New Zealand’s “street-smart” cricketers can find a way to beat England and guarantee their semi-final place at the T20 World Cup, coach Rob Walters said on Thursday.

A win for New Zealand in Friday’s Super Eights clash in Colombo will see them top Group 2 and join the already-qualified England in the final four.

A defeat would leave the door ajar for Pakistan to beat eliminated Sri Lanka on Saturday with the second semi-final berth then being decided on net run rate.

Mitchell Santner’s New Zealand were in trouble at 84-6 against Sri Lanka on Wednesday before the captain steered them to 168-7 and a thumping 61-run win which knocked out the co-hosts.

“I think if you look historically at the Black Caps, you would probably say that they’re a team that have been great problem solvers,” Walters told reporters.

“They are street smart; they find a way to understand the conditions quickly.

“It’s certainly something that we pride ourselves on. We can adapt to conditions quickly and find a method.”

England are the only team to secure a place in the semi-finals so far after skipper Harry Brook’s match-winning century against Pakistan.

New Zealand all-rounder Rachin Ravindra is aware of England’s threat.

“You’re always confident going into these fixtures, especially when we know what the surface is going to be like,” said Ravindra, who took four wickets against Sri Lanka.

“But I think it’d be silly to underestimate England at any point,” he said.

“They’re obviously such a quality unit and they’ve shown this in how well they’ve been bowling. They’ve got world-class batters throughout their order.”

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OSLO: In the space of just over a month, three massive football names, Manchester City, Atletico Madrid, and now Inter Milan, have fallen to Bodo/Glimt — a small Norwegian club based inside the Arctic Circle.

Having already beaten Inter at home 3-1, the Scandinavians edged the Italians 2-1 at the iconic San Siro on Tuesday to reach the last 16 of the Champions League.

The victory over the three-time Champions League winners, who are sitting pretty atop Serie A, continued Bodo’s surprise tour de force in the competition.

“This is the greatest club achievement ever by a Norwegian team,” Norway coach Stale Solbakken told public broadcaster NRK.

Inter were expected to pummel their visitors in an attempt to turn the tie around. But Bodo/Glimt survived at the back before finishing off the tie in the second half.

Jens Petter Hauge, who played for AC Milan in 2020/21, gave his team the lead just before the hour mark after a mistake by Manuel Akanji had allowed Ole Blomberg in for an initial shot which was saved.

Hakon Evjen made it 2-0 on the night and 5-1 on aggregate, leaving Inter with too much to do, even if Alessandro Bastoni pulled one back with a shot that just crossed the line.

“We know there’s a lot of competitiveness in the Champions League. If teams get to this stage it means they have something,” Inter coach Cristian Chivu said. “And they have proved that. They showed it against Dortmund, against Madrid, against City, against us twice.

“It’s a team which has energy. We could have done better in Norway, we could have done better today, too, but unfortunately it didn’t go how we wanted. We gave everything to try to advance, that’s football.”

Bodo/Glimt, who had won four Norwegian Eliteserien titles in five years before finishing as runners-up last season to Viking Stavanger, are the first side from the country to go so far in Europe’s elite club competition since Rosenborg reached the quarter-finals in 1997.

“For us it’s been unbelievable. We knew it would be very hard against Inter who are a very strong team and played in the final last season,” said Hauge.

While their league season has been over since November, Bodo/Glimt have won all their European matches since the start of the year.

Bodo is a small coastal city with only 50,000 inhabitants north of the Arctic circle, which many would struggle to find on a map.

Their cramped and outdated Aspmyra Stadium — built in 1966 — can hold just over 8,200 spectators and the team came close to bankruptcy in 2016.

It is made up almost entirely of Norwegians and they have been working wonders since a return to the Eliteserien, Norway’s first division, in 2018.

Since then, they have been crowned national champions in four of the last six campaigns.

“It’s so important for football that Glimt are doing this, that in 2026 it’s still possible for a small club to build itself up from almost nothing,” Mads Skauge, vice-president of the club’s supporters’ group J-Feltet, told AFP.

“At a time when there is so much money in football, it’s truly unique. I can’t find any other example in modern history of a run as close to a fairytale as the one Glimt have had,” Skauge added.

Meanwhile at St James’ Park, Newcastle United followed their 6-1 win away to Qarabag in Azerbaijan in last week’s first leg with a 3-2 victory in the return, as Eddie Howe’s team ensured there will be six English clubs in the next round.

Sandro Tonali and Joelinton both scored inside the opening six minutes, leaving Qarabag facing another heavy defeat.

However, Camilo Duran pulled one back early in the second half. Sven Botman headed in Newcastle’s third, but Elvin Jafarguliyev made it 3-2 as he followed in to score after Marko Jankovic’s penalty was saved.

Newcastle can now look forward to a heavyweight tie in the next round against either Chelsea or Barcelona.

“I think if you look at the score over the two legs it’s been fantastic from the players even though today feels like a bit of a hollow win for us,” said Howe.

