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Lauren James given two-game Women’s World Cup ban after red card

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England forward Lauren James has been given a two-match ban by Fifa for her red card in the Women’s World Cup game with Nigeria.

James, 21, was sent off for stamping on the back of Michelle Alozie in the last 16-tie, which England won on penalties. The dismissal came with an automatic one-game ban which Fifa has increased, meaning she will miss the semi-final if England get there.

James is England’s top scorer in the tournament, having scored three goals, as well as assisting three more, in the group stages.

The Lionesses face Colombia in the quarter-finals on Saturday.

(BBC)



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Romanian court annuls result of presidential election first round

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Calin Georgescu cast his vote in the first round of voting last weekend [BBC]

Romania’s constitutional court has annulled the result of the first round of voting in the presidential election just days before the second round was due to take place.

It means the process will be restarted from scratch, with the government due to decide a date for a new vote.

The first round was won by Calin Georgescu, an almost unknown far-right Nato-sceptic who has previously praised Vladimir Putin.

The court’s decision comes after intelligence documents were declassified, suggesting Georgescu benefitted from a mass influence operation – conducted from abroad – to interfere with the result of the vote.

Outgoing Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu said the court’s decision to annul was “the only correct solution after the declassification of the documents… which show that the result of the Romanians’ vote was blatantly distorted as a result of Russia’s intervention”.

The judges of the court met on Friday morning, despite having announced the previous night that they would not discuss new information regarding possible external influence on the elections until the second round of voting.

The law stipulates that, in the event of the annulment of the elections, they should resume on the second Sunday after the date of the annulment – which would have meant on 22 December.

However, the court has decided to ask the government to rerun the entire electoral process, and therefore the electoral campaign.

Last week, the court had ordered a recount of votes cast in Sunday’s first round following allegations that social media platform TikTok gave “preferential treatment” to the surprise winner, Calin Georgescu.

Georgescu, a radical with no party of his own, campaigned mainly on TikTok. The platform said it was “categorically false to claim his account was treated differently to any other candidate”.

He won 23% of the vote, with 19% for the runner-up, Elena Lasconi, of the opposition Save Romania Union and Ciolacu of the governing Social Democrats in third.

EPA Elena Lasconi, a blonde woman wearing a purple dress, speaks
Elena Lasconi accused the court of trampling on democracy [BBC]

Lasconi condemned the court’s ruling as “illegal” and “immoral”, saying “today is the moment when the Romanian state has trampled on democracy”.

“Whether we like it or not, from a legal and legitimate point of view, nine million Romanian citizens, both in the country and in the diaspora, have expressed their preference for a certain candidate. We cannot ignore their will!” she said.

She had been hoping to win the second round run-off on Sunday, which has now been cancelled.

The Constitutional Court also rejected claims filed by two of the losing candidates who accused Georgescu of illegal campaign financing.

This week, Georescu denied to the BBC that he was Moscow’s man. He claimed the political establishment could not cope with his success and was trying to block him.

The country is now in totally new territory, politically. And no-one is quite sure what comes next.

[BBC]

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Nissanka 89 cuts down Sri Lanka deficit after Verreynne 105*

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Kyle Verreynne’s manic sprint to a third Test century lit up the second morning and sent South Africa speeding to a total of 358. But the afternoon and evening sessions belonged to Sri Lanka. Their top four produced their best collective effort in the series so far, with Pathum Nissanka hitting 89 off 157 balls, forging a 109-run second wicket stand with Dinesh Chandimal.

With Angelo Mathews not out on 40 at stumps, and Kamindu Mendis unbeaten on 30, Sri Lanka have seven wickets in hand, and are well-placed to take a lead in the first innings. They have for the first time in the series, put serious pressure on a South Africa attack that seemed short of options on a flattening Gqeberha deck.

Kagiso Rabada was the most menacing of their bowlers, conceding only 40 and taking the wicket of Dimuth Karunaratne for the third time in the series, in his 15 overs. He’d also had Nissanka dropped by David Bedingham at second slip, on 22. Sri Lanka negotiated Marco Jansen with much more confidence than they had in the first Test, in which he’d claimed 11 wickets. By stumps, Jansen had given away 75 off his 18 overs, and was the only frontline bowler without a wicket.

Though there were occasional plays and misses against Rabada in particular, Nissanka was largely watchful, scoring only eight runs off his first 50 deliveries. He eventually began to attack the shorter deliveries, and it was the pull shot that he favoured through the remainder of the innings, taking to Jansen’s shorter balls in particular. Most of his run-scoring came square of the wicket, and he raised his batting tempo in Chandimal’s company, settling into accumulation mode against the spin of Keshav Maharaj in particular.

That he got out to Maharaj, whom he had early clubbed for six over deep midwicket, will particularly rankle, especially as he was nearing a century. He merely ran at the bowler, attempted a cross-batted shot to a ball that was full, and essentially yorked himself, the ball going on to clatter into leg stump.

