Australia retains Ashes as rain ruins England's hopes of victory in 4th test
Manchester, Jul 23: Australia retained the Ashes after rain prevented any play on the final day of the fourth test against England at Old Trafford on Sunday after weeks of blockbuster entertainment in the closest and most exciting Ashes contest since 2005.
Australia has an insurmountable 2-1 lead with one test left. England needed to win the five-match series to take the urn off holder Australia.
A shootout for glory in the fifth test at the Oval starting Thursday was on the cards if there had been enough time for England to convert its dominance in Manchester with Australia 214-5 in its second innings and 61 runs behind the hosts.
The fifth-day washout handed the urn to Australia as the most pessimistic forecasts came to pass and relentless rain meant the players never made it to the middle in a miserable weekend for England. Only 30 overs had been possible on Saturday.
England arrived Sunday needing five wickets to get over the line but left without a ball being bowled.
England has all but eliminated the concept of the draw since captain Ben Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum ushered in the fast-scoring Bazball era more than a year ago, but for the first time in 17 games at the helm conditions finally left them with no cards to play.
Instead, dreams of a stirring comeback to beat its rivals for the first time since 2015 were swept away.
Australia was more than happy to finish the job in the pavilion rather than out on the pitch, but any post-match celebrations may be slightly muted after this narrow escape.
There is still plenty to play for, with Australia bidding to claim a first outright win on English soil in 22 years while their opponents are seeking to level the series at 2-2 and preserve an undefeated streak under Stokes' leadership.
England had made all the running here, piling up a 275-run first-innings advantage and taking five of the 10 wickets it needed to finish the job before the skies turned against them.
Five of the last six sessions were lost without a ball bowled.
The momentum of the series had swung when England captain Ben Stokes embarked on a six-hitting rampage in the fourth innings of the second test at Lord's, apparently sparked into life by Alex Carey's controversial stumping of Jonny Bairstow, and although his magnificent century was not enough to save that game, it set things on a new path.
England won the third test at Headingley in relatively comfortably fashion the first of three must-win games and spent the first three days on the other side of the Pennines establishing an even more dominant position at Old Trafford.
Zak Crawley's outrageous 189 and an unbeaten 99 from Bairstow saw them pile up 592, England's highest total against Australia in a dozen years, and a three-wicket blast from Mark Wood tightened the hosts' grip on the third evening as Australia stumbled to 113-4.
That was as good as it got for England, with Labuschagne making 111 and Mitch Marsh batting through what became the final session of the match to keep Australian heads above water.
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Noida International Airport appoints Nitu Samra as interim CEO
New Delhi (PTI): Noida International Airport on Friday announced the appointment of its Chief Financial Officer Nitu Samra as the interim Chief Executive Officer after authorities denied permission for foreign national Christoph Schnellmann to be at the helm.
"This change follows directions issued by the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) that the Chief Executive Officer of an airport in India is required to be an Indian national," NIA said in a statement.
Samra will replace Schnellmann, a Swiss national who has led Noida International Airport (NIA) as the CEO since August 2020.
The regulatory issue related to the requirement of having an Indian national as CEO has been delaying the start of commercial operations of the airport, which was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 28.
Schnellmann will join the airport's Board of Directors as Executive Vice Chairman. In this role, he will continue to support the project and its transition to operations, the statement said.
With immediate effect, NIA said Samra has been appointed as the CEO on an interim basis until the Board of Directors can conclude a formal selection process.
Samra has been serving as the CFO since October 2021 and was closely involved in the airport’s development journey, overseeing financial stewardship, governance, and strategic planning during a key phase of the project, the statement added.
NIA will be operated by Yamuna International Airport Pvt Ltd (YIAPL), a subsidiary of Zurich Airport International AG, under a public-private partnership.
Originally scheduled to commence passenger services in September 2024, NIA is being developed in four phases, along with a dedicated cargo terminal. It received an aerodrome license from the aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in March.
YIAPL Chairman Daniel Bircher said that since the inauguration of the airport by the Prime Minister, the goal was to enable the start of operations as early as possible.
"This management change brings the airport into compliance with Bureau of Civil Aviation Security requirements while maintaining continuity in the airport’s leadership team. The newly structured team will support a smooth transition into operations, guided by clear and transparent governance and a strong corporate culture," he said.
On March 28, Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu said commercial flight operations from the airport would start in the next 45 to 60 days.
Among the largest greenfield airport projects in the country, NIA will initially have a capacity to handle 12 million passengers per annum.
Once fully developed, the airport will have a total passenger handling capacity of 70 million.
The first phase of NIA has been developed at an investment of around Rs 11,200 crore. 'DXN' is the code for the airport.
The airport features a 3,900-metre runway capable of handling wide-body aircraft, along with modern navigation systems, including Instrument Landing System (ILS) and advanced airfield lighting.
The peak handling capacity in the first phase will be 30 flights per hour.
In the first phase, there will be 28 aircraft stands, and the projected cargo capacity is around 2.5 lakh tonnes.
Terminal 1 of the airport is spread across 1,37,985 square metres with 48 check-in counters. Over 40 acres of land have been earmarked for developing MRO (Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul) facilities at the airport.
