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New Zealand cruise past Pakistan’s 345 with five wickets in hand
Kane Williamson’s return to action headlined New Zealand’s first official warmup match of the 2023 World Cup as they hit the right notes with the bat in a high-scoring game in Hyderabad. Mohammad Rizwan (103) and Babar Azam (80) provided a good platform and the middle order got amongst the runs to help Pakistan post 345. The total, however, proved insufficient as New Zealand, led by Rachin Ravindra’s 97 and three other half-century scores, including that of Williamson, pulled off the chase with 6.2 overs to spare
After Devon Conway was dismissed by Hasan Ali for a golden duck, Ravindra and Williamson got together and added 179 runs in just 22 overs to power New Zealand’s chase. Williamson decided to retire after crossing fifty while Ravindra was dismissed by Agha Salman before he could get a ton. Usama Mir then picked up the wickets of Tom Latham and Glenn Phillips in quick succession but fifties from Mark Chapman and Daryl Mitchell, and an important 33 from James Neesham, helped New Zealand over the line in the 44th over.
Earlier, After opting to bat, Pakistan lost Imam-ul-Haq in the second over to Matt Henry while Mitch Santner had Abdullah Shafique out stumped. Babar, who started watchfully, found his groove while Rizwan also scored at a steady rate as they raised a century partnership to set things up nicely for Pakistan. Babar, however, missed a hundred while Rizwan retired after reaching three figures, giving Pakistan’s lower middle order some time out in the middle. Saud Shakeel (75) and Agha Salman (33*) came up with handy contributions to propel Pakistan past 340.
Brief scores:
Pakistan 345/5 in 50 overs (Mohammad Rizwan 103, Babar Azam 80; Mitch Santner 2-39) lost to New Zealand 346/5 in 43.4 overs (Rachin Ravindra 97, Mark Chapman 65; Usama Mir 2-68) by 5 wickets
South Korea’s president has apologised for a string of controversies surrounding his wife that included allegedly accepting a luxury Dior handbag and stock manipulation.
Addressing the nation on television, Yoon Suk Yeol said his wife, Kim Keon Hee, should have conducted herself better, but her portrayal had been excessively “demonised”, adding that some of the claims against her were “exaggerated”.
The president said he would set up an office to oversee the first lady’s official duties, but rejected a call for an investigation into her activities.
Yoon’s apology came as he tries to reverse a dip in his popularity among the South Korean public, linked to the controversies surrounding his wife.
Late in 2023, left-wing YouTube channel Voice of Seoul published a video that purportedly showed Kim accepting a 3m won ($2,200; £1,800) Dior bag from a pastor, who filmed the exchange in September 2022 using a camera concealed in his watch.
In February, Yoon said that the footage was leaked as a political maneuver and did not apologise.
South Korea’s Democratic Party, the opposition to Yoon’s conservative People Power Party, at the time labelled the president’s “shameless attitude” as “hopeless”.
The scandal also caused rifts within Yoon’s party, with one leader comparing Ms Kim with Marie Antoinette, the queen of France notorious for her extravagant lifestyle.
The opposition party has also long accused the first lady of being involved in stock price manipulation. Earlier in the year, Yoon vetoed a bill calling for his wife to be investigated over those allegations.
[BBC]
US President Joe Biden has vowed to ensure a “peaceful and orderly transition” to his Republican predecessor and now successor, Donald Trump.
“We accept the choice the country made,” the Democrat said, repeating that he believes “you can’t love your country only when you win”.
Biden also saluted Vice-President Kamala Harris as “a partner and a public servant” who ran an “inspiring” campaign after he dropped out.
His first public remarks after Tuesday’s election, in the White House’s Rose Garden, came as Democrats in Washington began seeking someone to blame for Harris’s large loss to Trump.
Much of the blame is being laid on Biden, with some saying that he should have dropped out of the race sooner and others that the 81-year-old should never have run for a second term at all.
The incumbent sought to balance a conciliatory tone with a message of reassurance, after a bleak campaign season where Harris frequently said that a Trump victory would threaten democracy and Trump often described the US as a “nation in decline” and a “failed nation”.
American democracy is “the greatest experiment in self-government in the world” and “the will of the people always prevails”, Biden said.
“We lost this battle,” he said. “The America of your dreams is calling for you to get back.”
In the comments before a crowd of White House staff and top members of his administration, Biden took on an issue that may have cost Harris the White House: the economy.
Voters in the swing states that decided the election listed the economy as a top issue driving them to the polls, and Trump in his rallies cast Biden as directly responsible for inflation spiking to a 40-year high in June 2022.
