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ICC World Cup Qualifiers: Five things to look out for

Agencies
March 1, 2018

The qualifying tournament for the 2019 ICC World Cup gets underway in Zimbabwe on Sunday, with 10 teams battling it out for only two places at next year's tournament in England and Wales.

Two-time world champions West Indies and Afghanistan are favourites to claim the remaining spots for the reduced 10-team World Cup, while fellow Test sides Ireland and Zimbabwe will be hoping to cause an upset.

Here are five things to watch out for during the qualifiers from March 4 to 25.

Can Universe Boss revive Windies?

The West Indies are facing the ignominy of failing to qualify, despite being one of only three teams to have won the World Cup on multiple occasions. The Caribbean outfit have slipped out of the top eight in the ODI rankings after a poor run of form and the loss of several key players to T20 franchise leagues.

But star batsman and self-styled 'Universe Boss' Chris Gayle is back and ready to try and add to his tally of 22 ODI hundreds. The big-hitting left-hander turned down the allure of the lucrative Pakistan Super League in order to play in Zimbabwe, and all eyes will be on the 38-year-old as he tries to reach his fifth World Cup.

The million-dollar legspinner

Afghanistan's incredible rise has continued to gain momentum over the last 12 months, led by teenage leg-spin sensation Rashid Khan. The 19-year-old will captain the team for the early part of qualifying in place of the injured Asghar Stanikzai and is closing in on becoming the fastest-ever bowler to reach 100 ODI wickets.

Khan, who was bought by Sunrisers Hyderabad for $1.41 million in last month's IPL auction, has taken 86 wickets in 37 ODIs. Mitchell Starc's record of taking only 52 matches to reach 100 wickets is in danger of falling over the next few weeks in a torrent of fizzing leg-breaks and googlies.

Floundering hosts

Host country Zimbabwe, who have played in every World Cup since 1983, have fallen from grace over the last 15 years and are seen as underdogs to qualify. They have only won three matches at the last three World Cups, against the UAE, Canada and Kenya, and were comprehensively beaten 4-1 in a one-day series by Afghanistan last month.

Their hopes will be pinned on the recently-returned Brendan Taylor, Kyle Jarvis and Sean Williams, but an embarrassing loss to one of the game's lesser lights is perhaps more likely than qualification.

Nepalese nail-biters

Nepal scraped into the qualifying tournament after a series of thrilling victories in the World Cricket League Division Two, culminating in a last-ball, one-wicket win over Canada to book their spot in Zimbabwe. They had also edged to an earlier triumph over Namibia with the last pair at the crease in the final over.

Led by 17-year-old leg-spinner Sandeep Lamichhane, Nepal will be fun to watch in the qualifiers, but any victories will probably result in some frayed nerves back home for their cricket-mad supporters.

Battle for ODI status

The first group stage may seem to just be a precursor before the stronger sides battle it out for a World Cup place in the following Super Six round, but there are three slots as an ODI nation up for grabs. The top three Associate teams -- Ireland, Afghanistan, West Indies and Zimbabwe are full ICC members -- will join World Cricket League Championship winners the Netherlands in gaining ODI status until 2022.

As a result, outsiders Nepal, the UAE, Hong Kong, Scotland and Papua New Guinea have plenty on the line in the opening two weeks.

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Agencies
January 6,2020

Washington D.C., Jan 6: 'The Irishman,' and 'Two Popes' were shut out from the winners list despite getting multiple nominations, the movies didn't win a single award at the Golden Globes Award held on Sunday (local time). Other movies in the list include 'Bombshell,' 'Dolemite Is My Name,' 'Harriet,' 'Jojo Rabbit,' 'Knives Out' and 'Little Women.'

According to The Hollywood Reporter, 'The Irishman' may have gone into the 2020 Golden Globes with the second-highest number of film nominations, tied with 'Once Upon a Time in Hollywood' with five nods, but Martin Scorsese's highly anticipated mob epic for Netflix was completely shut out at the award ceremony.

Netflix landed the most film nominations of any company with 17 mentions, but it won only one award which is the best-supporting actress for 'Marriage Story's' Laura Dern. Netflix's nominated films 'Dolemite Is My Name' and 'The Two Popes' was tied with 'Joker' with four mentions each and failed to grab any awards.

'Dolemite Is My Name' star Eddie Murphy was expected by a number of pundits to win for best actor in a motion picture, musical or comedy.

'Bombshell', 'Harriet',' Frozen 2', 'Jojo Rabbit', 'Knives Out', 'The Lion King', 'Little Women' and 'Pain and Glory' are among the other films that received multiple nominations but didn't win a single award.

On the TV side, Netflix's 'Unbelievable' tied in the race to most small-screen nominations with 'Chernobyl' and 'The Crown' with four nominations, and 'The Crown' won only one award, for star Olivia Colman.

