Aiden Markram Onslaught Takes South Africa To Verge Of World Cup

Aiden Markram hit 175 off 126 balls as South Africa took a giant step towards automatic qualification for the Cricket World Cup with a 146-run win over the Netherlands in the third one-day international at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg on Sunday. "We did exactly what we wanted to do," said South Africa captain Temba Bavuma at the after-match presentation. South Africa climbed into eighth place in the Super League table, going above the West Indies and improving their net run rate with a second emphatic win in three days.

Ireland are the only team who could squeeze South Africa out of automatic qualification for the World Cup but they will need to beat Bangladesh 3-0 in a series in England next month to draw level on points. 

Ireland will also need to improve their net run rate.

"In terms of the points and qualification, we've done ourselves justice," said Bavuma. 

"In the cricket as well, there were a lot of positives in the batting and the bowling."

South Africa completed a 2-0 win in a series which was halted because of a Covid scare after the first game was rained off in November 2021.

The West Indies will have to play in a qualifying tournament in Zimbabwe in June and July to decide the final two teams that will play in the World Cup in India in October and November.

Markram hit 17 fours and seven sixes in scoring his first one-day international century. 

He and David Miller (91) set up a South African total of 370 for eight with a fifth wicket partnership of 199 off 118 balls.

Netherlands made a spirited attempt to keep up with the required run rate but lost their last five wickets for seven runs to be bowled out for 224.

Fast bowler Sisanda Magala claimed his first international five-wicket haul, taking five for 43, with four of his victims being bowled.  

Left-hander Musa Ahmed received two painful early blows on the chest and shoulder from express fast bowler Anrich Nortje but went on to make top score of 61, his first international half-century.

Netherlands captain Scott Edwards said his team had matched South Africa for periods during both games. 

"Three-hundred and seventy was always going to be tough," he said.

"We kept up with the rate but we needed someone to get a big score like Aiden."

The Dutch will also play in the World Cup qualifier in Zimbabwe alongside the hosts, West Indies, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Scotland and Oman.

The three remaining spots in the 10-team event are still to be decided.

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18 Dead After Devastating Tornadoes, Storms Sweep Through US States

The death count from a major storm system that has produced tornadoes and devastating winds across several southern and central US states has risen to 18, officials said Saturday.

A spokesperson for the emergency management agency in Tennessee, one of the states hardest hit by a series of storms which have struck since Friday, confirmed seven weather-related fatalities to AFP.

Officials across states including Arkansas, Mississippi, Indiana and Alabama had earlier counted a total of 11 fatalities.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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As China's Birth Rate Falls, Students Given Off To "Fall In Love": Report

Political advisors to the government have made many recommendations to increase the birth rate, as population concerns in China have already reached a high point. Now, several colleges are also coming up with a unique plan to support the national concern.

Nine colleges in China are giving students a week off to "fall in love" in April.

According to NBC News, the Mianyang Flying Vocational College, one of nine colleges run by the Fan Mei Education Group, first announced the spring break on March 21, which has a specific focus on romance. The time off, which lasts from April 1 to April 7, encourages students to "learn to love nature, love life, and enjoy love through enjoying the spring break."

"I hope that students can go to see the green water and green mountains and feel the breath of spring. This will not only broaden students' horizons and cultivate their sentiments, but also enrich and deepen the teaching content in the classroom," Liang Guohui, deputy dean of Mianyang Flying Vocational College, said in a statement.

Homework for students includes writing diaries, keeping track of personal development, and making travel videos.

This effort is an attempt to serve the purpose of finding ways to boost the birth rate.

The government has come up with more than 20 recommendations to boost birth rates, though experts say the best they can do is slow the population's decline.

China dug itself into a demographic hole largely through its one-child policy imposed between 1980 and 2015. Authorities raised the limit to three in 2021, but even during stay-at-home COVID times, couples have been reluctant to have babies.

Young people cite high childcare and education costs, low incomes, a feeble social safety net, and gender inequalities as discouraging factors.

The proposals to boost the birth rate, made at the annual meeting of China's People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) this month, range from subsidies for families raising their first child, rather than just the second and third, to expanding free public education and improving access to fertility treatments.

