Latest News

Kerr, Matthews leave UP Warriorz on the brink of exit

Published

1 year ago

2025/03/7

Priyan

Amelia Kerr ran through Warriorz for figures of 5 for 38 [BCCI]

Mumbai Indians (MI) mounted a fine comeback with the ball to set up a win that put them a step closer to making the playoffs for a third year in succession and pushed UP Warriorz (UPW) to the brink of exiting WPL 2025. Led by a five-wicket haul from Amelia Kerr, MI picked up 9 for 76 to restrict UPW to 150 for 9 and chased that down with six wickets and nine balls to spare.

UPW were off to their best start in the competition thanks to Georgia Voll’s half-century in just her second WPL match. After being bowled for a duck on debut, she hit 55 off 33 balls to lay a strong platform. But UPW couldn’t capitalise, going from 74 for 0 to 125 for 7. The MI spinners combined to pick up eight of the nine wickets UPW lost.In reply, Hayley Matthews struck her second half-century of the season and was involved in a 92-run second-wicket partnership with Nat Sciver Brunt that all but sealed the win. It was Matthews’ second fifty in as many games this season against UPW, her 46-ball 68 in Lucknow following up her 50-ball 59 in Bengaluru last week.

The win took MI up to second on the points table with eight points and a net run rate of 0.267 after six outings. Their next game is against Gujarat Giants, who are third currently with six points in six matches with an NRR of 0.357.

Shabnim Ismail bowled the fastest ball recorded in women’s cricket history last year. Sciver-Brunt is capable of swinging the ball around in the early 110-kphs. Going by the first WPL game at the Ekana Stadium, there was enough help for the fast bowlers with the new ball. Yet the MI fast-bowling duo bowled offcutters on a red-soil surface. Ismail tried to soften Voll up with a one-two trick early on but quickly switched to taking pace off. Sciver-Brunt’s cutters proved tough to get away too, initially.

UPW opted for a third opening pair in their seventh game at WPL 2025, with former Brisbane Heat team-mates Harris and Voll striding out. The first ball of the match caught Harris by surprise. It reared up from a short-of-good length outside off and hit her high on the blade. That left Voll expecting the bouncer from Ismail, who slipped a few full ones to make the batter uncomfortable. But Voll soon got the measure of the bowler as well as the surface and she hit three fours in the five balls she faced after getting off the mark.

Voll was the aggressor but it was Harris who ended the powerplay with back-to-back fours off left-arm spinner Parunika Sisodia, whom MI had brought in for Jintimani Kalita. And so UPW ended the powerplay on 50 without loss. It was the best start for UPW this season. Voll took just 29 balls to bring up a fine half-century.

Voll greeted Kerr with three fours and then hit one more off Matthews in the next over. A misjudgement by Ismail at long-on saw Harris hit her only six. But a bouncer from Matthews, one she often uses to surprise the batters, got the better of Harris, who steer-pulled it to short fine leg. Kiran Navgire, at No. 3, went for an ungainly hack, charging at Kerr, to fall for a second-ball duck. Sciver-Brunt delivered the killer blow when Voll went for the scoop and missed.

From there, UPW struggled to get momentum with only Deepti Sharma holding one end up. All of Vrinda Dinesh, Chinelle Henry, Shweta Sehrawat and Uma Chetry fell trying to hit out against spin. Deepti hit just the two fours in her 25-ball 27 as UPW scored just 61 in their last ten overs.

MI are the most successful chasing team in the WPL and the 151-run target was unlikely to pose stiff challenge. But they had a concern at the top of the order – Yastika Bhatia had tallied 38 runs in six innings before Thursday. So they pushed Kerr up to open with Matthews and the move did not pay dividends. After hitting a couple of fours, Kerr mis-swatted a back-of-a-length ball from Henry to mid-on.

Matthews and Sciver-Brunt then joined forces and sped up the run scoring with dew also coming to their aid. Deepti was seen using the towel to wipe the ball inside the powerplay. Kranti Goud began well and extracted enough swing, much like Henry did, resulting in Matthews playing and missing a few. But a 16-run Gouher Sultana over set MI on their way.

