ACC Men's U-16 East Zone Cricket Cup: Nepal to take on Singapore in final

Nepali will take on Singapore in the final match of ACC Men's U-16 East Zone Cricket Cup. 

The final match will be held at 7:45 am Saturday. 

Nepal secured their place for the final match of the championship defeating Malaysia by nine wickets in the semi-final held earlier today. 

Nepal chased the 91-run victory target in just 11.4 overs. 

Similarly, defeating Hong Kong by four wickets in another round of semi-final match today itself, Singapore made their place for the final. 

Chasing the target of 169 runs posted by Hong Kong, Singapore completed it in 38.5 overs losing six wickets.  

Earlier, Nepal had defeated Singapore by six wickets in a group-wise match.

Nepal are the defending champion of the series. 

They had clinched the title of the championship by defeating Malaysia in 2023 BS. 

Nepal, Singapore, Indonesia, Bhutan, Japan, Malaysia, Hong Kong, the Maldives, Thailand and Myanmar had participated in the ongoing championship organized by the Asian Cricket Council. 

 

Liverpool's football star Diogo Jota, 28, dies in car crash in Spain

Liverpool's Portuguese forward Diogo Jota, 28, died in a fiery car crash near Zamora in northwestern Spain with his brother, Spanish state-owned TV station said on Thursday, citing local firefighters, AFP reported.

The Spanish civil guard confirmed to The Associated Press that Jota and his brother Andre Silva, 25, were found dead after their car went off a road. Police were investigating the causes. They said there were no other vehicles involved.

The regional fire department of Castille-Leon, where Zamora is located, said on its website a car crashed shortly after midnight on Thursday and burst into flames, with two men, aged 28 and 25, found dead.

Jota, who got married on June 28, helped Liverpool win the Premier League last season and also won the FA Cup and League Cup with the Merseyside outfit, according to AFP.

ACC Men's U-16 East Zone Cup: Nepal enter final defeating Malaysia by 9 wickets

Nepal have entered the final of ACC Men's U-16 East Zone Cup defeating Malaysia by nine wickets on Thursday.

In the semi-final match held at Selangor Turf Club, Malaysia, today, Nepal achieved the 91-run victory target at the loss of one wicket in 11.4 overs. 

For Nepal's victory, Parimarjan Yadav contributed the highest 59, including five boundaries and five sixes.  Similarly, Shiwansh Bajgain scored 23 runs (not out).

For Malaysia, Nagin Sathnakumaran took one wicket.

Earlier, elected to bat first after losing the toss, Malaysia were limited to 90 runs in 43.1 overs. 

Malaysia's Muhammad Fathul Fatri gathered the highest 38 runs while Captain Deeaz Patro scored 10 runs. Other players except the two could not made double digit runs.

Nepal's Abhay Yadav took four wickets while Shubham Khanal sent three batsmen to the pavilion.

Similarly, Captain Bipin Prasad Khanal and Sachin Bhatta took one wicket each.

With today's victory, Nepal would face the second team reaching the semi-final for the title. Hong Kong and Singapore are playing for the second semi-final match.

Nepal, the Group 'A' winner and Malaysia, the runner-up of Group 'B', had reached the semi-final.

Earlier, Nepal had won all four matches they played under the group stage. They defeated Singapore, Japan, Indonesia and Bhutan.

Nepal had clinched the title of last year's series by defeating Malaysia.

Gill century holds up battling England against India

England were held up by India captain Shubman Gill's patient century as their bowlers fought admirably on day one of the second Test at Edgbaston, BBC reported.

After captain Ben Stokes opted to bowl first again, his bowlers battled against Gill's calmness and another flat pitch to limit India to 310-5 at the close.

Chris Woakes bowled KL Rahul off the inside edge in a fine new-ball spell and Brydon Carse found extra bounce to have Karun Nair caught at slip for 31 shortly before lunch.

But opener Yashasvi Jaiswal complied an elegant 87 and after he was caught behind off Stokes, Rishabh Pant put on 47 with Gill as the new-ball zip faded in the Birmingham sunshine.

England hung in, however, and Pant's patience broke after tea when he hit Shoaib Bashir to long-on for 25. Nitish Kumar Reddy was bowled shouldering arms to Woakes in the next over, according to BBC.

That left India at risk of collapse but Gill remained unflustered and reached three figures for the second match in a row in 199 deliveries. He put on 99 with Ravindra Jadeja to see out the final 90 minutes of play.