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Duckett, Stokes revive England in chase of 371
Ben Duckett’s half-century and his unbroken 69-run partnership with Ben Stokes led England’s recovery in the final session on Day 4 after Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins combined to rattle the hosts early in their chase of 371. After Stuart Broad’s four-wicket haul bowled Australia out for 279, England had slipped to 45/4. But Duckett, who was the beneficiary of a controversial ruling from the third umpire late in the day, helped the hosts to 114/4 at Stumps on Saturday (July 1), with the hosts needing 257 more to win the Lord’s Test and square the series.
An innocuous delivery which was heading down the leg side gave Starc his first wicket as Zak Crawley got a faint tickle through to the ‘keeper. Duckett, who was put down by Cameron Green (a very tough chance) in the opening over, also managed to overturn a leg-before decision. But the left-arm pacer struck in his next, with beauty that swung in late into Ollie Pope and uprooted the middle stump. Joe Root and Duckett then built a steady partnership – rotating the strike well, with the former also scoring a couple of boundaries.
Cummins sowed the seeds of doubt with short balls in the 13th over and there was immediately a change in the atmosphere. Root, hit on his forearm, fended the next one to Warner at first slip to depart for 18. Harry Brook got off the mark with a confident straight drive over Cummins’ head. But he got a terrific delivery soon after, one that pitched on a length, seamed away, beat the outside edge and crashed onto the stumps.
Stokes and Duckett put their heads down and built a steady partnership to aid England’s recovery. They kept the pacemen at bay before taking on part-timer Travis Head. Stokes came down the track to hit a six while Duckett went over mid-on for a boundary as the two batters did not allow the spinner to settle down. They also rotated the strike well, picking up the singles and twos to ensure England weren’t bogged down as they maintained a decent scoring rate.
The introduction of Green saw Australia turn to short balls again but Duckett was up to the task, scoring a couple of boundaries, and also put away a loose ball from Starc for a four. Green, however, troubled Stokes with his short length deliveries and nearly dismissed the England skipper, with the ball just dropping wide of gully. In late drama, Duckett was given not out after being caught at fine leg by Starc off Green, with the third umpire ruling that the ball made contact with the ground when the catch was about to be completed.
Earlier, Khawaja and Smith were untroubled in the first hour, making most of the sunny conditions as they stretched the lead past 250 and extended their stand past 50. James Anderson, who wasn’t effective, was taken off the attack after only three overs. Josh Tongue and Ollie Robinson, who bowled in tandem, came up with a barrage of short deliveries. Smith and Khawaja were disciplined with their shot selection against the short deliveries but they also had a few uncomfortable moments.
It was Stuart Broad, introduced after the drinks break, who made the breakthrough as he had Khawaja off a top edge to end a 64-run stand. Smith handed a catch in the deep trying to guide a short one from Tongue in the gap. Head, dropped by Anderson on 0, had a short stay as he too fell to a short ball from Broad, with Joe Root taking a splendid one-handed catch at short leg. Alex Carey and Green kept the England bowlers at bay as they added 25 before the Lunch break to stretch the lead past 300.
It was an attritional second session with England being relentless with their short-ball strategy while Carey and Green were happy to play the waiting game. Eventually, it was England who came out on top in the game of patience as Robinson’s short-pitched balls got the better of Green and Carey in quick succession after a 42-run partnership that came off 123 deliveries.
Ben Stokes, who bowled right from the start of the post-lunch session, delivered 12 overs on the trot and was struggling with his knee, but continued nevertheless. He eventually accounted for Josh Hazlewood’s wicket, after Broad, who replaced Robinson (nine successive overs) dismissed Cummins. Nathan Lyon, who walked out to bat to a huge reception, added 15 runs with Starc before being the last to be dismissed as Broad finished with four.
Brief scores:
Australia 416 & 279 (Usman Khawaja 77, Steven Smith 34; Stuart Broad 4-65, Ollie Robinson 2-48) lead England 325 & 114/4 (Ben Duckett 50*, Ben Stokes 29*; Pat Cummins 2-20, Mitchell Starc 2-40) by 256 runs.
