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Hope six seals 3-2 win for West Indies after Motie keeps lid on England
The final game of England’s tour ended much like the first: with Shai Hope clinching victory for West Indies with a match-winning six. His unbeaten, run-a-ball 43 was the highest score of a tense low-scorer in Tarouba, and his clean strike over cover off Chris Woakes sealed the series decider with four balls remaining.
Something is brewing in the Caribbean. Since their ignominious first-round exit at last year’s T20 World Cup in Australia, West Indies have won three T20I series out of three under Rovman Powell’s captaincy. In August, they beat India 3-2 in Daren Sammy’s first T20I series as white-ball coach; in December, they beat the defending world champions by the same margin.
This finale was played on the same strip at Trinidad’s Brian Lara Cricket Academy as the one used in England’s 75-run win 48 hours previously, but the games could hardly have been more different: after 459 runs in 35.3 overs on Tuesday evening, Thursday’s game saw just 265 in 38.5, culminating in a scrap for the finish line.
Phil Salt hit centuries in both the third and fourth games of this series, and looked in pristine touch in the Powerplay. Oshane Thomas, who replaced Matthew Forde for West Indies, saw his first ball of the night crunched through the covers, then conceded back-to-back boundaries in his second over: the first through point, the second straight back down the ground.
Jos Buttler fell early, scooping Jason Holder to short fine leg for 11 in the fourth over, while Will Jacks’ innings summed up his series: a glimmer of promise, crunching Akeal Hosein over long-on for a straight six, then brought back down to earth when cramped for room by an arm ball which scuttled into his stumps.
By the time Salt launched Gudakesh Motie over long-off for six to take England to 60 for 2 after three balls of the seventh over, he had broken Mohammad Rizwan’s record for the most runs in men’s bilateral T 20 I series, But he fell to the next one he faced, which angled in then spun past his outside edge – a sign of what was to come through the middle overs.
Buttler bemoaned the time it took England to realise that this was not the belter of two nights previously, which allowed Motie and Hosein to thrive. Harry Brook fell to his sixth ball, gloving Motie behind as he shaped to scoop; only once more, when Moeen Ali dragged one over midwicket, did he concede a boundary.
Moeen fell for 23 to an excellent relay catch between Andre Russel and Powell at long-on and long-off, having added 40 in 6.2 overs for the fifth wicket. Liam Livingstone hit two towering leg-side sixes – one off Thomas, the other off Holder – but chipped a catch back to Motie to give him his third wicket.
England’s lower order offered little resistance: Russell cleaned Chris Woakes up with an inch-perfect yorker, then reacted quickly to take a fine catch off his own bowling when Rehan hit a full toss back at him. Adil Rashid ran himself out while getting Curran back on strike, but Curran could only pick out long-on. From 267 for 3, England were bowled out for just 132.
Johnson Charles, replacing Kyle Mayers at the top of the order, made an early dent in the target, swinging Woakes over square leg for six before steering him away through point. But England’s bowlers picked up the early wickets they craved: Brandon King swung Reece Topley straight to mid-on, and Nicholas Pooran chopped Woakes onto his own stumps.
England tried to replicate West Indies’ spin squeeze, and Rashid – celebrating his ascent to the top of the ICC’s rankings in this format – struck in his first over. The breakthrough came thanks to the worst ball he bowled, a loopy full toss outside off stump that Charles slapped straight to short cover.
Sherfane Rutherford provide a vital cameo of 30 off 21 balls, slugging Rashid down the ground for six and pulling Curran over long leg, as Hope steadied the ship from the other end. They added 41 off 38 balls for the fourth wicket before Rutherford crunched Rashid’s googly to Curran at short extra cover, breaking the game back open.
As the game went deep, the chase became frantic. Powell dumped Rehan down the ground for six to take the required rate below six but then steered Topley to short third, and Russell swung like a rusty gate before heaving Curran’s full toss down long-on’s throat as West Indies managed one run off the first five balls of the 19th over.
Holder was nearly run out off the final ball of the over, but Curran’s close-range attempt to deflect Rashid’s throw onto the stumps went wide. When Holder’s inside-edge off Woakes’ first ball of the 20th left six required off five balls, Hope decided to finish it with a single blow: he crashed Woakes over the off side, prompting celebrations that would continue long into the night.
Brief scores:
West Indies 133 for 6 in 19.2 overs (Johnson Charles 27, Shai Hope 43*, Sherfane Rutherford 30; Reece Topley 2-17, Chris Woakes 1-28, Adil Rashid 2-21, Sam Curran 1-13) beat England 132 in 19.3 overs (Phil Salt 38, Liam Livingstone 28, Moeen Ali 23; Andre Russel 2-25, Akeal Hosein 2-20, Jason Holder 2-24, Gudakesh Motie 3-24) by four 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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