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Maharaj’s masterful maiden ODI five-for hands South Africa 1-0 series lead

Published

7 months ago

2025/08/20

Priyan

Keshav Maharaj took a career-best 5 for 33 [Cricifo]

Keshav Maharaj claimed his first ODI career five-for as South Africa registered an emphatic, series-opening win over Australia in Cairns.

Defending the highest total at the venue, 296, South Africa grabbed the match by the horns when they took 6 for 29 between the eight and 17th overs, as Maharaj delivered a sterling spell in which he found appreciable turn and maintained a consistent line to pick up 5 for 33. The margin finished as Australia heaviest runs defeat at home since 1991.

Maharaj was omitted from the T20Is, as all-format coach Shukri Conrad preferred spin-bowling allrounders in the squad, but served up a reminder of his efficacy in shorter formats with his performance in Cairns. Conditions suited him, as they did the other spinners involved. Offspinner Prenelan Subrayen was the other early wicket-taker and finished with 1 for 46 from his 10 overs on ODI debut, while in the first innings Australia relied on part-time offspinner Travis Head, who bowled nine overs with a return of 4 for 57.

As the numbers suggest, the surface was slow and spinner-friendly and with this being just the sixth ODI to be played in Cairns, it was difficult to judge a par-score. South Africa’s proved to be in excess of par and their trio of half-centuries from Aiden Markram, Matthew Breetzke and Temba Bavuma were more valuable than they initially appeared to be.

Australia’s only real batting resistance came in the form of their captain Mitchell Marsh, who fell 12 short of a fourth ODI century. He shared in a 71-run seventh-wicket stand with Ben Dwarshuis which gave their innings some heft.

That partnership came after Marsh watched his line-up collapse and squander a rollicking start against South Africa seamers. Marsh and Head scored 60 in the first seven overs and the highlight was Head’s take-down of left-arm seamer Nandre Burger, who he hit for five fours in an over. One of those came off the edge but the other four were full-blooded blows down the ground, over midwicket and through the offside as Australia brought up fifty in five overs.

The introduction of spin put a stop to all that. Head charged at Subrayen in his second over and missed which gave Ryan Rickelton plenty of time to complete the stumping. Maharaj was brought on at the other end and struck first ball. He had Marnus Labuschagne lbw, hit on the back pad by a ball that straightened. Labuschagne reviewed but replays showed the ball was hitting the top of middle stump.

As if to script, the first ball of Maharaj’s second over also brought a wicket, with the best delivery he bowled. It pitched on middle and straightened to beat Cameron Green’s edge and take off stump. Maharaj had to wait slightly longer for this third but only until the second ball of his third over which Josh Inglis tried to hit off side but was stuck on the back foot and bowled. Alex Carey was then given out lbw sweeping the first ball he faced and Maharaj was on a hat-trick. He didn’t get it but completed his five-for two overs later when Aaron Hardie was bowled in similar fashion to Green.

At that stage Maharaj had figures of 5 for 9 and South Africa could have hastened the end of the contest in the next over when Dwarshuis, on 4, drove Subrayen to cover but Maharaj spilled the chance. He wasn’t the only one drifting. South Africa meandered through the next 13 overs, using double-spin until Maharaj was bowled out. In that time, Marsh brought up a 51-ball fifty, when he cut Maharaj through point and South Africa seemed out of wicket-taking ideas. Burger was brought back after 28 overs and had his first success when Dwarshuis, on 33, pulled him to Dewald Brevis at midwicket.

Still, with Marsh in the middle, Australia would have had hopes of pulling off a heist but Burger’s more disciplined return also ended his knock. Marsh top-edged a pull and Rickelton completed the catch. Tristan Stubbs’ catching nightmare in Australia continued as he put down Adam Zampa at cover in what was his third drop of the tour. Zampa was last out after Lungi Ngidi wrapped things up in the 41st over with two wickets in three balls.

