Sport
Netherlands keep World Cup hopes alive with Oman win

The Netherlands kept their bid to qualify for the Cricket World Cup alive as Vikramjit Singh’s hundred set up a comfortable victory over Oman on Monday.
The Dutch, who have not played at the global one-day showpiece since 2011, needed to win to stay in contention for a place at the tournament in India later this year.
Singh’s maiden one-day international ton and Wesley Barresi’s 65-ball 97 helped the Netherlands rack up 362-7 from 48 overs after being put in to bat first in a weather-affected match.
Oman never looked likely to complete the run chase despite 105 not out from Ayaan Khan, finishing on 246-6 after 44 overs when play was ended due to bad light.
The Netherlands’ winning margin of 74 runs on DLS method in Harare also boosted their net run-rate, which could prove crucial.
The top two teams in the Super Six table reach the World Cup, with one place still on offer after Sri Lanka qualified by beating Zimbabwe on Sunday.
Hosts Zimbabwe could clinch the second spot with victory over Scotland on Tuesday, but if the Scots win that match, it would all but set up a winner-takes all clash between Scotland and the Netherlands on Thursday.
“Obviously some results that have to go our way. We cannot do anything about it. We will prepare for our next game,” said Dutch captain Scott Edwards.
The 10-team World Cup will take place from October 5-November 19.
The Dutch made a solid start to their innings, trying to bounce back from a disappointing loss to Sri Lanka, until Max O’Dowd was bowled by Ayaan for 35.
Barresi’s arrival quickened the scoring, as the 39-year-old smashed 10 fours and three sixes before falling just short of a hundred.
Singh’s 110 came from 109 balls before he was dismissed by Mohammad Nadeem.
“Amazing. I waited a long time for this, finally getting my maiden ODI hundred, feels unreal,” he said.
Bas de Leede struck 39 off 19 balls and Saqib Zulfiqar 33 from 17 as the Netherlands posted a massive total.
Oman, who have yet to post a Super Six win, slipped to 78-3 in reply before Ayaan’s resistance.
He ended not out from just 92 balls but a strong Dutch bowling display was epitomized by spinner Aryan Dutt’s figures of 3-31 from 10 overs.
Oman will complete their campaign against fellow eliminated side the West Indies on Wednesday.
Pathum Nissanka’s sublime unbeaten 101 propelled Sri Lanka to a place in this year’s Cricket World Cup in India as the 1996 winners trounced hosts Zimbabwe by nine wickets on Sunday.
Sri Lanka had bowled out Zimbabwe for a modest 165 inside 33 overs and Nissanka never gave the hosts a hope of victory with his superb innings lifting Sri Lanka to 169 for one in their Super Six stage match.
Zimbabwe can still qualify if they beat Scotland on Tuesday.
Sri Lanka’s bowlers had performed admirably in skittling the hosts out – man of the match Maheesh Theekshana taking 4-25.
Sri Lankan captain Dasun Shanaka said it was crucial for them to be at the sport’s quadrennial showpiece – another former winner West Indies are missing out for the first time after losing to Scotland on Saturday.
“It was a much-needed thing for Sri Lanka to play on that big stage,” said Shanaka.
“See coming for the qualifiers. It’s always tough but still, if you go through the process…and we knew with the team we’ve got, we were going to qualify for the World Cup.”
The Zimbabweans had been up against it from the start after being put into bat by Shanaka and were left tottering on 30-3 due to a stunning opening spell by Dilshan Madushanka.
The hosts had prided themselves on getting through the first 10 overs in the previous matches in the tournament virtually unscathed – they had lost just the one wicket.
However, a fired-up Madushanka gave them a rude awakening reducing them to 8-2 beginning by dismissing Joylord Gumbie for a duck and then Wessley Madhevere for one.
He snapped up the key wicket of captain Craig Ervine for just 14, the 37-year-old with over 100 ODI appearances for the hosts nicking the ball to wicketkeeper Kusal Mendis.
Sean Williams and Sikandar Raza steadied the ship – only after the former had escaped when Matheesha Pathirana dropped a simple chance off Madushanka prompting a withering look from Sri Lankan coach Chris Silverwood.
They put on a fluent partnership of 68 but just as they were hitting their boot straps Raza on 31 holed out to Madushanka off the bowling of Shanaka to leave the hosts 98-4.
They recovered briefly thanks to 19 – including three sixes – coming off a Dhananjaya over.
Williams brought up his half century with a beautifully executed four in Shanaka’s next over.
However, his elation was to turn to despair soon afterwards.
Shanaka made an inspired bowling change bringing on Theekshana for his second spell in place of the the expensive Dhananjaya and with just his fifth ball bowled Williams for 56.
Theekshana struck again dismissing Burl for 16 with a similar type delivery to reduce the hosts to 130-6 and it became 144-7 when he trapped Luke Jongwe lbw for 10.
The Zimbabwe tail failed to wag with the unpredictable Matheesha Pathirana taking two of the remaining three wickets in one over.
Ervine said despite the heavy defeat they would stick to their gameplan for Tuesday’s match.
“I don’t think we need to prepare any differently from what we have been doing in this tournament (against Scotland),” said Ervine.
“We have been playing some very good cricket. Sri Lanka were much better than us today.”
Sport
De Kock fireworks see Kolkata thrash Rajasthan in IPL

