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Bas de Leede four-fer keeps Pakistan to 286
Contrasting half-centuries from Mohammad Rizwan (68 off 75 balls) and Saud Shakeel (68 off 52 balls) followed by a rearguard from the lower order got Pakistan to a par score of 286 against Netherlands in Hyderabad on Friday (October 6). Opting to bowl, the Dutch were brilliant with the new ball and never allowed Pakistan to run the show with a fairly disciplined bowling performance. A bit of the sheen was taken off it due to the relative waywardness in the death overs but the final score isn’t something that would scare Netherlands. Bas de Leede shone bright in the bowling department with a four-fer.
Pakistan’s famed top-three of Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq and skipper Babar Azam were all sent packing inside the first Powerplay as the score read 38/3 in the tenth over. It could have been worse had Vikramjit Singh held onto a sharp chance at first slip when Shakeel had just begun his innings. The left-hander made the Dutch pay with a brilliant counterattacking fifty. The highlight of his innings was the dexterity against spin and the manipulation of the field sets. Rizwan also started on a positive note but soon started to play second fiddle to Shakeel.
The partnership had put Pakistan firmly on track for a 300-plus total but once again, wickets fell in clumps. For all his versatility against spin, it was the off-spin of Aryan Dutt that got Shakeel to a loose shot. Rizwan soon got a beauty from de Leede who then removed Iftikhar Ahmed in the same over. Shadab Khan and Mohammad Nawaz stitched a useful partnership to get Pakistan to respectable territory while Shaheen Afridi and Haris Rauf threw their bat around to add valuable runs at the back end. The last four wickets added 98 for Pakistan and it’s the only phase where Netherlands were a tad scratchy.
The surface appeared a tad slower than the ones seen during the warm-up games that saw much higher scores. There was turn from the get-go and variable bounce was also on offer. Netherlands’ bowlers utilised the conditions to good effect and stifled the scoring rate. Scott Edwards’ captaincy was also on the money and he rotated the bowlers smartly with attacking fields. Statistically, this is a good score given how the surface has behaved so far. However, we’ve seen the pitch easing in the second half under lights and in that aspect, Pakistan probably could be about 20-25 runs short. The new-ball spell could be pivotal to the game’s outcome.
Brief scores:
Pakistan 286 in 49 overs (Saud Shakeel 68, Mohammad Rizwan 68; Bas de Leede 4-62) vs Netherlands
United States President Donald Trump has confirmed that talks with Iran are continuing to try to de-escalate tensions in the Gulf, even as the US military announced shooting down an Iranian drone that approached its aircraft carrier in the Arabian Sea.
Trump told reporters at the White House on Tuesday that Washington was negotiating with Iran “right now”, but declined to say where the talks were taking place.
“[The talks] are all over. But they are negotiating. They’d like to do something, and we’ll see if something is going to be done,” he said.
“They had a chance to do something a while ago, and it didn’t work out. And we did ‘Midnight Hammer’, I don’t think they want that happening again,” he added, referring to the operation last June in which the US Air Force and Navy struck three Iranian nuclear facilities.
Trump, who has been pushing Teheran to agree to talks over its nuclear programme, has repeatedly threatened to attack the country again over a recent crackdown on antigovernment protests. The US president sent the USS Abraham Lincoln to the Gulf last week, leading to fears of a possible military confrontation.
The carrier strike group, which brought roughly 5,700 additional US troops, joined three destroyers and three littoral combat ships that were already in the region.
Tensions have been easing in recent days amid a push by regional powers for a resolution.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said earlier on Tuesday that he had instructed the country’s foreign minister to “pursue fair and equitable negotiations, guided by the principles of dignity, prudence, and expediency”, provided that a “suitable environment exists”.
“These negotiations shall be conducted within the framework of our national interests,” Pezeshkian added
[Aljazeera]
Seven million people’s cancer could be prevented each year, according to the first global analysis.
A report by World Health Organization (WHO) scientists estimates 37% of cancers are caused by infections, lifestyle choices and environmental pollutants that could be avoided.
This includes cervical cancers caused by human papilloma virus (HPV) infections which vaccination can help prevent, as well as a host of tumours caused by tobacco smoke from cigarettes.
The researchers said their report showed there is a “powerful opportunity” to transform the lives of millions of people.
Some cancers are inevitable – either because of damage we unavoidably build up in our DNA as we age or because we inherit genes that put us at greater risk of the disease.
But researcher Dr Isabelle Soerjomataram said “people are surprised to hear” that nearly four in 10 cancers can be prevented as it is “a substantial number”.
The International Agency for Research on Cancer, part of the WHO, analysed 30 preventable factors known to increase the risk of cancer.
These include smoking and ultraviolet (UV) radiation which can directly damage our DNA; obesity and too little physical activity which alter inflammation and hormones in the body to raise cancer risk; and air pollution which can wake up dormant cancer cells.
The agency’s report also looked at nine cancer-causing infections including HPV, hepatitis viruses which lead to liver cancer and the stomach bug H. pylori.
The team used data on cancer cases from 2022 and from the 30 risk factors a decade earlier – across 185 countries – to perform their statistical analysis.
The big three contributors to more than 18 million cancer cases around the world were found to be:
- smoking tobacco which caused 3.3 million cancers
- infections causing 2.3 million cancers
- alcohol use leading to 700,000 cancers
However, the overall figures mask a nuanced picture of cancer risk around the world.
There is a stark sex-divide with 45% of men’s cancers being preventable compared with 30% in women, partly down to higher levels of smoking among men.
In women living in Europe, the top three preventable causes of cancer are smoking, closely followed by infection and then obesity.
While in sub-Saharan Africa, infections dominate and account for nearly 80% of preventable cancers in women.
This means any measures to tackle these cancers would need to be tailored to each region or country.
“This landmark study is a comprehensive assessment of preventable cancer worldwide, incorporating for the first time infectious causes of cancer alongside behavioural, environmental, and occupational risks,” said Soerjomataram, the deputy head of the IARC Cancer Surveillance Unit.
“Addressing these preventable causes represents one of the most powerful opportunities to reduce the global cancer burden.”
The report, published in the journal Nature Medicine, showed lung cancer (linked to smoking and air pollution) stomach cancer (linked to H. pylori infection) and cervical cancer (linked to HPV infection) made up nearly half of all preventable cases of cancer.
Dr Andre Ilbawi, team lead for cancer control at WHO, said the study was “good news” as it showed something could be done and he pointed to the success of countries that have introduced policies to tackle smoking or vaccinate against HPV.
“The percentage of preventable cancers can change over time and our goal is to get it as close to zero as possible,” he said.
[BBC]
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