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Tag: Australia

  • Australian cricket legend and PSL champ Dean Jones passes away in Mumbai

    Australian cricket legend and Pakistan Super League (PSL) champ Dean Jones passed away from a heart attack on Thursday.

    Jones, 59, was in India for the coverage of the Indian Premier League (IPL) at the time of his demise. 

    He was a two-time winner of the PSL with Islamabad United in 2016 and 2018. The last position he held in the league was the head coach of Karachi Kings in PSL 2020.

    He was looking forward to visiting Pakistan for the remainder of the PSL 2020 and even said that all of his side’s foreign players were ready to do the same.

    Jones played 52 Tests and 164 ODIs for Australia in a career that began in 1984 (coincidentally against Pakistan) and ended in 1994.  

    He averaged 44.61 in ODIs – a number unheard of in those times, and is widely thought of as one of Australia’s greatest batsmen in the 50-over format.

    In 2019, he was inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame.

  • Indian woman takes lover on tour to Australia on husband’s passport

    Indian woman takes lover on tour to Australia on husband’s passport

    A 36-year-old woman in India allegedly took her lover on a tour to Australia on a passport forged in her husband’s name in January. One of the married couple’s children studies in Australia.

    The two were supposed to return in March but due to the national lockdown, all international flights to India were suspended so they got stuck and returned home on August 24.

    The woman’s husband works in Mumbai, has registered a complaint at a police station accusing his wife of having an illicit relationship with the co-accused, Sandeep Singh, 36.

    He has accused Sandeep of forging documents to get a passport in his name.

    Superintendent of Police, Jai Prakash Yadav, has ordered registration of an FIR on the husband’s complaint and an investigation into the matter by a local intelligence unit (LIU).

    According to the complainant, he has been working in Mumbai for the past 20 years and occasionally visits his wife, who lives in their farmhouse and looks after his ancestral land.

    “When I returned to Pilibhit on May 18, my wife was not at home. I came to know from Sandeep’s family that both had gone to Australia. To find out whether Sandeep forged documents to obtain a passport in my name to visit Australia, I purposely applied for a passport on August 24 at the Bareilly-based passport office. Then I found out from the passport authorities that a passport in my name had already been issued on February 2, 2019,” he said.

    The SP said Gajraula police and LIU inspector Kanchan Rawat would investigate how a passport in the name of the complainant was issued despite identity-checking at multiple levels.

  • Australian man punches 10-feet great white shark to save wife’s life

    Australian man punches 10-feet great white shark to save wife’s life

    An Australian surfer repeatedly punched a 10-feet long white shark that had bit his wife until it released his wife’s leg.

    According to details, the couple was surfing at a beach near Port Macquarie on Saturday morning when the woman was bitten twice by the shark and her right leg got injured.

    “Her companion was forced to punch the fish until it let go,” police said in the statement.

    Paramedics gave the 35-year-old first-aid at the beach and then she was airlifted to a major hospital for surgery.

    One witness who was surfing nearby when the attack occurred called the man a “hero” for taking on what appeared to be a great white shark up to three meters (10 feet) long.
    “He started laying into the shark because it wouldn’t let go,” Jed Toohey told the Daily Telegraph. “He saved her life… He was really incredible.”

    The woman’s husband, Mark Rapley, said that “I did what anyone would have done at that moment”.

    Australia has one of the world’s highest incidences of shark attacks and there have been five fatal ones in the country so far this year.

    Just last month, a shark pulled a 10-year-old boy from a fishing boat off Tasmania. He survived after his father jumped in the water to save him.

  • PIA pilot, flight attendants, who brought 200 Pakistanis back from Australia, get coronavirus

    PIA pilot, flight attendants, who brought 200 Pakistanis back from Australia, get coronavirus

    One pilot and three flight attendants of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), who had performed duties on a special flight from Melbourne to Lahore, have tested positive for the new coronavirus — COVID-19.

    As per the details, the national carrier last month ran a one-off flight from Melbourne to Lahore to help hundreds of Pakistanis return home from Australia.

    With the country having blocked all international commercial flights since mid-March — a ban that’s now set to continue for an indefinite period of time — many of the country’s residents have struggled to find a path back to their homeland, making government repatriation flights a necessity.

    A PIA Boeing 777-200LR first flew from Lahore to Melbourne on Friday, April 24. PK8962 departed Pakistan at 5 pm local time, reaching Melbourne the next day at 10:30 am after a journey of 12 hours and 30 minutes.

    Allowing time for the crew to rest before the return leg, the Melbourne-Lahore flight, PK8972, departed at 1 pm on April 26, reaching the provincial capital of Punjab at 9 pm the same day, 13 hours after wheels-up.

    PIA’s Boeing 777-200LR jets can normally accommodate up to 310 passengers, but this repatriation service from Melbourne was capped at 250 passengers.

    Over a week on, reports say that three crew members of the special flight have tested positive for coronavirus.

    The crew members of PIA were earlier awaiting their COVID-19 test results and have now been shifted to Combined Military Hospital (CMH) Lahore. Among them are flight attendants Waqar Farooqui, Sofia Shaikh and Ahmed Ammad as well as first officer Shakil Akram.

  • ‘Babar Azam is a classy player’; Ricky Ponting all praise over ‘extraordinary batting skills’

    Former Australian cricket captain Ricky Ponting has labelled Pakistani batsman and skipper Babar Azam a “classy player” and praised him for his “extraordinary batting skills”, Cricket Pakistan reported.

