WICKET

Hazlewood c Duckett b Woakes 4 (Aus 317 all out)

Ireland started the T20 World Cup Qualifier with a seven-wicket victory over Italy in Edinburgh on Thursday.

Curtis Campher (61) and Harry Tector (41) put on 76 for the fourth-wicket to help the Irish to 158-8.

Gian-Piero Meade and Gareth Berg joint top-scored for the Italians with 26 as they fell short of the victory target.

Mark Adair took 3-22 for Ireland, who need a top-two finish in the seven-team tournament to qualify for next year's World Cup in the USA and West Indies.

It was Paul Stirling's first game as Irish interim white-ball captain after replacing Andrew Balbirnie, but the opener was dismissed for just two runs while Lorcan Tucker also fell cheaply.

Balbirnie's (26) departure left the Irish on 46-3 before Tector and Campher combined to dominate the Italian attack.

Campher hit three maximums and five boundaries as he made his 61 from 39 balls. Harry Manenti (3-39) was the best of the Italian bowlers while Gareth Berg claimed 2-34.

Italy struggled in response and were 4-41 before Meade and Manenti (17) added 53 runs.

Both were dismissed with the score on 94 and while Italy kept in touch, with Berg's 26 and 21 from Jaspreet Singh, it was not enough to a avoid a narrow defeat.

Ireland are back in action on Friday with Denmark their opponents at Grange CG.

The scenes at the end of both games on the opening day of the 2023 Women's World Cup told the story.

Fans danced in the stands as players shed tears of joy after New Zealand got their Women's World Cup campaign off to a winning start on an emotional and historic night at Eden Park.

For Australia a few hours later, it felt more like getting the job done as they beat Republic of Ireland through a Steph Catley penalty, the Arsenal player taking the captain's armband after Sam Kerr was dramatically ruled out shortly before kick-off with a calf injury.

Two 1-0 victories, two different perspectives - with the New Zealand perspective one of "tears" and "goosebumps".

"Seeing them have tears in their eyes and enjoying it in front of their family and friends at the end, I will never forget these moments," New Zealand boss Jitka Klimkova said after Hannah Wilkinson's winner against Norway.

Even Prime Minister Chris Hipkins joined in the New Zealand celebrations, hours after he addressed the nation following the deadly shooting in Auckland that had cast a shadow over what was supposed to be a day of celebration.

"He came to the locker room and was very proud for this team," added Klimkova, the Czech coach who was appointed in August 2021 and spent the first few months of her reign unable to step foot in New Zealand due to Covid restrictions.

The Football Ferns had waited a long time for Thursday's big moment.

1969 – Apollo program: Apollo 11's crew successfully makes the first human landing on the Moon in the Sea of Tranquility. Americans Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin become the first humans to walk on the Moon six and a half hours later.

Tony Bennett, the legendary New York pop and jazz singer, has died aged 96.

Bennett was known for songs such as The Way You Look Tonight, Body and Soul and (I Left My Heart) In San Francisco.

He also collaborated with star performers from Lady Gaga to Aretha Franklin and Frank Sinatra, who called him "the best singer in the business".

During a career that spanned eight decades, the crooner sold millions of records and won 20 Grammys, including a lifetime achievement award.

His death was confirmed by his publicist Sylvia Weiner in a statement to the Associated Press.

She said he died in his hometown of New York. There was no specific cause of death, but Bennett had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 2016.

Singer Paul Young was among those paying tribute on Twitter, writing: "Ahhh, RIP Tony Bennett, truly one of the greats. An incredible singer live, saw him many times.

Actor George Takei posted: "Tony Bennett was the last of his kind, a master of the American songbook.

"He may have left his Heart in San Francisco, but he won all of our hearts, from Sinatra to Lady Gaga. Be at peace, and sing to us now from the stars, Tony."

Musician Nile Rogers added: "My most heartfelt condolences go out to Tony Bennett's family and friends."

Born Anthony Dominick Benedetto, to a family of Italian immigrants, Bennett was just 10 years old when his father died, plunging the family into poverty.

As a teenager he became a singing waiter before enrolling to study music and painting at New York's School of Industrial Art.

He was drafted into the US army in 1944 to fight in France and Germany towards the end of World War Two. "It's legalised murder," he said of the scarring experience in an interview with the Guardian in 2013.

After returning home, his singing career continued - first under the name Joe Bari - and his breakthrough came in 1951 the song Because of You, which gave him first number one.

Bennett soon became a teenage icon, releasing his first album in 1952. He went on to chart in the US in every subsequent decade of his life, with hits like Blue Velvet and Rags to Riches.

The singer built a reputation for making timeless swinging pop hits and, later, show tunes and big band numbers.

Shortly after his 90th birthday he told the New York Times: "I could have retired 16 years ago, but I just love what I'm doing."

Five years after his 2016 Alzheimer's diagosis, Bennett performed his final shows alongside Gaga, with whom, for younger fans, he became closely associated.

He posted on social media at the time: "Life is a gift - even with Alzheimer's."

Away from music, as a keen painter, Bennett had his work displayed in galleries.

He also founded the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts in his hometown Queens.

He is survived by four children: Danny, Dae, Joanna and Antonia, as well as his wife Susan Crow.

Comment deleted by Article Creator

Tony Bennett obituary:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-11991156

Comment deleted by Article Creator

July 22: Feast day of Saint Mary Magdalene (Christianity)

comment by BraveheartTyke (U6173)
posted 47 minutes ago
July 22: Feast day of Saint Mary Magdalene (Christianity)
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJiDerQXyoo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFtNChII78k

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9frIo-i03XE

Voting is underway in Cambodia, where the country's long-term leader is virtually certain to extend his party's rule in an election where there are no serious challengers.

People turning up to the polls in Phnom Penh told the BBC they expected the Cambodian People's Party (CPP) to sweep all 125 seats in parliament again.

Hun Sen, who has been in power for 38 years, faces no real challenge after the only credible opposition party was disqualified in May.

Critics have called the vote a sham.

"The election this year is not free nor fair, because the choice of two million people was taken away," one voter in Phnom Penh told the BBC.

Western nations, including the US, have also expressed concerns about the integrity of the vote. To ensure the highest possible turnout when people are being offered no real choice, the government has criminalised any attempt to boycott the election or spoil the ballot papers.

Opposition lawmakers this year have reported violent attacks, with Human Rights Watch reporting the government stepped up intimidation and arbitrary arrests of political opposition in the run-up to the poll.

In May, the government barred the country's main opposition party, the Candlelight Party, on a technicality. The National Election Commission said the party was missing paperwork, which it had not needed for the local elections last year.

Candlelight had won 22% of the vote in local elections last year - and analysts say Sen saw them as a potential threat to his rule.

But the poll comes as Sen, who cast his vote in the capital early on Sunday morning, shows the clearest signals yet that he's planning to hand power to his eldest son - possibly within weeks. The military chief has led the CPP's campaign alongside his father.

Sen has become increasingly authoritarian in his rule, political analysts say.

Earlier this year, leading opposition figure Kem Sokha was sentenced to 27 years prison on alleged treason charges, and key news outlet Voice of Democracy shut down.

It is the second election in a row where Sen has targeted democratic institutions and crippled the opposition before voting day, analysts say.

A reminder for everyone that if no play is possible today then the fourth Test will finish as a draw.

That means Australia will retain the Ashes because England will only be able to at best draw the five-Test series 2-2.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwTZ2xpQwpA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqIq4B1rgl4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjudr5YlzuE

Australia retain the Ashes