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Test Cricket: Bowling won Day 1’s play for both teams with India still leading top spot and the Aussies now thin on options with the bat after their unexpected top-order fall

by Sports Benches

Could you believe how the opening day turned out of the new Test summer against India? It was unreal through a whole seven hours worth of on-pitch work but couldn’t see that coming there when things can turn so fast in such short time.

We began the morning run (afternoon over in the Eastern states) with India winning the toss, chose to batted first and then lost their way up to a lowly 150 whereas Australia were outstanding with the ball & also on the field hands down thanks to their still stronghold bowling attack.

But when the Aussies got their chance to bat in the middle though in between tea and the late afternoon session, they too unfortunately unable to capitalise with lots of single and bare double digit figures — and somehow looks like India is still hanging in there up front at 67-7 going into Day 2. Shoutout to Jasprit Bumrah on another amazing bowling spell including a test debut to remember from Harshit Rama after he bowled out Travis Head. 

That doesn’t mean the Aussies have no reason why they cannot turn things around with keeper Alex Carey being the last best batter standing on 19 alongside fast bowler Mitchell Starc on 6. Let’s hope a 50 from Carey would do it to hopefully bring their bowlers back to more quick damage to the Indian batters if the Aussies can’t meet the 83 run trail sometime tomorrow. 

And last but not least, also want to give a shoutout to Nathan McSweeney, who also began his Test career today with some quickfire runs on the board as Test opener, with Usman Khawaja after an amazing impact – especially at Sheffield Shield level.

It’s a shame he was unluckily being picked on by Bumrah for 10 over his successful LBW review that was sadly fair by the umpire but he’s 25 and still has lots of time to make a David Warner like impact off his right hand though over the next few days & weeks to come – one to watch from our batters.

For now, looks like we will see more early quickfire moments on Day 2 tomorrow after a bowling dominant contest, with India set to bowl the Aussies out possibly under 100. Then the 2nd innings is on this time to maybe slow things down a bit to build a big score in the hope of going 1-0 up in the five-match (up from four now) Border Gavaskar Trophy series.

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Thoughts on Amazon Prime just picking up the Major League Cricket rights off Fox Cricket in Australia ahead of next weekend

by Sports Benches

The 2024 T20 World Cup might be coming to an end this weekend over in the West Indies, but there’s a bit of surprise earlier today that Amazon Prime in Australia has just picked up the rights to show the Major League Cricket T20 competition on top of the ICC events they’ve picked up that is set to begin on Saturday July 6 (Friday over in America) next weekend to Monday July 29 (Sunday US time). As said, they will have every game live & on-demand replays with mini-match highlights too. 

Fox Cricket via Foxtel and Kayo Sports aired the inaugural competition last year but it looks like retaining just the Australian home rights to all cricket here and not everything cricket is all that matters after they lost the ICC rights late last year – not long after Australia won their 6th title in the 50-Over World Cup Final v India. It costs so much $$$ to produce such a top-notch broadcast every match of the Aussie summer, even though the International interest here isn’t the same as it was once before. Hence, you can see why Nine is broadcasting the Tennis nowadays when they had enough of the game all those years ago while they’ve had poor commentary feedback during their final few years – especially after Tony and Richie passed away.

But they’re still sticking around for another couple of years until at least 2030/31 with the next tv rights contract set to begin later this year along with Seven who will now be able to stream matches online for free on 7Plus, having originally been restricted to TV-only coverage likewise with the AFL until next year when they took over long-time holders Nine back in 2018.

Going back to the Amazon Prime-MLC deal, good for them to add another league on their subscription streaming service where things began to feel like home outside of Fox Cricket when Australia isn’t playing at home. Yes, getting the rights to air the Australian away matches would have to be dealt with individual cricket boards like the Indian BCCI & New Zealand Cricket for example. But Fox Cricket still sees value within at least the other Top 3-5 nations, so don’t see them losing that easily any time soon. However, it’s possible for Amazon Prime to try and be the home of other Australian away cricket when the Aussies play against Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, West Indies, Zimbabwe, Ireland & Afghanistan. Fox doesn’t have a great history in recent times with these cricketing boards including other T20 tournaments, so can see Amazon coming in if Fox doesn’t want them and once the next IPL rights is up for grabs come 2027 there’s no doubt Amazon would want to make this happen as well.

