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England survive top-order implosion as Sarah Glenn derails Pakistan’s victory hopes
England overcame a terrible start against Pakistan via a match-saving partnership between Amy Jones and Heather Knight followed by a four-wicket haul to leg-spinner Sarah Glenn to win the opening match of their home international summer.
Jones and Knight rescued the hosts from 11 for 4 after 17 balls of the first T20I, in front of a crowd of 12, 241 at Edgbaston. A powerful 41 not out off just 21 deliveries from Dani Gibson helped lift England to 163 for 6, a total which had looked unlikely in the third over following a top-order collapse that will give England plenty to work on despite the result.
Glenn, playing her first match in an England shirt since she was concussed during the recent tour of New Zealand, kept Pakistan in check after they made a spirited start to the run-chase. She ended with 4 for 12 from her four overs, while seamer Lauren Bell took three and left-arm spinner Sophie Ecclestone and off-spinner Charlie Dean took one wicket each.
Alice Capsey’s drop of the head said it all. The ball had barely reached its zenith and begun to fall into the hands of Sidra Ameen but she knew the outcome, and its implications. England were 11 for 3 just 2.1 overs into the match and there was worse to come. Maia Bouchier carried plenty of hope into the middle after staking her claim as opener with an excellent tour of New Zealand in March, with Tammy Beaumont and Sophia Dunkley overlooked for this series. Bouchier tucked Waheeda Aktar’s third ball to the fine-leg boundary but plinked the very next delivery straight to Nida Dar at mid-off. Danni Wyatt then spooned Sadia Iqbal to mid-on and Capsey followed, leaving England in dire trouble.
England were without Nat Sciver-Brunt who joined her team for the warm-up despite being ruled out on match eve to allow her to recover from a medical procedure. Her absence paved the way for Freya Kemp to walk in at No. 5, playing purely as a batter on her return from a back problem. But Kemp was part of terrible mix-up with Knight, who was unmoved as Kemp drilled an Akhtar delivery back towards the bowler and took off for a run, Akhtar throwing to wicket keeper Muneeba Ali who whipped off the bails as Kemp retreated all too late.
At 11 for 4, still in just the third over, it fell to Knight and Jones to rebuild. Jones, playing her 100th T20I and at her home ground, survived a tough chance at point off Akhtar when she was on 2 and, by the time she drove Fatima Sana through midwicket for four, she and Knight had dragged England up to 29 for 4 at the end of the powerplay. Jones then rocked back and pulled Akhtar for four in the next over and back-to-back fours off Rameen Shamim from Knight, clearing extra cover and swept through square leg, suggested the home side’s recovery was on track. Knight missed a reverse off Dar and was struck on the back knee but managed to overturn her lbw dismissal when the ball was shown to have hit her outside the line of off stump.
Knight didn’t stop when wrist-spinner Tuba Hassan was introduced, thundering a drive over long-on while Jones pulled and swept Rameen for twin fours at the start of the next over, so that by the halfway point of the innings, England were 63 for 4. Jones had been excellent on the sweep but it proved her undoing when she top-edged a Sadia full toss to deep square leg, where Natalia Pervaiz took a cool-headed catch to end her innings on 37 from 27 balls.
Knight cleared the covers to bring up England’s 100 and she and Gibson added 41 runs together before Knight fell one run shy of her half-century, Tuba making the breakthrough as Knight skied the ball to Gull Feroza at mid-on. Ecclestone was put down on 11 by Gull at deep midwicket and Gibson struck Rameen’s next ball to the deep square leg boundary for her fourth four, with another to follow through extra cover in the same over as Gibson made her impact felt. She and Ecclestone put on an unbroken stand worth 44 for the seventh wicket.
Gull punished Bell’s low full toss down the ground for four in the first over and picked the gap beautifully through the covers for another boundary two balls later. Dean struck with her fourth ball when she trapped Sidra Ameen lbw. But Gibson conceded 21 runs off the next over as Sadaf Shamas picked off five boundaries with a combination of cover drives, a powerful shot over point, a flick past square leg and a cut to backward point.
Jones took a wonderful diving catch to her left to remove Gull via an inside-edge off Bell and she needed far less effort to gather Muneeba’s top edge as she attempted to reverse-sweep Glenn, leaving Pakistan 66 for 3 in the eighth over. Dar was still running a single as she called for a review of her lbw dismissal off Glenn, which was overturned as replays showed the ball came off her glove. Sadaf fell to an unnecessary run-out when Dar dabbed a Dean delivery to midwicket and set off for a single that wasn’t on. Capsey gathered and threw to Jones with Sadaf well short of her ground, prematurely ending a promising knock of 35 off 24.
