New Zealand beats Pakistan by 5 wickets to take a 2-0 lead in the T20 international cricket series

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New Zealand beats Pakistan by 5 wickets to take a 2-0 lead in the T20 international cricket series

2025-03-18 13:58 Last Updated At：14:11

DUNEDIN, New Zealand (AP) — Tim Seifert blasted 45 from 22 balls and Finn Allen hit 38 from 16 as New Zealand cruised to a five-wicket win over Pakistan Tuesday in a rain-shortened second Twenty20 cricket international.

Captain Salman Ali Agha made 46 as Pakistan reached 135-9 in a match reduced to 15 overs per innings after a delay for a wet outfield.

Shaheen Shan Afridi then bowled a maiden to start New Zealand’s innings. But Seifert and Allen hit seven of the next 12 balls for sixes as New Zealand launched an assault which helped them clinch the match and a 2-0 series lead with 11 balls remaining.

Seifert and Allen hit five sixes apiece as New Zealand sped towards its target. After the scoreless opening over Allen cleared the boundary on the first, third and sixth balls of the second over, then Seifert struck sixes from the first two and the last two deliveries of the next over as New Zealand raced to 44-0.

New Zealand began its innings needing 136 runs from 90 balls. By the end of the five-over power play that target had been reduced to 70 runs from 60 balls. New Zealand was 87-2 when Allen followed Seifert to the pavilion in the seventh over.

“There’s not too much conversation out there to be fair,” Seifert said. “It’s just about backing our skills and putting pressure on the bowlers when we can.”

Mitchell Hay made an unbeaten 21 to steer New Zealand home and Bracewell hit a four off Jahandad Khan for the winning runs.

New Zealand won the toss and was eager to bowl first on a pitch at the University Oval which had been covered and looked fresh with patches of grass.

Jacob Duffy, who took 4-14 in the series-opener which New Zealand won by nine wickets on Sunday, removed Hasan Nawaz with the fourth ball of the match.

The New Zealand bowlers were too full at first and Pakistan reached 19-1 before Ben Sears came on in the fourth over and dismissed Mohammad Haris with his first delivery.

Sears, who missed the Champions Trophy with injury, used bounce effectively and Haris sliced his first delivery to Duffy at third man.

Pakistan was 36-2 after the five-over power play.

Salman took 12 runs including a 75-meter (yard) six from the sixth over bowled by Jimmy Neesham, lifting Pakistan to 48-2.

But spinner Ish Sodhi dismissed Irfan Khan (11) and Khushdil Shar (2) with the fourth and sixth balls of the seventh over as Pakistan slipped to 52-4.

Salman stepped up the pace, taking 10 from the eighth over bowled by Sears and 13 from the ninth bowled by Sodhi which lifted Pakistan to 76-4. But he fell in the next over, caught by Mark Chapman at deep mid-wicket off Sears.

Shadab (26) took up the attack, hitting Sears for six in the 10th over while 14 came from the 11th over bowled by Bracewell. He hit a six and a four from Duffy in the 12th before holing out to cow corner.

Shaheen Shah Afridi made 22 from 14 balls as Pakistan added 25 runs from the last three overs.

“It was a better game than last game,” Agha said. “We batted better but we still need to be better finishers.”

AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket

Israeli strikes across Gaza kill at least 235 and threaten to fully reignite war with Hamas

2025-03-18 13:59 Last Updated At：14:00

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel launched airstrikes across the Gaza Strip early Tuesday, killing at least 235 Palestinians, including women and children, according to hospital officials. The surprise bombardment threatened to wreck the ceasefire in place since January and fully reignite the 17-month-old war.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he ordered the strikes because of a lack of progress in talks to extend the ceasefire. Officials said the operation was open-ended and was expected to expand. The White House said it had been consulted and voiced support for Israel's actions.

“Israel will, from now on, act against Hamas with increasing military strength,” Netanyahu’s office said.

The attack shattered a period of relative calm during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and could resume a war that has already killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and caused widespread destruction across Gaza. It also raised questions about the fate of the roughly two dozen Israeli hostages held by Hamas who are believed to still be alive.

A senior Hamas official said Netanyahu’s decision to return to war amounts to a “death sentence” for the remaining hostages. Izzat al-Risheq accused Netanyahu of launching the strikes to try and save his far-right governing coalition and called on mediators to “reveal facts” on who broke the truce.

The strikes came as Netanayahu comes under mounting domestic pressure, with mass protests planned over his handling of the hostage crisis and his decision to fire the head of Israel's internal security agency. His latest testimony in a long-running corruption trial was canceled after the strikes.

