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Dean, Beaumont, Bouchier lead New Zealand rout
Playing all three spinners together at every opportunity was high on England’s wish list heading into the second half of their home summer and, kicking off the first of two white-ball series with New Zealand, it worked a charm.
Charlie Dean, Sophie Ecclestone and Sarah Glenn claimed seven wickets between them – Dean the standout with her 4 for 38 – as New Zealand were bowled out for just 156 in the first of three ODIs in Durham on Wednesday.
After lacking a ruthless streak during their defeat of Pakistan in both white-ball formats when they visited England last month, addressing that would have been right up there as an objective for the hosts too, and Maia Bouchier and Tammy Beaumont answered the call with a brutal opening partnership of 137 off 106 balls which guided them to a nine-wicket victory with 28.4 overs to spare.
After Brooke Halliday had offered the only true fight from New Zealand with a defiant half-century, Bouchier smashed 67 off 50 balls and Beaumont an unbeaten 76 off 69. They got England to within 20 runs of victory before Halliday claimed the only home wicket to fall, Bouchier spooning Halliday’s eighth delivery straight to Suzie Bates, who took a low catch diving forwards at cover, before Beaumont and Heather Knight took their side over the line.
New Zealand’s bowling was even more lacklustre and England’s openers capitalised with sublime placement and relentless power. Both struck boundary after boundary through most areas and each hit a six down the ground. With Sophia Dunkley returning to England’s squad for the three ODIs and five T20Is with New Zealand after losing her place on the corresponding tour earlier this year, where Bouchier was a standout performer, the competition at the top of the order is fierce.
Asked recently what he hoped to get out of three ODIs followed by five T20Is against the White Ferns, who had lost at home 1-2 and 1-4 in March and April, Jon Lewis, England’s head coach told Cricinfo’s Powerplay podcast: “I’m really keen to try and get all three of my spinners in every team that we play. It’s a really, really hard thing to do. They’re world-class spiners, they’re brilliant bowlers so I’m trying as best I can to work out how to balance the side to get those players in.”
The opportunity presented itself with Kate Cross ruled out by an abdominal injury and Nat Sciver-Brunt unable to bowl her full allocation as she manages a knee problem, leaving Lauren Filer and Lauren Bell to shoulder the seam-bowling workload on a Seat Unique Riverside pitch that was expected to offer some turn.
New Zealand won the toss in good batting conditions under clear skies and with a fast outfield, even if the pitch was on the slow side.
Filer took a couple of balls to find her length but she struck with her eighth delivery, a gem which jagged back in and rocketed into the top of Suzie Bates’ middle and off stumps in the fourth over of the day to halt a promising start by Bates, who struck three fours on her way to 16 off 12 balls.
Georgia Plimmer was run out in freakish style, inadvertently deflecting Amelie Kerr’s jab down the pitch with her foot as she set off for a run towards midwicket then continuing to the other end as Bouchier gathered and fired the ball to wicketkeeper Amy Jones with Plimmer short of her ground. That brought Sophie Devine to the crease and Devine’s presence became more crucial when, moments later, Kerr top-edged her attempted slog-sweep off Ecclestone high into the air and ultimately into the hands of a waiting Jones. Plimmer’s 29 ended up being New Zealand’s next-best score behind Halliday on a sorry looking scorecard.
Ecclestone and Jones teamed up again, the former with a beautiful delivery that drifted in then turned away and the latter with the sharpest of catches off Devine’s thick outside edge to leave New Zealand reeling at 75 for 4.
When Maddy Green fell lbw to Sciver-Brunt and Izzy Gaze and Hannah Rowe both departed in similar fashion to Dean, the White Ferns slumped to 111 for 7.
Dean claimed her third wicket and Jones her third catch when Jess Kerr prodded at one outside off stump and sent a faint edge behind, then Molly Penfold fell cheaply, beaten by a Dean delivery which spun back in to rattle the top of leg stump.
Halliday struck the only six of the New Zealand innings, launching a fuller delivery outside off-stump from Dean down the ground, and seven fours, including one behind backward square leg to bring up her half-century before edging Glenn’s next ball high into the air for Heather Knight to pocket a diving catch.
Ecclestone closed with 2 for 28 from seven overs while Glenn, Filer and Sciver-Brunt took one each. It was only the second time Dean, Ecclestone and Glenn had played together in an ODI and, given the result, it may well not be the last.
Brief scores:
England Women 157 for 1 in 21.2 overs (Tammy Beaumont 76*, Maia Bouchier 67; Brooke Halliday 1-17) beat New Zealand Women 156 in 33.3 overs (Georgia Plimmer 29, Brooke Halliday 51; Charlie Dean 4-38, Sophie Ecclestone 2-28) by nine wickets
[Cricinfo]
Palestine was the deadliest place to work as a journalist in 2025, with the Middle East as a whole the most dangerous region for media professionals, according to a global journalist union.
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) said the region accounted for 74 deaths last year – more than half of the 128 journalists and media workers killed – in a new report released on Wednesday.
The Middle East was followed by Africa with 18 deaths, Asia Pacific (15), the Americas (11) and Europe (10), according to the report. The vast majority of those killed were men, but the list included 10 women.
“128 journalists killed in a single year is not just a statistic; it is a global crisis. These deaths are a brutal reminder that journalists are being targeted with impunity, simply for doing their job,” IFJ General Secretary Anthony Bellanger said.
