Latest News
Nat Sciver-Brunt century drives England to imposing 178-run victory
Nat Sciver Brunt once again proved herself to be the gold standard of England’s batting with a mighty 117-ball 124 not out, then followed up with two game-breaking wickets in her first bowl of the summer, as England powered to an emphatic 178-run victory in the third and final ODI against Pakistan at Chelmsford.
The result, achieved under mercifully rain-free skies after the sodden mess that engulfed Sunday’s second match at Taunton, condemned Pakistan to a 2-0 series loss in the 50-over leg of their tour, to go along with their 3-0 whitewashing in the T20Is. And, in a welcome sign of progress for the hosts after last week’s “scrappy” 37-run victory at Derby, this was England’s most complete display of their five completed matches, with Pakistan’s innings this time mopped up with more than 20 overs to spare.
With England’s imposing 302 for 5 on the board, Pakistan were reduced to 35 for 3 in the powerplay by the returning Lauren Bell, who bagged both openers in the space of ten balls including Sidra Amin to a sharp take from Maia Bouchier at cover, and Kate Cross, who induced Ayesha Zafar into a flat flick to midwicket for 13. Then, after Sciver-Brunt had signalled her return to bowling fitness with the scalps of Najiha Alvi for 6 and Muneeba, caught off a top-edge for a battling 47 from 55 balls off the final ball of her designated five-over spell, it was over to Sophie Ecclestone with a slice of history of her own.
The world’s No.1 spin bowler is a handy operator to be able to introduce at 96 for 6 after 21 overs, after Charlie Dean had been rewarded for her own perseverance by picking off Fatima Sana for a third-ball duck. She duly mopped up the resistance with three wickets in 25 balls, including two in two to march through to 100 ODI wickets in her 64th match – the quickest in women’s ODI history – with her captain Heather Knight grabbing Nashra Sandhu at slip for the landmark wicket.
With Nida Dar unable to bat after tweaking her hamstring in the field, it was left to England’s substitute fielder Sophia Dunkley to wrap up the contest with more than 20 overs remaining, with a sharp tumbling take at long-off that ended Aliya Riaz’s doughty innings of 36 from 41.
Her ninth ODI hundred was her fourth in nine innings and tenth in all formats for England, and also took her past 3,500 ODI runs in her 94th innings, at a faster rate than any female batter in history. Her only genuine let-off came on 86, when Najiha Alvi spilled a thin edge off Nashra that could also have been a stumping chance but, unfazed, she banked her century from 110 balls with back-to-back scoops for four off Sana, before truly cutting loose to apply a gloss finish to the innings. Diana Baig’s final over was clattered for consecutive straight sixes and another lofted four through the covers, as England ransacked 47 runs from the final three overs.
It hadn’t started with quite such poise, however. After winning the toss and batting first, England once again endured a mixed powerplay against some probing new-ball bowling and were three-down for 70 inside the 14th over. In particular, Tammy Beaumont’s dismissal to an ill-conceived ramp shot epitomised a team that is determined to dial up their aggression with the T20 World Cup looming, but has struggled to “read the situations” of a 50-over innings that Knight had identified as their key challenge in the lead-up to the series.
Bouchier impressed with her poise initially, picking off six fours to provide the bulk of England’s early progress, but her 34 from 33 balls still ended up being her highest score of a series that had promised more. But after Knight had come and gone cheaply, Danni Wyatt took over the initiative in a fourth-wicket stand of 79 with a 42-ball 44, before Amy Jones capitalised on a let-off at midwicket on 6 to keep the innings ticking with a run-a-ball 27.
Alice Capsey then kept Sciver-Brunt company into the death overs with 39 not out from 42 balls, including a one-bounce four down the ground moments after overturning an lbw appeal that was shown to be going over the stumps. Thereafter she was limited to just one more boundary in her first 37 balls until a late brace in the final over, as Pakistan tightened their lines to briefly raise the prospect of limiting England to a total closer to 250 than 300.
But by the time England’s premier performer had trotted out her A-game in the closing moments, there was no way back for Pakistan.
Brief scores: England 302 for 5 in 50 overs (Maia Boucher 34, Nat Sciver-Brunt 124*, Danni Wyatt 44, Amy Jones 27, Alice Capsey 39*; Diana Baig 1-60, Nida Dar 1-51, Fatima Sana 1-57, Umrp-e-Hani 2-47) beat Pakistan 124 in 29.1 overs (Muneeba Ali 47, Alia Riaz 36; Kate Cross 1-19, Lauren Bell 2-26, Charlie Dean 1-47, Nat Sciver-Brunt 2-11, Sophie Ecclestone 3-15) by 78 runs
(Cricinfo)
US President Donald Trump has announced that any country that purchases oil or gas from Venezuela will face a 25-percent tariff in its trade with the United States, starting on April 2.
The latest tariff threat came in a Truth Social post on Monday morning, in which Trump assailed Venezuela for spurring migration to the US. He also criticised its government, led by President Nicolas Maduro.
“Venezuela has been very hostile to the United States and the Freedoms which we espouse,” Trump wrote. “Therefore, any Country that purchases Oil and/or Gas from Venezuela will be forced to pay a Tariff of 25% to the United States on any Trade they do with our Country.”
The tariff appears designed not only to strike a blow against Venezuela but also against China, the US’s main economic rival and the largest consumer of Venezuelan energy products.
Later, at a White House cabinet meeting, Trump said he would also place tariffs on pharmaceuticals, automobiles and Aluminium.
Already, on April 2, US trading partners are bracing for what Trump has termed “reciprocal tariffs” — import duties that seek to match what other countries impose on US products.
“What is so exciting is April 2 is just around the corner. And that’s American liberation day. That’s the day when the rest of the world starts to treat America with respect,” Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said at the cabinet meeting, echoing sentiments Trump has expressed in the past.