South Africa’s innings had earlier started well, albeit somewhat slowly thanks to a 92-run opening partnership between Markram and Rickelton. They were circumspect in the face of a stern examination from Australia’s opening bowlers, Josh Hazlewood and Dwarshuis who found a hint of movement and denied them width. They were 32 without loss after seven overs, with Markram fairly comfortable opening the batting in an ODI for the first time in four years.

Rickelton could have been run-out for 8 but a Carey throw missed the stumps, was given lbw to Head out on 25 but reviewed successfully, survived an Australian lbw review on 28 when replays showed Zampa had pitched outside leg and was dropped on 31 when Inglis could not hold on to a tough chance. His troubled stay at the crease ended when he tried to hit Head over mid-off and was caught by a diving Labuschagne.

Markram’s 13th ODI fifty came off 54 balls, and was laced with well-timed drives and cuts and would have gone a long way to easing concerns about his form. He moved through the gears quickly and was on 82 off 81 balls, set for his first century in 20 innings, but loosely edged behind against Dwarshuis.

Bavuma, in a new position at No.3 and batting for the first time since the World Test Championship final, was underway with a signature pull over midwicket but found it difficult to keep going. Breetzke proved a complementary partner who took on more of an aggressor role. He hit Dwarshuis over midwicket for the innings’ first six in the 28th over and took on Australia’s third spinner Labuschagne when he swept him for back-to-back fours but did not last into the last ten overs for a big finish. Breetzke top-edged a slog-sweep in 39th over to leave it to the power-hitters to finish off.

Stubbs and Brevis both holed out to long-on in the space of four balls as Head removed South Africa’s two most destructive middle-order hitters. Bavuma brought up his fourth successive half-century with a paddle sweep but inside-edged onto his stumps and could not close the innings out.

Instead, Wiaan Mulder’s 31 off 26 balls added the finishing touches. He ended the innings with South Africa’s third six, hit high over long-on off Dwarshuis. South Africa scored 73 runs in the last 10 overs, but lost five wickets in that time.

Brief scores:
South Africa 296 for 8 in 50 overs (Aiden Markram 82, Ryan Rickelton 33, Temba Bavuma 65, Matthew Breetzke 57, Wiaan Mulder 31*; Ben Dwarshuis 2-53, Ttavis Head 4-57) beat Australia 198 in 40.5 overs (Mitchell Marsh 88, Ben Dwarshuis 33; Nandre Burger 2-54, Lungi Ngidi 2-28, Keshav Maharaj 5-33) by 98 runs

[Cricinfo]

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Electricity tariffs to be increased from 1st April

Published

8 hours ago

2026/03/30

Priyan

The Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) has granted approval to increase electricity tariffs with effect from 1st April .

The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) requested a 13.56% electricity tariff revision for the second quarter of this year.

The revision announced by the PUCSL for domestic consumers:

0–30 units category, electricity tariffs will rise by 4.3%,

31–60 units category, tariffs will rise by 6.9%,

61–90 units category, tariffs will rise by 6.9%,

91–120 units category, tariffs will rise by 7.2%,

Above 180 units, electricity tariffs will rise by 25.3%

The PUCSL has decided not to increase electricity tariffs for religious and charitable institutions that consume below 180 units monthly and a 9.6% increase for institutions that consume above 180 units.

Ectricity tariffs for the general and household consumer categories has been increased by 8%, while the electricity tariff increase for the industrial sector is 8.7%, the increase in tariff for government institutions is 14.4%.

Latest News

Rickelton, Rohit, Shardul break Mumbai’s first-game jinx

Published

18 hours ago

2026/03/30

Priyan

Ryan Rickelton and Rohit Sharma added 148 for the first wicket [Cricinfo]

Before Sunday, Mumbai Indians had never chased down a 220-plus target in their previous seven attempts. MI had never won their opening game of the IPL since 2012. On day two of IPL 2026, MI broke two jinxes as they chased down 221 in 19.1 overs to begin their season with a comfortable six-wicket win over Kolkata Knight Riders. Rohit Sharma wound back the clock, smashing 78 off 38 balls, while Ryan Rickelton thumped 81 off 43, the duo adding 148 runs for the opening wicket off 71 balls.

