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Broad signs off in style as England level series
Head joined Smith at the crease after Australia lost quick wickets and slipped to 169/3. Head struggled initially, beaten outside off multiple times, before getting into the thick of action with regular boundaries. Smith also found the fence from time to time, as they extended their partnership past 50 and brought the target below 150. In some late drama in the final over before Lunch, Moeen Ali got Smith to glove one to leg-slip where Ben Stokes timed his jump well to hold on to the ball but in his attempt to throw it, he hit his right knee and the ball popped out.
Woakes found movement straightaway in the final session and went past Smith’s outside edge on a couple of occasions while Moeen was getting sharp turn. Woakes also tested the outside edge of Head’s bat but the left-hander struck the first four of the session, playing one past mid-on. But Moeen and Woakes changed the tone of the match completely in just a few overs. Moeen lured Head into a drive, getting him to edge to slip while Smith fell after reaching fifty, squared up by Woakes to edge to slip. Moeen and Woakes then accounted for Mitchell Marsh and Mitchell Starc as Australia, who were going strong at 264/3, slipped to 275/7.
Alex Carey and Pat Cummins tried to resurrect the chase, with the two batters striking a boundary apiece. But Cummins fell in his attempt to pull a short ball from Moeen, handing the spinner his third wicket. Broad was brought back into the attack in what was his final spell and bowled in tandem with Moeen. But the England bowlers encountered resistance from Carey and Todd Murphy who put on a well-paced partnership to keep Australia interested and England frustrated. Carey also struck a six off Moeen coming down the track while Murphy pulled a Broad delivery for a four. But Broad ended England’s wait by getting Murphy to edge to the ‘keeper and nearly had Carey too if not for Crawley putting down the catch. The dream finish came soon enough as Broad had Carey caught behind to secure himself a winning farewell and a 2-2 finish to the Ashes.
Earlier, With overcast conditions welcoming the teams at The Oval on the final day, and a changed ball which had a lot more shine, there was assistance for the bowlers as Broad and Woakes tested the Australian openers. Woakes eventually made the breakthrough, getting David Warner (60) to edge behind. England lost a review when Broad went up for a leg-before shout against Marnus Labuschagne. But a short while later, Usman Khawaja burnt a review after being trapped in front by an incoming delivery from Woakes as he went back to the hut after a well-made 72. Labuschagne came out with a lot more intent compared to his first innings effort. But his promising stand with Smith was ended by Mark Wood who went wide of the crease to find the edge.
Australia, who retained the Ashes after the drawn fourth Test, asked England to bat first and had them in early trouble. But Harry Brook’s counter-attacking 85 and useful runs from Woakes and Wood helped the hosts post 283 in their first innings in less than 55 overs. Australia nearly batted double the number of overs to score 295, with Smith scoring 71 in their first essay. Joe Root (91), Jonny Bairstow (78) and Zak Crawley (73) led England’s charge in the second innings as they took only 81.5 overs to score 395. Australia replied with a century opening stand before Woakes and Moeen ran through their batting order, and Broad had his final dance to bring a fitting end to an evenly-contested Ashes.
The Department of Education has announced that the results of the 2024 General Certificate of Education Advanced Level Examination have been released online, and can be viewed on : www.doenets.lk
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IPL 2025: Harshal, Kamindu lead Sunrisers Hyderabad to their first win against Chennai Super Kings in Chennai
A three-pronged performance from Kamindu Mendis and Harshal Patel’s use of the middle of the pitch led Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) to win their first-ever match against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in Chennai, a win SRH will hope revives a faltering campaign.
Dewald Brevis, on his CSK debut, and Ayush Mhatre, the youngest CSK player ever in only his second innings, threatened to inject some freshness into a stale CSK campaign, but the 154 they took CSK to was not enough to avoid their fourth loss at home in IPL 2025 even though they did give SRH a scare on the dry pitch.
In the kind of slugfest you expect of lowly-placed sides on a tricky surface, the batters overcame the conditions only in small pockets despite heavy dew for considerable duration of the game.
Brevis looked every bit the player that earned the nickname ‘Baby AB’, but his threatening innings was cut short on 42 off 25 balls by arguably the catch of this IPL by Kamindu, who had earlier wowed us again with his ambidextrous spin. CSK mounted a spirited defence, but Kamindu calmed SRH with his unbeaten 32 off 22 to see them home.
