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Namibia’s Loftie-Eaton smashes fastest T20I ton
Namibia’s Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton broke the record for the fastest T20I hundred at Kathmandu in the series opener of the Nepal-Namibia-Netherlands T20 tri-series, reaching the milestone off just 33 balls.
Coming to the crease with his side in trouble at 62-3 in the 11th over, Jan Frylinck dismissed by an ungainly fumbling stumping, Loftie-Eaton needed just a single legal ball to get his eye in. Pushing a straight single off Nepal skipper Rohit Paudel to retain the strike, Loftie-Eaton hooked Gulshan Jha first ball over fine leg for six. The burly left-hander took two more boundaries off that over, going to 18 off 6 with an audacious reverse slog-sweep over fine leg for six.
Ably supported by Malan Kruger, who struck eight boundaries himself en route to an unbeaten half-century, Loftie-Eaton conducted a controlled demolition of the home attack in a display of uncontainable innovation and aggression. In an innings that contained 8 sixes, perhaps the most impressive shot was a reverse sweep off left arm slinger Avinash Bohara – laced through a barely perceptible gap behind square for four. The shot set the tone for what was to follow as Loftie-Eaton ran through a full repertoire of scoops, reverses, dabs, muscled pulls, booming drives, and knee-dropping slog-sweeps – each new innovation frustrating Paudel’s every effort to set field.
Loftie Eaton’s exploits were all the more remarkable as his hitting was done on a TU International square where the three sides had struggled to score batting first, just one 200+ first innings score posted over the course of the preceding CWC League 2 ODI series. But for the record setting ball the pitch hardly mattered, a full toss from offpsinner DS Airee that anyone could have hit for a boundary, floating into middle stump and helped round the corner for four. It was just the 33rd legitimate delivery Loftie Eaton had faced, making his maiden century the fastest in the history of T20 internationals, and the third fastest in recognised List A T20.
Having taken his side from 62-3 in the 11th over to 197-3 in the last, Loftie Eaton lasted two more balls, long enough to congratulate Kruger on his own half-century, before falling 4 balls from the end picking out short third with another manufactured reverse flick off Bohara to go for 101 off 36. In company of stand-in skipper JJ Smit, Kruger finished the innings with a flourish, taking back to back fours off the final two balls to set the hosts a target of 207 to take the honours in the series curtain-raiser.
The man whose record Loftie-Eaton had broken, young southpaw Kushal Malla, was on the field to witness his 34-ball ton against Mongolia at last years’ Asia games surpassed by one ball. In the Nepal reply he had a rare chance to break the record right back. Coming in at 20-2 after Ruben Trumpelmann had removed Kushal Bhurtel LBW with the first ball of the innings and Aasif Sheikh in the third over, Malla looked intent on doing so as he raced to 20 off his first 7 balls. But he slowed up after he saw his captain held at long on for 42 off the legspin of none other than Loftie-Eaton, and eventually fell for 32 miscuing a hittable delivery from left arm spinner Bernhard Scholtz to JJ Smit at long on.
The day’s drama was far from over however with DS Airee marshalling a lower-order fightback even as wickets fell around him. Airee kept the hosts in the hunt until the penultimate over, taking the home side to 186-8 with a 38-ball 48 before edging Trumpelmann behind on the pull looking for a third six. One ball later it was all over, Trumpelmann spearing one full and straight into the stumps as No. 11 Bohara backed away, closing out a 20-run victory.
Namibia can look forward to a well-earned rest-day tomorrow to celebrate Loftie-Eaton’s achievement before returning to action against the Netherlands on Thursday, while the hosts will have to bounce back right away when they take on the Dutch tomorrow.
Brief Scores:
Namibia 206-3 in 20 overs (JN Loftie-Eaton 101, MB Kruger 59; RK Paudel 2-30) beat Nepal 186 in 18.5 overs (DS Airee 48, RK Paudel 42; R Trumpelmann 4-9) by 20 runs
(Cricbuzz)
European leaders, including in France and Germany, have announced they are working on a plan in the event the United States follows through on its threat to take over Greenland as tensions soar.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told France Inter radio on Wednesday that while nations want to act if the US moves to seize Greenland from an ally, Denmark, they want to do so “together with our European partners”.
