Kane Williamson, Akila Dananjaya reported for suspect bowling action
Dubai: New Zealand captain Kane Williamson and Sri Lanka's Akila Dananjaya have been reported for suspect bowling action after the first Test between the two sides in Galle, the International Cricket Council (ICC) said on Tuesday.
Both the players are right-arm off-break spinners and their bowling actions came under scrutiny during the opening Test which ended on Sunday.
"The match officials' report, which was handed over to the management of both teams, cited concerns about the legality of the bowling actions of both players," the ICC statement read.
Williamson and Dananjaya will now undergo testing within 14 days from the reporting date (August 18), and, during this period both will be permitted to continue bowling in international cricket until the results of the testing are known.
Williamson, 29, bowled just three overs during the second innings of the game which Sri Lanka won by six wickets.
He has 29 Test wickets in all to his credit in 73 matches. The Black Caps skipper, much admired for his calm demeanour, is primarily a top-order batsman and bowls occasionally.
The 25-year-old Dananjaya, on the other hand, is a budding all-rounder and has played just six Tests for Sri Lanka so far, claiming 33 wickets at an impressive average of 24.81.
He had claimed six scalps in the Galle Test, including a five-wicket haul in the first innings.
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3 US troops killed, 5 seriously wounded during Iran attacks, military says
Washington (AP): Three American service members have been killed and five others seriously wounded during the US attacks on Iran, the military said Sunday, marking the first American casualties in a major offensive that has sparked retaliation from the Islamic Republic.
US Central Command, which oversees the Middle East, announced the deaths in a post on X but did not say when and where they occurred. The statement said “several others sustained minor shrapnel injuries and concussions” and were going to return to duty.
Central Command described the situation “as fluid” and said it would withhold the identities of the service members who were killed for 24 hours after their families were notified.
The US military also denied Iranian claims that the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier was struck with ballistic missiles, saying on X that the “missiles launched didn't even come close.”
President Donald Trump had warned that American troops could be killed or injured in the operation.
“The lives of courageous American heroes may be lost, and we may have casualties,” the Republican president said in a video address released early Saturday. “That often happens in war. But we're doing this not for now. We're doing this for the future.”
Following the US-Israeli strikes that killed Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and other leaders, Iran's counterattacks have struck US bases in Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.
Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard has threatened to launch its “most intense offensive operation” ever targeting Israeli and American military installations.
Before the strikes, Trump had built up the largest US military presence in the Middle East in decades. The arrival of the Lincoln and three accompanying guided-missile destroyers at the end of January bolstered the number of warships in the region.
The world's largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, and four accompanying destroyers later were dispatched from the Caribbean Sea to head to the Middle East.
The Ford was part of the US raid in Venezuela that captured leader Nicolás Maduro, who was brought to New York to face drug trafficking charges. The operation in January claimed no American lives but left seven US troops with gunshot wounds and shrapnel-related injuries.
One of those injured received the Medal of Honor during Trump's State of the Union address last week. Trump said Army Chief Warrant Officer 5 Eric Slover piloted the lead CH-47 Chinook helicopter that descended on the “heavily protected military fortress” where Maduro was staying.
Trump has launched several military operations during his second term, including strikes on members of the Islamic State group in Syria in retaliation for an ambush attack that killed two US troops and an American civilian interpreter in December.
The US military has also struck IS forces in Nigeria, after Trump accused the West African country's government of failing to rein in the targeting of Christians.
