2023-07-14

Published

3 years ago

2023/07/14

Thilina Walpola

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Latest News

Nervous Pakistan face Namibia with final Super Eight spot on the line

Published

2 mins ago

2026/02/18

Priyan

Salman Agha gives a pep talk [Cricinfo]

After the reality check of the India game, Pakistan have only one goal for this final group match against Namibia – do not lose.

Victory – or a washout – will secure them a Super Eight berth, which they famously failed to qualify for in 2024, at USA’s expense. Should Namibia spring a surprise, it will once more be USA that progress at Pakistan’s expense, and condemn them to a third straight first-round exit at a men’s ICC event.

Pakistan should comfortably have enough to overcome a Namibian side that is winless in Group A. But frayed nerves can play havoc should the Namibians find a way to turn this into a scrap. Against Netherlands in the tournament opener, Pakistan found themselves on the brink of defeat after a couple of wickets during a routine chase saw them dramatically lose their way.

But the loss against India, and the magnitude of the defeat, is likely to have shaken confidence. The one-dimensional bowling plans were clearly exposed by India, with Pakistan in possession of no credible seam option bar a struggling Shaheen Afridi. With the bat, the failure of the top order effectively killed off the game inside the first two overs.

There is likely to be a sweep of changes after the loss against India for Pakistan, with a tweak to their bowling combination that allows more pace. However, they will be aware they need to do a little more than was required of them against USA last week, when a clinical – if not overwhelming – performance proved too much for the Americans.

Namibia do not possess anywhere near the same quality, but, already eliminated, they go into the game with a level of freedom Pakistan do not possess. Their strength lies at the top of the batting order, where they caused discomfort to both the USA and the Netherlands, though not for long enough to convert it into points. They will need to play the perfect game, and for long enough, to cause the upset of the tournament and do their fellow Associates a big favour.

Saim Ayub has established his all-round T20 credentials, but as yet, a standout innings with the bat at an T20 World Cup remains elusive. He came into this tournament in imperious form, but three matches in Sri Lanka have seen him restricted to cameos at best, with 49 runs in three innings. That built on from the 2024 World Cup, where he couldn’t kick on in the two games he played. It has amounted to a T20 World Cup average of 14.40 at a strike rate just above 18, both well below his overall career numbers. Against Namibia, Pakistan may require him to settle nerves, whether it’s with a blistering start that bats the opposition out of the game, or breaks the back of a target. It is, after all, what Pakistan’s continued participation in the tournament could come down to.

Louren Steenkamp may be relatively new to the Namibian side, but he is already among their most explosive run-scorers. With a strike rate of just under 133, only Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton has scored at a higher rate through his Namibian career. A failure against Netherlands, he has taken charge of the Namibian innings, facing the first ball and getting them off to flyers against both India and the USA. He was particularly tough on Arshdeep Singh, taking 22 runs off nine balls against him, and following up with 58 off 39 against USA. Namibia will need him to bat through the powerplay, and possibly longer, against a Pakistan attack short on confidence, piling pressure on them in a game where the stakes are already high.

Pakistan are expected to ring in the changes after a widely panned performance against India. At least three are certain to happen, with quick bowlers Naseem Shah and Salman Mirza set to come in, while one, or even both, of Fakhar Zaman and Khawaja Nafay being called up for their first games this tournament would not be a surprise. Shaheen looks certain to drop to the bench, with Babar Azam similarly precarious.

Pakistan: Sahibzada Farhan (wk), Saim Ayub, Salman Agha (capt), Babar Azam/Khawaja Nafay, Shadab Khan/Fakhar Zaman, Usman Khan (wk), Mohammad Nawaz, Salman Mirza, Naseem Shah, Usman Tariq, Abrar Ahmed

Namibia made a couple of changes to their side for the game against USA, and may make one more here. Fast bowler Max Heingo has endured a difficult start, bowling four wicketless overs across three matches and conceding 52. Jack Brassell is the obvious replacement.

Namibia: Jan Frylinck, Louren Steenkamp, Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton, Gerhard Erasmus (capt), JJ Smit, 6 Zane Green (wk), Dylan Leicher, Ruben Trumpelmann, Willem Myburgh, Bernard Scholtz, Jack Brassell

[Cricinfo]

Foreign News

Six athletes to compete under Russian flag at Paralympics

Published

17 mins ago

2026/02/18

Priyan

The Russian flag has not been flown at a Paralympic Games since 2014 [BBC]

Six Russian and four Belarusian athletes will compete under their nations’ flags at the upcoming Winter Paralympics.

In September, the International Paralympic Committee lifted its ban on athletes from the two countries competing at the Games.

Both countries were suspended from Paralympic competition after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, with Belarus a close ally of Russia. A partial ban – allowing athletes to compete as neutrals – was introduced in 2023.

