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Vikramjit, Barresi help Netherlands thump Oman

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The Netherlands kept their World Cup hopes alive with a 74 run win over Oman, in a rain-shortened game in Harare, though the margin of victory wasn’t quite enough to see them leapfrog Zimbabwe nor Scotland on net run rate.
That was the case primarily down to Ayaan Khan who played a chance-laden hand to register a maiden ODI ton on his way to an unbeaten 105 off 92 deliveries. Alongside him, it was only Shoaib Khan that played an innings of any note for Oman, as the pair combined for a 112-run fifth wicket stand – though at no point did they look like they could seriously threaten the mammoth Dutch total.
Ayaan was at the crease when bad light brought play to an early close with Oman on 246 for 6, 44 overs into the chase. Having elected to bat and scored 362 for 7 in a 48-over game, the Dutch had needed to restrict Oman to 242 to ensure their NRR went above that of Scotland. This would have been crucial in the event of three-way tie for second place.
That can only transpire if Scotland beat Zimbabwe on Tuesday, and the Netherlands then beat Scotland themselves. As things stand, even if Scotland secure a win today, the Dutch need to  beat Scotland by a big enough margin to leapfrog them on NRR. Any result but a Scotland win today (04) sees the Dutch eliminated.
That they couldn’t secure the necessary margin of victory on Monday might be a minor source of disappointment, as their batters had put them in prime position to do so. Vikramjit Singh notched a maiden ODI century, Wesley Barresi nearly got one of his own, and then cameos from Bas de Leede and Saqib Zulfiqar spearheaded a late onslaught that saw 127 runs scored off the final 10 overs.
Their bowlers then gave them a dream start reducing Oman to 4 for 102, only for Ayaan and Shoaib to come together for their defiant stand, one which would have been particularly disappointing seeing that Ayaan had been dropped three times – on 12, 20 and 33 – over the course of his innings. While all three were of varying difficulty, the fact that none were taken would have stung.
That wasn’t to take away from Ayaan’s knock though, which encompassed 11 fours and two sixes – one a sumptuous lofted straight drive, and the other a powerful pick-up over long-on. His control percentage of 77% however highlights another area in where the Dutch might have felt a touch unfortunate, with several mishits falling safe.
He struggled most against the excellent Aryan Dutt, whose changes in pace and subtle variations had several Oman batters in difficulty. The right-arm off spinner would end with figures of 3 for 31 in 10 overs, accounting for the scalps of the only other batters to get in aside from Aayan – Kashyap Prajapati, Mohammed Nadeem and Shoaib.
Though where Oman really lost the game was in the field, conceding 36 extras in total, inclusive of 23 wides. In a game shortened by two overs a side, Oman gave away nearly four extra overs. This came alongside a poor ground fielding effort in which the several easy singles and twos were given away – all of which would add up.
Credit however must be given to the Dutch, who have set the benchmark across the entire tournament in terms of their running between the wickets. Against Sri Lanka, a much better fielding unit, this aggression was sometimes to their detriment, but against Oman every inch that could be gained was.
It was the foundation of an innings that never really slowed down, starting with a 117-run opening stand off 132 deliveries and culminating in that devastating death overs assault. In between there was the Singh-Barresi stand for 80 off 72, and then when Singh fell shortly after reaching his century, Barresi would up the ante in successive stands of 30, 55 and 57 with Scott Edwards, de Leede and Zulfiqar respectively.
No bowler had a strike rate of less than a 100 against him, though he took a particular liking to the spin of Aaqib Ilyas – stand-in skipper for the injured Zeeshan Maqsood – and Ayaan, taking the former for two sixes over cow corner and the latter for a flat smote over long-off. His 97 came off just 65 deliveries, inclusive of 10 fours and three sixes.
The Dutch played the game state well too, promoting both de Leede and Zulfiqar above Teja Nidamanuru when quick runs were the order of the day. The pair would score a combined 72 between them off just 36 deliveries. While that was enough to keep them in with chance of qualification, now they need to hope Scotland do their part today (04)
Brief scores:
Netherlands 362 for 7 (Bikramjit 110, Barresi 97, Bilal 3-75) beat Oman 246 for 6 (Ayaan 105*, Shoaib 46, Dutt 3-31) by 74 runs on the DLS method


