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Wolvaardt and Kapp power South Africa into the World Cup final

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Laura Wolvaardt celebrates her hundred in the World Cup semi-final [Cricinfo]

Laura Wolvaaedt’s batting masterclass and Marizanne Kapp’s five-for propelled South Africa into their maiden world Cup final off the back of a 125-run victory over England.

Wolvaardt’s breathtaking 169 in thefirst semi final in Guwahati carried her side to 319 for 7 from their 50 overs, the second-highest score in World Cup knockout matches.

Asked to stage the second-highest successful chase in women’s ODIs, behind Australia’s 331 to beat India earlier in this tournament, England fell short in the face of the brilliant bowling of Kapp, who took 5 for 20. Those wickets included two in the first over of the reply, as England lurched to 1 for 3, and the prize wicket of Nat Sciver-Brunt who had built a century stand with Alice Capsey. As if that wasn’t enough, Kapp then took two more wickets in as many balls to put South Africa on the brink of victory.

South Africa face the winner of the second semi-final between Australia and India for the title on Sunday, which will be their third consecutive World Cup final after they finished runners-up at the T20 events in 2023 and 2024.

Wolvaardt was a class above in the South Africa batting line-up, her innings full of trademark elegant drives early followed by a brutal leg-side assault as she hit the accelerator in the closing stages. She was well supported by Tazmin Brits, who scored 45 but later went off during England’s innings with what appeared to be a wrist injury after landing awkwardly in the field, and Kapp’s 42 off just 33 balls. Wolvaardt shared a seventh-wicket stand worth 89 with Chloe Tryon, who finished unbeaten on 33.

Sophie Ecclestone overcame a shoulder injury suffered in the previous match against New Zealand on Sunday to finish with 4 for 44 but, apart from that and fifties for Sciver-Brunt and Capsey, there was little to celebrate for England. Only two others – Danni Wyatt-Hodge and tailender Linsey Smith – reached double figures.

As if determined to model South Africa’s bowling performance on Wolvaardt’s batting masterclass, Kapp removed Amy Jones with a ball of the highest quality in the first over. A fuller delivery outside off stump jagged back in between bat and pad and clattered into off stump. Heather Knight was more complicit in her dismissal three balls later when, with leaden feet she prodded at one that shaped away from outside off and edged onto her stumps, giving Kapp 2 for 0 in five balls.

Ayabonga Khaka made it three England ducks in a row just two balls into the second over when she drew a faint edge off Tammy Beaumont with one that straightened off the pitch for caught behind.

South Africa let England off the hook somewhat as Sciver-Brunt and Capsey took them from such a poor start to 108 for 4 when Capsey fell moments after reaching her maiden ODI half-century. Capsey had been dropped on 28 by substitute fielder Nondumiso Shangase at long on off the bowling of Sune Luus as South Africa struggled to make further inroads with Kapp off the field. Sciver-Brunt, meanwhile, narrowly avoided being run out as she retreated to the bowler’s end.

No sooner had Capsey reached fifty, she picked out Nadine de Klerk at mid-off with Luus the bowler once more. Either side of her dismissal, Sciver-Brunt reached her fifty, powering Luus over long-off for six and Brits put down a difficult chance leaping to her right at midwicket and falling heavily, forcing her off the field in pain and clutching her arm.

Kapp struck in the second over of her return spell to remove Sciver-Brunt, caught behind after she was enticed to drive at a length ball which wobbled away ever so slightly off the seam and brushed the outside edge. In her next over Kapp had Sophia Dunkley and Charlie Dean caught behind off successive deliveries, the energy with which she roared to celebrate her last wicket matching that of her first.

Wyatt-Hodge, playing just her second match of the tournament after being brought in for Emma Lamb to bolster a struggling middle-order, faced just seven deliveries for 2 not out against New Zealand, but with more time in the middle here, she managed 34 off 31. When she and Smith fell to Nadine de Klerk, however, it was all over for England.

South Africa’s resounding victory was a result of their ability to get out of trouble. They fell from 116 without loss to 119 for 3, as Ecclestone took a sledgehammer to the excellent structure laid down by Wolvaardt and Brits with two wickets in the space of four balls.

Brits could have been out for 1 off what would have been the sharpest of return catches by Lauren Bell and she had attempted a reverse-sweep off Ecclestone’s fellow left-arm spinner, Linsey Smith, before ending up in an awkward heap as the ball struck her front pad well outside off stump. When Brits tried it again it was her undoing, as Ecclestone speared one in full on middle and leg and drew a bottom edge onto the stumps.

