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Tuesday at T20 World Cup: New Zealand eye first win; Ireland run into England

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Charlie Dean has picked up 23 wickets since 2025, most by an England spinner [Cricinfo]

A rest day on Monday will be followed by a double-header on Tuesday. Defending champions New Zealand will take on Sri Lanka from 1.30pm GMT in Southampton, where New Zealand lost their opening fixture to West Indies. Sri Lanka are also coming off a defeat, having lost to hosts England in their first game. The contest has been largely one-sided, with New Zealand winning 14 of the 16 completed T20Is against Sri Lanka. However, they have lost two of the last four of those meetings, including the bilateral series in New Zealand in March, which ended in 1-1.

In the second game of the day that starts at 5.30pm GMT, England will face Ireland, who lost their opener to Scotland on Saturday. Ireland are without a win in 18 Women’s T20 World Cup matches. The teams have met only four times in T20Is, with England winning three, but Ireland winning the last clash, against a second-string England side in 2024. The hosts will start as overwhelming favourites again though.

Suzie Bates missed the opening game, marking the first time New Zealand played a women’s T20 World Cup match without her. It remains to be seen whether New Zealand stick with the same XI at the same venue or bring Bates back at the top, moving Izzy Gaze to No. 3. They could also consider recalling the experienced Lea Tahuhu into the XI before time runs out for New Zealand.

New Zealand (probable):  Georgia Plimmer,  Izzy Gaze (wk), Melie Kerr (capt),  Sophie Devine, Brooke Halliday, Maddy Green, Izzy Sharp, Jess Kerr, Nensi Patel, Rosemary Mair/Bree Illing/Lea Tahuhu

Sri Lanka announced their XI several hours before the toss against England, with Malki Madara and Mithali Ayodhya making their World Cup debuts. Will the heavy defeat prompt a change in combination, with Hasini Perera returning to the top order?

Sri Lanka (probable): Vishmi Gunaratne,  Chamari Athapaththu (capt), Imesha Dulani, Harshitha Samarawickrama, Hansima Karunaratne,  Kavisha Dilhari,  Nilakshika Silva, Kaushini Nuthyangana (wk), Sugandika Kumari, Malki Madara,  Mithali Ayodhya

England, who fielded three frontline spinners against Sri Lanka, are likely to remain unchanged.

England (probable): Danni Wyatt-Hodge, Amy Jones,  Nat Sciver-Brunt (capt),  Alice Capsey, Heather Knight,  Freya Kemp, Dani Gibson, Charlie Dean, Sophie Ecclestone, Linsey Smith,  Lauren Bell

Ireland opted for two specialist spinners in Cara Murray and Aimee Maguire against Scotland, leaving out left-arm seamer Louise Little. They could go in unchanged.

Ireland (probable):  Amy Hunter (wk),  Alana Dalzell,  Gaby Lewis (capt), Orla Prendergast,  Rebecca Stokell,  Leah Paul, Alice Tector,  Arlene Kelly,  Ava Canning,  Cara Murray,  Aimee Maguire

Ireland will hope their captain, Gaby Lewis, can produce a big score against England. Still only 25, she is Ireland’s leading run scorer in women’s T20Is and was also the top scorer at the qualifiers in Nepal this year. As the cornerstone of the top order, Ireland will need Lewis to carry that form into Southampton.
Tuesday in Southampton is forecast to be partly sunny with temperatures climbing to 22 degrees Celsius. Only one match has been played at the venue so far, where West Indies successfully chased down 163 against New Zealand. The game was played on a hybrid surface with a healthy covering of live grass.

Melie Kerr has perhaps never been more important to New Zealand than she is now. Since taking over as captain at the start of the year, she has amassed 477 runs in 11 innings and claimed 11 wickets in 12 matches. After a disappointing outing against West Indies, where she scored 5 and returned figures of 0 for 41, Melie will be eager to lead from the front and help New Zealand secure their first win of the tournament.