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Trump hopes to reach phase two of Gaza ceasefire ‘very quickly’

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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]

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Bangladesh’s first female prime minister Khaleda Zia dies aged 80

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An earlier picture of Khaleda Zia from 2016 [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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Ukraine denies drone attack on Putin’s residence

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President Volodymyr Zelensky has denied allegations by Russia that Ukraine launched a drone attack on one of President Vladimir Putin’s residences, and accused Moscow of trying to derail peace talks.

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov claimed Kyiv had launched an attack overnight using 91 long-range unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) on Putin’s state residence in Russia’s northwestern Novgorod region.

Russia said it would now review its position in peace negotiations. It is not yet clear where Putin was at the time of the alleged attack.

Zelensky dismissed the claim as “typical Russian lies”, intended to give the Kremlin an excuse to continue attacks on Ukraine.

He said that Russia had previously targeted government buildings in Kyiv.

Zelensky added on X: “It is critical that the world doesn’t stay silent now. We cannot allow Russia to undermine the work on achieving a lasting peace.”

In a statement shared on Telegram on Monday, Lavrov said all of the 91 drones he claimed were launched at Putin’s residence were intercepted and destroyed by Russian air defence systems.

He added that there were no reports of casualties or damage as a result of the attack.

“Given the final degeneration of the criminal Kyiv regime, which has switched to a policy of state terrorism, Russia’s negotiating position will be revised,” he said.

But he added that Russia did not intend to exit the negotiating process with the US, Russian news agency Tass reported.

The claim by Moscow comes after talks between the US and Ukraine in Florida on Sunday, where Presidents Trump and Zelensky discussed a revised peace plan to end the war.

Following the meeting, Zelensky told Fox News on Monday that there was a “possibility to finish this war” in 2026.

But he said Ukraine could not win the war without US support.

“My feelings of President Trump’s sanctions and economical steps, shows that he’s ready for very strong steps,” Zelensky said. “In this situation, the United States can move the situation to peace quicker.”

The Ukrainian president told Fox News there was no indication that Putin wanted peace and that he did not trust Putin.

“I don’t trust Putin and he doesn’t want success for Ukraine,” Zelensky added.

Zelensky said the US had offered Ukraine security guarantees for 15 years, and Trump said an agreement on this point was “close to 95%” done.

Ukraine’s leader described territorial issues and the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant as the last unresolved matters, and there was little sign of progress on the future of Ukraine’s contested Donbas region – which Russia wants to seize in full.

Moscow currently controls about 75% of the Donetsk region, and some 99% of the neighbouring Luhansk. The two regions are known collectively as Donbas.

Russia has previously rejected key parts of the plan under discussion.

Map showing which areas of Ukraine are under Russian military control or limited Russian control

The White House said on Monday that President Trump had “concluded a positive call” with Putin, following the US-Ukraine talks.

Yuri Ushakov, a Kremlin foreign policy aide, told reporters on Monday that during the call, Putin had pointed out the alleged attack on his residence happened “almost straight after what the US had considered to be a successful round of talks”.

Ushakov said: “The US president was shocked by this information, he was angry and said he couldn’t believe such mad actions. It was stated that this will no doubt affect the US approach to working with Zelensky”.

During a later press conference, Trump initially appeared to say he did not know about the alleged incident, but later told reporters that he was told about it by Putin and was “very angry” about it.

Asked if the US had seen any evidence supporting Russia’s claim, he responded: “Well we’ll find out. You’re saying maybe the attack didn’t take place – that’s possible too, I guess. But President Putin told me this morning it did”.

[BBC]
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