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Liam Livingstone trumps Shai Hope to square series in battle of captain’s hundreds
In the battle of captain’s centuries, there was one clear winner. Liam Livingstone’s devastating 124 not out from 85 balls trumped Shai Hope’s far more sedate 117 as England sealed victory in the second ODI by five wickets.
That it was Livingstone’s maiden 50-over century is one thing. But leading an inexperienced group, the responsibility he assumed to see England home in a chase of 329 – and thus square the series at 1-1 – in such jaw-dropping fashion is worthy of the highest praise.
The tourists looked up against it after Phil Salt’s 59 and Jacob Bethell’s 55 – his maiden international half-century – had been the only scores of note in the top four. But a watchful stand between Livingstone and Sam Curran (52) evolved into a match-twisting epic of 140 from just 107 balls.
The acceleration at the end that brought victory with 15 balls to spare is showcased best in the breakdown of Livingstone’s approach into the final 10 overs, with 100 still to get. He headed into this period on 46 from 57, before striking 78 off his final 28 deliveries.
Left-arm spinner Gudakesh Motie – 4 for 41 in the first ODI – was taken down for 14 and 16 at the start of the back straight to nurse his worst figures of 0 for 71. Jayden Seales was carted for 26 in an over, before debutant Shamar Joseph was thumped for 24. No one was safe. All in all, Livingstone thumped nine sixes among his 14 boundaries.
Aside from a hacked edge from Livingstone on four that flew between Hope and a wide first slip, there was little Hope could do to turn back the tide. Earlier in the day, his 17th century had seemingly done the main graft to put West Indies at a commanding position at the halfway stage with 328 for 6, meaning England needed to complete the second highest ODI run-chase in the Caribbean.
Hope arrived at the start of the fourth over and batted through to the end of the 47th. There was vital support from Keacy Carty – whose 71 came in a third-wicket stand of 143 – and Sherfane Rutherford – his punchy 54 providing the majority of 79 for the fourth. Cameos from Shimron Hetmyer and Matthew Forde helped ransack 93 from the final 10 overs, even if Livingstone’s final flourish make that look well below par.
Livingstone’s decision to bowl after winning the toss was immediately vindicated by the removal of both West Indies openers in the first 19 deliveries. John Turner was responsible for both initial strikes for his first wickets in international cricket, the second of which was the prized wicket of Evin Lewis. The hero of the first ODI was snared down the leg side for just four following Thursday’s match-winning 94.
But things unravelled, characterised by England’s use of nine bowlers for only the second time in ODIs. That they could have dismissed Hope on 60 also cut them deep.
From 12 for 2, consolidation was the initial aim for Hope and Carty, who could have been removed on eight. An English squeeze involved three fielders at backward point, but Bethell – the middle of them – could only palm a skewed drive from Carty which would have given Turner a third dismissal.
The pair made it out of the Powerplay on 41 for 2, a figure bumped up in the 10th over by Hope’s first boundary – a stunning back-foot launch over extra cover for six off Turner. A brace of straight drives off Saqib Mahmood – the only change to the XI from the first ODI, with Jamie Overton sitting out – and a second six, lofting Adil Rashid over cover, was then followed by some quiet rotation.
Once satisfied the early losses had been offset, risks were taken to lift the run-rate. However, having cleared midwicket after Bethell dropped short to bring up his 42nd fifty-plus score, from 66 deliveries, it was a botched defensive push that should have brought his innings to an end on 60. A edge of Bethell bounced out of the hands of Salt behind the stumps.
Carty was soon moving to his fourth ODI fifty from 62 deliveries. He was then given two lives when a top-edge took Turner over the boundary at deep fine leg, then the fielder dropped a far simpler chance off the very next ball. Both came as Archer nailed his short-ball plans.
That miss would only cost three runs, as Rashid returned to bowl Carty through the gate at the start of the 31st. But that brought Rutherford to the crease, who ended up striking seven boundaries – three of them sixes – for a fifth half-century from just 35 deliveries.
Though he was dismissed a ball later – caught at deep cover attempting to replicate the six over the same region that took him to fifty – Hetmyer’s breezy 24 off 11 kept the pressure on. He was also dropped on 2 by Will Jacks down at long-on.
Once Hetmyer was dismissed, caught by Archer at gully off a Rashid googly, Hope pressed down on the accelerator. After leaning into a drive off his 118th delivery to move to 100, he smeared Rashid for a four and six to wide long-on as 13 was taken off the 36-year-old’s final over.