Lutnick added that April 2 would also mark the launch of the External Revenue Service, a new agency whose job will be to collect tariffs and other import taxes.
Critics, however, have pointed out that US Customs and Border Protection — under the Department of Homeland Security — already collects and processes tariffs on behalf of the federal government.
Creating a new agency would also likely require an act of Congress.
[Aljazeera]
People living in coastal areas have been warned to get out of the water and move away from beaches after a strong 6.7 magnitude earthquake struck off New Zealand’s South Island, authorities said.
Residents of the Southland and Fiordland regions should stay away from marine areas as strong and unusual currents may present a danger, the National Emergency Management Agency said after the earthquake on Tuesday.
“People on boats, live-aboards and at marinas should leave their boats/vessels and move onto shore. Do not return to boats unless instructed by officials,” the agency said.
More than 4,700 people felt the quake, government seismic monitor Geonet said, as New Zealand media reported items falling and buildings swaying.
The quake was reported at a depth of 33km (21 miles) about 160km (99 miles) northwest of Snares Islands, the northernmost of New Zealand’s sub-Antarctic islands, Geonet said in an alert.
“We had things fall off shelf. The outdoor wooden table dancing,” a user posted on Facebook, according to the New Zealand Herald newspaper.
The United States Geological Survey said the quake, which was downgraded from an earlier magnitude of 7, happened at a depth of about 10 km (6 miles).
Australia’s national weather bureau said there was no tsunami threat to the mainland, islands or territories.
New Zealand lies on the seismically active “Ring of Fire”, a 40,000km (24,854-mile) arc of volcanoes and ocean trenches girdling much of the Pacific Ocean.
[Aljazeera]
US funding cuts will lead to an additional 2,000 new HIV infections each day and over six million further deaths over the next four years, the UNAids chief has warned.
It would mark a stark reversal in the global fight against HIV, which has seen the number of deaths from the disease decrease from more than two million in 2004 to 600,000 in 2023, the most recent year for which figures are available.
UNAids Executive Director Winnie Byanyima said the US government’s decision to pause foreign aid – which included funding for HIV programmes – was already having devastating consequences.
She called on the US to reverse the cuts immediately, warning women and girls were being hit particularly hard.
US President Donald Trump announced the pause on foreign aid, for an initial 90 days, on his first day in office in January as part of a review into government spending. The majority of the US Agency for International Development’s (USAID) programmes have since been terminated.
Many US-financed HIV treatment and prevention programmes received stop work orders, leading to the closure of mother and baby clinics in Africa, and severe shortages of life saving anti-retroviral (ARV) medicines.
Ms Byanyima said she feared a return to the 1990s, when HIV medication was scarcely available in poorer countries, and infections and deaths soared.
The US has for years been the single biggest funder of HIV treatment and prevention, and Ms Byanima thanked Washington for its generosity and humanity.
She added it was “reasonable” for the US “to want to reduce its funding – over time”, but said the “sudden withdrawal of lifesaving support [was] having a devastating impact”.
There has been no sign that Washington is listening to appeals to change course.
Traditional aid donors in Europe also plan funding cuts, and UNAids – the joint UN agency which combats HIV – has had no indication that other countries might step in to fill the gap left by the US.
Speaking in Geneva on Monday, Ms Byanyima described the case of Juliana, a young woman in Kenya living with HIV. She worked for a US-funded programme that supported new mothers to access treatment to ensure their babies did not develop the disease.
With the programme suspended, Ms Byanyima said Juliana was not only out of work but, because she was still breastfeeding her youngest child, she also feared losing the treatment she needed.
Previously, the World Health Organization (WHO) said eight countries – Nigeria, Kenya, Lesotho, South Sudan, Burkina Faso, Mali, Haiti and Ukraine – could soon run out of HIV drugs after the US funding pause.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that disruption to HIV programmes “could undo 20 years of progress”.
In February, South Africa’s leading Aids lobby group, the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), warned the country could see a return to when HIV patients struggled to access necessary services for their treatment.
“We can’t afford to die, we can’t afford to go back to those years where we were suffering with access to services, especially for people living with HIV treatment,” said TAC chair Sibongile Tshabalala.
Ms Byanyima also proposed a deal to the Trump administration, offering an opportunity to market a new US-developed ARV to millions of people.
Lenacapavir, made by US company Gilead, is given by injection every six months, with UNAids believing 10 million people could benefit from it.
The profits and jobs resulting from such a deal would be hugely beneficial to the US, Ms Byanyima added.
UNAids is one of a number of UN agencies facing funding cuts.
The UN Refugee Agency has suggested it may have to lose 6,000 jobs, while Unicef has warned that progress to reduce child mortality is threatened, and the World Food Programme has had to cut rations in famine threatened regions.
[BBC]
Trump to impose 25-percent tariffs on countries that buy oil from Venezuela
Coastal warning issued after magnitude 6.7 quake hits off New Zealand
Navy assist to conduct St. Anthony’s Church festival in Palaitivu
-
Business4 days agoCargoserv Shipping partners Prima Ceylon & onboards Nestlé Lanka for landmark rail logistics initiative
-
Features2 days agoThe US, Israel, Palestine, and Mahmoud Khalil
-
News2 days agoSeniors welcome three percent increase in deposit rates
-
News2 days agoScholarships for children of estate workers now open
-
Business4 days agoSri Lankans Vote Dialog as the Telecommunication Brand and Service Brand of the Year
-
News3 days agoDefence Ministry of Japan Delegation visits Pathfinder Foundation
-
Features4 days agoThe Vaping Veil: Unmasking the dangers of E-Cigarettes
-
News2 days agoJapanese Defence Delegation visits Pathfinder