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Six for Starc, six for Shoriful, Australia in front after 18-wicket opening day

Published

1 month ago

2026/08/22

Priyan

Mitchell Starc holds the ball aloft for his 22-ball five-wicket haul [Cricinfo]

Mitchell Starc’s 6 for 12 was contested by Shoriful Islam’s 6 for 35 on a dramatic 18-wicket opening day of the Mackay Test. Australia went to stumps at a rickety 165 for 8 for a lead of 101. Bangladesh had earlier done themselves no favours with the bat as they were rolled over for just 64, their fourth lowest total in Test cricket.

It was an admirable fightback from Bangladesh after being blown away in the morning and early afternoon. Starc needed just 22 balls to complete his five-wicket haul as Bangladesh crashed to 12 for 5 after being asked to bat. Four of their top-six batters fell for ducks.

Australia lost three early wickets of their own before recovery through a 77-run fourth-wicket stand between Steven Smith and Cameron Green, but Shoriful, returning to the side after recovering from a hamstring injury, sparked a batting collapse: Australia lost five wickets for 30 runs in 7.3 overs.

It would have been fine for Bangladesh to be completely demoralised after their effort with the bat, but Taskin Ahmed had the returning Matt Renshaw caught at slip for eight in the third over itself.

Shoriful then had Travis Head chopping on – for the third time in three innings in the series – with his second ball of the match. Later in the same over, Shoriful bowled Marnus Labuschagne off his thigh pad for four. Australia again needed Smith to keep them afloat, and he picked up the scoring rate after tea.

Smith started the last session with two fours off Hasan Mahmud, though the second one was a streaky one off the bottom edge. Smith repeated the dose to Shoriful, with a pull and an on drive, before Green got into the act with two fours off Mahmud in the next over. Smith was right on top of Bangladesh’s bowling when he struck Taijul Islam for two fours in consecutive overs, but Shoriful cut his innings short with an excellent delivery. The left-arm quick got the ball to nip back off the seam with Smith, batting on 42, already shuffling in front of the stumps. Bangladesh had their way via umpire’s call after the review showed that the ball shaving Smith’s off stump.

Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto then brought on Mehidy Hasan Miraz, who immediately sent Alex Carey back. It was an uncharacteristic shot from Carey, who went down the pitch and tried to jab the ball to the leg side but only managed to skew it in the air for Mahmud to take the catch at mid-on.

Shoriful then had his second double-wicket over when he dismissed both Beau Webster and Pat Cummins for ducks. He trapped Webster lbw with another inswinger, and followed that with a snorter at Cummins was gloved to wicketkeeper Litton Das.

Starc became Shoriful’s sixth wicket when he bowled the fellow left-arm quick with one that again moved off the seam.

Green, who made a century in the Darwin Test, kept Australia on track with his unbeaten half-century at the other end. He stroked the ball around nicely for his eight boundaries, showing the merit of the Mackay wicket, which has otherwise been a nightmare for batters.

Earlier, Starc was all over the Bangladesh batters with his pace and late swing with the new ball, and his six-wicket haul him past Dale Steyn’s 439 wickets. Starc finished with 6 for 12, returning after a bit of resistance from the lower order to complete the rout after lunch.

Bangladesh’s No. 11 Shoriful made 14, the top score of the innings, while the last five batters contributed 47.

Starc did full justice to Cummins’ decision at the toss to bowl first. He had Shadman Islam caught at gully off the first ball of the match, with Green taking a good low catch. This was the fourth time that Starc had opened a Test match with a wicket, having done the same against Dimuth Karunaratne, Rory Burns and Yashasvi Jaiswal in the past. Shadman, meanwhile, joined Hannan Sarkar (three times) as the second Bangladesh opener to get out off first ball of a Test match.

Tanzid Hasan fell for a duck, too, when he edged Starc to Webster at second slip. It was a nothing shot with no footwork, especially surprising from a batter who had scored a century in his previous Test. Tanzid has now got two ducks in a row after his breakthrough knock in Darwin.

Shanto was given out lbw next ball but immediately took the review. Umpire’s call, however, worked in Starc’s favour. Mushfiqur Rahim prevented the hat-trick.

Starc then removed Mominul Haque, who played a poor shot without any movement of the feet, simply guiding an away-going delivery to Green at gully.

Starc’s five-for was completed when he trapped Litton lbw for a duck.

Webster had dropped Litton the previous ball, in what was the simplest of chances in the slips, but Starc was relentless with his full deliveries. Bangladesh’s 12 for 5 was their lowest total at five down in a Test innings.

Mushfiqur lasted 41 balls before a Cummins delivery burst through his bat and pad, but Mehidy and Mahmud managed to prevent any further damage in the first session, which ended with Bangladesh at 35 for 6.

Cummins got Mehidy driving away from his body shortly after lunch, with Webster taking a diving catch to his right. At No. 7, Mehidy became the first batter in this innings to reach double digits.