Despite a first-ball wicket for Mohammed Shami, the 17-year-old Mhatre continued to display his quality through good intent and efficient hitting through the off side. He hit six fours in the first four overs to take CSK to 37 for 1, but now SRH began to dig the ball in and started to make both him and Sam Curran hit into the leg side.
Harshal was the bowler to kickstart the plan. Mhatre nearly holed out to deep midwicket before Curran actually did so. In the next over, Mhatre drilled Pat Cummins straight into the lap of mid-off. At 50 for 3, CSK edged past only their fourth powerplay of 50 or more in nine games.
Brought in in place of Rachin Ravindra, Brevis immediately looked a notch above the other batters in the match. Even as the placeholder No. 4 Ravindra Jadeja struggled to get any fluency, Brevis took down Kamindu, who had bowled the first two overs for no boundaries and took the wicket of Jadeja. On a dry pitch with enough grip in it, Kamindu made no mistake but Brevis still hit three sixes in his one over, the 12th. He then cut a slower bouncer from Harshal for a six off extra cover.
This is when Brevis looked to hit a second six off Harshal. The ball was in the slot too. He got a good part of it but not quite the elevation. Kamindu, however, was too far in off the long-off fence, so it looked like he would be beaten but he flew to his left, went with two hands at this missile, and came up with the ball in his right hand.
After Brevis’ wicket, SRH turned the screws right in. Cummins bowled overs 16 and 18 for no boundary, hitting a Test-match hard length and beating the bat with some away movement. SRH kept chipping at the wickets, including M S Dhoni caressing Harshal to backward point. There was no finishing kick.
If Shami took a wicket first ball, Khaleel Ahmed took one second ball, reaching eight powerplay wickets this IPL, joint highest along with Mohammed Siraj. Anshul Kamboj, preferred to R Ashwin for this match, then bowled successfully to a difficult plan: a 6-3 off-side field with two mid-offs. He had Travis Head repeatedly playing across the line to straight balls, hitting the pad twice and then the top of off.
Ishan Kishan fought his way past 17 for the first time since the hundred in SRH’s first match, but it was an innings that hovered around a run a ball for a long time. Heinrich Klassen, promoted ahead of Nitish Kumar Reddy who would eventually bat at No. 7, felt obliged to take a risk and got out to Jadeja to make it 54 for 3 in 8.1 overs.
With enough in the pitch for them, the CSK spinners continued to stifle Kishan and Aniket Verma. Just when Kishan looked like he could break free, Curran took a special catch at deep midwicket to send him back for 44 off 34. Verma swung a lot, hit two sixes, but became Noor Ahmad’s second wicket for 19 off 19, leaving 49 required in 6.1 overs.
The two overseas bowlers of CSK, Matheesha Pathirana and Noor, were generous with extras but it was more Kamindu’s assured sweeping that sent signals of calm to the SRH camp. It was actually a credit to the CSK bowling that they took the game so deep because even the changed ball was now wet and flying across the outfield.
Kamindu and Reddy didn’t have to do anything fancy in their unbeaten 49-run stand in under five overs. They didn’t try to hit a single six. Extras helped but they also timed the ball well. They got to their first away win of this season with eight balls to spare.
Brief scores:
Sunrisers Hyderabad 155 for 5 in 18.4 over (Ishan Kishan 44, Kamindu Mendis 32*, Travis Head 19, Aniket Verma 19, Nitish Kumar Reddy 19*; Khaleel Ahmed 1-21, Anshul Kamboj 1-16, Noor Ahmad 2-42, Ravindra Jadeja 1-22) beat Chennai Super Kings 154 in 19.5 overs (Dewald Brevis 42, Ayush Mhatre 30, Ravindra Jadeja 21,Shivam Dube 12, Deepak Hooda 22; Mohammad Shami 1-28, Harshal Patel 4-28, Pat Cummins 2-21,Jaydev Unadkat 2-21, Kamindu Mendis 1-26) by five wickets
[Cricinfo]
Six police officers have been killed in Thailand after their plane crashed into the sea during a test flight for parachute training, police have said.
The small plane was seen crashing into the water at around 08:00 local time (01:00 GMT) on Friday in the Cha-am district, a coastal resort area some 130km (80 miles) southwest of Bangkok.
Royal Thai Police said in a statement on Facebook that five of the officers died at the scene, with a sixth later dying in hospital.
Authorities are examining the aircraft’s black box data recorder to determine the cause of the crash.
(BBC)
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