Sri Lanka have shown over time that they are not overly reliant on Chamari Athapaththu. Against England, only Harshitha Samamrawickrema and Nilakshika Silva managed meaningful contributions with the bat, and at a brisk pace. The left-hand batter Samarawickrama, who has significantly improved her game in recent months, has scored 147 runs in five innings this year at a strike rate of 148.48 after managing just 97 runs in seven innings at 94.17 in a disappointing 2025. With two scores of 40-plus in her last four innings, Sri Lanka will need her to deliver again in the middle order.

Since the start of 2025, Charlie Dean has bowled more overs than any other England bowler (59.1) and has taken 23 wickets, the most by an England spinner in that period. Even when Sophie Ecclestone and Linsey Smith have struggled for control, Dean’s knack for making timely breakthroughs and shifting momentum has remained crucial.

[Cricinfo]



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Heavy showers about (100-150) mm are likely at some places in the Central, Sabaragamuwa, Uva and Southern provinces

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WEATHER FORECAST FOR 13 October 2026
Issued at 2.00 p.m. on 12 October 2026 by the Department of Meteorology

A low-pressure area may form over the southeastern Bay of Bengal by 13 October.

Under the influence of this system, an increase in rainfall is expected over the island and the deep and shallow sea areas around the island during the next few days from tomorrow (13).

The general public, as well as the naval and fishing communities, are requested to be attentive to the future forecasts and bulletins issued by the Department of Meteorology in this regard.

Heavy showers about (100-150) mm are likely at some places in the Central, Sabaragamuwa, Uva and Southern provinces.
Fairly heavy showers  above 75 mm are likely at some places in the other areas of the island. Showers or thundershowers will occur in most parts of the island.

The general public is kindly requested to take adequate precautions to minimize damage caused by temporary localized strong winds and lightning during thundershowers.

Misty conditions can be expected at some places in the Sabaragamuwa, Central and Uva provinces during the early hours of the morning.

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Farhan and Sadaqat help Pakistan seal series in style

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Maaz Sadaqat clobbered 96 off just 51 balls [Cricinfo]

Maaz Sadaqat crashed 96 off 51,Sahibzada Farhan clobbered 73 off 44, and Pakistan scorched their way through the last 12 overs of their innings to mount a fearsome total of 215 for 3. Pakistan reaped 156 runs just in the last 12 overs of their innings, as a 73-run stand between Sadaqat and Farhan was followed by a manic 72-run partnership between Sadaqat and Hasan Nawaz.

Sri Lanka’s batting was woeful in response. They slumped to 64 for 5 by the 11th over, with none of their top seven managing to get to 30. They limped to 133 for 7, having had their hopes of leveling the series wrecked by quicks Mohammad Imran and Salman Mirza, who took five wickets between them.

Sadaqat propels Pakistan into the stratosphere

The openers had laid a decent platform with Pakistan having got to 55 for 1 by the end of the seventh over. But it was Sadaqat who injected the energy that truly set Pakistan on course to their mammoth total. Having gone at less than a run a ball in his first eight balls, Sadaqat unleashed a spectacular lofted square drive off Eshan Malinga to collect his first six, before pumping the same bowler down the ground later in the 10th over.

Sadaqat would go on to clobber six further sixes and five further fours. The big hits tended to come down the ground, while his fours were more square of the wicket. Of the 125 runs Pakistan plundered in the second half of their innings, 79 off 40 came from Sadaqat, who pummeled both pace and spin with equal relish. Off the sixteenth over, bowled by Maheesh Theekshana, Sadaqat thumped three sixes in the arc between long on and midwicket.

Sadaqat, whose previous top score in three T20Is had been 50, could have gone to triple figures off the last ball of the innings, but holed out to deep cover instead, unable to quite find the power to lift a Malinga slower ball over the ropes. He had utterly dominated the middle and late overs, however.

