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Maxwell’s record ton powers Australia to series win
Glenn Maxwell smashed his way to an unbeaten 55-ball 120, a record-equalling fifth century in the format as Australia beat West Indies by 34 runs in the second T20I at the Adelaide Oval on Sunday (February 11).
Maxwell’s feat put him at level with Rohit Sharma for the most centuries in T20Is and helped Australia to post the highest-ever T20I total in their country. With early wickets lost in pursuit of a big chase, West Indies were never really in the hunt. Rovman Powell (63 off 36), Andre Russell (37 off 16) and Jason Holder (28* off 16) all threw their bat around but could only help in limiting the margin of defeat.
Earlier in the day, Australia got off to a bumpy start after being put into bat as Josh Inglis fell early after a scratchy start to his innings. However, skipper Mitchell Marsh set the tone with an ultra-aggressive cameo to create momentum into the innings. David Warner played second fiddle to his captain as the partnership flourished but the pair fell in the space of eight deliveries to give West Indies some respite.
On a good batting surface with short square boundaries, the carnage was only about to start. Maxwell took a few balls to get in before hitting top gear. Such was the level of Maxwell’s dominance that his 82-run stand with Marcus Stoinis had the latter contributing just 16 of those. Tim David (31* off 14) then combined for an unbroken 95-run stand as Australia raced away to a daunting total. All of Maxwell’s trademark strokes were on display – the loft over cover, slice over backward point mixed with the occasional switch-hits and reverse sweeps. One outrageous reverse-pull against Akeal Hosain was the jaw-dropping shot of the lot.
For West Indies to make a game of this, they needed a near-perfect run chase but that wasn’t to be. Johnson Charles and Nicholas Pooran got brisk starts after Brandon King’s early dismissal but both fell along with Shai Hope within the powerplay to further Australia’s dominance. From then on, it was only about the margin of victory as West Indies’ chances of getting anywhere close was near impossible. Even with the extreme batting conditions and boundary dimensions on offer.
Powell and Russell showed their power-hitting skills with some brutal hitting but the task at hand was a bridge too far even for them. Their knocks along with Holder’s cameo at the end made the game seem like a closer contest than it actually was. Australia’s bowlers on their part did well to ensure that batters were forced to hit down the ground where the dimensions were longer as opposed to the short square boundaries. All of them were among the wickets with Marcus Stoinis being the most successful of the lot.
Brief scores: Australia 241/4 in 20 overs (David Warner 22, Mitchell Marsh 29, Glenn Maxwell 120*, Tim David 31*; Jason Holder 2-42) beat West Indies 207/9 in 20 overs (Johnson Charles 24, Rovman Powell 63, Andre Russell 37, Jason Holder 28*; Marcus Stoinis 3-36, Josh Hazlewood 2-31, Spencer Johnson 2-39) by 34 runs
With the objective of enhancing the living conditions of the agricultural community and increasing the contribution of the agricultural sector to the GDP, ‘Smallholder Agribusiness Partnerships Programme’ is being implemented with the financial contribution form the government and the International Fund for Agricultural Development.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Lands and Irrigation is
implementing the program in collaboration with the Regional Development Department of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. All recoveries from loans provided under the program shall be directed to a revolving fund titled the “Sustainable Agricultural Fund”, which shall be utilized exclusively for the provision of
agricultural loans. Using the said fund, it is proposed to implement an agricultural loan scheme titled the “Sustainable Agriculture Programme” for individuals and institutions engaged in agriculture and related activities.
It is expected that an amount of Rs. 800 million from the funds available in the Sustainable Agriculture Fund will be allocated for the implementation of the Sustainable Agriculture Program in the year 2026.
Accordingly, the Cabinet of Ministers approved the proposal made by the President in his capacity as the Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development to implement the “Sustainable Agriculture Program” loan scheme through the Participatory Finance Institution as an annual program from the year 2026.
The Ministry of Education, Higher Education and Vocational Education has entered into agreements with Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation General Limited to execute the Suraksha Student Insurance programme which is implemented with the objective of facilitating to maintain student education activities of students who experience disturbances to education due to numerous health issues without any interruption.
From this, approximately 40 lacks of students educated in government schools, government approved private schools, Pirivena and assisted special schools are covered under health
insurance, accident coverage, and life insurance categories.
Considering the issues recognized when implementing this programme, the Cabinet of Ministers granted approval to the particulars furnished by the Prime Minister in her capacity in the post of the Minister of Education, Higher Education and
Vocational Education that the ‘Suraksha’ Student Insurance Programme for the year 2025 / 2026 will be implemented including the following amendments and thereby actions will be taken to issue relevant circular instructions.
• Implementation of ‘Suraksha’ Student Insurance Programme until 31.08.2026 in relation to the year 2025 / 2026
• Amendment of the annual income of low income category considered at granting parent death benefit from rupees 180,000/- to rupees 240,000/-
• Granting benefit up to rupees 75,000/- for the Scoliosis Brace which is used for correcting distortion of the spinal code and Cochlea Equipment.
• Granting benefits up to rupees Rs. 20,000/- for students those who are taking medicine for longer periods for ailments in the category of critical illness category and another 07 identified ailments.
• Adding 05 more ailments as Pneumothorax, Encephalitis, Thalassemia, Hereditary Spherocytosis and Sickle Cell Anemia which are in the critical ailment category.
• From 01.09.2025, providing opportunity to handover the claim applications for obtaining benefits to any regional office of Sri Lanka Insurance General Limited.
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Establishment of Consultancy Boards for strengthening and promoting local production industries.
20 Consultancy Boards have been established by now covering the production industries field with the objective of minimizing the policy issues in industries and entrepreneurship development.
It has been recognized the requirement of establishing consultancy committees for another 07 special industry sectors that are not covered by the aforementioned consultancy committees.
Accordingly, the Cabinet of Ministers granted approval to the proposal furnished by the Minister of Industries and Entrepreneurship Development to establish Consultancy Committees for the following industry sectors comprised of not
more than 25 members representing experts in the state institutions, commercial boards / assemblies, institutions (Universities and Research Institutions) and experts in the respective industries sector.
• Indigenous medicine and traditional / hereditary medical sector
• Confectionaries related production industries sector
• Traditional handicraft industries sector
• Chicken related industries sector
• Ornamental fish and sea weed related industries sector
• Creative craft related industries sector
• Event management sector
Implementation of the loan scheme, “Sustainable Agriculture Program”
Cabinet nod to implement ‘Suraksha’ Student Insurance Programme in the year 2025 / 26
Establishment of Consultancy Boards for strengthening and promoting local production industries.
Match fees more than doubled for women’s domestic cricketers in India
National progress can be achieved only when everyone fulfills the responsibilities entrusted to them with steadfast determination, unity of purpose and resilience in the face of any challenge – President
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