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Allen, Duffy lead rout of Pakistan to seal series win for New Zealand
New Zealand’s fast bowlers crushed Pakistan in swinging conditions at Mount Maunganui and set up a massive 115-run win to help the home side clinch the series 3-1 with a match to spare. After chasing down 205 in Auckland to keep the series alive, Pakistan were all out in 16.2 on Sunday with New Zealand’s four-seam attack accounting for nine of the ten wickets. Jacob Duffy made early inroads, picking up three wickets inside the powerplay to dent Pakistan and they never recovered from the top-order collapse.
Earlier, Finn Allen top-scored with a 20-ball fifty and cameos fromTim Seifert and Michael Bracewell powered New Zealand to 220 for 6. New Zealand made the intent clear from the beginning as they raced to 79 for 1 in the powerplay. Even though there was a slowdown in the middle overs, New Zealand managed to post their second straight 200-plus total in the series, which proved too much for the visitors.
Pakistan’s chase never took off with New Zealand troubling them with swing and seam on offer. Unlike the game in Auckland, Pakistan couldn’t take advantage of the dew factor. The chase began with Will O’Rourke, playing his first match of the series, removing Mohammed Haris with an excellent delivery that nipped back in to disturb his stumps. Duffy then dismissed Hasan Nawaz, centurion from the last match, and captain Salman Agha in the second over to dent Pakistan. Zakary Foulkes, one of the two changes that New Zealand made to the XI, also struck instantly, as he cleaned up Shadab Khan in his first ball with an inswinger.
Eventually, Pakistan lost eight wickets for 56 runs. The game was all but over at the halfway stage of the chase even though the No.7 Abdul Samad fought a lone battle with his 30-ball 44.
Duffy came back for his final over and added one more wicket to his tally to end with 4 for 20 while Foulkes scalped three overall. Duffy is now the highest-wicket taker in the series with 11 wickets from four matches
Tim Seifert continued to give flying starts for New Zealand. He drove the second ball of the innings, a juicy half-volley from Shaheen Afridi, straight down the ground for four and followed it up with a six over long-on off Khushdil Shah in the next over. Abrar Ahmed’s first over, fourth overall, was the expensive one in the powerplay as Seifert smashed 6, 4, 6 in the 19-run over. The team’s fifty came up in 3.5 overs. But Pakistan got the breakthrough immediately as Haris Rauf was brought in for the fifth over with Seifert pulling a short ball to deep midwicket where Khushdil took a stunning low catch. New Zealand ended the powerplay at 79 for 1 – the second-highest powerplay total for any team against Pakistan in men’s T20Is. Seifert made a 22-ball 44.
Allen scored eight off his first six balls, but once the field was spread out, he took charge. Abrar, after his 19-run first over, conceded another 16 runs in his second as Allen hit him for two fours and a six. Allen continued his onslaught, slapping Shadab Khan for two fours and as many sixes in a 23-run 10th over to bring up his fifty off just 19 balls. But he perished the next delivery from Abbas Afridi after miscuing on to mid-off. From 134 for 2, New Zealand slipped to 149 for 5 as Pakistan bowled five boundary-less overs.
Rauf was the only Pakistan bowler to leak fewer than ten runs an over in the fourth T20I, as he returned 3 for 27 from his four overs.
Brief scores:
New Zealand 220 for 6 in 20 overs (Finn Allen 50, Mark Chapman 24, Daryl Mitchell 29, Michael Bracewell 46*, Tim Seifert 44; Abrar Ahmed 2-41, Haris Rauf 3-27, Abbas Afridi 1-38) beat Pakistan 105 all out in 16.2 overs (Irfan Khan 24, Abdul Samad 44; Will O’Rourke 1-29, Jacob Duffy 4-20, Zakary Foulkes 3-25, James Neesham 1-14, Ish Sodhi 1-15) by 115 runs
[Cricinfo]
Chinese President Xi Jinping has met Malaysia’s King Sultan Ibrahim in Kuala Lumpur as part of a regional push to shore up Beijing’s trade relationships.
The diplomatic stop on Wednesday marks the second leg of Xi’s three-nation tour, which also includes Vietnam and Cambodia, and comes amid sharp tariffs imposed by the United States that are reshaping the global economic landscape.
