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Imam, Masood, Rizwan and Agha fifties hand Pakistan opening-day honours
A 161-run second-wicket stand between Imam ul Haq and Shan Masood, and an undefeated 114-run sixth-wicket partnership between Mohammed Rizwan and Salman Agha bookended a strong opening day for Pakistan against South Africa, the World Test Champions. All four of Imam, Masood, Rizwan and Agha recorded fifties, with Imam falling seven short of what would have been a fourth Test hundred.
On a Lahore surface that showed signs of deterioration as early as the third session of the opening day, first-innings runs are considered crucial, and South Africa will be concerned by how many they conceded. Though they took three wickets for no run either side of the tea interval as Pakistan went from 199 for 2 to 199 for 5, South Africa could neither contain Pakistan for any length of time nor close things out. They also put down four catches which changed the complexion of the day.
Knowing conditions would be challenging and unfamiliar, South Africa opted for three spinners and two seamers in their bowling attack but it lacked international experience. Between them, the spin trio of Senuran Muthusamy, Simon Harmer and Prene;an Subraven have played just 16 Tests, but they have 422 first-class wickets, and were made to do the bulk of the work. They combined to bowl 74 overs, and took 4 for 248; enough of their deliveries gripped and turned to suggest batting will become difficult later on.
After choosing to bat, Pakistan were rocked immediately when Kagiso Rabada’s third delivery beat Abdullah Shafique’s inside edge and hit him on the back pad. Stand-in captain Aiden Markram reviewed successfully to hand the visitors their first wicket. South Africa had barely finished celebrating when Masood hit Rabada for back-to-back boundaries. Wiaan Mulder bowled just two overs before South Africa turned to spin, and Pakistan’s plan was clear. Masood hit Subrayen over his head for six to assert himself immediately.
Imam had latched on to anything too full or wide early on, used his wrists well, and played the ball late to become the dominant partner in his stand with Masood. He reached fifty off 65 balls and blunted the spin threat, especially as Harmer found turn and bounce, while also surviving a pre-lunch lbw appeal in Rabada’s second spell. Markram had reviewed again, but the impact was outside the line. Pakistan went to the break on 107 for 1.
Masood’s half-century came after lunch when he drove Harmer through mid-on, and though he was untroubled to that point, South Africa started to create chances. Masood was on 61 when Subrayen drew him forward and he inside-edged the ball on to his pad. It popped up for Tony de Zorzi at short leg, who went one-handed to his left and could not hold on. In Subrayen’s next over, Imam charged down the track and hit him aerially to mid-off, where Mulder moved to his left first and then had to readjust to his right but spilled the chance.
Subrayen was eventually rewarded, four overs later, when he beat Masood’s inside edge with a ball that didn’t turn and had him out lbw.
The Pakistan captain left to huge cheers. None of it was for his 76 though. The home crowd was celebrating the arrival of babar Azam to the crease. But they were soon stunned into silence when Babar was given out caught behind to Muthusamy, who turned the ball just past his outside edge. Babar reviewed immediately, and with no spikes on UltraEdge, the decision had to be overturned. Babar went on to inside edge Muthusamy past Kyle Verreynne for his first runs, but then found his touch with back-to-back boundaries through midwicket. He raced to 21 off his first 22 balls.
But South Africa were able to pull him back and then strike twice to end the middle session on a high. Imam inside-edged Muthusamy to de Zorzi at short leg. Saud Shakeel gave South Africa a bonus wicket when he popped a leading edge back to the bowler and leave Muthusamy on a hat-trick at the break. He didn’t complete it, but South Africa picked up a third wicket 14 balls after tea, when Harmer pinned Babar on the pad, Markram reviewed, and ball-tracking showed it would have gone to hit leg stump.
Harmer had a strong appeal for lbw against Rizwan later in the over as the ball ripped and spun in sharply, but the impact could have been outside the line. Rizwan counterattacked well, hit Muthusamy for six over long-on, and Harmer for fours through midwicket and cover. Agha seemed happy to hold his end, and was on 8 off 13 balls when he reverse-swept Harmer and the ball ended up in Verreynne’s hands, deflected in off his boots. The umpires checked for a catch, but one angle showed it had bounced off the bat and on to the turf before it made contact with Verreynne.
