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Sutherland, Litchfield seal series for Australia in tight finish
A total of 11 catches were dropped in Mumbai. First, India put down seven and as if to return the favour a bit, Australia spilled four. But Phoebe Litchfield took a stunner for the visitors when it mattered most, ending a crucial 88-run stand for India when they needed another 100 with 17 overs and eight wickets remaining. That went a long way in Australia scraping through by three runs in the second ODI, and with that, winning the series.
The batter to be dismissed was Jemimah Rodrigues for 44, as Litchfield dived full stretch across to her right at short extra cover Richa Gosh with whom Rodrigues had that stand, later made up for lost time to hit 96 from 117 balls after being 54 off 84 at one stage. But with the game still in the balance, and India requiring 41 more from 38 deliveries with six wickets in hand, even Ghosh’s catch was well intercepted by Litchfield while moving to her left in a packed off-side ring.
That pretty much decided the outcome, as India paid for poor catching and slowing down with the bat. Although Ghosh sped up despite cramping, Georgia Wareham, who had dismissed Rodrigues, struck soon after to have Harmanpreet Kaur tickle behind to Alyssa Healy for 5. Ghosh tried to counterattack in a 47-run partnership for the fifth wicket with Deepti Sharma, but Australia kept striking at regular intervals, thus putting Deepti’s second ODI five-for in vain.
India had a chance until as late as 47 overs into their chase, after which they were only 22 away. But Annabel Sutherland who had already got Ghosh, held her nerve to concede just three singles and also remove Pooja Vastrakar, who was coming off a 47-ball 62 from 47 in the first ODI. India never got back on track after that, eventually leaving them wondering what would have been had all those catches gone to hand.
For a few tense moments, that thought must have crossed Australia’s minds too, who had given Ghosh a life each on 0 and 36. The first one came from Litchfield herself, putting one down at first slip in the eighth over. Next, it was Sutherland who dropped one in the 27th. That allowed Ghosh to keep ticking steadily, as she avoided risks in a patient start to her innings where she hit just two boundaries from her first 52 deliveries.
Even Rodrigues didn’t entirely seem busy at the other end, as the required run rate kept ticking over. But with the game well under India’s control, Litchfield struck like lightning and halted India’s calmly moving train. That, after she had hit 63 with the bat. Litchfield was the beneficiary on three of India’s seven drops, getting a life on 0, 9 and 15. Although she consumed 98 deliveries, it was a challenging pitch to bat on at the Wankhede Stadium, where the ball turned and gripped aplenty for Deepti.
India’s spinners applied the brakes in the middle overs, as Australia stumbled from 117 for 1 in the 24th over to 180 for 6 in the 40th. The slowdown happened once India bowled spin from both ends, although Deepti’s 5 for 38 stood in contrast to debutant Shreyanka Patil and Sneh Rana, who combined figures of 2 for 102 from their 20 overs.
But while the spinners kept Australia quiet, Ellyse Perry kept the pace up. She had flicked and flashed her way to 28 from her first 23 balls. Perry eventually fell for 50 from 47, with Deepti ending her animated stay at the crease in the 24th over. That wicket started Australia’s slide, as Deepti then trapped Beth Mooney, who missed an attempted sweep off a quicker delivery.
Patil too got into the wickets in the 34th over, when Litchfield got the toe end of the bat behind to Richa in an attempt to sweep. Rana also struck to get Ashleigh Gardner for 2, after which came Deepti’s best of the lot. She tossed one up enticingly at Tahlia McGrath in the 40th over. The ball dipped and landed just outside the off stump, turning in enough to smash into the stumps with McGrath unsure of whether to come forward or go back.
At 180 for 6, Wareham and Sutherland briefly steadied Australia with a 36-run partnership, before Wareham chipped one off Deepti to Smriti Mandhana – who had dropped two catches earlier – at midwicket to start the 46th over.
Four balls later, Deepti completed her five-for with a return catch of Sutherland. Australia were 219 for 8 with another 25 balls remaining, and Alana King made full use of that. She swung three sixes – and with that, the momentum – in an unbeaten 28 from 17 balls which helped Australia to 258. Thus, King’s knock, Litchfield and Perry’s fifties, and a lot of help from India took Australia to victory, with India yet to beat them in a bilateral ODI series.
Brief scores:
Australia 258 for 8 in 50 overs (Phoebe Litchfield 63, Ellyse Perry 50, Tahlia McGrath 24, Annabel Sutherland 23, Georgia Wearham 22, Alana King 28*; Deepti Sharma 5-38) beat India 255 for 8 in 50 overs (Smriti Mandhana 34, Richa Ghosh 96, Jemimah Rodrigues 44, Deepti Sharma 24*; Annabel Sutherland 3-47, Georgia Wareham 2-39) by three runs
(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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