ODI World Cup: Young, Latham, Phillips steer New Zealand to 288/6 against impressive Afghans
Chennai (PTI): New Zealand recovered well from a mini mid-innings slump to post a commendable 288 for six against a gritty Afghanistan in a World Cup group league match here on Wednesday.
Will Young (54), Tom Latham (68) and Glenn Phillips (71) scored half-centuries to ensure that the Black Caps posted an above-par total on a track where stroke-making isn't the easiest of proposition.
Phillips and Latham put on 144 invaluable runs for the fifth wicket and it could well prove to be a game-changer.
Put into bat first, the Kiwis lost opener Devon Conway (20) in the seventh over, with spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman trapping him leg-before.
However, the pair of opener Young and in-form batter Rachin Ravindra (32) took charge and put on a convincing 79-run stand for the second wicket.
A chance to stump Ravindra was missed, whereas spinner Mohammad Nabi was put under pressure by the Black Caps batters, as he was attacked quite regularly.
Eventually, it was pacer Azmatullah Omarzai who got the partnership broken in the 21st over, cleaning up Ravindra off a straight delivery, as the batter attempted to swing it towards mid-wicket, but missed it completely in the process.
It was at this moment the New Zealanders had a brief collapse, losing Young and Daryl Mitchell (1) by the 22nd over to Omarzai and spinner Rashid Khan, respectively, as the score read 110 for four.
While Young had already scored his seventh ODI half-century, he was notably dropped in the second over by Rahmat Shah off Fazalhaq Farooqi.
Nevertheless, New Zealand managed to recover soon as skipper Latham and Phillips put up another fine stand that defined the tone for the rest of their innings.
The duo also brought up their respective 23rd and third ODI half-centuries each, despite the Afghani bowlers keeping the Kiwi scoring rate in check.
As the pair began upping the ante and the scoring rate post the 45th over, the partnership was broken by pacer Naveen-ul-Haq in the 48th, with both the set batters departing in the same over.
But, there was still some work to be done, and it was Mark Chapman (25 not out) who came up with some late blitz, including two fours and a six, to ensure that the Black Caps went past the 275-run mark on this track.
For Afghanistan, Omarzai and Naveen were the stars with the ball, seizing a couple of wickets each, whereas Rashid was a no-brainer with his economical spell.
However, a total of five dropped catches did make things a bit hard for the Afghans, especially Rashid, who saw a couple of his chances go abegging.
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Los Angeles county wildfires could be costliest in US history, early estimates say
Los Angeles, Jan 11: The wildfires that erupted this week across Los Angeles County are still raging, but already are projected to be among the costliest natural disasters in US history.
The devastating blazes have killed at least 11 people and incinerated more than 12,000 structures since Tuesday, laying waste to entire neighbourhoods once home to multimillion-dollar properties.
While it's still too early for an accurate tally of the financial toll, the losses so far likely make the wildfires the costliest ever in the US, according to various estimates.
A preliminary estimate by AccuWeather put the damage and economic losses so far between USD 135 billion and USD 150 billion. By comparison, AccuWeather estimated the damage and economic losses caused by Hurricane Helene, which tore across six southeastern states last fall, at USD 225 billion to USD 250 billion.
“This will be the costliest wildfire in California modern history and also very likely the costliest wildfire in US modern history, because of the fires occurring in the densely populated areas around Los Angeles with some of the highest-valued real estate in the country,” said Jonathan Porter, the private firm's chief meteorologist.
AccuWeather factors in a multitude of variables in its estimates, including damage to homes, businesses, infrastructure and vehicles, as well as immediate and long-term health care costs, lost wages and supply chain interruptions.
The insurance broker Aon PLC also said Friday that the LA County wildfires will likely end up being the costliest in US history, although it did not issue an estimate. Aon ranks a wildfire known as the Camp Fire in Paradise, California, in 2018 as the costliest in US history up to now at USD 12.5 billion, adjusted for inflation. The Camp Fire killed 85 people and destroyed about 11,000 homes.
The LA County wildfires, which were fuelled by hurricane-force Santa Ana winds and an extreme drought, remained largely uncontained Saturday. That means the final tally of losses from the blazes is likely to increase, perhaps substantially.
“To put this into perspective, the total damage and economic loss from this wildfire disaster could reach nearly 4 per cent of the annual GDP of the state of California,” AccuWeather's Porter said.
In a report Friday, Moody's also concluded that the wildfires would prove to be the costliest in US history, specifically because they have ripped through densely populated areas with higher-end properties.
While the state is no stranger to major wildfires, they have generally been concentrated in inland areas that are not densely populated. That's led to less destruction per acre, and in damage to less expensive homes, Moody's noted.
That's far from the case this time, with one of the largest conflagrations destroying thousands of properties across the Pacific Palisades and Malibu, home to many Hollywood stars and executives with multimillion-dollar properties. Already, numerous celebrities have lost homes to the fires.
“The scale and intensity of the blazes, combined with their geographic footprint, suggest a staggering price tag, both in terms of the human cost and the economic toll,” Moody's analysts wrote. The report did not include a preliminary cost estimate of the wildfire damage.
It could be several months before a concrete tally of the financial losses from the wildfires will be possible.
“We're in the very early stages of this disaster,” Porter said.
