Henry Thornton blows India A away to secure huge lead for Australia A

Fast bowler Henry Thornton proved to be the proverbial thorn in India A’s flesh as he put Australia in control of the second unofficial Test in Lucknow.Batting at No. 11, he scored an unbeaten 32 in a 91-run partnership for the tenth wicket with Todd Murphy, who made 76, before taking a four-wicket haul that helped Australia A take a 226-run lead in the first innings.”We were just having a fair bit of fun up there and it’s a good challenge against some really good bowlers to see kind of where your skills are at,” Thornton said after the second day’s play. “It was a pretty simple game plan. If they missed, we were just kind of trying to hit the ball for four and it came off today.”After toiling for 13.2 overs on the second morning to separate Australia A’s last pair, India A lost KL Rahul cheaply – caught behind off Will Sutherland. Thornton struck three blows after lunch, dismissing N Jagadeesan (38), Devdutt Padikkal (1) and India A captain Dhruv Jurel (1) in successive overs. Murphy, who scored his maiden first-class fifty earlier in the day, accounted for Nitish Kumar Reddy with his offspin as India A slid to 75 for 5.B Sai Sudharsan offered resistance with a steady half-century at No. 3 and added 51 with Ayush Badoni (21) for the sixth wicket. But two more wickets in five balls left India A reeling at 127 for 7.B Sai Sudharsan scored a steady half-century•Tanuj/ Ekana Cricket Stadium

Prasidh Krishna joined Sai Sudharsan and hit a four and a six before he was struck on the helmet by Thornton’s bouncer in the 39th over. He was in the middle for three more overs before walking off with a suspected concussion. He was replaced in the XI by Yash Thakur as the concussion substitute. Sai Sudharsan helped India A inch closer to 200 before Murphy trapped him lbw. Two balls later, Gurnoor Brar was run-out to end India A’s innings.”We had a simple plan, put energy on the ball, bash the top of the stumps,” Thornton said. “I felt like I was in the game bowling that length. So it would be interesting to see what happens in the second innings. Hopefully it starts to spin and it brings Murph (Murphy) and Rock (Corey Rocchiccioli) into the game.With over two days left in the game, Australia A opted to bat again instead of enforcing the follow-on. But they lost three batters before stumps, with Mohammed Siraj, Brar and Manav Suthar picking up a wicket each. Sam Konstas fell for his first single-digit score in the series, following his century in the opening game and 49 in the first innings. His opening partner Campbell Kellaway did not last long either. Suthar, who picked up a five-for in the first innings, struck with his fifth ball to dismiss Oliver Peake. Captain Nathan McSweeney offered resistance to end the day with Australia A ahead by 242 runs.

'I make decisions to win' – Lionesses boss Sarina Wiegman breaks silence on Mary Earps' explosive autobiography remarks about Hannah Hampton

England manager Sarina Wiegman has broken her silence on comments made by Mary Earps in her explosive autobiography. In that, the former Lionesses goalkeeper questioned some of the selection calls made by the Dutch coach. Wiegman feels no need to explain any of the decisions that she has made down the years, with every one of those intended to help deliver collective success.

  • What Earps said about Wiegman & Hampton

    Wiegman’s record suggests that she has got plenty of big calls right, with her time in charge of the Lionesses delivering back-to-back European Championship triumphs and a 2023 World Cup final appearance.

    She was, however, subjected to criticism in Earps’ new book ‘All In: Football, Life and Learning to be Unapologetically Me’. In that, ex-England keeper Earps – who helped her country to continental glory in 2022 – accused Wiegman of “rewarding bad behaviour” in her recalling of the previously excluded Hannah Hampton.

    Hampton went on to usurp Earps as the Lionesses’ No.1 ahead of Euro 2025, leading to an icon of the modern era announcing her international retirement. Earps watched on from afar as her replacement starred on Swiss soil and delivered penalty shootout heroics en route to capturing the ultimate prize.

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    Wiegman's response to comments from Earps

    Wiegman has now said of Earps’ comments and why she will never make decisions just to keep people happy: “We have conversations with different players all the time. What my reality is and what someone else's reality is can be different because how you experience things is very individual. I just know what I want to do is create an environment where we speak up and have clarity.