So far, so good from Amazon Prime on wanting to be the home of World Cup and overseas cricket in Australia. They still have until 2027 to run through the current ICC deal and if Amazon Prime stay, it would be interesting to see which free-to-air partner they choose when a future Men’s T20 World Cup comes here again & New Zealand in October-November 2028.

Looking beyond Amazon Prime, Fox Cricket and Seven – you wonder why Nine isn’t doing much to add Cricket to their Stan Sport line up when they’ve been a Pay TV station (not like Foxtel on cable but subscription streaming-only service) of their own for the last few years. I see they have the annual Black Clash T20 charity match every January because it involves a mix of Rugby and Cricket legends because they’re the home of Rugby Union (Super Rugby, Wallabies and Club Rugby) here. 

But when it comes to trying to get the other Australian away cricket content like the ICC events, individual tours against a specific lower ranked Test nation and even the full England Cricket stuff other than retaining the Ashes Tests in England on Nine (2027 and 2031) that is specifically covered by the government, don’t think they would do it when the interest levels isn’t that good as said before compared to the 90s-early 00s & plus they also got the whole grand slam tennis on offer. 

Tennis matches can last the whole time nearly 100% uninterrupted except on the outside show courts with no roof than the usual cricket game being halted depending how long it takes before coming back once the rain stops & then the game can also finish off early than expected. Again, not worth the risk at this stage for Nine to try out cricket for its Stan Sport subscribers as retaining just the away Ashes only in England makes sense for the main channel for now. It has both the historical and competitive value in order to translate the investment they want to put out for their viewers and advertisers whereas the away and ICC events doesn’t do much even if it means putting most content behind a paywall with Australian games live and free on Nine when they take place on the other side of the world mostly between early evening to midnight and early-late morning except on rare occasions like the 2028 ICC T20 Men’s World Cup here and New Zealand for example.

And finally, well done to USA Cricket on a amazing tournament where they’ve got off to a great start v arch rivals Canada while shocking Pakistan along the way before Mother Nature v Ireland following a rained out draw gave them an extended run in the Super 8 and an automatic qualification for the next Men’s T20 World Cup in 2026 – even though things weren’t easy against the top sides like India from their Group A game including England, West Indies and South Africa (Proteas) throughout the 2nd round. I’m sure they will keep on growing with more cricketers from the top nations will want to come here to play their cricket in the US in the years to come alongside a core focus at homegrown talent at the same time ahead of the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, which is going to the sport’s comeback to the program since 1900 but via the T20 format.

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Amazon Prime’s upcoming 2024 ICC Men’s T20 Cricket World Cup coverage for Australia

by Sports Benches

As we all know, Amazon Prime is now your home of the ICC cricket tournaments here in Australia at least over the next four years until the end of the 2027 50-Over World Cup in South Africa including the upcoming T20 World Cup across the West Indies and USA starting next Sunday on the 2nd June between Canada v USA in Dallas, Texas. So no free-to-air or even Foxtel involved in the meantime where fans would have to pay $9.99 a month or $79 a year in order to watch the games. Yes, it’s still possible that there will be free-to-air ICC Cricket World Cup content at some point thanks to the Government’s anti-siphoning laws but it can only be held in Australia or New Zealand and the next one won’t come out until the 2028 T20 World Cup edition. It remains to be seen if Amazon will still be covering this for another term by then which will require them to seek a free-to air partner or see Foxtel return onboard with Seven instead of Nine and/or on its own elsewhere with Kayo Freebies.