Hurricane Isaias has been downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone the day after it made landfall along the northern Gulf Coast of Florida, bringing with it heavy rains and powerful winds.
Isaias – which is the first of the 2026 Atlantic season – is still surging across south-eastern parts of the US.
Hundreds of thousands of households in Florida, Alabama and Georgia are without power, and each state has issued a state of emergency. There are currently no warnings in places after they ended on Saturday.
Isaias is one of three storm systems affecting North America this weekend, with the two others hitting Mexico and Southern California in the El Niño fuelled warm waters of the Pacific Ocean
Both Florida and Alabama instituted mandatory evacuations to thousands of people due to the storm.
In Florida, those evacuations included coastal communities in direct aim of the powerful storm. Senator Rick Scott encouraged residents in designated areas to evacuate as soon as possible, as he warned in a social media post: “DO NOT WAIT! Get out NOW!
Governor of Alabama Kay Ivey issued a mandatory evacuation for all non-residents, tourists and visitors in key counties likely to be heavily affected by the storm.
On Saturday, Homeland Security Secretary Markwaynet Mullinan said the US president had approved emergency declarations for the two states to “ensure federal resources are available” for support.
Hurricane Isaias is the first hurricane in the Atlantic’s hurricane season, which largely has been delayed due to El Niño conditions in the Pacific.
It marks the first time in more than 30 years that a hurricane did not form before October.
Ahead of the storm, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) warned it was likely to bring “life-threatening storm surge” to the US Gulf Coast.
All warnings pertaining to Isaias had been discontinued on Saturday morning, the NHC said.
The post-tropical cyclone is currently moving north and is expected to cross Alabama and into the Tennessee Valley later on Saturday and Sunday, according to the National Weather Service.
Hurricane-force winds on Friday evening extended outward up to 35 miles (55 km) from Isaias’ centre, and tropical storm-force winds extended as far as 205 miles (335 km).
However, hundreds of thousands are currently without power in the country’s southeast – and Alabama, Florida and Georgia have issued states of emergency as they brace for heavy rains and flooding.
On Saturday morning, more than 400,000 were in the dark in Florida and just over 300,000 customers in Alabama were experiencing outages, according to PowerOutage.us. In Georgia, more than 100,000 customers were without power.
Ahead of the hurricane, Pensacola resident John Guoth, told the BBC that he and his wife would remain at home despite the rest of his street having already left.
“It’s a hurricane, we get them all the time… we kind of knew that when we moved here,” he said, explaining that they have “battened down” anything that “can fly”.
Guoth said he put his ducks and chickens in the bathroom and weighed down his boats and trailers so “nothing flips over”.
A few households remained in the area, describing themselves as “long-term locals” who are “going to protect our homes”.
People in the Florida city who had “seen bad storms before” were still “bunkering up”, Brandin Ruth said. She told the BBC: “You don’t want to underestimate a storm like this”.
One indicator of a storm’s severity to southern communities was Friday’s closure of Stalwart restaurant chain, The Waffle House.
A Waffle House spokesperson confirmed to the BBC that the chain had already closed a number of locations in the hurricane’s path and “will continue monitoring conditions”.
US President Donald Trump also cancelled plans to attend a major American football college game in Tuscaloosa, Alabama because of the hurricane, shifting plans to attend a rally in Tennessee instead.
Two other storms are also forecast to batter North America this weekend.
Hurricane Simon is bearing down on the Pacific coast of Mexico as a category one hurricane. It is set to pick up speed and become category four by Saturday, eventually making landfall near Puerto Vallarta on Sunday, according to Reuters.
Further north, Tropical Storm Rachel, a downgraded hurricane, is heading toward landfall around the US-Mexico border, along the Pacific.
While, Rachel is expected to reach the coast late on Saturday, the impact of the storm is already being felt due to high tides in southern California.
