Buttler's magnificent 101 not out takes England to 163/4 after early setbacks
Sharjah, Nov 1: Jos Buttler smashed his maiden T20 century and together with skipper Eoin Morgan shared a century stand to take England to a challenging 163 for four after early setbacks against Sri Lanka in a Group 1 Super 12 match of the T20 World Cup here on Monday.
Sent into bat, England lost three wickets for 35 runs before Buttler (101 not out off 67 balls) and Morgan (40 off 36) joined hands to stitch a crucial 112 runs for the fourth wicket that came off 78 balls.
England lost Jason Roy (9) in the second over. Leg-spinner Wanindu Hasaranga de Silva (3/21) followed up his hat-trick against South Africa by castling the English opener's stumps with his second ball of the day.
The script went from bad to worse for England as they lost two more quick wickets.
First Dawid Malan (6) was cleaned up by Dushmantha Chameera in the third over and two overs later Jonny Bairstow (0) was out LBW to de Silva after Sri Lanka successfully asked for a review.
In between, Buttler found the fence on a few occasions to keep England's scoreboard ticking, managing a meagre 47 runs in the first 10 overs.
The onus was on Buttler to up the ante and he did try his best after the 10th over, piling up 14 runs of medium pacer Chamika Karunaratna in the 13th over.
Buttler first muscled the bowler to the mid-on fence and then clobbered him over the deep midwicket boundary for a maximum.
Buttler notched up his fifty off 45 balls, the slowest of his T20 career, with a single off de Silva in the 14th over.
The partnership between Buttler and Morgan grew in confidence as time progressed.
The 15th over bowled by fast bowler Lahiru Kumara yielded 22 runs with Buttler hitting two sixes, while Morgan clearing the fence once.
Morgan's dismissal had no effect on Buttler who continued his attacking game and finished off the innings with a six off Chameera to notch up first T20 ton.
Buttler decorated his innings with six boundaries and as many sixes.
England batters took Sri Lanka bowlers to task in the final five overs, scoring 58 runs for the loss of just one wicket.
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Killing of Khamenei cynical violation of human morality, international law: Putin
Moscow (PTI): The killing of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was a cynical violation of all norms of human morality and international law, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared in his message to his Tehranian counterpart, the Kremlin said Sunday.
Khamenei was killed in an airstrike in Tehran on Saturday during a joint Israel-US attack on Iran.
“Please accept my deepest condolences in connection with the assassination of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Seyyed Ali Khamenei, and members of his family, committed in a cynical violation of all norms of human morality and international law,” Putin said in his condolence message.
Putin's condolence message to Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian was published on the Kremlin portal.
Earlier on Saturday, Russia condemned the US-Israeli joint strikes on Iran qualifying it as an “unprovoked” aggression against a sovereign state in violation of international law and called for immediate return to diplomacy.
The Russian Foreign Ministry also described the US and Israeli forces' strikes against the Iranian territory as “a pre-planned” act of aggression against an independent UN member state.
Putin also conducted an emergency meeting of the National Security Council online on Saturday to discuss the emerging situation following the US-Israeli strikes and Iran’s retaliation.
Meanwhile, according to reports more than 2,00,000 Russians are stuck in the region due to closure of their airspaces by Iran and Gulf countries.
The situation in the Middle East and the airport closures have affected not only organised tourists from Russia registered with tour operators, but also those travelling on business trips and independently, state-run TASS news agency reported.
“Approximately 2,00,000 people are unable to leave the UAE or return from vacations in the Maldives and other countries,” Alexey Volkov, president of the National Union of Hospitality Industry, told TASS.
UAE and its airports have become a main hub of access to Russia since the Ukraine conflict and closure of EU air space for civilian air traffic under sanction on Moscow.
“The situation remains complex and unpredictable: drone and missile strikes have hit key tourist locations in the UAE, including its most famous hotels.
“And then there are those who aren't counted as tourists at all, but are travelling around the world for business—the Middle East, for example, is currently a major business hub, home to a significant amount of Russian capital, investment, and business,” Volkov said.