This is going to look different alongside a brand new theme like FIFA in Soccer where there will be four group stages with each be playing against them four times, then the top two will go play against the other best Top 2 group stage teams that will be split into two groups again during the 2nd round Super 8s for the first time in a long time since 2014 and then you got two semi-finals followed by a final to round off towards the end of June on the 29th. How Amazon’s coverage will look like is that they will air all the matches live straight off the world feed coverage by ICC TV with no in-house production & broadcast talent involved of their own at all even in Australian games since they don’t have a Sydney studio including on-demand full replays and both 10 minute & 25 minute highlights length packages too. Plus, in you case you missed the game by tuning in live midway during the match, you can also quickly look back from the start via a two-minute recap feature which is something new to try. I personally don’t have an Amazon Prime subscription but sure you can pause, rewind and fast forward as well.

Great to see the T20 World Cup enter the US even though it’s not full host rights where they will host some group stages across Florida, Texas and New York with the West Indies getting the majority including all of the Super 8s and Finals. They did beat Bangladesh twice so far during the warm-up games which was really good to hear 2-0, so let’s see if they can at least finish 3rd in Group A if not unexpectedly 2nd with a good group of players including ex-Blackcap Corey Anderson & head coach Stuart Law. But it’s all about the Aussies who hope to steal off yet another World Cup trophy off England albeit the T20 one for the second time after they won the 50-over tournament for the record sixth time late last year v hosts India.

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The Aussies were outstanding while Team India’s unbeaten run has come to an end as Travis Head’s top knock of 137 has sealed Australia a 6th Cricket World Cup trophy

by Sports Benches

So there you have it! The Aussies have lifted the Cricket World Cup trophy for the sixth time now after their six wicket win v the Hosts Team India a few hours ago at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.

They won the toss with little surprise by going to bowl/field first and it actually paid off really well, having got both key men in Virat Kohli & KL Rahul not long after their respective 50s before Australia bowled India all out for 240 right at the end of the opposition’s 50-over batting shift. Then all the Aussies have to do is meet the 241 run target later on with the bat and the tournament will be theirs where they didn’t fire off well thanks to the early dismissals of Dave Warner, Mitchell Marsh & Steve Smith. But there’s one man who made Australia’s resurgent turnaround end India’s unbeaten streak is the other opener Travis Head, who scored an almighty 137, as Australia take home both the win by six wickets along with that prestigious trophy.

Commiserations to Team India who wanted to cap off their unbeaten campaign on a perfect sweep until this point, which was ruined by the Aussies on their home turf in front of a very huge crowd. India hoped they can score something big after their semi-final win v New Zealand where some good Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli & KL Rahul weren’t bad before things went downhill unexpectedly to 240 thanks to an brilliant Australian on-field display.

The same has been said later on when Mohammed Shami saw Dave Warner knock to Kohli that early while Jasprit Bumrah also quickly dismissed both M. Marsh & Steve Smith, but unfortunately couldn’t find a way to stop Head in its tracks where the fan noise volume went pretty quiet for the rest of the night due to his stunning knock off the willow. India might still be one of the top opponents to face regularly, but winning World Cups isn’t their trophy hunting ground having won twice back in 1983 & 2011.

And the now six-time World Champions Australian side showed what they can go to bounce back from 0-2 at the start to being triumphant at the final with the trophy. First of all, their fielding has been top-notch where they stopped some potential boundaries while producing stunning catches along the way that gave the bowlers some credit. Great seeing the Fast Bowling group pick up most of the wickets such as Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins & Josh Hazlewood that limited India’s ability to score big in the final.

Then with the bat, we all know Dave Warner will no longer be playing International Cricket soon while questions will be raised about Steve Smith in particular, who hasn’t been in great form lately, despite rejecting the chance to appeal his LBW dismissal which went outside the line. But as said, how good was Travis Head where he has silenced the crowd with some amazing cricket shots downtown alongside some amazing back up at the other end from Marnus Labuschagne. Now Marnus is more Test focused but he can still make a decent impact when he can possible. And although we would’ve loved to see Head finish off the winning runs when he couldn’t find the rope straight to Shubman Gill, but still it was an amazing final where Glenn Maxwell came in next up to hit two runs that steered the Aussies home first towards their record 6th world crown!!

Bring on Test Cricket now as the Home summer is coming back soon for another season sometime next month where there will be three Tests v Pakistan through Christmas/New Year + another two-match series v West Indies in January.

