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Sadeera, Matheesha and Asalanka star in big win
Rex Clementine at Pallekele
There were doubts about how Sri Lanka’s depleted bowling attack will go about things in the Asia Cup, but the backup bowlers came up with a splendid performance in their opening encounter yesterday at Pallekele helping Sri Lanka to a seven wicket win over Bangladesh.
Hometown boy Matheesha Pathirana was sensational finishing with four wickets providing early breakthroughs and then coming back for a last spell to destroy the tail as Bangladesh were bowled out for 164 runs with five overs to spare.
Sadeera Samarawickrama then smashed a half-century to help Sri Lanka to a comfortable win with 11 overs to spare. He was joined by Charith Asalanka, who posted an unbeaten 62.
Sri Lanka lost the top three wickets for 43 runs but Sadeera along with Asalanka added 78 runs for the fourth wicket to see Sri Lanka through without any alarms.
It was Sadeera’s fourth half-century in ODIs. He was stumped for 54 but by that stage, the job was nearly done. Asalanka completed his ninth ODI fifty.
Pathirana claimed the big wicket of Shakib-al-Hasan, who was well caught by Kusal Mendis for five. He then had the dangerman Mushfiqur Rahim for 13 in his second spell. The former captain cut one uppishly, but the pace was too much and was caught at third man boundary.
The tail had no clue when Pathirana came for one last spell with both Taskin Ahmed and Mustafizur Rahman falling for ducks.
Shanaka held back Pathirana without going on the attack all out and perhaps had he used him earlier, Bangladesh would have folded early.
Things would have looked even worse for Bangladesh had Sri Lanka held on to their chances.
Matheesha was well backed up by Maheesh Theekshana, who picked up a wicket in his first over and ended with two for 19.
Opposition batters had no clue against Theekshana unable to pick his variations. Even the set Najmul Shanto, who top scored with 89 never looked comfortable against him and was eventually cleaned up triggering a sensational lower order collapse.
Shanto had been dropped on two by skipper Dasun Shanaka off the unlucky Kasun Rajitha, who bowled so well but failed to pick up a wicket. He was also lucky to survive on 64 as the umpire turned down a caught behind appeal off Pathirana. Sri Lanka had exhausted their reviews.
Sri Lanka’s fielding apart from the odd flaw looked sharp and a lot of effort seemed to have gone into this aspect, an area that has been pretty ordinary in the recent past.
Scorecard:
Bangladesh innings
Mohammad Naim c Nissanka b de Silva 16
Tanzid Hasan lbw b Theekshana 0
Najmul Shanto b Theekshana 89
Shakib-al-Hasan c Mendis b Pathirana 5
Towhid Hridoy lbw b Shanaka 20
Mushfiqur Rahim c Karunaratne b Pathirana 13
Mehidy Miraz run out 5
Mahedi Hasan lbw b Wellalage 6
Taskin Ahmed c Theekshana b Pathirana 0
Shoriful Islam not out 2
Mustafizur Rahman lbw b Pathirana 0
Extras: (lb 3m w 4, nb 1) 8
Total: (all out) 164
Overs: 44.5
Fall of wickets: 1-4 (Hasan), 2-25 (Naim), 3-36 (Shakib), 4-95 (Hridoy), 5-127 (Mushfiqur), 6-141 (Miraz), 7-162 (Mahedi), 8-162 (Shanto), 9-164 (Taskin), 10-164 (Rahman).
Bowling: Kasun Rajitha 7-0-29-0 (w 1), Maheesh Theekshana 8-1-19-2, Dhananjaya de Silva 10-0-35-1, Matheesha Pathirana 7.4-0-32-4 (w 3), Wellalage 7-0-30-1 (nb 1), Shanaka 3-1-16-1.
Sri Lanka innings
Pathum Nissanka c Mushfiqur b Shoriful 14
Dimuth Karunaratne b Taskin 1
Kusal Mendis b Shakib 5
Sadeera Samarawickrama st Mushfiqur b Hasan 54
Charith Asalanka not out 62
Dhananjaya de Silva b Shakib 2
Dasun Shanaka not out 14
Extras: (b 2, lb 4, w 7) 13
Total: (for five wickets) 165
Overs: 39
Fall of wickets: 1-13 (Karunaratne), 2-15 (Nissanka), 3-43 (Mendis), 5-121 (Samarawickrama).
Did not bat: Dunith Wellalage, Maheesh Theekshana, Kasun Rajitha and Matheesha Pathirana.
Bowling: Taskin Ahmed 7-1-34-1 (w 3), Shoriful Islam 4-0-23-1 (w 2), Shakib-al-Hasan 10-2-29-2 (w 1), Mustafizur Rahman 3-0-12-0 (w 1), Mehidy Miraz 5-0-26-0, Mahedi Hasan 10-0-35-1.
Palestine was the deadliest place to work as a journalist in 2025, with the Middle East as a whole the most dangerous region for media professionals, according to a global journalist union.
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) said the region accounted for 74 deaths last year – more than half of the 128 journalists and media workers killed – in a new report released on Wednesday.
The Middle East was followed by Africa with 18 deaths, Asia Pacific (15), the Americas (11) and Europe (10), according to the report. The vast majority of those killed were men, but the list included 10 women.
“128 journalists killed in a single year is not just a statistic; it is a global crisis. These deaths are a brutal reminder that journalists are being targeted with impunity, simply for doing their job,” IFJ General Secretary Anthony Bellanger said.
Palestinian journalists were the biggest cohort of victims: 56 Palestinian media professionals were killed in 2025. Yemen followed, with 13 deaths, Ukraine, with eight, and Sudan, with six, according to the IFJ.
The Paris-based media union cited Israel’s killing of Al Jazeera journalist Anas al-Sharif as the most “emblematic” of the 56 journalists murdered in Palestine last year covering Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. Al-Sharif, 28, was killed on August 10 alongside several colleagues when Israeli forces struck a media tent outside Gaza City’s al-Shifa Hospital.
The attack also killed Al Jazeera correspondent Mohammed Qreiqeh, Al Jazeera camera operators Ibrahim Zaher and Mohammed Noufal, freelance camera operator Momen Aliwa and freelance journalist Mohammed al-Khalidi.
IFJ also cited an Israeli strike in early September on a Yemeni newspaper office as “one of the worst-ever attacks on a media office”. Thirteen journalists and media workers at the Houthi-affiliated “26 September” newspaper were killed, along with more than 20 other people.
Another nine deaths were ruled as accidents, while others – including two journalists in Syria and two in Iran – were “targeted and killed” because of their work, IFJ said.
While the Middle East was the deadliest region for the third year in a row in 2025, the Asia Pacific accounted for the largest number of journalists and media workers behind bars. Most cases in 2025 were in China and Hong Kong, which together accounted for 143 journalists, followed by 49 in Myanmar and 37 in Vietnam.
Europe was another detention hotspot last year, accounting for 149 imprisoned journalists. IFJ attributed the figure, up 40 percent from a year earlier, to “intensified repression in Azerbaijan and Russia”.
[Aljazeera]
United States President Donald Trump has said that he will delay the implementation of tariffs on upholstered furniture, kitchen cabinets and vanities for one year, amid growing concerns over cost-of-living issues.
Trump signed an order on Wednesday night, during the New Year’s Eve holiday, pausing a planned 50 percent tariff on cabinets and vanities and a 30 percent tariff on upholstered furniture.
But the order maintained the 25 percent tariff he put in place for those products in September.
The US president had previously described the furniture tariffs as a step to “bolster American industry and protect national security”.
Polls indicate that rising prices and the cost of living are major concerns for people in the US as the country approaches its 2026 midterm elections, scheduled for November.
Voters hold President Trump’s policies, and tariffs in particular, at least partly responsible for their economic woes. A Politico poll released in December found that 30 percent of respondents cited tariffs as the primary reason prices were high, and 32 percent said that Trump bears “full responsibility” for the state of the economy.
A majority of respondents cited the cost of living as a top issue facing the country, while 32 percent cited the state of the economy. Democratic politicians have sought to hammer Trump and his Republican Party on affordability concerns, which Trump has waved away as a “hoax” perpetuated by his political rivals.
The Italian foreign ministry said on Thursday that the US had also agreed to slash proposed import duties on pasta products from 13 companies.
Previously, the Trump administration had threatened the pasta companies with additional tariffs of 92 percent, in addition to import taxes on European Union products.
Italy’s foreign ministry said that the US Commerce Department had agreed to bring that rate down to 2.26 percent for La Molisana and 13.98 percent for Garofalo, two Italian food companies the administration had accused of undercutting other pasta producers through unfairly low prices.
The other companies will face a rate of 9.09 percent.
“The recalculation of the duties is a sign that US authorities recognise our companies’ constructive willingness to cooperate,” the foreign ministry said.
[Aljazeera]
Australia batter Usman Khawaja will retire from international cricket following the fifth Ashes Test against England in Sydney this week.
The 39-year-old will play his 88th and final Test on the ground where he made his debut against the same opponents in January 2011.
Khawaja was born in Pakistan and became the first Muslim to play for Australia when he took the place of Ricky Ponting at the end of England’s 3-1 series win 15 years ago.
The left-hander has made 6,206 Test runs at an average of 43.39, with 16 hundreds.
He has played in six Ashes series – winning two, losing two and drawing two.
He was also part of the Australia team that won the World Test Championship in 2023.
The final Test at the SCG starts on Sunday (23:30 GMT, Saturday).
Alongside Steve Smith, Khawaja is one of two remaining members of the Australia team beaten by England in their most recent series win in this country in 2010-11.
He needs 30 runs in his final Test to go above Mike Hussey and into 14th on Australia’s all-time run-scorers list, behind the great Donald Bradman in 13th.
Khawaja played the last of his 40 one-day internationals in 2019, having scored 1,554 runs at 42. He played in nine T20 internationals, scoring 241 runs at 26.77.
Now playing domestically for Queensland, Khawaja will end his career on the ground that was his home when he first played professional cricket for New South Wales in 2008.
Often in and out of the Australia team during his Test career, he found a home at the top of the order during the previous home Ashes in 2021-22.
However, his place has come under scrutiny during this series after he suffered back spasms in the first Test that prevented him from opening.
Travis Head took Khawaja’s place in the second innings and made a swashbuckling century to lead Australia to an eight-wicket win.
Khawaja subsequently missed the second Test with the back problem and was due to be left out of the third, only to receive a late call-up when Steve Smith fell ill.
He made 82 and 40 in Adelaide to retain his place for the fourth Test. Australia lead the series 3-1.
After the Ashes Australia will not play another Test until August, by which time Khawaja will be almost 40.
[BBC]
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