Experts took the sheer number of proposals as a positive sign that China was treating its ageing and declining demographics with urgency, after data showed the population shrinking for the first time in six decades last year.

(With inputs from Reuters)

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IPL 2023: Mayers Sizzles, Wood Rattles DC As LSG Romp Home By 50 Runs

Mark Wood scarred the Delhi Capitals top-order with scorching pace as his five-wicket haul beautifully complemented debutant Kyle Mayers' superb 73 in Lucknow Super Giants' comfortable 50 run win in their IPL opener, in Lucknow on Saturday. Mayers, who got a chance to showcase his exploits because of Quinton de Kock's absence, hit seven sixes in his 38-ball knock which was largely responsible for solid 193/6 in 20 overs. In reply, Delhi Capitals managed only 143 for 9 with David Warner (56 off 48 balls) fight hardly being any sort of consolation.

Wood (5/14 in 4 overs) bowled back-to-back lethal in-cutters at 147 clicks which Prithvi Shaw (12) and Mitchell Marsh (0) failed to even bring their respective bats down before the ball hit the 'wood' work.

In case of Sarfaraz Khan (4), his weakness against pacey short-pitched stuff is well documented and Wood directed one at his body, which could have blown his head off and he tried a non-existent ramp shot getting himself into a tangle and the easiest of catches was taken at fine-leg boundary.

From 41 for no loss to 48 for 3, it happened in a space of couple of overs DC weren't able to make a comeback after Wood had destroyed their confidence with raw pace.

Skipper Warner and Rilee Rossouw (30 off 20 balls) did add 40 runs before a freak dismissal off Ravi Bishnoi's (2/31 in 4 overs) delivery brought about his downfall.

Bishnoi and 'Impact Substitute' Krishnappa Gowtham (0/19 in 4 overs) bowled admirably well in dew-laden conditions and the later in fact showed his multi-skill worth with a last ball six during LSG's batting innings.

DC, on the day, didn't look the part as the momentum slipped out of their grasp, way too many times. The 16 sixes conceded by DC bowlers was a testimony to their inconsistency.

They did enjoy a good bowling Powerplay, Mayers announced his grand entry on IPL stage with a scintillating knock.

The left-hander from Barbados, who was included in absence of South African opener Quinton De Kock, made Capitals pay a heavy price for dropping him on 14, by blazing his way to a 28-ball fifty.

Deepak Hooda (17, 18b) at the other end was a mere spectator to Mayers' fury as they stitched 79 runs in 42 balls to accelerate the run-rate in the middle overs.

The duo departed in the space of one ball, while Marcus Stoinis (12) got out cheaply in the middle overs.

But LSG maintained the momentum with Nicholas Pooran (36; 21b) and Krunal Pandya (15 not out; 13b) taking the charge, before Ayush Badoni's mini assault (18; 7b, 1x4, 2x6) and a last ball six from 'Impact Substitute' Krishnappa Gowtham yielded 22 runs from the 20th over bowled by Chetan Sakariya (2/53).

The last five overs produced 66 runs, primarily due to Pooran and Badoni using long handles to good effect.

Playing their first-ever home game since joining IPL last year, LSG were in a spot of bother with DC bowlers making full use of the two-paced tricky Ekana wicket after opting to bowl.

It took LSG openers, KL Rahul and Mayers, 16 balls to get going and hit their first boundary.

They were reduced to 19/1 inside four overs when left-arm pacer Sakariya prolonged Rahul's lean patch by dismissing the Indian opener with a slower one. It was Sakariya's third dismissal of Rahul in four IPL match-ups.

But things soon tilted in the home team's favour after Khaleel Ahmed grassed a sitter off Mayers in the last over the Powerplay.

Mayers unleashed his fury against debutant Mukesh Kumar, crunching him for two massive sixes in the very next over.

There was no stopping Mayers as he continued his assault on their frontline spinners Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav in his knock studded with seven sixes and two fours.

Patel however had the last laugh when he cleaned up Mayers with a ball that turned almost square from an imaginary fifth stump line.

Thereafter, it was his West Indies teammate Nicholas Pooran who seized the momentum in his 21-ball 36 (2X4, 3X6) as he along with Krunal Pandya kept the run flow.

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