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WWC 2025: Australia and South Africa face off for top-of-the-table clash
On Wednesday, Chloe Tryon and Marizanne Kapp were on the opposite sides of the Holkar Stadium. Tryon was lofting throwdowns inside out from the practice nets towards the main pitch while Kapp was taking some high catches on the other side of the ground. Tryon and Kapp were on the same side and made vital contributions in the only ODI South Africa have won against Australia . They could once again be key in South Africa’s last league game of the Women’s World Cup, against the same opponents.
This is a top of the table clash. Australia are yet to lose a game, on 11 points, while South Africa are on 10. The winner on Saturday will go to Navi Mumbai for the semi-final against India, while the loser will head to the Guwahati semi-final, where England will be waiting.
An Australia vs South Africa fixture has been an anomaly in women’s cricket. Before they played a multi-format series at the start of 2024, both the teams had last played a bilateral series in 2016 (only ODIs). Their meetings have often been restricted to ICC tournaments, where Australia have emerged victorious every single time – until the T20 World Cup semi-final last year.
In the ODI World Cup in 2022, South Africa had done well to post 271. However, their sloppy fielding – they dropped four catches – meant Australia comfortably aced that chase, with Meg Lanning’s century eclipsing Laura Wolvaardt’s 90.
This South African unit, though, not only knows how to reach knockouts but also keeps its nerves in check. That was on show in the two chases in Visakhapatnam in this World Cup, where they hunted down 252 against India despite being 81 for 5, and then chased 233 against Bangladesh from 78 for 5. This is not to say that only the lower order has fired for them. As many as five South Africa batters have scored 150 or more in the competition.
South Africa have been quite good against legspin in the last two years. Since the start of 2023, their top five averages 44.76 against that style of bowling. This is telling, because only Pakistan have faced more legspin bowling in this time (917) than South Africa (883). Australia average more (47.09) against legspin but their top five has faced only 491 such deliveries. Tazmin Brits, Sune Luus, Marizanne Kapp and Laura Wolvaardt all average over 58 against legspin in this period. Brits and Luus also score quite quickly, and only have two dismissals each against legspin.
On Saturday, they will be faced with one of the most economical bowlers at this World Cup in Alana King . She has six wickets so far, but her X-factor has been the control she affords Australia in the non-powerplay overs. Against England, she was at her stingy best, which allowed other bowlers to pick up wickets from the other end. Australia also have another legspinner in Georgia Wareham, who has three wickets in the two matches she played when they rested Sophie Molineux. King has eight wickets in four ODIs and averages 13.25 versus South Africa. Before the Ashes where she took a five-for, her best bowling figures (4 for 26) came last year against South Africa.
Alyssa Healy did a few rounds of the outfield before a half hour batting stint in the enclosed nets. Tahlia McGrath said Australia are taking it day by day with their captain, who missed the previous game with a minor calf strain. Beth Mooney did her wicketkeeping drills before nets on Friday. Is that an indication Australia don’t want to risk Healy before the semi-final?
Australia (probable): Georgia Voll, Phoebe Litchfield, Ellyse Perry, Annabel Sutherland, Beth Mooney (wk), Ashleigh Gardner, Tahlia McGrath (capt), Sophie Molineux, Alana King, Kim Garth, Megan Schutt
South Africa are one of the two teams to use all 15 players in the squad. They could bring back seamer Masabata Klaas instead of offspin-allrounder Nondumiso Shangase against Australia. They could also bring back Anneke Bosch, who scored 44 in South Africa’s only ODI win over Australia and also scored an unbeaten 74 against them in the T20 World Cup semi-final last year.
South Africa (probable): Laura Wolvaardt (capt), Tazmin Brits, Sune Luus, Annerie Dercksen, Marizanne Kapp, Karabo Meso (wk), Chloe Tryon, Nadine de Klerk, Nondumiso Shangase/Masabata Klaas, Ayabonga Khaka, Nonkululeko Mlaba
(Cricinfo)
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US press gala shooting suspect charged with attempting to kill Trump
Federal authorities in the United States have charged the suspect who allegedly shot a US Secret Service agent as he tried to breach security at a press gala attended by Donald Trump with attempting to assassinate the US president.
Cole Thomas Allen, 31, of Torrance, California, also faces firearms charges in a three-count complaint, prosecutors announced on Monday.
In the case of a conviction, the attempted assassination of Trump carries out a sentence of up to life in prison.
Allen wore a blue prison jumpsuit at his first appearance in Washington, DC, federal court, two days after authorities said they foiled an attack at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, an annual black-tie gathering of journalists and politicians in the US capital.
“He attempted to assassinate the president of the United States, Donald J Trump”, prosecutor Jocelyn Ballantine said in court.
Allen has not yet responded to the allegations. Seated at the defence table flanked by US Marshals, Allen said he would answer all questions truthfully and that he had a master’s degree in computer science.
US Magistrate Judge Matthew Sharbaugh ordered Allen detained while the case moves forward. Sharbaugh scheduled another hearing over Allen’s continued detention for Thursday.
Jeanine Pirro, the US attorney for Washington, DC, said further charges could be filed against Allen as the investigation proceeds.
