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When 35,000 Asians stormed Long Island

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Rex Clementine in Miami

Sri Lanka’s chances to qualify for the second round of the T-20 World Cup faded away when they suffered a second loss in the Group D fixture against Bangladesh in Dallas. They flew into Miami for their next encounter. Between those games is the epic India – Pakistan clash in New York that one wouldn’t want to miss out.

Everything in US is money. You can buy an air ticket, but that doesn’t include your checked-in luggage. For that you have to pay separately at the check-in counters. It costs you a cool 40 USD.

Near gate number D25 in Dallas airport is a restaurant. You walk in to have some food and notice something different. Several people who serve food in the restaurant are those who are down with autism. Ben is a tall lad working in the restaurant and he does a fine job and obliges your request for a selfie. US is not discriminating anyone. Perhaps, it’s time that back home too we treat people with autism with more understanding.

The cricket ground in New York is at a place called Long Island. It’s a 40-minute drive from John F. Kennedy airport.

Rooms in Long Island have gone up in prices because of high demands. Some 35,000 fans have bought tickets. For police, it’s a logistics nightmare. They need to make sure the game goes on without any incident.

Although the match starts only at 10:30 am New York time, it makes sense to leave the hotel early. So, booked an Uber. The driver arrives. But there’s a problem. He only speaks Chinese. So, we drive towards the ground and the traffic is building up. You tell the driver to just keep going straight because media has been issued car passes for the game and it’s in the phone. It will be scanned and your vehicle will be allowed in. But the Chinese speaking driver doesn’t get what you are trying to say. He tries to avoid the traffic and speeds away on another lane. And he drops you off at the other end of the ground. That means a 30-minute walk to the press box from the opposite end of the ground.

How can someone live in America leave alone work here without knowing English? When your plight is told to a local journalist he explains that America has in fact no official language. It’s the free world.

You enter the press box just on time for the toss. It’s a wise decision to have left early.

It’s a cracking game. A full house witness India beating Pakistan in a last over thriller. Pakistan are facing elimination after losing to USA and then to India. Someone put it sarcastically; ‘Last week Pakistan were beaten by Green Card Indians. This week Pakistan were beaten by Adhar Card Indians.’

After the game, you visit a convenient store to pick up some food. The owner of the place is a Pakistani. We chat about cricket for about five minutes and as you are about to leave he asks you, ‘So, where are you from? Guyana or Jamaica?’

That’s something that’s frequently asked. West Indies were playing a Test match in Kandy a few years ago. As you entered the press box, a cop gets up from his seat and says, ‘good morning, sir.’ The next day too we exchange pleasantries. On day three, Lakruwan Wanniarachci and yours truly go to the press box chatting in Sinhala. The cop gives a weird look and says, ‘thamusay Lanakweda. Mama hithuwe  West Indies kiyala.’

Florida is where Sri Lanka’s next game is. Actually, Florida is the state. It’s twice as big as Sri Lanka. Florida is 170,000 Square Kilometers. Sri Lanka meanwhile is only 65,000 Square Kilometers. The state has several prominent cities with Orlando, Miami and Tampa being the major ones. The game is actually played at Fort Lauderdale. There’s an airport there. It’s no tiny airport as it handles over 700 flights daily. That’s far more than what Katunayake operates daily. Miami of course handles over 1000 flights daily. It’s a 90-minute drive from Miami International to the cricket ground.

The flight from New York to Miami takes three and half hours. The New York airport is named after President John F. Kennedy and fondly called as JFK. It is highly hyped up but it’s nowhere near to Changi Airport in Singapore or Bangalore Airport. JFK has eight terminals and handles over 2500 flights daily.



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Tom Latham, Mitchell Santner fifties prop up New Zealand

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Tom Latham top-scored for New Zealand with 63 [Cricinfo]

Half-centuries to Tom Latham and Mitchell Santner added some gloss to a battling New Zealand innings on the opening day of the third and final Test against England in Hamilton.