Earlier, Atletico had been held to a 3-3 draw by Club Brugge in Belgium last week but they ran out 4-1 winners in Tuesday’s return in the Spanish capital to advance 7-4 on aggregate.

Alexander Sorloth starred with a hat-trick, including the opener midway through the first half which came from a long kick downfield by goalkeeper Jan Oblak. Joel Ordonez headed the away side level before the break, but Johnny Cardoso restored Atletico’s lead just after the interval.

Sorloth scored his second and Atletico’s third on the night on 76 minutes after a brilliant one-two between Ademola Lookman and Antoine Griezmann.

Sorloth then completed his hat-trick to round out the scoring with his 15th of the season in all competitions.

Diego Simeone’s team will play either Tottenham Hotspur or Liverpool in the next round.

“I’m not thinking about Liverpool or Tottenham, I’m enjoying today’s game and being in the last 16 for another season is very important,” Simeone told broadcaster Movistar.

Meanwhile, Bayer Leverkusen followed a 2-0 win away to Olympiacos in Greece last week with a 0-0 draw at home in the return.

Published in Dawn, February 26th, 2026

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LAHORE: Former legendary player Samiullah Khan was appointed as the chief selector of the national team in a major decision taken by the ad-hoc regime of the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) on Wednesday.

Samiullah, known as Flying Horse for his extraordinary speed on the field, was made the head of team selection on the recommendation of the recently-formed PHF Professional Development Committee comprising Hasan Sardar and Islahuddin Siddiqui, the PHF said in a press release.

“This appointment is part of PHF’s broader strategy to revitalise hockey in Pakistan, focusing on grassroots development, high-performance training, and international competitiveness,” read the release.

“The PHF has outlined a comprehensive Hockey Roadmap, which includes establishing a new team structure with a selection committee, head coach, and support staff, creating a calendar of events for domestic and international competitions, technical education for coaches, umpires, and officials; talent hunt drives to identify and develop young players.”

The release added, “The PHF is also working to promote hockey at schools and colleges, revive inter-school and inter-collegiate competitions, and establish a high-performance centre to support the growth of the sport.”

Mohyuddin Ahmad Wani, who was made the ad-hoc PHF chief after the federation president Tariq Hussain Bugti resigned recently, hoped Samiullah’s appointment would benefit Pakistan hockey significantly.

“We are committed to taking Pakistan hockey to new heights,” Mohyuddin said. “With Sam­iullah at the helm as chief selector, we are confident that our [national] team will regain its glory.

“The PHF looks forward to working with stakeholders, including sponsors and the hockey fraternity, to implement its roadmap and restore Pakistan’s status as a hockey powerhouse,” he added.

Samiullah’s appointment comes after Pakistan hockey experienced a huge chaos – that resulted in the resignation of Bugti – earlier this month in the backdrop of the off-the-field problems the national team allegedly faced on their recently-concluded tour of Australia. The Green-shirts participated in the FIH Pro League second leg on the tour. The team management, led by head coach Tahir Zaman, was also replaced as a result of this disaster.

Meanwhile, the newly-app­ointed chief selector set two-pronged targets for the national team — first reaching the top ten FIH ranking and then grooming the U-19 team that could represent Pakistan in the next two years.

Talking exclusively to Dawn, Samiullah, a two-time World Cup winner, said that he had accepted the post of chief selector with an open heart.

“I accepted the offer considering the new PHF management is sincere for uplifting national hockey and it can resolve all financial problems of the players,” Samiullah said.

When asked to share his vision about raising the standard of the Pakistan team, Samiullah sounded precise.

“Our first target is to bring Pakistan among the world’s top ten countries in the first phase and then in the top eight. [At least] four years are required to achieve this aim,” he said.

The FIH Pro League was the way to get the above mentioned target, he maintained.

“The team’s participation in the Pro Hockey League is a pathway to achieve this target, though it is expensive but it is the only way forward,” Samiullah stated.

“The Pro League is the platform from which Pakistan will face higher-ranked opponents, and this can help to improve the skill set of our players.”

In the second phase, the 74-year-old underlined, work to develop the national junior team will be done at a rapid pace.

“In the second phase, the PHF has to work with high speed in order to form the national junior team to produce talented players who can replace the members of the current senior team within two years,” Samiullah said.

To a question, Samiullah said that he would include the best members in his selection committee from across the major cities.

Speaking on the financial problems faced by the national team players, he said that the issue would be resolved and hoped the government in this regard would assist the PHF.

“In the past, due to paucity of funds the players’ financial problems multiplied as they kept complaining about not receiving even their daily allowances on time.”

Answering a question, Samiullah said that the national team, which had reached Egypt to play the World Cup qualifying round there, had the talent to qualify for the World Cup.

Top three finishers of the March 1-7 qualifier round in Egypt featuring eight countries will qualify for this year’s World Cup scheduled to be co-hosted by Belgium and the Netherlands.

Published in Dawn, February 26th, 2026

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