West Indies Cricketer Cecil Wright becomes oldest player to retire at 85
West Indies’ Cecil Wright has finally announced his retirement from all forms of cricket at the ripe old age of 85. Wright made his first-class debut for Jamaica against a Barbados side which had Windies legends Wes Hall and Sir Garfield Sobers among their ranks.
The fast bowler announced that he will retire from the game in two week’s time. Wright will not be named alongside the legendary fast bowlers Richards and Joel Garner but in longevity, it is the other way round.
The 85-year-old claims to have played over two million games taking over 7,000 wickets in professional cricket. The Jamaican launched his career as a professional in the Central Lancashire League for Crompton.
After three years he decided to stay on in England and settled down after meeting his future wife Enid, then having a son.
Wright’s longest purple patch span five seasons as he ended up taking as many as 538 wickets in five seasons with an astounding average of a wicket in every 27 dismissals.
“Pretty good going,” said cricket Bible Wisden, referring to Wright’s stamina. “I wish I knew the reason for my longevity, but I couldn’t tell you what it is,” he told The Daily Mirror.
courtesy: indianexpress.com
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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.
