Latest News
Relentless Cummins delivers series win for Australia
There were moments sprinkled all over Day 4 when it looked like Pakistan were capable of taking the game by the scruff of its neck, but a relentless Pat Cummins put a swift end to that in the final session while becoming the first Test captain to pick 10 wickets in an MCG Test. Pakistan fell from 216 for 5 to 237 all out, suffering a 79-run defeat that gave Australia a 2-0 series win even before the teams head to Sydney for the third Test in the new year.
Cummins had laid down the marker towards the end of the second session when he ended Shan Masood’s breezy essay that threatened to drag the game away from Australia. Masood and Babar Azam did exceedingly well to gnaw away at the target by taking on Nathan Lyon and not allowing Cummins to give his quicks longer breaks. The Aussie fast bowlers however hit back by being utterly relentless in the final session where Lyon became Pakistan’s only escape route.
Pakistan were already jolted by the wicket of Masood but were further rattled when Babar Azam got a second unplayable nipbacker of the Test that came with his name on it. This time it was Josh Hazlewood who got one to duck back in and breach his bat-pad gap. At 143/4, Pakistan’s chase was in danger of a quick derailment but Mohammad Rizwan took charge to defy the hosts. He started off by slog sweeping Lyon for a six to get his first runs of the innings and then welcomed Mitchell Starc into the attack with a cover drive for four.
At the other end however, Saud Shakeel was stuck in a shell and proceeded to try and get out of it by attempting an upper cut off a short ball from Starc. Even though the shot was on, he didn’t connect well and ended up hitting the ball to Alex Carey behind the stumps. In this adversity came Pakistan’s next dose of defiance as Rizwan and Agha Salman built a vital sixth-wicket stand. Australia’s pace trio were on point as for seven overs after Shakeel’s exit, the two Pakistan batters added just 24 runs.
The pair persisted and soon picked some runs against Hazlewood, while Salman scored two successive fours off Lyon. The pair brought up a crucial fifty-run stand as the target was now down to double figures. Just when it looked like Pakistan found a stable grip on the game, Cummins snatched it away. First, he bowled a length ball that Rizwan looked away from at the last minute and dropped his wrists. The ball didn’t rise as much as Rizwan expected and instead took a deflection off his arm and went to the keeper. Australian players were sure of a nick and sent the decision upstairs. After several replays and with a few zoomed in angles, the third umpire declared that out on the basis of the ball going off the glove. Rizwan was unhappy but had to trudge off. Australia could smell blood from this point on as they picked the next four wickets for just 18 runs in the space of 41 balls.
Cummins, who’d got top-order batters to play at his unplayable lines and nick to the slip cordon all through the game, reserved some short-ball bowling for the lower-order. To Aamer Jamal it was a back of length delivery that the batter looked to tuck away and got a leading edge that the Aussie captain pouched. He then bowled a bouncer to Shaheen Afridi who fended at it awkwardly and was caught by Marnus Labuschagne at short leg. With this Cummins picked up his second 10-wicket haul in Tests.
From this point on, the Test was heading only in one direction as Cummins summoned his best bowler for a clean up job. Starc arrived and picked the last two wickets off the first two balls he bowled to complete the victory. Agha Salman, who scored a defiant half-century, looked to get the scorecard moving and went big only to top-edge a short ball. Mitchell Marsh covered a lot of ground running forward from fine leg and took an exceptional diving catch. Mir Hamza, who also got a mean bumper first up, just about got his bat behind the ball but it ballooned up and was well taken by David Warner who ran in from first slip and completed a diving catch.
Brief scores:
Australia 318 & 262 (Mitchell Marsh 96, Alex Carey 53, Steve Smith 50; Shaheen Afridi 4-76, Mir Hamza 4-32) beat Pakistan 264 & 237 (Shan Masood 60, Babar Azam 41; Pat Cummins 5-49, Mitchell Starc 4-55) by 79 runs
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]
US sports envoys to Lanka to champion youth development
Rahuman questions sudden cancellation of leave of CEB employees
