SPORTTuesday 27 March 2018

Astle mops up tail as Black Caps claim historic

pink ball Test win

Veteran Venus outlasts Bertens toseal Konta clash

PAGE | 32-33 PAGE | 34 PAGE | 36Australia’s Smith

braced for make-or-break week

Qatar’s Adel Abdulla and his navigator Nasser Al Kuwari in action in their Nissan Patrol during the second selective section of the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge through the deserts of Liwa yesterday.

THE PENINSULA

DOHA: Fresh from winning a gold at the Arab Indoor Rowing Cham-pionship in Kuwait, Qatar’s rising star Tala Abu Jabara has now set her sights on winning a medal at the Asian Games to be held this summer in Indonesia.

Abdullah Al Sulaiti, President of Qatar Sailing and Kayaking Feder-ation (QSKF), yesterday welcomed the young athlete and applauded for her ‘brilliant achievement’ in Kuwait saying the Qatari rower would be aiming for more medals at the international level.

Tala said she is ‘aiming to win a medal at the upcoming Asian Games in Jakarta’.

In a statement released yes-terday, Tala said it was easy to aim for the medal but to realise the dream will require a lot of effort in the coming weeks and months.

The 25-year old said: “It would be amazing to win a gold at the Asian Games. It was a great honour to do well in Kuwait. The federation has given me great support. I will continue to bid for more glory.”

“I had put in a great deal of effort in the event held in Kuwait. The hard work I put in helped me to win the medal despite tough competition from other contestants. Some leading athletes from the region were present in Kuwait,” Tala said.

“I will continue to work hard,” she added.

Tala said she is set to con-tinue her training in France

to improve her fitness levels.“I have great ambitions to

achieve more glory for my country,” she said. “I want to supplement my medal by aiming for more in the future,” she said.

Tala also won the gold medal at the 2016 GCC Rowing Champi-onship and at the 12th Arab Rowing Championship held in Tunisia last year.

Al Sulaiti, President of QSKF, said: “Tala is a unique sporting

talent. She possesses great set of skills that allow her to dominate the field of play. She needs more support and encouragement. We are confident that she will continue to improve and do well at the top level.”

The QSKF chief expressed his happiness at the ‘outstanding achievement of Tala’, the first since the silver medal won by Qatar’s Walid Alsharashani at the 2006 Asian Games.

Al Sulaiti said Tala’s memorable achievement was the result of careful planning of the Qatar Olympic Committee (WOC) to back home-grown sporting talent in the country.

A total of eight countries fea-tured in the 2000 paddling event in which Tala produced her per-sonal record of 7.02.7 minutes to clinch gold medal. UAE’s Amana Khalfan took silver medal in the contest.

Gold medallist at the Arab Indoor Rowing Championship, Qatar’s rising star Tala Abu Jabara (centre) poses for a photograph with the President of Qatar Sailing and Kayaking Federation (QSKF), Abdullah Al Sulaiti (right) during a welcoming ceremony at the QSKF Headquarters yesterday.

Rising star Tala eyes Asian Games medal after historic gold in Kuwait

Qatar’s Abdulla grabs T2 stage glory in Desert Challenge THE PENINSULA QASR AL SARAB, UAE: Qatar’s Adel Abdulla

claimed the fastest time in the T2 category

on the 287.92km second selective section

of the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge through

the deserts of Liwa yesterday.

The Qatari driver began the day 30min

33sec behind Saudi rival Ahmed Shegawi in

his rented Nissan Safari Y61 and he and nav-

igator Nasser Al Kuwari reduced that gap

to 29min 24.9sec after crossing the dunes

of the Rub Al Khali in a time of 5hrs 35min

43sec, despite losing over 10 minutes stuck

at the top of a sand dune near the finish.

Following yesterday’s stage win, Abdulla

said: “Today we decided to push more than

yesterday. This car is completely different

to my car. I learned a lot about this car yes-

terday. We caught the leader (Ahmed

Shegawi) and we passed him and we pushed

more and more. But this stage is unbe-

lievably difficult for our cars, as a T2. We

passed many difficult places, you cannot

believe.

“We were, perhaps, leading by 15

minutes but, in the last 30km, I got stuck in

the top of a sand dune. It was my mistake.

I did not take the right gear and we spent

maybe 10 or 15 minutes getting the car out.

The leader then came and passed us.

“We got going again and he stopped

again and we pushed and passed him again.

We managed to take one minute from him

and we will now be in front of him in the

stage for tomorrow. This is a good thing.

There are still three days to go and I am sure

the next one will be very hard. I hope to

close the gap soon,” Abdulla said.

Abdulla is running his T2 programme

with the crucial support of the Qatar gov-

ernment, the Qatar Motor and Motorcycle

Federation (QMMF) and Ooredoo Qatar.

Both Russia’s Yuliya Khegay-Migunova

and Romania’s Claudia Laurentiu Barbu lost

considerable time in the sand dunes and

slipped behind further behind their T2 rivals,

with the latter stopping close to the stage

start and the Russian incurring time pen-

alties after the previous stage.

Competitors will tackle the third desert

special and the second of three loops stages

through the UAE deserts today.

The timed section will run for 281.27km.

