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Smith leads Australia’s day out with the bat
A solid platform provided by David Warner’s 66 was capitalised upon by Steve Smith, Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne as Australia finished with 339/5 at the end of Day 1 of the second Ashes Test at Lord’s. Smith was the common denominator in two century partnerships – 102 off 155 with Labuschagne and 118 off 122 with Head – as Australia amassed 266 runs after Lunch on Wednesday (June 28). Joe Root’s strikes late in the day gave England something to cheer about but they still have Smith, unbeaten on 85, to contend with on Day 2.
Smith arrived at the crease shortly into the second session, after Warner was bowled by a nip-backer from Josh Tongue. Smith started off positively, striking two successive fours off Stuart Broad through the cover region and also got a caught-behind decision reversed in the same over. Labuschagne, who was circumspect at the start of his innings which began soon after Lunch, got going with three fours in an over off Broad. He used a review in a Broad over successfully after being given out leg-before offering no shot, and survived an England review a short while later.
Skipper Ben Stokes brought himself on but clearly lacked rhythm as he overstepped multiple times and leaked boundaries. Smith crossed 9000 Test runs with a four off Stokes, becoming the second fastest in terms of innings (174) to reach the landmark. With not much working for England, they even tried Root for a couple of overs but he too didn’t make an impact as Australia finished the second session having added 117 runs for the loss of only one wicket.
Smith and Labuschagne extended their partnership past 100 before Ollie Robinson struck in the final session, getting Labuschagne to edge to the ‘keeper. This brought Head to the crease and the left-hander dealt in a flurry of boundaries to help Australia make good progress. Robinson was at the receiving end, guilty of bowling short on the off stump. Tongue and Broad too erred with their lines and were made to pay by Head, who had raced away to 35 off 32 when the half-century stand was raised off 54 deliveries.
It took a while for England before they resorted to short-ball tactics against Head, who was ready to take it on as he pulled Tongue for a four to bring up a 48-ball fifty shortly after Smith played a straight drive for a boundary. Two fours off Broad followed for Head as the fourth wicket pair maintained a good run-rate to power Australia. Even luck was favouring Australia. Smith was rapped on his pad after walking too far across to a Tongue delivery and was given not out. England didn’t opt for the review, with replays revealing that it was umpire’s call.
A century partnership was raised off 104 deliveries as Australia went past 300 in the 72nd over. Root’s re-introduction proved a masterstroke for England as he had Head stumped and Cameron Green caught off a pull in the same over. England opted for the new ball after the 81st over and Smith got a thick edge past the vacant gully region for a four off Robinson. Alex Carey saw off the final over, bowled by Broad, as Australia dominated the day despite conditions being helpful for the bowlers throughout. The final session was the most profitable one for Australia in terms of runs, with the visitors getting 149 in only 33 overs.
Earlier in the morning session, after England opted to bowl, their pacers persisted with outside-off lines as they tried to put the Australian openers under pressure. But Warner was solid, scoring at a good clip despite a few jittery play-and-misses. Usman Khawaja, on the other hand, wasn’t looking fluent and was troubled by the England pacers, being beaten multiple times. He even edged an Anderson delivery but Root failed to hold on to a tough chance.
There were also a couple of interruptions in the first session. The first was when ‘Just stop oil’ protesters invaded the ground and sprinkled orange powder, with one of them being lifted off the field by Jonny Bairstow who then had to head off for a change of dress. After a short rain break nine overs into the day’s play, Warner played some confident shots, including two fours in an over off Tongue, having earlier been dropped by Ollie Pope off Broad. Warner brought up his fifty with a six while Khawaja was beginning to play his strokes. But the partnership, worth 73, ended just before Lunch when Khawaja’s decision to shoulder arms to a Tongue delivery proved costly.
Brief scores:
Australia 339/5 (Steve Smith 85*, Travis Head 77, David Warner 66; Joe Root 2-19, Josh Tongue 2-88) vs England
Rajat Patidar led defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) into the final with the quickest innings of 90 or more in the IPL, scoring a delightful unbeaten 93 off 33 to take his team to 254 for 5, the highest total in an IPL playoff, against the best attack of the tournament, Gujarat Titans (GT). Having finished in the top two, GT still have a chance to make the final at their home ground in Ahmedabad in Qualifier 2 as they await the winner of the Eliminator between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Rajasthan Royals. The last eight IPLs have been won by the side winning this fixture: Qualifier 1.
Asked to bat first in chase-friendly Dharamsala, RCB came out full of intent and skill despite missing the injured Phil Salt, but GT nearly snuck back in with a period of 22 balls, 18 runs and two wickets of set batters in a single Jason Holder over. In the time that Patidar scored 93 off 33, the other end, including extras, produced 68 off 37 legal deliveries.
Having never scored more than 233, GT needed something special, and only Jos Buttler came close to that with 29 off 11. The RCB fast bowlers ran riot and took out half the side within the powerplay.
RCB would have dearly loved to have Salt back, but his absence allowed them to play Jacob Duffy as the fourth overseas player. Venkatesh Iyer started the innings with two fours off the first two balls, moving around in the crease to try to mess with the lengths of the GT fast bowlers. It took Virat Kohli four balls to lay bat on Kagiso Rabada’s hard lengths, but Venkatesh ramped him for a six first ball even though he got into a tangle.
