The tragic mosque shootings in Christchurch, New Zealand. What can be said? Our sympathy and condolences to all family and friends of the victims. That terrible event has led to the cancellation of the Bangladesh- New Zealand Test Match in Cricket, which was set to begin this weekend. Some of the Bangladeshi squad, already in Christchurch, were just a few blocks away from the site of the massacre, approaching one of the mosques in their team bus to attend prayers. "We were very close, we could see the mosque. We were maximum 50 yards away. I would say we are very lucky," Bangladesh team member Khaled Mashud told reporters in Christchurch. Opening batsman Tamim Iqbal called the near-miss "frightening", while team-mate Mushfiqur Rahim tweeted: "We r extremely lucky...never want to see this things happen again....pray for us." The Bangladesh squad was facing their third and last test in their current tour of New Zealand. Instead, having cancelled their match, they are currently journeying home. Meanwhile, the entire sporting world has been affected. Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, a former star cricketer, tweeted: "This reaffirms what we have always maintained: that terrorism does not have a religion." But Cricket continues: India squandered a 2-0 lead after the first two games of their five-match ODI series to lose 2-3 against Australia at home. The decisive match, at Dehli on Wednesday, was considered a historic upset, as the (perhaps former) world leaders dropped three matches in a row to the visitors. The loss has put the team under intense scrutiny with about a couple of months to go for the 2019 World Cup in England, which begins at the end of May. India captain Virat Kohli is of the opinion that India remain a strong side despite their recent performance and will be among the title contenders in England. In throwing others a bone, he said that each country present will present a "potent" challenge. The Australian T20 squad also bested India in their two games in their series. Today is the fifth and last day of play, this year, of Six Nations Rugby competition. England have delivered a seismic shock by dropping Joe Cokanasiga for Saturday's Six Nations clash with Scotland. Cokanasiga was named man of the match after Italy were swept aside in the penultimate round of the Championship and was compared to Jonah Lomu by Clive Woodward, but the Fijian-born wing is not even on the bench for the Calcutta Cup showdown. Taking his place in the No 14 jersey is Jack Nowell, who has recovered from a shoulder stinger injury, with Ben Te'o picked as replacement three-quarter cover. Eddie Jones has reverted to his first choice midfield for the 2019 Six Nations with Manu Tuilagi and Henry Slade paired in the centres outside Owen Farrell. In total there are four changes in personnel to the XV that battered Italy 57-14 at Twickenham with Ben Moon restored at loosehead prop and Mark Wilson displacing Brad Shields at blindside flanker. Ben Youngs will be making his 85th England appearance to surpass the national record for a scrum-half held by Danny Care. England will win the Six Nations title if they regain the Calcutta Cup and Wales fail in their Grand Slam bid against Ireland in Cardiff. "It's the last week of the tournament so it's exciting. It will be a fascinating finish with three teams that can win it and we are playing against one of our most traditional foes in Scotland," Jones said. He continued: "Scotland are a difficult side - they are always at you, they play with a lot of enthusiasm and effort and have got a lot of attacking strings to their bow." It should be noted that Scotland has only beaten Italy, perpetual whipping boys, so far in the tournament, and has not won at Twickenham since the 1980s. Wales currently sits alone atop the standings, having won all of their games so far, followed closely by England and Ireland. Scotland and France are tied in the middle, with Italy at the bottom, as they have won none of their matches so far. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "omnisport" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/omnisport. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
