PROVIDENCE: Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran shared a second consecutive century stand which led Afghanistan to an 84-run win over New Zealand on Friday and put it in charge of Group C at cricket’s Twenty20 World Cup.
Gurbaz and Ibrahim put on 154 in a 125-run win over Uganda in Afghanistan’s opening match and made 103 for the first wicket in a total of 159-6 as Afghanistan batted first after New Zealand won the toss.
Fazalhaq Farooqi and Rashid Khan both took 4-17 as New Zealand was bowled out for 75 in the 16th over, its fourth-lowest T20 total.
Gurbaz and Ibrahim are only the third pair and first openers to post back-to-back century partnerships at a Twenty20 World Cup. They stayed together until the 15th over Friday when Ibrahim was out for 44 from 41 balls.
Gurbaz finally was out in the 20th over, having made 80 from 56 balls with five fours and five sixes. The Afghanistan innings contained nine sixes and 10 fours.
“We were waiting for this match for the last three years,” Gurbaz said. “We played them at the World Cup three years ago and they beat us. Finally we beat them. We had the trust and belief in ourselves from the very start.”
New Zealand came into the tournament as one of the favorites after reaching at least the semifinals at the last six white-ball World Cups — 50-over one-day internationals and Twenty20 matches.
But it also came into its opening match with no local warm-up match and with most players having been inactive for some time. That showed in the field where their performance featured dropped catches, overthrows and misfields.
“Afghanistan outplayed us in all facets of the game,” New Zealand captain Kane Williamson said. “From our perspective it wasn’t good enough in terms of starting a tournament. Very frustrating.”
Earlier Friday in Dallas, Nicholas Kirton scored 49 off 35 balls to help Canada earn its first win at a T20 World Cup by 12 runs over Ireland. In the third match Friday in New York, Bangladesh beat Sri Lanka by two wickets with six balls remaining in a tense match, consigning Sri Lanka to its second consecutive loss in Group D.
Afghanistan stun New Zealand in T20 World Cup clash
https://arab.news/zg32s
Afghanistan stun New Zealand in T20 World Cup clash
- Fazalhaq Farooqi and Rashid Khan both took 4-17 as New Zealand were bowled out for 75 runs in the 16th over
- Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran shared second consecutive century stand to lead Afghanistan to 84-run win
Trump hopes North Carolina speech will bolster standing on US economy
- Trump works to turn around public opinion on economy
- Opinion polls show Americans have doubts
ROCKY MOUNT, North Carolina: US President Donald Trump traveled to the “battleground” state of North Carolina on Friday, seeking to convince Americans that his handling of the economy is sound ahead of a midterm election year that could spell trouble for him and his ruling Republicans. With prices increasing and unemployment up, Trump has his work cut out for him. A Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Tuesday showed just 33 percent of US adults approve of how Trump has handled the economy. Trump is set to argue that the US economy is poised for a surge due to his policies and that any problems they are experiencing are the fault of the Democrats. He contends that he has lowered the price of gasoline, imposed tariffs that are generating billions of dollars for the US Treasury and attracted hundreds of billions of dollars in investment pledges by foreign governments.
Republicans worry, however, that economic woes could jeopardize their chances in elections next November that will decide whether they will keep control of the House of Representatives and the Senate for the remaining two years of Trump’s term. The speech is taking place at a 9 p.m. rally (0200 GMT Saturday) at the convention center in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. The city is represented by a Democrat in the House, Don Davis, who faces a tough re-election fight in 2026 after the boundaries of his congressional district were redrawn. North Carolina is considered a “battleground” state because its statewide elections are closely contested between Democrats and Republicans. But Trump won the state in 2016, 2020 and 2024. The North Carolina event is a stop on the way to his oceanfront Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, where he plans to spend the Christmas and New Year’s holidays.
The US president has repeatedly said that any economic pain Americans are experiencing should be blamed on policies he inherited from his predecessor, Democratic President Joe Biden.
“Eleven months ago, I inherited a mess, and I’m fixing it,” Trump said in a grievance-filled speech on Wednesday night that he delivered in a jarringly rapid-fire pace. Democrats have argued that Trump himself has bungled the economy, the central issue he campaigned on last year. Trump got some early holiday cheer on Thursday from the Consumer Price Index report for November. It said housing costs rose by the smallest margin in four years. Food costs rose by the least since February. Egg prices — a subject Trump raises regularly — fell for a second month, and by the most in 20 months. The report nonetheless showed that other prices, like beef and electricity, soared. Overall, prices rose 2.7 percent over the year prior. Asked what his message will be in North Carolina, Trump said it would be similar to his last two events, a prime-time address on Wednesday night and a visit to Pennsylvania last week. “We’ve had tremendous success. We inherited a mess, and part of what we inherited was the worst inflation in 48 years,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday. “And now we’re bringing those prices down. I’ll be talking about that.”