Anneke Bosch, brought into the starting XI to boost the batting which had failed so miserably against England last time these sides met, lost her off stump as she charged at Ecclestone, yorked herself and departed for a three-ball duck.

Bell put down another tough chance leaping to her left at short fine leg off Kapp, on 36 at the time. But Kapp added just a handful more runs before Ecclestone returned with immediate impact, with Kapp skying a fuller ball outside off stump high over mid-on where Dean ran back and settled underneath it.

Another cluster of South Africa wickets was complete when Annerie Dercksen, apparently having failed to learn from Brits’ downfall, tried to reverse-sweep Ecclestone, hit the ball into the pitch outside off then again through her swing, the second impact ricocheting into the stumps.

Having lumped Dean for a massive 82 metre six over wide long-on Wolvaardt bided her time through Ecclestone’s final over. She then helped herself to 13 of the 15 runs to come off the next, by Sciver-Brunt, including another six over long-on followed by a pulled four through backward square.

Sciver-Brunt conceded 14 off her next over, including Wolvaardt’s third maximum, this time over deep midwicket, and she raised her 150 with a similar effort off Smith, who leaked 20 off the over, all but one of them to Wolvaardt.

When Wolvaardt finally holed out to Capsey as she launched Bell down the ground, she walked off to warm congratulations from her opponents, the gratitude of her team and the rapture of the crowd, who knew they had witnessed something special.

Brief scores:
South Africa Women  319 for 7 in 50 overs (Laura Wolvaardt 169, Tazmin Britts 45, Marizanne Kapp 42 Chloe Tryon 33 *; Lauren Bell 2-55, Sophie Ecclestone 4-44) beat England Women  194 in 42.3 overs  (Nat Sciver-Brunt 64, Alice Capsey 50, Danni Wyatt Hodge 34; Marizanne Kapp 5-20, Nadine de Klerk 2-24) by 125 runs

[Cricinfo]



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Salt and Patidar power RCB past Mumbai Indians

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Phil Salt smoked 78 off 36 balls [Cricinfo]

The toss is crucial in night matches at Wankhede Stadium with a true flat pitch and dew giving the chasing side a significant advantage. Defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru lost that toss. Then went ahead and did what you need to do: score the highest IPL score at the ground, 240, and defended it with considerable ease.

Phil Salt and Rajat Patidar set RCB up with knocks of 78 off 36 and 53 off 20, Patidar’s fastest fifty. The duo hit a hat-trick of sixes once each with Salt also taking three fours in a row. A total of 11 sixes and 10 fours flew off their bats, resulting in RCB chants at Mumbai Indians’ home ground. Between them they compensated for Virat Kohli, who himself didn’t seem too pleased with his 50 off 38 even as the other end kept producing big runs.

Off the field during the second half of the match, Kohli didn’t need to fret much from the sidelines as the spinners Suyash Sharma and KrunalPandya expertly shut the chase down. Suyash did so with the wickets of the rampaging Ryan Rickelton and Tilak Varma in his first over while Krunal bowled four overs for just 26 runs, signing off with just reward in form of Suryakumar Yadav’s scalp. The RCB spinners bowled eight overs for 73 runs and three big wickets as against MI’s two spinners conceding 83 in six overs.

Kohli registered the first boundary of the innings with a six in the first over, but it was Salt who kept on the assault, scoring 47 off 22 in the powerplay. This involved welcoming Mitchell Santner, a reluctant powerplay bowler, with three sixes and a four. MI were forced to bowl Jasprit Bumrah for two overs inside the powerplay; still RCB got to 71.

The next key moment for RCB was the introduction of legspin with a right-hand heavy batting line-up, but that didn’t matter at all with Mayank Markande extracting little turn in either direction. Salt stayed back to hit three consecutive fours off his flatter lengths, and was waiting to hit a six the moment he gave it a hint of air.

When all else failed for MI, Shardul Thakur, bowling for the first time as late as the 11th over, executed wide yorkers to tie Kohli down and take the wicket of Salt caught at extra cover.

With 25 and a wicket off the last 17 balls, MI were hoping for a way back into the contest when RCB captain Patidar walked out. For some reason, Thakur gave up his death bowling and went searching, letting Patidar get off with a chipped four over mid-off first ball.

The return of Markande proved disastrous for MI as Patidar toyed around with him, hitting three back-to-back sixes, including one reverse-sweep. From 22 off 4, the likely direction Patidar’s strike rate could travel was down, but he made sure it wasn’t a long way down.

