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Day: June 29, 2024

India vs South Africa: ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 final Barbados

India vs South Africa: ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 final Barbados

Bridgetown, Barbados – And then there were two. India and South Africa have made it to the T20 World Cup Final, each side undefeated through the group stage, the Super Eights and the semifinals. Both teams arrived in Barbados on Thursday night ahead of Saturday’s final, such is the hectic – even shambolic – nature of the congested fixtures. South Africa waited all day at the airport for a delayed charter flight from Trinidad. India flew after their semifinal win over England in Guyana, eventually landing around midnight. But both teams have been on far longer journeys, and faced greater obstacles than logistics, to reach this point at Kensington Oval. India have met and overpowered two nemeses. They banished the sour memories of last year’s defeat by Australia in the World Cup Final at Ahmedabad. They blew away England, the defending champions who blasted them out of the 2022 T20 World Cup in the semifinal in Adelaide, with a semifinal reversal in Georgetown. Nine players from the 2023 one-day squad are in Barbados – and yet, this looks like a wholly different India team. They have no discernible weakness and, while their victories have not all been easy, they have never looked like losing. India’s wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant, right, celebrates after stumping out England’s Moeen Ali, left, during their comprehensive victory in the second T20 World Cup semifinal [File: Ramon Espinosa/AP Photo] In the US and the Caribbean, there has not been the same wall-to-wall television and print coverage of their every movement. The crowds and the travelling press pack have often been sparse compared with those that followed them last year in India. It has perhaps unburdened them to play away from the stifling pressure of expectation in a home World Cup. A day before the final, there was no sign of them at Kensington Oval. No news conference, no training, no inspection of the pitch, no external forces bearing down on them. Rohit embodies India’s T20 World Cup endeavour Their captain has embodied their newfound mindset. Sharma’s batting has been brave and aggressive, never more so than in India’s last two matches against Australia and England. His 92 off 41 in Saint Lucia was an extraordinary display of fearlessness and power, and his half-century in the semifinal set the tone for India’s domination. Ahead of the England match, he spoke of the change in approach India has attempted but only really mastered in this tournament. “We’ve tried to play with very free minds in the last two or three years that we’ve played our T20 cricket and even the ODI cricket,” Sharma said in Guyana. “So not a lot has changed as such. We saw throughout this tournament, the conditions had its own challenges. And we want to do that, we want to be a smart cricket team, we want to assess and play. The moment we realise it’s a good pitch, we want to play the way we play. “I have tried and kept things very simple for myself personally and also for the team because … these guys have played a lot of cricket, a lot of high-pressure games. You’ve got to try to give them the role clarity, which I think we have done pretty well. And then obviously, we want to rely on them making good decisions on the field. “You have to have an open mind when you want to do things, but as much as the team is concerned and I’m concerned, our priority was to keep things very simple and give them the freedom that you all want playing this format.” South Africa’s David Miller with former player Dale Steyn [File: Ash Allen/Reuters] While South Africa do not carry the same burden of more than a billion people’s expectations, the current players have broken free of the millstone that weighed down even the greats of the past in becoming the first men’s team to win a semifinal. Of the 2023 World Cup squad, 11 have returned for this tournament, carrying painful memories of a three-wicket defeat by Australia in the semifinal. But unlike India, their albatross is intergenerational; they have gone where the likes of AB de Villiers, Dale Steyn, Jacques Kallis, and Allen Donald all failed to go. Their path to the final has been more fraught, mostly marked by tight finishes and near misses, the sort of scenarios that have seen off better sides. But, according to their captain, the difference is that this team has won the key moments and maintained calm under pressure. “There’s been close moments in games that would have probably affected the result and we managed to win those moments,” Aiden Markram said in his pre-match news conference. “To have done them two, three, maybe four times throughout the competition so far has given the team the belief that you can win from any position, which I think is quite important for a team to have. “We’ve been together now for quite a few years as a white-ball squad and guys finally really understand their roles within the team. I think that’s starting to help us win those small margins and those knife-edge moments. “There’s a really strong will to win. I don’t think it’s on the level of desperation, but it’s an extreme hunger to win games of cricket, and we haven’t achieved ideally on the world stage what we would have liked to and I think that gets the juices going a bit for the boys to finally achieve it. “You’ve seen it in the close results, probably have not played some of our best cricket in certain games, but that will to win sort of drives you to, by hook or by crook, get the job done. That’s probably one thing that’s really stood out for me in this group.” South Africa receive ‘a lot of support’ ahead of India showdown These players have all shared the pain of South Africa’s knockout history, as either a player or a fan. Markram

