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October 18 at the Women’s T20 World Cup: West Indies take on New Zealand in a battle of underdogs
New Zealand vs West Indies
Stefanie Taylor missed the England game with a knee injury. In her absence, Qiana Joseph opened the innings and smashed 52 off 38 balls to give West Indies a memorable win. New Zealand, meanwhile, brought in left-arm spinner Fran Jonas for offspinner Leigh Kasperek for their match against Pakistan. Jonas picked up 1 for 8 in her two overs in a winning cause.
West Indies have won just five out of the 23 T20Is they have played against New Zealand. Two of those five wins came in the T20 World Cup, in 2012 and 2016. The 2016 game was also a semi-final , where West Indies defended 143 before going on to beat Australia to lift the trophy.
New Zealand squad:
Sophie Devine (capt), Suzie Bates, Eden Carson, Isabella Gaze (wk), Maddy Green, Brooke Halliday, Fran Jonas, Leigh Kasperek, Amelia Kerr, Jess Kerr, Rosemary Mair, Molly Penfold, Georgia Plimmer, Hannah Rowe, Lea Tahuhu
West Indies squad:
Hayley Matthews (capt), Aaliyah Alleyne, Shamilia Connell, Deandra Dottin, Shemaine Campbelle (wk), Ashmini Munisar, Afy Fletcher, Stafanie Taylor, Chinelle Henry, Chedean Nation, Qiana Joseph, Zaida James, Karishma Ramharack, Mandy Mangru, Nerissa Crafton
Tournament guide:
New Zealand started the tournament with a big win against India. Following a loss against Australia, they went on to win the next two matches, against Sri Lanka and Pakistan, to seal a semi-final spot in a Women’s T20 World Cup for the first time since 2016. West Indies started their campaign with a loss but won their next three games. They knocked out one of the tournament favourites England in their last group-stage match to qualify for the semi-final.
Player to watch:
Few in women’s cricket can hit the ball as hard as Deandra Dottin and she has shown that at this World Cup too. She has the highest strike rate (167.30) and most sixes so far in this tournament. Against England, she smashed offspinner Charlie Dean for two sixes and a four in an over. Her quick knocks meant West Indies did not have to worry about their net run rate throughout the group stage.
Georgia Plimmer has contributed crucial runs at the top of the order for New Zealand. The 20-year-old scored a 53 off 44 against Sri Lanka to set up the chase. In New Zealand’s opening match, it was her 34 off 23 balls that took India by surprise. With 108 runs from four innings, at a strike rate of 122.72, she is currently New Zealand’s top run-getter in the tournament. Given the average first-innings total in Sharjah in this tournament has been only 119, another quick start from her could be decisive.
(Cricinfo)
Qualifier Maja Chwalinska is one win away from a fairytale French Open triumph after setting up a final showdown with Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva.
The Polish world number 114, who had only ever won one match at a Grand Slam before this tournament, continued her astonishing run at Roland Garros by beating 25th seed Diana Shnaider 7-6 (7-4) 6-4.
Three weeks and nine matches after her French Open campaign began, Chwalinska dropped to the ground after firing in the 32nd and final winner of another scintillating display.
With that, she became the first qualifier in history to reach the women’s singles final at Roland Garros, and the crowd chanted her name as she spoke in her post-match interview.
On Saturday, she will attempt to become only the second qualifier in the Open era to win a Grand Slam after Britain’s Emma Raducannu at the 2021 US Open.
It would be a fitting conclusion to a French Open filled with spectacular shocks from the outset.
But, on the evidence of her dominant victory over Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk, the in-form Andreeva will provide the sternest test of her credentials to date.
A beaten semi-finalist in 2024, the 19-year-old was hugely impressive in a 6-1 6-3 victory that made her the third-youngest woman to reach the Roland Garros showpiece this century, after Coco Gauff and Kim Clijsters.
