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Seales and Hosein boss powerplay as West Indies go 1-0 up
West Indies captain Shai Hope led a batting turnaround that helped his side win by 16 runs against Bangladesh in the first T20I in Chattogram. Hope and Rovman Powell, playing his 100th T20I, put together a late burst of sixes to help the visitors to 165 for 3. Bangladesh crashed to 42 for four in the powerplay in their reply. They ended up bowled out for 149 runs in 19.4 overs.
Jason Holder and Jayden Seales took three wickets each, while Akeal Hosein picked up two in the powerplay.
It was however Hope and Powell, whose 83 runs for the unbroken fourth wicket that powered the visitors’ innings. Hope was not out on 46 off 28 balls with a four and four sixes. Powell had similar numbers, facing 28 balls to hit four sixes and a four, in his unbeaten 44.
Bangladesh though started well with the ball. They rallied around Nasum Ahmed’s four overs. He went wicketless but the left-arm spinner kept West Indies quiet, conceding just 15 runs in his quota. The West Indies openers Brandon King and Alick Athanaze only got a six each though they stuck around for 8.2 overs. Rishad bowled Athanaze for 34, when the batter missed with a reverse sweep. Taskin removed King, caught at deep square-leg for 33.
Taskin followed it up with Sherfane Rutherford’s wicket, as the left-handed batter’s Bangladesh ordeal continued. This time, he fell first ball when wicketkeeper Litton Das took his catch. Although Hope struck couple of sixes at this stage, West Indies couldn’t quite push the scoring rate. Nasum finished off his spell in the 15th over with another stingy over.
Hope kept West Indies afloat when he went after Rishad with two sixes, but with three over remaining, the visitors looked well short of a decent total. Hope cracked a Taskin half volley for his fourth six to start the 18th over. Powell meanwhile finally could get one off the middle of his bat with seven balls remaining in the innings.
He slog swept Mustafizur Rahman for a 102m six, before creaming Tanzim Hasan for three consecutive sixes in the last over. He hammered Tanzim’s full-toss, before going straight for the next two. West Indies picking up 51 runs in the last three overs changed the complexion of the contest.
Bangladesh came out all guns blazing in their pursuit of 166 runs. Tanzid Hasan was going at a shot-a-ball but he lasted just five balls. Romario Shepherd took a stunning catch running back from mid-on but Tanzid’s ultra-aggressive method made little sense. Litton Das then played a soft shot as Akeal Hosein got the ball to stop on the Bangladesh captain. Caught in two minds, Litton gave a catch back to Akeal, who had to take it blind behind the non-striker standing next to him.
Akeal then had Saif Hassan caught at short fine-leg in the next over, attempting a conventional sweep. When Holder removed Shamim Hossain in the fifth over – clipping off his off-bail – West Indies made significant progress as Bangladesh had their last pair of specialist batters at the crease by the end of the powerplay.
The hosts continued to slide when Khary Pierre bowled Nurul Hasan off the inside edge in the ninth over. Towhid Hridoy joined the procession when he fell to Seales in the 12th over. He struck just two fours in his 28 off 25 balls.
Tanzim Hasan then struck a six and three fours in his 33 off 27 balls, to keep Bangladesh’s hopes alive. He added 40 runs for the seventh wicket, before Holder had him caught at deep point in the 16th over. Nasum kept the fire burning with another boundary, but Seales made him his third wicket in the following over.
Holder snuff out Rishad’s threat, who miscued one to long-off. The innings ended when Taskin Ahmed stepped on the stumps although he had sent Shepherd sailing out of the ground in the 18th over.
Brief scores:
West Indies 165 for 3 in 20 overs (Alick Athanaze 34, Brandon King 33, Shai Hope 46*, Rovman Powell 44*, Taskin Ahmed 2-36, Rishad Hossain 1-40) beat Bangladesh 149 in 19.4 overs (Tanzid Hasan15, Towhid Hridoy 28, Tanzim Hasan Sakib 33, Holder 3-31, Nasum Ahmed 20, Taskin Ahmed 10,Mustafizur Rahman 11*; Akeal Hosein 2-22, Jayden Seales 3-32, Khary Pierre 1-33, Jason Holder 3-31, Romario Shepherd 1-29) by 16 runs
[Cricinfo]
Three prison guards attached to the Welikada Prison have been arrested by Borella Police following the death of an inmate on Monday (04).
Spanish police have seized what is thought to be a national record haul of cocaine from a ship in the Atlantic Ocean.
Between 30,000 to 45,000kg were found when the Civil Guard intercepted a freighter in international waters, the body’s main union, the AUGC, announced. It called the move a “historic blow to drug trafficking”.
The vessel was intercepted off Spain’s Canary Islands on Friday and around 20 people were arrested, the AUGC told the AFP news agency. It had travelled from Sierra Leona and was on its way to Libya.
The Civil Guard has declined to give details of the investigation for legal reasons.
Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska told reporters in Madrid that the seizure was “one of the biggest, not only nationally but internationally”.
The Civil Guard shared a photograph on X showing the drugs stuffed into the hold of the intercepted vessel.
“Today history is being written in the Maritime Service of the Civil Guard,” it wrote.
“Intercepted in international waters the largest known seizure: between 30,000 and 45,000 kg of cocaine on board a freighter.”