Sultan Ibrahim welcomed Xi in a colourful ceremony at the golden-domed Istana Negara palace before his meeting with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim at the administrative capital of Putrajaya.
Xi touted a “new golden era” of Chinese-Malaysian relations, following the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties last year. The king announced new cooperation between the countries in various fields, including artificial intelligence.
“This is a hugely significant visit,” said Al Jazeera’s Rob McBride, reporting from Putrajaya. “It takes place during this unprecedented trade war that is developing with the United States, with both Malaysia and China finding themselves in the middle.”
Khoo Ying Hooi, an associate professor in the department of international and strategic studies at Malaya University, said the visit offered a chance to “test the waters for regional solidarity” amid the US trade disruptions.
“It’s not just about friendship, it’s about realigning the regional centre of gravity towards Beijing,” she said.
Malaysia is the current chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) bloc, whose members are among the hardest hit by new US tariffs.
ASEAN member Vietnam, a manufacturing powerhouse, was slapped with 46 percent tariffs, and Cambodia, a significant producer of low-cost clothing for big Western brands, was hit with a 49 percent duty.
Malaysia, Southeast Asia’s third-largest economy, was hit with a lower tariff of 24 percent. Though the measures have been paused for 90 days, President Donald Trump has warned that no country is “off the hook”.
[Aljazeera]
Police urge motorists who intend to use the Ella – Wellawaya Road to use alternative roads as there is a severe vehicle congestion due to inclement weather condition.
The UK Supreme Court has unanimously backed the biological definition of “woman” under the 2010 Equality Act.
It marks the culmination of a long-running legal battle which could have major implications for how sex-based rights apply across Scotland, England and Wales.
Judges sided with campaign group For Women Scotland, which brought a case against the Scottish government arguing that sex-based protections should only apply to people that are born female.
Judge Lord Hodge said the ruling should not be seen as a triumph of one side over the other, and stressed that the law still gives protection against discrimination to transgender people.
The Scottish government argued in court that transgender people with a gender recognition certificate (GRC) are entitled to the same sex-based protections as biological women.
The Supreme Court was asked to decide on the proper interpretation of the 2010 Equality Act, which applies across Britain.
Lord Hodge said the central question was how the words “woman” and “sex” are defined in the legislation.
He told the court: “The unanimous decision of this court is that the terms woman and sex in the Equality Act 2010 refer to a biological woman and biological sex.
“But we counsel against reading this judgement as a triumph of one or more groups in our society at the expense of another, it is not.”
He added that the legislation gives transgender people “protection, not only against discrimination through the protected characteristic of gender reassignment, but also against direct discrimination, indirect discrimination and harassment in substance in their acquired gender”.
Campaigners who brought the case against the Scottish government hugged each other and punched the air as they left the courtroom, with several of them in tears.
The Equality Act provides protection against discrimination on the basis of various characteristics, including “sex” and “gender reassignment”.
Judges at the Supreme Court in London were asked to rule on what that law means by “sex” – whether it means biological sex, or legal, “certificated” sex as defined by the 2004 Gender Recognition Act.
The Scottish government argued the 2004 legislation was clear that obtaining a GRC amounts to a change of sex “for all purposes”.
For Women Scotland argued for a “common sense” interpretation of the words man and woman, telling the court that sex is an “immutable biological state”.
Outside the Supreme Court, For Women Scotland co-founder Susan Smith said: “Today the judges have said what we always believed to be the case, that women are protected by their biological sex.
“Sex is real and women can now feel safe that services and spaces designated for women are for women and we are enormously grateful to the Supreme Court for this ruling.”
A UK government spokesman said: “This ruling brings clarity and confidence, for women and service providers such as hospitals, refuges, and sports clubs.
“Single-sex spaces are protected in law and will always be protected by this government.”
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch described the ruling as a “victory for all of the women who faced personal abuse or lost their jobs for stating the obvious”.
But Scottish Green MSP Maggie Chapman, a prominent campaigner for trans-rights, said: “This is a deeply concerning ruling for human rights and a huge blow to some of the most marginalised people in our society.
“It could remove important protections and will leave many trans people and their loved ones deeply anxious and worried about how their lives will be affected and about what will come next.”
The Scottish government has not yet commented on the ruling.
[BBC]
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