2018 ABU DHABI DESERT CHALLENGE – T2 POSITIONS AFTER SS2:1. Ahmed Al Shegawi (SAU)/Laurent Lichtleuchter (FRA) Toyota Land Cruiser 10hrs 00min 23.7sec2. Adel Abdulla (QAT)/Nasser Al Kuwari (QAT) Nissan Patrol 10hrs 29min 48.6sec3. Yuliya Khegay-Migunova (RUS)/Aldis Vilcans (LVA) Toyota LC 200 20hrs 21min 44.5sec4. Laurentiu-Claudiu Barbu (ROU)/Paul-Nicusor Spirodon (ROU) Nissan Navara 239hrs 01min 34.0sec

Golf: Cockburn wins Qatar Senior OpenQNA

DOHA: Scotland’s Fraser Cockburn claimed the third edition of

Qatar Senior Open Golf Championship 2018, held at the Doha

Golf Club.

While Cockburn scored plus four, former Indian cricket captain

Kapil Dev finished second with a total score of plus five. Swe-

den’s Claes Byberg was third with a total of plus six. The tour-

nament, which is the first in the region for the senior golfers, saw

143 players from around the world compete.

Qatar Golf Association General Secretary Fahad bin Nasser

Al Naimi, who awarded the winners, said the championship was

unique and have a very good reputation among golf champion-

ships in the region.

Olympic team to meet Oman in friendly QNA

DOHA: Qatari Olympic football team will play a friendly match

against Oman today at No. 5 stadium in Aspire.

The match is part of the Qatari team’s preparations for the

upcoming entitlements, which include the Asian Games in Jakarta

and the U-22 Asian Cup. The Olympic team coach Unai Melgosa

has called a list of 27 players for the current camp.

Al Rayyan play Al Wakrah todayQNA

DOHA: Al Rayyan are scheduled to play a friendly against Al

Wakrah today, as part of preparations for their AFC Champions

League match against Iran’s Esteghlal to be played in Tehran on

April 2.

The friendly with Second Division runners-up Al Wakrah will

kick off at the Al Rayyan Stadium at 6.30pm.

The match will help the technical staff led by Michael Laudrup assess

the readiness of players ahead of the crucial game against Esteghlal.

30 TUESDAY 27 MARCH 2018SPORT

Ferrari’s German driver Sebastian Vettel gets his tyres changed during the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne on Sunday.

Motor racing: Haas shows class, then farce in AustraliaREUTERS

MELBOURNE: A weekend that began with back-slapping and high-fives for Haas after their best ever Formula One qualifying finished with ‘heartbreak’ and fines after both the team’s cars retired before the halfway mark of the Australian Grand Prix.

Danish driver Kevin Mag-nussen started Sunday’s race at Albert Park in fifth place with French team mate Romain Grosjean lining up in sixth after Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo took a three place drop.

They were running fourth and fifth prior to their first pitstops where it all went wrong.

There was obvious alarm from the mechanics as the cars were released, and they each rolled to a halt before completing another lap.

The team revealed later that it had committed the same mistake twice, failing to properly fasten wheels on each car after changing their tyres.

“It was just a bad pit stop,” said team principal Guenther Steiner.

“The wheelnut was on but it was cross-threaded. That doesn’t tighten the wheel up but for the mechanic, it feels like it is tightened and it wasn’t.”

The stewards imposed fines of €4,000 ($6000 approx) for each incident, adding another sting to the drivers’ huge disappointment at the season-opening race won by Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel.

“It’s a very tough one to swallow for the whole team,” said Magnussen.

“To have both cars not fin-ishing - having been in such good positions and with so much antic-ipation - it’s just heartbreaking to finish like that.”

Steiner said it was “almost unbelievable” for both cars to suffer the same fate in one race but put the blame down to a lack of pitstop practice and shortage of spare tyres.

“This weekend was very intense for us, we had issues in FP1 and FP2,” said Steiner of Friday’s free practice sessions.

“When we get to Bahrain (we need) to start as quickly as pos-sible to practice there.

“A lot of people who are part of the pit crew are leaving early to set up out there so you never have a full crew. If you train with a half crew, it can be even worse.”

Haas Team’s Formula One driver Romain Grosjean is seen before the race at the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne on Sunday.

Stung Mercedes vow to bounce back after ‘one that got away’AFP

MELBOURNE: Mercedes have vowed to bounce back in Bahrain next month after throwing away Sunday’s season-opening Australian Grand Prix to Ferrari, with team boss Toto Wolff admitting it was tough to take.

Sebastian Vettel got the jump on world champion Lewis Hamilton as Mercedes blun-dered their calculations on the Ferrari ace’s pit stop under Virtual Safety Car (VSC) conditions.

Vettel went on to keep Hamilton at bay for his second straight win in Melbourne and third overall.

It’s a defeat that sticks in the craw of Mercedes and team principal Wolff, who is deter-mined the champion team will not repeat the same error again.

“This was one that got away and it’s a bitter pill for us all to swallow,” Wolff said.

“Following Lewis’s pit stop, we believed that we had the scenarios of both the safety car and the virtual safety car covered, so that Sebastian could not pit and come out ahead of Lewis on track.

“We should have been several seconds safe, then sud-denly saw on the TV screens that we were not.

“Of course, under the VSC sometimes you benefit and sometimes you lose out -- but it was clearly a problem on our side and we need to analyse that to understand what hap-pened and correct it.”

Wolff said what was partic-ularly frustrating was that Mer-cedes had the pace to win the Melbourne race.

“Lewis was in control through the opening stint, then after the pit stop as well, and looked on course for a strong victory but it wasn’t to be,” he said.