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The Aussies hold on tight v South Africa by three wickets thanks to Pat Cummins & Mitchell Starc as they’re in the 2023 Cricket World Cup Final against India this Sunday

by Sports Benches

It was a close one but the Aussies are through to the Cricket World Cup final now following their three wicket win last night v South Africa. They might have lost the toss where Australia were asked to bowl/field first, having fired off with four early wickets. Then the David Miller show has turned things around for South Africa off the back of his hundred before Australia bowled all out for 212, which sets up a 213 run chase to win. Now the strong starts are there as seen with Opener Travis Head’s quickfire 48 ball-62 before Australia were in real trouble by a thread as the game goes on. However, they never gave up by keeping it simple & that was enough to see them leapfrog South Africa at the finish line when Captain Pat Cummins provided them the winning runs like he did in the 1st Ashes Test v England at Edgbaston earlier in June this year. Now they will be up against the host nation Indian side at Narendra Modi Stadium this Sunday in Ahmedabad, who still has been unstoppable all along so far including their 70 run win the other day (Wednesday) during semi-final 1 v New Zealand. It’s going be one hell of a game to finish off the 2023 Cricket World Cup as it’s better for the Aussies to win the toss by batting first or they will have a hard time against the Indian batters who will score big before being able to win another World Championship on home soil since 2011 when India were the previous World Cup hosts alongside Sri Lanka & Bangladesh.

Unlucky from South Africa when their Opening and top order batting attack didn’t work well as expected with the exception both middle-order batters in Heinrich Klassen & David Miller. Yes, the bowling wasn’t bad with Gerald Coetzee & Tabraiz Shamsi on fire but then just not enough to stop the Aussies under pressure, especially when it’s a low scoring game. If their Top 4 batters did so well, then the final could’ve been easily been theirs as SA is one of the few teams who have still yet to play in a CWC final. Meanwhile, it’s the eighth time now that the Aussies are in the main event since its inception in 1979. Hats off to Captain Cummins and Mitchell Starc who can both do a bit of everything where they were not just good off their fast bowling but also with the bat as well. Plus, Travis Head has been amazing since his recent return from injury where he will try to stay there as long as he can with the hope of a big hundred looming v a top Indian team. Now it’s up to the rest of the XI to stop this unbeatable opposition at their own backyard. Let’s hope so as they’re still the most successful team in the history of the Cricket World Cup with five trophies before hoping to finish off this weekend with title No.6, having last won back in 2015. 

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The hosts India stay on stop towards Sunday’s Cricket World Cup final since 2011 after they def. New Zealand in the first semi-final match

by Sports Benches

The host nation India has stayed undefeated yet again this time in a semi-final v New Zealand. They won the toss by electing to bat first where India scored nearly 400 (394-4) & while New Zealand never gave up chasing that big reply later on, but that wasn’t enough unfortunately to secure them a 3rd straight final after being all for 327 with just an over to spare. India won by 70 runs who are now through to their 4th World Cup final since 2011 – also as previous hosts at the time with a world championship. They only lost a World Cup final once in 2003 also against the Aussies but have won both past finals back in 1983 & 2011, so this is something Australia or South Africa needs to watch out for v this undefeated team. Now the second semi-final awaits where one of them will take on India this Sunday for the big final in Ahmedabad hopefully tonight or tomorrow if rain doesn’t hold back play between the Aussies and South Africa.

Brilliant stuff from start to finish by Team India where Shubman Gill fire off well until he got some cramps on 79 not out before Virat Kohli delivered another magnificent ton along with Shreyas Iyer & fast bowler Mohammed Shami was outstanding that made the home supporters reach something special with the ball thanks to his seven-wicket haul. Meanwhile, commiserations to New Zealand when they did the best they can to respond to that 398 run target under pressure after a tough time early in the afternoon on the field. Their batting was top-notch too led by Daryl Mitchell who scored an excellent hundred including skipper Kane Williamson at the top-order, as well as some good runs a bit down the order from Glenn Phillips. But sadly, the fielding and bowling performances were far outweighed by the always impressive Indian batting attack where NZ fell short towards the end there. It would’ve been their third straight World Cup final if they did beat the hosts but they’re still a Top 4 side who hopes to bounce back better next time.

