Cricket: David Warner's Six Hurts Child Outside Boundary

Cummins in doubt for Afghanistan clash

Pat Cummins is likely to miss the game against Afghanistan in Perth on Wednesday, according to reports. Cummins, who scored an unbeaten seven and picked up 2/38 in the game against New Zealand in Auckland on Saturday, will most likely be replaced by Josh Hazlewood.During the fourth ball in his first over, Cummins tripped on his right ankle while in his delivery stride but he was up and running immediately. It is believed that the 21-year-old complained of soreness when the team landed in Perth and he has picked up a “slight side strain”.

A Cricket Australia spokesperson said scans showed nothing serious. Cummins will be monitored closely by the medical team in the coming days and a call on his availability for the game against Sri Lanka in Sydney will be taken soon.

Cummins, who has been plagued with various injuries since the start of his international career in 2011, was playing in his first World Cup match and this latest injury is another set-back for him. With James Faulkner still struggling to regain fitness, another injury could throw Australia’s campaign in jeopardy. The hosts are currently in fourth position with three points from three games and the game in Perth is a must-win for them.

A Christchurch miracle and an Afghani cartwheel

As chance would have it, England’s match against Scotland was the day after the fourth anniversary of the Christchurch earthquake. Christchurch is the place my family comes from. My grandfather nicknamed me Hadlee, after one of the city’s most famous sons. My parents were there when the earthquake struck. I probably should have been aware of the enormity of the disaster that struck this pretty little city.

I wasn’t. Until you’ve walked through the empty city centre, stopped at the memorial to the dead, seen the condemned Lancaster Park stadium – the Hadlee Stand has already been pulled down at New Zealand’s first Test venue – and understood that homes and offices and shops once stood where all these vacant blocks now lie, it is hard to fully take in the extent of the tragedy. The centre – once beautiful – has simply gone. Most of the people who lived and worked there have gone with it.

It’s incredible that the city has recovered enough to host a sporting event of global significance, albeit in a park setting. In years to come, I’m pretty sure I won’t recall who won or even who played. But I’ll remember – and be grateful – that sport, and something approaching normality, returned to Christchurch.

Brydon Coverdale – Pakistan v West Indies, Christchurch, February 21
Andre Russell walked to the crease with 2.5 overs left against Pakistan in Christchurch. He faced 13 balls, including two he didn’t score runs off. He still managed to finish unbeaten on 42. With hair and beard trimmed to look like Mr T’s Clubber Lang character from Rocky III, Russell decided to club ‘er long. Strong down the ground, Russell smashed four sixes and hit the ball with ferocious power. He had walked out at 259 for 5 after 47.1, and walked off with the total at 310 off 50 overs. The fastest ODI fifty was on the cards, had he not run out of time.

Andrew McGlashan – Afghanistan v Sri Lanka, Dunedin, February 22
The spirit of Afghanistan’s quick bowlers is infectious. Shapoor Zadran, his flowing locks and steaming run-up, has commanded much of the attention but Hamid Hassan – flags on his face, heart on his sleeve – stole the show against Sri Lanka. In Dunedin, he ripped a delivery through the defences of Kumar Sangakkara, pegging back middle and off stumps, and then celebrated with a cartwheel that probably left the physio in a state of panic. It would have struggled for top marks from any Olympic judges but the Afghanistan supporters will not have cared at all that he ended up flat on his back.

Jarrod Kimber – England v Scotland, Christchurch, February 23
Public nudity can go wrong. And pitch invaders are some of the most horrendous bores of all time. But every once in a while one shows such daring, such speed, such everything, that you have to be on their side. The Hagley Oval invader for the England-Scotland game actually improved the entire game of cricket just by his naked jiggle running. When he faked right, went left, and left behind a puddle of sweaty security guards, he became a beautiful naked streak. He jumped the ground fence, ran through the media zone, past the nets and then over another fence that could have, on another day, ended in some of the worst pain imaginable. But as they say, if you are going to slash, slash hard. Somewhere in Hagley Park, north or south, where they used to be a pop-up cricket stadium, a naked man roams. May he never go home, may he never be clothed.