That KKR were coming into this opening game severely depleted on the bowling front was known. The extent of it was visible on Sunday night with Vaibhav Arora and Blessing Muzarabani toothless, Varun Chakravarthy ineffective and Sunil Narine a shadow of his former self.

At the halfway mark, KKR might have been happy reaching 220 for 4, their second-highest score against MI in the IPL. Ajinkya Rahane, who at the toss said that he had “never seen so much of grass at Wankhede”, scored 67 off 40 balls while Angkrish Raghuvanshi, another Mumbai lad, made 51 off 29 as KKR breached the 220 mark. But against a KKR unit missing several of their frontline seamers, MI barely had any hiccups, completing the highest-successful IPL chase at the Wankhede with five balls to spare.

It was a typical Rohit innings that Wankhede has witnessed so many times, laced with some of the most pristine shots. He was on 12 off eight at one stage, but once in, he lit up Mumbai like only he can. Coming into the game, he had a strike rate of less than 100 against Varun in T20s. So, what did he do? He lofted the spinner inside-out over covers first ball and then lifted him for six the next ball. By the time the powerplay was done, Rohit had raced to a 23-ball fifty, his fastest in the IPL and MI’s chase was on course.

They raced to 80 in the first six, past 100 in 8.1 overs and by the time Rohit fell, thanks to a lovely catch by Anukul Roy running back from mid-off, MI’s required rate had gone below nine, which at the start of the innings was above 11 an over.

There were a few raised eyebrows when Rickelton was picked over the more experienced Quinton de Kock , but the former justified his selection. Rickelton needed just the first couple of overs to get a hang of the surface and once he did, there was no stopping him. He deposited Arora for back-to-back sixes, one over extra cover and then over deep midwicket, and that kickstarted a brutal takedown of the KKR bowlers.

While he saw Rohit do his thing in the powerplay, Rickelton took on Narine after the six-over mark. He slog swept him over deep midwicket in his first over and then launched him over the ropes twice in three balls in the next to raise a 24-ball fifty.

He didn’t stop there and only fell courtesy a stunning direct hit from the deep by Anukul. Suryakumar Yadav, the Impact Sub, came and went, but Hardik Pandya and Tilak Varma took MI closer. Hardik finished on an unbeaten 18 off 11 balls, while Naman Dhir hit the winning runs off Anukul as MI started their IPL 2026 in style.

Finn Allen brought his stellar form international cricket to the IPL. After facing five dot balls against Hardik, he went after MI debutant AM Ghazanfar, pumping him to the deep square fence and then spanking him for an 86-metre six over wide long-on. Another six capped off Ghazanfar’s opening over. Rahane then went after Hardik, thumping him for back-to-back sixes and Allen then got on strike and went 4, 4, 4. A monster 26-run over against Hardik helped KKR race past fifty in 3.5 overs, their fastest against MI in the IPL.

Shardul Thqkur, on MI debut, then brought his experience into play and sent back Allen who shoveled a slower length ball to long-off but Rahane carried on. He struck two fours off Thakur as KKR finished on 78 for 1 in six overs.

Two Mumbai boys on opposite ends were critical to their team’s cause. After removing Allen, Thakur sent back Cameron Green, whose innings lasted just ten balls and he then dismissed Rahane with a hard length delivery outside off that was mistimed to extra cover. At this point, KKR were still going at over ten an over but had lost steam, thanks to some terrific bowling from Bumrah, Trent Boult and Thakur.

Enter the other Mumbai boy, Raghuvanshi. He was on 17 off 14 at one stage but found a new lease of life after being dropped by Rohit at long-on. He closed out the 15th over with a four and six against Ghazanfar and then launched Thakur over long-on. Raghuvanshi added 60 off 30 balls with Rinku Singh for the fourth wicket, reaching his fifty off 28 balls as KKR raced past 200 in the 19th over.

Rinku struck unbeaten on 33 off 21 as KKR finished on 220 for 4 but it wasn’t enough.

