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New Zealand and South Africa look ahead to Super Eights in low-pressure contest
Wednesday afternoon’s all-time classic in Ahmedabad was a game of inches. A couple of inches this way or that, and Saturday night’s game, at the same venue, could have had a whole lot more riding on it.
But as things stand, New Zealand and South Africa look set for safe passage out of Group D and into the Super Eights, leaving Afghanistan bemoaning fate and small margins, and praying for miracles from UAE and Canada – or is probably unlikely to cut it.
There’s no mystery about which of the Super Eights groups New Zealand and South Africa will end up in either. Pre-tournament seedings already decided that.
So this game, which could have been one of the tastiest clashes of the tournament, pitting two title contenders and featuring several tactical sub-plots, doesn’t really have much riding on it at all.
It could still turn out to be one of the games of the tournament, of course, because that can happen when you put two T20 teams of elite power and skill on the field together. But the title of this section, big picture? There isn’t much of it at all.
He is one of South Africa’s greatest cricketers of all time, but is Kagiso Rabada under some pressure to hold his place in their first XI in T20Is? He has the pace and skills to operate in any phase, but he has had an indifferent time in T20Is of late. Rabada averages 34.55 with the ball since 2025, with an economy rate of 9.82. But in his defence, he has only played nine T20Is in this time, thanks to injury and workload management. The chaotic 20th over against Afghanistan, during which Rabada overstepped twice, shouldn’t put his spot in danger. But he’ll want to pick himself up and remind the world of the impact he can make at his best.
Rachin Ravindra looks like he could be the archetypal modern-day T20 No. 3, but his international record in the format is… not good, with a strike rate of 135.19, an average of 19.09, and just three half-centuries in 40 innings. All that doesn’t take away from Ravindra’s potential – which he has shown in flashes in recent weeks, in a pair of cameos against India – and he could make a big difference on Saturday if he and his fellow left-handers in New Zealand’s line-up could get stuck into Keshav Maharaj’s left-arm spin.
New Zealand played the same XI against both Afghanistan and UAE, and they seem unlikely to make any changes unless a used pitch prompts them to pick an extra spinner in Ish Sodhi.
New Zealand (probable): Tim Seifert (wk), Finn Allen, Rachin Ravindra, Glenn Phillips, Daryl Mitchell, Mark Chapman, Mitchell Santner (capt), James Neesham, Matt Henry, Lockie Ferguson, Jacob Duffy
South Africa replaced seam-bowling allrounder Corbin Bosch with spin-bowling allrounder George Linde when they played Afghanistan. They might, however, worry about having two left-arm fingerspinners in Linde and Maharaj against a New Zealand side with four left-hand batters in their likely top eight. Bosch, therefore, could come back in.
South Africa (probable): Aiden Markram (capt), Quinton de Kock (wk), Ryan Rickelton, Dewald Brevis, David Miller, Tristan Stubbs, Marco Jansen, Corbin Bosch/George Linde, Kagiso Rabada, Keshav Maharaj, Lungi Ngidi
[Cricinfo]
Donald Trump has stressed that any deal with Iran must result in the country’s “unconditional surrender”, setting maximalist war objectives for the United States.
The US president’s remarks on his Truth Social platform on Friday appear to reject the prospect of a compromise amid Iranian confirmation of diplomatic mediation to end the conflict.
“There will be no deal with Iran except UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!” Trump wrote.
“After that, and the selection of a GREAT & ACCEPTABLE Leader(s), we, and many of our wonderful and very brave allies and partners, will work tirelessly to bring Iran back from the brink of destruction, making it economically bigger, better, and stronger than ever before.”
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian had said earlier that some countries are engaging in mediation efforts to end the war, emphasising that Iran is committed to peace in the region but prepared to defend itself.
“Mediation should address those who underestimated the Iranian people and ignited this conflict,” Pezeshkian said in a social media statement.
The conflict has spread across the Middle East, igniting Iranian attacks across the Gulf and a war between Hezbollah and Israel, resulting in a mass displacement crisis in Lebanon.
Iran has been launching missiles and drones at Israel and US interests and assets across the region. Iranian forces have also targeted energy and civilian infrastructure in Gulf countries, straining ties with the Arab world.
The violence, which saw Iran largely succeed in closing down the Strait of Hormuz, has sent oil prices soaring globally.
Iranian officials have expressed defiance since the start of the war, stressing that they are ready for a long conflict and prepared to fend off a US ground invasion should it occur.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a message to Trump on Thursday that the US plan for a “clean rapid military victory failed”.
“Your Plan B will be even a bigger failure,” Araghchi wrote on X.
On Friday, Iran’s top diplomat posted a photo of the coffins of a mother and child, the apparent victims of US-Israeli attacks. “Our Brave and Powerful Armed Forces will avenge each and every Iranian mother, father, and child who has been targeted by hostile forces,” Araghchi wrote.
The war has killed at least 1,332 people in Iran, among them 181 children, according to UNICEF.