In his second over, Thakur completely went to pieces with his wide yorkers not landing and slower short balls travelling over the head on a red-soil bouncy surface. The 10-ball over went for 23 as RCB moved to 167 for 1 in 13 overs.

RCB had a big opportunity to put matters past any plausible chase, but Kohli couldn’t get the boundaries despite trying to hit hard. Missing the reverse-sweep in his arsenal, he couldn’t take the clever Santner down, who eventually ended up with the wicket of Patidar.

Even though Bumrah’s two overs at the death were excellent, keeping him at just 35 in four overs, he has now gone five straight IPL matches without a wicket if you count the Qualifier that MI lost last year. With his 34 off 16, Tim David did enough to keep them at an even two a ball.

Rickelton got the chase off to a flying start, MI racing away to 39 for 0 in three overs and 48 for 0 in four, which promised a close match. However, Krunal’s introduction began to raise the asking rate. Only eight came off his first over with Impact Player Rasikh Dar conceding just 15 in his two overs inside the powerplay.

Rohit Sharma went off with what seemed like a hamstring injury, and at 72 for 0 in seven overs, MI were already looking at 13 an over to win. Rickelton had no time to get a sighter at Suyash, who started off with a wide wrong’un and a top edge on the slog sweep. Later in the over, he went outside leg with a wrong’un to Tilak, getting him caught at short fine leg.

Hardik walked in and hit a six first ball, but the asking rate went higher than it was at the start of the over.

MI needed 120 off 46 balls when Suryakumar got out. The asking rate soon went past three a ball, and Sherfane Rutherford’s  71 off 31 only serving to control the net-run-rate damage to MI.

Brief scores:
Royal Challengers Bengaluru 240 for 4 in 20 overs (Phil Salt 78, Patidar 53, Virat Kohli 50, Rajat Patidar 53, Tim David 34*, Jitesh Shqrma 10; Trent Boult 1-50,  Hardik Pandya  1-39, Mitchell Santner 1-43, Shardul Thakur 1-32) beat Mumbai Indians 222 for 5 in 20 overs (Ryan Rickelton 37, Rohit Sharma 19, Suryakumar Yadav 33, Sherfane Rutherford 71*, Hardik Pandya 40; Jacob Duffy 1-38, Krunal Pandya 1-26, Rasikh Salam 1-23,  Suyash Sharma 2-47)  by 18 runs

[Cricinfo]

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Prasidh, Buttler set up comfortable win for Gujarat Titans

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Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant hug at the toss [BCCI]

Prasidh Krishna is beginning to make a mark at IPL 2026. Three nights after his clever slower bouncer to David Miller sealed a tense last-ball win over Delhi Capitals, he followed it up with 4 for 28 – blending typical Test-match lengths with sharp pace-off variations – as Gujarat Titans made it two in two, this time edging out Lucknow Super Giants in their own backyard on Sunday.

Mohammed Siraj and Ashok Sharma were just as vital at the two ends of LSG’s innings, striking early and closing things out respectively. They played the perfect supporting acts to Prasidh’s headline-grabbing performance to restrict LSG to 164. GT captain Shubman Gill then calmly anchored the chase, scoring a half-century off 34 balls. His second-wicket stand of 84 with Jos Buttler helped them scale the target in 18.4 overs with seven wickets in hand.

The mini-battle to watch was Mohammed Shami vs Gill: India’s bowling veteran looking to force his way back into the international reckoning, up against the country’s current Test and ODI captain. Shami had set it up nicely, conceding just 10 runs off his first two overs, with enough movement to keep Gill honest.

It had all the makings of a proper contest. Until Gill consigned it to one-way traffic in the third, as he peeled off three fours and a six. That six was no ordinary hit, but a lofted hit on the up, straight over Shami’s head, eliciting an extra second’s pose to the cameras. The boundaries were pleasing too: a delectable leg glance, a stab through the covers, and a wristy flick over midwicket. This helped Gill gallop towards a half-century.

Buttler gave more than an inkling of form in the previous game when he made 52 off 27 against DC. Having come in at the fall of Sai Sudharsan’s wicket – he helped a half-tracker straight to short fine off Digvesh Rathi in the sixth- Buttler punched one through the covers off the third ball to raise GT’s fifty.

Rathi was unlucky not to have Buttler in his second over when he nicked behind, for Rishabh Pant to put down a regulation chance on 12. LSG would rue that missed opportunity as Buttler quickly took charge to dismantle the spinners, forcing Pant to turn to his faster men quickly.