“Congratulations to Ferrari on their win. For us, it’s a tough one to take, but there are lots of lessons to be learned so we can come back stronger next time.”

Mercedes have already set their sights on the second race of the season in Bahrain on April 8.

Hamilton said he was bewildered to find himself

behind as Vettel emerged from the pits to hold on to the lead around the notoriously-restrictive Albert Park street circuit.

“I did everything I could, but it’s not what anyone expected to happen,” said the Briton.

“I’m still in a little bit of dis-belief as I don’t really under-stand what happened yet.

“At least in my heart I know that I gave everything this weekend. I’m sure the team is feeling pain right now but we will regroup and we’ll work on it.”

For his part Vettel believes Ferrari’s 2018 car is not cur-rently “a true match” for Mer-cedes, despite having won the first race.

Vettel and teammate Kimi Raikkonen had been unable to challenge Hamilton in Mel-bourne qualifying, both fin-ishing almost seven-tenths of a second off the defending champion.

The German conceded he was “a bit lucky” to win, and admitted Ferrari was not yet where it wanted to be.

“If you look at the gaps the whole weekend, we are not yet a true match (for Mercedes),” he said.

“Therefore at this point we know that we are not yet where we want to be, because we want to be fastest.”

Ferrari’s German driver Sebastian Vettel (centre), second-placed Mercedes’ British driver Lewis Hamilton (left) and third-placed Ferrari’s Finnish driver Kimi Raikkonen attend a press conference after the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne on Sunday.

MELBOURNE: Sebastian Vettel in a Ferrari won the Australian Grand Prix at the weekend. Here are five things we learned from Formula One’s season opener:

** Hamilton still the man to beat - While Sebastian Vettel’s win was a great boost for Ferrari, the

Italian team will know they enjoyed a huge slice of luck and are still playing catch-up with the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton. Hamilton was blisteringly quick as he grabbed pole position by the massive margin of more than half a second and would have cruised to victory had the virtual safety car not allowed Vettel to snatch the lead. Hamilton was still able to close on Vettel at will and only the impossibility of over-taking at Albert Park -- statistically the second most difficult passing circuit on the calendar -- caused the reigning champion to back off in the closing laps and save his engine for another day.

** Then there were three - Red Bull showed signs that alongside Ferrari -- who had two men on

the podium -- they can make it a three-way fight for the constructors title with Mercedes this year. Daniel Ricciardo was all over the back of Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari and only just missed out on the podium after fighting back from eighth position on the grid after a penalty. Max Verstappen, who worked his way back to sixth after spinning early in the race, is not likely to endure such an untidy grand prix again.

** Alonso happy to ditch Honda - Two-time world champion Fernando Alonso spent most of last

season complaining about his McLaren’s Honda engine on team radio. But the switch to a Renault power unit seems to have put a spring in his step of the Spaniard as he finished a fighting fifth with teammate Stoffel Vandoorne also scoring points in ninth. “With some updates to come in the next few races we can start to look ahead a little bit and Red Bull will be the next target,” Alonso smiled after the race. “Things are going to get better and better.”

** Haas retirements mask their speed - The American team carried their surprising speed from

pre-season testing into the race where Haas’s Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean ran just behind Hamilton and the Ferraris but held off the rest of the pack with ease -- at least until they had to stop for new tyres. Two disastrous pit stops meant two retirements due to loosely attached wheels with both cars grinding to a halt out on the circuit after looking on course for top-five finishes. No prizes for guessing what the Haas pit crews will be practising ahead of Bahrain in two weeks’ time.

** Sirotkin bags some bad luck - Sergey Sirotkin’s Formula One debut lasted just five laps when

his Williams conked out at turn 13 with a sudden loss of braking. So was it a loss of hydraulics that caused his demise? Far from it, the Russian said, it was all down to a spectator’s sandwich. Sirotkin was convinced a sandwich wrapping being sucked into the brake duct was to blame. “You would not believe what happened: it was a plastic sandwich bag, which went into the rear-right brake duct,” he complained. “Yes, that’s how exciting it is. It was a big bag, a big sandwich bag.”

Five things we learned from the Australian GP

31TUESDAY 27 MARCH 2018 SPORT

Brazil’s defender Marcelo (left) attends a training session ahead of today’s friendly match against Germany in Berlin. The two teams are preparing for the 2018 FIFA World Cup to be held in Russia this summer.

Below strength Germany serious for Brazil: BoatengAFP

BERLIN: Jerome Boateng insists Germany see today’s friendly against Brazil in Berlin as an important test despite coach Joachim Loew planning a string of changes.

Loew revealed that Bar-celona goalkeeper Marc-Andre Ter Stegen will be rested, leaving Kevin Trapp and Bernd Leno to play a half each at Berlin’s Olympic Stadium.

As first-choice Manuel Neuer is recovering from a frac-tured foot it effectively means Germany will field their third and fourth choice goalkeepers against the South American giants.

Hertha Berlin’s Marvin Plat-tenhardt will also make only his sixth international appearance

at left-back. Stars Mesut Ozil and Thomas Mueller have been released by Loew to rest while Manchester City pair Leroy Sane and Ilkay Gundogan are expected to face Brazil.

Boateng, who was born in Berlin, will captain Germany in his home city if Juventus mid-fielder Sami Khedira fails to recover from a back knock.