The duel between Caribbean mates Henry and Matthews was one of the highlights of the phase: Henry getting one to rear up at her West Indies captain and having a few friendly words to say, only for Matthews to walk down the track to a short ball and send it sailing into the deep midwicket stands and grin in response.

MI lost three reasonably quick wickets at the doorstep of victory but Bhatia, in at No. 6, hit a couple of fours off the offspin of Voll and Deepti to seal the deal. And so two games into their “home leg” in Lucknow, UPW have two comprehensive defeats to show for it.

Brief scores:
Mumbai Indians Women 153 for 4 in 18.3 overs (Hayley Matthews 68, Nat Sciver-Brunt 37, Amelia Kerr 10, Amanjot Kaur 12*, Yastika Bhatia 10*; Grace Harris 2-11, Chinell Henry 1-28, Kranti Goud 1-38) beat UP Warriorz Women 150 for 9 in 20 overs (Georgia Voll 55, Grace Harris 28, Deepti Sharma 27, Dinesh Vrinda 10, Sophie Eclestone 16; Nat Sciver-Brunt 1-16, Parunika Sisodia 1-21, Amelia Kerr 5-38, Hayley Matthews 2-25) by six wickets

[Cricinfo]

All News Advertisement

Latest News

Iran executes two convicted members of banned opposition group

Published

1 hour ago

2026/04/4

Priyan

Glenn Torshizi, whose brothers were executed by the Iranian government, joins others in a protest at the US State Department, to highlight the executions in Karaj, Iran, of People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran members, on March 30, 2026, in Washington, DC [Cricinfo]

Iran has executed two men convicted of being members of the banned People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) opposition group, in the latest action targeting dissidents, even as the United States – Israeli war on Iran drags on.

The two were executed on Saturday morning after the country’s Supreme Court upheld earlier sentences that convicted them of PMOI/MEK membership, and “armed rebellion through involvement in multiple terrorist acts”.

“Abolhassan Montazer and Vahid Baniamerian were hanged after trial and their sentences were upheld by the Supreme Court,” the Iranian judiciary website, Mizan Online, said on Saturday.

PMOI/MEK had initially supported the 1979 Islamic revolution that unseated the Iranian monarchy. However, in the 1980s, it fell out with the new leadership in Tehran and was designated a “terrorist” organisation. PMOI/MEK has since operated in exile.

Four other convicted members of the group were executed on March 30 and 31. According to information on the PMOI/MEK website, the men were: Mohammad Taghavi, Akbar Daneshvarkar, Babak Alipour and Pouya Ghobadi.

All six men were arrested and convicted by a Revolutionary Court in late 2024, according to PMOI/MEK.

The group condemned the executions in an April 2 statement, calling Tehran’s actions a “futile” attempt to suppress opposition.

“These brutal executions will not silence the opposition; instead, they will only intensify the resolve of Iran’s rebellious youth to overthrow the regime,” PMOI/MEK said.

Rights groups, too, have criticised the spate of hangings. Activists have long accused Iran of being the second most prolific executioner after China.

In a statement following the first set of hangings on March 31, Amnesty International accused Iranian authorities of torturing the men while they were held in prison and then abruptly transferring them to an unknown location shortly before their executions.

Amnesty further raised fears of more planned executions, including of protesters arrested during mass anti-government demonstrations in January, during which thousands were killed.

“It is unconscionable that even as the population is reeling from conflict and mass bereavement amid the ongoing aerial bombardment by Israel and the USA, the authorities of the Islamic Republic of Iran continue to weaponize the death penalty to eradicate dissenting voices and further terrify people,” said Diana Eltahawy, Amnesty International’s deputy regional director for the Middle East and North Africa.

Since the US and Israel’s war on Iran began on February 28, Tehran has executed several people, including Kouroush Keyvani, a dual Iranian-Swedish national convicted on charges of spying for Israel in a case that has drawn outrage from Stockholm and the European Union.

One man convicted of acting on behalf of Israel and the US during the protests was also executed on Thursday.

