England beat New Zealand, enter semifinals of Champions Trophy

June 17, 2013

England_beat_New_Zealand

Cardiff, Jun 17: England produced a disciplined allround display to register a narrow 10-run victory over New Zealand in their crucial rain-curtailed Group A match to enter the semifinals of the Champions Trophy on Sunday.

Riding on skipper Alastair Cook's 47-ball 64, England scored 169 all out against New Zealand after the match was reduced to a 24-over a side tie following incessant rain which delayed the start by over five hours.

Needing 170 for a win, the Kiwis lost their top five batsmen for 62 and despite a gutsy 54-ball 67 by Kane Williamson, they failed to take the game to the wire.

With four points from three matches in group A, England are currently on top of the table.

After three games, New Zealand are second in the group with three points while Australia (1 point from two matches) and Sri Lanka (two points from two matches) are all in the fray for a spot in the last four.

All eyes will be now on Australia and Sri Lanka when they clash at The Oval on Monday.

Chasing 170 to win, New Zealand never recovered after losing both their openers for 14 runs.

A brilliant spell of seam bowling by James Anderson (3/32) gave England the advantage. Anderson moved the ball both ways and generated some hostile pace as the Kiwi batsmen failed to find their feet.

Luke Ronchi and Martin Guptill were never in comfort against the English bowlers. Ronchi edged a rising ball to third man and Guptill was bowled off an inside edge.

Ross Taylor reviewed his LBW decision unsuccessfully after a Tim Bresnan inswinger hit him on the right leg. Taylor (3 off 6 balls) appealed to the TV umpire in desperation but in vain.

Brendon McCullum's departure in the 12th over left New Zealand with too much to chase. The asking rate mounted to 10-plus and the Kiwi captain's exit meant the New Zealanders didn't have a man to step on the gas.

England captain Alastair Cook mixed his genuine and slow-medium pacers to telling effect. Ravi Bopara, with his cutters and his slow-off-the wicket pace, was always going to be a difficult customer.

Bopara (2/26) picked up the crucial wickets of Brendon (8) -- Joe Root took a brilliantly judged low catch at deep square leg -- and James Franklin as the Kiwis suffered a batting collapse.

A fighting 73-run stand off 47 balls between Williamson (67, sixth ODI fifty) and debutant Corey Anderson (30 off 24 balls) lifted the Kiwis, but the pressure of scoring more than 10 runs an over against the likes of Anderson, Stuart Broad (1/25) and Tim Bresnan (2/41) was always going to be tough.

Earlier, Cook scored a chancy half-century as England were all out for 169 in 23.3 overs. It was Cook's 18th ODI half-century and could not have been better timed as the hosts needed to win to stay in contention in the tournament.

Cook, who scored 64 off 47 balls with four fours and two sixes, was involved in a fruitful 75-run third wicket partnership with Root (38) after the hosts were reduced to 25 for 2 in the fourth over of a rain-hit match.

More than half the match was lost after rains lashed Cardiff and the Sophia Gardens was mostly under covers throughout the day.

Good work by the groundstaff enabled a late afternoon start after the rains relented, but sky remained overcast.

Interestingly, the toss happened at its scheduled time at 10 AM local time and New Zealand opted to field obviously keeping the weather forecast in mind.

The Kiwis will be guaranteed a place in the semis if they gain two full points.

The match finally started under light. England lost Ian Bell and Jonathan Trott after both batsmen made promising starts.

Bell was caught by Brendon at short over off left-arm pacer Mithchell McClenaghan for 10. It was a full-blooded drive and the Kiwi captain took a blinder.

But it was New Zealand's fielding that let them down badly. At least five catches were put down and Cook alone enjoyed three lives at 14, 37 and 45.

Nathan McCullum, who held an easy waist high catch to get rid of Trott, dropped Cook thrice but interestingly he took four catches also in the match.

Nathan finally made amends when he saw the back of the England captain, catching him off his own bowling.

Cook made a hesitant start but then opened up as England had to take care of the run-rate as well.

Cook and Root took England past the 100-run mark off 86 balls but McClenaghan took his second wicket to break the partnership.

The 22-year-old Root top edged a lusty pull after scoring 38 off 40 balls.

Earlier, after hotspot detected a feather inside edge, Root had a review going in his favour after the umpire had given him out LBW off Daniel Vettori when he was on 28.

Cook and Eoin Morgan put on a crucial 41 off 29 balls for the fourth wicket.

Cook picked up his 18th half-century off 39 balls in the 17th over. He stepped the gas after his fifty and blasted a six and a four off part-tikme spinner Kane Williamson.

Morgan also got into the act and sent Nathan over long on to another six in the 19th over.

Nathan then made the breakthrough when caught and bowled the skipper. Vettori then trapped Morgan infront of wicket to put brakes on the England's innings.

Jos Butler (14 off 9 balls) then became Mills' second victim. Mills finished with four wickets for 30 in the end as the England lower order gifted their wickets trying lusty blows.

Mills is the highest wicket taker in Champions Trophy history with 28 wickets. Sri Lankan Muralitharan is next best with 24.

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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
May 14,2020

May 14: Veteran South Africa batsman Faf du Plessis has proposed a two-week isolation period for players before and after the T20 World Cup as a way to stage the event as per schedule later this year.