Palestinian journalists were the biggest cohort of victims: 56 Palestinian media professionals were killed in 2025. Yemen followed, with 13 deaths, Ukraine, with eight, and Sudan, with six, according to the IFJ.
The Paris-based media union cited Israel’s killing of Al Jazeera journalist Anas al-Sharif as the most “emblematic” of the 56 journalists murdered in Palestine last year covering Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. Al-Sharif, 28, was killed on August 10 alongside several colleagues when Israeli forces struck a media tent outside Gaza City’s al-Shifa Hospital.
The attack also killed Al Jazeera correspondent Mohammed Qreiqeh, Al Jazeera camera operators Ibrahim Zaher and Mohammed Noufal, freelance camera operator Momen Aliwa and freelance journalist Mohammed al-Khalidi.
IFJ also cited an Israeli strike in early September on a Yemeni newspaper office as “one of the worst-ever attacks on a media office”. Thirteen journalists and media workers at the Houthi-affiliated “26 September” newspaper were killed, along with more than 20 other people.
Another nine deaths were ruled as accidents, while others – including two journalists in Syria and two in Iran – were “targeted and killed” because of their work, IFJ said.
While the Middle East was the deadliest region for the third year in a row in 2025, the Asia Pacific accounted for the largest number of journalists and media workers behind bars. Most cases in 2025 were in China and Hong Kong, which together accounted for 143 journalists, followed by 49 in Myanmar and 37 in Vietnam.
Europe was another detention hotspot last year, accounting for 149 imprisoned journalists. IFJ attributed the figure, up 40 percent from a year earlier, to “intensified repression in Azerbaijan and Russia”.
[Aljazeera]
United States President Donald Trump has said that he will delay the implementation of tariffs on upholstered furniture, kitchen cabinets and vanities for one year, amid growing concerns over cost-of-living issues.
Trump signed an order on Wednesday night, during the New Year’s Eve holiday, pausing a planned 50 percent tariff on cabinets and vanities and a 30 percent tariff on upholstered furniture.
But the order maintained the 25 percent tariff he put in place for those products in September.
The US president had previously described the furniture tariffs as a step to “bolster American industry and protect national security”.
Polls indicate that rising prices and the cost of living are major concerns for people in the US as the country approaches its 2026 midterm elections, scheduled for November.
Voters hold President Trump’s policies, and tariffs in particular, at least partly responsible for their economic woes. A Politico poll released in December found that 30 percent of respondents cited tariffs as the primary reason prices were high, and 32 percent said that Trump bears “full responsibility” for the state of the economy.
A majority of respondents cited the cost of living as a top issue facing the country, while 32 percent cited the state of the economy. Democratic politicians have sought to hammer Trump and his Republican Party on affordability concerns, which Trump has waved away as a “hoax” perpetuated by his political rivals.
The Italian foreign ministry said on Thursday that the US had also agreed to slash proposed import duties on pasta products from 13 companies.
Previously, the Trump administration had threatened the pasta companies with additional tariffs of 92 percent, in addition to import taxes on European Union products.
Italy’s foreign ministry said that the US Commerce Department had agreed to bring that rate down to 2.26 percent for La Molisana and 13.98 percent for Garofalo, two Italian food companies the administration had accused of undercutting other pasta producers through unfairly low prices.
The other companies will face a rate of 9.09 percent.
“The recalculation of the duties is a sign that US authorities recognise our companies’ constructive willingness to cooperate,” the foreign ministry said.
[Aljazeera]
Australia batter Usman Khawaja will retire from international cricket following the fifth Ashes Test against England in Sydney this week.
The 39-year-old will play his 88th and final Test on the ground where he made his debut against the same opponents in January 2011.
Khawaja was born in Pakistan and became the first Muslim to play for Australia when he took the place of Ricky Ponting at the end of England’s 3-1 series win 15 years ago.
The left-hander has made 6,206 Test runs at an average of 43.39, with 16 hundreds.
He has played in six Ashes series – winning two, losing two and drawing two.
He was also part of the Australia team that won the World Test Championship in 2023.
The final Test at the SCG starts on Sunday (23:30 GMT, Saturday).
Alongside Steve Smith, Khawaja is one of two remaining members of the Australia team beaten by England in their most recent series win in this country in 2010-11.
He needs 30 runs in his final Test to go above Mike Hussey and into 14th on Australia’s all-time run-scorers list, behind the great Donald Bradman in 13th.
Khawaja played the last of his 40 one-day internationals in 2019, having scored 1,554 runs at 42. He played in nine T20 internationals, scoring 241 runs at 26.77.
Now playing domestically for Queensland, Khawaja will end his career on the ground that was his home when he first played professional cricket for New South Wales in 2008.
Often in and out of the Australia team during his Test career, he found a home at the top of the order during the previous home Ashes in 2021-22.
However, his place has come under scrutiny during this series after he suffered back spasms in the first Test that prevented him from opening.
Travis Head took Khawaja’s place in the second innings and made a swashbuckling century to lead Australia to an eight-wicket win.
Khawaja subsequently missed the second Test with the back problem and was due to be left out of the third, only to receive a late call-up when Steve Smith fell ill.
He made 82 and 40 in Adelaide to retain his place for the fourth Test. Australia lead the series 3-1.
After the Ashes Australia will not play another Test until August, by which time Khawaja will be almost 40.
[BBC]
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