Video footage and photos show several streets under water in Newport Beach, California, through a combination of the tropical storm swells at sea and high tide.
Posting on its account on X, the City of Newport Beach advised people to “avoid the Balboa Peninsula due to street flooding caused by recent storm conditions and elevated tides”.
It also urged people not to drive through flooded streets. Bulldozers have been shoring up the beach to try and prevent further flooding.
(BBC)
Hundreds of protesters have been detained in Delhi during the latest demonstration by the Gen-Z led Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) over electoral reforms.
The group said its founder Abhijeet Dipke, who began the movement in May after India’s Chief Justice likened some jobless young people to “cockroaches”, was detained with other leaders shortly after landing in Delhi.
Tens of thousands of security personnel were deployed and roads barricaded ahead of the demonstration, though the CJP insisted it would go ahead.
Delhi Police has not commented on the detentions, but had refused permission for the protest to take place at Jantar Mantar, a landmark in the Indian capital.
The group – who are not registered as a political party in India – are seeking electoral reforms just months before crucial state elections.
It has also demanded the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar over allegations of manipulating voters’ lists – which the Election Commission has denied.
Under Kumar’s leadership, India’s election commission has undertaken a mammoth exercise to update electoral rolls nationwide – it said this was a routine exercise to weed out dead, duplicate or ineligible voters.
But in many states, the exercise has been shrouded in controversy, with tens of thousands of people alleging they have been wrongly removed.
The CJP – and opposition parties – accuse Kumar of favouring Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the way the electoral rolls are being updated.
The Election Commission and the BJP have denied this.
Before arriving in Delhi, the CJP’s founder Dipke said: “If you think you can stop us by threatening us with jail or trying to intimidate us with the fear of imprisonment, you are mistaken.”
He and and two other leaders, Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka, were detained on their flight from Mumbai on Saturday.
The group claimed the three men have been taken to an undisclosed location. Delhi Police have not commented.
Ajinkya Shinde, the CJP’s new designated leader while the others are in detention, released a video telling protesters that “if Delhi Police tries to stop you, wherever they stop you will become your Jantar Mantar”.
Student activist Neha Bora, who had also been detained by Delhi Police, urged demonstrators to “hold the line”.
The large number of protesters expected to descend on Delhi were unable to get anywhere close to Jantar Mantar due to the heavy security presence and road blocks.
Announcements could be heard across the city, asking people to co-operate with the police.
One protester, Sabika Muzaffar, told the BBC she and her mother expected to be detained.
“On the way to the protest site, instead of reciting hymns and verses as we usually do, my mother and I were rote learning our lawyer’s number,” she said.
She said that showing up to protest was “her way of defending the country and its democracy”.
A few minutes after Muzaffar spoke to the BBC she was taken away by police.
Several trains to and from major Delhi stations had been cancelled and dozens of metro stations were closed from Friday night.
Buses packed with detained protesters were seen being driven away from the protest site.
The CJP first emerged as a major protest movement during weeks of demonstrations over the summer demanding education reforms and the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
The group stemmed from a joke made by Dipke in response to a remark by India’s Chief Justice Surya Kant, who had likened jobless youngsters to “cockroaches”. He later said the comments were misinterpreted.
Dipke, who previously worked with the opposition Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), had just completed a master’s degree at Boston University when he posted a question on X in May: “What if all cockroaches come together?”
The post went viral, and the CJP was born. Momentum built around the movement which tapped into anger over over unemployment, exam paper leaks and government accountability.
In July, Dipke watched from the stage as the five-week-long protest ended in celebration after the resignation of India’s education minister.
(BBC)
During the f8rst T20I against Sri Lanka on Friday, Pakistan demonstrated that 2026 is not quite like 2019. Back then, they had stumbled in pursuit of three Sri Lankan totals in succession – two of them lower than the 182 they gunned down with relative ease two days back, while the third was exactly 182. With that series perhaps fresher in Sri Lanka’s mind than it needed to be, Kusal Mendis’ side opted, against conventional wisdom, to bat first after winning the toss in Rawalpindi this time, hoping to recreate the magic formula from seven years earlier.
