Ahmedabad, Nov 4: Australian batters were guilty of not converting starts but still managed to post 286 against arch-rivals England in the World Cup here on Saturday.

Marnus Labuschange (71 off 83), Steve Smith (44 off 52), Cameron Green (47 off 52) and Marcus Stoinis (35 off 32) were among the batters who failed to cash in on their starts, hurting the team's cause in the process.

Leggie Adil Rashid (2/38) was frugal as usual while pacer Mark Wood (2/70) was back to his menacing ways, using the short ball to hurry the opposition batters, especially Green.

Chris Woakes (4/54) delivered with the new ball for the second game in a row, removing the dangerous opening duo of David Warner (15) and Travid Head (11). He also struck twice in the death overs.

Defending champions England, who are having a tournament to forget, were able to get the early wickets after putting Australia in to bat.

Head handed a regulation catch to Joe Root at first slip off an angled away ball from Woakes.

Three overs later, Warner mistimed a pull to give Woakes his second wicket, leaving Australia at 38 for two in the sixth over.

Smith and Labuschagne, who both have not had the best of times in the tournament, then shared a 75-run stand off 96 balls. It was hard work in the middle for the seasoned batters who found the boundaries hard to come by.

Following Smith's fall, Josh Inglis (3) tried to up the scoring rate but fell while attempting a reverse sweep off Rashid.

Green, who looked uncomfortable against the short-pitched stuff from Wood, did hit some crisp boundaries off the other bowlers. His cover drive off Woakes was the highlight of his knock. He saw his leg stump uprooted after missing a slog sweep off left-arm pacer David Willey.

Stoinis then got into the action depositing Rashid and Liam Livingstone into the stands over deep mid-wicket before getting caught in the same spot off a short ball from the latter.

It seemed Australia would not able to use their full quota of overs but Adam Zampa's timely cameo of 29 from 19 balls took the team close to 300.

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Bidar (PTI): A case has been registered against BJP MLA Sharanu Salagar in connection with a complaint over a Rs 99 lakh cheque that was dishonoured, for allegedly failing to return money he had taken as a loan during the 2023 Assembly elections, police said on Monday.

The MLA, who is said to be a distant relative of the complainant, had sought financial assistance to meet election-related expenses and received the amount in multiple instalments between January and February 2023, assuring repayment within six months, they said.

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However, the complainant waited for two years, but even after repeated reminders when the MLA did not show any signs of returning the borrowed amount, a meeting was convened by elders on September 14, 2025, where in the MLA acknowledged the liability and issued a cheque for Rs 99 lakh, the FIR stated.

The FIR further alleged that when the complainant’s family members visited the MLA’s residence on September 16 to confirm whether the cheque could be deposited, the MLA allegedly behaved aggressively and issued threats.

The complainant has claimed that the alleged threats were recorded and submitted as electronic evidence along with the complaint.

However, when the cheque was presented through the complainant’s bank on September 18, it was returned the next day, saying “account closed”, police said.

Following the cheque dishonour, a legal notice was issued to the MLA on September 22, seeking payment within the stipulated period, but there was no response, police said.

Based on the complaint, a case was registered against the MLA at Basava Kalyana police station on December 27 under Sections 109 (attempt to murder), 314 (dishonest misappropriation of property), 318 (cheating), 352 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace), 351 (criminal intimidation) and 74 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, police said, adding that the matter is under investigation.