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Bangladesh bowl; Hasaranga back as Sri Lanka make three changes

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The trophy will be on the line in the decider in Sylhet

Bangladesh captain Najimul Hossain Shanto won his third toss of the series, and like the last two games, chose to bowl. His opposite number Wanidu Hasaranga who has returned after serving a two match suspension  said that he would have also bowled first had he won the toss in this day game.

Bangladesh unchanged, while Sri Lanka have made three changes. Avishka Fernando, Matheesha Pathirana and Dilshan Madushanka are out, with Hasaranga, Dhananjaya de Silva and Nuwan Thushara coming in.

The series is tied at one-all with all to play for in the third game.

Bangladesh: Litton Das (wk), Najmul Hossain Shanto (capt), Soumya Sarkar, Towhid Hridoy, Mahmudullah, Mahedi Hasan, Jaker Ali, Taskin Ahmed, Rishad Hossain, Mustafizur Rahman, Shoriful Islam

Sri Lanka: Kusal Mendis (wk),  Kamindu Mendis, Dhananjaya de Silva, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Charith Asalanka,  Angelo Mathews, Dasun Shanaka, Wanindu Hasaranga (capt), Maheesh Theekshana, Binura Fernando,  Nuwan Thusara



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Trump says he has ‘cancelled’ strikes against Iran and talks up possible agreement

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She was the eldest of King Vajiralongkorn's seven children [BBC]

Thailand’s Princess Bajrakitiyabha, who has been in a coma for more than three years, has died, the royal household has announced. She was 47.

She collapsed in December 2022 while exercising her dogs. Her doctors attributed it to a severely irregular heartbeat, caused by a mycoplasma infection in her heart.

With her death, the Thai royal family has lost its most visibly accomplished member, and someone who might have played a pivotal role in an as yet unclear succession.

She was the eldest of King Vajiralongkorn’s seven children, born on 7 December 1978 to his first wife and cousin, Princess Soamsawali.

Reuters  Thailand's Princess Bajrakitiyabha greets her royalists as she leaves a religious ceremony to commemorate the death of King Chulalongkorn, known as King Rama V, at The Grand Palace in Bangkok, Thailand, October 23, 2020.
[BBC]

“The medical team provided the closest and most intensive care possible, but her condition continued to decline progressively,” the palace said in a statement on Friday morning, adding that she passed away at 19:48 local time (12:48 GMT) the previous day in Chulalongkorn Hospital.

She trained as a lawyer, getting two post-graduate degrees from Cornell University in the US. She worked briefly at the Thai mission to the United Nations in New York, before returning to Thailand to work in the Attorney-General’s offices in Bangkok and elsewhere in the country.

Getty Images Thailand's King Vajiralongkorn and Princess Bajrakitiyabha (L) greet supporters in Bangkok on October 23, 2020.
The princess (L) with her father, King Vajiralongkorn, and Queen Suthida in 2020 [BBC]

From 2012 to 2014 she was Thailand’s ambassador to Austria, where she built a relationship with the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

She started speaking out on the need for penal reform, with a particular focus on vulnerable women who end up in prison; Thailand has one of the world’s highest numbers of female inmates.

Once back in Thailand she became the UNODC’s Ambassador for the Rule of Law in South East Asia, and continued to advocate reform of Thailand’s criminal justice system, in which severe sentences are often handed down on people convicted of relatively minor drug possession charges.

In 2021 her father made her a chief of staff in his private bodyguard, giving her the rank of general.

Princess Bajrakitiyabha was also a fitness enthusiast who often took part in long-distance runs.

Getty Images Thailand's Princess Bajrakitiyabha waves to the crowd as she cycles in the "Bike for Dad" event in Bangkok.
Princess Bajrakitiyabha in Bangkok in 2015 [BBC]

Her abilities, and the trust her father appeared to have in her, made her an inevitable topic of speculation about the royal succession.

King Vajiralongkorn, who is 73 years old, has not yet named an heir. Thai custom dictates that the heir should be a male, but a 1974 amendment to the constitution does allow a female to take the throne.

The king has five sons, but four by his second marriage were disowned in 1996 and have lived since then with their mother in the US. His fifth son, Dipangkorn, by his third wife, is the presumed heir, although questions have been raised about his ability to perform the role of monarch, in a country where the royal institution carries so much influence.

For many Thai royalists, Princess Bajrakitiyabha seemed the most promising figure to succeed her father, either as queen or as a regent to help Prince Dipangkorn.

Her death leaves the question of the succession in Thailand unanswered, and the severity of the country’s lese majeste law rules out any public discussion of it.

[BBC]

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Trump says he has ‘cancelled’ strikes against Iran and talks up possible agreement

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Donald Trump says he has “cancelled” strikes against Iran saying negotiations with Tehran were “brought to the highest level of Iranian leadership and approved”

“Discussions and final points have been, in both concept and great detail, approved by all parties involved,” Trump says – elaborating further in remarks in the Oval Office.

