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Early wickets dent England on rain-hit Day 3
England were dented early in the second essay after taking a slender 7-run lead in the first innings on a rain-hit third day in Edgbaston, on Sunday (July 18). Only 69 balls were bowled after the Lunch session, in which the hosts lost their openers for only 28 runs.
Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett had made an assured start after Australia were bundled out for 386 in the morning session. However, a brief period following an hour and a half of a rain-spell pushed them on the backfoot. With the ball moving considerably and causing ample discomfort, Duckett fell poking at an angling away delivery from Pat Cummins. Cameron Green, at gully, took another splendid catch to send the southpaw back.
Soon enough, Crawley was squared up by Scott Boland’s outswinger, edging to the ‘keeper and reducing England to 27 for 2. Ollie Pope and Joe Root too were put to test against the moving ball. Neither could get off the mark but remained safe till another spell of rain ended play on the third day.
Earlier in the day, in a period of 22 deliveries England ripped through Australia’s last four wickets and bundled them out for 386, seven short of the score they had declared on in the first innings. The wrecker-in-chief was Ollie Robinson, who bagged three of those wickets.
Australia, however, had made a fairly strong start to the day, despite losing Alex Carey early. The wicketkeeper was dropped by Jonny Bairstow when he inside edged a drive off James Anderson in the first over of the day. In the next over by the pacer, he got an outside edge for a boundary to bring up the century stand of the sixth-wicket partnership, having resumed on 91 earlier in the day.
He cracked a couple of more boundaries off Anderson – a flick through the legside and a cut behind point off successive deliveries before eventually getting bowled. A delivery angling in crashed on to the stumps after deflecting off his pads.
Cummins didn’t waste too much time and took the attack to Moeen Ali, going down the track and smashing the offie for two sixes in an over to lead Australia’s charge in the morning. He added 34 runs for the seventh wicket in the company of Usman Khawaja, who was the more watchful of the two.
The opener, who had batted through the entirety of the second day, was cleaned up by a yorker from Robinson, on 141 – adding only 29 runs to his overnight score. With the pacers not getting ample help from the surface, Stokes employed an umbrella field in front of the batter in a catching range. In order to outwit the field plan, Khawaja decided to step out but was foxed by the bowler’s yorker.
That dismissal began Australia’s collapse. Robinson had Nathan Lyon pulling to deep backward square leg in the next over before Boland fended off a short ball by Stuart Broad to Ollie Pope at silly point. The short ball ploy worked against Cummins as well as he top edged one and allowed Stokes to complete a fine running catch.
Brief scores:
England 393/8 decl. (Joe Root 112*, Jonny Bairstow 78, Zak Crawley 61; Nathan Lyon 4-149, Josh Hazlewood 2-61) & 28/2 lead Australia 386 (Usman Khawaja 141, Alex Carey 66, Travis Head 50; Ollie Robinson 3-55, Stuart Broad 3-68) by 35 runs.
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PNB detect large haul of methamphetamine and heroin in local fishing trawler intercepted by Navy
Acting on credible information, the Sri Lanka Navy launched a special operation on the high seas on 11 Apr 25, resulting in the apprehension of 06 suspects along with a local multi-day fishing trawler, believed to be involved in smuggling of narcotics.
Subsequently, the intercepted trawler was brought to the Dikkowita Harbour, where a thorough inspection was carried out with the assistance of the Police Narcotic Bureau (PNB) experts, leading to the detection of approximately 77kg and 484g of heroin and 42kg and 334g of methamphetamine (Ice).
The consignment, which had been meticulously hidden in the trawler, was handed over to the PNB for onward legal action on 12 Apr.
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Sun directly overhead Thunukkai, Olumadu, Oddusudan, Kumulamunei and Chemmalei at about 12:11 noon. today [13]
On the apparent northward relative motion of the sun, it is going to be directly over the latitudes of Sri Lanka during 05th to 14th of April in this year.
The nearest areas of Sri Lanka over which the sun is overhead today (13th) are Thunukkai, Olumadu, Oddusudan, Kumulamunei and Chemmalei at about 12:11 noon.
Despite the absence of Mitchell Marsh, Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) bested Gujarat Titans (GT) in the battle of top orders and moved up to third on the IPL 2025 points table.
