Thuppahi's Blog

Matt Roller in ESPNcricinfo, 11 July 2026

Its status globally may have diminished but Test cricket still reigns supreme in England. After a wretched few weeks on and off the field which culminated in Ben Stokes’ retirement and a 2-1 home defeat to New Zealand, even a comprehensive T20 series win over world champions India is hardly likely to convince the average fan that everything is suddenly rosy.

But as Harry Brook put it on Thursday, after cracking an outrageous 79 not out off 35 balls to put England 3-0 up: “It might have changed the mood a little bit.” It was barely ten days ago that Brook was roundly chastised after his harebrained, nine-ball 21 at Trent Bridge; now, his successful leadership of England’s T20 side looks like an ideal pitch for the Test captaincy.

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Reprinting a FOOTNOTE MEMO presented in 2022 ……………………. ………… https://thuppahis.com/2022/04/12/michael-roberts-a-partial-bibliography-1965-1999/

Thank You, MURALI. May I return the compliments IV by telling the world about your honesty in reportage, your bravery in difficult conditions in 2008/09 during the Eelam War in its last stages. It was fortunate for me that we had met briefly at a luncheon in the academic Sanjay Srivastava’s house in New Delhi in 1995. I presume that initial interaction encouraged you to approach me for articles when I arrived in Colombo in mid-April 2009? …. Though the invitation may also have been facilitated by the fact that your boss in THE HINDU and FRONTLINE, the redoubtable N. Ram, had met me briefly then in Delhi and earlier at the ICES in Colombo.

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Michael  Roberts 

The information  and  Thoughts  presented here  have been  prompted by PHILIP  SANSONI’s excellent book THE LAST  STAND  (2025,Case ID 1-14944717771)  presented earlier in this website: namely, ….. https://thuppahis.com/2026/06/11/philip-sansonis-last-stand-in-kandy-reaches-the-world/ …. & ….. …. https://thuppahis.com/2026/06/12/reflections-on-sansonis-last-stand-in-kandy/

Quite remarkably AI provides a Capsule Sketch  of this work

AI Overview

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Ruki Fernando: “Refugees and Asylum Seekers Face Intolerance and Hostility in Sri Lanka” in https://groundviews.org/author/ruki/

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 Compiled by Gp Capt Kumar Kirinde, SLAF [retd]

The land locked country that maintained ‘nuetrality’ inspite of being  surrounded by the Axis powers and Axis annexed / occupied territotries during the war

Switzerland during WWII (1)

Introduction

During the war, under the pan-Germanist Neuordnung doctrine**, detailed plans were drawn up by the German military command to invade Switzerland (and Liechtenstein); Operation Tannenbaum, on two occasions, one in 1940 and the other in 1944.   Switzerland during WWII (1)                                

German plans for the invasion, occupation, and/or annexation of Switzerland & Liechtenstein, dated 1940 and March 1944

  In August 1939, sensing Hitler’s intention to go to war in Europe,  the Parliament quickly selected the 61-year-old career soldier General Henri Guisan to be General (commander in chief) of the Swiss Armed Forces. He was given the directive to safeguard the independence of the country and to maintain the integrity of Swiss territory.

PIX ….. Guisan sworn in as general before the Federal Assembly, in the chamber of the National Council at the Federal Palace, in Bern, 30 August 1939

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ICC Test Rankings ….. https://www.cricinfo.com/rankings/icc-team-ranking

Last updated on 07 Jul 2026

Position	Team	Matches	Points	Rating
1	Australia	24	3138	131
2	South Africa	19	2256	119
3	New Zealand	22	2336	106
4	India	26	2714	104
5	England	32	3158	99
6	Sri Lanka	16	1222	76
7	Pakistan	16	1205	75
8	West Indies	24	1783	74
9	Bangladesh	21	1539	73
10	Zimbabwe	13	217	17

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Niranjan Selvadurai .…. May We Pass Brother? .…… Dæhæna – July 2026

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 Alan Gardner in ESPNcricinfo, 8 July 2026, where the title reads “Archer, Tongue hand India their biggest T20I defeat”

Josh Tongue and Jofra Archer shared seven wickets between them  •  Getty Images

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Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima …. from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima (Japanese: 硫黄島の星条旗, Hepburn: Iōjima no Seijōki) is an iconic photograph of six United States Marines raising the U.S. flag atop Mount Suribachi during the Battle of Iwo Jima in the final stages of the Pacific War. Taken by Joe Rosenthal of the Associated Press on February 23, 1945, the photograph was published in Sunday newspapers two days later and reprinted in thousands of publications. It won the 1945 Pulitzer Prize for Photography and has come to be regarded in the United States as one of the most recognizable images of World War II.

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