KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — Mitchell Owen marked his international debut with a half-century and a wicket to help Australia to a three-wicket win in the Twenty20 cricket series opener against West Indies.
Owen shared an 80-run fifth-wicket stand off 40 deliveries with Cameron Green, who scored 51 off 26 balls, to put Australia on course to reach the victory target of 190 with seven balls to spare on Sunday.
After being sent in to bat and making a flying start, West Indies was restricted to 189-8 after losing four wickets for five runs off the last nine balls.
Australian fast bowler Ben Dwarshuis returned a career-best 4-36, taking three wickets in four deliveries — Jason Holder blocked a hat-trick ball but was out next delivery — in the next-to-last over of the West Indies innings.
The top four West Indies batters all got starts, with Roston Chase plundering 60 from 32 deliveries before he was caught in the deep off Dwarshuis’ bowling to end a 91-run second-wicket partnership with Shai Hope (55) in the 13th over.
Anotehr win has given Australia, coming off a 3-0 test series sweep, an early lead in the five-game T20 series.
Owen, a Tasmanian allrounder who opened the batting with success for the Hobart Hurricanes in the domestic T20 league last season, joined David Warner and Ricky Ponting as Australians who've scored a half-century on debut in the format.
“Firstly happy we got the win — it was nice to contribute,” he said. “Just nice to be mentioned with those class players.”
The 23-year-old allrounder's first scoring shot was a six straight down the ground against Andre Russell in a contest between a player on international debut against a veteran playing his next-to-last game. He also clouted the last ball of that over for six.
Owen hit three sixes in one over from Akeal Hosein that went for 20 runs and included a dropped catch when the batter was on 26.
He survived a very narrow miss on 42. Owen was at the non-striker’s end and was out of his ground when Cameron Green hit a drive straight back down the pitch and it went through spinner Gudakesh Motie's hands and hit the stumps. After a long delay to check with ultra-edge technology, there was no evidence of any touch from Motie and umpires confirmed Owen was not out.
Green raised his 50 off 25 balls later in the same over with a six and a boundary but was out next ball, caught in the deep off Motie.
Owen scored 50 off 27 deliveries before he was caught out in the deep off Alzarri Joseph’s bowling with Australia needing 15 runs from 21 deliveries and four wickets in hand for victory.
Shimron Hetmyer swiped Owen’s first delivery in international cricket — in the 16th over of the match — over his left shoulder for six in extrordinary fashion. But the young Australian got his first wicket two balls later when Hope mis-timed a slower ball and was caught in the deep after hitting four boundaries and three sixes in a 39-ball innings.
“Fantastic,” Australia skipper Mitch Marsh said of Owen's debut. "Any time you get a young kid that comes in and performs like that in his first game for Australia, it’s always really exciting.
“I’m sure there’ll be lots of people — I think it’s mid-morning back home now — that would’ve watched that and will be really excited. So we’re pumped for him.”
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AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket
Australia players pose with the trophy after day day three of their third Test cricket match against West Indies at Sabina Park in Kingston, Jamaica, Monday, July 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Ricardo Mazalan)
West Indies' Alzarri Joseph bowls against Australia on day two of the third Test cricket match at Sabina Park in Kingston, Jamaica, Sunday, July 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Ricardo Mazalan)
BETHLEHEM, West Bank (AP) — Mohamad Al-Assi ran beneath the concrete wall as the sun rose over Bethlehem. His Nikes pounded the gravel, his breath fogging the air as graffiti and paint splatter blurred past with each stride.
The road along the barrier separating Israel from the occupied West Bank makes up a stretch of a marathon route that Al-Assi and thousands of others ran on Friday. The event is open to people in other parts of the world running in solidarity with the Palestinians and another, shorter race was happening in Gaza.
The race, known as the Palestine Marathon, was held for the first time in three years and was among the first big international events in the West Bank since the start of the Israel-Hamas war. Festivals, conferences and holiday festivities that once drew thousands have been scaled back or canceled because of the war in Gaza and heightened Israeli restrictions.
It marked a turning point for Al-Assi, 27, who was released from Israeli detention six months ago. Video from that day shows him gaunt-faced and hollow-eyed, his once muscular legs weakened after more than two and a half years of prison.