Josh Hazelwood opened his account when Mahmud flicked him to leg gully after surviving 35 balls, before Cummins removed Taskin, who skied the ball to Renshaw at square leg. Three fours towards the end from Shoriful and Taijul took Bangladesh past 43, their lowest total in Tests. Starc finished things up with Shoriful’s wicket, caught behind.

Scores:
Australia 165 for 8 in 40 overs (Steven Smith 42, Cameron Green 51*; Shoriful Islam 6-35) lead Bangladesh 64 in 34 overs (Shoriful Islam 14; Mitchell Starc 6-12, Pat Cummins 3-25) by 101 runs

[Cricinfo]

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Landslide Early Warnings issued to the Districts of Kandy, Kegalle, Matale and Ratnapura

Published

2 days ago

2026/10/4

Priyan

The Hational Building Research Institute (NBRI) has issued landslide early warnings to the Districts of Kandy, Kegalle, Matale and Ratnapura valid from 2200 hrs on 03rd October upto 2200 hrs on 04th October 2026.

Accordingly,

LEVEL II (AMBER) landslide early warnings have been issued to the Divisional Secretaries Divisions and surrounding areas of Udu Dumbara and Minipe 8n the Kandy district, Dehiowita in the Kegalle district, and Ambanganga Korale and Matale in the Matale district.

LEVEL I (YELLOW) landslide early warnings have been issued to the Divisional Secretaries Divisions and surrounding areas of Rambukkana in the Kegalle district, Rattota in the Matale district, and Eheliyagoda in the Ratnapura district.

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Turkish court detains football refereeing chief pending corruption trial

Published

3 days ago

2026/10/3

Priyan

The refereeing scandal is the latest controversy to shake football in Turkiye [Aljazeera]

The head of Turkiye’s football refereeing body and four other officials have been placed in pretrial detention by a court as part of a corruption investigation, the state news agency Anadolu reports.

Ferhat Gundogdu, head of the Central Referees Committee, and six others appeared before a judge over allegations of manipulation of the referee administration process, Anadolu said on Saturday.

They appeared on Friday before a judge at Istanbul’s Caglayan courthouse on several charges, including forgery of official documents, breach of trust and illegal acquisition of personal data, the report said.

The judge remanded five people in custody and granted the other two conditional release, Anadolu said.

It was the latest scandal to shake football in Turkiye, coming exactly a year after the Turkish Football Federation (TFF) suspended 149 referees on charges of illegal betting.

On Thursday night, police from the illegal betting and sports crime unit also detained Yasin Kol, a referee from Turkiye’s top-flight Super Lig, as well as an assistant referee, media reports said.

Justice Minister Akin Gurlek said prosecutors are examining claims about “interference in the processes of referee classification, assignments, scoring and appointments as well as the exams on rules”.

During raids on Tuesday, police searched the VAR room at TFF’s headquarters in Istanbul. Observers said the investigation was likely linked to last year’s betting scandal and would have implications for the federation.

“It does seem to be a continuation of 2025, and it looks like it will continue further,” sports journalist Ayhan Sensoy told the AFP news agency.

Sensoy, who wrote a 2024 book on the issue called The Gambling Pit, said it was unlikely that federation bosses “have any chance of staying in office”.

So far, the TFF has not directly addressed the arrests as its top officials are due to fly home on Saturday after attending Friday night’s Belgium-Turkiye UEFA Nations League clash in Liege, which Turkiye lost 3-0.

[Aljazeera]

Foreign News

Ten injured after car crashes into rugby supporters in Australia

Published

3 days ago

2026/10/3

Priyan

A fire truck drives towards a crash site as a police vehicle blocks a road in Wallsend, News South Wales, on October 3, 2026, after a car drove into a crowd [Aljazeera]

A car has crashed into a crowd of rugby league supporters in the eastern Australian city of Newcastle, injuring 10 people, including three children.

New South Wales police said on Saturday that two of the injured – a five-year-old girl and a 67-year-old man – were in a critical condition and the other eight were in stable condition in hospital.

Police said they had arrested the 18-year-old man driving the vehicle and were investigating what happened. They said the crash was not believed to be related to “terrorism”.

The crowd had gathered to farewell the local rugby league side, the Newcastle Knights, ahead of their grand final against the Sydney Roosters on Sunday.

Newcastle Lord Mayor Gavin Morris said the driver, a rugby league fan, had lost control of his vehicle and had been taken into custody.

“He was revving the car, he was excited, he was a supporter, he was there for the joy of the moment,” Morris told the national broadcaster ABC.

“Somehow he lost control of the car … and he’s gone into the crowd,” he added.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said: “My thoughts are with everyone injured or involved in the horrible incident this morning in Newcastle.”

“Rugby league brings people together, and this should have been a weekend of excitement and pride for Newcastle fans,” he wrote in a social media post.

[Aljazeera]