After Shubman Gill and B Sai Sudarshan forged a 120-run opening stand, GT managed only 60 off their last eight overs while losing six wickets. The variations of Ravi Bishnoi and Digyesh Rathi (8-0-66-3) helped LSG regain lost ground on a black-soil pitch at Ekana Stadium.
Aiden Markram and Rishzbh Pant, who was opening the batting for the first time in the IPL in nearly ten years, then maximised the powerplay to put LSG further ahead. Markram fell for 58 off 31 balls but Nicholas Pooran rushed LSG towards the finish line with a six-laden 61 off 34 balls. LSG completed the job with three balls to spare, snapping GT’s four-match winning streak.
After being asked to bat first, Gill and Sudharsan added 54 for 0 in the powerplay. Sudharsan had kicked off the innings with a slapped four off Shardul Thakur and then when Akash Deep pitched one too full, he drove the ball straight past him for four more.
T20 isn’t Sudharsan’s strongest format, but he keeps finding ways to score at a brisk pace with a low-risk approach. At the other end, Gill took more risks, often stepping out or manufacturing swinging room. When LSG tried to burgle an over from Markram, Gill and Sudharsan spoiled their plan by taking the part-time offspinner for 15 runs.
Sudharsan’s knock could’ve been cut short on 46 had Abdul Samad held onto a catch at cover off Rathi. He went onto bring up his fourth half-century in six innings in IPL, soon after Gill had raised his own fifty.
The dismissals of Gill and Sudharsan in successive overs, however, brought LSG back into the contest. While Avesh Khan had Gill caught at the long-on boundary with a cutter, Bishnoi had Sudharsan caught at cover with a skiddy wrong ‘un. Bishnoi also had Washington Sundar chopping on for 2 with the wrong ‘un.
Mystery spinner Rathi, who had two catches dropped off his bowling, eventually wrote his name into the wickets column when Thakur held onto a tough chance at short fine leg to dismiss Jos Buttler for 16 off 14 balls. Thakur then closed out the innings with his nifty variations, which fetched him the wickets of Sherfane Rutherford and Rahul Tewatia in the final over. From 120 for 0 after 12 overs, they finished on 180 for 6.
LSG rattled off 61 for 0 in the powerplay, with Markram claiming 38 of those. Pant, who had bumped himself up the order, got off to a more sedate start and was in discomfort after being struck on the knee by left-arm seamer Arshad Khan.
Pant was happy to ride in Markram’s slipstream before he attacked Rashid Khan in the last over of the powerplay, slog-sweeping the wristspinner for four over midwicket. In the next over, though, when he charged at Prasidh Krishna, the bowler shifted his line wide of off stump and had Pant slicing a catch to deep third for 21 off 18 balls. Markram, meanwhile, mixed orthodox strokeplay with T20 innovation to bring up a 26-ball fifty.
Pooran had already hit two sixes by the time GT introduced R Sai Kishore into the attack in the tenth over. The first delivery, which seemed like the carrom ball, was whacked over midwicket for six. He then smoked the left-arm fingerspinner for two more sixes off the next three balls he bowled to him and dumped him out of the attack. With his big hits, Pooran brought the asking rate down to a run-a-ball. He ended up with seven sixes on the day, extending his tally to 31 sixes this IPL. The next best on the list hasn’t even hit half as many.
On the day, Pooran alone hit four more sixes than the entire GT team.
By the time Rashid removed Pooran in the 16th over, LSG needed 26 off 28 balls. Ayush Badoni, LSG’s Impact Player, helped knock off those runs with an unbeaten cameo.
Brief scores:
Lucknow Super Giants 186 for 4 in 19.3 overs (Nicholas Pooran 61, Aiden Markram 58, Rishabh Pant 21, Ayush Badoni 28*; Prasidh Krishna 2-26, Rashid Khan 1-35, Washington Sundar 1-28) beat Gujarat Titans180 for 6 in 20 overs (Shubhman Gill 60, Bhardwaj Sai Sudharsan 56, Jos Buttler 16, Sherfaine Rutherford 22, Masood Shahrukh Khan 11*; Shardul Thakur 2-24, Digvesh Rathi 1-30, Avesh Khan 1-32, Ravi Bishnoi 2-36) by six wickets
[Cricinfo]
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