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Hodge, Da Silva lead West Indies’ fightback
A terrific rearguard act form half-centurions Joshua Da Silva (79) and Kavem Hodge (71), and a brief cameo of 32 from Alzarri Joseph at the fag end, saw West Indies fight to post 266/8 on the opening day of the pink-ball Test at the Gabba on Thursday (January 25). After Mitchell Starc’s triple strikes rattled the top-order early, the sixth-wicket pair dug in to stage a comeback that kept Australia at bay until the last hour of the day’s play.
In better batting conditions, West Indies had no hesitation in doing the obvious but the decision spectacularly backfired on the visitors with the top-order continuing to fall to loose shots outside off stump after the debacle in Adelaide. However, a defiant 149-run partnership between Da Silva and Hodge not only managed to revive their first innings but also keep Starc & Co at bay for better part of the remaining play.
Starc was the destroyer-in-chief in the afternoon, striking thrice in the second half to reduce the Windies to 64/5 by Tea. To their credit though, openers Tagenarine Chanderpaul and Kraigg Braithwate did well to negotiate the testing new-ball spells from him and Josh Hazlewood for the first 30 minutes before a tentative push from the skipper got the hosts the first opening.
A 33-run stand ensued for the second wicket, where Kirk McKenzie settled in quickly and played with positive intent as he smoked a full ball from Nathan Lyon into the long-on stands. But one shot too many and the No. 3 was soon walking back with Pat Cummins breaking the enterprising partnership. McKenzie was guilty of attempting a flashy cut off a shortish delivery that he ended up edging to the right of Usman Khawaja at first slip.
Starc returned for a second spell on the other side of the drinks break and took only two balls to make an impact as Chanderpaul paid the price for fishing outside off after making a solid 21. The veteran pacer was quick to move to 350 Test wickets when Alick Athanaze nicked off trying to drive away from the body. Khawaja pouched another sharp, low catch at the stroke of Tea to mark the end of Justin Greaves’ short stay in the middle and give Starc his 351st.
The second session was as engrossing as the West Indies’ collapse of 4 for 22 just prior. Looking to wind up the lower-order quickly, Australia were frustrated to the core with Da Silva and Hodge staging a solid recovery through a wicket-less session – the first across the two Tests so far that belonged wholly to the visitors.
Walking out in a situation all too familiar, Da Silva responded well and batted positively from ball one. For a brief moment, he even scored at more than run-a-ball, notching up two lovely boundaries off Cummins. Hodge took cue and pulled a short one from Starc into the stands in the very next over as the visitors raced to 100 quickly after Tea.
With the pink ball softening and the track easing out progressively, Hodge and Da Silva both showed great resolve and judgement. Australia’s frustration was evident from the way Cummins shuffled his bowling options in search of that desperate breakthrough. Even Marnus Labuschagne was summoned for the final over before Dinner, but to no avail.
Their wait for the wicket continued for over an hour into the final session under lights, while the two batters reached their respective half-centuries. Hodge got to his maiden one first, albeit through a lucky edge that didn’t quite carry to gully. Da Silva got there in the following over, also bringing up the century of the sixth-wicket partnership alongside. Incidentally, Hodge’s next scoring shot was also an outside edge that, luckily for West Indies, raced to he fence via a vacant second slip.
Starc continued to induce edges off Hodge, who had a couple of more lucky escapes. A tough chance was put down by Cameroon Green when he was on 59, and right after the drinks break Hodge nearly dragged an inside on to the stumps, on 61. With the partnership approaching the 150 milestone, Australia’s desperation grew and Cummins next called upon Travis Head to roll his arm over.The part-timer leaked 10 straightaway with Da Silva fetching a couple of boundaries more for his tally.
Lyon eventually delivered the breakthrough Australia hunted, trapping Da Silva LBW on 79. The batter did waste one of his team’s reviews hoping, perhaps, the height would save him. Hodge too fell in quick succession, Starc finally managing to get his man on 71 for his fourth wicket of the day. But just as the home team harboured the hopes of wrapping up the tail cheaply, Alzarri Joseph launched a flurry of boundaries against Cummins and Starc to put Windies past the 250 mark. His thoroughly entertaining cameo of 32 came to an end in the final over of the day’s play with Hazlewood inducing an edge to second slip for his second wicket of the day.
Brief scores:
West Indies 266/8 in 89.4 overs (Joshua Da Silva 79, Kavem Hodge 71, Tagenarine Chandrapaul 21, Kirk McKnzie 21, Alzzari Joseph 32; Mitchell Starc 4-68, Josh Hazlewood 2-32) vs Australia
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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