The chances kept coming as Rizwan, on 26, edged Muthusamy to Markram at slip. But Markram wasn’t sure whether he had taken a clean catch, and replays showed the ball died on him and bounced in front. Then, Rizwan was on 28 when he was given out lbw to Subrayen but a review showed it was missing leg stump.
Rizwan kept accumulating as South Africa wound down to the second new ball, and Markram gave himself an over before it arrived. He thought he had Rizwan, on 47, caught at leg slip but the ball had come off the batter’s arm.
Rizwan’s fifty came off the first delivery with the second new ball, which Rabada shared with Muthusamy. The new ball almost brought a breakthrough when Agha edged Muthusamy, but Verreynne initially going for the chance may have distracted Markarm at slip, who put down a simple chance.
South Africa’s day got longer when Rizwan swept Harmer powerfully to short leg, but the ball was hit so hard that it did some damage to de Zorzi’s hand as he tried to hold onto the catch. Agha’s fifty came just after that, and he took Pakistan to the close with plenty to be pleased about.
Brief scores:
Pakistan 313 for 5 in 90 overs (Imam ul Haq 93, Shan Masood 76, Babar Azam 23, Mohammed Rizwan 62*, Salman Agha 52*; Senuran Muthusamy 2-101) vs South Africa
[Cricinfo]
A seventh consecutive night of attacks by United States forces on targets across Iran has left 10,000 people without water after a desalination plant was hit, with Iran retaliating by launching another wave of drones and missiles at US-allied Gulf states.
Hamzeh Pour, chief executive of the Hormozgan Water and Wastewater Company, was quoted by the Tasnim news agency on Saturday as saying that a seawater pumping station and a power transformer at the Bunji desalination plant in Jask in southern Iran were “completely destroyed”, depriving 20 villages of water.
Iran’s retaliation also targeted civilian infrastructure, a war crime under international humanitarian law.
In the early hours of Saturday, Kuwait announced the closure of its airspace and said two power and water desalination plants were hit by Iranian attacks. Several Kuwaiti firefighters were wounded while responding to a fire sparked by the strikes, the country’s firefighting force said.
Air raid sirens also sounded repeatedly in Bahrain, where authorities urged residents to seek shelter.
In Jordan, authorities said they intercepted 10 Iranian ballistic missiles.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said its naval forces had targeted a US military fuel pier at Kuwait’s al-Ahmadi port and a US warplane assembly site at Bahrain’s Sheikh Isa Air Base. The IRGC also said it attacked a US base in Azraq in Jordan, claiming to have destroyed two American fighter jets.
The Iranian attacks came after the US military’s Central Command, or CENTCOM, announced it had carried another wave of overnight strikes targeting “surveillance sites, military logistics infrastructure, underground weapons storage, and maritime capabilities” in Iran.
[Aljazeera]
The world cup of tennis, the Davis cup Asia/Oceania Group IV 2026 will be held in Sri Lanka from the 20th to the 25th of July 2026 at the Sri Lanka Tennis Association (SLTA) courts. This tournament is held under the guidance of World Tennis, is the main team event for the male tennis players of the world.
There will be seven nations participating in the event to be held in Colombo. The teams being Iraq, Northern Mariana Islands, Qatar, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyztan, Kuwait and the host country Sri Lanka.
The Sri Lanka team for the tournament comprises of Apna Perera, Thehan Wijemanna, Ganuka Fernando and Saha Kapilasena making up the team with a blend of youth and experience with Mineth Navarathna being the stand by player. The team is coached by the experienced Sankha Athukorala with Lakshan Wijerathna being the physio/ Masseur of the team. The manager of the team is Rukmal Cooray.
The seven teams will be divided into two groups. One group of three teams and the other one of four teams. Matches will be played in the round robin format in the initial stages and the top two teams from the two groups will compete in cross over matches. The two winners will be promoted from this event. The third placed teams from the two groups will play a demotion play off match. The loser will be demoted. The team which finishes in the 4th place in the group of four will automatically be demoted. As such two teams will be promoted and two teams will be demoted.
