the first opening pair to register two successive century stands in the history of the T20 World Cup.
Afghanistan’s was an innings of two halves. They scored 55 for no loss in the first ten overs and 104 for 6 in the last ten, with Gurbaz contributing 80 off 56 balls. New Zealand, who had decided not to play any warm-up games, looked every bit rusty as their fielders dropped catches and missed run-out opportunities.
With the pitch assisting both seamers and spinners, chasing 160 was not going to be easy. But few would have expected New Zealand to collapse in the manner they did.
Fazalhaq Farooqi picked up three wickets in the powerplay and Rashid Khan three just after it. Eventually, both ended with identical figures of 4 for 17 as New Zealand were bowled out for 75 in the 15.2 overs. Glenn Phillips and Matt Henry were the only New Zealand batters to reach the double digits.
Trent Boult found some swing in the opening over but Gurbaz and Ibrahim showed their intent by picking up three fours off Henry from the other end. Both batters had luck on their side, too. Gurbaz got a second life when he skipped down the track to Santner and missed the ball, which went on to brush the leg stump but the bails did not budge. In the following over, Finn Allen dropped Ibrahim off Henry at the deep-square-leg boundary.
That was not all. Gurbaz got another reprieve after being involved in a miscommunication with Ibrahim. Having taken off for a single, Gurbaz had to retrace his steps and would have been run out had Conway not fumbled the throw.
Two balls later, New Zealand finally seemed to have found success when Santner pinged Ibrahim’s pads and umpire Kumar Dharmasena ruled it lbw. But the batter got the decision overturned on review as the ball was heading down the leg side. Immediately after that, Ibrahim hit Santner for an inside-out four as Afghanistan ended the powerplay on 44 for no loss.
New Zealand went against the prevailing wisdom of not bowling an offspinner when two right-hand batters at the crease, and Michael Bracewell repaid that faith by conceding only six off his first two overs.
Lockie Ferguson was even more frugal, going for five in his first two. He could have had Ibrahim off a slower full toss but a leaping Kane Williamson failed to pull off a one-handed stunner at mid-off. That meant while Afghanistan remained unscathed, they had only 55 on the board after ten overs.
Afghanistan had not hit a single six in the first ten overs, but there were five in the next three, including three in one Bracewell over as Gurbaz and Bracewell stepped on the accelerator. The pair took the side past 100 in the 14th over. New Zealand finally broke through when Ibrahim bottom-edged a short ball from Henry onto his stumps, after having been hit on the grille on the previous delivery.
Promoted to No. 3, Azmatullah Omarzai played his part with 22 off 13, which included two sixes in three balls off Henry. Mohammad Nabi fell for a first-ball duck but Gurbaz kept finding the boundary at regular intervals. However, a three-wicket, three-run final over by Boult kept Afghanistan to 159.
Farooqi gave Afghanistan a dream start with the ball. With the very first delivery of the innings, he uprooted Finn Allen’s leg stump as the ball moved in late. In the seamer’s next over, Conway pushed at one that seemed to come slower off the surface and was caught at extra cover.
The decision to give Farooqi a third over in the powerplay brought further rewards. This time, bowling around the wicket to Daryl Mitchell, he got a length delivery to just straighten and take the outside edge. Gurbaz took a regulation catch to complete the dismissal and leave New Zealand 28 for 3.
It could have been worse for New Zealand. In between, Naveen-ul-Haq had rapped Kane Williamson’s front pad after the batter had moved across to play a delivery. Afghanistan sent it upstairs for an lbw review but the umpire’s call saved the New Zealand captain.
Afghanistan did not have to wait too long for Williamson’s wicket. Rashid brought himself on after the powerplay and struck straightaway as Williamson guided one to first slip. But Rashid was just warming up. In his next over, he dismissed Mark Chapman and Bracewell off successive deliveries to leave New Zealand on 43 for 6. Chapman went for a pull and got bowled; Bracewell was late to bring his bat down and was lbw.
Phillips was New Zealand’s last hope. He did hit a couple of boundaries but was soon caught at long-on when he tried to take on Nabi. That ended any hopes of revival New Zealand might have had.
Brief scores:
Afghanistan 159 for 6 in 20 overs (Rahmanullah Gurbaz 80, Ibrahim Zadran 44, Azmatullah Omarzai 22; Trent Boult 2-22, Matt Henry 2-37, Lockie Fergusoan 1-28) beat New Zealand 75 in 15.2 overs (Glenn Phillips 18; Rashid Khan 4 for 17, Fazalhaq Farooqi 4 for 17, Mohammad Nabi 2-16) by 84 runs
[Cricinfo]
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