    “I make decisions to win. And what I've said all the time is that we have two incredible goalkeepers and at the end I made that decision to the one I came to and that's what it is for me.”

  • Wiegman prepared to make unpopular decisions

    Wiegman admits that she has not spoken with Earps following the release of her book, with there nothing to be said. She is eager to point out that she cannot “control” the behaviour of others and “would have done the same thing” again if turning the clock back to Euros preparations.

    She added on making decisions that will not always be universally popular: “The competition has been really hard. We had a very good goalkeeping unit and the two goalkeepers were competing for the number one spot. I would have done the same thing. In the bigger picture I don’t think I would have done things differently.

    “As I always say, I always keep conversations private. When I have individual conversations, I keep that private because I think that builds trust. When I do that I think players will come to me and have conversations with me. We create an environment where we want people to be themselves and everyone’s different. I think that helps on and off the pitch to connect people.”

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    England fixtures: Next up for the Lionesses

    Wiegman does not believe that Earps’ revelations will cause divides in her squad, with everybody in the current England camp pulling in the same direction.

    She went on to say: “When there are teams there are always dynamics going on. We're working with people and everyone is different. No matter what the topic is there are always conversations going on. I want my door to be open at all times to have conversations when needed or if someone needs support and the other way round if I need to challenge a player for whatever reason.”

    Wiegman sought to end the discussion by stating that she “enjoyed working” with Earps as they shared some “incredible” times together. England’s focus now is on upcoming friendly dates with China at Wembley and Ghana at St Mary’s, with a group of 25 players being selected for those fixtures that will bring the curtain down on another memorable, and often eventful, 12 months for the Lionesses. Chelsea keeper Hampton will play no part in those games as she is currently nursing an injury.

Stats – A hat-trick of run-outs, and Karun Nair's seven-year gap

Stats highlights from Delhi, where DC’s four-match winning streak in IPL 2025 came to an end

Sampath Bandarupalli13-Apr-202515-0 Mumbai Indians’ (MI) record while defending a target of 200-plus runs in the IPL. The highest successful chase against MI in the IPL is 196 by Rajasthan Royals (RR) in 2020.MI and Delhi Capitals (DC) are the only teams with a 100% win record while defending 200-plus targets in the IPL. DC have won all 13 IPL matches while defending 200-plus targets.2520 Days between Karun Nair’s previous two fifties in the IPL – against CSK in 2018 and MI on Sunday. It is the longest gap between fifty-plus scores for any batter in the IPL. Nair, however, batted only six times during this seven-year gap.Related

Karn: Karun Nair's wicket broke DC's momentum

Mumbai Indians clinch thriller to end Delhi Capitals' unbeaten streak

Travis Head had the previous longest gap between his fifties with 2516 days – against KKR in 2017 and MI in 2024. Head batted only once during that gap and did not feature in any of the six seasons between 2018 and 2023.

3 Run-outs off three consecutive balls to end DC’s chase. It is the first instance of run-outs on three successive deliveries in the IPL. It was only the fifth instance where there have been run-outs in three consecutive balls in men’s T20s (where fall-of-wickets information is available).1 Tilak Varma’s 59 on Sunday was his first half-century in the IPL to end up on the winning side. Each of his previous seven fifties in the IPL came in a losing cause.

83.7 Win probability for DC as per ESPNCricinfo’s forecaster after 11.3 overs in the chase. They needed 71 further runs off 51 balls with eight wickets in hand.DC’s win probability was 70.84 % at the end of the 13th over before the change of ball. DC needed 61 runs with six wickets in hand, but lost all those for only 48 in six overs.4 Consecutive wins for DC in IPL 2025 before ending their unbeaten run by losing to MI on Sunday. There have been six instances of a team starting an IPL season with four consecutive wins previously, but only two teams managed to win their first five – Kings XI Punjab in 2014 and RR in 2015.26 Runs that Nair scored off Jasprit Bumrah in the nine balls he faced. All those came in the powerplay, the most any batter has scored off Bumrah in this phase in a T20 match (where ball-by-ball data is available).5 DC won five consecutive matches for the first time before their close defeat against MI. In addition to their four wins in IPL 2025, they won their last fixture of IPL 2024.