The Bayern Munich defender played down the resting of World Cup winners Ozil and Mueller.

“Despite that, it is still an important game and there are other reasons Mueller and Ozil aren’t here anymore,” said Boateng.

“They have both played a lot this season and they shouldn’t be over played.

“Those involved don’t

always play for the national team, but in games like this you can test things, the Brazilians are also missing players.”

This will be the first time Germany face Brazil at senior international level since the Selecao were hammered 7-1 in the semi-finals of the 2014 World Cup.

Brazil coach Tite has included five survivors -- Marcelo, Fernandinho, Willian, Fred and Paulinho -- from the squad mauled by the Germans in 2014.

Fernandinho is expected to replace Douglas Costa in the only change from the team which beat Russia 3-0 in Moscow on Friday without the injured Neymar.

Russia will host the 2018 FIFA World Cup this summer.

Coach Loew decides to play fringe players against BrazilREUTERS

BERLIN: World champions Germany will be far from full strength when they host Brazil in their international friendly today, with coach Joachim Loew planning to field a second-string team as he tests ahead of the World Cup.

The last time these two teams, who have won the world title a combined nine times, met was at the 2014 World Cup when Germany stunned the sports world with a 7-1 demolition of hosts Brazil in the semi-final.

But fewer fireworks are expected this time with both nations missing key players and busy tinkering with their prep-arations for the World Cup in Russia which begins in June.

Brazil, who have lost just once in the 17 matches since coach Tite took over, will be missing injured Neymar while the Germans are without Mesut Ozil, Thomas Mueller and Manuel Neuer among others.

Midfielder Emre Can has also been ruled out with a back injury while Sami Khedira is doubtful after picking up a minor knock against Spain on Friday, Loew said.

Marc Andre ter Stegen, the starting keeper in the absence of Neuer, will also be given a rest.

“Marc will have a break because he has a bit of a knee

issue and maybe it is good to have a break for a couple of days,” Loew told reporters.

He also said Marvin Platten-hardt would replace Jonas

Hector at full back while Leroy Sane and Ilkay Guendogan would start as Germany aim to equal their unbeaten run of 23 matches dating back from

1978-80.Loew added the game was

more an opportunity to exper-iment rather than a rematch of four years ago.

“For us that match does not play as big a role as it does in Brazil,” he said. “Disappointment was obviously big, especially as the host nation.

“Now Brazil may have some thoughts of revenge but you cannot really do that because you cannot bring that semi-final back. But Brazil have improved.”

Tite took over in 2016 and apart from a friendly loss to Argentina, his team have gone unbeaten since then.

“They have improved con-siderably,” said Loew.

“They have reinvented themselves in the past two or three years.

“They are very disciplined, they are all defending and their attack is among the best in the world. Even Neymar and Philippe Coutinho -- both attacking players -- work extremely hard at the back. The coach has succeeded in making them more stable.”

The five-times world cham-pions kick off their World Cup campaign against Switzerland on June 17 before facing Costa Rica and Serbia.

The Germans have been drawn in Group F of the tour-nament, along with Mexico, South Korea and Sweden.

Boban died of heart attack after struck by ball: ReportREUTERS

ZAGREB: An autopsy showed that Croatian third division football player Bruno Boban died of a heart attack on Saturday after he was struck by the ball in the chest from close range, Croatian media reported yesterday.

The 25-year old Marsonija winger collapsed in the 15th minute of their match against his former club Slavonija and was pro-nounced dead after both teams’ coaching staff and paramedics had frantically tried to resuscitate him for 40 minutes.

The Index news website (www.index.hr), which reported the cause of death as a heart attack.

At the time of his death, Boban was the top scorer in the third division’s section east with 12 goals and Marsonija were fifth in the standings with 30 points from 17 games.

Boban had played for Slavonija from 2014 to 2016 before joining his brother Gabrijel at then top-tier side NK Zagreb. He moved to Marsonija earlier this year.

Several high-profile Croatian internationals extended their condolences to the Boban family on social media, with striker Mario Mandzukic saying: “Rest in peace Bruno and my deepest condolences to the Boban family as well as to all his friends and team-mates.”

It was the first high-profile soccer death in Croatia since Zadar forward Hrvoje Custic struck a concrete wall with his head during a first division match with Cibalija Vinkovci in April 2008. The 24-year old died of brain injuries five days later.

World Cup star Diego Maradona is seen with FIFA President Gianni Infantino, Hernan Crespo, Christian Karembeu, Angelo Peruzzi and Faustino Asprilla during the Hublot Match of Friendship match played in Basel, Switzerland, in this March 21, 2018 file photo.

Infantino promises ‘fair’ WC bidding processREUTERS

ZURICH: FIFA President Gianni Infantino described the bid process for the 2026 World Cup as “fair, objective and transparent” after the global soccer body announced it had received bid books from two candidates yesterday. FIFA, which is due to choose the hosts at its annual Congress in Moscow in June, said in a statement it had received one bid from Morocco and a joint bid from the United States, Canada and Mexico. The two bids will be evaluated by a task force which will visit all the potential host nations, FIFA added.

“I challenge anyone to point out an organisation that conducts a bidding process as fair, objective and transparent as the one that FIFA is carrying out for the 2026 FIFA World Cup,” Infantino said in the statement.

“FIFA has been heavily criticised for how it conducted the selection of hosts in the past; it was our obligation to learn from this and leave no room for any doubt or subjectivity,” he added.