Even though Rabada came back immediately with the wicket of Venkatesh, the makeshift opener had done his job with 19 off seven. Immediately after the wicket, Kohli charged at Siraj and drove him over mid-off. Some classic batting – a flick off the hip, a late cut and a square cut – from Devdutt Padikkal consigned Rabada to 18 in his second over and brought up the team fifty in just four overs.
Rattled, GT had to move away from bowling Siraj and Rabada through the powerplay for the first time in eight matches.
Holder and Rashid Khan combined to bring GT back into the contest. Holder kept hitting the hard lengths, and Rashid bowled his first two overs for no boundary. In between, Holder managed to remove Kohli and Padikkal for 43 off 25 and 30 off 19. Not big innings but ones that understood the assignment.
Having gone funky with their selection – no Romario Shepherd in the batting-first XI so they could play an extra bowler if Shepherd was not needed – RCB promoted Krunal Pandya to likely maintain ideal points of entry for Tim David and Jitesh Sharma. While Krunal did his job with 43 off 28, it was the other batter that led to dropping jaws.
Patidar broke the spell off 22 quiet balls with a pulled six off a Holder ball that wasn’t quite short enough. After a boundary-free first over from Kulwant Khejroliya, playing his first game of T20 cricket since last April, Prasidh Krishna created two opportunities in the 14th over. The first one, a leading edge, fell between the converging wicketkeeper and deep third. The second one went straight to Rabada at deep square leg, but was dropped with Patidar on 26 off 20. At the end of the 14th over, RCB were an even 140 for 3, the last time you could say the match was even.
Starting with no-balls from Khejroliya in the 15th over, the flood gates opened for 114 runs in the last six overs. Two of his nine sixes were bona fide highlights reels for the year. The first an extra-cover drive off Rashid from the crease, and then a back-foot drive over cover off Rabada, who by now had the purple cap. That shot off Rabada left even Kohli awestruck.
The GT bowlers didn’t quite try a quick bouncer at him, but Patidar nicely steered a slow bouncer over short fine with a delayed hook. At one point, even a century seemed likely, but he didn’t quite get enough strike.
For the first time ever, both innings of an IPL match started with two fours as B Sai Sudharsan hit Duffy for fours, but the GT openers were not as successful as the RCB top order at upsetting the bowlers’ lengths. Both Shubman Gill and Sudharsan tried charging at Bhuvneshwar, but got only two runs from his first over.
The pressure was mounting, but the first wicket came in an unconventional manner, with Sudharsan losing his bat as he cut Duffy away for four. The bat ricocheted onto the leg stump before the ball could reach the fence. Bhuvneshwar then extended his dominance over Gill with a wobble-seam delivery that got his leg stump. Now Bhuvneshwar leads the head-to-head with six wickets in 79 balls for just 80 runs.
No option left, Buttler came out swinging, looked dangerous, but Josh Hazlewood got the better of him with a knuckle-ball legcutter. The rest was always going to be a formality but RCB carried it out in style. Rasikh Salam bowled a double-wicket maiden to get Nishant Sindhu and Jason Holder to leave GT five down within the powerplay. Duffy ended up with three wickets, Bhuvneshwar reclaimed the purple cap, and only some late damage control from Rahul Tewatiya prevented this from becoming the biggest defeat in an IPL playoff match.
Brief scores:
Royal Challengers Bengaluru 254 for 5 in 20 overs (Venkatesh Iyer 19, Virat Kohli 43, Devdutt Padikkal 30, Rajat Patidar 93*, Krunal Pandya 43, Jitesh Sharma 15*; Kagiso Rabada 2-54, Jason Holder 2-39, Prasidh Krishna 1-53) beat Gujarat Titans 162 in 19.3 overs (Sai Sudarshan 14, Jos Buttler 29, RahulTewatia 68; Jacob Duffy 3-39, Bhuvenshwar Kumar 2-28, Josh Hazelwood 1-39, Rasik Salam 2-24, Krunal Pandya 2-16) by 92 runs
[Cricinfo]
Defending champions SC Jaffna Kings have made three signings, headlined by Shakib, while Galle Gallants and Colombo Kaps have signed two players each.
The Paddy Marketing Board has approximately 115,000 metric tonnes of paddy stocks purchased from farmers, which are currently stored in the Board’s warehouses, and it has been planned to retain a sufficient buffer stock from these reserves and sell the remaining quantity in order to provide the necessary storage space and financial resources for the purchase of paddy from farmers during the upcoming Yala season.
Accordingly, the Cabinet of Ministers has approved the resolution furnished by the Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Land and Irrigation to sell the aforementioned paddy stocks
following a formal tender procedure.
Patidar leads the way as Royal Challengers Bengaluru storm into second straight final
Kandy Royals sign Vijay Shankar for LPL 2026
Cabinet approves sale of Paddy stocks held by the Paddy Marketing Board
Amendment to the Promotion of Export Agriculture Act, No. 46 of 1992 to be gazatted
Ms. M.K.D.N. Madampe, appointed as Director General of the Department of Management Services
Cabinet approves collaboration agreement between Sri Lanka and Brazil for the implementation of the “Sugarcane Project in Sri Lanka”
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