“Make no mistake, this was an attempted assassination of the president of the United States, with the defendant making clear what his intent was – and that intent was to bring down as many of the high-ranking cabinet officials as he could,” Pirro told reporters on Monday.
She cited an alleged manifesto written by the suspect, saying that his targets were administration officials “prioritised from highest-ranking to lowest”.
Pirro added that Allen allegedly had a semiautomatic pistol, a shotgun and three knives. She said authorities believe the guns were purchased in California.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said Allen travelled via train from his home near Los Angeles to Chicago and then to Washington.
[Aljazeera]
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Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar lead rout of Delhi Capitals
On Saturday, Delhi served up a belter of a pitch on which 265 played 264. Two days later, the adjacent surface produced a passage of play straight out of a spicy Test-match session. Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Josh Hazlewood maximised the swing and bounce on offer in the early exchanges to raze through Delhi Capitals. DC crumpled to 8 for 6 – their powerplay score of 13 was the lowest in a full IPL game – and were in danger of being dismissed for the lowest total in the league.
Contributions from the lower order helped them avoid that ignominy and dragged them to 75. Royal Challengers Bengaluru completed the demolition job with nine wickets and 81 balls to spare. They narrowed Punjab Kings’ lead at the top of the table to just one point and boosted their NRR.
The carnage began with Bhuvneshwar yorking IPL debutant Sahil Parakh for a two-ball duck in the first over and ended with DC being decimated for the lowest powerplay score.
The Delhi pitch didn’t misbehave, but offered swing and bounce throughout the powerplay. Bhuvneshwar and Hazlewood made the most of it to return figures of 3-0-5-3 and 3-0-8-3 respectively in the first six overs. At the innings break, Bhuvneshwar said that he was surprised that the ball swung for so long. Safe to say so were the DC batters.
Parakh, picked ahead of Prithvi Shaw, came in as a player with considerable reputation for an 18-year old. DC’s director of cricket Venugopal Rao believes he can play for India one day, but on Monday, his IPL debut lasted all of two balls. Bhuvneshwar hit his edge first ball with an outswinger and knocked out his middle stump with an inswinger next ball.
In the second over, Hazlewood hit the perfect length – neither short or full – with his first ball to KL Rahul and had him top-edging a pull to the wicketkeeper Jitesh Sharma. Hazlewood pushed his length and line fuller and wider next ball and found late away movement to have Sameer Rizvi nicking to Jitesh for a golden duck.
Tristan Stubbs denied Hazlewood a hat-trick, but in the next over he too edged behind, off Bhuvneshwar. With two slips in play, including a wide one, Rajat Patidar ramped up the pressure on DC and empowered his bowlers to keep attacking. When Bhuvneshwar also kissed Axar Patel’s edge, DC were 7 for 5 in the third over.
It soon became 8 for 6 when Hazlewood dug a snorter into Nitish Rana’s arm pit from around the wicket. Rana took his eyes off the ball and ended up fending it to Padikkal.
Even RCB couldn’t believe what had just transpired. Tim David covered his face in disbelief.
A dust storm, which caused a brief stoppage, and a 35-run partnership for the seventh wicket between Abhishek Porel and David Miller then gave DC some respite.
DC had pressed the emergency switch and brought Porel in as an Impact Player following the fall of the fifth wicket. The first shot of authority came from Porel when he swatted Rasikh Dar over midwicket for four soon after the powerplay.
Miller also seemed fairly comfortable against RCB’s change bowlers before Rasikh drew a top edge with a short ball that stopped on the batter. Batting at No.8 for the first time in his 565-match T20 career, Miller was dismissed for 19 off 18 balls.
Kyle Jamieson hit the first six of the game when he launched Romario Shepherd over square leg in the 11th over, but two overs later, Krunal Pandya pinned him lbw for 12 off 13 balls.
Porel hung around for 33 balls for 30 runs before he was the last man dismissed. He was also the only DC batter to pass 20 and took them past the lowest IPL total of 49. Hazlewood made a mess of his stumps with a searing yorker that tailed in from around the wicket.
Brief scores:
Royal Challengers Bengaluru 77 for 1 in 6.3 overs (Jacob Bethell 20, Virat Kohli 23*, Devdutt Padikkal 34*; Kyle Jamieson 1-42) beat Delhi Capitals 75 in 16.3 overs (AbishekPorel 30, David Miller 19, Kyle Jamieson 12; Josh Hazlewood 4-12, Bhuvneshwar Kumar 3-05, RasikhnSalman 1-21, Suyashb Sharma 1-07, Krunal Pandya 1-09) by nine wickets
[Cricinfo]
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Heat Index at Caution Level in the Northern, North-central and North-western provinces and in Colombo, Gampaha, Kegalle, Trincomalee and Batticaloa districts during the day time
Warm Weather Advisory
Issued by the Natural Hazards Early Warning Centre
Issued at 3.30 p.m. on 27 April 2026, valid for 28 April 2026.
The Heat index, the temperature felt on human body is likely to increase up to ‘Caution level’ at some places in the Northern, North-central and North-western provinces and in Colombo,
Gampaha, Kegalle, Trincomalee and Batticaloa districts during the day time.
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 the 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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