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Quinton de Kock, Heinrich Klaasen lead South Africa’s demolition of Bangladesh
South Africa continue to bludgeon all before their path when they bat first, and it doesn’t seem to matter who’s in the way. This time, it was Bangladesh who were the unfortunate victims, with South Africa putting them to the sword in a 149-run demolition. It was led by an enormous contribution from Quinton de Kock, whose 140-ball 174 powered South Africa to 382. At the death, to help him along, he had Heinrich Klaasen, who smashed 90 off 49 balls as South Africa racked up 144 in the final 10 overs. Bangladesh were never in the chase in response and, as with every other game of South Africa’s in this tournament, all five bowlers chipped in with wickets.
South Africa opted to bat first and to begin things weren’t as straightforward as the final scorecard might suggest. Bangladesh kept a lid on de Kock and Reeza Hendricks initially, and drew early blood when Shoriful Islam and Mehidy Hasan Miraz got rid of Hendricks and Rassie van der Dussen cheaply. By the end of the eighth over, South Africa were wobbling mildly at 36 for 2, and there was little sign this pitch would be conducive to the runfest that followed.
But Aiden Markram and de Kock are arguably the two most in-form batters this tournament and, together, they began to gradually shut Bangladesh out of the contest. The spinners were milked down the ground as Bangladesh’s ability – and appetite – for wicket-taking receded. The holding pattern benefitted South Africa, given their power lower down the order, and soon enough, the boundaries began to flow. The hundred came up in the 21th over, the 100-partnership in the 26th. By now de Kock was closing in on his own hundred, while Markram had brought up a half-century.
Brief scores:
South Africa 382/5 in 50 overs (Quinton de Kock 174, Heinrich Klaasen 90, Aiden Markram 60, David Miller 34*; Hasan Mahmud 2-67) beat Bangladesh 233 in 46.4 overs (Litton Das 22, Mahmudullah 111; Marco Jansen 2-39, Lizaad Willams 2-56, Gerald Coetzee 2-62, Kagiso Rabada 2-52) by 149 runs
(Cricinfo)
After three low scores, three tosses lost and three heavy defeats, Sri Lanka gave hosts India more of a fight in the fourth T20I on Sunday when they finally got to chase a target instead of setting one. They got somewhat close thanks to contribution from batters apart from Chamari Athapaththu. With their confidence running a little higher, they would want to sign off fromthis five match tour with one win as the preparations for the T20 World Cup, which is less than six months away, heat up.
India have been clinical all through the series – with their share of luck, having won the first three tosses – in restricting Sri Lanka to totals under 130 and getting home with at least five overs and seven wickets in hand. That presents Sri Lanka the opportunity to test India’s middle and lower order on Tuesday, but with the gargantuan task of going past the duo of Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma, who put up India’s biggest partnership for any wicket to set up the hosts’ highest T20I total. India have had to use only five batters in this series so far.
Whether they set a total or chase one, Sri Lanka would draw inspiration from Hasini Perera’s start on Sunday, in which she took down Renuka Singh and Arundhati Reddy in the opening overs before Nilakshika Silva finally got some runs in the lower order.
Sri Lanka would also want to cash in on any lives their batters are offered as India have been sloppy this series – putting down five catches in the opener and two in the fourth game – which could help the visitors narrow the gap between the two sides.
There are always expectations from Athapaththu when Sri Lanka bat, and it was refreshing to see Hasini Perera take the lead in the opening partnership with her captain on Sunday. It was Perera’s penchant for boundaries that charged Sri Lanka to 52 for 0 in the first four overs. Hasini has played nearly 90 T20Is and the last game of the series will be the perfect chance for her to score her maiden T20I half-century that will only increase the faith in her abilities in the lead up to the T20 World Cup.
