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Wolvaardt ton crushes Sri Lanka
Laura Wolvaardt (102 off 63 bals) smashed her first century in T20Is as South Africa crushed Sri Lanka by 79 runs in the opening game of the three-match series at Willowmoore Park, Benoni on Wednesday (March 27). Put into bat on a good batting surface, South Africa’s innings hit top gear from the outset. Tazbin Brits’ stay at the crease was brief but Marizanne Kapp (60 off 40 balls) along with Wolvaardt stitched a rollicking 116-run stand that came off just 79 deliveries. The South African captain continued her recently-acquired avatar of the aggressor as she took apart the Lankan bowling that lacked penetration.
Wolvaardt struck 12 fours and three sixes in her emphatic knock, overshadowing Kapp’s power game as the duo put the visitors to the sword. In the process, South Africa also registered their second highest team total in the format. Chasing a mammoth target of 199, Sri Lanka understandably needed their biggest matchwinner in skipper Chamari Athapaththu to come good but the opener fell to Kapp in the first over of the chase to virtually kill any minor chance that the Lankans might have had.
Harshitha Samarawickrama (38 off 33) and Hasini Perera (30 off 18) produced some crisp strokes but the target was well beyond their reach. With a big total to defend, South Africa’s bowlers kept the pressure up on Sri Lanka’s batters who caved in rather meekly to make it a one-sided contest.
Brief scores:
South Africa198/5 in 20 overs (Laura Wolvaardt 102, Marizanne Kapp 60; Achini Kulasuriya 2-39) beat Sri Lanka 119 in 18.2 overs (Harshitha Samarawickrama 38, Hasini Perera 30; Annerie Dercksen 2-15, Tumi Sekhukhune 2-25) by 79 runs
China has executed four members of the Bai family mafia, one of the notorious dynasties that ran scam centres in Myanmar, state media report.
They were among 21 of the family’s members and associates who were convicted of fraud, homicide, injury and other crimes by a court in Guangdong province.
Last November the court sentenced five of them to death including the clan’s patriarch Bai Suocheng, who died of illness after his conviction, state media reported.
Last week, China executed 11 members of the Ming family mafia as part of its crackdown on scam operations in South East Asia that have entrapped thousands of Chinese victims.
For years, the Bais, Mings and several other families dominated Myanmar’s border town of Laukkaing, where they ran casinos, red-light districts and cyberscam operations.
Among the clans, the Bais were “number one”, Bai Suocheng’s son previously told state media after he was detained.
The Bais, who controlled their own militia, established 41 compounds to house cyberscam activities and casinos, authorities said. Within the walls of those compounds was a culture of violence, where beatings and torture were routine.
The Bai family’s criminal activities led to the deaths of six Chinese citizens, the suicide of one person and multiple injuries, the court said.
The Bais rose to power in Laukkaing in the early 2000s after the town’s then warlord was ousted in a military operation led by Min Aung Hlaing – who now leads Myanmar’s military government.
The military leader had been looking for co-operative allies, and Bai Suocheng – then a deputy of the warlord – fitted the bill.
But the families’ empires crashed in 2023, when Beijing became frustrated by the Myanmar military’s inaction on the scam operations and tacitly backed an offensive by ethnic insurgents in the area, which marked a turning point in Myanmar’s civil war.
That led to the capture of the scam mafias and their members were handed to Beijing.
In China, they became subjects of state documentaries which emphasised Chinese authorities’ resolve to eradicate the scam networks.
With these recent executions Beijing appears to be sending a message of deterrence to would-be scammers.
Hundreds of thousands of people have been trafficked to run online scams in Myanmar and elsewhere in South East Asia, according to estimates by the United Nations.
Among them are thousands of Chinese people, and their victims who they swindle billions of dollars from are mainly Chinese as well.
(BBC)
While speculation is rife about the sanctions the ICC could potentially levy on the PCB for the Pakistan government’s decision to boycott the T20 World Cup group match against India on February 15, the ICC is yet to decide if and when a Board meeting should be convened to discuss the issue.
Any discussions on sanctions normally take place at the ICC Board comprising the 12 Full Member boards and three representatives of the Associates along with the ICC chair. However, the ICC has not yet alerted the Board on any emergency meeting despite PCB indicating it is unlikely to respond officially in writing to the ICC on the boycott as well as the reason behind the government’s decision.
(Cricinfo)
Eshan Malinga will miss Sri Lanka’s third T20I’s aginst England on Tuesday with a dislocated shoulder, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has announced. ESPNcricinfo also understands that the 24-year-old quick had been named in Sri Lanka’s World Cup squad – which is yet to be publicly announced by SLC – but now that is also in jeopardy following the freak injury in Sunday’s T20I defeat to England in Pallekele.
The incident occurred in the eighth over of England’s chase as Malinga bowled the first ball following resumption of play after a lengthy rain interval. Upon delivery release Malinga seemingly tweaked his left (non-bowling) shoulder, and clutched it falling to the floor mid followthrough. The delivery itself was wayward, arriving above waist height and given as a no-ball.
“He will return to Colombo today, where he will undergo an MRI scan to assess the extent of the injury and determine the next course of action,” stated an SLC media release.
It’s a cruel blow for Malinga, who had shot up Sri Lanka’s seam-bowling pecking order following an impressive debut IPL stint in 2025. He had picked up eight wickets in his eight T20Is since debuting in November with a strike rate of 17.1.
No replacement was announced in the squad, and Pramod Madushan is the only other seamer available. He had been touted as a backup to Dushmantha Chameera ahead of the series, and will now likely slot in for Malinga.
With SLC delaying the announcement of their World Cup squad, it’s unclear if Malinga will retain his spot or not in the 15. Any change to the squad post the January 31 squad announcement deadline would also require ICC’s approval.
If they were to make a change however, Sri Lanka are spoilt for choice in the fast-bowling department. The two frontrunners are seemingly Madushan and Nuwan Thushara. Madushan will likely get to stake his claim in the third T20I, while Thushara has been key contributor to Sri Lanka’s T20I exploits over the past year. The likes of Asitha Fernando, Binura Fernando and Dilshan Madushanka are also in contention, with the latter two the only left-armers.
(Cricinfo)
China executes four more Myanmar mafia members
No decision yet on ICC meeting to discuss Pakistan boycott
Shoulder injury casts doubt over Eshan Malinga’s T20 World Cup
Showers expected in the Northern, North-central, Eastern, Western, Uva, Sabaragamuwa, Southern and Central provinces
Development Officers threaten to intensify their protest
Auditor General to be appointed tomorrow
‘Dates have the highest sugar content to fight Coronavirus’
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