‘We back ourselves in one-offs’: Black Caps plan revenge against South Africa
In Colombo on Saturday New Zealand’s players and staff gathered in small groups at various locations around the city.One assembled in a beachside bar overlooking the Laccadive Sea, where they shared snacks, nursed drinks and tried their best to engage in conversation while making furtive glances towards the big screen.There was another in the team hotel, crammed into the room of their captain, Mitchell Santner.All of them monitored Pakistan’s game against Sri Lanka, and their pursuit of a victory that would enable them to pip the Black Caps to a place in the World Cup’s final four.In the end Pakistan did win, but not by the margin they required – and on Tuesday it was reported that the Pakistan Cricket Board had fined each player around £13,500 as punishment, informing them that if they can accept rewards for good performances they “must also pay penalties for poor ones”.
This time it was New Zealand who were rewarded for Pakistan’s poor performances,“It was a pretty tough watch, pretty nervy at times,” Santner said,“I had a few other boys in my room and I had to leave because it was pretty tough,At every stage you just want to get through to the next stage and now it’s the semi-finals, it’s one game and you can potentially move on,”Their next challenge is one over which they will have considerably more influence.
On Wednesday they face South Africa, the World Cup’s only unbeaten side, in Kolkata.The South Africans’ six wins so far include a crushing victory against their semi-final opponents in the opening group stage, though they are refusing to accept that an overwhelming triumph in that game makes them overwhelming favourites for this one.“I wish cricket was that easy,” said Aiden Markram, the South Africa captain and the highest-scoring batter remaining in the competition.“Both teams have played a lot of cricket since then and it’s a completely fresh start.I don’t think it’s as straightforward as being able to repeat that again.
With regards to us being favourites or not, that’s all different people’s opinions.”New Zealand Tim Seifert (wk), Finn Allen, Rachin Ravindra, Glenn Phillips, Daryl Mitchell, Mark Chapman, Mitchell Santner (c), James Neesham, Matt Henry, Ish Sodhi, Lockie Ferguson.South Africa Aiden Markram (c), Quinton de Kock (wk), Ryan Rickelton, Dewald Brevis, David Miller, Tristan Stubbs, Marco Jansen, Corbin Bosch, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi.Santner insisted the teams reconvene as equals.“Whether you want to call us underdogs or not, for us it was everyone’s goal throughout the tournament to get to this stage.
We’re here now, and we back ourselves in one-off games against most teams,” he said.“South Africa look a very good outfit but they’re in the same boat as us now – it’s one game and you’re into a final.”Neither side has played at Eden Gardens in this competition and, 24 hours after they followed the action in Pallekele, New Zealand were glued to their screens once again to see if the game between India and West Indies would offer any pointers as to how this one might pan out.“We got intel back from that game,” Santner said.“It looked a pretty good wicket.
A little bit of dew second innings but I think whatever you do first, if you do it well you put yourself in a pretty good position.”Markram said: “We kept a close eye on that game to get a bit of an indication.The wicket looks pretty good.We’ll just have to, not wing it, but come up with ways out in the middle after having seen a couple of balls, seeing how it’s playing and back those plans from there.”Both sides are expected to have full squads to choose from, though New Zealand will have to assess Matt Henry’s condition after he returned to India on Tuesday night following a swift trip home for the birth of his second child.
Jacob Duffy is likely to come in should he be considered excessively jetlagged.“We’ll see how he pulls up,” Santner said of Henry.“It’s obviously quite far away, New Zealand from here.But he’ll have a little runaround in the morning, see if he’s ready, and hopefully he’s good to go.”
