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All-round New Zealand brush aside Sri Lanka
Facing a must-win game to keep their semifinal chances in their own hands, New Zealand came up with a clinical performance to thump Sri Lanka by five wickets in Bangalore on Thursday (November 9). The result virtually assures the Black Caps of a semifinal date with India unless Afghanistan or Pakistan win their respective games by an astoundingly high margin. The victory was set up by the bowlers – Trent Boult (2-37) and Mitchell Santner (2-22) leading the charge – and the batters then made a mockery of the target by finishing the chase with more than half the allotted overs left.
The target of 172 was never going to trouble New Zealand as long as they didn’t lose early wickets. Devon Conway and Rachin Ravindra not only prevented early wickets but also went at breakneck speed in the first powerplay. The duo’s strokeplay showed how good the pitch was for batting and also put into perspective Sri Lanka’s torrid show earlier in the day. Conway started off as the aggressor but it didn’t take Ravindra long to take on the bowling as all the bowlers got the stick. The intent was clear from New Zealand that they wanted to boost the net run rate as much as they possibly could.
Conway and Ravindra perished but Daryl Mitchell ensured that the tempo was maintained with his signature high-intent brand of strokeplay. Sri Lanka did manage to get a few wickets towards the end as New Zealand went harder at the bowling but the result was a foregone conclusion. Glenn Phillips struck successive boundaries in the 24th over to finish the formalities and it was an emphatic win for New Zealand across all departments. Sri Lanka’s bowlers can’t be faulted as the damage was done in the first innings where their batters failed to utilize a good batting surface.
While the pitch wasn’t as flat as in some of the famous IPL games at this venue, it still gave value for proper strokeplay. New Zealand’s bowlers had the overhead conditions as an advantage and it was perhaps why Kane Williamson opted to bowl at the toss with inclement weather being the obvious main reason. Weathering the new ball storm was all that Sri Lanka needed to do as batting was bound to get easier through the innings. However, Boult along with his new-ball partner Tim Southee made early inroads to have Sri Lanka reeling at 32/3 in the fifth over.
Kusal Perera’s aggressive half-century did threaten a Lankan counter punch but he too fell after the landmark as Sri Lanka lost half their side inside the first ten overs. Santner’s frugal spell in the middle overs further denied any scope of a fightback from Kusal Mendis’s side. New Zealand’s bowling and fielding were all on point, putting a squeeze on Sri Lanka’s scoring. It took an 87-ball stand of 43 for the final wicket between Maheesh Theekshana and Dilshan Madushanka to lend some respectability to the total although it was still a very low score. New Zealand were expected to gun it down with ease and they did that with aplomb.
Brief scores:
Sri Lanka 171 in 46.4 overs (Kusal Perera 51, Maheesh Theekshana 38*; Trent Boult 3-37, Rachin Ravindra 2-21, Mitchell Santner 2-22, Lockie Ferguson 2-35) lost to New Zealand 172/5 in 23.2 overs (Devon Conway 45, Daryl Mitchell 43, Rachin Ravindra 42; Angelo Mathews 2-29) by 5 wickets
Chinese President Xi Jinping has met Malaysia’s King Sultan Ibrahim in Kuala Lumpur as part of a regional push to shore up Beijing’s trade relationships.
The diplomatic stop on Wednesday marks the second leg of Xi’s three-nation tour, which also includes Vietnam and Cambodia, and comes amid sharp tariffs imposed by the United States that are reshaping the global economic landscape.
Sultan Ibrahim welcomed Xi in a colourful ceremony at the golden-domed Istana Negara palace before his meeting with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim at the administrative capital of Putrajaya.
Xi touted a “new golden era” of Chinese-Malaysian relations, following the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties last year. The king announced new cooperation between the countries in various fields, including artificial intelligence.
“This is a hugely significant visit,” said Al Jazeera’s Rob McBride, reporting from Putrajaya. “It takes place during this unprecedented trade war that is developing with the United States, with both Malaysia and China finding themselves in the middle.”
Khoo Ying Hooi, an associate professor in the department of international and strategic studies at Malaya University, said the visit offered a chance to “test the waters for regional solidarity” amid the US trade disruptions.
“It’s not just about friendship, it’s about realigning the regional centre of gravity towards Beijing,” she said.
Malaysia is the current chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) bloc, whose members are among the hardest hit by new US tariffs.
ASEAN member Vietnam, a manufacturing powerhouse, was slapped with 46 percent tariffs, and Cambodia, a significant producer of low-cost clothing for big Western brands, was hit with a 49 percent duty.
Malaysia, Southeast Asia’s third-largest economy, was hit with a lower tariff of 24 percent. Though the measures have been paused for 90 days, President Donald Trump has warned that no country is “off the hook”.
[Aljazeera]
Police urge motorists who intend to use the Ella – Wellawaya Road to use alternative roads as there is a severe vehicle congestion due to inclement weather condition.
The UK Supreme Court has unanimously backed the biological definition of “woman” under the 2010 Equality Act.
It marks the culmination of a long-running legal battle which could have major implications for how sex-based rights apply across Scotland, England and Wales.
Judges sided with campaign group For Women Scotland, which brought a case against the Scottish government arguing that sex-based protections should only apply to people that are born female.
Judge Lord Hodge said the ruling should not be seen as a triumph of one side over the other, and stressed that the law still gives protection against discrimination to transgender people.
The Scottish government argued in court that transgender people with a gender recognition certificate (GRC) are entitled to the same sex-based protections as biological women.
The Supreme Court was asked to decide on the proper interpretation of the 2010 Equality Act, which applies across Britain.
Lord Hodge said the central question was how the words “woman” and “sex” are defined in the legislation.
He told the court: “The unanimous decision of this court is that the terms woman and sex in the Equality Act 2010 refer to a biological woman and biological sex.
“But we counsel against reading this judgement as a triumph of one or more groups in our society at the expense of another, it is not.”
He added that the legislation gives transgender people “protection, not only against discrimination through the protected characteristic of gender reassignment, but also against direct discrimination, indirect discrimination and harassment in substance in their acquired gender”.
Campaigners who brought the case against the Scottish government hugged each other and punched the air as they left the courtroom, with several of them in tears.
The Equality Act provides protection against discrimination on the basis of various characteristics, including “sex” and “gender reassignment”.
Judges at the Supreme Court in London were asked to rule on what that law means by “sex” – whether it means biological sex, or legal, “certificated” sex as defined by the 2004 Gender Recognition Act.
The Scottish government argued the 2004 legislation was clear that obtaining a GRC amounts to a change of sex “for all purposes”.
For Women Scotland argued for a “common sense” interpretation of the words man and woman, telling the court that sex is an “immutable biological state”.
Outside the Supreme Court, For Women Scotland co-founder Susan Smith said: “Today the judges have said what we always believed to be the case, that women are protected by their biological sex.
“Sex is real and women can now feel safe that services and spaces designated for women are for women and we are enormously grateful to the Supreme Court for this ruling.”
A UK government spokesman said: “This ruling brings clarity and confidence, for women and service providers such as hospitals, refuges, and sports clubs.
“Single-sex spaces are protected in law and will always be protected by this government.”
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch described the ruling as a “victory for all of the women who faced personal abuse or lost their jobs for stating the obvious”.
But Scottish Green MSP Maggie Chapman, a prominent campaigner for trans-rights, said: “This is a deeply concerning ruling for human rights and a huge blow to some of the most marginalised people in our society.
“It could remove important protections and will leave many trans people and their loved ones deeply anxious and worried about how their lives will be affected and about what will come next.”
The Scottish government has not yet commented on the ruling.
[BBC]
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