Whereas the second Test was a maelstrom of match-shaping moments, this Test progressed at an altogether more believable pace but the situation at stumps was similar, New Zealand having blown a position of strength in the face of a persistent England performance that left the day evenly poised, thanks in no small part to Santner’s unbeaten fifty off 54 balls with his side nine wickets down.

In Wellington, New Zealand ended the first day on the back foot at 86 for 5 in response to their opponents’ 280, clawed back from 4 for 43. Here, an opening partnership of 105 between Latham and Will Young – standing in while Devon Conway is on paternity leave – had the hosts in unfamiliar territory for this series before they lurched to 231 for 7, losing five wickets for 59 runs.

But a neat cameo of 23 in 10 balls from Tim Southee in his farewell match, which included three sixes to take his tally to 98 from his 107-Test career, and Santner’s late charge lifted them to 315 for 9 at the close, the Black Caps adding 76 runs off the last eight overs of the day.

England’s bowlers lacked bite in the first session but they frustrated New Zealand through the middle session and lured them into some loose shot selection during the evening.

Latham’s half-century underpinned the hosts’ steady start after Young failed to add to his 42 runs after lunch – a staggering 40 of those coming in fours – and Kane Williamson couldn’t convert, falling for 44 when he was bowled in slow-motion trying in vain to kick a Mathew Potts delivery away from his stumps.

Were it not for Santner’s freewheeling knock, New Zealand could have been in a worse state with no other batter passing Southee’s score from No. 10.

New Zealand’s recalibrated opening partnership of Latham and Young expertly navigated the morning session, reaching lunch at 93 without loss after being sent in by England under skies which had turned from bright to overcast within the hour before play, then returned to blazing sunshine after the main meal break.

Young made a watchful start, facing 10 deliveries before he got off the mark with four off Potts, himself making his first appearance of the series in replacing Chris Woakes.

Young was into his work after that, no doubt to the delight of New Zealand fans who had been willing his inclusion after his Player-of-the-Series performance on the Black Caps’ successful tour of India which was just a matter of weeks ago but felt so distant as their side slid to a 2-0 deficit against England.

He was streaky to begin with, his next two boundaries coming off the edge through backward point and piercing the cordon. But by halfway through the morning session, Young and Latham had negotiated a nibbling pitch to ease their way to 46 without loss, already more than double New Zealand’s previous best opening partnership this series.

Shortly after the first drinks break, Young had helped himself to six fours all up, punishing Brydon Carse twice in one over as the England quick struggled to nail his lengths.

Latham was dropped on 12 and 53 by Ben Duckett, either side of England breaking his stand with Young, prised out by an excellent Gus Atkinson delivery which drew an edge to Harry Brook at second slip.

Williamson – unaccustomed to waiting so long to be called upon in this series – pulled a Carse short ball through deep backward square for four. And, when Potts finally had Latham caught down the leg side, it looked like Williamson would again need to stand up for his team, albeit from a superior position of 142 for 2.

Having burned a review as Ben Stokes hopefully sought to have Latham out caught behind off his own bowling, the England captain wisely over-ruled wicketkeeper Ollie Pope’s insistence that he’d snaffled Williamson down the leg side off Stokes for 20, replays vindicating Stokes’ decision.

Rachin Ravindra spooned Carse straight to Duckett at gully for a soft dismissal and, apart from Williamson’s freakish dismissal trying to fend Potts back down the pitch only to lose the ball behind him as it evaded his searching boot and dribbled into the base of middle stump, the loose wickets continued.

Daryl Mitchell picked out Stokes at mid off, Glenn Phillips swung wildly at a Potts ball outside off and sent it straight to Zak Crawley at backward point and Blundell chipped Carse to cover point, where Jacob Bethell took a strong catch above his head.

It took some special fielding by Brook to remove Matt Henry hooking Stokes to the young England star, who pulled the ball down inside the boundary rope and parried it up before he went over, jumping back in to complete the catch.

Santner, brought in as a frontline spinner for this game at the expense of Nathan Smith, was hit on the top of the helmet by a Stokes bouncer but he shrugged off the blow to play a key role in New Zealand’s recovery.