“This is why the rules of this process... include the highest standards in terms of ethical conduct, participation and commitment to sustain-ability and human rights.”

The task force will use a point-scoring system to evaluate the two candidates and a bid which does not meet a minimum score on a number of different points will be disqualified before the final vote.

The FIFA Council, formerly known as the executive committee, also has the power to reject a bid before it reaches the Congress.

“Every single step is documented and open to the public: from the submission of the bid books through each round of assessment to the decision-making process,” FIFA Secretary General Fatma Samoura said yesterday.

‘Ghost’ of 7-1 Germany mauling still haunts Brazil, says TiteAFP

BERLIN: Brazil coach Tite (pictured) says the “ghost” of their 7-1 mauling by Germany at the 2014 World Cup still haunts the ‘Selecao’, as the teams prepare to meet today.

Brazil suffered their heaviest home defeat when Germany hit four goals in six devastating first-half minutes of the Belo Horizonte semi-final nearly four years ago.

Toni Kroos and Andre Schuerrle both scored twice over the 90 minutes as Germany’s attack ran riot en route to winning the World Cup title. The teams meet in a friendly for the first time since at Berlin’s Olympic Stadium and Tite says Brazil still bear the scars.

“This has a huge psychological meaning - no one needs to fool themselves about that,” Tite told German magazine Kicker. “The 7-1 from the World Cup is like a ghost. “It’s present, people still talk about it, but the more you talk about it, the less this ‘ghost’ disappears. It won’t just be a sporting

challenge, but a huge emotional challenge too. We are preparing to give our best performance, which will be important, but of course I also want a good result.”

Tite has been in charge of Brazil since 2016, but Felipe Scolari was head coach for the mauling by Germany at the last World Cup.

“I was watching the game at home in Sao Paulo with my wife and after the third goal went in, she

started to cry,” said the 56-year-old Tite. “That started me off. It was a moment of great inspiration for Germany, every shot was a goal - stuff like that doesn’t even happen in video games.

“Sometimes you get that in football, a team comes close to perfection and that’s what happened to Germany. The wound is still open and the match in Berlin is a part of the process of closing it.”

Germany lost to Brazil on penalties in the men’s final of the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, but this is their first meeting at senior international level since the 7-1 rout.

Germany’s head coach Joachim Loew reacts during the international friendly match against Spain in Duesseldorf, western Germany, in this file photo taken on March 23, 2018.

REUTERS

MUMBAI: Australia’s long held belief that they play their cricket “hard but fair” would appear to have little truck outside their own country if the splenetic reac-tion to the Cape Town ball-tampering scandal is anything to go by.

The intense interest in the incident around the world reflects not only sur-prise at Steve Smith blithely admitting the conspiracy to cheat but also a per-ception that the Australian team are serial offenders in bending and break-ing the rules.

Australia captain Smith and his team mates have been rendered friendless in the cricketing world since he and Cam-eron Bancroft’s admission on Saturday

that they had planned to tamper with the ball in the third Test

against South Africa.

The Times of India, the cricketing superpower’s best

selling English daily, called the Australia side “Repeat Offenders”, listing six other controversial incidents they have been involved in the past.

The news of the stepping down of Smith and his vice captain David Warner for the

remainder of the Test won by the hosts on Sunday was the top story for the daily and was prominently placed on

the front pages of most newspapers in India on Monday. Australia have always

asserted they do not use underhand means and never cross the ‘line’ -- be it in sledg-ing opposition players on the field or the aggression they show towards them.

The perception the rest of the world has is that the so-called ‘line’ can soon shift when the Australian players are on the receiving end.

“Clearly Australian team’s track record of its conduct on & off the field coming into play here,” former India Test batsman and television pundit Sanjay Manjrekar tweeted.

“(Cricket Australia) must not look at this incident in isolation but see if this team is creating the right image of its nation. They have a far more crucial role to play here than the ICC (International Cricket Council).”

Twitter users reminded the world of Smith’s “brain fade” during the second Test in India in Bengaluru last year when opposition captain Virat Kohli stopped just short of calling his counterpart a “cheat”.

Smith and batting partner Peter Handscomb were caught looking towards the area outside Australia’s dressing room, where television replays can be seen,

while discussing whether to review a ver-dict, prompting the umpire to intervene.

Kohli accused Smith and his team of looking towards the players’ area on numerous occasions but the Australia cap-tain rubbished the home skipper’s claims.

In Cape Town on Saturday, Smith asserted Bancroft’s use of the tape and dirt to change the condition of the ball had been a tactic used for the first time by an Aus-tralian team.

There was no shortage of cricketers and pundits ready to challenge that line.

Fast bowler Stuart Broad, who played in all five Tests of England’s recent 4-0 defeat in Australia, was one of them.

“I saw Steve Smith in his press confer-ence say it’s the first time they’ve tried it -- which to me, it’s surprising why they’d change a method that’s been working,” Broad told reporters in Auckland.

“Look at the Ashes series we’ve just played, all those Test matches, and they’ve reverse-swung the ball sometimes in con-ditions you wouldn’t expect it to. I don’t understand why they’ve changed their method for this one game.

“(But) there was no evidence that they were doing this in the Ashes series, from what I’ve seen.”

Cricket Australia’s official complaint to their South African counterparts over verbal abuse aimed at their players by the crowd during the series was also seen as hypocritical.