The three-time nominees 'Barry', 'Big Little Lies', 'The Kominsky Method' and 'The Morning Show' also didn't grab any award. 'Catch-22', 'Killing Eve', 'The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel' and 'The Politician' who were two-time nominees that were also iced out.

'Hustlers' star Jennifer Lopez failed to take home the best-supporting actress award as she was predicted to win the award by a number of pundits. Billy porter also failed to make history with the best drama actor win for his role on 'Pose,' if he would've won the award, he reportedly would have been the first openly gay African-American to win that award.

'Chernobyl' won two of its four nominations. Despite that, star Jared Harris didn't win the best actor in a limited series Globe which was predicted by many prognosticators. The award was bagged by Russell Crowe for his portrayal of Roger Ailes in 'The Loudest Voice.' But the star was absent from the ceremony.

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News Network
February 17,2020

Hamilton, Feb 17: Mayank Agarwal found form on his birthday and Rishabh Pant mixed caution with his customary aggression as India’s warm-up fixture against New Zealand XI ended in a draw here on Sunday.

The match was called off an hour after lunch with India reaching 252 for four just 48 overs into their second innings.

Agarwal, who had gone through a wretched period since the second Test against Bangladesh, retired on 81 off 99 balls with 10 fours and three sixes to his name.

To the relief of the Indian team management, Pant played in his customary manner to reach 70 off 65 balls, but also showed discretion when the opposition bowlers were in the midst of a good spell. There were four sixes -- two each off leg-spinner Ish Sodhi and off-spinner Henry Cooper.

While Sodhi was hit down the ground, Cooper was dispatched over extra cover on a couple of occasions. He didn’t curb his aggression, though, there were times when he was ready defend the spinners and also leave some of the deliveries.

Even though Pant is considered a better batsman than Wriddhiman Saha, the innings might have come too late in the day considering that the latter is a better keeper and possibly a more responsible batsman in pressure situations.

The biggest positive to have emerged from the New Zealand second innings is Agarwal’s poor run coming to an end. The Seddon Park track easing out was definitely a factor but Agarwal’s footwork was more assured as he played some glorious on-drives and pull-shots off fast bowlers.

Before this game, Agarwal had played 10 competitive games including first-class, ODIs and List A matches and couldn’t cross the 40-run mark in 11 completed innings. He even bagged a pair against New Zealand A in an unofficial Test match.

Once he had got his form back, he didn’t come out to bat after lunch giving Saha an opportunity to score an unbeaten 30, his runs coming mostly against non-regular bowlers.

The Agarwal-Pant pair added 100 runs in 14.3 overs and it also helped that part-timers like Cooper was introduced into the action.

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Agencies
August 9,2020

Manchester, Aug 9: Chris Woakes and Jos Buttler played knocks of 84 and 75 respectively as England gained an improbable three-wicket win over Pakistan in the first Test of the three-match series here at the Emirates Old Trafford.

England chased down a total of 277 on the fourth day of the first Test.

Chasing 277, England openers Rory Burns and Dom Sibley put on 22 runs for the first wicket, but Mohammad Abbas finally provided the breakthrough to Pakistan as he had Burns (10) adjudged leg-before wicket in the 12th over.

Skipper Joe Root came to the crease next, and he along with Sibley ensured that the side does not lose any more wickets before the lunch break, and England went into the lunch break at 55/1.

Sibley and Root eventually put up a 64-run stand, but their partnership was finally brought to an end by Yasir Shah as he dismissed Sibley (36) in the 36th over. Soon after, skipper Root (42) was also sent back to the pavilion by Naseem Shah, reducing England to 96/3 in the 39th over.

All eyes were on all-rounder Ben Stokes (9), but Pakistan's Yasir Shah sent him back to the pavilion in the 42nd over, and England was left in a spot of bother. Shaheen Shah Afridi, then also got among the wicket-taking charts as he scalped the wicket of Ollie Pope (7), reducing England to 117/5 in the 45th over.

Chris Woakes and Jos Buttler then got together at the crease, and the duo played in an aggressive manner to retrieve the innings for England. The hosts went into the tea break at 167/5, still, 110 runs away from the target with five wickets in hand.

Buttler and Woakes continued their march to frustrate the Pakistan bowling attack and the duo brought the target within the grasp of England. Both batsmen put up a stand of 139 runs, however, with just 21 runs away from the target, England lost the key wicket of Buttler (75) as Yasir Shah had him trapped in front of the wicket.

With England just needing four more runs for the win, Yasir Shah dismissed Stuart Broad (4), but in the end, Woakes and Dom Bess ensured England's win by three wickets.

For Pakistan, Yasir Shah was the pick of the bowlers as he scalped four wickets.

Earlier, resuming day four at 137/8, Yasir Shah (33) along with Mohammad Abbas (3*) and Naseem Shah (4) added 32 more runs to the overnight score to give England a target of 277 to win the first Test.

Stuart Broad was the pick of England bowlers as he scalped three wickets.

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