There were a few things we learned from the first game, though. The Rawalpindi surface isn’t quite as partial to fingerspin as T20 pitches in the subcontinent have been, which induced the hosts into playing three frontline seamers. Pakistan, who were playing with at least five potential opening batters, appear to have rejigged their batting order by pushing the timeless Fakhar Zaman up top and sending Saim Ayub at No. 5.
Sri Lanka, meanwhile, may have learned that while 32-year old Lahiru Udara hasn’t played much international cricket, his talent in this format is unmistakable, as is his temperament under pressure. Udara was the lone fighting hand for his side across much of the innings, though that shines more of a light on Sri Lanka’s batting order as a whole. With Dunith Wellalage, whose power-hitting abilities are limited, batting at No. 7, the visitors might want to beef up their batting order.
But there’s only so much that can be read into a lone T20I at the start of a long tour for Sri Lanka. Pakistan have an opportunity to wrap the series up by winning the second game, also in Rawalpindi, on Sunday, and will be favourites to do so after a dominant performance in the first. The worry for Sri Lanka is that their own indifferent showing comes on the back of three crushing defeats in England. On Sunday, they will try to show this is more of a temporary rut than a fair representation of their current T20I state.
Before playing on Friday, Naseem Shah’s last T20I came seven months ago. Even that game was against Sri Lanka, and as Pakistan bowed out of the T20 World Cup, he conceded 36 runs in four overs – exactly what he did in Rawalpindi. But two days back, Naseem had two more wickets to his name in a patchwork of a spell that shed a little more light on where his T20 game currently is. It is representative of a curious year for him as he works his way back after falling foul of the PCB at the PSL, before an injury sidelined him for months.
Naseem has worked his way back with respectable showings at a domestic 50-over tournament and the CPL. There might be hope of a foundation for a good run beginning to take shape, but it remains far too early to say.
Maheesh Theekshana too, conceded 36 runs in his four overs in the first T20I against Pakistan, but Sri Lanka may want more from the man who has become their lead spinner in Wanindu Hasaranga’s injury-enforced absence. More than any specifics about Theekshana’s spell, it was his bowling style that caught the eye – a poorly concealed imitation of Sikandar Raza’s rather than the more conventionally oriented action that he is recognisable in.
It appeared to have deprived Theekshana of the ability to slow the ball down as required, with Sahibzada Farhan often picking off the quicker pace with relative ease. Whether this remodelled action sticks will be a point of intrigue in this series.
Pakistan captain Farhan said he was thoroughly pleased by the performance in the first T20I. So an unchanged Pakistan side for the second T20I would not be a massive surprise.
Pakistan: Sahibzada Farhan (capt), Fakhar Zaman, Maaz Sadaqat, Hasan Nawaz, Saim Ayub, Khawaja Nafay (wk), Shadab Khan, Mohammad Imran, Razaullah, Naseem Shah, Abrar Ahmed
Wellalage at No. 7 might be a position too high. So Sri Lanka could look to add batting depth to their side by including Sineth Jayawardena instead of Nuwan Thushara, who went for 32 runs in three overs on Friday.
Sri Lanka: Lahiru Udara, Kusal Mendis (capt, wk), Sineth Jayawardena, Kamindu Mendis, Kamil Mishara, Sahan Arachchige, Dasun Shanaka, Dunith Wellalage, Dushmantha Chameera, Maheesh Theekshana, Eshan Malinga
Hurricane Isaias downgraded after making landfall in Florida
‘Cockroach’ group leaders among hundreds detained in Delhi protest
Sri Lanka hope to get out of T20I rut and keep series alive
Sri Lanka ITEC Alumni Association formally launched
Measures underway to protect Diyagama Forest as a Reserve — Deputy Minister of Environment
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