Farhan sets the tone

On another flat Rawalpindi deck, Farhan made the first big charge, although he waited until spin came on to really get into high gear. Theekshana was one of his main victims as well. Farhan’s first six came from a slog sweep off Theekshana in the seventh over, before he launched the same bowler over wide long on and cow corner off successive balls in the ninth over. Getting to his 12th T20I fifty off the 31st ball he faced, Farhan began to aim big blows off the seamers as well. He was caught at deep third off the bowling of Dasun Shanaka, in the 15th over.

Sri Lanka stumble in the powerplay

An excellent Salman Mirza bouncer took the glove of Lahiru Udara in the first over, ending the innings of one of Sri Lanka’s few form batters for a mere five runs. And although Sineth Jayawardena – playing his first international in a full-strength Sri Lanka side – hit three consecutive boundaries in the third over, Sri Lanka were unable to build up any momentum in the powerplay. By the end of the sixth over, they had laboured to 35 for 2.

Imran’s spell lights up the middle overs

A full house in Rawalpindi was treated to some excellent fast bowling by Imran, who finished with the game’s best figures of 3 for 11 from his four overs. Having got Jayawardena to top-edge a desperate pull shot at the end of his second over, Imran had Kusal Mendis caught behind off a slower delivery, before two balls later (a wide in between), he took Sahan Arachchige’s edge with a quick delivery angled across the left-hander. Wicketkeeper Khawaja Nafay made two diving grabs to convert these chances in the eighth over.

All through his unbroken spell, Sri Lanka’s batter struggled to so much as hit Imran off the square, despite the good batting conditions on offer. Imran mixed up his pace, frequently going to slower balls, but his line and length control were also excellent through the spell. When he finished his unbroken spell at the end of the 10th over, Sri Lanka’s required rate had climbed past 15.

Chamindu Wickramasinghe and Theekshana struck some late boundaries, but by the time they came to the crease, Sri Lanka did not have a realistic shot at levelling this series. They lost by 82 runs in the end.

Scores:
Pakistan 215 for 3 in 20 overs (Sahibzada Farhan 73, Fakhar Zaman 22, Maaz Sadaqat 96, Hasan Nawaz 19*; Maheesh Theekshana 1-55, Eshan Malinga 1-41,Dasun Shanaka 1-30)  beat Sri Lanka 133 for 7 (Sineth Jayawardena 22, Kamnbdu Mendis 23, Chamindu Wickremasinghe 29, Maheesh  Theekshana 32*; Salman Mirza 2=28, Mohammad  Imran 3-11, Saim Ayub 1-19, Shadab Khan 1-19) by 82 runs

[Cricinfo]

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At least 139 dead, 84 missing as migrant boat capsizes off Djibouti

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A member of the International Organization for Migration inspects the abandoned wreckage of a boat that capsized off the coast of Djibouti on April 12, 2026 [Aljazeera]

At least 139 people, including 15 children, have died and 84 are missing after a boat capsized off the coast of Djibouti, according to the United Nations migration agency.

In a statement on Sunday, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) quoted survivors as saying that the incident happened near Guhere off Djibouti’s eastern coast in the Gulf of Aden near the Bab al-Mandeb strait from Thursday night to before dawn on Friday.

The boat was heading from Djibouti to Yemen with more than 300 people on board. More than 80 people – all Ethiopians – survived the shipwreck while Djiboutian search and rescue operations continued.

“Our teams are on the ground alongside local authorities to provide emergency assistance,” IOM Chief of Mission in Djibouti Alexandre Coissac said, lamenting the “devastating loss of life”.

That number only includes those buried by authorities in Djibouti. Others have been buried by the migrants themselves but they won’t be added to the official count until authorities can verify the bodies, Alexandre Coissac, IOM Chief of Mission in Djibouti, told the Associated Press.

“This tragedy is a stark reminder of the dangers faced by migrants along this migration corridor as they seek economic opportunities,” Coissac added.

[Aljazeera]

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