Brief scores:
Mumbai Indians 221 for 4 in 19.1 overs (Ryan Rickelton 81, Rohit Sharma 78, Suryakumar Yadav 16, Tilak Varma 20, HardikPandya 18*; Vaibhav Arora 1-52, Kartik Tyagi 1-43, Sunil Narine 1-30) beat Kolkata Knight Riders 220 for 4 in 20 overs (Ajinkya Rahane 67, Finn Allen 37, Cameron Green 18, Angkrish Raghuvanshi 51, Rinku Singh 33*; Hardik Pandya 1-39, Shardul Thakur 3-39) by six wickets

[Cricinfo]

Business

Oil tops $116 a barrel as Iran accuses US of preparing invasion

Published

18 hours ago

2026/03/30

Priyan

A worker collects engine oil as he works at a degassing station in the Zubair oilfield near Basra, Iraq, on March 28, 2026 [Aljazeera]

Oil prices have surged to their highest level in nearly two weeks amid escalation on multiple fronts of the US-Israel war on Iran.

Brent crude, the global benchmark, rose more than 3 percent on Monday morning to top $116 a barrel.

The latest climb took the global benchmark to its highest point since March 19, when it briefly touched $119 a barrel.

The surge came after Iran said it was prepared for a US ground invasion, with the speaker of the country’s parliament warning that Tehran was waiting for the arrival of US troops to “set them on fire” and “punish” their regional allies.

Tehran’s warning came as the conflict deepened over the weekend, with the Iranian-backed Houthis launching missiles at Israel for the first time in the war, and Israel expanding its invasion of southern Lebanon.

Asia’s main stock indexes fell sharply in morning trading, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 and South Korea’s KOSPI both down more than 4 percent as of 1:30 GMT.

Iran’s effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz in retaliation for the US-Israel war has disrupted about one-fifth of global oil and liquified natural gas (LNG) supplies, plunging the world into its biggest energy crisis in decades.

Oil prices have risen nearly 60 percent since the start of the war, driving up fuel prices worldwide and forcing numerous countries to adopt emergency measures to conserve energy.

Analysts have warned that oil prices are likely to keep rising unless maritime traffic returns to normal levels in the strait.

US President Donald Trump has threatened to “obliterate” Iran’s energy infrastructure if Tehran does not relinquish its stranglehold on the waterway by a deadline of April 6.

Trump, who on Thursday extended his deadline by 10 days, has proposed a 15-point plan for ending the war with Iran and insisted that the two sides are making progress towards a deal in indirect talks being mediated by Pakistan.

Tehran has flatly rejected Trump’s plan and proposed its own terms for a ceasefire, including war reparations and recognition of Iran’s right to control the strait.

Greg Newman, CEO of Onyx Capital Group, which began as an oil derivatives trading house, said energy consumers were only beginning to feel the true fallout of the turmoil.

“Physical oil moves around the world in loading cycles, and Europe has taken around three weeks to really start feeling the effects of the oil shortage,” Newman told Al Jazeera.

“Brent is starting to reflect the reality, and we think it’s a steady rise from here towards $120 and beyond.”

Newman said the scale of the disruption had yet to be fully appreciated.

“No one in the market has ever seen the outages we are now suffering from – physical premiums are the highest ever. There is still a sense that the macro world is not taking this seriously enough, but it is worse than anything that has come before it,” he said.

“The reality will come out in the economic numbers over the coming months.”

While Iran has been allowing a growing number of transits by ships that are not aligned with the US or Israel, traffic remains a fraction of pre-war levels.

On Saturday, Pakistani Minister of Foreign Affairs Ishaq Dar announced that Tehran had agreed to allow 20 Pakistani-flagged vessels to pass the strait in what he described as a “meaningful step toward peace”.

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said last week that Iran had granted an unspecified number of Malaysian vessels permission to clear the strait.

Seven non-Iranian vessels passed the strait on Thursday, up from five on Wednesday and four on Tuesday, according to maritime intelligence firm Windward.

Before the start of the war on February 28, the strait saw an average of 120 daily transits, according to Windward.

[Aljazeera]