ريال مدريد يعلن تشخيص إصابة أرنولد.. ومدة الغياب

أعلن نادي ريال مدريد منذ قليل، عن تفاصيل إصابة ترينت ألكسندر أرنولد، والتي تعرض لها خلال مباراة فريقه أمام أتلتيك بلباو بالدوري الإسباني للدرجة الأولى.

أرنولد أصيب خلال مباراة ريال مدريد أمام أتلتيك بلباو، والتي لعبت لحساب منافسات الجولة الـ15 من الدوري الإسباني على ملعب سان ماميس.

وسقط أرنولد في شوط المباراة الثاني متأثرًا بالإصابة، حيث خرج من أرضية الملعب وحل محله راؤول أسينسيو.

وأكد ريال مدريد في بيان رسمي، أن أرنولد يعاني من إصابة عضلية، وتحديدًا في العضلة المستقيمة الفخذية للعضلة الرباعية اليسرى.

اقرأ أيضًا.. مودريتش: ضغطت على توتنهام من أجل ريال مدريد.. وأي خطوة بعد ذلك عودة للوراء

كما أشار الفريق الملكي، إلى أن أرنولد سوف يتم تقييمه حالته باستمرار، من أجل العودة على عودته في أقرب وقت ممكن.

ولم يكشف ريال مدريد عن مدة غياب أرنولد عن الملاعب، لكن بحسب الموثوقة آرانشا رودريجيز، فإن الظهير الأيمن سيغيب لمدة تتراوح من 8 إلى 10 أسابيع.

أرنولد وقع مع ريال مدريد خلال صيف العام الحالي قادمًا من صفوف ليفربول مقابل 10 ملايين يورو، لكن اللاعب وقع ضحية للإصابات حتى هذه اللحظة.

Ministro do Esporte pede paralisação do Brasileirão por conta de tragédia no Rio Grande do Sul

MatériaMais Notícias

Ministro do Esporte, André Fufuca pediu a paralisação do Brasileirão devido a tragédia que atinge o Rio Grande do Sul. Em entrevista à “ESPN”, o político afirmou que trata do assunto com a CBF.

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➡ O Lance! Betting tem apostas a longo prazo para a Seleção Brasileira em 2024! Vem conferir!

Nos últimos dias, a entidade que comanda o futebol nacional havia apenas adiado os jogos envolvendo os clubes gaúchos até o fim do mês. Com isso, as equipes estariam com partidas atrasadas do Campeonato Brasileiro e Copa do Brasil.

– Diante do cenário de calamidade pública e das severas consequências das enchentes para a população do Rio Grande do Sul, defenderemos junto à CBF a suspensão temporária Campeonatos Brasileiros de Futebol masculino e feminino.

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Internacional, Grêmio e Juventude estão sem treinar, uma vez que as dependências dos clubes foram afetadas por conta das enchentes. Além disso, o Aeroporto Salgado Filho não receberá voos até o fim de maio.

Tudo sobre

BrasileirãoCBF

Tarik Skubal Appeared to Profanely Disagree With Umpire’s Very Bad Call

Tarik Skubal had his shortest outing of the season on Friday against the Angels. The reigning Cy Young winner went just 4 2/3 innings against Los Angeles and gave up six hits and four earned runs.

While he retired all three batters he faced in the top of the 1st, he did experience some real frustration thanks to home plate umpire Tom Hanahan, who called two straight pitches in the zone balls during Mike Trout's at-bat.

While what was called ball two caught the very top of the zone, the pitch that Trout took to make the count 3-0 was a brutal miss by Hanahan. Skubal dropped into a crouching position and as he stood up he looked towards home and appeared to mouth "that's f—— horrible" twice.

Thanks to MLB.com, you can see just how bad that ball three call really was. As if the starting pitcher from the All-Star game making eye contact with the home plate umpire to repeatedly tell him he made a horrible call in the 1st inning wasn't enough of proof for you.

Tarik Skubal did not agree with at least one call in this sequence. / MLB.com

Hopefully things go better for Skubal when he's back on the mound Wednesday against the White Sox.