However, Iran says  a deal is yet to be finalised and earlier warned the US of an “endless quagmire that you will be stuck in for years” about more strikes

[BBC]

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Taskin, Mustafizur set up famous series win for Bangladesh

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Towhid Hridoy and Mehidy Hasan Miraz took Bangladesh home [Cricinfo]

Bangladesh secured their first ODI series victory against Australia after they won the second ODI by five wickets in Dhaka, chasing down a rain-adjusted target of 192 having earlier removed the visitors’ first three wickets before they had scored a run.

Australia reached 187 for 8 in 42 overs when rain came, but had done well to reach that far becoming just the fourth team in ODI history to be 0 for 3. Taskin Ahmed and Mustafizur Rahman did the early damage and finished with three wickets each. Australia hung on through fifties from Marnus Labuschagne and Xavier Bartlett who rescued them with a 103-run seventh-wicket stand.

Buoyed by his maiden half-century, Bartlett bowled an inspired first over when play resumed. A big appeal off the first ball was followed by Tanzid Hasan giving a simple return catch. Bartlett then dropped Najmul Hossain Shanto off the fifth ball, although it was a tough chance, before the umpire raised the finger to an lbw appeal on the last ball but Shanto’s review saved him with the ball missing leg stump.

The recalled Soumya Sarkar got Bangladesh going with a lofted cover drive in the third over. He repeated the dose against Nathan Ellis in the next over then Shanto took consecutive boundaries off Bartlett in the fifth over.

Three more boundaries followed in as many overs, including Soumya hoisting Ellis over square leg for a six. Shanto survived a half chance on 21 when Labuschagne dropped a tough opportunity at short midwicket. Soumya then went after Adam Zampa, climbing into a high six over long-on.

It was the part-timer Matt Renshaw who got Australia the much-needed breakthrough in the 16th over. Soumya’s reverse paddle was poorly executed and he gave Bartlett a simple catch at slip. Shanto followed soon after, caught behind off Riley Meredith, who was returning to the ODI side after five years.

Cameron Green made a further blow when he removed Litton Das with a snorter that took the glove after a brisk 21. Mosaddek Hossain, Bangladesh’s batting hero from the first game, played his shots from the start before giving Cooper Connolly a simple catch at long-off.

At 144 for 5, with a only the bowlers to come, the game was not quite closed out. However, captain Mehidy Hasan Miraz withstood a blow to the side of the head to help Towhid Hridoy in the remaining part of the chase. The game ended up finishing in a rush as Hridoy hooked Meredith for a six followed by a pulled boundary then Mehidy sealed victory with another hook that cleared the boundary.

The opening exchanges of the match were remarkable. Taskin set off one of the most extraordinary starts seen in Bangladesh when he clean bowled Matthew Short for the second consecutive innings, this time the batter leaving the ball from a good length. It meant Short had fallen for a duck three innings in a row, starting from the third ODI against Pakistan in Lahore.

Connolly followed in the next over when he fell first ball to Mustafizur. The delivery was going slightly away from the left-handed Connolly who provided the thin edge. Renshaw fell in a similar way at the end of the same over, and Australia hadn’t opened their scoring.

They were reduced to 25 for 4 in the eighth over when Mustafizur got Alex Carey to drive one uppishly at point, where Shanto took the simple catch. Mustafizur picked up three wickets in the powerplay for only the second time in his ODI career.

Captain Josh Inglis tried to salvage the situation, striking five boundaries including a beautiful square-cut six off the Nahid Rana. He timed the ball well during his 34 but left-arm spinner Tanvir Islam neutralised his threat when Inglis’ miscued inside-out shot found deep cover. Tanvir wasn’t done, removing Green with a caught-and-bowled dismissal in the 22nd over.

Australia’s resistance came in the form of a seventh-wicket stand between Labuschagne and Bartlett. Labuschagne, who had been moved down to No. 7 and should have been run out on 1, struck three fours in his unbeaten 55 off 85 balls. It was just his second ODI fifty since the 2023 World Cup final.

Bartlett, who walked in at 81 for 6, was the aggressor and struck six boundaries including two huge sixes over midwicket in his 52 off 48 balls.

Taskin broke the partnership in the 41st over, cleaning up Bartlett with an in-ducker. Next ball he bowled a big off-cutter to fox Zampa. They were important blows because it meant the DLS target was more in Bangladesh’s favour after a two-and-a-half hour delay.

Brief scores:
Bangladesh 195 for 5 (Soumya Sarkar  42, Najmul Hosain Shanto 42, Towhid Hridoy 40*; Cameron Green 1-09) beat Australia 187 for 8 in 42 overs (Marnus Labuschagne 55*, Xavier Bartlett 52; Mustafizur Rahman  3-27, Taskin Ahmed 3-33, Tanvir Islam 2-45) by five wickets [DLS method]

[Cricinfo]

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