The deadliest incident was a strike on a girls’ primary school in the southern city of Minab on the opening day of the conflict, which Iranian authorities said killed about 180 pupils and staff.
The Trump administration has pushed to project confidence and dominance over Iran, with top officials saying that the US would “rain missiles”, “death and destruction” on the country.
In recent days, Trump has repeatedly said that he would like to replicate the Venezuela playbook in Iran – keeping the governing system in place but installing a leader who is friendly to US interests.
On Wednesday, Trump said he has to be “involved” in choosing the successor of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was assassinated in a US-Israeli attack on Saturday.
Trump told CNN later on Thursday that the situation in Iran is going to work “easily” like it did in Venezuela when Delcy Rodigues replaced President Nicolas Maduro after he was abducted by US forces in January.
Rodriguez, who previously served as Maduro’s vice president, has allowed Washington to sell Venezuela’s oil and cut off petroleum supplies to Cuba under the threat of further US strikes.
Trump said he does not mind of the next leader of Iran is a religious figure.
“I’m saying there has to be a leader that’s going be fair and just. Do a great job. Treat the United States and Israel well, and treat the other countries in the Middle East — they’re all our partners,” he told CNN.
The supreme leader of Iran must be a Shia Muslim religious scholar.
Khamenei’s successor will be selected by an elected council of 88 members known as the Assembly of Experts.
[Aljazeera]
A tiny possum with one extra-long finger on each hand is one of two species thought to have been extinct that have been discovered in West Papua, in what’s been called an “exceptional” scientific discovery.
The other is a a ring-tailed glider with a tail that can grasp branches. Both have been found living in remote rainforests after they were thought to have disappeared 6,000 years ago.
Finding living examples of a lost species is rare, but discovering two is “remarkable,” say scientists who published their findings in the Records of the Australian Museum journal on Friday.
Such discoveries are known as “lazarus taxon”, a term inspired by a biblical figure who was raised from the dead.
“The discovery of one lazarus taxon… is an exceptional discovery,” said Prof Tim Flannery, a prominent Australian scientist best known for his 2005 The Weather Makers book about climate change.
“But the discovery of two species, thought to have been extinct for thousands of years, is remarkable.”
The first rediscovered species was the pygmy long-fingered possum, a striped marsupial weighing about 200g, which is understood to have vanished from Australia during the Ice Age.
A distinguishing feature is that on each hand, the possum’s fourth finger is twice the length of other digits, which scientists say help it dig out wood-boring insect larvae, it’s main source of food.
The second species is the ring-tailed glider, and just like its Australian cousin the greater glider, it lives in the hollows of tall trees.
The discoveries were made by piecing together parts of a puzzle with scientists combing through decades-old fossils, rare photos and old specimens to gather clues before making visits to remote New Guinea locations.
Flannery, along with another of the paper’s co-authors Prof Kris Helgen and researchers from the University of Papau, spoke to local elders from the Tambrauw and Maybrat clans – some of whom have only had contact with the modern world since the 1960s.
Identification of the species would not have been possible without their help, according to Rika Korain, a Maybrat woman and another co-author.
“They’re very traditional people,” Flannery added, and regard the glider as so sacred that “not only won’t they hunt it, they won’t mention its name”.
But the gliders habitat was increasingly coming under threat from logging in the area, Flannery said.
This, in part, has prompted efforts by scientists and wildlife groups to try secure native title for the forests to ensure logging cannot be carried out without consent from locals, he said.
(BBC)
The death toll from Israeli attacks on Lebanon this week has risen to at least 123 people, the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health says, as a new wave of strikes pounded the country and Hezbollah warned Israeli residents to evacuate towns within 5km (3 miles) of their northern border, in one of the fiercest fronts in the wider United States – Israel war on Iran.
“The toll from the Israeli aggression on Monday, increased to 123 martyrs and 683 wounded,” a ministry statement said on Thursday.
Lebanese state media said early on Friday that Israel had launched air strikes on several towns in southern Lebanon.
“Enemy warplanes launched nighttime strikes on the towns of Srifa, Aita al-Shaab, Touline, as-Sawana and Majdal Selem,” the official National News Agency (NNA) reported.
Another strike hit the eastern Lebanese town of Douris at dawn, the NNA said.
The Israeli army also reported a new attack on the suburb of Dahiyeh in Beirut.
It has also continued attacks in southern Lebanon with raids on the area’s biggest city Sidon, according to sources on the ground.
NNA also reported Israeli warplanes over the southern towns of Tyre and Bint Jbeil.
(Aljazeera)
‘No deal with Iran except unconditional surrender,’ Trump says
Tiny possum and glider thought extinct for 6,000 years found in remote West Papua
Maldives Coast Guard Ship Huravee departs island
Cost to US for war on Iran is $3.7bn in first 100 hours, says think tank
More than 120 killed in Israel’s Lebanon attacks as Beirut, south, east hit
Hungary confirms it is holding seven Ukrainian bank workers and $80m
‘Dates have the highest sugar content to fight Coronavirus’
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