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Jacks the star as England qualify for Super Eights with nervy win

Published

3 weeks ago

2026/02/16

Priyan

Will Jacks smashed 53 not out off 22 balls [Cricinfo]

At least there is no danger of England peaking too early. This latest nervy win over Associate opposition – punctuated by a heavy defeat to West Indies – ensured their progress from Group C, but Harry Brook’s side will have to play far better than this to stand a chance of becoming the first team to win the men’s T20 World Cup three times.

Italy ran them far too close for comfort at Eden Gardens, eventually bowled out for 178 in pursuit of 203. They were 1 for 2 after Jofra Archer’s first over, but destructive innings from their Australian-born allrounders Ben Manenti and Grant Stewart – who hit 11 sixes between them – made England sweat throughout the second innings.

For the second time in four matches, England were indebted to a fine hand from Will Jacks at No. 7. Against Nepal, Jacks launched 38 not out off 19 balls – including three final-over sixes – in a four-run win; against Italy, he belted the fastest half-century by an England player at a T20 World Cup, an innings that proved vital in another tight defence.

They had stumbled to 105 for 5 when Jacks walked in, England’s top order again misfiring after Brook had won his fourth toss of the tournament and chosen to bat. But thanks to Jacks – and with help from Sam Curran and Jamie Overton – England thrashed 78 runs off the final five overs, leaving Italy with an imposing target to chase.

It looked miles off at 22 for 3, but Manenti and Justin Mosca added 92 for the fourth wicket to keep Italy in the hunt. Both men fell in quick succession during a collapse of 4 for 24 through the middle overs, but Stewart’s late blows – including consecutive sixes during a 21-run Adil Rashid over – took the game deep.

That left Italy needing 30 off the final two overs – an equation that looked possible if Stewart could land a few more blows off their seamers. But he sliced Curran to short third to end the game as a contest, before Overton struck twice in the final over to seal England’s passage to Sri Lanka for the second phase.

Brief scores:
England 202 for 7 in 20 overs (Phil Salt 28, Jacob Bethell 23, Will Jacks 53*, Tom Banton 30, Harry Brook 14, Sam Curran 25, Jamie Overton 15; JJ Smuts 1-24, Ali Hasan 1-37, Grant Stewart 2-51, Crishan Kalugamage 2-41, Ben Manenti 1-37 ) beat Italy 178 in 20 overs (Ben Manenti 60, Grant Stewart 45, Justin Mosca 43, Harry Manenti 12, Jaspreet Singh 12; Jofra Archer 2-35, Jamie Overton 3-18, Will Jacks 1-34, Adil Rashid 1-43, Sam Curran 3-22) by 24 runs

[Cricinfo]

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Advisory for Severe Lightning issued to the Western and Sabaragamuwa provinces and Galle and Matara districts

Published

6 hours ago

2026/03/12

Priyan

Advisory for Severe Lightning Issued by the Natural Hazards Early Warning Centre at 12.30 noon 12 March 2026 valid for the period until 11.00 p.m. 12 March 2026

Thundershowers accompanied with severe lightning are likely to occur at some places in the Western and Sabaragamuwa provinces and in Galle and Matara districts after 2.00 p.m.

There may be temporary localized strong winds during thundershowers. General public is kindly requested to take adequate precautions to minimize damages caused by lightning activity.

ACTION REQUIRED:
The Department of Meteorology advises that people should:
 Seek shelter, preferably indoors and never under trees.
 Avoid open areas such as paddy fields, tea plantations and open water bodies during thunderstorms.
 Avoid using wired telephones and connected electric appliances during thunderstorms.
 Avoid using open vehicles, such as bicycles, tractors and boats etc.
 Beware of fallen trees and power lines.
 For emergency assistance contact the local disaster management authorities.

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Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur, Mitchell Starc and Kuldeep Yadav among ESPNcricinfo award winners for 2025

Published

6 hours ago

2026/03/12

Priyan

We're all winners here: Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana and Jemimah Rodrigues won big in 2025 [Cricinfo]

India’s players swept all the women’s categories in ESPNcricinfo’s annual awards for individual performances in 2025, reflecting a year in which the team won their first World Cup title.

While Jemimah Rodrigues won the women’s ODI batting honours for her awe-inspiring, cramp-battling century that knocked Australia out of the World Cup. Deepti Sharma grabbed the ODI bowling award for her match turning five for in the final against South Africa. And Harmanpreet Kaur took the captain’s award for winning the world title and for sealing white-ball series (ODIs and T20Is) in England and winning her second WPL title with Mumbai Indians. Her title clinching 66in the WPL final against Delhi Capitals took the women’s T20 leagues batting award.

South Africa Women had to deal with the bitter heartbreak of losing yet another World Cup final, but the men, who for long fell agonizingly short of the big prizes, took home the World Test Championship, eating Australia by five wickets in the final at Lord’s. They were rewarded by our jurors too:Aiden Markram won the Test batting award for his epic fourth-innings hundred in that final, while Temba Bavuma, who made a vital 66 while nursing a hamstring injury during that chase, was picked as the men’s captain of the year for leading his side to the WTC mace, to a sweep of India in Tests in India, and for ODI series wins in Australia and England.