There was a heated exchange at tea on the fourth day of the first Test in Durban, when Warner accused South Africa wick-etkeeper Quinton de Kock of making comments about his wife, Candice.

The Australian players accused their opponents of crossing the line in making personal comments while coach Darren Lehmann called the crowd behaviour “disgraceful”.

Lehmann was the same man who iden-tified Broad as a target for crowds Down Under to abuse during the 2013 Ashes, which England lost 5-0.

“I’ve always been a bit of a believer, in sport... if someone wants to take you on verbally... then you’re allowed to say some-thing back,” Broad said.

“Just from the outside, it looks like Aus-tralia have started a lot of fights and are moaning when someone comes back.

“Any England player, or probably media, that have toured Australia can laugh at those comments really, because some of the comments we hear on the pitch by Australian supporters.

“Having toured South Africa, I know it’s worse than South Africa.”

32 TUESDAY 27 MARCH 2018SPORT 33TUESDAY 27 MARCH 2018 SPORT

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Australia face scorn overball-tampering shame

This photo shows Australian cricket captain Steve Smith on the front pages of the major newspapers in Sydney yesterday. Australia’s cricketers have heaped disgrace and

humiliation on the country, the local press said in blasting the “rotten” team culture under the current leadership following captain Steve Smith admitting he cheated by

hatching a plot to tamper with the ball during the third Test against South Africa in Cape Town on Saturday.

Smith braced for make-or-break week AFP

CAPE TOWN: Embattled Steve Smith was yester-d a y f a c i n g a career-defining week which is likely to see him deposed as Australia captain and slapped with a lengthy suspension after admitting being the mastermind of the ball-tampering scandal which has rocked cricket.

Smith, 28, stood down from his role as skipper for the remain-der of the third Test against South Africa on Sunday and was then banned for one match by the ICC.

His team’s weekend of shame then ended in a crushing 322-run rout. Set an unlikely 430 to win, Australia were bowled out for a paltry 107 with fast bowler Morne Morkel taking five for 23.

Now Smith is expected to face a harsh sanction from under-pressure Cricket Australia for his role in the plot which saw team-mate Cameron Bancroft tamper with the ball by using yellow sticky tape before desperately trying to conceal the evidence down the front of his trousers.

“A little birdie tells me that the weak ICC punishment isn’t any-where near what Cricket Australia is thinking,” tweeted former England star Kevin Pietersen.

Smith, whose talents with the bat have drawn breathless comparisons with Aussie great Don Bradman, is not the only man caught in the crosshairs.

David Warner also stood down from his role as vice-captain on Sun-day while questions remain over coach Dar-ren Lehmann although Smith said the former Australian international was not involved in the conspiracy.

“It’s been a horrible 24 hours -- I want to apologise to our fans and those back home,” said Tim Paine who was handed the stand-in skipper role on Sunday.

“We’re strug-gling but the reality and the enormity of what’s happened has probably started to sink in. I don’t think we expected this to be as big as it has been, the fall-out we have seen from back home.”

Smith, also docked 100 percent of his match fee by the ICC,

will definitely miss the fourth and final Test in Johannesburg from Fri-day due to his ban.

However, Bancroft, the 25-year-old opening batsman, escaped an ICC suspension. He was instead fined 75 percent of his fee, warned and hit by three demerit points.

“The decision made by the leadership group of the Australian team to act in this way is clearly contrary to the spirit of the game, risks causing significant damage to the integrity of the match, the players and the sport itself and is therefore ‘serious’ in nature,” said ICC chief executive David Richardson.

“As captain, Steve Smith must take full responsibility for the actions of his players and it is appropriate that he be suspended.”

Smith, who was out for just seven runs on Sunday, Warner and Bancroft were loudly booed by fans during Australia’s second-innings surrender.

Australia’s admission of cheating brought a firestorm of anger down upon them.

“We all woke up this morning

shocked and bitterly dis-appointed by the news from South Africa,” said Australian Prime Minis-ter Malcolm Turnbull.

“It seemed com-pletely beyond belief that the Australian cricket team had been involved in cheating.”

Cricket Australia (CA) chief James Sutherland issued an apology to fans.

“To our Australian cricket fans, we are sorry,” said Sutherland.

“This behaviour calls into question the integ-rity of the team and Cricket Australia.”

South Africa captain Faf du Plessis, who has himself twice been sanc-tioned for ball-related offences, gave Smith qualified support for coming clean.

“Obviously he’s try-ing to take responsibility so there is right in that but there’s also a right in that people are respon-sible for their own actions,” he said Sunday.

Smith had insisted on Saturday he wouldn’t resign the captaincy he has held for three years since succeeding Michael Clarke.

Smith admitted on Saturday to having com-mitted “a big mistake” and took responsibility for Bancroft’s actions, admitting he was involved in planning the move at lunchtime with “the leadership group”.

“I’m not proud of what happened. It’s not in the spirit of the game,” he said.

AFP

NEW DELHI: Indian Premier League side Rajasthan Royals yesterday replaced Australia’s Steve Smith as captain over his role in a ball-tamper-ing controversy.

Smith, who is on a $1.9m contract with the Royals, will be replaced by India’s Ajinkya Rahane as skipper for the new IPL season starting April 7.

“Steve believes given the current circumstances it’s in the best interest of the Rajasthan Royals that he steps down as captain so the team can get ready for the start of the IPL ithout the ongoing distractions,” the club said.

