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Samarawickrama leads Sri Lanka to their first win of World Cup 2023
Sadeera Samarawickrama’s 91* led a measured run-chase from Sri Lanka in their comfortable five-wicket win over Netherlands in Lucknow. It was the first victory for Sri Lanka in the 2023 World Cup.
At the halfway mark, the Kusal Mendis-led side looked up against it after Netherlands posted 262, mainly thanks to a middle-order rescue act from Sybrand Engelbrecht (70) and Logan van Beek (59) but a run-a-ball fifty from Nissanka at the top of the order meant that defending a par score was always going to be difficult.
For Nissanka, it was his third consecutive World Cup fifty which set the tone for his side at the top of the order. His 52-run stand with Samarawickrama helped Sri Lanka calm nerves after twin strikes of Kusal Perera and Kusal Mendis by Aryan Dutt, both batters falling to attacking shots against the spinning ball. Once Nissanka fell caught behind off Paul van Meekeren’s bowling, Samarawickrama and Charith Asalanka added 77 crucial runs while fighting through some quality overs from Dutt, the offspinner extracting plenty from the red-soil pitch on offer.
Samarawickrama, who scored 7 boundaries in his 107-ball knock, played with patience on a pitch that demanded it. A 76-run stand for the fifth wicket with Dhananjaya de Silva all but sealed the win for Sri Lanka.
Earlier, it wasn’t the best of starts for Netherlands who opted to bat but soon found themselves reeling at 91 for 6. That’s when Engelbrecht and van Beek added 130, which is now the highest partnership for seventh wicket or below in World Cups.
It all started with Kasun Rajitha trapping Vikramjit Singh LBW with an inswinger in the fourth over of the match. The pacer, in his long seven-over opening spell, also added the wickets of Max O’Dowd and Colin Ackermann. Dilshan Madushanka, brought back into the attack after the drinks break, struck in back-to-back overs, making things even worse for Netherlands. While Bas de Leede ramped Madushanka straight to third man, the left-arm pacer needed a review to trap Teja Nidamanuru LBW.
A scoreline of 71/5 became 91/6 when Maheesh Theekshana went through the defences of Scott Edwards and it looked like the side would be bundled out sooner rather than later. That’s when Engelbrecht and van Beek set themselves up for the long haul, picking singles and couples.
There was, in fact, a period in Netherlands’ innings where they didn’t score a boundary for almost 21 overs. Engelbrecht broke off from that dry spell with a sweep against Dushan Hemantha in the 31st over. Both batters went on to score their maiden ODI half-centuries, with Engelbrecht being the more aggressive batter during the partnership.
The breakthrough for Sri Lanka came only in the 46th over, when Engelbrecht missed a scoop against Madushanka’s yorker. From there on, Netherlands’ 221/6 soon turned into 262 all-out with two balls left in the innings. Rajitha added the wicket of van Beek to return match figures of 4 for 50 while Madushanka’s scalp of van der Merwe helped him register figures of 4 for 49.
Brief scores:
Netherlands 262 in 49.4 overs(Sybrand Engelbrecht 70, Logan van Beek 59, Colin Ackermann 29; Dilshan Madushanka 4-49, Kasun Rajitha 4-50) lost to Sri Lanka 263/5 in 48.2 overs (Sadeera Samarawickrama 91*, Pathum Nissanka 54, Charith Asalanka 44, Dhananjya de Silva 30; Aryan Dutt 3-44) by 5 wickets
A United States judge has ruled that Alphabet’s Google illegally dominated two markets for online advertising technology, dealing another blow to the tech titan in an antitrust case brought by the US government.
On Thursday, US District Judge Leonie Brinkema, in Alexandria, Virginia, ruled that Google unlawfully monopolised markets for publisher ad servers and the market for ad exchanges, which sit between buyers and sellers. Antitrust enforcers failed to show the company had a monopoly in advertiser ad networks, she wrote.
The ruling could allow prosecutors to argue for a breakup of Google’s advertising products. The US Department of Justice has said that Google should have to sell off at least its Google Ad Manager, which includes the company’s publisher ad server and its ad exchange.
Google will now face the possibility of two different US courts ordering it to sell assets or change its business practices.
A judge in Washington will hold a trial next week on the DOJ’s request to make Google sell its Chrome browser and take other measures to end its dominance in online search.
[Aljazeera]
US air strikes on a key oil terminal on Yemen’s Red Sea coast controlled by the Houthi movement have killed at least 74 people and wounded 171 others, the Houthi-run health ministry says.
The US military said it had destroyed Ras Isa “to eliminate this source of fuel for the Iran-backed Houthi terrorists and deprive them of illegal revenue”.
The Houthi-led government in north-west Yemen said the terminal was a civilian facility and that the strikes constituted a “war crime”.
It was the deadliest known attack since President Donald Trump ordered an intensification of the US bombing campaign last month in response to Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping and Israel linked to the Gaza war.
Several hours after the strikes on Ras Isa, the Israeli military said it had intercepted a missile launched from Yemen.
Sirens sounded in several Israeli areas but there were no reports of any casualties or damage.
[BBC]
Donald Trump said the US will “take a pass” on brokering further Russia-Ukraine war talks if Moscow or Kyiv “make it very difficult” to reach a peace deal.
The US president told reporters in the Oval Office on Friday that he was not expecting a truce to happen in “a specific number of days” but he wanted it done “quickly”.
His comments came hours after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned that the US would abandon talks “if it’s not going to happen”.
“We’re not going to continue with this endeavour for weeks and months on end,” Rubio said, adding that the US had “other priorities to focus on”.
[BBC]
China races robots against humans in Beijing half marathon
US judge finds Google illegally monopolised ad tech market
US strikes on Yemen oil terminal kill at least 74, Houthis say
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