Latest News
England off the mark after Malan special
Dawid Malan’s fourth ODI hundred of the year and a 151-run stand with Joe Root (82), followed by Reece Topley’s 4-43, set up England’s commanding 137-run victory over Bangladesh in Dharamsala. Malan posted century partnerships with both Jonny Bairstow (52) and Root to lay the groundwork but England stuttered in the death overs, conceding seven wickets combined to Shoriful Islam and Mahedi Hasan to finish with 364/9. Topley however had Bangladesh on the mat in the PowerPlay itself, claiming three top-order left-handers to derail the chase early.
Put in to bat first, Malan took on Mustafizur Rahman early, hitting two sixes over deep backward square to get going as he raced to a 39-ball fifty while Bairstow got there in 54 deliveries. Shakib earned Bangladesh the much-needed breakthrough after a 115-run opening stand, getting a couple of deliveries to turn past Bairstow before pegging back his leg-stump with a straighter one. While spin in tandem did manage to keep the scoring in check, Root, who settled in with a beautiful lofted drive straight down the ground, ended a six-over boundary drought when he ramped Mustafizur into the stands.
Malan reached his 100 off just 91 balls and then switched gears immediately. A returning Mehidy Hasan Miraz came in the firing line right away, smashed for two 76-m long sixes and as many fours in a 22-run over. Meanwhile, Root’s fifty was up in 44 balls. The pair had recovered so well to post a 100 partnership in 90 balls and the 150 came up in only another 26.
Root became England’s highest run-getter in ODI World Cups upon reaching 63 but Bangladesh and Shoriful made a commendable comeback as death overs approached. Mahedi broke the threatening stand to deny Malan a 150, while Shoriful dismissed both Buttler and Root with knuckle balls. He also knocked over the off-stump of Liam Livingstone first ball with a cutter to finish with figures of 3 for 75, despite leaking 45 in his first-five alone.
The regular wickets meant England weren’t allowed the momentum for a typical death overs explosion. Mahedi also went on to rectify his figures with the wickets of Harry Brook, Sam Curran and Adil Rashid to allow England only 102 runs in the last 13 overs. That, however, proved too tall a mountain to climb once Topley took the new ball.
Litton Das (76) had kicked off the tall chase positively, with a hat-trick of boundaries off Chris Woakes, but it was quickly offset by the left-arm pacer’s twin strikes in an excellent first World Cup over for him. Topley got rid of both left-handers for ducks – Tanzid Hasan caught at slip and Najmul Shanto caught at point – off successive balls, both off away swingers. He claimed a third left-hander in Shakib, knocking over the off-stump to reduce Bangladesh to 26/3 inside six overs. Woakes lent further blow when he had Mehidy nicking behind yet another out swinger.
Even though Topley had killed the chase in the powerplay itself, Bangladesh forged some partnerships to delay the inevitable. Amidst the top-order collapse was a fluent Litton, who not only held one end up but also raced to a quick 38-ball fifty. And while he did the bulk of scoring for Bangladesh during his stay in the middle, the effort wasn’t matched at the other end as Mushfiqur took his time settling in. Mark Wood consistently hit speeds of 147 kmph+ and proved difficult to put away but Litton took on Adil Rashid’s spin in the very first over, slog-sweeping for a six to relieve some pressure.
Wokaes however put an end to the opener’s fight with an off-cutter, getting Litton to edge behind after a 66-ball 76. With that went away Bangladesh’s hopes of even a miracle comeback. Mushfiqur did raise a 60-ball fifty and a 42-run stand with Towhid Hridoy (39) but became Topley’s fourth victim on the day, taking on the short ball and slicing it straight to third man. The 201 required off the last 19 overs with just four wickets in hand was always going to be an uphill task. Under lights, the resistance offered by the lower order did help Bangladesh drag the game to the penultimate over, but wasn’t nearly enough to prevent a drubbing.
Brief scores:
England 364/9 in 50 overs (Dawid Malan 140, Joe Root 82, Jonny Bairstow 52; Mahedi Hasan 4-71, Shoriful Islam 3-75) beat Bangladesh 227 all out in 48.2 overs (Litton Das 76, Mushfiqur Rahim 51; Reece Topley 4-43, Chris Woakes 2-49) by 137 runs
Some 360 bodies have been recovered and more than 1,400 people are missing across Nepal and China’s Tibet region after a huge collapse of mud and rock into a Himalayan river triggered catastrophic flooding across local towns and valleys, authorities have said.
