2022-08-16
As West Indies continue to remain stuck in Kolkata four days after being eliminated from the 2026 T20 World Cup, their head coach Daren Sammy has put out a post on X, saying “I just wanna go home”.
He followed it up with another post a little later, saying, “At least an update, tell us something. Today, tmw, next week. It’s been five days.”
West Indies are one of the teams stranded in India in the wake of the crisis in West Asia. ESPNcricinfo has learned that initially, the ICC had informed West Indies that attempts were being made for the squad to return home to the Caribbean via a charter flight to London. The plan, it is believed, was for West Indies to fly out of India mid-week, though no specific date was given. However, West Indies continue to remain in Kolkata where they lost to India in the final match of the Super Eight on March 1.
With the usual airspace corridors closed owing to the crisis, which began last weekend, the ICC has been confronted with a severe logistical challenge of arranging return flights for teams.
On Wednesday, though, there was good news for Zimbabwe, with the first batch of their squad members leaving for home from Delhi after the ICC reworked their travel arrangements.
Like West Indies, Zimbabwe played their last match at the T20 World Cup on March 1, losing to South Africa in Delhi. Zimbabwe were originally scheduled to depart on March 2, but that plan was cancelled.
There is no official word on the travel plans for the rest of their squad members.
“Zimbabwe Cricket confirms that the Zimbabwe senior men’s team participating in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 are on their way home from India after the International Cricket Council secured alternative travel arrangements following recent transit disruptions,” Zimbabwe Cricket said in a statement on Wednesday. “Due to flight availability and revised routing, the squad will return to Harare in batches.
“Zimbabwe’s original travel route was via Dubai on an Emirates flight but it had to be altered. It has been learnt that Zimbabwe are now travelling to Harare via Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.”
South Africa were eliminated in the semi-final by New Zealand on Wednesday night, and will now wait to know their schedule for getting back home. In case England lose to India in the second semi-final on Thursday, their travel plans back will also have to be worked out.
[Cricinfo]
Nepalis go to the polls today [5 March] to elect a new government.
The general election is the country’s first since deadly youth-led anti-corruption protests toppled the government in September 2025.
The Himalayan republic has since been led by an interim government under former chief justice Sushila Karki, which promised to hold fresh elections and hand over power within six months.
The election commission has promised to release the results of the 165 directly elected seats within 24 hours from when counting starts, but the process of collecting ballot boxes from across the mountainous country and delivering them to count centres typically takes at least a day.
It could take another two to three days to tally the results of the proportional representation vote, officials said.
So if the election commission keeps its word it would be a huge departure from how long it typically takes for results to be released in the country.
Ram Prasad Bhandari, the chief election commissioner, says he is committed to finish counting by 9 March.
During the last election in 2022, it took nearly two weeks for results to be released.
This is because some polling stations are located in difficult, hilly terrain – more than 80% of Nepal is mountainous – which makes the collection of ballot boxes a challenging logistical exercise.
Some need to be carried down by hand, for instance, while others have to be airlifted in and out of polling stations.
Planes and helicopters are also not allowed into some remote areas after dark, which often means collection can begin only the next morning. Bad weather also interferes with the collection process.
[BBC]
“It’s so good to be home.”
The statement sums up how almost 400 people felt after their flight from Dubai arrived in Dublin on Wednesday night.
The Emirates flight was the first in a number of days after the United States-Israeli attacks on Iran led to the closure of nearly all airspace in the Middle East.
One of the passengers, Norita Geary, said: “Everyone clapped when the plane landed and we all cheered.”
“It was unreal. I mean you see these things on television, you see them in movies but you just don’t think you’ll end up there yourself,” she added.
A second flight directly to Dublin from Dubai is scheduled for Thursday, with a further 400 passengers on it.
Rushali Lakhani said she is feeling “very happy” to be back [BBC]
Rushali Lakhani said she is “very happy” and “very grateful” to be back.
“It was quite a stressful time but grateful and thanking our lucky stars really.”
She said was “it was quite nerve wracking, we couldn’t really sleep much”.
“A lot of sleepless nights, a lot of bangs. There were no airplanes flying so whenever we heard some noises we knew that it wasn’t good news.”
So far 25,000 Irish citizens in the region have registered with the Department of Foreign Affairs – 2,000 of them have said they want to leave.
The Irish government has chartered a flight for Irish citizens from Muscat in Oman on Friday.
The Irish Embassy in the UAE thanked all those had registered but warned that registration is not an expression of interest in a flight.
Meanwhile, a flight chartered by the UK government which had been due to bring back some Britons stranded in the Middle East on Wednesday night did not take off as scheduled..
British citizens stuck in the Middle East have told the BBC there has been a lack of information about available routes to travel home.
The Foreign Office said two more chartered flights would depart by the end of the week.
Foreign Office officials said 138,000 British nationals in the Gulf had registered their presence, of whom 112,000 were in the UAE.
[BBC]
Daren Sammy issues plea as West Indies remain stuck in Kolkata hotel
Nepal election 2026: When will we get the results?
‘It’s so good to be home’ – passengers on Dubai-Dublin flight
India’s momentum meets Wankhede’s memory in big semifinal bout
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Trump administration launches US military operation in Ecuador
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