Official practice days are the 20th and the 21st of July and the matches will be held from the 22nd to the 25th of July.
The captain’s meeting and the draw for the tournament will be held at the SLTA on Tuesday the 21st at 10.00 am, while the opening ceremony of the event is expected to be held on Wednesday the 22nd of July at 9 30 am on the Center court.
The balls for the event will be Wilson US Open, with Trident Distributors, the official partner for Wilson sporting goods in Sri Lanka coming on board as the official ball suppliers for the event. Apart from this, Trident Sports under the guidance of Yasser Farook, the managing director has come on board as the official apparel partner for the Sri Lanka team as well.
All teams will be staying at the Cinnamon Lakeside hotel with Cinnamon Lakeside hotel coming on board as the official hospitality partner for this tournament. Dushyantha Tittawella, the General manger of the hotel is pulling out all the stops to make sure that the teams have a comfortable stay whilst they are in Sri Lanka.
Perera and Son bakers limited will be the official food and beverage partner for the tournament and will be in charge of making sure that the players’ needs are met throughout this event.
The tournament Director is Dinith Pathiraja and has S Thevanesan as his assistant.
Wan Xianling of China is the referee for the event and Dharaka Ellawala being his deputy. There are six Chair umpires who have been appointed with two of them being Sri Lankans, namely Anjana De Silva and Chamod Rupassara. Jeyachandirun Saarangan is the Chief of Umpires and Adheesha Paranagama, Prageeth Polgampola, Pasindu Sampath and Yumira Kuruppu rounding up the tournament staff for the event with Mrs Nipuni Maheshika being the safeguarding officer and the UNO official for the tournament.
The SLTA president Iqbal Bin Issack with General Secretary Pradeep Goonasekera have been advising and looking into all the arrangements to make this tournament a success.
From left: Dinith Pathiraja (Tournament Director, Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Group IV Event), Iqbal Bin Issack (President, Sri Lanka Tennis Association (SLTA)), Yasser Farook (Managing Director, Trident Distributors (Wilson Agents in Sri Lanka), Pradeep S. Goonasekera (General Secretary, Sri Lanka Tennis Association (SLTA)), Rukmal Cooray (Vice President, Sri Lanka Tennis Association (SLTA))
From left : Dinith Pathiraja (Tournament Director, Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Group IV Event), Iqbal Bin Issack (President, Sri Lanka Tennis Association (SLTA)), Dushyantha Tittawella (General Manager, Cinnamon Lakeside), Pradeep S. Goonasekera (General Secretary, Sri Lanka Tennis Association (SLTA)), Rukmal Cooray (Vice President, Sri Lanka Tennis Association (SLTA))
(PDES)
Rescuers are rushing to locate dozens of people missing in the southwestern Chinese city of Chongqing, after a deadly landslide buried homes in the area, according to Chinese authorities.
The landslide took place around 9:10am (01:10 GMT) on Friday in Chongqing’s Pengshui county, killing eight people, leaving 34 unaccounted for and displacing more than 1,100, reported state media.
Footage shared by China’s CCTV broadcaster showed a huge buildup of rocks and dirt covering part of a residential and commercial street at the bottom of a mountain in the region.
Ten people have been rescued from the debris, including two who are seriously injured, reported China’s state-run Xinhua news agency.
Water, electricity and gas supplies were cut off within a one-kilometre (0.6-mile) radius of the landslide to prevent further disruptions. More than 800 rescuers have gone to the site, reported CCTV.
Authorities said they sent more than 8,000 disaster relief items to Chongqing, including tents, folding beds and family emergency kits.
Pengshui county is located in the southeast part of Chongqing, bordering the provinces of Hubei and Guizhou.
The area where the landslide happened is known for “unpredictable” steep terrain, a local official told a news conference, adding that dangerous rocks remain along the sides of the cliff.
The government has allocated 50 million yuan ($7.36m) in natural disaster relief funds to support the rescue and relief operations and to provide assistance to affected residents, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Emergency Management said.
[Aljazeera]
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