Earlier, on March 19, four people – Saleh Mohammadi, Mehdi Ghasemi, and Saeed Davoudi – arrested in connection with the uprising, were killed.

Amnesty warns that another five young protesters previously sentenced to death could soon be executed after they were moved from the Ghezel Hesar prison to an unidentified location this week.

[Aljazeera]

Latest News

Afghanistan earthquake kills eight members of same family

Published

2 hours ago

2026/04/4

Priyan

An Afghan man clears rubble from the courtyard of his damaged house, in the aftermath of an earthquake at a village in the Khulm district of Samangan province on November 4, 2025 [Aljazeera]

An earthquake in Afghanistan has killed eight members of the same family when their home collapsed in the Gosfand Dara area of Kabul province.

Health Ministry spokesman Sharafat Zaman said on Saturday that a child aged around two years old was the only survivor. Afghanistan’s disaster management agency said the boy was injured

The 5.8-magnitude quake struck at 8:42pm local time (16:12 GMT) on Friday at a depth of 186km (115 miles). The US Geological Survey (USGS) said the epicentre was in the northeastern province of Badakhshan.

The capital Kabul is about 290km (180 miles) southwest of the epicentre.

There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage in areas closer to the epicentre. The province is remote so it can often take several hours before local authorities can relay information back to Kabul.

Strong tremors were felt in multiple parts of Afghanistan, including Kabul and the Indian capital New Delhi, witnesses told the Reuters news agency.

Pakistan also felt the quake, including in the capital Islamabad and Peshawar, Chitral, Swat and Shangla. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.

Afghanistan is frequently jolted by earthquakes along the Hindu Kush mountain range – near the junction of the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates. On average, 560 people are killed by quakes there every year.

The deadliest tremor in the country’s recent history struck last August. The shallow magnitude 6 earthquake in eastern Afghanistan wiped out mountain villages, killing at least 2,200 people.

Most casualties were in Kunar province, where Afghans typically live in wood and mud-brick houses along steep valleys.

Impoverished Afghanistan often faces difficulty in responding to natural disasters, especially in remote regions.

Many homes in rural and outlying areas are poorly built with bricks, wood and mud.

[Aljazeera]

Latest News

Breakdown of the teams and groups of the FIFA World Cup in Canada, Mexico and the US after the final playoffs

Published

5 hours ago

2026/04/4

Priyan

Bosnia and Herzegovina's Ermedin Demirovic and Dzenis Burnic celebrate qualifying for the FIFA World Cup after beating Italy in a penalty shootout at the Bilino Polje Stadium in Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina on March 31, 2026 [

Iraq’s qualification for the FIFA World Cup 2026 has completed the lineup of 48 nations for the tournament hosted by Canada, Mexico and the United States.

The Lions of Mesopotamia edged Bolivia 2-1 on Tuesday to win the second final of the FIFA Playoff tournament in Mexico. In the first final earlier, Democratic Republic of the Congo beat Jamaica 1-0.

In the other games, Turkiye, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sweden and Czechia were the final four teams to complete the European quota of World Cup qualification.

Widely considered the most famous sporting event in the world, the 2026 FIFA World Cup will be its biggest ever. Forty-eight nations will play instead of the usual 32, with 104 matches in 16 venues across the three host nations.

Argentina will look to defend the trophy lifted by iconic captain, Lionel Messi at Qatar 2022. Cape Verde, Curacao, Jordan and Uzbekistan will make their debut.

The World Cup’s first game will be a throwback to 2010 when Mexico take on South Africa on June 11 in Mexico City in a replay of the tournament opener then. Football fans will hope the opening goal this year matches the screamer scored by Lawrence Tshabalala from the South African hosts then.

Mexico in group A – which includes South Korea and Czechia – will be one of the toughest of the 12 groups.

Team USA are alongside Australia, Paraguay and Turkiye.

Canada, too, face the challenging task of making it out of a group comprising Switzerland, Qatar and Bosnia.

Here’s a breakdown of the 48 teams in the 12 groups:

Group A: