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Warner, Marsh, Zampa steer Australia to vital win
David Warner, Mitchell Marsh and Adam Zampa steered Australia to a vital win over Pakistan in Bengaluru on Friday (October 20). The result saw the fortunes for the two teams change completely as Australia bounced back in style after suffering defeats in their opening two games to now win two in a row whereas Pakistan suffered the exact opposite fate. In pursuit of a massive target following centuries from Warner and Marsh, Pakistan remained in the hunt for the major part of their innings after Abdullah Shafique and Imam-ul-Haq laid a solid platform before Zampa’s key strikes hurt them towards the end.
Australia’s intentions were very clear as early as in the first over of the day when Marsh smashed a six straight over Shaheen Afridi’s head. The two openers targeted the pace of Haris Rauf as Warner clipped him for a stunning six over fine leg, which was then followed by Marsh fetching a hat-trick of boundaries in the same over. Quite astonishingly, Rauf conceded 47 runs in his first three overs.
While Warner’s strike rate comfortably hovered over 100, Marsh stepped on the accelerator after going past his half-century as the openers kept Pakistan at bay. Things could have turned out differently had Usama Mir, the World Cup debutant, held onto a simple chance to get rid of Warner early in his innings the veteran made the Asian side pay dearly. By the halfway mark, Pakistan had 172 on the board and the carnage continued with both openers reaching three figures off successive deliveries in the same over.
Even though no wickets fell for the first 33.4 overs of the contest, the next two balls produced wickets in a much-needed relief for Pakistan. Marsh was dismissed for 121 and Glenn Maxwell’s promotion didn’t work. Warner however managed to cut loose and managed to go past 150 for the seventh time in his career as Australia set themselves up for a big finish. At 297/3 after 40 overs. Australia were primed to touch 400. But there was a twist left in the tale as Pakistan staged an impressive comeback at the death once Warner fell for 163. Rauf and Shaheen kept pegging Australia back with regular wickets with the left-arm pacer managing to finish with a five-fer.
Chasing a daunting 368, Pakistan stuck to their template of not taking too many risks in the powerplay. Shafique targeted an erratic Mitchell Starc for a couple of boundaries in an over and Imam repeated the feat off Josh Hazlewood in the following over to give Pakistan a good start. After knocking off 59 runs in the powerplay, the openers stepped it up a bit with Shafique also finding a slice of luck when Sean Abbott dropped him near the boundary.
For the first time in World Cup history, all four batters managed to go past fifty as Pakistan slowly gained upper hand after a 15-run over from Maxwell. While the front line bowlers struggled to give Australia the opening breakthrough, the golden arm of Marcus Stoinis dented Pakistan as Shafique miscued one to depart for 64. Another short ball from the allrounder saw the back of Imam as well and with both the set batters back in the pavilion, Australia seized control.
Zampa bagged the crucial wicket of Babar Azam as Pat Cummins took an excellent catch to get rid of his Pakistan counterpart. After 30 overs, Pakistan still had hopes, having already scored 200 but needed a partnership to steady the ship. Mohammad Rizwan and Saud Shakeel provided just that to keep Pakistan in the hunt. At one point, Pakistan appeared to be having momentum on their side with both Rizwan and Shakeel finding the boundary at regular intervals.
Even the wicket of Shakeel didn’t deter the men in green as Iftikhar Ahmed came out and hammered three sixes in the space of five deliveries to stun Australia. At that point, Pakistan needed 103 from 72 deliveries and were firmly in the contest before Zampa crushed their hopes. Both Iftikhar and Rizwan were trapped leg-before-wicket in successive overs by the legspinner and as a result the chase fizzled out. He finished his quota with another wicket off the last ball before Pakistan eventually fell short by 62 runs.
Brief scores:
Australia 367/9 in 50 overs (David Warner 163, Mitchell Marsh 121; Shaheen Afridi 5/54) beat Pakistan 305 in 45.3 overs (Imam-ul-Haq 70, Abdullah Shafique 64; Adam Zampa 4/53) by 62 runs
The US House of Representatives has voted to rescind US President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Canadian goods.
In a 219 to 211 vote, six Republican lawmakers joined Democrats to back a resolution that seeks to end the tariffs Trump imposed on Canada last year.
The vote is largely symbolic as it will still need to be approved by the US Senate and then approved by Trump, who is very unlikely to sign it into law.
Since his re-election, Donald Trump has imposed a series of tariffs on Canada, recently threatening a 100% import tax in response to Canada’s proposed trade deal with China.
As the vote was taking place on the House floor, Trump posted on Truth Social: “Any Republican, in the House or the Senate, that votes against TARIFFS will seriously suffer the consequences come Election time.”
“TARIFFS have given us Economic and National Security, and no Republican should be responsible for destroying this privilege,” he added.
The vote came after US House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Trump ally in Congress, unsuccessfully tried to block discussion on the chamber’s floor by lawmakers on Trump’s tariffs.
With Republicans holding a thin majority in the US House, the six Republican defections along with a near-united front from Democrats was enough to secure the votes.
The measure had been introduced by Democrat Gregory Meeks who said that Trump had “weaponized tariffs” against allies and destabilized the global economy.
“Not only have these tariffs done immense harm to our relationship with Canada, pushing them closer to China, they have driven up prices here at home,” he said before the vote.
Representative Don Bacon from Nebraska was one of the six Republicans who crossed the aisle to join Democrats in approving the measure. Before the vote, he said “tariffs have been a ‘net negative’ for the economy and are a significant tax that American consumers, manufacturers, and farmers are paying.”
The bill now heads to the US Senate where Republicans also hold the majority. Even if it cleared that hurdle, it is unlikely to be signed into law.
Separately, Trump’s tariffs are also facing legal scrutiny as the US Supreme Court is set to rule soon on a case questioning the president’s legal authority to impose the levies.
Meeks, the top Democrat on the US House Foreign Affairs committee, said the measure on Canada is the first of several bills he plans to introduce that aim to roll back Trump’s signature trade action.
“Our fight doesn’t stop here,” he said in a video posted online before the vote. “I have resolutions also to end trump’s tariffs on Mexico, on Brazil, and on his Liberation Day global tariffs.”
[BBC]
Nepal enter the contest against Italy, a team they have never faced before, on the back of falling short by just one big blow against England on Sunday. Nepal will look to bring that same brand of cricket in Mumbai again and will believe they hold the edge and momentum against their fellow Associates, who are playing their first big tournament.
Emerging from the shadows of the globetrotting legspinner Sandeep Lamichhane are batters Dipendra Singh Airee and Lokesh Bam, who all but took their side over the line in front of loud and energetic fans. But with the ball, Nepal conceded 33 runs in the last two overs of the first innings in that game, and that turned out to be the difference.
However, two points – and a possible big margin of victory – against Italy will open Nepal’s group up before they face West Indies; Nepal had betaen West Indies 2-1 last September.
Italy, meanwhile, had a tough initiation at the T20 World Cup with a 73-run defeat against Scotland. They also lost their captain Wayne Madsen to injury inside four overs of their T20 World Cup debut. He will not feature against Nepal either.
Italy coach John Davison said after the loss that the “occasion may have got big on us”. With nothing to lose and experience to gain, Italy have another chance to have fun and potentially upset some calculations, before facing stronger oppositions England and West Indies.
Batting at No. 5, Ben Maneti was one of the positives for Italy in their loss to Scotland. He started with only seven runs off seven balls, but went on to smash 52 in 31. The majority of his runs came against spinners (45 runs in 25 balls) with shots all around: behind square, through cover, and over the bowler’s head. Italy will hope Ben Manenti carries that confidence against Lamichhane and co.
Lokesh Bam threw everything he had at England when they needed 54 in 21 balls, but fell agonisingly short. Facing quality and experienced bowlers, he smacked back-to-back fours off Sam Curran and successive sixes off Jofra Archer as England searched for answers. Bam’s 39 not out was not enough on the day, but he gave solid proof of his big-hitting ability, something the format demands.
Madsen has been ruled out against Nepal, and in his absence, Harry Manenti, the younger of the two brothers, will be leading Italy. Middle-order batter Marcus Campopiano could replace Madsen in the side.
Italy (probable): Anthony Mosca, Justin Mosca, JJ Smuts, Marcus Campopiano, Harry Manenti (capt), Ben Manenti, Grant Stewart, Gian-Piero Meade (wk), Thomas Draca, Crishan Kalugamage, Ali Hasan
Nepal might look to play the same team that ran England close at the same ground on Sunday.
Nepal (probable): Aasif Sheikh (wk), Kushal Bhurtel, Rohit Paudel (capt), Dipendra Airee, Aarif Sheikh, Lokesh Bam, Gulsan Jha, Karan KC, Sandeep Lamichhane, Nandan Yadav, Sher Malla
[Cricinfo]
Nearly 127 million eligible voters are heading to the polls in Bangladesh, in a key test of the country’s return to democracy after a student-led uprising toppled longtime leader Sheikh Hasina in August 2024.
The vote is a direct contest between the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and a Jamaat-e-Islami led coalition of 11 parties, which includes the National Citizens Party (NCP), formed by youth activists instrumental in ousting Hasina.
Corruption, inflation, employment and economic development are the main issues deciding the election in the world’s eighth most populous nation.
Besides the parliamentary election, the country is holding a referendum on the National Charter 2025 – a document drafted by the interim government led by Muhammad Yunus, setting the foundation for future governance.
[Aljazeera]
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