In came Avesh Khan with a plan of trying to hit hard lengths but Buttler responded by hitting him for three back-to-back fours off the 12th over, and soon brought up his half-century, his 100th in T20s, off just 29 balls. By now, the chase was down to being a mere formality. He celebrated the fifty by reverse-sweeping Linde over point.

Gill fell with the target in sight, gloving a short ball behind off Prince Yadav, but Buttler stayed on to seal victory.

Kagiso Rabada began by being hit for 10 off his first two deliveries, but had Mitchell Marsh pick out mid-on to complete a fine comeback as GT struck early. This brought Rishabh Pant to the middle, and he seemed keen on taking the attack to the bowlers, but was snaffled by Siraj’s hard lengths as the ball caught the splice and lobbed to mid-off to leave LSG 45 for 2 in the fifth.

One second, Prasidh had hands on his head when Aiden Markram’s imperious flick just eluded a diving Glenn Phillips running across from deep square leg. Three balls later, he celebrated his first when Markram picked out deep midwicket perfectly. In his second over, Ayush Badoni fell in almost identical fashion as LSG slumped to 74 for 4 in the ninth.

That brought Nicholas Pooran to the middle, but this wasn’t the white-ball destroyer, but an avatar searching for form and confidence; his stroke play lacked any kind of fluency as the faster men kept tucking him up. Pooran seemed to have found a release when he hit Rashid Khan for back-to-back sixes, but that surge was all too brief with the end almost tame as he flat-batted Prasidh’s into-the-pitch delivery to Gill at mid-off. Pooran made 19 off 21.

 

He should’ve been run out off his third delivery when he tried to pinch a single to cover, but Ashok Sharma missed the stumps at the striker’s end despite having all three stumps to aim at from short cover. Then Mukul was hit on the helmet by a 150.2kph bouncer from Ashok.

But not long after, the trademark whip behind square that he unleashed to astonishment in Kolkata three nights ago,  made an appearance, eliciting hopes of a grandstand finish. But that wasn’t to be as he got a big nick behind attempting to pull Prasidh’s slower bouncer. His 18 off 14 helped LSG nudge past 150, before Shami and Linde’s mini-cameo set up a 165-target.

Six overs in, it became increasingly evident those were at least 30-40 runs too little.

Brief scores:
Gujarat Titans 165 for 3 in 18.4 overs  (Sai Sudarsan 15, Jos Buttler 60, Shubman Gill 56, Washington Sundar 21*, Rahul Tewatia 10*; Mohammed Shami 1-36, Prince Yadav 1-31, Digvesh Rathi 1-31) beat Lucknow Super Giants 164 for 8 in 20 overs  (Aiden Markram 30, Mitchell Marsh 11, Rishabh Pant 18, Nicholas Pooran 19, Abdul Samad 18, Mukul Choudhary 18, George Linde 16, Mohammed Shami 12*; Mohammed Siraj 1-19, Kagiso Rabada 1-54, Ashok Sharma 2-32, Prasidh Krishna  4-28)  by seven wickets

[Cricinfo]

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Heat Index at Caution level’ in the Northern, North-central, North-western, Western and Southern provinces and in Trincomalee district.

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Warm Weather Advisory
Issued by the Natural Hazards Early Warning Centre
Issued at 3.30 p.m. on 12 April 2026, valid for 13 April 2026.

Heat index, the temperature felt on human body is likely to increase up to ‘Caution level’ at some places in the Northern, North-central, North-western, Western and Southern provinces and in Trincomalee district.

The Heat Index Forecast is calculated by using relative humidity and maximum temperature and this is the condition that is felt on your body. This is not the forecast of maximum temperature. It is generated by the Department of Meteorology for the next day period and prepared by using global numerical weather prediction model data.


Effect of the heat index on human body is mentioned in the above table and it is prepared on the advice of the Ministry of Health and Indigenous Medical Services.

ACTION REQUIRED
Job sites: Stay hydrated and takes breaks in the shade as often as possible.
Indoors: Check up on the elderly and the sick.
Vehicles: Never leave children unattended.
Outdoors: Limit strenuous outdoor activities, find shade and stay hydrated.
Dress: Wear lightweight and white or light-colored clothing.

Note:
In addition, please refer to advisories issued by the Disaster Preparedness & Response Division, Ministry of Health in this regard as well. For further clarifications please contact 011-7446491.

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