Nike stock plunges on surprise forecast of drop in sales

Nike stock plunges on surprise forecast of drop in sales

It was the worst day ever for the stock with losses wiping out $28.4bn from Nike’s market valuation. Nike’s stock has plunged as a forecast for a surprise drop in annual sales amplified investor concerns about the pace of the sportswear giant’s efforts to stem market share losses to upstart brands such as On and Hoka. It was the worst day ever for the stock, which slumped 20 percent on Friday, with the losses wiping out $28.41bn from the company’s market valuation. On Thursday, the company had projected a mid-single-digit percentage fall in fiscal 2025 revenue, compared with analysts’ estimates of a near 1 percent rise. “Nike is at a point where they want to put out the most conservative guidance they can, such that they’re setting the bar low for themselves and hopefully it’s a bar they can beat,” said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B Riley Wealth. Its forecast dragged shares of rivals and sportswear retailers across Europe, the United Kingdom and the United States on Friday. British sportswear retailer JD Sports lost 5.4 percent at Friday’s close, while Germany’s Puma fell 1 percent. Adidas’s shares were up marginally. “Nike’s been under pressure for a couple of years now. I certainly think they have an opportunity now that the valuation’s been reset extremely low to start getting some sponsorship, but it’s just not going to happen today or this week,” Hogan added. The company’s US market share in the sports footwear category fell to 34.97 percent in 2023 from 35.37 percent in 2022, and 35.4 percent in 2021, according to GlobalData. Meanwhile, other sporting goods brands such as Hoka, Asics, New Balance and On accounted for 35 percent of the global market share in 2023 compared with the 20 percent held over the 2013-2020 period, according to a June RBC research report. To curb a worsening sales decline, Nike has cut back on oversupplied brands including Air Force 1, as part of a $2bn cost-cutting plan launched late last year. The sportswear giant is also tweaking its product lineup to roll out new $100-and-under sneakers in countries around the world to appeal to price-conscious consumers. It will also roll out this year an Air Max version and Pegasus 41 with a full-length foam midsole made from ReactX to boost sustainability. “This is still Nike, and we expect their size and scale to prove a long-term competitive advantage, but the burden of proof [is] on management execution at this point,” said BMO Capital Markets analyst Simeon Siegel. Management shakeout? The underperformance over the past year has led to some Wall Street analysts raising the possibility of a management shake-up ahead of the company’s investor day this fall. “In retail, if you have two bad quarters, you’re usually out the door,” said Jessica Ramirez, senior analyst at Jane Hali & Associates. “I think it [a leadership change] is very much needed.” CEO John Donahoe is in his fourth year of a five-year commitment as Nike’s top boss. The former eBay CEO, who succeeded Mark Parker, was hired to focus on strengthening the company’s digital channel sales. “I have seen Nike’s plans for the future, and wholeheartedly believe in them. I am optimistic in Nike’s future, and John Donahoe has my unwavering confidence and full support,” Phil Knight, co-founder and chairman emeritus, said in a statement. At least six brokerages downgraded the stock, and 15 cut their price targets. Adblock test (Why?)

Texas Supreme Court upholds state ban on gender transition treatment for minors

Texas Supreme Court upholds state ban on gender transition treatment for minors

The Texas Supreme Court on Friday upheld the state’s ban on gender transition treatment for children, allowing the Lone Star State to remain one of at least 25 states, and the largest, with restrictions on such treatment. The law, which has been in effect since Sept. 1, 2023, prohibits children under the age of 18 from accessing hormone therapy, puberty blockers and gender transition surgery. Children who were already on those medications were required to taper off their use of the drugs. The law includes exemptions for children in early puberty or who have “a medically verifiable genetic disorder of sex development.” The lawsuit that challenged the law argued it harms transgender teenagers who are barred from receiving gender transition treatment recommended by their physicians and parents, according to The Associated Press. The court, comprised of all Republicans, handed down its ruling in an 8-1 decision. JUDGE RULES MONTANA LAW DEFINING SEX AS ONLY MALE OR FEMALE IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL “We conclude the Legislature made a permissible, rational policy choice to limit the types of available medical procedures for children, particularly in light of the relative nascency of both gender dysphoria and its various modes of treatment and the Legislature’s express constitutional authority to regulate the practice of medicine,” Justice Rebeca Aizpuru Huddle wrote. The lone dissenting judge said the court was giving the state’s government the ability to “legislate away fundamental parental rights.” “The State’s categorical statutory prohibition prevents these parents, and many others, from developing individualized treatment plans for their children in consultation with their physicians, even the children for whom treatment could be lifesaving,” Justice Debra Lehrmann wrote. “The law is not only cruel — it is unconstitutional.” A lower court had ruled the law unconstitutional, but it was permitted to take effect during the state Supreme Court’s consideration of the case. Texas Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton tweeted after the ruling that his office “will use every tool at our disposal to ensure that doctors and medical institutions follow the law.” The groups who filed the lawsuit criticized the ruling as harmful to transgender children and their families. “It is impossible to overstate the devastating impact of this ruling on Texas transgender youth and the families that love and support them,” Karen Loewy, senior counsel and director of Constitutional Law Practice at Lambda Legal, which was one of the groups that sued the state on behalf of doctors and families, told The Associated Press. ACLU of Texas’ policy and advocacy strategist for LGBTQIA+ rights, Ash Hall, said the government should not “deprive trans youth of the health care that they need to survive and thrive,” adding that “Texas politicians’ obsession with attacking trans kids and their families is needlessly cruel.” Gender transition treatment for transgender children is supported by major medical organizations, including the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Psychiatric Association and the Endocrine Society. BRAGG’S OFFICE FACES BAR COMPLAINT ALLEGING DISCRIMINATION IN ‘DIVERSITY’ HIRING PRACTICES One justice dismissed the medical groups’ position as irrelevant to whether the Texas law is constitutional. “The fact that expert witnesses or influential interest groups like the American Psychiatric Association disagree with the Legislature’s judgment is entirely irrelevant to the constitutional question,” Justice James Blacklock wrote in a concurring opinion. “The Texas Constitution authorizes the Legislature to regulate ‘practitioners of medicine.’” In a lower court hearing, several doctors who treat transgender children testified that patients could face deteriorating mental health that could potentially lead to suicide if they are denied gender transition treatment. Texas officials said the law was needed to protect children and pointed to several other restrictions for minors intended to keep them safe, including when it comes to tattoos, alcohol, tobacco and certain over-the-counter drugs. The Associated Press contributed to this report.