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Australia replied well by three wickets v Bangladesh thanks to the returning Mitch Marsh’s stunning 177* knock with the bat

by Sports Benches

Australia has wrapped up their group stage World Cup campaign on a high ahead of their next match in the semis on Thursday v South Africa, having finished 3rd on the ladder at joint 14 points with SA who had a better net rate difference in 2nd. They might have lost the toss where the Aussies had to bowl first while seeing Bangladesh bat big earlier on (306/7), but responded really well though with five overs to spare as they win by three wickets thanks to a Mitch Marsh masterclass (177* off 132 balls) as well as 50s off Dave Warner & Steve Smith. The only teams they’ve lost so far is against South Africa and India (potential Final opponent in the other semi v New Zealand on Wednesday) which was their first two games of the campaign as batting first by setting up a big score would be the key towards hopefully winning a 6th World Cup title next Sunday.

Love the fast start by the Bangladeshi batters who made the bowlers feel frustrated when piling up these runs on the board. However, the on-field and bowling performance later on unfortunately couldn’t stop the Aussies from scoring – despite another good start after getting Travis Head out early. They finished 8th of 10th just ahead of the under fire Sri Lanka side (9th) after they won two games – one was v Afghanistan and another was a big win v Sri Lanka. Meanwhile, it’s up to the seamers again to get the job done who were always underwhelmed against a free-flowing Bangladeshi batting cohort. The only positive I can say that Sean Abbott got his World Cup debut so that Mitchell Starc can rest up for the big semi on Thursday & he too got two wickets on hand which isn’t bad. Speaking of positivity, the batting was still the best though that will hopefully make other teams hard to chase – such as the always tremendous Davey Warner including two returnees at the right time in both Steve Smith (vertigo illness) & Mitchell Marsh (personal family reasons after his grandfather died last week). 

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Glenn Maxwell has rescued the Aussies into an amazing win as well as a semis berth v Proteas being confirmed that all came off his own bat v Afghanistan by three wickets

by Sports Benches

Wow!! Glenn Maxwell has saved the day for the Aussies who not only steered them home with the win but also able to avoid India when it comes to the semi-final berth, which is expected to be the No.2 Proteas (South Africa) side next Thursday.

They might have lost the toss to Afghanistan who chose to bat first where the Aussies may not have done well as they’d like with the ball while Ibrahim Zadran has punished them downdown (129 not out from 143 balls). Afghanistan wrapped up their fine batting card of 291/5 that sets up a 292 run for the Aussies to chase later on after the innings break. Now again, likewise with the bowling, the Top 5 batters also ended up with a hit and miss so early – especially when there was no Steve Smith due to an illness (vertigo). They were almost on the brink of a shock upset at 91-7 after 18 overs until Glenn Maxwell turned things around big time where he went on to score not just the double hundred but also the win the Aussies deserve by three wickets. Now they’re still in 3rd on the ladder which confirms their semi-final spot and not having to face Team India mid-next week with one group-stage game left v Bangladesh this Saturday whereas the fourth & final spot on the table will be a two-horse race between the Blackcaps (New Zealand) & Pakistan.

Oh so close from Afghanistan who did so well both bat and ball. Hats off to Ibrahim Zadran who batted beautifully without having to get out from start to finish. Plus, we also seen a few bowlers sharing the wickets on hand as well where they almost saw light at the end of the tunnel but only for Maxwell to ruin it towards the end there. It’s been a great campaign so far with one more game to go v Proteas this Friday as they might still have an outside shot of ousting Blackcaps & Pakistan for the 4th and final semi spot but it’s unlikely. Meanwhile, the man of the hour belongs to Glenn Maxwell, who is very established in the white ball game off the willow, alongside team-mate Adam Zampa with spin. Glad he recovered well from that golf cart accident where Maxwell had to sit out the last game v England where he loves & keeps on hitting big all over the place & the Aussies need him the most between now and next week. We hope it’s up to the rest including the seamers & the Opening/Top-order batters to help them out if they bring home the Cricket World Cup trophy real bad if they can prove India wrong in the final at their home turf next Sunday in Ahmedabad.

