India go 2-0 up after narrow DLS win in low-scoring suspenser
New Zealand sweep aside Samoa to reach Women’s World Cup final
‘Clicky Ponting’ cheat-row cricketer banned from club cricket for two years
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi appointed Bihar captain
Wins for CDB, Fairfirst Insurance. Hayleys Group ‘A’ and HNB ‘A’ on Thursday
Sprinters Kalinga Kumarage and Chamod Yodhasinghe produced the most outstanding performances on day one for Sri Lanka as they booked berths in the final and semi-final respectively of their pet events at the Asian Athletics Championships in Gumi, South Korea on Tuesday.
Kalinga clocked his seasonal best in a photo finish to settle for the second place in the second semi-final in the 400 metres. His 45.74 seconds finish is the first time he produced a sub 46 effort in the 400 metres this year. Japan’s Fuga Sato who also clocked the identical time was adjudged the winner in that semi-final which turned out to be the fastest of the two semi-finals.
Qatar’s Ammar Ismali won the other semi-final in a time of 46.05 seconds.
Aruna Dharshana could not go beyond the first round heats after finishing sixth in the first heat where he returned a time of 48.10 seconds.
In the women’s 400 metres, defending champion Nadeesha Ramanayake secured a final berth with a performance of 53.77 seconds. She was placed third in her heat, while Nishendra Fernando was eliminated from the first round after finishing fourth in her heat with a time of 53.81 seconds.
The men’s 100 metres saw national champion Chamod Yodhasinghe booking a semi-final berth as he won his heat with a feat of 10.40 seconds.
Javelin thrower Dilhani Lekamge had to settle for the sixth place after a throw of 55.53 metres.
Lesandu Arthavidu cleared a height of 2.10 metres to reach the finals of the men’s high jump.
Today is the second day of the Asian Championship.
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India 113 for 7 in 26 overs (Shreyas Iyer 30, KL Rahul 26*; Jacob Duffy 3-35, Kyle Jamieson 3-35) beat New Zealand 134 in 41 overs (Daryl Mitchell 55, Mitchell Santner 31; Gurnoor Brar 4-30, Anshul Kamboj 2-25, Axar Patel 2-28, Auqib Nabi 2-31) by four runs (DLS method
Rain taketh what rain giveth. Consistent rain on the eve of the second ODI between New Zealand and India, which continued on match morning, played a significant part in giving us a pitch that hosted a rare low-scoring thriller in Wellington, but rain on the night of the match also denied us an organic finish. When the rain arrived to put a premature end to the 47-overs-a-side contest, India had just lost their seventh wicket and had scored 113 runs in a chase of 135. They were only four runs ahead of the DLS par score, a measure of how close the match was.
It was like batting on a trampoline, the only half-century-maker of the match Daryl Mitchell said. It wasn’t just the steep bounce but the unevenness of it, plus the seam movement that made batting difficult. The very soul of ODI batting, the ability to work the ball into the gaps, was taken away. The lack of a pitch square in multi-sport New Zealand grounds made it even more difficult to place the ball in the gaps as it would just lose all the pace after bouncing in the lush grass.
With four fast bowlers in their XI, India didn’t go looking for wickets. They kept hitting the deck hard, the scoreboard moved slowly, and the batters had no choice but to eventually play low-percentage shots, which brought India wickets, four of them to Gurnoor Brar, his personal best returns.
New Zealand had four fast bowlers as well, but they didn’t have the cushion of runs. They had to go searching at times, and India’s batters were good enough to punish those balls for boundaries. In fact, India just took the Mitchell method to a higher intensity. Mitchell would get into power positions and swing hard at anything remotely loose while defending or leaving good balls. Every India batter did that, which shows in 78 runs in boundaries out of just 113.
Daryl Mitchell was the highest scorer on the trampoline-like pitch (Cricinfo)
By the time the New Zealand batters had enough measure of the pitch to formulate a method, they had already lost three wickets. This is what can happen when you keep losing the toss, now six out of seven during this tour. Tim Seifert ended up chipping Auqib Nabi to short midwicket after the first ten balls of the match had brought New Zealand no runs. If it was extra bounce that did Seifert in, Will Young was defeated by seam and bounce. Henry Nicholls, lucky to survive Anshul Kamboj’s accuracy early on was slightly unlucky in playing him on.
At 23 for 3, Mitchell and Tom Latham decided to be more cautious, but Latham chose the wrong ball to try to break the shackles. Brar was over the wicket and angling the ball across, which made the pull a dangerous shot. In the same over, Glenn Phillips fell to the same shot, but this short ball also jagged back in to take the top edge.
Mitchell Santner looked the most comfortable of all the batters on display as he added 59 with Mitchell for the sixth wicket. He had the advantage of getting to face spin, which India’s batters didn’t because New Zealand knew they would not need to bowl all their overs. However, Mitchell couldn’t take any advantage of spin, instead getting frustrated at not being able to get singles down the ground and managing just one run off six reverse sweeps. Having scored just 10 off 26 balls from Axar Patel . Mitchell finally gave him the charge and ended up being caught at long-off.
The hostile Brar ensured a swift end to the innings with relentless short-pitched bowling. Even when he went full after pushing batters back, it was only just good length. A bouncer from Kamboj resulted in a concussion for Blair Tickner, which brought Matt Fisher into the XI.
