Sports
Unpredictable Pakistan stun Proteas
Rex Clementine
in Sydney
Remember what happened in the 1992 World Cup? Pakistan had a disastrous campaign and were almost out of the tournament when Imran Khan vowed to fight like cornered tigers. Fight they did and stunned every team winning the trophy at MCG. In this World Cup, after two last ball defeats to arch-rivals India and Zimbabwe, Babar Azam’s team had very little momentum with them when they met South Africa, who had been unbeaten in the tournament. But they shocked the tournament favourites with a massive 33 run win last night in Sydney.
South Africa is a side that fields superbly but they had a rare off day with misfields and dropped catches and like Sri Lanka paid a huge price. Despite the big win and their Net Run Rate soaring, Pakistan going through to the semis is highly uncertain as they have to expect that results of other teams in their group works for them. At 43 for four inside seven overs, Pakistan innings had little momentum. A 52 run stand for the fifth wicket between Ifthikar Ahmed and Mohammad Nawaz steadied their innings before Ifthikar with Shadab Khan took the game completely away from South Africa. They added 82 runs for the sixth wicket in just 36 balls with both batsmen reaching half-centuries.
While Ifthkar needed 33 balls to the milestone, Shadab got there in 20 balls with back to back sixes against probably the quickest bowler in the planet Anrich Nortje. Pakistan finished on 185 for nine.Shadab made an impact with the ball as well picking up two wickets in his first over. Rain gave South Africa a revised target of 142 in 14 overs. There was not much fight by them as they managed only 108 for nine.
After beating India, South Africa were expected to top the group but now if India wins their last game against Zimbabwe, the Proteas will have to settle for the second slot.Sri Lanka will be back at SCG today (Friday) for a net session in the afternoon ahead of their last group game against England. They would be hoping today that either Afghanistan beats Australia or New Zealand go down to Ireland to have any
hopes of going through.
Brief Scores:
Pakistan 185/9 in 20 overs (Shadab Khan 52, Iftikhar Ahmed 51; Anrich Nortje 4-41) beat South Africa 108/9 in 14 overs (Temba Bavuma 36, Aiden Markram 20; Shaheen Afridi 3-14, Shadab Khan 2-16) by 33 runs (DLS Method)
Mikel Merino scored in the 88th minute from a rebound yielded by backup Belgium goalkeeper Senne Lammens, and Spain advanced to the World Cup semifinals with a 2-1 victory.
Merino was the late hero for the second straight match for Spain, who advanced to face tournament favourite France in the semifinals on Tuesday in Dallas.
Merino came on in the 86th minute and scored from his second touch of the match, charging into the box and pouncing after Lammens spilled a Pau Cubarsi shot from outside the area.
The Arsenal forward also scored as a substitute early in injury time to secure Spain’s 1-0 victory over Portugal in the last-16.
Lammens, the Manchester United keeper, was forced into the match in the 71st minute after longtime Belgium keeper Thibaut Courtois left with an apparent thigh injury.
Belgium desperately pressed for an equaliser in the final minutes, but Aymeric Laporte volleyed their best chance out of the box.
Fabian Ruiz scored the opening goal in the 30th minute for Spain after Courtois had parried a shot from Dani Olmo from Pedro Porro’s cut-back from the right of the area, but Belgium forward Charles De Ketelaere scored the first goal allowed by Spain in the entire World Cup in the 41st minute.
His header from Timothy Castagne’s cross from the right ended a record streak of 649 minutes without conceding at the World Cup.
The annual rugby encounter between Dharmaraja College and Kingswood College, played for the William Weerasinghe Memorial Trophy, is set to take place today (July 11, 2026), at 4:00 PM at the Bogambara Stadium, Kandy.
The official unveiling of the trophy took place this week at the Dharmaraja College premises with the participation of the Principals of the two schools, teachers-in-charge of sports, coaches, the Rugby teams, and several distinguished guests, including Dharmaraja College Old Boys’ Association President Mahesh Wijetunga, Kingswood College Old Boys’ Association President Muditha Abeykoon,
Text and Pic by SK Samaranayake
The annual rugby encounter between Dharmaraja College and Kingswood College, played for the William Weerasinghe Memorial Trophy, is set to take place tomorrow (July 11, 2026), at 4:00 PM at the Bogambara Stadium, Kandy.
The official unveiling of the trophy took place this week at the Dharmaraja College premises with the participation of the Principals of the two schools, teachers-in-charge of sports, coaches, the Rugby teams, and several distinguished guests, including Dharmaraja College Old Boys’ Association President Mahesh Wijetunga, Kingswood College Old Boys’ Association President Muditha Abeykoon,
by S K SAMARANAYAKE
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