Kyle Schwarber Reaches 40 Home Runs With Colossal Grand Slam, Widens NL Lead

Philadelphia Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber was on the doorstep of 40 home runs for just three innings.

He mashed his 39th long ball of the year in the third inning against the Baltimore Orioles Monday night on a massive shot to the third deck at Citizens Bank Park. The homer gave him the National League lead, moving one past Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani.

Then, as the Phillies batted around the order in the sixth, he hit another blast to right field—this time for a grand slam.

The 390-foot shot was Schwarber's 40th homer of the season, now two past Ohtani for the most in the NL. The next closest NL player is Pete Crow-Armstrong of the Chicago Cubs with 27, although Eugenio Suárez and his 36 homers moved to the American League at last week's trade deadline.

Schwarber's career-best total is 47 home runs, which he notched in 2023. The season before, he had 46. Now, he has reached 40 with 50 games to go.

With the massive Monday, he moves into the MLB lead in RBIs with 94, surpassing Seattle Mariners slugger Cal Raleigh (88). Raleigh currently leads baseball with 42 home runs, but Schwarber is right on his heels with three homers in two games.

Belgium international retires aged 26 as ex-Inter defender releases heartbreaking statement confirming surprise decision

Former Inter and Belgium defender Zinho Vanheusden has announced his retirement from professional football aged just 26, with the centre-back releasing a heartbreaking statement confirming his surprise decision. Vanheusden plied his trade in Italy, Belgium and Netherlands before heading to Spain this summer as he signed for third-tier club Marbella, but has now called time on his career.

  • A promising talent in Inter's youth system

    After spending seven years in Standard Liege's youth academy, Vanheusden was scouted by Inter youth coaches and was brought to the club's academy in 2015. At 16, the defender was considered as one of the brightest prospects in Europe and was expected to shine for the Serie A giants' senior side in the future.

    However, his progress halted at Inter due to a series of injuries as he never got to play for their senior side. He was on Inter's book, though, until 2025 as he played for clubs like Standard Liege, Genoa and AZ on a series of loan spells. Finally, in the summer of 2025, he exited Inter to join third-tier Spanish club Marbella to revive his career. 

    At the start of the season, he made seven appearances for the club before a third anterior cruciate ligament tear of his career forced him to announce his retirement at the tender age of 26. Vanheusden also represented Belgium at the youth level and made his senior professional debut in 2020 against Ivory Coast in an international friendly which ended in a 1-1 draw. It was his first and only international cap.

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    Vanheusden released heartbreaking statement

    On Instagram, the 26-year-old wrote: "Today I am making a decision I never thought I would have to make at this age. After 22 years of soccer — from my fourth year until now — my life as a professional soccer player is coming to an end. Football made me who I am today. It gave me a life I never dared to dream of as a child. From supporting my favourite club for years as a child with my dad at Sclessin, to then playing a hundred games for it myself, to scoring for the Ultras and even getting the honour of being a captain here. It didn’t stop there… I got the opportunity to make my national debut and to play in Serie A. All things that seemed unreal when I started.

    "Besides all that beautiful, the last few years were tough. Much heavier than I ever seemed. Injuries, operations, injections, medication… I gave everything to go back, but it got harder every time. I was constantly searching for my level, overplayed through pain too often and lived after every workout or game uncertain about how my body would react the next day. I kept fighting to be the player I wanted to be, but every time a new fight came. In my heart I will always want to be a footballer, but my body has been saying enough for a while now. And that’s why — out of respect for myself, for my health and for my responsibility as a father — I am making this decision. As surreal as it feels writing this. But I want to be able to walk in my life without pain, play with my son and enjoy life with my family… I don’t know what it will be like to get up without football, but I’m going to find out now."

  • Ex-Inter star named after famous Brazilian footballer

    Zinho's father Johan Vanheusden, in 2017, revealed that he had named his son after famous Brazilian footballer Zinho, who starred for the Selecao in their 1994 World Cup win.

    Speaking to , Johan had said: "The 'h' in Zinho is actually pronounced like a 'j,'" said Johan Vanheusden. "Like in Portuguese. Our son is named after the Brazilian footballer Zinho. I thought he was fantastic at the '94 World Cup'. Five years later, in 1999, the name for a son was quickly chosen."

