Latest News
All-round Sciver-Brunt and bowlers give Mumbai third straight win
Nat Sciver Brunt put on an exceptional all-round show to propel Mumbai Indians to top of the table with an eight-wicket win over UP Warriorz in Bengaluru. She took three wickets and followed it up with an impressive and unbeaten 75 off 44 balls to chase down the target of 143 with 18 balls remaining.
Warriorz initially rode on the efforts of Grace Harris’ quickfire 45 and Vrinda Dinesh’s solid 33 but lost eight wickets for 54 runs to eventually end up with a below-par total.
Sciver-Brunt and Hayley Matthews stitched together a solid 133-run stand for the second wicket and made the chase look easy. Though Matthews struggled her way to a 50-ball 59 after getting a life early on, Sciver-Brunt’s boundary-laden knock made sure MI raced to their third win in four attempts. Warriorz are fourth on the points table now with two wins after five games.
With 252 runs from four matches, Sciver-Brunt is now the leading run scorer of this WPL, overtaking Ellyse Perry’s 235.
She came in early when MI were 6 for 1 in the fourth over, with Matthews struggling to get her timing and rhythm back. Chinelle Henry was swinging the ball both ways, making it difficult to score off in the powerplay. But Sciver-Brunt took only five balls to prove that wrong.
She welcomed Saima Thakor with a hat-trick of fours in the sixth over by sending the ball to long-on, deep square leg and deep cover. She played deep in the crease, put her bottom hand to good use and effortlessly maneuvered the ball to both sides of the pitch.
When there was width on offer, she cut fiercely, and when the length was short, she pulled behind and in front of square and toyed with the Warriorz bowlers. She brought up her fifty off 29 balls with nine fours and brought the equation down to 54 off 47 balls. This included a hat-trick of fours off Henry as well, in the 11th over.
From there, it was cakewalk for MI as Matthews also found her feet and started hitting boundaries. Overall, Sciver-Brunt struck 13 fours in her 44-ball stay.
After four matches, Warriorz took a cue from the WBBL and the Hundred and promoted Harris to open for the first time in WPL after her struggles in the middle order. The move felt just right as she looked in her element from the start.
With Navgire falling in the first over, it was up to Harris and Vrinda to steady the innings on a pitch that was holding up a bit, and the duo shared 79 runs off 52 balls to give Warriorz a solid start.
Harris began with a scoop against Sciver-Brunt and punished Shabnim Ismail for three fours on the bounce in the second over. She kep attacking and smashed 6, 4, 4, 6 off Matthews in the fourth. She swept and pulled towards square leg, muscled the ball to long-on, and rolled her wrists to bisect the gap between mid-on and midwicket.
On the other hand, Vrinda – who had scored only 40 in the previous four matches – looked in much better touch and played second fiddle to Harris. She played a lofted cover drive elegantly to start the third over and followed it with a hook in the same over. Unlike Harris, Vrinda found boundaries on the off side with classy cover drives in her 30-ball 33.
The first two partnerships gave Warriorz 81, the most for them in this WPL so far.
It was something the Warriorz captain Deepti Sharma had admitted recently, that they needed to do better in the middle overs. But they couldn’t as Warriorz squandered a strong start by losing wickets in heaps, again, to lose the plot. From 81 for 1, they collapsed to 123 for 7, losing five of those wickets in the middle overs for 30 runs.
It began when Amelia Kerr removed Harris in the 10th over after the batter was dropped on 44 by Ismail off Jintimani Kalita in the previous over. Offspinner Sanskriti Gupta then bowled a momentum-changing 11th over when she dismissed both Vrinda and Tahlia McGrath in the space of four balls. Warriorz slowed down and did not quite recover after that over.
Overall, they have lost the most wickets (24) in the middle overs (7 to 16) in this WPL so far and have been the slowest too (6.72) in that phase. With no individual brilliance rescuing them this time, their streak of two losses was broken.
Brief scores:
Mumbai Indians Women 143 for 2 in 17 overs (Nat Sciver-Brunt 75*, Hayley Matthews 59; Sophie Ecclestone 1-29, Deepti Sharma 1-25) beat UP Warriorz Women 142 for 9 in 20 overs (Grace Harris 45, Dinesh Vrinda 33, Shweta Sehrawat 19, Uma Chetry 13; Nat Sciver-Brunt 3-18, Shabnim Ismail 2-33, Hayley Matthews 1-38, Amelia Kerr 1-24, Sanskriti Gupta 2-11) by eight wickets
[Cricinfo]
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi gave the latest demonstration of his prodigious talent with a record breaking innings in Harare as India completed a dominant run at the Under-19 World Cup, swatting aside England’s challenge, to lift the trophy for the sixth time.
