Death toll rises to five in central Italy fuel depot explosion
The death toll from a massive explosion at a fuel depot in central Italy rose to five after the body of the last missing worker was found, Italian authorities confirmed.
Former Australia batter Joe Burns has been announced as the new T20I captain of Italy. Burns takes the captaincy reins from Gareth Berg ahead of next year’s ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Europe Regional Final, where Italy will attempt to become one of two sides to qualify for the 2026 tournament in India and Sri Lanka.
Having previously played 23 Test and six ODIs for Australia, Burns qualifies to play for his adopted country through his mother’s side and has already made his debut with Italy during the recent Sub-regional Qualifier A event in June this year.
Burns scored 211 runs from five innings at the tournament to help Italy advance to the regional final, where the European side will attempt to earn a place at the 20-over showcase for the first time.
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Italy will take on Guernsey, Jersey, Netherlands and Scotland during the 2025 regional final, with two teams advancing to the tournament proper in 2026.
Duminy steps down as South Africa batting coach
Following a mutual agreement with Cricket South Africa (CSA), JP Duminy has resigned from his position as the Proteas men’s white-ball batting coach for personal reasons.
The 40-year-old had been associated with South Africa’s ODI and T20I teams since last year.
CSA confirmed the resignation in a statement on Friday and confirmed that a lookout for Duminy’s replacement is currently underway.
Duminy had been part of the Proteas dressing room during their 2023 Men’s Cricket World Cup and 2024 T20 World Cup campaigns that ended with a semifinal and final finish respectively.
Having featured in over 326 games for South Africa across formats between 2004 and 2019, Duminy amassed over 8000 runs. Following his retirement, Duminy had also been the head coach of the SA20 side Paarl Royals and South Africa’s domestic cricket side, Boland.
South Africa are currently in the middle of a two-Test series at home against Sri Lanka, which will be followed by an all-format series against Pakistan that includes three T20Is, as many ODIs, and two Tests.
The Proteas sit second in the ICC World Test Championship points table, and are among the favourites to make the cut for next year’s WTC Final at Lord’s.
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