Monthly Archives: June 2022

France's Rayan Rupert -- one of the most promising young wing players in the world -- is signing a deal to join the New Zealand Breakers of the Australian national basketball league next season, sources told ESPN.

Rupert, who is 6-foot-7 with a 7-3 wingspan, is projected to be the 21st pick in ESPN's 2023 NBA Mock Draft. Another French forward, Ousmane Dieng, a projected first-round pick in the 2022 NBA draft, made the leap to the Breakers last season.

Rupert, who just turned 18, has drawn comparisons to Phoenix Suns forward Mikal Bridges because of the defensive versatility that comes with his wingspan, his ability to get into the passing lanes and the intensity with which he plays on defense.

Rupert has an intriguing family history in basketball. His sister, Iliana, was the 12th overall pick by the Las Vegas Aces in the 2021 WNBA draft. His father, Thierry, was a EuroLeague player and captain of the French national team. He died in 2013 after a heart-related emergency.

Rupert graduated from the INSEP Academy in France, which also trained Tony Parker, Boris Diaw and Ronny Turiaf. He averaged 13.7 points, 3.4 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 2.1 steals in 27 games this season.

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Sources - French prospect Rayan Rupert to play in New Zealand - ESPN

The psychology of the toss in Test cricket is a curious thing. On a delightful opening day at Trent Bridge New Zealand positively cantered to 318 for four by stumps but, while the run-rate was too high for Englands liking, the hosts could have kidded themselves this was only slightly above par had they been asked to field.

Instead Ben Stokes was the captain given the choice when the coin landed first thing, meaning that for all of his sides upbeat perspiration and those four breakthroughs, their returns can only be viewed less favourably.

Their catching also resumed normal service after last weeks uptick, four chances going down and Joe Roots drop off Daryl Mitchell, three runs into an unbeaten 81, the most costly. As tends to be the case when these sides meet on a cricket field, the entertainment levels were high and sliding doors moments plentiful.

The Nottingham crowd was treated to bright sunshine and some wonderfully crisp strokeplay from the tourists, not least during the unbroken fifth-wicket stand of 149 between Mitchell and Tom Blundell that rekindled their bromance from Lords and saw the latter cruise his way to 67 not out. And Stokes was not without his reasons. There was a tinge of green on the pitch and the New Zealand top order that failed twice in last weeks five-wicket defeat had lost Kane Williamson to a positive Covid-19 test overnight.

Tom Latham, deputising for the sixth time in seven Tests, said he, too, would have bowled first and had an all-seam attack that suggested no attempt at kidology. Until a ball is bowled, fingers are always crossed to some degree.

The surface, however, was also dry, hard and, despite some decent carry, on the slow side. New Zealand are such a phlegmatic bunch, too, that the loss of Williamson a player grappling for form as it was had little effect. The tourists took a wonderfully positive approach to their insertion and over the course of the three sessions sent 43 fours racing across a fast outfield, as well as clearing the rope twice.

A slow afternoon at Trent Bridge was livened up by a startling 56th-over moment for one fan trying to enjoy a quiet drink in the Trent Bridge sunshine. New Zealand batterDaryl Mitchellsmashed a six into the stands and directly into a woman's pint, with the splash showering nearby fans. The umpire dried the ball with a tea towel as Jack Leach and Ben Stokes (pictured) looked closely for a reason to switch it, while New Zealands players paid for a refill.

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With 26 from Latham the lowest score among New Zealands top six, needless to say this was not the day that Stokes had in mind. Englands captain was the bowler to make things happen along the way, claiming figures of two for 40, while Jimmy Anderson picked up a couple himself and was, predictably, the most parsimonious on show.

Stuart Broad tried to orchestrate some energy from his home supporters and, though expensive, was unfortunate not to claim a wicket during a devilish five-over burst after lunch when Zak Crawley put down Henry Nicholls on 17. Matt Potts was used curiously at times he is not an enforcer, we learned while Jack Leach, back from concussion, enjoyed some early turn but saw a tough chance off Blundell put down by Root.