Southee delighted his home crowd when he swung Stokes for back-to-back sixes, eliciting an involuntary grin from Stokes, who conceded 17 off the over.

Seemingly determined to reach his ton of maximums, Southee slammed the first delivery with the second new ball for another six over deep midwicket off Atkinson and a fumble on the boundary by Duckett resulted in four off the next ball. Two balls later, however, Southee’s fun was over when he tried to go down the ground and skied to Carse at mid-off.

A four off Potts in the final over drew Santner within reach of his fifty and he grabbed it in style, launching the last ball of the day for six over long-off. Potts ended with 3 for 75 and Atkinson 3 for 55.

Brief scores:
New Zealand 315 for 9 in 82 overs (Tom Latham 63, Mitchell Santner 50*, Will Young 42, Kane Williamson 44, Tom Blundell 21, Tim Southee 23;  Gus Atkinson 3-55, Mathew Potts 3-75, Brydon Carse 2-78) vs England

[Cricinfo]

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Khawaja, McSweeney steady for 13.2 overs before rain ruins day one of Gabba Test

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Rohit Sharma appeals unsuccessfully [Cricinfo]

Only 13.2 overs were possible on a rain-hit first day in Brisbane, where India strove without success after choosing to bowl first in the third Border-Gavaskar Test match.

Overcast conditions and a grassy pitch prompted India to insert Australia after winning their third straight toss, and perhaps recent history informed their decision too, with the team bowling first having won six of the last seven Tests at this venue. It took a while for India’s quicks to find their lengths, however, and the openers looked mostly untroubled in the first 5.3 overs before a drizzle sent the players off the field, with Usman Khawaja putting away anything a touch too straight or short while getting to 13 off 22 balls.

Play resumed after a half-hour interruption, and the bowlers began to ask more questions, shifting their lengths fuller and finding more movement. Akash Deep,  who came into the side in place of Harshit Rana, looked particularly impressive as first change, swinging and nipping the ball into the right-handed Nathan McSweeney and getting the odd ball to climb awkwardly too.

But just as the contest was beginning to heat up, with India conceding only nine runs in 7.5 overs after the break, the rain returned, this time with greater intensity. The fast-draining Gabba outfield promised a quick resumption as and when the rain stopped, but the wait for that to happen dragged on and on, taking in both the lunch and tea breaks. The downpour relented at around 3 pm but returned soon after. Play was eventually called off at 4.13pm.

Apart from Akash Deep, India also brought Ravindra Jadeja into their side for his first appearance of the series, in place of R Ashwin. This change meant they had played three different spinners in each of the first three Tests. For Australia, Josh Hazlewood returned after recovering from his side strain, displacing Scott Boland from the pace attack.

Brief scores:
Australia 28 for 0 (Usman Khawaja 19*, Nathan McSweeney 4*) vs India

[Cricinfo]

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India’s Gukesh beats China’s Ding to become youngest chess world champion

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India's grandmaster Gukesh Dommaraju (left) competes against China's chess grandmaster Ding Liren in game 14 of the 2024 FIDE World Championship in Singapore on December 12, 2024 [Aljazeera]

Teenager Gukesh Dommaraju of India became the youngest undisputed chess world champion by beating defending champion Ding Liren of China in a dramatic turn of events in the last game of a 14-game match in Singapore.

Gukesh, 18, is four years younger than Garry Kasparov, who had been the youngest world champion since 1985 when he beat Anatoly Karpov.

Gukesh won Thursday’s game with the black pieces after Ding wilted under pressure and blundered in what commentators considered to be a comfortable position, snatching the title with a final score of 7.5-6.5.

The 14th game appeared to be heading for a draw but with a one-pawn advantage – supported by a rook and a bishop – a tenacious Gukesh pressed on and was richly rewarded for it.

“My whole strategy for this match was to push as much as possible in every single game,” Gukesh told reporters. “It just takes one game for the strategy to pay off.”

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