While Harris pointed to the steep recession when Trump was in office and significant improvements in inflation, she could not win over Trump voters who said they felt better about the economy during his first term.
But Biden said supporters should be proud of his “historic” term that had left behind “the strongest economy in the world” and “over $1tn worth of infrastructure work done”.
“I know people are still hurting, but things are changing rapidly,” he said.
Promising to work with Trump’s transition team without delay, Biden said it was time to “bring down the temperature” in the country.
“I also hope we can lay to rest the question about the integrity of the American electoral system,” he said, a a nod to the president-elect’s unproven allegations of fraud after his defeat in 2020, which led many to riot on 6 January 2021.
“It is honest, it is fair, it is transparent and it can be trusted, win or lose.”
Biden was the first incumbent to not compete for re-election since Lyndon Johnson in 1968.
His approval rating as president has been in negative territory for more than three years – since his administration’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021. On top of that, a majority of voters, including most Democrats, have expressed concerns over his advanced age in a steady stream of polls.
But the Democrat launched his re-election bid in April 2023 with a promise to “finish the job”.
Typically, political parties do not follow a strenuous primary process when they control the White House and Biden did not have to face campaigns from serious rivals or debates to become the 2024 Democratic nominee. More than 14 million Americans voted for him during the Democratic primaries.
Then, in June 2024, Biden frequently lost his train of thought and meandered through several responses in a debate with Trump watched by millions on live television.
A month later, after a public push from Democratic heavyweights, he withdrew his candidacy and endorsed his vice-president. The election was a little more than three months away.
Democrats are trying to make sense of how they could win in 2020 and then lose four years later to the same opponent. Biden is not the only person being put at fault.
Some are saying Harris was a weak candidate who struggled with media appearances. Others say her campaign was heavy on celebrity involvement but light on policy substance.
One-time Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and others have suggested Harris erred in picking Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, an older progressive, as her running mate instead of Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, a more youthful, Jewish-American moderate.
Independent Senator Bernie Sanders, who ran for president as a Democrat in 2016 and 2020, blasted the party itself, putting out a lengthy statement that accused it of abandoning working people.
“While the Democratic leadership defends the status quo, the American people are angry and want change,” he wrote. “And they’re right.”
But Democratic National Committee Chairman Jaime Harrison responded on X that the accusation was “straight up BS”, saying Biden was “the most-pro worker President of my life time”.
Ritchie Torres, a moderate New York congressman, blamed “the far left, which has managed to alienate historic numbers of Latinos, Blacks, Asians, and Jews from the Democratic Party with absurdities like ‘Defund the Police’ or ‘From the River to the Sea’ or ‘Latinx’”.
[BBC]
The outfield at Green Park Stadium in Kanpur, which hosted the rain affected second Test between India and Bangladesh from September 27 to October 1, has earned an “unsatisfactory” rating from the ICC. The rating comes with one demerit point for the venue.
Only 35 overs of play were possible on day one of the Test match, and there was no play possible on days two and three – this was despite no rain falling during the scheduled playing hours on day three. In the lead-up to the Test match, the state’s public works department had deemed one of Greek Park’s stands unsafe, and had instructed the stadium authorities to open up only a limited number of its upper-level seats to spectators.
The Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association (UPCA) uses the Green Park Stadium on the basis of an MoU it has signed with the UP government. The government owns the land but as per the MoU, the stadium and its upkeep are the responsibility of the UPCA.
BCCI vice-president Rajiv Shukla, who hails from Kanpur, defended the venue after it came in for widespread criticism following the washout of day three but conceded that the ground, which has hosted Test cricket since 1952, was in need of refurbishment.
After more than two-and-a-half days of the Test match were washed out, India put in a concerted effort to force a victory, picking up 20 Bangladesh wickets in the space of 121.2 overs, and scoring 383 runs in just 52 overs across two innings, at an unprecedented 7.36 runs per over.
The pitch for this Test match, meanwhile, earned a “satisfactory” rating.
The ICC rates pitches and outfields for all international games on a scale of very good to unfit: very good, satisfactory, unsatisfactory and unfit. One demerit point is awarded to venues for an unsatisfactory rating, and three for an unfit rating. If any ground receives five or more demerit points in a five-year rolling period, it is suspended from hosting any international cricket for 12 months.
The rest of the venues that hosted India’s 2024-25 international season did not come in for any censure from the ICC. Of the pitches on which India played their five Tests, four – including all three that hosted the recently concluded series against New Zealand, in Bengaluru, Pune and Mumbai – earned “satisfactory” ratings, while the surface at Chennai’s MA Chidambaram Stadium, which hosted the first Test against Bangladesh, earned a “very good” tag.
[Cricinfo]
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