Sooryavanshi, the 14-year-old opener, showcased his full range of scoring in an audacious knock of 175 off just 80 balls to almost single-handedly extinguish England’s hopes after India had opted to bat. When he was third out, India were 251 for 3 in the 26th over and hypothetically on track to score 500. No one could keep up with Sooryavanshi’s rate, but cameos down the order from Abhigyan Kundu and Kanishk Chouhan did take India past 400 for the first time in a Youth ODI between Full Member nations.
For England, Caleb Falconer struck a scintillating 63-ball hundred in response, but there was too much left to do and he was last out as India regained the Under-19 title, having lost the final to Australia two years ago.
Although England struck early, Aaron George caught at point off Alex Green, the game quickly ran away from them. Sooryavanshi put on 142 in 15 overs alongside India’s captain, Ayush Mhatre, and then 78 out of 89 for the third wicket alongside Vedant Trivedi as the innings went into overdrive.
Having cruised to fifty from 32 balls, he took just 23 more to bring up his first century of the tournament, then another 16 to progress past 150. Sixes rained down around the ground, as England’s spinners, Farhan Ahmed and Ralphie Albert, were treated with disdain – although arguably no shot was more outrageous than the forehand smash off a Green bouncer than somehow went straight back over the bowler’s head into the sightscreen.
He fell completely against the run of play, gloving behind when aiming a slog-sweep at Manny Lumsden, and India’s innings stuttered – at least relative to what had gone before. James Minto bagged three-for as England strove to keep the score below 400, a mark that was breached in the final over.
Mayes struck seven fours and two sixes but fell the ball after retaking top spot from Sooryavanshi on the tournament run-scorers’ list. Thomas Rew, England’s captain, blazed out of the blocks with 31 off 18 and Dawkins notched a 49-ball fifty – but the latter’s dismissal sparked a collapse of 4 for 3 in nine balls as India’s grip tightened.
England were well up with the rate, despite wickets falling, and were given hope by a stand of 92 between Falconer and James Minto. Falconer found the boundary regularly on the way to his maiden hundred, but the requirement had ballooned above 10 an over and England were still 100 runs short when he was finally dismissed.
Brief scores:
India Under 19s 411 for 9 in 50 overs (Vaibhav Sooryavanshi 175, Ayush Mhatre 53, Abhigyan Kundu 40; Sebastian Morgan 2-74, Alex Green 2-49, Ja,es Minto 3-63) beat England Under 19s 311 in 40.2 overs (Caleb Falconer 115, Ben Dawkins 65, Ben Mayes 45; RS Ambrish 3-56, Deepesh Devendran 2-64, Khan8shk Chouhan 2-63) by 100 runs
(Cricinfo)
The USA national team has only four players born in the USA, all of them children of immigrants. The other 11 are first-generation immigrants.
Three of those 11 were born in Pakistan. Their captain Monank Patel, and four others, were born in India. Monank recently told PTI there is “no Indian or Pakistani when you represent the USA.”
This team of Indian, Pakistani, South African and Sri Lankan immigrants will get under the star-sprangled banner and start, against India, their campaign in this T20 World Cup, during whose build-up the world has seemed to grow increasingly polarised.
Make of it what you will. Be relieved that cricket still has room for these niceties, or be despondent that this small win is worth celebrating.
Amid all the politicking, what has probably not been celebrated enough is the T20 excellence India have put together. Over nine editions, the T20 world title has neither been defended successfully nor been won at home. On Saturday, in front of a packed Wankhede Stadium where they won the 2011 ODI title, India will begin their campaign promising that both can be achieved in a month’s time.
Fourteen years ago, Ian Chappell wrote that left-arm spinner Harmeet Singh, born in Mumbai and an Under-19 World Cup winner for India, was ready for international cricket. Watching Harmeet, Chappell was put in the mind of Bishan Singh Bedi. Here he is, an international cricketer via a circuitous route, back in his place of birth to take on the team representing his country of birth.