KL Rahul anchored India in a tricky chase (Cricinfo)
Despite a golden duck for Shubman Gill, India were much more urgent in attacking the loose ball than New Zealand. Rohit Sharma scored 20 of his 23 runs in boundaries, Virat Kohli drove the second ball he faced for four, Shreyas Iyer threw his hands at anything with width, and KL Rahul scored his first 14 runs in boundaries.
The two tall new-ball bowlers, Kyle Jamieson and Jacob Duffy, were still a handful. Duffy got Gill with seam and bounce, and Kohli with one that stopped on his cover-drive. Rohit did India a favour by facing 25 out of the first 27 balls that the menacing Jamieson bowled. Ten of those got the better of him but he still scored 21 runs.
Although Fisher got Axar in his first over, Smith and Fisher were not the same threat as some of the taller bowlers in the match. Or even Ticker might have been had he bowled. However, Santner didn’t stay in holding pattern for long and brought back his new-ball bowlers.
Jamieson took out Iyer with a nasty bouncer for 30 and Duffy had the wickets of Naman Dhir and Kamboj. The latter fell swinging hard at a length ball in what proved to be the last over of the match, leaving India precariously close to falling behind the DLS par. To be fair to Kamboj, though, the rain arrived without warning much like this low-scoring thriller in an era dominated by high scores.
India 113 for 7 in 26 overs (Shreyas Iyer 30, KL Rahul 26*; Jacob Duffy 3-35, Kyle Jamieson 3-35) beat New Zealand 134 in 41 overs (Daryl Mitchell 55, Mitchell Santner 31; Gurnoor Brar 4-30, Anshul Kamboj 2-25, Axar Patel 2-28, Auqib Nabi 2-31) by four runs (DLS method)
New Zealand’s women will hope it is fourth time lucky after defeating Samoa 32-0 to reach next Sunday’s Rugby League World Cup final.
It will be the Kiwi Ferns’ seventh successive appearance in the showpiece match, but having won the first three between 2000-2008, three trips to the final since then have all ended in heartache.
Three consecutive losses to Australia included a blowout 54-4 scoreline four years ago at Old Trafford and unless debutants Fiji spring one of the greatest upsets in the tournament’s history in the other semi-final, the Jillaroos are likely to again provide the substantial obstacle to New Zealand becoming four-time champions.
However, on Saturday, New Zealand made light of the blustery and difficult conditions inside Newcastle’s McDonald Jones Stadium, in New South Wales, to make their case as potential winners.
Mackenzie Wiki’s try – less than two minutes into proceedings, off the back of a Samoa error – set the tone for the Kiwi Ferns.
As the storm clouds began to gather overhead, New Zealand’s dual-code international Stacey Waaka capitalised on some indecision from Samoa winger Mercedez Taulelei-Siala to collect and ground Raecene McGregor’s kick.
It was efficient and highly professional from New Zealand, who conceded just 24 points across their three group games and once again exhibited their defensive parsimony during a hard-fought first period.
A combination of that and Samoa’s inability to make the most of field position, with a smattering of handling errors thrown in as well, laid the platform for New Zealand’s triumph.
There were notable bright spots for the Samoa fans to enjoy.
Fanua Rimoni was a powerful and dominant presence at lock forward, while teenage winger Anastasia Leatupue produced a nerveless showing on her international bow.
Samoa’s biggest disappointment was that they could not get the ball into the hands of the 18-year-old in good attacking positions – with Pauline Piliae-Rasabale twice pulled up for forward passes on the right edge in an error-strewn display.
But just like in the first 35 minutes, they had no answer to New Zealand’s more potent attacking threat.
Waaka was again the beneficiary of a pinpoint McGregor kick as she crossed for her second try and Mele Hufanga held off the attentions of three Samoa defenders tfor her score.
It was a feat that was matched by Kaiyah Atai just over two minutes later as New Zealand went through the gears.
With Samoa’s resistance gradually waning, Waaka capped a fine individual display with her hat-trick and McGregor scored the try her performance richly deserved to round off a fine New Zealand display.
Brian Devine, the amateur cricketer dubbed “Clicky Ponting” following accusations that he had repeatedly clicked his fingers to simulate the sound of bat on ball in caught-behind appeals, has been banned from the sport for two years.
Devine’s team, Saltburn CC 2nd XI, has also been relegated from Division Two of the North Yorkshire and South Durham Cricket League, after footage of his actions went viral during the English summer.
An initial clip, posted by a Norton CC player, showed keeper and slip appeal in unison as the ball passed the bat, with the batter looking bemused as the umpire raised his finger. The Norton player who posted the video added that the incident was “the worst case of cheating” he had ever seen.
Subsequent evidence was unearthed in response to the video – including from Saltburn’s match against Shildon Railway CC, in which their wicketkeeper took eight catches, which is more than the Test innings record of seven.
Devine was suspended by his club for the remainder of the season, pending the league’s investigation.
After a series of player interviews, written statements, and a review of the footage by a three-person disciplinary panel, both Devine and Saltburn CC accepted misconduct charges.
Devine has now been banned from all cricket under the jurisdiction of the England & Wales Cricket Board until September 29, 2028. The ban covers “playing, coaching, umpiring, scoring and managing junior teams”.
Saltburn CC initially appealed against their sanction, but have now been fined £300, and in addition to their relegation, they will also start the 2027 season with 60-point deduction. Middlesbrough CC, who had previously dropped down to Division Three, have retained their place instead.
“The League recognises the strain this has placed on many people, especially those who were abused online and in person,” a statement from the NYSDCL read. “We ask everyone to respect that the formal process is now complete.”
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