Like other sports, cricketing action too has come to a complete halt due to the coronavirus pandemic. The fate of the T20 World Cup to be held in Australia in October-November is shrouded in uncertainty.

Talking to Bangladesh ODI captain Tamim Iqbal, du Plessis said travel was going to be an issue despite Australia being less affected by the deadly contagion.

"I am not sure... reading that travelling is going to be an issue for lot of countries and they are talking about December or January. Even if Australia is not affected like other countries, to get people from Bangladesh, South Africa or India where there is more danger, obviously it's a health risk to them," du Plessis said.

"But you can go in before the tournament (for) two weeks isolation and then play the tournament and afterwards two weeks isolation," said the former captain.

Several countries across the globe, including South Africa, Australia and India, have travel restrictions in place and the veteran Proteas batsman joked travelling by boat is not an option.

"But I don't know when South Africa will open their travel ban because we can't go there like old days on boats," du Plessis said.

In March, South Africa's ODI series against India was called off after the first match in view of the pandemic.

The coronavirus outbreak, which originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan, has infected more than 44 lakh people worldwide while causing close to 3 lakh deaths.

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Agencies
May 17,2020

Berlin, May 17: Top-flight football in Germany kicked off again on the weekend, becoming the first major sports league in the world to resume play, as parts of Europe took more tentative steps towards normality after the devastation unleashed by the coronavirus pandemic.

With the worldwide death toll past 310,000 and the global economy reeling from the vast damage caused by lockdowns, the reopenings in some of the hardest-hit countries provided much-needed relief from the pandemic.

The French returned to the beach and Italy announced a resumption of European tourism with outbreaks in Europe slowing, but the rising number of fatalities in the United States and Brazil were a grim reminder of the scale of the crisis, with more than 4.6 million infections reported globally.

With governments trying to reopen their economies while avoiding the second wave of infections that could necessitate more lockdowns, Germany's Bundesliga resumed its season on Saturday with games played in vacant, echoing stadiums.

League heavyweights Borussia Dortmund hosted rivals Schalke at the all-but-empty Signal Iduna Park -- which would usually be packed with more than 80,000 raucous fans.

"It's sad that matches are played in empty stadiums, but it's better than nothing," said 45-year-old Borussia Dortmund fan Marco Perz, beer in hand, as he prepared to watch the game on TV.

Dortmund's Erling Braut Haaland became the first player to score a goal after the two-month shutdown and celebrated by dancing alone -- away from his applauding teammates -- in keeping with the strict hygiene guidelines which allowed the league to resume.

The only noise was the cheering and clapping of players and coaches.

League champions Bayern Munich will play Union Berlin in the capital on Sunday, with the resumption in Germany seen as a test case as other top sports competitions try to find ways to resume play without increasing health risks.

"The whole world will be looking at Germany, to see how we get it done," said Bayern boss Hansi Flick.

Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte of Italy, however, said Saturday he needed more guarantees before the government can give the green light for the resumption of its top football league, which is struggling with logistical difficulties as clubs try to arrange training sessions and quarantine facilities.

With the Northern Hemisphere's summer approaching, authorities are moving to help tourism industries salvage something from the wreckage.

Italy, for a long stretch the world's worst-hit country, announced that European Union tourists would be allowed to visit from June 3 and a 14-day mandatory quarantine would be scrapped.

"We're facing a calculated risk in the knowledge that the contagion curve may rise again," Conte said during a televised address.

"We have to accept it otherwise we will never be able to start up again."

In France, the first weekend after the strictest measures were lifted saw many ventures out into the spring sunshine -- and hit the beach.

In the Riviera city of Nice, keen swimmers jumped into the surf at daybreak.

"We were impatient because we swim here all year round," said retiree Gilles, who declined to give his full name.

With the threat of a second wave of infections on their minds, authorities in many countries have asked people not to throng public spaces like beaches as they are made accessible again.

Officials in parts of England on Saturday warned people to stay away from newly reopened beauty spots and avoid overcrowding.

Germany also saw the latest in a growing wave of anti-lockdown protests in many parts of the world, with rallies in major cities bringing together conspiracy theorists, anti-vaccine activists and other extremists.

There were similar protests in France, Switzerland and Poland.

Since emerging in China late last year, the coronavirus has whipped up a catastrophic economic storm, which has left tens of millions unemployed in the United States and many are wondering when a recovery will be possible.

With more than 88,000 deaths and 1.47 million confirmed coronavirus cases, the United States is the worst-hit country on the planet, and the administration of President Donald Trump has faced intense criticism of the way it has handled the crisis.

Former president Barack Obama took a swipe at the response to the pandemic, telling graduates at a virtual commencement ceremony that many leaders today "aren't even pretending to be in charge" -- a remark widely regarded as a rare rebuke of his successor.

Trump is keen to reopen the US economy -- the world's largest -- despite warnings from experts that infections could flare up again if social distancing measures are eased too quickly.

Forty-eight of the 50 US states have now eased lockdown rules to some extent.

Much like Trump and his political allies, Brazil's far-right President Jair Bolsonaro is also keen to end lockdowns, which he claims have unnecessarily damaged the South American nation's economy over a disease he has dismissed as "a little flu".

But the virus has continued its deadly march in Brazil, where the death toll passed 15,000 on Saturday and it became the country with the fourth-largest coronavirus caseload with 230,000 infections.

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