Rescue teams waded through mud on Thursday searching for the missing, as authorities in Nepal said at least 359 people have been killed there.
At least three people have died in the neighbouring Tibet region.
Chinese Premier Li Qiang arrived at the mudslide site in Tibet on Thursday afternoon to “guide emergency rescue and relief work” a day after the disaster, state media reported.
Nepalese police and tourism officials said that more than 500 foreigners were among 910 people missing in Nepal.
Among the missing are tourists from more than two dozen countries: 177 are from India, 63 from the United States, 34 from Australia, 33 from the United Kingdom, and 25 from Canada.
Beijing’s foreign ministry also said nearly 100 Chinese nationals were among the missing in Nepal.
In Tibet’s Gyirong county, 558 people are reported missing, including 260 foreign nationals, according to Chinese state broadcaster CCTV.
Search and rescue operations are proving to be a “massive challenge” as just simply “getting to the affected areas … to try and recover the survivors”, is proving to be extremely difficult as the roads and bridges there have suffered extensive damage, said Al Jazeera’s Minelle Fernandez, reporting from the Nepalese capital, Kathmandu.
[Aljazeera]
India 503/9 decl (Devdutt Padikkal 117, Dhruv Jurel 115; Asitha Fernando 4-106, Prabath Jayasuriya 2-132) drew with Sri Lanka 290 (Sonal Dinusha 103, Pasindu Sooriyabandara 80; Prasidh Krishna 3-52, Manav Suthar 3-85) and 429/9 f/o (Sonal Dinusha 133*, Pasindu Sooriyabandara 92; Ravindra Jadeja 3-94, Manav Suthar 3-121)
Asif Khan the UAE batter, has been banned for 15 months after admitting to having tested positive for a banned substance – “a metabolite of mesterolone” – in an out-of-competition test conducted in September 2025, the ICC said in a statement on Thursday.
The statement said that Asif, 36, “had admitted the violation” of Article 2.1 of the ICC’s anti-doping code and accepted the period of ineligibility “pursuant to a case resolution agreement entered into with the World Anti-Doping Agency and the ICC”, which means there is no right to appeal on the part of the player.
The sanction is effective from September 8, 2025 and will run until December 7, 2026.
“Asif may return to training with a team or use the facilities of a club or other ICC Member organisation from 8 October 2026 but will only be eligible to play from 8 December,” the statement added. “The player’s individual results from 8 September 2025 until his provisional suspension on 29 December 2025 have been disqualified, along with all resulting consequences, including the loss of any medals, points, prize money or prizes.”
Asif, a former Pakistan Under-19 cricketer, made his UAE debut in March 2022 in an ODI against Oman in the ICC’s Cricket World Cup League 2. He turned out in 38 ODIs and 56 T20Is between then and September 2025.
The last three of those T20Is, against India, Oman and Pakistan in the T20 Asia Cup in 2025, came after September 8, and will be removed from his record.
[Cricinfo]
More than 360 dead, 1,400 missing in Nepal and Tibet after Himalayan floods
Bosnian Serb convicted war criminal Ratko Mladic dies
Prince of Wales to celebrate 150th anniversary with six-a-side cricket
Unyielding Dinusha, spirited tail hold off India to save Colombo Test
US golfer Gogel gets six-month ban for betting
UAE’s Asif Khan handed 15-month ban for using a banned substance
‘Dates have the highest sugar content to fight Coronavirus’
Sunday Island 27 December – Headlines
#SundayIsland 17th December – Headlines
Sunday Island – 28th March
Sunday Island Headlines – 21 March
Sunday Island – 21st February – Headlines
-
News7 days agoCountry’s first woman Surveyor General appointed
-
Business6 days agoSriLankan Airlines makes ShakthiSAT Mission possible for talented Sri Lankan student
-
Features7 days agoMedical education in Sri Lanka: Then and now
-
Latest News6 days agoImran Khan moved to private hospital amid deteriorating health
-
Latest News7 days agoGovernment has declared 21, 22 and 23 August 2026 as national days of mourning
-
Features5 days agoMy secondary schooling after Royal Primary
-
Latest News6 days agoTharanga edges out Chopra in 88m javelin battle
-
News7 days ago22A: Opp. demands all available SC judges hear petitions