Hell-bent on throwing his bat at everything sent his way, Hope misread a slower delivery from Archer that was well-taken by Livingstone charging in from long-off. Forde then picked up the baton for the final straight, striking three successive sixes off Mahmood in the final over to lift the hosts to 328 for 6.
Though England shot themselves in the foot with four drops, they were also guilty of spurning opportunities to make immediate amends with the bat. Salt looked on his way to redemption, carrying the start of the innings on his back, shrugging off the loss of Jacks in the fifth over to contribute 36 of England’s first fifty runs.
When Shamar Joseph, making his ODI debut with his namesake Alzarri rested, bounced out Jordan Cox for an agonising 4 off 19 deliveries, Bethell arrived to take England to 107 for 3 by the 20-over mark.
Both were culpable for relinquishing control. Salt skied the first ball of Forde’s new spell at the start of the 21st for 59, then Bethell dumped Roston Chase into the hands of long-off after reaching a maiden international fifty.
But the duo of Livingstone and Curran, players still with much to prove despite their experience, refused to panic. Curran initially took the reins as the aggressor, starting smartly with a six off Motie having noticed an extra fielder in the outfield meant the umpires would call it a no-ball. He contributed 31 of the initial 50 for the fifth wicket before Livingstone, after five overs without a boundary heading into the final 10, decided it was going to be all on him.
The starter pistol was set with a charge off Motie down the ground to bring up Livingstone’s fifty from 60 deliveries, before he signed off the 41st over with a slog-sweep over deep midwicket off the very next delivery. Back-to-back sixes in Motie’s next over – the second bringing up the century stand from 92 – also found the grass banks.
Pace was then put back on the ball, which played further into Livingstone’s favour. When Curran was dismissed a ball after the skipper had nudged his 77th ball down the ground to move to 100, Dan Mousley played his part to a tee – simply dabbing singles. The most important came at the start of the 48th over, giving Livingstone the strike for the honour of hitting the winning run.
Brief scores:
England 329 for 5 in 47.3 overs (Liam Livingstone 124*, Phil Salt 59, Jacob Bethell 55, Sam Curran 52; Mathew Forde 3-48) beat West Indies 328 for 6 in 50 overs (Shai Hope 117, Keacy Carty 71, Sherfane Rutherford 54; John Turner 2-42, Adil Rashid 2-62) by five wickets
[Cricinfo]
Six whales have died on a remote beach in New Zealand’s South Island following a mass stranding and volunteers are racing against time to get 15 others that are still alive back to the sea.
Some 55 pilot whales washed up on Farewell Spit on Thursday. While most managed to make their way back out to sea, 15 have re-stranded and are now spread along about 1km (0.6mi) of the beach.
A video from Project Jonah, a non-profit working with marine mammals, showed volunteers pouring buckets of water on the whales to keep them cool.
“When the tide comes in, we’re going to have to move really quickly to bring these whales together, then move them out to deeper waters,” said Louisa Hawkes from Project Jonah.
Pilot whales are highly social animals and have a natural instinct to look out for one another.
Volunteers hope to bring the 15 stranded whales together in a “nice tight group” to help them re-familiarise with one another and swim out together, Hawkes said.
They will attempt to refloat the whales this afternoon, but time is tight. “We have to do all of that before the tide turns and drops again,” Hawkes said.
The group is calling for volunteers to help with the refloating.
New Zealand’s conservation department has deployed rangers, a boat and a drone to Farewell Spit to monitor any further strandings.
Mass strandings regularly occur at Farewell Spit, located on the northern-most tip of the South Island.
The conservation department describes it as a “naturally occurring ‘whale trap'” located along a migratory route for long-finned whales.
“Whales may be easily deceived and caught out by the gently sloping tidal flats and a rapidly falling tide,” it said in a statement on Thursday.
In February 2017, more than 400 long-finned pilot whales washed up there – the largest stranding in New Zealand for more than 100 years.
[BBC]
The Trump administration says it’s going to withdraw the United States from 66 international organisations, including 31 United Nations entities and 35 non-UN organisations.
Many focus on climate, labour, migration and other issues the Trump administration has categorised as catering to diversity and “woke” initiatives and that are “contrary to the interests of the United States”.