Fast bowler Marco Jansen, one of the bowling architects of South Africa’s 2-0 win in India, narrowly lost the Test bowling award to the incandescent Mitchell Starc, who decimated England with 7 for 58 in Perth on the opening day of the Ashes.

Another seven-for took the men’s T20 leagues bowling award: Taskin Ahmed’s 7 for 19 fro Durbar Rajshahi against Dhakar Capital in the BPL. The batting prize in that category went to Hobart Hurricanes opener Mitchell Owen, whose 39 ball century against Sydney Thunder – which equalled the tournament record for the fastest hundred – took his side to their maiden BBL title.

The women’s T20 leagues bowling award, like the one for batting, also came against Delhi Capitals in the WPL: 21-year-old UP Warriorz fast bowler Kranti Gaud, in her first season, took 4 for 25, including the wickets of Rodrigues, Meg Lanning and Shafali Verma.

The Champions Trophy was the headline event in men’s cricket in 2025 and the winning ODI performances came from that tournament: in Lahore, Ibrahim Zadran broke records for the highest individual score for Afghanistan in ODIs and for the highest score in the Champions Trophy overall with his majestic 177, which knocked England out of the tournament. The ODI bowling award was picked up by India legspinner Varun Chakravarthy who took 5 for 42 against New Zealand in Dubai, where a week later India won the Champions Trophy.

Six months later, at the same ground, India also won the T20 Asia Cup. In the final against Pakistan, the dismantler-in-chief was our men’s T20I bowling award winner, another legspinner, Kuldeep Yadav, who took 4 for 30, including three wickets in his final over.

The men’s T20I batting award went to England’s Phil Salt, whose 141 not out off 60 balls against South Africa at Old Trafford was not only England’s fastest T20I hundred, but also their highest individual score in the format; and it took them to their highest team total – 304.

Australian allrounder Beau Webster, who scored four half-centuries, including a series-sealing one in his first Test, in Sydney against India, and took eight wickets in seven Tests, was named the men’s debutant of the year. The women’s debutant award went to India fast bowler N Shree Charani who showed remarkable temperament at the age of 20 to pick up a four for on T20I debut in England. She went on to take 14 wickets in the ODI World Cup, second highest for India after Deepti.

Charani, like Harmanpreet, won two awards. Her other one, for women’s T20I bowling, came for her four wickets against England at Trent Bridge, in a match where opener Smriti Mandhana’s maiden T20I hundred played a vital role in setting up India’s win. Mandhana won the women’s T20I batting award for that performance.

The men’s Associate batting award went to Max O’Dowd for masterminding Netherlands’ 370-run chase – the third-highest successful one in all ODIs -against Scotland in Dundee. His 158 not out came off only 130 balls and trumped George Munsey’s 191 in the same match. The men’s Associate bowling award was picked up by seamer Harry Manenti, whose 5 for 31 against Scotland in the qualifier in The Hague, played a big role in Italy qualifying for the 2026 T20 World Cup.

THE JURY : Ian Bishop, Sambit Bal, Shane Bond, Aakash Chopra, Andrew Fernando, Andy Flower, Nagraj Gollapudi, Mohammad Isam, Isobel Joyce, Raunak Kapoor, Nick Knight, Farveez Maharoof, Andrew McGlashan, Andrew Miller, Sidharth Monga, Tom Moody, Firdose Moonda, Urooj Mumtaz, Vernon Philander, Matt Roller, Osman Samiuddin, Dale Steyn

[Cricinfo]

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Nasa spacecraft weighing 1,300lb due to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere

Published

7 hours ago

2026/03/12

Priyan

The two Van Allen Probes were launched in 2012 [BBC]

A Van Allen Probe spacecraft weighing more than 1,300lb (600kg) is expected to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere almost 14 years after its launch, Nasa says.

The spacecraft is projected to re-enter around 19:45 EDT (23:45 GMT) on Tuesday the US Space Force predicted, according to Nasa, though there is a 24-hour margin of “uncertainty” in the timing.

The Van Allen Probe A, which launched in 2012, is expected mostly to burn up as it travels through the atmosphere, though some components may survive.

The space agency said there is a one in 4,200 chance of being harmed by a piece of the probe, which it characterised as “low” risk.

The spacecraft and its twin, Van Allen Probe B, were on a mission to gather unprecedented data on Earth’s two permanent radiation belts.

It was not immediately clear where in Earth’s atmosphere the satellite is projected to re-enter. The BBC has contacted Nasa for further detail.

Nasa and the US Space Force have said they will monitor the re-entry and update any predictions.

The mission, which was originally designed to last two years, went on for almost seven. It ended after the spacecrafts ran out of fuel and were no longer able to orient themselves toward the Sun.

The probes flew through rings of charged particles trapped by Earth’s magnetic field from 2012 to 2019, in order to study how particles were gained and lost, per Nasa.

Those rings, called the Van Allen belts, shield Earth from cosmic radiation, solar storms and streaming solar wind, which are harmful to humans and can damage technology.

The mission made significant discoveries, including the first data that show the existence of a transient third radiation belt, which can form during times of intense solar activity, Nasa said.

Van Allen Probe B is not expected to re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere before 2030.

[BBC]