Reeves’s spring statement? The economy is great, don’t worry about the Middle East
When your luck is out, your luck is out. Time to accept what the fates have to throw at you. It was always going to be a bit of a stretch for Rachel Reeves to maintain she had a brilliant plan and the economy had never been in better health when the figures show a fall in growth and a rise in unemployment. Unless you happen to think those things aren’t so bad after all.To do so three days after the beginning of Donald Trump’s Awfully Big Iranian Adventure when oil and gas prices are rising, the bond markets are in turmoil and stock markets around the world are falling, begins to look a bit previous
UK considering sending warship to Cyprus; government to charter flight from Oman ‘in the coming days’– as it happened
You can now read the full story on our earlier reports in the blog that the government is considering sending warship HMS Duncan to Cyprus, here:John Healey, the defence secretary, is considering sending a Royal Navy destroyer to Cyprus to help defend British bases there after several apparently hostile drones targeted RAF Akrotiri on the island.Defence sources said a deployment of HMS Duncan, currently in Portsmouth, was under discussion as a way to better protect the base in Cyprus – though another said it was possible one of two other destroyers might be sent as an alternative.HMS Duncan is specialised in counter-drone operations and last month was engaged on a test exercise off the coast of Wales facing swarms of drones, before hosting a family day on Friday. It is not clear how ready it is to set sail.John Healey, the defence secretary, is considering sending a Royal Navy destroyer to Cyprus to help defend British bases there after several apparently hostile drones targeted RAF Akrotiri on the island
Labour to scrap government power over elections watchdog amid fears of abuse
Ministers are to repeal powers imposed by the Conservatives that allowed them control over the elections watchdog, after warnings they could be abused by a future government with authoritarian ambitions.Steve Reed, who as communities secretary is overseeing a new elections bill, announced the move to MPs, saying he would “repeal in full the power for government to impose a strategy and policy statement on the Electoral Commission”.The powers, laid out in the Conservatives’ Elections Act from 2022, were criticised as giving ministers the chance to interfere politically in the work and enforcement priorities of the commission, which is meant to be independent.A series of groups and MPs had urged Keir Starmer’s government to reverse this in its representation of the people bill, saying the powers could be exploited by a future government.A report last year by the campaign group Spotlight on Corruption warned that the powers over the Electoral Commission “could easily be abused to undermine our democracy”
Starmer vows to avoid ‘mistakes of Iraq’ that have haunted Labour for decades
Tony Blair’s support for the US invasion of Iraq in 2003 has long loomed like a spectre over the Labour party.It was present in 2013 when Ed Miliband as opposition leader voted to block UK military action against the Syrian regime.And it was there again on Monday when Keir Starmer assured MPs that the government remembered the “mistakes of Iraq” and would always operate on a “lawful basis” and with a “viable thought-through plan”to the crisis erupting in the Middle East.The implication from the prime minister was clear: he does not think the initial US and Israeli strikes against Iran were either legal or considered. “This government does not believe in regime change from the skies,” he told the Commons
After failing to win the peace prize, Trump turns his focus to Nobel prize for war | John Crace
Maybe we should have just had done with it back in December. Instead of offering a polite reservation, every western country should have sent a full, state delegation to Norway. Begging, imploring the Nobel Committee to award Donald Trump the peace prize. We could all have chipped in a couple of billion just to make it even more worth winning.And if that wasn’t enough, we could have twisted the Fifa president, Gianni Infantino, to upgrade his “Peaceiest Ever President” award to the “Makes Jesus Look Second Rate” prize
Ken Weetch obituary
The appellation of “good constituency MP” often carries the somewhat pejorative suggestion of a mediocre politician who has failed to make a mark as a national figure at Westminster. However, in the case of Ken Weetch, who has died aged 92, it explains, rather, his remarkable survival for 13 years as the Labour MP for Ipswich against the prevailing electoral trends of the time.He also wrote his name into the statute book of history for his successful campaign to end the long-standing monopoly of solicitors over the conveyancing of property. He introduced two private members’ bills, in 1974 and 1976, in an attempt to highlight what he termed this “vicious restrictive practice” and continued to exert such pressure that the Thatcher government was persuaded eventually to outlaw the monopoly within the provisions of the Administration of Justice Act, 1985.During his tenure as the Ipswich MP he won cross-party respect, admiration and even affection for his dedication to the interests of all his constituents
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