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    What will Vanheusden do next?

    The 26-year-old will now work hard to regain full fitness and recover from the fresh setback. The former defender does not have clarity at the moment about his future, but like other retired footballers, he might try and get into management to remain in touch with the game, which he dearly loves.

Newcastle have signed their new Alexander Isak & he's not even a striker

St James’ Park proved to be a fortress once more for Newcastle United on Saturday evening when Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City travelled to Tyneside.

This season so far in the Premier League, the Magpies are yet to win away from home, with three draws and defeats depressingly next to their name. At home, though, it’s a much different story, with four league wins collected with confidence, which now includes a 2-1 triumph over the Citizens.

Harvey Barnes was the difference maker on the day with two well-taken efforts under pressure, with this being the first time Newcastle have got the better of their opponents from Manchester since a slim 1-0 success in the EFL Cup back in 2023.

On that day, it was Alexander Isak who would break the deadlock, and while the sting of his departure to Liverpool was certainly felt in the immediate aftermath of his exit, Eddie Howe’s Toon aren’t dwelling too much on him no longer being around now, with the 47-year-old boss no doubt pleased with the attacking display on show from Barnes and many others.

How Newcastle downed Manchester City

Howe was beaming from ear to ear at the full-time whistle, as he finally got a career win over Guardiola in league action.

He would also be over the moon for the aforementioned Barnes, with the 27-year-old winger repaying his manager’s faith in him when being handed a fifth Premier League start of the season, as his first effort was stylishly placed home, before the vital second goal was somehow bundled into the back of the net.

Nick Woltemade would have felt aggrieved that he couldn’t get on the scoresheet, though, with four efforts passing him by. Still, with four Premier League efforts next to his name this season, away from drawing blanks up against Gianluigi Donnarumma, he has filled the void left behind by Isak expertly.

Both Sandro Tonali and Bruno Guimaraes also stood out during the 2-1 victory, as Guimaraes assisted Barnes’ first breakaway strike, while his Italian teammate won six duels and three tackles as a combative counterpart.

Yet, there was one star who stood out throughout who could now be labelled boldly as Howe’s next Isak, even with Woltemade at his disposal, for how influential he’s become in such a short space of time.

Howe's new Isak-esque figure

Of course, while the £125m sale is now struggling to settle at Anfield, he was a consistent top performer on Tyneside when he was still donning the famous black and white stripes.

Indeed, a deadly 62 strikes were tallied up by the lethal Scandinavian during his 102-game stay at St James’ Park, with Sky Sports’ Jamie Carragher even hailing him as the “best striker in the Premier League” off the back of such potent form.

He immediately hit the ground running in England, too, with two goals from his first three league appearances for the Toon, with Malick Thiaw also making the transition from European football to English shores look easy, making him a strong candidate to be considered Howe’s next most influential player, much like Isak was.

With an 86% pass accuracy averaged across his eight Premier League games to date, and a commanding 4.6 duels won on average, some have even hailed the German as a “top five centre-back in the league this season”, with Isak also in the same esteemed conversations as a top five forward in the division.

Minutes played

90

Goals scored

0

Assists

0

Touches

36

Accurate passes

20/25 (80%)

Tackles won

1/1

Last man tackles

1

Interceptions

1

Clearances

7

Blocked shots

1

Ball recoveries

6

Total duels won

2/4

Thiaw has only enhanced his reputation for being an influential member of Howe’s first team with his commanding showing against Guardiola’s visitors, with 14-goal hero Erling Haaland completely negated by the former AC Milan defender, who restricted him to just 23 touches of the ball and two shots on target.

NUFCBlog hailed the performance as “outstanding” against “the best striker on the planet” as Thiaw even impressively stood his ground one-on-one with the frightening Norwegian early in the second half, before a last-ditch intervention saw a chance go rarely astray for the number nine.

On top of that moment of ice-cold maturity, Thiaw would also bow out from the 2-1 win with seven clearances and six ball recoveries amassed, as City found it very difficult all night long to break down the Toon’s resilient back line.