Australia captain Smith, 28, was banned for one Test by the Interna-tional Cricket Council after admitting that he and a group of his players planned ball tampering during the third Test against South Africa.

“The incident in Cape Town has certainly disturbed the cricket world. We have been in constant touch with the BCCI and taken their counsel. Fur-thermore we have been in regular contact with Steve,” said Zubin Bharucha, Royals head of cricket.

Rajasthan Royals won the inaugu-ral IPL 11 years ago under Shane Warne but this year are returning from a two-year ban for corruption, which increased pressure on the franchise for action over Smith.

“Rajasthan Royals will do every-thing possible to protect the values and the integrity of the game,” said the team’s co-owner Manoj Badale.

“We agree with Steve’s decision to step down as captain, and we are for-tunate to have such a capable successor with Ajinkya Rahane.”

Badale added: “What happened in South Africa was clearly wrong, espe-cially given that it appears to have been pre-meditated. That said, this will be a difficult time for Steve as well, given how much he cares about the game.”

Smith is a hugely popular player in India and last year featured for Ris-ing Pune Supergiants alongside England’s Ben Stokes, who is also with the Royals this year.

Australia’s senior opening batsman David Warner stepped down from the vice-captain’s post over the scandal but escaped punishment by the ICC. A decision on Warner’s role as skipper of IPL side Sunrisers Hyderabad is awaited.

AP

SYDNEY: The cheating confession that scandalised a nation has trig-gered an investigation destined to go way deeper than merely scratching the surface of the culture within Australia’s cricket team.

It was the scratching of a cricket ball’s leather surface that sparked the problems.

And so a team that has por-trayed itself as the exemplar of what constitutes “the spirit” of the game should expect nothing less than the scorn it has worn since making a mockery of the rules.

Not simply because Cameron Bancroft tried to tamper with the ball during the third cricket Test against South Africa in Cape Town over the weekend. But because captain Steve Smith and other team leaders were involved in the con-spiracy to cheat.

As Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull says, the Australian crick-eters are role models “for the whole nation who hold those who wear the baggy green (cap) up on a pedestal.”

“And cricket is synonymous with fair play,” he said.

Not for now, at least under close scrutiny. The International Cricket Council has banned Smith from the fourth Test starting Fri-day in Johannesburg for his part in bringing the sport into disrepute. Bancroft was sanctioned for tam-pering with the ball by rubbing it with granules of dirt stuck to yel-low tape. But the penalty isn’t enough to rule him out of the next game.

That’s where the Australian public is demanding Cricket Aus-tralia step in.

Consensus among fans and former players was that the Cape Town episode was indefensible and inexcusable. Opinions were divided on what the ramifications should be.

Cricket Australia chief execu-tive James Sutherland flew to South Africa yesterday and was set to land one day after his chief integrity officer and his high-performance manager arrived to start an urgent investigation.

“We know Australians want answers and we will keep you

updated on our findings and next steps, as a matter of urgency,” Suth-erland said.

Traditional media and social media have been swamped for two days with people expressing shock and outrage at their team. Many Australians say that after taking the moral high ground when it comes to cheating, they’re now exposed to allegations of hypocrisy.

Some want Cricket Australia to fire Smith as captain. Others have called for a life ban for the No. 1-ranked batsman in Test cricket.

Speculation became so intense about instant terminations yester-day that Cricket Australia issued a statement saying no players had been sent home from South Africa, where the team trails 2-1 in a four-Test series.

Andrew Bogut, the long-time NBA player who has represented Australia in basketball at three Olympics, was in a minority offer-ing a counterpoint.

“Can the sports media do us all a favour?? We will give you tomor-row (Monday) and maybe even Tuesday, max, to rant and rave all day about the Cricket cheating debacle. Then simmer it down....dont want to hear about (it) for the next 3 months,” Bogut posted on Twitter.

That’s not going to happen.One of Bogut’s first retweets

following his cricket post refer-enced another low point for the game, when then Australia captain Greg Chappell instructed his brother, Trevor, to bowl an under-arm delivery to reduce any chance New Zealand had of winning a one-day international in 1981. At the time, the underarm bowl wasn’t outlawed, although the rules have been rewritten.

“They’ll be lucky if it only lin-gers for three months. The Kiwis still carry on as (if) the 1981 under-arm scandal was yesterday, and that (though pretty dodgy) was actually legal,” Karen Sweeney wrote in the post that Bogut retweeted.

Other international teams have been found guilty of ball tamper-ing, and players everywhere concede that it happens.

Former England captain Michael Atherton once used dirt in his pocket to rough up the ball. A Pakistan player attempted to bite one side of the ball to make it rougher. Current South Africa cap-tain Faf du Plessis has twice been charged with ball tampering - once by scratching it with a zipper and another by putting his fingers in his mouth while sucking candy and wiping the stickiness into the leather.

Australia captain Smith and his team mates have been rendered friendless in the cricketing world since he and Cam-eron Bancroft’s admission on Saturday

that they had planned to tamper with the ball in the third Test

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star Kevin Pietersen.Smith, whose talents

with the bat have drawnbreathless comparisons with Aussie great DonBradman, is not the only man caught in thecrosshairs.

David Warner alsostood down from his role as vice-captain on Sun-day while questionsremain over coach Dar-ren Lehmann althoughSmith said the former Australian international was not involved in the conspiracy.