Six months ago, Ishan Kishan was not even on the World Cup radar. Then Shubman Gill got injured and fell short of runs on his T20I comeback. Kishan blasted all comers during the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. So he entered the World Cup squad as the back-up wicketkeeper-batter. Then Sanju Samson fell short of runs. Now, if India’s World Cup warm-up fixture was anything to go by, Kishan is the No. 1 choice to partner Abhishek Sharma at the top. And if he can get off to a good start, he is likely to keep his place for the business end of the tournament.
Washington Sundar, still recovering from a side strain, was not with the squad during their warm-up match against South Africa, but India are going to keep him in their squad. As it is, he is a back-up for Axar Patel, who is the first-choice spin allrounder. Harshit Rana was seen in some discomfort during the warm-up fixture and walked off after bowling just one over. The prognosis for Rana’s participation in this tournament ” doesn’t look good”, India captain Suryakumar Yadav has said, and it is particularly a cause for concern since he is the only genuine fast bowler in the squad who can contribute a few sixes down the order. Tilak Varma has made a successful return to fitness.
India (probable): Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan (wk), Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav (capt), Hardik Pandya, Rinku Singh, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakravarthy.
Andries Gous, who missed USA’s last T20I, the final of the North America T20 Cup last April, should come back as wicketkeeper and opener. Others could drop down a slot each to make up for the absence of the suspended Aaron Jones.
USA (probable): Saiteja Mukkamalla, Andries Gous (wk), Shayan Jahangir, Monank Patel (capt.), Milind Kumar, Harmeet Singh, Shubham Ranjane, Mohammad Mohsin, Shadley van Schalkwyk, Saurabh Netravalkar, Ali Khan
[Cricinfo]
An apparent suicide attack at a Shia mosque in Islamabad has killed at least 31 people and wounded dozens more, in one of the worst such incidents to hit Pakistan’s capital.
The powerful explosion occurred at Khadija Tul Kubra mosque, in southeastern Islamabad’s Tarlai Kalan area, during Friday prayers.
A senior police official told Al Jazeera on condition of anonymity the explosion appeared to be a suicide attack but the conclusive cause is yet to be determined.
“Our team is present at the site and we’re in process of confirming the cause,” he said.
A security source told told AFP news agency on condition of anonymity the attacker detonated himself after being stopped at the gate of the mosque.
In a statement, Islamabad administration said 169 people were transferred to hospital after rescue teams reached the site of the explosion.
Footage shared on social media and verified by Al Jazeera showed bloodied bodies laying on the floor of the mosque, surrounded by broken glass and debris.
At the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences hospital, AFP journalists saw several adults and children being carried in on stretchers or by their arms and legs.
Medics and bystanders helped unload victims with blood-soaked clothes from the back of ambulances and vehicles. At least one casualty arrived in the boot of a car, while friends and relatives of the wounded screamed as they arrived at the hospital’s heavily guarded emergency ward, the news agency reported.
In a statement, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed his “deep grief” following the incident.
In November last year, a suicide bomber blew himself up at the entrance of the Islamabad District Judicial Complex, killing at least 12 people and wounding dozens
(Aljazeera)
Coal scam has become litmus test for NPP: FSP
INS Gharial delivers 10 Bailey Bridges to Lanka
Anusha Palpita further remanded until 20 Feb.
SC deems proposed Parliamentary Pensions (Repeal) Bill consistent with Constitution
Colombo DC puts off verdict in case filed by MP Dayasiri to allow him to function as SLFP General Secretary
GREAT 2025–2030: Sri Lanka’s Green ambition meets a grid reality check
‘Dates have the highest sugar content to fight Coronavirus’
Sunday Island 27 December – Headlines
#SundayIsland 17th December – Headlines
Sunday Island – 28th March
Sunday Island Headlines – 21 March
Sunday Island – 21st February – Headlines
-
Business4 days agoSLIM-Kantar People’s Awards 2026 to recognise Sri Lanka’s most trusted brands and personalities
-
Business6 days agoAltair issues over 100+ title deeds post ownership change
-
Business6 days agoSri Lanka opens first country pavilion at London exhibition
-
Business5 days agoAll set for Global Synergy Awards 2026 at Waters Edge
-
Business4 days agoAPI-first card issuing and processing platform for Pan Asia Bank
-
Business6 days agoESOFT UNI Kandy leads the charge in promoting rugby among private universities
-
Editorial2 days agoAll’s not well that ends well?
-
Features2 days agoPhew! The heat …