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Heat kills at least 15 in India as temperatures near 50C
Several people have died due to heat-related ailments over the past 24 hours as temperatures continue to soar in northern and central India.
Ten fatalities were recorded at the government hospital in Odisha’s Rourkela region on Thursday, authorities told Reuters news agency.
Heat-stroke related deaths have also been reported from the states of Bihar, Rajasthan and Jharkhand and the national capital, Delhi.
The searing heat comes as India is holding its general election, the results of which will be declared on 4 June.
Mahendra Kumar, district magistrate of Bhojpur district in Bihar told the Times of India newspaper that three election officers and a policeman had died in the city on Thursday due to heat stroke.
“It was the hottest day, and despite having medical facilities at all centres, they collapsed. One home guard [volunteer policeman] became unconscious where he was staying,” Mr Kumar said, adding that the man died in the hospital while being treated by doctors.
He also said that around 30-40 people had been admitted to the same hospital on Thursday due to heat-related ailments. Hospitals in the region are recording a rise in admissions due to heat-related ailments.
On Thursday, a labourer admitted with a heat stroke died while receiving treatment at a hospital in Delhi.
India’s National Centre for Disease Control calls heat strokes a “life-threatening” condition with a mortality rate of 40% to 64%.
The heat in northern, central and parts of western India has been unrelenting for the past two weeks, with maximum temperatures hovering around 45-46C for days at a stretch and even climbing up to 50C in some areas.
Several regions are experiencing severe water and electricity shortages due to a rise in consumption. The soaring temperatures have led to a surge in fires across India and authorities are employing drones to monitor forest fires in Jammu and Kashmir.
In the past week, capital Delhi and surrounding regions experienced record-breaking temperatures nearing 50C.
Videos of residents in Delhi jostling for water from water tankers have been widely shared on social media. Many parts of the capital are also experiencing frequent power cuts.
Officials are still investigating whether the record temperature of 52.9C in the Mungeshpur area on Wednesday was a result of a sensor malfunction at the nearby weather station.
India saw a 55% rise in deaths due to extreme heat between 2000-2004 and 2017-2021, a study published in the medical journal, The Lancet, found.
Exposure to heat also caused a loss of 167.2 billion potential labour hours among Indians in 2021, the study noted.
While many parts of the country have regularly experienced heatwaves in summer, experts have said these are now becoming longer, more intense and frequent.
(BBC)
The Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg will host the 2027 ODI World Cup final, as it did in 2003, as well as the marquee match between India and Pakistan on October 10 at next year’s tournament. Wanderers, South Africa’s biggest ground with a capacity of over 30,000, has been preferred over Newlands in Cape Town, an iconic ground because of its mountain backdrop.
Newlands will instead host the opening match between India and defending champions Australia on October 7. So, a re-match of the 2023 final kicks off the group stage of the 14th edition of the tournament. Prior to that, the Namibia Cricket Ground in Windhoek will stage the Super Series, a three-team preliminary round which will decide which side makes it to the 12-team main event. Newlands gets a semi-final as well on November 17, with the other knockout game scheduled to take place in SuperSport Park in Tshwane (Centurion) on November 18. Zimbabwe, the co-hosts, are getting five games in the World Cup group stage and they play all of them at home.
The 12 teams – two of whom have yet to be decided – will be divided into two groups of six. Afghanistan, Australia, India, Pakistan, Zimbabwe and one of the qualifiers make up Group A. Bangladesh, England, South Africa, Sri Lanka, New Zealand and the other qualifier make up Group B. The two qualifiers will come from a 10 team tournament early next year, with the winner advancing to the group stage and the losing finalist and two losing semi-finalists to play the Super Series. A venue for the qualifiers has yet to be established but it is likely to be played either in South Africa or Namibia. The top eight teams besides the co-hosts in the ICC rankings on September 30 this year gained automatic qualification to the World Cup.
The World Cup will be staged between October 2 – to commemorate the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi, who spent two decades working as a lawyer in South Africa – and will conclude on November 21. The semi-finals and the final will have a reserve day.
