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.
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No stubble burning now, why air pollution crisis in Delhi: Mann takes dig at BJP
Chandigarh (PTI): Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Monday slammed the BJP saying its leaders used to "defame" Punjab farmers over stubble burning and blame them for Delhi's poor air quality and questioned why is there pollution crisis in national capital despite no farm fires now.
Mann said that as soon as paddy harvest takes place, BJP leaders blame Punjab and its farmers for Delhi's poor air quality.
He said they used to claim that stubble burning by Punjab farmers causes Delhi's pollution.
Mann said at present, the Air Quality Index in major Punjab cities is between 70 and 130.
"At present, Delhi's AQI is between 450 and 500 and no smoke is coming from Punjab. But the situation in Delhi is worse. At least now they should agree that there is no role of Punjab for Delhi's poor air quality," Mann said in a video message.
Mann's remarks came on a day Delhi Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa apologised for the air pollution crisis in the national capital and acknowledged its impact on children's health.
Sirsa, however, asserted that it was the result of the policies pursued by the previous Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Delhi.
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Last month, the BJP had trashed the Punjab CM's previous claim that stubble burning in the state has no role in the high levels of air pollution in Delhi as "ridiculous".
Dismissing Mann's claim, Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva had last month said it is certain that stubble burning is a "major" factor (for the air pollution in Delhi).
Meanwhile, Mann in his video message said, due to severe floods which Punjab witnessed this year, paddy harvesting got delayed, "despite this, many Delhi ministers had already started blaming Punjab".
"I want to praise Punjab farmers, NGOs and efforts of the Punjab government have also paid off in controlling stubble burning this time. The cases of stubble burning in Punjab have reduced by 70-80 per cent and this has been acknowledged by the Central Government and the Union Agriculture Minister," Mann said.
The CM further said that after paddy harvest even the wheat crop has been sown and now, there is no incident of stubble burning.
He said BJP leaders used to claim that Punjab's smoke from stubble travels to Delhi.
"Now, there is no stubble burning, but Delhi is facing very poor air quality. This proves that earlier too Punjab's smoke had no role for Delhi's poor air quality. Only accusations were made by the BJP to defame Punjab. At least now the Centre should praise the farmers of Punjab," he said.
"Meanwhile, Delhi's AQI is between 450 and 500, flights are being cancelled, and breathing has become difficult," said Mann.
He asked both the BJP government in Delhi and the BJP led Centre to address Delhi's air pollution, saying citizens cannot even venture out for a walk due to air pollution.
He also asked the BJP that Punjab should not be dragged into this political battle, instead, Punjab's farmers should be appreciated, and the Delhi and Central governments should focus on addressing Delhi's air pollution.
Mann further said that farmers of Punjab are 'anndatas' (food providers) and they meet the country's food needs, they should not be defamed.