Here is a list of all the agencies that the US is exiting, according to the White House:
31 United Nations organisations
- Department of Economic and Social Affairs
- UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) – Economic Commission for Africa
- ECOSOC – Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean
- ECOSOC – Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific
- ECOSOC – Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia
- International Law Commission
- International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals
- International Trade Centre
- Office of the Special Adviser on Africa
- Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children in Armed Conflict
- Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict
- Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence Against Children
- Peacebuilding Commission
- Peacebuilding Fund
- Permanent Forum on People of African Descent
- UN Alliance of Civilizations
- UN Collaborative Programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries
- UN Conference on Trade and Development
- UN Democracy Fund
- UN Energy
- UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women
- UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
- UN Human Settlements Programme
- UN Institute for Training and Research
- UN Oceans
- UN Population Fund
- UN Register of Conventional Arms
- UN System Chief Executives Board for Coordination
- UN System Staff College
- UN Water
- UN University
In the new memorandum, the administration moved beyond the Paris Agreement to target the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) itself, which is the foundational 1992 treaty that the Paris Agreement is built upon. By withdrawing from the UNFCCC, the administration aims to exit the entire international framework for climate negotiations.
The withdrawal from the UNFCCC is particularly significant as it is a Senate-ratified treaty. The administration’s authority to unilaterally withdraw from such treaties is expected to face legal challenges.
Notably, the US remains a member of the UN Security Council, the World Food Programme (WFP), and the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), which the administration identified as serving essential security or humanitarian functions.
35 non-UN organisations
- 24/7 Carbon-Free Energy Compact
- Colombo Plan Council
- Commission for Environmental Cooperation
- Education Cannot Wait
- European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats
- Forum of European National Highway Research Laboratories
- Freedom Online Coalition
- Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund
- Global Counterterrorism Forum
- Global Forum on Cyber Expertise
- Global Forum on Migration and Development
- Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research
- Intergovernmental Forum on Mining, Minerals, Metals, and Sustainable Development
- Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
- Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services
- International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property
- International Cotton Advisory Committee
- International Development Law Organization
- International Energy Forum
- International Federation of Arts Councils and Culture Agencies
- International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance
- International Institute for Justice and the Rule of Law
- International Lead and Zinc Study Group
- International Renewable Energy Agency
- International Solar Alliance
- International Tropical Timber Organization
- International Union for Conservation of Nature
- Pan American Institute of Geography and History
- Partnership for Atlantic Cooperation
- Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia
- Regional Cooperation Council
- Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century
- Science and Technology Center in Ukraine
- Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme
- Venice Commission of the Council of Europe.
[Aljazeera]
Brazil plans to send national guard troops to northern Roraima state, which borders Venezuela and has a strong presence of illegal armed groups who traffic drugs and mine illegally on both sides of the international boundary, according to a government decree.
In an official decree published on Thursday, the government authorised an unspecified number of National Public Security Force (FNSP) troops to be sent to Pacaraima, as well as Roraima’s capital, Boa Vista, about 213km (132 miles) from the border.
The move comes after the US on Saturday bombed Venezuela and abducted its president, Nicolas Maduro. On Sunday, Brazil temporarily closed its border with Venezuela near Pacaraima.
The decree said the FNSP will support the state’s public security agencies and operate in ways “essential to the preservation of public order and the safety of people and property”.
Brazilian media reported on Wednesday that Venezuela was reinforcing its military presence on the border, and multiple armed groups, including Venezuelan colectivos and Brazilian gangs like the First Capital Command (PCC) and the Red Command (CV), operate in the area.
Gimena Sanchez, Andes director for the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), told Al Jazeera that Brazil’s deployment of guard troops to the border is an “appropriate move”. She said that violence caused by Colombian rebel groups active in Venezuela is pushing the population further south towards Brazil.
She added it “makes sense for Brazil to reinforce the border”, but noted there still has notbeen a mass displacement of Venezuelans.
Brazil has been a fierce critic of the US attacks. On the social media platform X, its president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, said the US had crossed an “unacceptable line”.
Asked whether President Lula’s comments could provoke Washington, Sanchez said that the US is more concerned with Cuba, Mexico and Colombia at the moment. “Given that context and also that some European countries as well condemned it, I don’t think Brazil is at risk of being the focus of ire of the Trump administration,” she concluded.
[Aljazeera]
Six whales die after mass stranding on remote New Zealand beach
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