There were no early signs that a cascade of wickets would be possible and by the 20th over Stokes had played all five cards in his hand. Roots trousers already featured a heavy smear of crimson from his attempts to get some swing but it was not forthcoming, Latham and Will Young instead setting the tone with a sprightly 84-run opening stand.

Young was the chief instigator, creaming nine fours and two in succession off Stokes to get within one blow of his first half-century in six innings. Instead the aggression instantly made way for a tentative defensive shot and Crawley clung on at second slip. With Anderson then returning to the Pavilion end and getting Latham caught at midwicket via a long-hop the very next ball, England finally had cause for celebration.

One of the more amusing subplots of the morning had been Englands attempts to get the ball changed. Weirdly, this died down after New Zealand resumed on 108 for two in the afternoon and suddenly the original started to move. After a ding-dong battle between Broad and Nicholls it was Stokes who profited from the balls new lease of life, New Zealands No 4 edging a beautiful outswinger behind on 30 and trudging off.

At the other end Devon Conway was playing a princely little innings, the newly promoted No 3 unfurling a succession of crisp cover drives. But four runs away from his half-century he played for swing from Anderson, only for the ball to hold its line and flick the inside edge. Ben Foakes, on a personally excellent day, made no mistake.

The scoreboard read 169 for four but should have been 170 for five moments later. Mitchell, new to the crease, was put down by Root at second slip on three to deny Stokes his third. It was a simple low pouch and one that would be heavily punished, Mitchell rolling over his form from that memorable century at Lords.

Reaching 195 for four at tea, Mitchell and Blundell then plundered 123 runs in a final session that saw three overs disappear into the ether at the close. The former also killed off any swing when he launched Leach for a mighty six down the ground and the ball gloriously plopped into the pint glass of an unsuspecting punter.

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Leach did force a couple of unsuccessful reviews as England waited patiently for the second new ball. But when it came a fourth opportunity went to ground, Broad teasing an edge from Blundell on 63 only to see it fly at catchable height between Crawley at second slip and Jonny Bairstow at third.

According to Andy Zaltzman on Test Match Special, this was the 30th time since 1993 that England had inserted a team at home but only the second that their visitors had passed the 300-mark just four wickets down. New Zealand, 1-0 down in the series and without Williamson here, had unquestionably won the day.

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New Zealand take charge of second Test with England left to rue missed chances - The Guardian

And now for 900 words on the role played by all different types of soil in the development of New Zealands first-class cricket system. Really. This column probably needs a gratuitous reference to Britney Spears here just by way of apology to the people whose job it is to worry about the Guardians search engine optimisation ratings.

Well as New Zealand played, it was a good day for this kind of thing at Trent Bridge, where it felt, at times, like Englands attack was being taken apart by a firm of accomplished provincial solicitors, Blundell & Young, perhaps, or Mitchell, Conway & Co. Between them, they reeled off four scores of 45 or more while rattling along at the best part of four runs an over.

This is the first away Test New Zealand have played in the past decade without one or the other of Ross Taylor and Kane Williamson in the team. Taylor, their all-time leading run-scorer, retired in January, and Williamson, who only needs another 400 runs to overtake him at the top of that particular list, pulled out on Thursday evening after he tested positive for Covid. And they managed just fine without them. Think about how England have batted in these past 18 months. Now ask yourself how many runs youd back them to make if you took Joe Root out of their line-up and the rest lost the toss against this attack on a green-top.

Englands opening bowlers are old enough to remember a time when it really wasnt like this. The last time one of these two teams won the toss and put the other in at Trent Bridge was when New Zealand did it in 2008. England made 364 and still ended up winning by an innings. Jimmy Anderson took seven wickets, Ryan Sidebottom took six, and New Zealand just about managed to bat for 100 overs in the match. Williamson hadnt made his debut yet, Brendon McCullum was batting at No 3, Taylor was at No 4, and the rest of the batting order was made up of, well, take a minute here and see how many of them you can remember.