While the boat was headed to Libya, AFP reported that the pattern of previous operations suggests that it was due to offload the drugs onto smaller vessels for distribution in Europe.
In January, Spanish authorities made its biggest seizure of cocaine at sea from a ship that was carrying almost 10 tonnes.
[BBC]
Three people have died and a UK national is seriously ill in hospital after a suspected hantavirus outbreak on a small cruise ship in the Atlantic Ocean.
The operator of the MV Hondius ship, tour company Oceanwide Expeditions, said a Dutch husband and wife, as well as a German national, had died but the cause has not yet been established.
However, the Dutch company said hantavirus has been confirmed in the case of the 69-year-old UK national who is in intensive care in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Hantavirus is usually passed to humans from rodents via their faeces, saliva or urine. It can cause severe respiratory illness. Rarely, it can be transmitted between people.
The MV Hondius vessel is currently off the coast of Cape Verde and has 149 people onboard.
Oceanwide Expeditions said there were also two crew members on board “with acute respiratory symptoms, one mild and one severe”.
They were of British and Dutch nationality and both required urgent medical care, it said. It said it had not been established that hantavirus had been confirmed in the pair. And it added that no other persons with symptoms had been identified.
Negotiations are in progress with local authorities following what Oceanwide Expeditions described as “a serious medical situation”.
Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, South Africa’s minister of health, said of the British patient that he was critical and had been admitted to a private facility.
“He’s being taken care of. As you know, hantavirus, like all viruses, don’t have any specific treatment, so they are giving symptomatic treatment and support as much as they could.”
He said health workers and anyone who had contact with the patient would now be traced and tested.
Outlining a timeline, the company said a passenger had become unwell while onboard and died on 11 April.
His cause of death could not be determined, and his body was taken off the ship after it docked at St Helena on 24 April.
The passenger’s wife also disembarked on St Helena and the firm said it was told she had become unwell during the return journey and later died.
“At this time, it has not been confirmed that these two deaths are connected to the current medical situation on board,” it added.
On 27 April, the firm said, another passenger – the British national – became seriously ill and was “medically evacuated” to South Africa.
The 69-year-old remains in a critical but stable condition in Johannesburg after it was confirmed a variant of hantavirus had been identified.
The firm added that on Saturday, a third passenger onboard MV Hondius died.
The cause of death has not been established, Oceanwide Expeditions said. It confirmed the passenger was German.
Oceanwide Expeditions said the cause of the deaths were being investigated.
“The disembarkation of passengers, medical evacuation and medical screening require permission from, and co-ordination with, the local health authorities,” it said. “Local health authorities have visited the vessel and assessed the situation.
“The medical transfer of the two ill persons on board has not yet taken place.”
It added that the option of sailing on to Las Palmas or Tenerife was being considered “to be the gateway for disembarkation, where further medical screening and handling could take place”.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said it was “acting with urgency” to support the MV Hondius, and thanked South African authorities for taking care of the British patient.
WHO’s regional director for Europe, Dr Hans Henri P Kluge, said: “I am in close contact with our teams to ensure a co-ordinated, science-based response.
“Hantavirus infections are uncommon and usually linked to exposure to infected rodents.
“While severe in some cases, it is not easily transmitted between people. The risk to the wider public remains low. There is no need for panic or travel restrictions.”
According to the South African government, MV Hondius departed from Ushuaia in southern Argentina about three weeks ago, before it completed its journey to Cape Verde, where it is anchored outside the capital, Praia.
It is described as a 107.6m (353ft) polar cruise ship, with space for 170 passengers in 80 cabins, along with 57 crew members, 13 guides and one doctor.
One passenger onboard the MV Hondius, who asked to remain anonymous, told the BBC: “The latest word is that a plane is on its way and once it gets here three people will be evacuated from the ship and flown straight to Europe.
“Then the rest of us will almost certainly sail to the Canary Islands.
“The Cape Verde authorities clearly want nothing to do with us. This is what we’re hearing from the captain and staff. From what I can see the mood (on the ship) is pretty good.
“Only one person has been tested (the one now in South Africa) and he tested positive for hantavirus. So, we don’t actually know yet if the other cases are that or something unrelated.
“If they are all hantavirus then the transmission is a bit mysterious. We’ve been informed that there are no rodents on board, and person-to-person transmission is difficult/rare.
“Hopefully the other patients on board will be tested soon and then we’ll know better what’s going on.”
President of the Cape Verdean Public Health Institute, Maria Da Luz, said passengers would not be disembarking in Cape Verde in order to protect the local population, Cape Verde’s media outlet A Nacao reports.
Oceanwide Expeditions said strict precautionary measures were in process on board, including isolation measures, hygiene protocols and medical monitoring.
“All passengers have been informed and are being supported,” it said.
“Oceanwide Expeditions is in close contact with those directly involved and their families, and is providing support where possible.”
Microbiologist Siouxsie Wiles told the BBC the time between people being exposed to hantavirus and showing symptoms could be anywhere from one to eight weeks.
“With this incubation period are we going to see more people coming down with the disease in the next days and weeks?”
The UK Foreign Office told the BBC it was monitoring reports, and ready to support British nationals.
Hantavirus was in the headlines last year after the wife of Oscar-winning actor Gene Hackman died from a respiratory illness linked to hantavirus in March 2025.
[BBC]
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