ICC World Cup: Australia manage 286 against England
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.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Opposition raking up Dalit CM issue to divert attention: Karnataka Minister
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara on Monday accused the opposition of "unnecessarily stoking" the debate over a Dalit Chief Minister to deflect attention from governance.
He asserted that only the Congress has the commitment to elevate a Dalit leader to the top post.
Speaking to reporters here, Parameshwara said the ongoing discussion on a Dalit Chief Minister was being amplified by opposition parties.
“This is the work of the opposition. To hide their own failures, they are raising the issue of the Chief Minister. Isn’t the administration running smoothly? Isn’t the Chief Minister governing?” he asked.
The Minister noted that for the past 10–12 days, detailed budget discussions had been held across departments and governance was progressing normally.
Parameshwara, who is a Dalit, said the Congress alone had the history and political will to make a Dalit Chief Minister.
“Yes, it must be the Congress party. Who else will do it?” he said, while clarifying that the timing of any such decision would be determined by the party high command.
On Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s media statement targeting the JD(S) and invoking social justice, Parameshwara said Siddaramaiah had earlier been part of the JD(S) and even served as its president before being expelled.
He noted that the internal history of that party was best known to those within it and declined to comment on specific internal matters.
Defending the Chief Minister’s ideological position, Parameshwara said Siddaramaiah’s politics had always been rooted in social justice and that there was nothing new or opportunistic about his stance.
The Chief Minister, he said, had consistently built his political career on that foundation.