There was Daniel Flynn, who played 24 Tests, Jamie How, who played 19, Aaron Redmond, eight, and Gareth Hopkins, four. How many did you get? They were all fair first-class batters, each with an average in the mid-30s, but they didnt make a single century between them in Test cricket, where their averages fell to the mid-20s or under. If you remember any of them from that tour, its probably Flynn, a bright young thing who lost two of his teeth when Anderson hit him with a bouncer at Old Trafford. Im not sure that this batting line-up is so very much more talented than that one. Theyre certainly a lot better prepared for Test cricket.

It was around this same time that New Zealand Cricket decided they needed to stop using their low, slow, up-and-down domestic pitches and start playing on flatter, harder surfaces that would be more similar to the ones their batsmen would have to play on in Tests. NZC had just brought in what they called a warrant of fitness for first-class pitches, and ordered groundstaff across the country to start preparing pitches that were better for batting, but still had enough bounce in them to reward bowlers who were willing to put the effort in in the first innings. So a lot of grounds relaid a lot of their squares with Patumahoe clay, which has more pace and bounce than the Waikari clay they had been using.

The upshot was that the number of 500+ totals in their first-class cricket rose from one in every five innings to one in three, while the overall domestic batting average rose from 28 in the 2000s, to 32 in the 2010s. Which means New Zealands is the only first-class competition in the world with an average in the 30s, and the only one that comes to the equivalent figure in Test cricket, too.

A decade later, the knock-on effect is that the typical New Zealand batter is better at playing off the back foot, and has learned to build longer innings. It also means theyve stopped turning out so many dibbly-dobbly bowlers and have, instead, such a battery of fast, highly skilled quicks that has allowed them to pick four fine fast men here and leave a fifth, Neil Wagner, out of the side.

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If all this sounds a little familiar, it is because weve been having the very same debate in England, but a decade later. It was only last year that Root said that England needed to start playing the county championship on pitches that were better for batting, so that the batters come into this environment of Test cricket and have that knowledge of what its like to go out in the second innings and know the opposition have 450 on the board, the fast bowlers have a range of skills that can exploit flat wickets and the spinners get to do more bowling.

New Zealand have been using that sort of formula for a decade now and are reaping the rewards of it. The satisfaction of watching them make his point for him will have been precious little consolation to Root, you guess, while he stood at slip watching Tom Blundell and Daryl Mitchell put on another 100-run stand for the fifth wicket.

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New Zealand batters thrive without Williamson and teach England lesson - The Guardian

The logo for Air New Zealand is displayed at their office located at Sydney International Airport, Australia, June 20, 2017. REUTERS/David Gray

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June 10 (Reuters) - Air New Zealand Ltd (AIR.NZ) on Friday improved its forecast for fiscal 2022, benefiting from a pick-up in demand following the opening up of domestic and international borders.

New Zealand recently said it would fully reopen its international borders from end-July, and the country welcomed travelers from trans-Tasman neighbor Australia for the first time since mid-2021 in April. read more

The airline now expects an annual loss before tax and significant items to be less than NZ$750 million ($478.73 million), compared to a prior forecast of less than NZ$800 million.

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In May, the carrier said its annual loss could come in better than expected, owing to an improvement in passenger bookings for short haul and international services.

Domestic demand has improved in recent weeks with business-related demand returning to about 90% of pre-COVID levels, the airline said.

Air New Zealand, however, added it remains mindful of uncertain macroeconomic conditions, including COVID-19 led travel restrictions in some parts of the world and high jet fuel prices.

(This story has been refiled to correct to trans-Tasman, from trans-Tasmanian, in paragraph 2)

($1 = 1.5667 New Zealand dollars)

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Reporting by Harish Sridharan in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Air New Zealand raises annual earnings forecast on improved demand - Reuters

New Zealand saw their hopes of levelling the ongoing series against England suffer a significant setback after Kane Williamson, captain and leading batsman, was ruled out of todays second Test after contracting Covid-19.

Williamson was present at training on Thursday and in an upbeat pre-match press conference extolled the virtues of Test cricket in response to a recent forecast from Greg Barclay, chair of the International Cricket Council, that the format will shrink in future.