Devashish Fuloria – Afghanistan v Scotland, Dunedin, February 26
A race is on at one end of the bowling spectrum among a bevy of faster men to bowl quick, hurry batsmen, test their eyes and reflexes. At the other end of that spectrum, one man stands alone. In Scotland’s match against Afghanistan, a delivery from Majid Haq was clocked at 67 kph, surely one of the slowest ever recorded. And that, with the wind behind him. It hung in the air for more than a second, leaving the batsmen to fight their instincts and wait. If records haven’t been maintained, they should now, for a man with the gall to bowl that slow, to mess with the heads of batsmen in this era of batting madness, must be celebrated.

CIA officers' deaths will be avenged - Poora Badla Lya Jayega

Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- An American intelligence official vowed Thursday that the United States would avenge a suspected terrorist attack on a U.S. base in Afghanistan that resulted in the deaths of seven CIA officers.
Two of those killed were contractors with private security firm Xe, formerly known as Blackwater, a former intelligence official told CNN. The CIA considers contractors to be officers.
A current intelligence official confirmed that the casualties included a mix of people -- CIA staff and contractors. Six others were wounded.
The Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack, which occurred on Wednesday.
A senior U.S. official said information suggested a bomber walked into a gym facility at Forward Operating Base Chapman -- located in the Khost Province near the border of Pakistan -- and detonated bombs in a suicide vest.
It was not known how the bomber got past security. In a posting on its Web site Thursday, the Taliban claimed the bomber was an Afghan National Army soldier.
"This attack will be avenged through successful, aggressive counterterrorism operations," the intelligence official vowed.
"There are some very bad people who eventually are going to have a very bad day," the official promised Friday.
Former CIA official Robert Richer called it "the greatest loss of life for the Central Intelligence Agency since the Beirut Embassy bombing" in 1983, which killed eight agents.
Flags at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, flew at half-staff Thursday.
"These brave Americans were part of a long line of patriots who have made great sacrifices for their fellow citizens, and for our way of life," U.S. President Barack Obama said in a written statement Thursday.
"The United States would not be able to maintain the freedom and security that we cherish without decades of service from the dedicated men and women of the CIA."
Richer, who retired from the agency in 2005 as the associate deputy director for operations, knew many of Wednesday's victims personally. In a written statement Thursday, he called on the public to "remain mindful that our great country is served well by those in and out of uniform. That officers like those lost in this attack placed themselves in harm's way, at a critical and dangerous crossroads in the war on terror.
"We should be thankful for the service and sacrifice of these fine Americans. They and their colleagues, who compose the very thin line of Agency officers working in the shadows at the very tip of the war on terror, are a national asset; an asset often misunderstood and under appreciated."
CIA Director Leon Panetta said in a separate statement Thursday that "those who fell ... were far from home and close to the enemy, doing the hard work that must be done to protect our country from terrorism."
A U.S. intelligence official would not discuss the specific mission of the base, but did acknowledge that it was a crucial CIA post and a "hub of activity."
The main purpose of CIA forward operating bases in Afghanistan, officials have noted, is to recruit informants and to plan and coordinate covert operations -- including drone surveillance and targeting.
The Khost Provincial Construction Team has been located at Chapman for about eight years, focusing on government, communication, security, agriculture and development in 13 districts, according to Capt. Michael R. Andrews, a U.S. Air Force spokesman.
Another U.S. military source had said earlier that the Khost Provincial Construction Team had left Chapman some time ago.

The U.S. State Department, U.S. Agency for International Development and U.S. Department of Agriculture also have personnel at Chapman, Andrews said.

8 American U.S. deaths at military base in Afghanistan December 2009

Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- Eight Americans were killed in a suicide bombing Wednesday at a military base in eastern Afghanistan, according to a U.S. military official and a U.S. Embassy official.

A suicide bomber wearing an explosive vest attacked Forward Operating Base Chapman near the district of Khost in Khost province, said a third official, who asked not to be named.

The military official said the eight people were not from the military.

There were conflicting reports as to whether the bomber walked into the dining facility or the gym at the base.