He began training in December, gradually upping his mileage every month since. He ran 62 miles (100 kilometers) that first month, and in April reached 135 miles (217 kilometers), according to his account on the tracking app Strava.
He jogs in the morning after his mother wakes him up in their home in Dheisheh, a Palestinian refugee camp made up of graffiti-covered cinderblock homes in tangled alleyways.
“The main difficulties we face are the cars on the roads and the presence of Israeli security forces along the route where I train,” Al-Assi said.
He had to suspend his training several times because of military operations in the camp.
“I would return home feeling hopeless because I couldn't do what I had intended to do,” Al-Assi said.
In the West Bank, runners cannot complete a 26.2-mile (42.2-kilometer) course without hitting a checkpoint or military gate, which is why Friday's marathon route looped around the same circuit twice.
They ran up through the narrow streets of two Palestinian refugee camps and down to a farming town next to Bethlehem where fields are divided by the concrete wall, barbed wire and cameras. The course hooked back to finish at Bethlehem’s Manger Square.
Organizers say the race highlights restrictions facing Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, where checkpoints can disrupt even routine commutes and where open land for hiking, biking and running is increasingly taken by Israeli settlements and outposts.
“Marathon runners anywhere may ‘hit a wall’ under the physical and emotional strain of completing the 42-kilometer race course," they said on the marathon's website.
But in the West Bank, they added, "runners literally hit the Wall.”
At a time when the West Bank’s economy is struggling and in the shadow of Gaza's fragile ceasefire and stalled rebuilding efforts, the atmosphere in Bethlehem was celebratory. Crowds gathered near the Church of the Nativity to cheer runners at the race's early morning start and finish. Bagpipes blared and drummers pounded out traditional rhythms through streets along the route.
On a beachside road in Nuseirat in central Gaza — which is roughly the length of a marathon — 15 disabled people, including amputees, ran a 2K, and a couple thousand of people ran a 5K. Thirteen years after the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, canceled a 2013 marathon because Hamas forbade women from participating, the women were back.
Haya Alnaji, a 22-year-old woman who ran in the 5K, said the number of people taking part reflected that Palestinians in Gaza were determined to live and persevere despite the devastation wrought by more than two years of war.
“All of Gaza loves sports,” she said.
Al-Assi was arrested in April 2023, and imprisoned under administrative detention, which allows Israel to hold detainees for months without charge. Between 3,000 and 4,000 Palestinians are being held under that system, according to Israeli rights groups and the Palestinian Prisoners Society.
In October 2023, Al-Assi was sentenced for transferring money to suspicious entities, a charge he denies. Israel closely monitors money transfers — particularly to Gaza — for fear that funds could end up in the hands of militants. Palestinians, however, say donations and charitable contributions are often swept up in the dragnet. Israel’s military, Shin Bet and Prison Service did not answer questions about Al-Assi's charges.
In Israeli prisons — where detainees routinely complain of inadequate diets — Al-Assi said nearly everyone goes hungry. The weight he lost eroded the endurance built through 10 years of training.
“I have more muscle mass than fat, so when I lost weight, the loss came from my muscles rather than fat,” he said. “This had a major impact on my physical fitness.”
He also had to regain the mental fortitude to run a marathon.
“I was emotionally shattered after spending such a long period in prison,” he said.
On Friday, he collapsed to his knees, bowing and thanking God after finishing second overall, as supporters and journalists encircled him. He dedicated his run to Palestinians still in Israeli detention.
“After 32 months in prison, Mohamad Al-Assi is first in his class!” he shouted through tears, raising his hands and looking up to the sky.
__ Imad Isseid contributed from Bethlehem, West Bank and Abdel Kareem Hana from Nuseirat, Gaza Strip.
A Palestinian amputee runner takes part in the 2-kilometer Palestine Marathon along the coastal road near Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip, Friday, May 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinian runners take part in the 5-kilometer Palestine Marathon along the coastal road near Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip, Friday, May 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Runners participate in the Palestine Marathon in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Friday, May 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
Runners pass by Israel's separation wall as they compete in the Palestine Marathon in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Friday, May 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
Palestinian Mohamad Al-Assi, who was released from Israeli detention six months ago, runs past Israel's separation wall as he trains ahead of the Palestine Marathon in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Thursday, May 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Sam Metz)