However, the four individual governing bodies in charge of the six sports contested at the Paralympics decided to keep their bans in place.

In December, Russia and Belarus won an appeal against FIS – the governing body for skiing and snowboarding – at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas), permitting them to compete and accumulate ranking points.

The IPC confirmed to BBC Sport that the 10 athletes have been awarded bipartite commission invitations to compete in Para-alpine skiing, Para-cross country skiing and Para-snowboarding at the Milan-Cortina Games.

“The IPC can confirm that NPC Russia has been awarded a total of six slots: two in Para-alpine skiing (one male, one female), two in Para-cross country skiing (one male, one female), and two in Para-snowboard (both male),” it said in a statement.

“NPC Belarus has been awarded four slots in total, all in cross-country skiing (one male and three female).”

Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said it was “completely the wrong decision”.

“Allowing athletes from Russia and Belarus to compete under their own flags while the brutal invasion of Ukraine continues sends a terrible message,” Nandy wrote on X.

“The International Paralympic Committee should reconsider this decision urgently.”

Bipartite commission invites are granted to individual athletes, rather than their international federation, and allow the participation of top athletes “who may not have had the opportunity to qualify through other methods due to extraordinary circumstances”, among other factors.

Ukraine has also been awarded bipartite slots in three sports.

It will mark the first time a Russian flag has been flown at a Paralympic Games since the Sochi 2014 Games, firstly due to the country’s state-sponsored doping programme, before the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Russian news agency TASS reports that among the athletes set to compete are Aleksey Bugaev, a three-time Paralympic champion in alpine skiing, and cross-country skiers Ivan Golubkov and Anastasiia Bagiian – both are World Championship medallists.

All three returned to competition in January, and both Bugaev and Bagiian have since won World Cup titles.

The Milan-Cortina Winter Paralympics will take place from 6-15 March.

[BBC]

Foreign News

US civil rights leader Jesse Jackson dies aged 84

Published

23 mins ago

2026/02/18

Priyan

Jackson was remembered by politicians and friends as an agent of change and a transformative leader [BBC]

US civil rights leader Jesse Jackson died aged 84 on Tuesday morning surrounded by relatives, according to a statement released by his family.

“It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of Civil Rights leader and founder of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, the Honorable Reverend Jesse Louis Jackson, Sr,” the family said, adding he died “peacefully.”

His cause of death has not been released, but Jackson had been diagnosed with progressive supranuclear palsy and was in hospital late last year.

Tributes poured in for the prominent activist who twice ran to be Democrats’ presidential nominee, including from the first black US president, Barack Obama.

Jackson is survived by his wife Jacqueline and their children: Santita, Jesse Jr, Jonathan, Yusef, Jacqueline and Ashley.

In their statement, Jackson’s family said his “unwavering commitment to justice, equality, and human rights helped shape a global movement for freedom and dignity”.

“A tireless change agent, he elevated the voices of the voiceless from his Presidential campaigns in the 1980s to mobilising millions to register to vote – leaving an indelible mark on history,” they added.

Along with working with Martin Luther King, Jr, and running for president in 1984 and 1988, Jackson is remembered as the founder of a nonprofit organisation focused on social justice and civil rights, the Rainbow PUSH coalition.

Calling Jackson a “true giant”, Obama said in a statement that Jackson’s “two historic runs for president” had “laid the foundation for my own campaign to the highest office of the land”. Obama added that his wife Michelle “got her first glimpse of political organizing at the Jacksons’ kitchen table when she was a teenager”.

“For more than 60 years, Reverend Jackson helped lead some of the most significant movements for change in human history,” the Obamas also said in the statement.

“From organizing boycotts and sit-ins, to registering millions of voters, to advocating for freedom and democracy around the world, he was relentless in his belief that we are all children of God, deserving of dignity and respect.”

Jackson was admitted to hospital last November, and doctors said he had been diagnosed with a rare degenerative condition called progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) in April 2025, revising an earlier diagnosis of Parkinson’s Disease that Jackson had said was made in 2015.

Both diseases affect the brain, nervous system, and muscle control and, according to the American Parkinson Disease Association and the group CurePSP, many people with PSP are initially diagnosed with Parkinson’s because a number of the symptoms overlap.

Born in 1941 in Greenville, South Carolina, Jackson became involved in politics at an early age. He rose to prominence in the 1960s as a leader in Martin Luther King, Jr ‘s Southern Christian Leadership Conference and was with King when he was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1968.

Over the course of his career, Jackson built a movement to bring America’s increasingly diverse population together, with a message that centred on poor and working-class Americans.

After his presidential runs, Jackson later positioned himself as an elder statesman within the Democratic Party.

His son Jesse Jackson, Jr is a former US congressman.

[BBC]