From there, Pakistan’s pursuit fell apart. Dar’s slog-sweep off Glenn sailed towards Bouchier, who ran across from deep midwicket to make a difficult catch look effortless in front of a delighted Hollies stand. Pervaiz’s attempted late cut off Ecclestone ended with a faint edge landing in Jones’s gloves as Pakistan lost three wickets for six runs in the space of 10 balls. Bell took her second wicket when Rameem Shamim sent one high to deep midwicket as Wyatt ran a long way in to take a superb catch diving forwards. Glenn claimed two wickets in three balls when she had Tuba caught behind and bowled Akhtar with a beautiful leg-break. Bell claimed the last as Sadia was caught by Kemp to wrap up victory with 10 balls to spare.
Brief scores:
England Women 163 for 6 in 20 overs (Heather Knight 49, Danielle Gibson 41*, Amy Jones 37; Waheeda Akhtar 2-20, Sadia Iqbal 2-30, Tuba Hassan 1-22) beat Pakistan Women 110 in 18.2 overs (Sadaf Shamas 35; Sarah Glenn 4-12, Lauren Bell 3-22, Charlie Dean 1-29, Sophie Eccleston 1-17) by 53 runs
(Cricinfo)
Tourists and residents have been evacuated as a volcano erupted in south-west Iceland, threatening a town and popular attraction.
The volcano has been spewing lava and smoke in a fiery display of orange and red since the eruption began in the morning, creating a huge crack in the ground which has grown to 1.2km (0.75 miles) long.
Multiple earthquakes have occurred in the volcanic area throughout the day.
The volcano is close to the fishing town of Grindavik and the famous Blue Lagoon spa. A small number of people refused to evacuate the town, local media reported.
People were asked to “leave the danger zone,” the region’s police commissioner, Ulfar Ludviksson, told Iceland’s RUV broadcaster. But he said individuals staying in “seven or eight houses there… have decided to remain in the town.”
There were fears that the town was “in danger of having lava flows entering the inhabited area”, said Rikke Pedersen from the Nordic Volcanological Centre.
A hot water pipe has broken in the northern part of Grindavík, which confirms that considerable cracking has occurred within the town, the Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO) said.
The protective barriers around Grindavik have also been breached, as new eruptive fissure opened a few hundred meters inside, the IMO reported. But volcanic activity eased off in the early afternoon on Tuesday.
Roads in and out of the town remain closed, but flights are currently not affected.
Most of the 4,000 residents of Grindavík left in a mass evacuation in 2023 because of the dangers of the volcanic activity. The volcano has erupted several times since.
The length of the magma that formed on Tuesday under the crater series stretched to about 11 km (6.8 miles) – the longest that has been measured since 11 November 2023, meteorologists said. The magma corridor extends about 3km further northeast than seen in previous eruptions.
Based on current wind direction, gas pollution from the eruption will travel northeast towards the capital area, the IMO added.
The eruption, which began around 09.45 local time (10:45 BST), occurred after several earthquakes hit the area known as the Sundhnúk crater range.
Multiple eruptions have occurred on the Reykjanes Peninsula since 2021. The last time the peninsula had a period of volcanic activity was 800 years ago – and the eruptions continued for decades.
Iceland has 33 active volcano systems and sits over what is known as the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, the boundary between two of the largest tectonic plates on the planet.
[BBC]
Mandalay used to be known as the city of gold, dotted by glittering pagodas and Buddhist burial mounds, but the air in Myanmar’s former royal capital now reeks of dead bodies.
So many corpses have piled up since a 7.7 magnitude earthquake struck last Friday close to Mandalay, that they have had to be “cremated in stacks”, one resident says.
The death toll from the quake and a series of aftershocks has climbed past 2,700, with 4,521 injured and hundreds still missing, Myanmar’s military chief said. Those figures are expected to rise.
Residents in the country’s second most populous city say they have spent sleepless nights wandering the streets in despair as food and water supplies dwindle.
The Mandalay resident who spoke of bodies being “cremated in stacks” lost her aunt in the quake.
“But her body was only pulled out of the rubble two days later, on 30 March,” said the 23-year-old student who wanted only to be known as J.
Poor infrastructure and a patchwork of civil conflicts are severely hampering the relief effort in Myanmar, where the military has a history of suppressing the scale of national disasters. The death toll is expected to keep rising as rescuers gain access to more collapsed buildings and cut-off districts.
J, who lives in Mandalay’s Mahaaungmyay district, has felt “dizzy from being deprived of sleep”, she said.
Many residents have been living out of tents – or nothing – along the streets, fearing that what’s left of their homes will not hold up against the aftershocks.
“I have seen many people, myself included, crouching over and crying out loud on the streets,” J said.