    According to the details, Ricky Ponting while speaking during an interview said, “We have not seen the best of him [Babar Azam] yet. 20 odd Tests for an average of 35 – he is better than that. He averages 54 in one-day cricket at a strike-rate of about 90. He is a very, very classy player”.

    He added, “He is a really exciting talent and probably the guy I am looking forward to seeing the most this summer. I have seen the Aussies a lot and I have seen a lot of the Kiwis, but I am really excited to see him”.

    The former Australian skipper believes that Pakistan need to utilise Babar in a better way in the longer format, adding that Australia needs to be wary of him in the upcoming two-match Test series between the two sides.

    After scoring back to back fifties in the recently concluded T20I series against Australia, Babar played a brisk 157-run knock in the four-day practice match against Australia A in Perth.

    It remains to be seen whether the 25-year-old can perform well in the Test series against the hosts, starting from November 21 at Gabba, Brisbane.

  • Don’t compare me with Ahmed Shehzad: Umar Akmal

    Don’t compare me with Ahmed Shehzad: Umar Akmal

    Pakistan’s middle-order batsman Umar Akmal has said that it was not right to compare him with opener Ahmed Shehzad and asked to be assessed in an individual capacity, Cricket Pakistan reported.

    According to the details, Umar in a press conference at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore on Wednesday said, “I am usually associated and compared with Ahmed Shehzad, which is not right. We have different goals and identities”.

    He added that we have different roles and should be criticised or praised in our individual capacities.

    The 29-year-old batsman accepted the fact that his performance against Sri Lanka was below the required standard and vowed to make a comeback in the side.

    “It is not easy to make a comeback whatever team you play for. There is always pressure to solidify your place in the side. I can only say that I was unlucky to get out on the first ball against Sri Lanka. I could not perform well. I am working harder and I believe that the chief selector Misbahul Haq will give me another chance and I will not disappoint,” Umar said.

    Akmal praised the media for its role in the return of international cricket in Pakistan and expressed hope in the Pakistan Test side to deliver a good performance against Australia in their upcoming Test series Down Under.

  • Teenage pacer Naseem Shah to not fly back home for mother’s funeral

    Teenage pacer Naseem Shah to not fly back home for mother’s funeral

    Pakistan’s 16-year-old pacer Naseem Shah, who is currently in the Test squad for the series against Australia, will not be traveling back to the country after the untimely demise of his mother on Monday, Cricket Pakistan reported.

    According to the details, the young pacer reportedly made had taken this decision after consulting with his family members in Pakistan. The Lower Dir native decided against going back due to the distance and time constraints involved.

    Naseem will stay with the national team in Australia however he has been pulled out of the ongoing three-day practice match against Australia A.

    Shah is part of the playing XI currently facing Australia A, however, he did not bat in Pakistan’s first innings, which concluded yesterday at the score of 428. He also did not take the field when the Australia A innings began.

    The first Test match between Pakistan and Australia will start on November 21 in Brisbane.

  • ICC features Pakistani American couple watching cricket during wedding ceremony

    ICC features Pakistani American couple watching cricket during wedding ceremony

    The International Cricket Council (ICC) has featured on its social media a Pakistani American couple watching the first T20 match played between Pakistan and Australia on Sunday.

    “Here’s a message we got from a fan in the US [United States],” ICC wrote as it shared the couple’s picture as well as the groom’s message.

    “As a die-hard cricket fan, I wanted to submit a photograph from my wedding this past weekend. As per tradition, after the completion of the wedding, the bride is brought home for a little traditional welcoming ceremony among the close family,” Hasan Tasleem wrote, adding that as they reached back home around midnight in Detroit, the game was underway.

    “Over the years, residing in North America, I’ve stayed up at all sorts of odd hours at night to catch Team Pakistan play. Even though it was my wedding night, I wasn’t going to miss the game,” he added.

    On Sunday, rain abandoned the first T20I between Pakistan and Australia in Sydney. The hosts were motoring along at 41-0 in just 3.1 overs as they chased 119 in 90 balls. The match was, however, abandoned after rain interrupted play for the second time.

    Australia won the second T20 on Tuesday by seven wickets with nine balls remaining.

  • Yuvraj Singh’s response to Shoaib Akhtar’s tweet will crack you up

    Yuvraj Singh’s response to Shoaib Akhtar’s tweet will crack you up

    Former Indian cricketing star Yuvraj Singh’s hilarious response to former Pakistani speedster Shoaib Akhtar’s tweet, wherein he had criticised England’s Jofra Archer, has gone viral over the internet.

    As per the details, Akhtar recently slammed Archer when the latter’s bouncer left Australian batsman Steve Smith rolling on the ground.

    He was seen sharing a laugh with English wicketkeeper Jos Buttler after Smith suffered a nasty blow to his head on day four of the 2nd Ashes Test at Lord’s on Sunday.

    Being a paceman himself, Akhtar criticised Archer over his reaction and tweeted:

    However, Akhtar’s reaction was met with a hilarious tweet by Yuvraj Singh, who wrote, “Yes you did! But your actual words were, hope you are alright mate cause there are a few more coming”.

    This isn’t the first time that the cricketing legends have passed wacky comments on each other’s tweets.

    In 2017, Akhtar had shared an inspirational quote by WWE icon and film star, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson:

    Reacting to the tweet, Singh had tweeted in Punjab:

    “Sounds good, but where are you headed for [some] welding job?”