South Africa, the co-host in group B, begin their campaign against New Zealand – a re-match of the 2026 T20 World Cup semi-final – at Newlands on October 9. Zimbabwe, the co-host in group A, will face Afghanistan in Bulawayo on October 11 to start their journey.
The top three teams of each group will move into the Super 7 phase, with the better fourth-place finisher across the two groups taking the seventh spot. Several teams already have their designations for the Super 7 phase and there is a chance of a second India vs Pakistan game in Cape Town on November 7.
- A1: India
- A2: Australia
- A3: Pakistan
- AB4: England
- B1: New Zealand
- B2: South Africa
- B3: Sri Lanka
If either Bangladesh or Afghanistan or any other team who are not seeded, get through their groups, they will assume seeding of the seeded team that gets knocked out.
In addition to hosting the preliminary round of the World Cup, Windhoek will host three group games, two of them involving 2019 champions England. The newly constructed Mosi-oa-Tunya Stadium in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe got the final game of the group stages – India vs Zimbabwe on October 24 and three Super 7 matches. According to the ICC’s pre-seeding, these will be India vs Australia on October 28, Pakistan vs England on October 30 and Australia vs New Zealand on November 1.
There will be five matches played at Durban, including the final one of the Super 7 between A1 (India) and B3 (Sri Lanka) on November 14. In all there are 12 venues – Windhoek in Namibia, Victoria Falls, Harare and Bulawayo in Zimbabwe and Cape Town, Paarl, Johannesburg, Tshwane (Centurion), Bloemfontein, Durban, KuGompo City (East London) and Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth).
[Cricinfo]
[Prime Minister’s Media Division]
Leg-spinner Mason Crane could play for England for the first time in eight years after being recalled for the one-day international tri-series in Pakistan.
The 29-year-old won his only Test cap against Australia in Sydney in 2018 and is now given an opportunity in the series which also involves Sri Lanka next month.
Crane, who also played two T20 internationals in 2017, could also push his case in the fight to be England’s number one spinner in Test cricket.
Sam Curran and Adil Rashid both return after injuries, and uncapped pair James Coles and Henry Crocombe are included.
Jos Buttler is out with the hamstring injury he sustained last week, while Jacob Bethell is continuing his recovery from knee surgery.
Brydon Carse, who is under an investigation from the Cricket Regulator following an incident outside a nightclub in Derby in August, remains absent.
England are on a diet of white-ball cricket until three Tests in South Africa in December as they build up to the 50-over World Cup in southern Africa next year.
The tri-series in Pakistan involves the three teams taking part playing each other twice, with the top two advancing to the final. Following the trip to Pakistan, England play three one-day internationals and five T20s in Australia in November.
As England continue to shape their backroom staff following the arrival of Stephen Fleming as Test coach, Jeetan Patel, Mike Yardy, David Saker and Carl Hopkinson will assist white-ball head coach Brendon McCullum in Pakistan.
That means Marcus Trescothick, who took temporary charge of the Test team for the series against Pakistan in the home summer, misses the trip.
It is understood the make-up of the coaching staff is part of a plan to rotate the coaches – fielding coach Sarah Taylor and fast-bowling coach Tim Southee are also not going to Pakistan.
All of Trescothick, Taylor and Southee are likely to be part of England’s coaching team for other tours this winter.
England squad for tri-series in Pakistan:
Harry Brook (Yorkshire – captain), Gus Atkinson (Surrey), Sonny Baker (Hampshire), Tom Banton (Somerset), James Coles (Sussex), Jordan Cox (Essex), Mason Crane (Glamorgan), Henry Crocombe (Sussex), Sam Curran (Surrey), Liam Dawson (Hampshire), Ben Duckett (Nottinghamshire), Will Jacks (Surrey), Jamie Overton (Surrey), Adil Rashid (Yorkshire), Joe Root (Yorkshire), Josh Tongue (Nottinghamshire).
(BBC)
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