The hope will just be that Thiaw gets better with more time in the Premier League, like Isak, who transformed into a £125m-calibre beast.

Although this time around, Howe will also pray he doesn’t have to give up the 6-foot-4 defender to the likes of Liverpool or any other suitor, as Thiaw becomes the manager’s most crucial player.

Last season, that was reserved for Isak. This season, it’s reserved for their new towering centre-half.

9/10 Newcastle duo look even more important than Bruno G & Tonali

These two players stood out in Newcastle’s 2-1 win over Man City

ByJoe Nuttall Nov 23, 2025

Chase: India tour 'a stepping stone' for West Indies as a Test-playing nation

WI captain saw their improved performance in Delhi after being forced to follow as a positive sign

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Oct-20253:56

What made Campbell and Hope stand out?

Roston Chase saw encouraging signs in West Indies’ performance against India in Delhi, despite the visitors losing by seven wickets.Shai Hope and John Campbell made centuries, the first two for West Indies in 2025. The team also batted 80-plus overs in both innings after failing to get to that mark all year, improvements that meant more coming against a strong Indian bowling outfit that included Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja.”Yeah, I think this is the kind of fight that I wanted to see from us, from matches before”, Chase said at the post-match press conference. “So, I think this is a stepping stone, a building step for us to go forward and improve as a Test-playing nation. This is a performance that I think will give us the confidence and boost us in terms of that belief that we can do it against proper Test-playing nations.Related

Centuries and time at the crease ease West Indies' crisis

India complete 2-0 sweep in Gill's first series win

“I just want to see the guys continue in this vein and don’t let us go back to those ways. Even if it’s for us to lose, we have to lose in a good way. In a positive way, where we can have a lot of positives coming out of the game.”West Indies came to India without two of their best fast bowlers, Shamar Joseph and Alzarri Joseph, who were both laid low by injuries. Ultimately, it wasn’t the bowling that let them down though. Chase understood that his side needed to improve their batting to get their first points in this new cycle of the World Test Championship.”I think where we could improve mainly is our batting,” Chase said. “I think that’s what let us down for the last two series. I think we have a good bowling attack, we had a few injuries. I just think that once we can put good first-inning totals on the board, we will be able to fight for some wins in the Test Championship.”John Campbell and Shai Hope put on West Indies’ highest partnership of the 2025 so far•AFP/Getty ImagesBut this process is complicated by the way the West Indies cricket system currently functions.”When a lot of our players come into the international level, they play like 20 first-class games, 15 first-class games,” Chase said. “While other teams, when guys come into international cricket, they have like 80 first-class games, 100 first-class games.”Domestic competitions help batters learn how to score big runs and replicate the process over an extended period of time. West Indies, though, are having to manufacture success without that essential ingredient. This is part of why they have had one-off wins, against Australia in Brisbane and against Pakistan in Multan, but are struggling for consistency.”So for us, it’s always learning on the job,” Chase said. “So if a guy can get a little longer run [playing Test matches] so that he can adjust and adapt to this level and see what it takes for him to improve and to be consistent at this level, I think that’s good. And I just think that the fight that we showed in this last game will, as I said, give us that belief and that confidence to know that we have what it takes to perform at this level.”One bright spot for West Indies on this tour of India was the allrounder Justin Greaves, who finished the series with an unbeaten 50 from No. 7 and showed good skill in combating India’s spinners.”Yeah, well, actually, if we had batted first, he [Greaves] would have batted at No. 6,” Chase. “But obviously him being the allrounder, bowling allrounder, bowling many [14 out of 134.2] overs first, we just wanted to give him some rest. So we just put him at No. 7. But yeah, I think he’s a capable batsman. I know him for a long period and I personally think his batting is better than his bowling.”West Indies’ next Test match is in December against New Zealand. Chase accepted the first year of this WTC cycle has been hard on his team but hoped for better returns in 2026.”And I think that we had a chat and this first year in the cycle, we always know it was going to be tough with opposition like Australia, India and then we go to New Zealand. But I think that once we learn from what we’ve done in those series and take it into the next year where we have guys like Sri Lanka and Pakistan, guys that we are closer to in the rankings, I think that we can be more competitive against those once we learn from these games.”

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