Should she prevail in her first major final, eighth seed Andreeva would become the third-youngest first-time Grand Slam champion this century, after Maria Sharapova and Raducanu.
(BBC)
Volodymyr Zelensky has called for a face-to-face meeting between himself and Vladimir Putin in a renewed bid to end the war.
In an open letter to the Russian president, the Ukrainian leader said it would be “wrong to simply wait” until the war in Europe becomes the focus of the US’s attention once more, adding peace could only come “through direct engagement between” Ukraine and Russia.
He also called for a full ceasefire for the duration of proposed negotiations – something Putin ruled out earlier on Thursday.
US President Donald Trump said on Thursday he thought “it would be great” if the two leaders met.
The Kremlin confirmed it had received the letter.
The tone of the letter was defiant, even mocking, drawing attention to Ukraine’s recent strikes on Russian territory.
Zelensky stated that “after 26 years in power, age is beginning to take its toll” on Putin.
The letter also provided an invitation.
“Ukraine proposes ending this war through direct engagement between us – and you. I am proposing a meeting,” Zelensky wrote.
It’s not a new offer from Ukraine’s leader.
As it has before, the Kremlin responded, saying Zelensky was welcome to meet Putin in Moscow.
What was notable was Kyiv’s public acknowledgement that the US “is fully focused on the issue of Iran”.
“It would be wrong to simply wait until the war in Europe returns to the centre of its attention,” Zelensky wrote.
Speaking to foreign journalists in St Petersburg, without apparently having seen the contents of the letter, Putin said he was “certainly prepared and willing to reach an agreement with Ukraine”, but said compromises needed to be made.
Putin suggested that as Trump was busy with Iran, the EU could talk Zelensky into surrendering territory.
Putin’s longstanding position has been that Ukraine should withdraw from four regions largely occupied by Russia – Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia – and give up its efforts to join Nato.
Ukraine has ruled out ceding territory, saying it would embolden Russia to invade again, as it had in 2022 when it launched its full-scale war eight years after illegally annexing Crimea.
Ceasefire negotiations have stalled in recent months, and previous peace talks in Geneva, Abu Dhabi and Istanbul have failed.
In the letter, which is more than 1,800 words long, Zelensky said: “It is not as if we in Ukraine are concerned about the fate of Russian soldiers after everything your war has brought to our country.
“But I do care about Ukrainians. We are losing our people, and every loss is painful to us.”
Zelensky said Russians had become tired of Ukrainian drone and missile attacks, petrol shortages and rising prices, as well as war.
“Do not be afraid to take the path out of this war. That is the main thing that is required of you now,” he implored.
He said Ukraine was proposing to end the war “through direct engagement between us”.
Zelensky said face-to-face negotiations could take place in a country such as Switzerland or Turkey.
The Ukrainian president’s letter came on the same day Putin was in St Petersburg, where a major economic forum is taking place.
The previous day Kyiv had launched a drone attack on the city’s outskirts, a strike mentioned in Zelensky’s message as “paying a visit”.
Separately Russian-backed authorities in occupied Crimea blamed Ukraine for the death of four people in attacks on the regional capital, Simferopol. Ukraine said it had hit a fuel depot.
On Friday, Ukrainian authorities said at least four people had been killed in a Russian strike on the offices of a food company outside Kyiv.
During his press conference on Thursday, Putin appeared to immediately cast doubt on whether a meeting or deal could ever take place.
Whether Mr Zelensky is a legitimate representative of Ukraine, this is a question for the lawyers, for a legal analysis,” he said – a repetition of a Russian line that there has been no presidential election since Zelensky’s term expired in May 2024.
However, elections have been suspended in Ukraine since martial law was declared after Russia’s invasion.
Trump said he thought the US had been instrumental in bringing the two countries closer to peace.
“I think it would be great if they met. They should. Get it done,” he said.
Asked about the compromises the two sides would have to make, he said he would “rather not say”.
“I want them each to make certain compromises, and I think they’re going to do it.”
(BBC)
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