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Team India stays undefeated in the 2023 Cricket World Cup at their own backyard after an easy win v the 2nd-ranked Proteas team from South Africa

by Sports Benches

It’s been a big day for Team India at Eden Gardens in Kolkata yesterday when not only they made good use of the winning toss by batting first thanks to their big batting score of 326-5, but they also had no problems cleaning up the opposition relatively quickly later on after the Proteas were all out for 83 with the 243 run win.

Hats off to the birthday boy (age 35 now) in Virat Kohli who is amazing with the bat after he got away with a magnificent hundred & not having to been dismissed along the way. Shreyas Iyer also did well to back it up on 77 including 1-2 big hits downtown & how about an all-round display from Ravi Jadeja where he can both bowl well with spin after his 5fer as well as being able to bat a bit too!! Lots of good things to describe Team India as they head into the last group stage game still undefeated v Netherlands on Sunday.

And it has been a great run until this point where it’s not been the Proteas day when being easily beaten by a side who is in red-hot form on home soil. They fired off not bad with 1-2 early wickets, but then they couldn’t stop Virat Kohli as well as Iyer and the two all-rounders down the order for the majority. Even though they had to meet the 327 run target, things has gone from bad to worse when their batters are just not up to the task sadly with that big loss v a top-ranked team. They got Afghanistan coming up on Friday but it looks it’s going to be the same old Proteas like it was in previous World Cups unless they find a way that saw them win games regularly v top-ranked sides every year.

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Australia confirms England’s early exit from the 2023 Cricket World Cup with two games left, having closed them out with a 33 run win

by Sports Benches

The old enemy arch-rivals Australia & England are back on the field together in a while last night at the huge Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad following the recent Ashes Test series in English soil during the middle of this year (June-July).

England have asked the Aussies to bat first after the winning toss where they might have early wickets on hand, but Australia have turned themselves around though to 286 thanks to a Marnus Labuschagne 50 as well as brilliant all-round knocks from Cam Green & Marcus Stoinis. Later on, England too scored not bad this time following Jonny Bairstow’s first ball duck of their batting spell, with 50s coming from Dawid Malan & Ben Stokes including some good runs down the order by Moeen Ali. But out of the best of the all-round displays between England’s Chris Woakes & Australia’s Adam Zampa in this game, it’s Zampa who never looked out of place as the frontline spinner (3 wickets) along with his excellent 19-ball 29 cameo off the willow. 

Australia went on to not just bowl England all out for 253 thanks to a 33 run victory, but they also confirmed their elimination from the CWC with two games left where England will not defend their 2019 crown come semi-finals time after next weekend.

It’s not been the tournament England was hoping for, especially when they came in as the defending champs who play an attacking, positive style of cricket under Bazball – even though Brendon McCullum doesn’t coach their white-ball team in One Day & T20s. The bowling/on-field performance wasn’t bad to begin with where they were good at limiting to such low scores thanks to the winning toss advantage. Now their batting has improved in some way but still just couldn’t quite hold it off there when it comes to the winning runs, as no hundred being scored against at least the top teams is the one big weakness that let’s them down big time. They still got the Netherlands (Wednesday) and Pakistan (next Saturday) left to play over the next seven days before England will fly back home empty handed, but sadly it’s been largely disappointing for the majority.

Meanwhile, it’s great to see another win for the Aussies which is five games in a row now. While the first 3 batters didn’t work out where they kept on trying to hit over the ground before being caught, but great seeing Marnus pile up the runs along with both fast bowling all-rounders in Green & Stoinis. Then with the ball, It’s always the Adam Zampa show when it comes to spin who not only got away with three wickets but he also batted well a bit down the tail end at 10. He might not be the biggest hitter but at least Zampa has found the gaps really well with some simple stuff to execute through these ropes for four. Let’s hope the fast bowlers step up to support Zampa in the hope of finishing 2nd or 3rd in the ladder so they can avoid Team India with Afghanistan next on Tuesday before before finishing off the group stages v Bangladesh next Saturday.

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