Spinners Moeen Ali and Varun Chakravarthy combined to help restrict Rajasthan to 151-9 after KKR elected to field first in Guwahati.
De Kock bossed the chase with his 61-ball innings laced with eight fours and six sixes as Kolkata achieved their target with 15 balls to spare.
De Kock, who has retired from Tests and one-day international cricket for South Africa and whose T20 international future remains uncertain, showed no signs of rustiness.
“To be fair, haven’t felt any challenges yet,” De Kock said.
“Have had three months off which felt nice. Had about a 10-day build-up to this season. Only my second game here, just taking it as I see it.”
Kolkata signed De Kock in November’s auction after he was released by Lucknow Super Giants.
He handed his team a quick start, hitting two fours but then lost opening partner Moeen, run out for five.
Skipper Ajinkya Rahane fell after a brisk 18 but De Kock stood firm and along with impact substitute Angkrish Raghuvanshi, who made 22, steered the team home in an unbeaten stand of 83.
De Kock finished with a six off Jofra Archer as Kolkata bounced back from their opening loss to Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
Rajasthan suffered their second straight loss.
Earlier, Kolkata fast bowler Vaibhav Arora dismissed Sanju Samson, bowled for 13, and Chakravarthy and Moeen soon took two wickets each.
Wicketkeeper Samson is Rajasthan’s regular captain but has been forced to play only as a batter in the first three matches due to an injury.
Chakravarthy, who starred in India’s recent Champions Trophy triumph, got stand-in-skipper Riyan Parag out caught behind for 25.
Former England all-rounder Moeen, in for the unwell Sunil Narine, stifled the opposition with his off-spin and was rewarded with the wicket of Yashasvi Jaiswal for 29.
The 37-year-old and Chakravarthy both struck again as Rajasthan slipped to 82-5 in 11 overs.
Wickets kept tumbling for Rajasthan and despite wicketkeeper-batsman Dhruv Jurel’s 33 and 16 from Archer, they settled for a below-par total.
“I think 170 was a reasonable score but we fell short by 20 runs,” said Parag. “The plan was to get Quinny out early but he didn’t so we shifted to containing them in the middle overs.”
Arora and fellow quick Harshit Rana also took two wickets each.
Kolkata, under Shreyas Iyer who is now Punjab Kings captain after a $3.17 million move in the auction, won their third IPL title last year.
The seventh match of the day will see Sunrisers Hyderabad play Lucknow Super Giants. The live broadcast of this match, on Ariana Television, will start at 6:15pm.
Sport
AFC Asian Cup 2027 Qualifiers: Myanmar defeat Afghanistan 2-1

Afghanistan’s national football team went down 2-1 to Myanmar in their first match of the third round of the 2027 AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers.
The match was held on Tuesday at the stadium in Yangon, the capital of Myanmar.
The only goal for Afghanistan was scored in the 14th minute by Omid Popalzay.
Afghanistan is in Group E along with Myanmar, Pakistan, and Syria.
The national team’s next match will be on June 10 against Syria. The venue is still to be decided.
Sport
Afghanistan eliminated from Asian Beach Soccer Championship

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The match took place on Tuesday in Thailand.
In their first and second games, Afghanistan lost to the United Arab Emirates and Iran, respectively.
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