A strike on a home in the southern city of Rafah killed 17 members of one family, including at least 12 women and children, according to the European Hospital, which received the bodies. The dead included five children, their parents, and another father and his three children.

In the southern city of Khan Younis, Associated Press reporters saw explosions and plumes of smoke. Ambulances brought wounded people to Nasser Hospital, where patients lay on the floor, some screaming. A young girl cried as her bloody arm was bandaged.

Many Palestinians said they had expected a return to war when talks over the second phase of the ceasefire did not begin as scheduled in early February. Israel instead embraced an alternative proposal and cut off all shipments of food, fuel and other aid to the territory's 2 million Palestinians to try to pressure Hamas to accept it.

“Nobody wants to fight,” Palestinian resident Nidal Alzaanin told the AP by phone from Gaza City. "Everyone is still suffering from the previous months,” he said.

At least 235 people were killed in the strikes overnight and into Tuesday, according to records from seven hospitals. The toll does not include bodies brought to other, smaller health centers, and rescuers were still searching for dead and wounded people.

The White House sought to blame Hamas for the renewed fighting. National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes said the militant group "could have released hostages to extend the ceasefire but instead chose refusal and war.”

An Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the unfolding operation, said Israel was striking Hamas' military, leaders and infrastructure and planned to expand the operation beyond air attacks. The official accused Hamas of attempting to rebuild and plan new attacks. Hamas militants and security forces quickly returned to the streets in recent weeks after the ceasefire went into effect.

Israel's defense minister, Israel Katz, said the “gates of hell will open in Gaza” if the hostages aren't released. “We will not stop fighting until all of our hostages are home and we have achieved all of the war goals,” he said.

The strikes came two months after a ceasefire was reached to pause the war. Over six weeks, Hamas released 25 Israeli hostages and the bodies of eight more in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners in a first phase of the ceasefire.

But since that ceasefire ended two weeks ago, the sides have not been able to agree on a way forward with a second phase aimed at releasing the 59 remaining hostages, 35 of whom are believed to be dead, and ending the war altogether.

Hamas has demanded an end to the war and full withdrawal of Israeli troops in exchange for the release of the remaining hostages. Israel says it will not end the war until it destroys Hamas' governing and military capabilities and frees all hostages — two goals that could be incompatible.

Netanyahu's office on Tuesday said Hamas had “repeatedly refused to release our hostages and rejected all offers it received from the U.S. presidential envoy, Steve Witkoff, and from the mediators.”

Taher Nunu, a Hamas official, criticized the Israeli attacks. “The international community faces a moral test: either it allows the return of the crimes committed by the occupation army or it enforces a commitment to ending the aggression and war against innocent people in Gaza,” he said.

The war erupted when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages. Most have been released in ceasefires or other deals, with israeli forces rescuing only eight and recovering dozens of bodies.

Israel responded with a military offensive that killed over 48,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, and displaced an estimated 90% of Gaza's population. The territory's Health Ministry doesn't differentiate between civilians and militants, but says over half of the dead have been women and children.

The ceasefire had brought some relief to Gaza and allowed hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians to resume to what remained of their homes.

The return to fighting could also worsen deep internal fissures inside Israel over the fate of the remaining hostages.

The released hostages, some of whom were emaciated, have repeatedly implored the government to press ahead with the ceasefire to return all remaining captives. Tens of thousands of Israelis have taken part in mass demonstrations calling for a ceasefire and return of all hostages.

“We hoped to see hostages beginning to leave," said Ronen Neutra, the father of Omer Neutra, a slain soldier whose remains are held in Gaza. "The return to war serves the government and Hamas, and the victims will be hostages who are alive and face a threat to their lives,” he told Israeli Army Radio.

Mass demonstrations are planned later Tuesday and Wednesday following Netanyahu's announcement this week that he wants to fire the head of Israel's Shin Bet internal security agency. Critics have lambasted the move as an attempt by Netanyahu to divert blame for his government's failures in the Oct. 7 attack and handling of the war.

Since the ceasefire in Gaza began in mid-January, Israeli forces have killed dozens of Palestinians who the military says approached its troops or entered unauthorized areas.

Still, the deal has tenuously held without an outbreak of wide violence. Egypt, Qatar and the United States have been trying to mediate the next steps in the ceasefire.

Israel wants Hamas to release half of the remaining hostages in return for a promise to negotiate a lasting truce. Hamas instead wants to follow the ceasefire deal reached by the two sides, which calls for negotiations to begin on the ceasefire’s more difficult second phase, in which the remaining hostages would be released and Israeli forces would withdraw from Gaza.

Federman reported from Jerusalem. Associated Press writers Fatma Khaled and Samy Magdy in Cairo contributed.

Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war