But survivors are still being found in the city. The fire service said it had rescued 403 people in Mandalay in the past four days, and recovered 259 bodies. The true number of casualties is thought to be much higher than the official version.
In a televised speech on Tuesday, military chief Min Aung Hlaing said the death toll may exceed 3,000, but the US Geological Survey said on Friday “a death toll over 10,000 is a strong possibility” based on the location and size of the quake.
Young children have been especially traumatised in the disaster.
A local pastor told the BBC his eight-year-old son had burst into tears all of a sudden several times in the last few days, after witnessing parts of his neighbourhood buried under rubble in an instant. “He was in the bedroom upstairs when the earthquake struck, and my wife was attending to his younger sister, so some debris had fallen onto him,” says Ruate, who only gave his first name. “Yesterday we saw bodies being brought out of collapsed buildings in our neighbourhood,” said Ruate, who lives in the Pyigyitagon area.
“It’s very sobering. Myanmar has been hit by so many disasters, some natural, some human made. Everyone’s just gotten so tired. We are feeling hopeless and helpless.”
A monk who lives near the Sky Villa condominium, one of the worst-hit buildings reduced from 12 to six storeys by the earthquake, told the BBC that while some people had been pulled out alive, “only dead bodies have been recovered” in the past 24 hours. “I hope this will be over soon. There are many bodies still inside, I think more than a hundred,” he said.
Crematoriums close to Mandalay have been overwhelmed, while authorities have been running out of body bags, among other supplies, including food and drinking water.
Around the city, the remains of crushed pagodas and golden spires line the streets. While Mandalay used to be a major centre for the production of gold leaf and a popular tourist destination, poverty in the city has soared in recent years, as with elsewhere in Myanmar (formerly called Burma).
BBC BurmeseLast week’s earthquake also affected Thailand and China, but itsnimpact has been especially devastating in Myanmar, which has been ravaged by a bloody civil war, a crippled economy and widespread disillusionment since the military took power in a coup in 2021.
On Tuesday, Myanmar held a minute of silence to remember victims, part of a week of national mourning. The junta called for flags to fly at half mast, media broadcasts to be halted and asked people to pay their respects.
Even before the quake, more than 3.5 million people had been displaced within the country.
Thousands more, nany of them young people, have fled abroad to avoid forced conscription – this means there are fewer people to help with relief work, and the subsequent rebuilding of the country.
Russia and China, which have helped prop up Myanmar’s military regime, are among countries that have sent aid and specialist support.
But relief has been slow, J said.
“The rescue teams have been working non-stop for four days and I think they are a little tired. They need some rest as well.
“But because the damage has been so extensive, we have limited resources here, it is simply hard for the relief workers to manage such massive destruction efficiently,” she said.
While the junta had said that all assistance is welcome, some humanitarian workers have reported challenges accessing quake-stricken areas.
Local media in Sagaing, the earthquake’s epicentre, have reported restrictions imposed by military authorities that require organisations to submit lists of volunteers and items that they want to bring into the area.
Several rights groups, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, have urged the junta to allow aid workers immediate access to these areas.
“Myanmar’s military junta still invokes fear, even in the wake of a horrific natural disaster that killed and injured thousands,” said Bryony Lau, Human Rights Watch’s deputy Asia director.
“The junta needs to break from its appalling past practice and ensure that humanitarian aid quickly reaches those whose lives are at risk in earthquake-affected areas,” she said.
The junta has also drawn criticism for continuing to open fire on villages even as the country reels from the disaster.
[BBC]
The Prime Minister of Sri Lanka Dr. Harini Amarasuriya is on an official visit to Paris, France to participate in the high-level segment of the International Expert Conference on ’An Integrated and Sustainable Approach to Safeguarding the World Heritage Property of the Sacred City of Anuradhapura in Sri Lanka and Associated Living Heritage’ which was to be held at UNESCO Headquarters today [Tuesday 1 April], with the participation of the Director-General of UNESCO Audrey Azoulay.
The Conference, organized by UNESCO in partnership with Sri Lanka, brings together leading international experts to discuss sustainable strategies for the conservation of Anuradhapura, a UNESCO World Heritage Site of immense cultural and historical significance.
On the sidelines of the Conference, the Prime Minister is also scheduled to meet senior interlocutors of the French Government to discuss bilateral cooperation and areas of mutual interest.
The Delegation of the Prime Minister includes the Minister of Buddhasasana Religious and Cultural Affairs, Dr. Hiniduma Sunil Senevi.
[Prime Minister’s Media Division]
Tourists and residents evacuated as volcano erupts in Iceland
Mandalay was the ‘city of gold’ – now it reeks of death
PM visits France to attend high-level conference at UNESCO
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