Babar rescues Pak as England strike early
MANCHESTER:BABAR Azam scored a well-deserved half-century to help Pakistan recover from early wickets to reach 139 for two on the first day of their opening Test against England on Wednesday.
Invited to bowl first, the hosts would have been happy with a lunch score of 53-2—pacer Jofra Archer and Chris Woakes with a wicket apiece.
Woakes welcomed star batsman Babar to the crease with a wonderful delivery that might easily have clipped either the outside edge or the off stump but the 25-year-old dominated proceedings in the afternoon session. He hit nine boundaries as he reached 52 not out in just 71 balls, almost every one of them imperious, as he set about proving all of the praise he has garnered in recent months is well placed. At stumps, Babar was batting on 69 with opener Shan Masood keeping him company with 46.
STIRLING STARS AS IRELAND BEAT ENGLAND SOUTHAMPTON : Paul Stirling and Andrew Balbirnie posted centuries to propel Ireland to only its second win over England in international cricket after overcoming the World Cup champions in the final over of Tuesday’s oneday match. Set a target of 329— the same score they finished on to beat England at the 2011 World Cup—the Irish laid the foundations with a 214-run stand between Stirling and captain Balbirnie (113) for a seven wicket win in the last match of the series. BRIEF SCORES: England 328 all out in 49.5 overs (E Morgan 106, T Banton 58, D Willey 51; Young 3/53). Ireland 329/3 in 49.5 overs (Stirling 142, Balbirnie 113).
WALMIKI’S HOUSE GETS WATER-LOGGED
MUMBAI: Out-of-favour India hockey striker Yuvraj Walmiki on Wednesday faced a peculiar problem as he tried to drain out water which flowed into his house in the wake of the heavy rains in Mumbai. Yuvraj posted a video on his twitter handle, where he was seen trying to drain out ankle-level water from the drawing room of his flat. In the 28-second video, Yuvraj sought help from Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation as well as Maharashtra Tourism Minister Aaditya Thackeray.
A red alert has been issued for ‘extremely heavy’ rainfall for the Mumbai Metropolitan Region as heavy showers continued for over 24 hours, crippling the city’s lifelines.