Still, the stand between him and Chandimal had provided Sri Lanka a platform. Chandimal was looser with his strokeplay than either opener had been, and collected edged fours behind the wicket early on. He nevertheless stuck at it alongside Nissanka, until a tentative prod against Dane Paterson ended with him being snaffled behind the stumps.

Mathews was also somewhat tetchy at the beginning of his innings, but found some boundaries down the ground, and settled into a rhythm later. Kamindu Mendis appeared assured from the outset. The two put on 43 runs together before stumps.

The morning, however, had been reigned by Verreynne. Having lost Keshav Maharaj without South Africa adding to their overnight score, Verreynne put on 66 with Rabada, as Sri Lanka turned almost solely to bouncers and short deliveries to blast the final two wickets out. Verreynne crashed three boundaries between deep backward square leg and deep midwicket in one Asitha Fernando over to really get his engine roaring, before venturing even bigger hits when Rabada was bowled by Asitha, and he was left with the No. 11 for company.

With 19 runs still to get for his hundred, Verreynne yanked the throttle with even more intensity, first smashing Prabath Jayasuriya over cow corner for six, before mowing Asitha into the banks to get within one strike of a 100. He reached triple figures with another mighty pull in that same over, sending the ball sailing over fine leg’s head.

The milestone sparked wild celebrations, a bow from Verreynne to the dressing room, and a bear-hug from Paterson. Verreynne himself likely did not anticipate that a century would be on the cards when the morning’s play began, but finished unbeaten on 105 off 133 balls, having reaped 58 off 50 balls on day two.

Lahiru Kumara claimed the last South Africa wicket, and ended with 4 for 79. Asitha and Vishwa Fernando shared five wickets between them.

Brief scores:
Sri Lanka 242 for 3 in 67  overs (Pathum Nissanka 89, Angelo Mathews 40*, Dinesh Chandimal 44, Kamindu Mendis 30*; Kagiso Rabada 1-40)trail  South Africa 358 in 103.4 overs (Kyle Verreynne 105*, Ricky Rickelton 101, Temba Bavuma 78; Lahiru Kumara 4-79, Asitha Fernando 3-102, Vishwa Fernando 2-65) by 116 runs

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Suryavanshi fifty drives India to U-19 Asia Cup final

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Vaibhav Suryavanshi top-scored with 67 [Cricinfo]

Vaibhav Surrvayanishi starred with a second successive half-century as India stormed into the Under-19 Asia Cup final with a comprehensive seven-wicket victory over Sri Lanka in Sharjah on Friday.

The 13-year-old, who became the youngest cricketer ever to be bought at an IPL auction last month, smashed five sixes and six fours for his 36-ball 67 as India chased down a target of 174 with as many as 170 balls to spare.

India will face Bangladesh in the final at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Sunday.

Bangladesh defeated Pakistan by seven wickets, completing a chase of 117 in 22.1 overs in the first semi-final in Dubai.

Opting to bat, Sri Lanka could only manage 173 in 46.2 overs despite a valiant effort from Lakvin Abeysinghe (69 off 110) and Sharujan Shanmuganathan (42 off 78).

Their innings struggled to gain momentum but Indian bowlers were in full control with Chethan Sharma (3 for 34), Kiran Chormale (2 for 32), and Ayush Mhatre (2 for 37) wreaking havoc in the middle overs.

Ayush Mhatre’s 34 off 28 laid a solid foundation for the chase as he put on a stand of 91 with Suryavanshi for the opening wicket.

The young left-hander from Bihar troubled the Sri Lankan bowlers from the beginning as he started with consecutive sixes and a boundary off Sigera, who ended up giving away 31 runs in his opening over.

Mhatre too played his strokes at the other end as the duo raced to 87 for no loss in eight overs before Vihas Thewmika gave Sri Lanka their first breakthrough by removing the batter.

But Suryavanshi kept the run rate ticking despite losing his opening partner, forging another crucial association with C Andre Siddharth (22).

He didn’t stop there, taking the attack to the bowlers with his aggressive strokes, including scoring two sixes off Aayan Khan. Captain Mohamed Amaan (25 not out) and KP Karthikeya (11 not out) then completed the chase.

Brief scores:
India Under 19 175 for 3 in 21.4 overs (Ayush Mhatre 34, Vaibhav Suryavanshi 67, C Andre Siddarth 22, Mohamed Amaan 25*; Vihas Thewmika 1-33, Viran Chamuditha 1-38, Praveen Maneesha 1-27) beat  Sri Lanka Under 19 173 in 46.2 overs (Lakvin Abeysinghe 69, Sharujan Shanmuganathan 42; Yudhajit Guha 1-19,  Chetan  Sharma 3-34, Kiran Chormale 2-32, Ayush Mhatre  2-37, Hardik Raj 1-30) by seven wickets

[Cricinfo]

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