But late in the evening news broke that the 31-year-old has tested positive for the virus. A five-day isolation period follows Williamson could in theory return for the third Test at Headingley and now Tom Latham will lead the tourists in Nottingham as they look to fight back from the five-wicket defeat at Lords.

Asked earlier for his response to Barclays prediction that Test cricket will be cut amid the rise of domestic Twenty20 leagues, Williamson said: We love our Test cricket, as do all nations who have the opportunity to play it. Its the pinnacle of the sport and we want to see more of it. Theres a number of people who have to make decisions but theres certainly a love for it among Test nations.

England: Alex Lees, Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes (capt), Ben Foakes(wkt), Matt Potts, Jack Leach, Stuart Broad, Jimmy Anderson.

New Zealand: Tom Latham (capt)*, Will Young, Hamish Rutherford, Devon Conway, Henry Nicholls, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Blundell (wkt), Kyle Jamieson, Tim Southee, Neil Wagner, Trent Boult.

*Kane Williamson ruled out due to Covid positive

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New Zealand, the world champions, already battle for fixtures and this three-match series against England is a rarity. Their lack of fixtures is demonstrated by the fact that Williamson made his Test debut in 2010, two years prior to Joe Root, and before his positive result was in line for an 88th cap to Roots 119th.

Williamson has 24 Test centuries two fewer than Root but had been battling for form on tour. After a poor IPL campaign of one half-century and a strike-rate below 100, the right-hander suffered a golden duck in their solitary warm-up and was nicked off early in both innings at Lords by the England debutant Matt Potts.

Though New Zealand lost a tight series opener that could have gone either way, those two failures for Williamson were overcome as Daryl Mitchell (108) and Tom Blundell (96) at least fired in their second innings. Englands batting unit remains far more reliant on Roots class even if Ben Stokes and Ben Foakes supported his celestial unbeaten 115 in the run chase and this is another case of hoping the support cast step up.

This did not occur in Nottingham last year, when Roots scores of 64 and 109 against India perhaps his finest Test century made for another lone-hand performance in a rain-affected draw. As Root explained after hitting the winning runs at Lords last Sunday, he was also defying the strains of captaincy.

You can end up taking it home and it can affect your personal situation, which Joe was very brave to say, said Stokes, when asked if those comments served as a reminder of what he himself has signed up for as Roots successor.

Joe, without that added pressure of being captain, it was almost like he was 18 again and Im pretty sure it wont be long before he is snipping peoples socks again, Williamson said. Its great he doesnt have that mountain of added pressure of being captain on his shoulders, he can just go out there and score the runs like he does.

At a training session that began with a penalty shootout and Brendon McCullum, the head coach, as one of the goalkeepers, Stokes once again named his XI a day before the toss. In theory, England are unchanged as they seek a first series win for their new captain, even if Matt Parkinson drops out after acting as a concussion sub for Jack Leach.

It looks a sensible call in terms of Leachs incumbency and the history of Trent Bridge. Seamers are likely to lead the way, with Stuart Broad positively bouncing about his latest homecoming. But while hot takes were inevitable when English cricket briefly resumed its maddening relationship with leg-spin, Parkinson should not take his instant demotion after a surprise Test debut as an implied criticism.

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A hard pitch with a tinge of green awaits at a ground where New Zealand have won once, through the genius of Richard Hadlee in 1986. Williamson was unsure of his team prior to his positive Covid test and though Colin de Grandhommes heel injury had opened up a slot for Henry Nicholls in the middle order after a calf injury, opener Hamish Rutherford has now joined the squad from Leicestershire.

Williamsons uncertainty chiefly surrounded the make-up of his bowling attack. Though the medium pace of Mitchell could in theory pick up the slack in De Grandhommes absence, it may be that Neil Wagner, tenacious purveyor of left-arm seam, replaces the spin of Ajaz Patel.

Complicating this temptation to play an all-seam attack is the expectation of bright sunshine over the course of the five days. Like talk of a reduction in the number of Test matches played in future, it is a forecast that is slightly troubling the tourists.

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New Zealand plans in tatters after Kane Williamson is ruled out with Covid-19 - The Guardian