England look to maintain top ODI ranking
London, June 8 :England would be looking to maintain their position atop the International Cricket Council (ICC) ODI Team rankings as they prepare to take on Scotland at Edinburgh on Sunday before hosting a high-profile five-ODI series against World champions Australia from June 13.
The series against Australia will help both the teams in their preparations for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 that runs from May 30 to July 14 at 11 venues across England and Wales.
Though Lord's, where the two sides are slated to meet in their World Cup league match on June 25 next year, is not a venue, the series will provide both sides an opportunity to gauge the conditions as the countdown begins to the 10-team event.
England, who overtook India to grab the top ODI spot after the annual update on May 2, are comfortably ahead of Australia and will remain at the top even if they lose the series by a 2-3 margin provided they win the one-off match against Scotland.
However, in such a scenario, they will be tied with India on 122 points and ahead only on decimal points.
On the other hand, if England kick off with a loss to Scotland, they will have to win the series against fifth-ranked Australia or else lose the top position to India, who are presently three points behind England at 122 points.
A 2-3 loss to Australia in such a scenario will see them slide to 120 points. If England lose to Scotland, they will start the Australia series with 123 points while Scotland, who last week made it to the expanded 16-team points table, will gain five points and move up to 33 points.
Australia will not be able to overtake the opposition even if England lose all their six upcoming matches but Australia could go up to third position if they complete a 5-0 whitewash of England.
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Power tariffs under BESCOM to rise from May 1
Bengaluru (PTI): Power bills for consumers under the Bangalore Electricity Supply Company Limited (BESCOM) will go up from May 1, following an order issued by the Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC) on Friday.
The hike comes after KERC allowed the BESCOM to recover a revenue deficit of Rs 2,068 crore incurred in 2024-25, from the consumers.
As a result, for every unit of electricity consumed in 2024-25, the customers will be charged an additional 56 paise, it said.
"BESCOM shall calculate, for each of the active consumers of FY2024-25 the amount to be recovered based on their actual energy consumption during FY2024-25. Such amount shall be recovered during FY 2026-27 in equal monthly instalments, to be called as 'FY25 True up Charges', commencing from the first meter reading date falling on or after 1 May 2026 and concluding with the reading date ending on 30 April 2027," the order said.
"It is further ordered that BESCOM shall maintain a separate head of account, allocated for the purpose, to record the adjustment of the said amount to ensure full recovery of the deficit," it added.
Similarly Chamundeshwari Electricity Supply Corporation Limited (CESC) has also recorded a revenue deficit of Rs 121.71 crore and can collect an additional 15 paisa per unit for consumption in 2024-25, official sources said.