“I myself was on the phone with the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio yesterday. He discarded the idea that what just happened in Venezuela could happen in Greenland,” Barrot said.
On Saturday, the United States – using fighter jets, attack helicopters, and special forces – abducted Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro, bringing him to New York City to be tried for alleged drug trafficking.
US President Donald Trump’s decision to greenlight the abduction of Maduro led to widespread condemnation and fear that Greenland, which the president has previously said should be part of Washington’s security apparatus, could be forcibly taken.
But since then, European allies have rallied behind Greenland’s sovereignty, saying the country belongs to its people.
Johannes Koskinen, chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of Finland’s parliament, called for the issue to be raised within NATO.
“[Allies should] address whether something needs to be done and whether the United States should be brought into line in the sense that it cannot disregard jointly agreed plans in order to pursue its own power ambitions,” he said.
Denmark’s Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen and his Greenlandic counterpart, Vivian Motzfeldt, requested an urgent meeting with Rubio to discuss the situation.
“We would like to add some nuance to the conversation,” Rasmussen wrote in a social media post. “The shouting match must be replaced by a more sensible dialogue. Now.”
Denmark has warned that any move to take Greenland by force would mean “everything would stop”, including NATO and 80 years of close security links.
Greenland’s government will join a meeting between Rubio and Danish officials next week following renewed US claims on the Arctic island, its foreign minister said on Wednesday.
The European Union will support Greenland and Denmark when needed and will not accept violations of international law no matter where they occur, European Council President Antonio Costa said.
“On Greenland, allow me to be clear: Greenland belongs to its people. Nothing can be decided about Denmark and about Greenland without Denmark or without Greenland,” Costa said in a speech.
“The European Union cannot accept violations of international law – whether in Cyprus, Latin America, Greenland, Ukraine, or Gaza. Europe will remain a firm and unwavering champion of international law and multilateralism.”
Greenland – the world’s largest island, with a population of 57,000 people – is located between Europe and North America. Since 2019, during Trump’s first term, the president has raised the idea of controlling Greenland, saying it would benifit US security.
So far, Trump has not ruled out using force to take the island.
Rubio told reporters on Wednesday that Trump’s intention is to buy Greenland. “That’s always been the president’s intent from the very beginning.”
House US House Speaker Mike Johnson said he hasn’t heard talk of sending the military into Greenland and the US is “looking at diplomatic channels”.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump and his national security team have “actively discussed” the option of buying Greenland.
“He views it in the best interest of the United States to deter Russian and Chinese aggression in the Arctic region. And so that’s why his team is currently talking about what a potential purchase would look like,” Leavitt told reporters.
Neither Leavitt nor Rubio ruled out the use of force. But Leavitt said, “The president’s first option, always, has been diplomacy.”
[Aljazeera]
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Landslide early warnings issued to the Districts of Badulla, Kandy, Matale and Nuwara Eliya
The Landslide Early Warning Center of the National Building Research Organisation [NBRO] has issued landslide early warnings to the districts of Badulla, Kandy, Matale and Nuwara Eliya for the next 24 hours commencing at 1200hrs today [08]
Accordingly
LEVEL II AMBER landslide early warnings have been issued to the Divisional Secretaries Divisions and surrounding areas of Ududumbara in the Kandy District, Wilgamuwa in the Matale District, and Nildandahinna and Walapane in the Nuwara Eliya District.
LEVEL I YELLOW landslide early warnings have been issued to the Divisional Secretaries Divisions and surrounding areas of Meegahakiwula, Welimada, Kandaketiya, Lunugala, Badulla, Passara, Uva Paranagama and Hali_Ela in the Badulla District, Ambanganga Korale in the Matale District, and Mathurata and Hanguranketha in the Nuwara Eliya District.
Greenland allies vow action if Trump moves to seize world’s largest island
Landslide early warnings issued to the Districts of Badulla, Kandy, Matale and Nuwara Eliya
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