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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Another North Goa nightclub sealed; Kejriwal says corruption led to fire tragedy
Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.
Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.
Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.
An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.
The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.
A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.
Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."
"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.
"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.
A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.
