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Jacob Bethell debut fifty, Brydon Carse ten-for, seal England victory
Brydon Carse claimed his Test-best figures of 6 for 42, in the process becoming the first England seamer to take an overseas ten-wicket haul in 16 years, before Jacob Bethell capped the contest with an unbeaten fifty on debut, as New Zealand were hustled to an emphatic eight-wicket defeat in the first Test at Hagley Oval in Christchurch.
Though Daryl Mitchell had delayed the inevitable with a doughty innings of 84 from 167 balls, 45 of which came in a spirited tenth-wicket stand with the steadfast Will O’Rourke, New Zealand’s eventual target of 104 was demolished in just 12.4 overs. Ben Duckett signalled the charge with an anarchic innings of 27 in 18 balls, while Joe Root capped his 150th Test with a no-less free-flowing 22 not out from 15.
The coup de grâce was applied by Bethell in a performance of rare precocity – 50 not out from 37 balls, featuring eight fours and a six – with his maiden half-century coming up with the winning pull shot to deep square leg.
New Zealand’s hopes had been slender at the start of the fourth day, as they resumed with a four-run lead and just four wickets left standing, but at least they were greeted by cloudless skies and a 49-over ball: two factors that persuaded Ben Stokes to shoulder the hard yards with the day’s first spell, albeit with unintended consequences.
Midway through his fifth over, he pulled up awkwardly with what was later diagnosed with stiffness in his lower back, and immediately handed the rest of the over to Gus Atkinson. He stayed on the field through to the lunch break, and later insisted at the post-match presentations that he’d be fine for next week’s second Test at Wellington, but after the injury issues that clouded his recent tour of Pakistan, it was a worrying subplot in an otherwise uplifting day for his team.
By the time of that setback, Carse had already ripped the heart out of New Zealand’s resistance. In only his third Test, he has already made an extraordinary case to be England’s go-to third seamer: a man clearly unafraid of the hard yards, and – as he showed on debut in Multan – capable of extracting life from even the most unforgiving of surfaces, through his wholehearted attitude and the raw energy of his action.
A case in point was his breakthrough wicket on this fourth day. Nathan Smith had looked steady for his 21 runs, getting solidly into line to the short balls and even picking off back-to-back boundaries when Carse strayed too full in his opening over. However, he had no answer for the first ball of the day that truly misbehaved, as Carse bent his back to jag a sharp seamer back into Smith’s shin, with the ball keeping low to draw a leg-sided lbw verdict.
Four balls later, Carse had his second of the morning, and his fifth of the innings, to leave New Zealand deep in the mire at 192 for 8, a lead at that stage of just 41. Matt Henry was also done in by the fuller length, this time by a fast, inswinging delivery that thumped him in front of middle and leg. He took his leave with no thought of a review.
Tim Southee, in his final Test series, arrived to a tumultuous ovation, and an expectant one too, for there wasn’t much doubt about how he’d be playing this particular situation. With 93 Test sixes to his name, and a maximum of five innings in which to post his century, he duly connected twice in three balls with two lusty blows over the leg-side off Atkinson. The same bowler, however, had smacked him on the helmet with his second ball, and brought the fun to an end with his 11th, as Root at wide long-on held onto a fine tumbling take.
With just the No. 11 O’Rourke for company, Mitchell moved to his half-century from 132 balls, then decided it was time to up the tempo. A full range of T20 blows rained down thereafter, including a lap through fine leg off Chris Woakes and a trademark launch down the ground for six off the spin of Shoaib Bashir.
The lead had nudged past 100 as the umpires called for the extra half-hour before lunch, at which point England’s thoughts might have strayed to another memorable tenth-wicket stand at Christchurch, Nathan Astle’s 222 onslaught alongside Chris Cairns in 2002. Carse, however, was not going to be denied. Back he came for yet another spell, and in his second over, he induced the error with another heavy length that Mitchell was unable to launch over Woakes at long-off.
Carse left the field with match figures of 10 for 106, the best by any England bowler overseas since Monty Panesar at Mumbai in 2012-13, and a feat unmatched by an England quick since Ryan Sidebottom at Hamilton in 2008. Neither James Anderson nor Stuart Broad, whose legendary partnership began one Test after Sidebottom’s feat, ever managed such a haul away from home.
England’s chase began after the delayed lunch break, and for precisely 15 balls, New Zealand put up a fight. Zak Crawley, fresh from a first-innings duck, duly poked a return catch in Henry’s first over to troop off for 1 – the worst return by an England opener since Mike Atherton made a pair at Johannesburg in 1999-2000 – and a continuation of his abject record against New Zealand, 168 runs at 9.88 in 17 innings.
Duckett, meanwhile, was briefly given a working-over by Southee, but only because he was treating him with the respect that his legendary career deserves. Midway through his second over, he chose to bin the deference, starting with a scoop over fine leg from way outside off, and culminating in a 16-run third over that included a vast six over fine leg.
Bethell, similarly, had learned his lesson after a torrid baptism during England’s first innings. He was soon dancing down the pitch to hit Henry off his length, then exacted his revenge on Smith, the man who had dismissed him first time around. Four fours in a single over included a slap back past the bowler that had shades of Kevin Pietersen against Glenn McGrath at The Oval in 2005, and by the end of it, England were halfway to their target in a mere 42 balls.
Duckett died by the sword, upper-cutting O’Rourke’s first ball to deep third, while Root – fresh from his first-innings duck – got off his pair with a streaky edge for four but then added two more in consecutive balls to ensure there’d be no further mishaps.
By the end of it all, New Zealand had been flattened, at a run-rate of 8.21 an over, in a denouement that evoked their fourth-innings torments on the original Bazball series of 2022. Much has changed since then, of course, but hand this team a situation in which they can free their arms, and there are few more startling sights in world cricket.
Brief scores:
England 499 (Harry Brook 171, Ben Stokes 80, Ollie Pope 77, Ben Duckett 46, Gus Atkinson 48; Matt Henry 4-84, Nathan Smith 3-141) and 104 for 2 (Jacob Bethell 50*) beat New Zealand 348 (Kane Williamson 93, Glenn Phillips 58*, tom Latham 47; Brydon Carse 4-64, Shoaib Bashir 4-69) and 254 (Daryl Mitchell 84, Kane Williamson 61; Brydon Carse 6-42, Chris Woakes 3-59) by eight wickets
[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]
Iran accuses US of striking critical infrastructure as war intensifies
President meets with Department of Prisons Officials
Prioritize Vocational Education in future Education Planning – President
Davis cup Asia/Oceania Group IV 2026 to be held in Colombo from 20th to 25th July
Navy brings fisherman in distress off Pothuvil, ashore
Malinga, Asalanka seal Galle Gallants win in LPL opener
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