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South Africa stun serial winners Australia to enter World Cup final

Published

2 years ago

2024/10/18

Priyan

Anneke Bosch played plenty of sweeps in her unbeaten 74 (Cricinfo)

South Africa showed ’em all how it is done – with the papare band blaring at the Dubai International Stadium in front of a sparse crowd.

A collective bowling effort was followed by a strong batting show, led by a 96-run partnership between captain Laura Wolvaardt and Anneke Bosch. They registered an eight-wicket win in the first semi-final to send Australia packing from Women’s T20 World Cup 2024, thereby ending their run of seven successive finals in the competition.

Australia’s first ICC competition after Meg Lanning’s retirement ended up in the knockout stages, with the six-time champions also missing Alyssa Healy, who suffered a foot injury against Pakistan.

South Africa first restricted Australia to 134 for 5 despite a late surge, and then romped home by eight wickets with 16 balls to spare to make a massive statement and enter their second consecutive T20 World Cup final.

The clarity in South Africa’s thinking was evident at the toss, when they inserted Australia in a crunch game. Marizanne Kapp and Ayabonga Khaka got enough swing with the new ball. In fact, Khaka did not even have to find out about the purchase to pick up a wicket. Her first ball in the game was a length ball that shaped away a touch and Grace Harris slashed into the hands of backward point

Nonkululeko Mlaba and Co celebrate Tahlia McGrath’s wicket (Cricinfo)

Kapp had extracted enough movement both ways in the opening over. In her second, she saw a free hit being dispatched through square leg by Georgia Wareham. But she used the outswing to undo the batter, the DRS coming to South Africa’s aid. Kapp bowled one on good length around the fifth stump and Wareham couldn’t resist the slash. The on-field umpire missed the edge but Kapp and wicketkeeper Sinalo Jafta knew.

Kapp was getting so much assistance that Wolvaardt gave her a third straight over inside the powerplay. Australia managed only 35 for 2 in the first six overs, their lowest in the phase in this T20 World Cup, and ended up facing 19 dots.

Beth Mooney and Tahlia McGrath are called ‘McMooney’ by fans for their numerous rescue acts with the bat. They joined forces when Australia were 18 for 2 after three overs. McGrath ended the powerplay with two fours off Nonkululeko Mlaba’s over, but it felt the ball was not coming onto the bat. Wolvaardt exploited that by bringing spin on from both ends and McGrath’s next boundary was only in the 11th over. She fell a couple of overs later, hitting Mlaba straight to cover to end her 50-run stand with Mooney.

At that stage, it seemed Australia had the perfect base for take-off. Mooney, on 37 off 38 then, swiped one through square leg in the 16th over to end another boundary-less phase of 29 balls. In the process, she became the ninth woman – third from Australia – to 3000 T20I runs. But in a bid to steal a non-existent run – coupled with a Kapp brilliance – she was run out for 44 off 42 balls.

Despite that, Australia managed to get a strong finish, scoring 31 off the last three overs, thanks to Ellyse Perry and Phoebe Litchfield. But given what followed, it was not strong enough.

Like Australia, South Africa also faced 19 dot balls in the first six overs. But they hit five fours and a six in that phase to finish on 43 for 1, the highest by any team against Australia in this T20 World Cup. But while Australia scored 21 in their nine attacking shots in the powerplay, South Africa managed 32 off ten. It began with Tazmin Brits unafraid of using her feet against Ashleigh Gardner and then against Megan Schutt, too. Brits hit Gardner for a six, clearing the leaping Annabel Sutherland at the rope.

Sutherland, though, struck with her first ball, getting a length delivery to skid and rattle Brits’ off stump. The time was ripe for Australia to apply the squeeze, but Wolvaardt and Bosch had other ideas. The former first clubbed Sutherland over midwicket before Bosch hit back-to-back boundaries off Sophie Molineux in the sixth over. Wolvaardt also swung her Adelaide Strikers team-mate Darcie Brown over long-on for a massive six.

Intent was writ large throughout South Africa’s chase with Bosch attempting a couple of reverse hits and being nimble on her feet against spin. South Africa had hit a four in every over from the third to the eighth. It was followed by three boundary-less over but Bosch broke the shackles by hitting Wareham for a four and six off back-to-back deliveries. She then went 4, 2, 4 against Gardner in the next over to bring up her fifty.

Wolvaardt fell – holing out to long-off – with South Africa only 14 away. Bosch duly finished it off to remain unbeaten on 74, her best T20I score.

Only earlier this year, South Africa had defeated Australia for the first time in T20Is. Who knew that would be a precursor to something massive like this, and put them a step closer to their maiden world title?

Brief scores:

South Africa Women 135 for 2 in 17.2 overs (Anneke Bosch 74*, Laura Wolvaardt 42; Annabelle Sutherland 2-26) beat Australia Women 134 for 5 in 20 overs (Beth Mooney 44, Perry 31, Tahila McGrath 27, Marizanne Kapp 1-24, Ayabonga Khaka 2-24, Nonkululeko Mlaba 1-31) by eight wickets

(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.

Latest News

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]