She has been dismissed just twice this series and Shafali Verma is reaching scary heights in the T20 format with 236 runs already at a strike rate of 185.82 this series. The next best strike rate this series (minimum 50 runs) is Jemimah Rodrigues’ 140.54. Shafali has taken down every possible bowling combination Sri Lanka have thrown at her at the start and with three half-centuries in a row, a continuation of her boundary barrage could be another spectacular show from the India opener.
Rodrigues missed the fourth T20I while recovering from a mild fever and India brought in Harleen Deol for her first game of the series but she didn’t get a chance to bat. Already leading 4-0, India may also want to hand a debut to 17-year-old wicketkeeper-batter G Kamalini, the only player in the squad who hasn’t played this series.
India (possible): Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues/Harleen Deol, Harmanpreet Kaur (capt), Richa Ghosh/G Kamalini (wk), Deepti Sharma, Amanjot Kaur, Renuka Singh/Arundhati Reddy, Kranti Gaud, Vaishnavi Sharma, Shree Charani
Sri Lanka have been making changes through the series too, and even though they have used up all their players from the squad of 15, don’t rule out any more changes on Tuesday.
Sri Lanka (possible): Chamari Athapaththu (capt), Hasini Perera, Harshitha Samarawickrama, Imesha Dulani, Nilakshika Silva, Kaushini Nuthyangana (wk), Kavisha Dilhari, Kawya Kavindi/Malki Madara, Inoka Ranaweera, Malsha Shehani, Nimasha Meepage
[Cricinfo]
Donald Trump said he hoped to reach phase two of the Gaza peace plan “very quickly”, as he warned Hamas would have “hell to pay” if it did not disarm quickly.
The US president, whose 20-point peace plan requires the militant group to disarm, made the comments as he met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Florida for talks on Monday.
During a press conference with Netanyahu after their meeting, Trump said Israel had “lived up to the plan 100%”, despite continuing attacks by its military in Gaza.
The US president also said his country could support another major strike on Iran were it to resume rebuilding its ballistic missile or nuclear weapons programmes.
Asked how quickly Hamas and Israel should move to phase two of the peace plan, Trump said: “As quickly as we can. But there has to be disarmament.”
Speaking about Hamas, he said: “If they don’t disarm as, as they agreed to do, they agreed to it, and then there will be hell to pay for them.
“They have to disarm in a fairly short period of time”.
Trump also said reconstruction in Gaza could “begin pretty soon”.
The Gaza peace plan came into effect in October. Under the second phase, a technocratic government would be established in the devastated territory, Hamas would disarm and Israeli troops would withdraw. The reconstruction of Gaza would then begin.
But critics have suggested Netanyahu could seek to delay the process of the plan and instead push for Hamas to disarm before Israeli troops withdraw.
The Israeli prime minister has been accused of not wanting to engage seriously with the issue of a political future for Palestinians.
Hamas officials have said a full disarmament should take place alongside progress towards an independent Palestinian state.
Asked if he was concerned Israel was not moving quickly enough to phase two of the plan, Trump said it had “lived up to the plan”.
“I’m not concerned about anything that Israel’s doing, I’m concerned about what other people are doing or maybe aren’t doing,” he added.
[BBC]
Bangladesh’s first female prime minister Khaleda Zia has died at the age of 80 after suffering from a prolonged illness.
“Our favourite leader is no longer with us. She left us at 6am this morning,” Zia’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) announced on Facebook.
Physicians had said on Monday night that Zia’s condition was “extremely critical”. She was put on life support, but it was not possible to provide multiple treatments at the same time given her age and overall poor health, they said.
Zia became Bangladesh’s first female head of government in 1991 after leading the BNP to victory in the country’s first democratic election in 20 years.
Zia returned to the post of prime minister in 2001, stepping down in October 2006 ahead of a general election.
Her political career had been marred by corruption allegations and a long-standing political rivalry with Awami League leader Sheikh Hasina, who was ousted from premiership last year.
Zia, who was the wife of Bangladesh’s late president Ziaur Rahman, was jailed for five years in 2018 for corruption.
[BBC]
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