“It’s been a horrible 24 hours -- I want toapologise to our fans and those backhome,” said Tim Paine who washanded the stand-in skipper role on Sunday.

“We’re strug-gling but the realityand the enormity of what’s happened has probably started to sink in. I don’t think weexpected this to be as bigas it has been, the fall-outwe have seen from back home.”

Smith, also docked 100 percent of his match fee by the ICC,

Australia’s second-innings surrender.

Australia’s admission of cheating brought afirestorm of anger downupon them.

“We all woke upthis morning

“I’m not proud of what happened. It’s not in the spirit of the game,” he said.

A little birdie tells me that the weak ICC punishment isn’t anywhere near what Cricket Australia is thinking: Kevin Pietersen on Twitter.

The decision made by the leadership group of the Australian team to act in this way is clearly contrary to the spirit of the game, risks causing significant damage to the integrity of the match, the players and the sport itself and is therefore ‘serious’ in nature: ICC Chief Executive David Richardson.

Ball-tampering has always been part of the game, so we should be careful not to get

too holier-than-thou. But what makes the Australians’ behaviour in Cape Town different

from other instances, I believe, is the premeditated nature of the crime: Former

England skipper Nasser Hussain

Smith, 28, stood down from his role as skipper for the remainder of the third Test against South Africa on Sunday and was then banned for one match by the ICC.

Hussain slams Australian ‘double standards’ over ball scandal AFP

LONDON: Ex-England skipper Nasser Hussain says the premeditated nature of Australia’s ball-tampering sets it apart from previous cases of cheat-ing in cricket and is adamant that captain Steve Smith must shoulder lots of the blame.

Smith, 28, was banned for one Test by the International Cricket Council after admitting he and a group of his players planned ball tampering during the third Test against South Africa.

He is expected to face a harsh sanction from Cricket Australia for his role in the plot, which saw team-mate Cameron Bancroft tamper with the ball by using yellow sticky tape, before desperately trying to conceal the evi-dence down the front of his trousers.

“Ball-tampering has always been part of the game, so we should be careful not to get too holier-than-thou,” Hussain wrote in a column for Britain’s Daily Mail newspaper.

“But what makes the Australians’ behaviour in Cape Town different from other instances, I believe, is the premeditated nature of the crime.

“Steve Smith and his ‘leadership group’ sat down at lunch on the third day of the Test and decided that the team’s youngest player, Cameron Bancroft, would do the dirty work.”

Hussain lambasted the “double standards” of the Australian side, referring to a recent sledging row involving batsman David Warner.

“Some of the stuff he was alleged to have said to England’s play-ers during the Ashes was way too personal,” said Hussain, who captained England from 1999 until 2003.

“Yet the moment any-one has a go at him, he starts bleating about where the line is.”

The former England skipper said Smith must be held to account for his role in the scandal.

“He finds himself in charge of a very good cricket team but a team that are not especially popular, even back home in Australia,” he wrote.

“It’s not necessarily the cap-tain’s job to be popular, but it is his job to ensure his side are play-ing within the spirit of the game.

“It will be very difficult for Smith now to carry on as cap-tain once he returns from his one-match ban. Do a cricketing nation as proud as Australia really want a c h e a t i n charge? I just can’t see it.

REUTERS

AUCKLAND: The ball tampering scandal by Australia was disappointing for cricket said England captain Joe Root, but he was unaware of Steve Smith’s side employing similar tactics during the recent Ashes series.

Smith stood down from his post as cap-tain and was banned for one Test match by the International Cricket Council (ICC) on Sunday after admitting conspiring to tamper with the ball during the third Test against South Africa in Cape Town.

Unsourced media reports in Britain have said that some England players had suspi-cions over whether Australia had doctored the ball during their 4-0 series victory, but Root quickly knocked that down yesterday.

“Not to my knowledge. I was not aware of any ball tampering,” Root told reporters in Auckland after his side crashed to an innings and 49-run loss to New Zealand in the first Test. “I have enough to worry about... but it’s disappointing for Test cricket and cricket in general.”

England pace bowler Stuart Broad had also said that he was unaware of any tam-pering by Australia’s bowlers, despite the fact they were able to get reverse swing in conditions that were not usually conducive to being able to do so.

Root added that while the burden of responsibility for teams’ behaviour always fell upon the captain, some of it rested with the players themselves.

IPL: Rahane replaces Smith as Rajasthan Royals captain

Root does not suspect of ball-tampering during Ashes

This video screenshot shows Australia’s Cameron Bancroft desperately

trying to conceal the evidence down the front of his trousers after

tampering with the ball by using yellow sticky tape during the third

Test against South Africa in Cape Town on Saturday.

Scratching the surface reveals Australian cricket cheaters

“Some of the stuff he was allegedhave said to England’s play-s during the Ashes was wayo personal,” said Hussain, ho captained England om 1999 until 2003.

“Yet the moment any-ne has a go at him, hearts bleating about here the line is.”

The former England ipper said Smith must be ld to account for his role the scandal.

“He finds himself in arge of a very good cricket am but a team that are not pecially popular, even backme in Australia,” he wrote.

“It’s not necessarily the cap-in’s job to be popular, but it iss job to ensure his side are play-g within the spirit of the game.

“It will be very difficult for mith now to carry on as cap-

n once he returns from his sne-match ban. Do a icketing nation asoud as Australia ally want a

h e a t i nharge? Ist can’te it.

Former England

skipper and cricket

pundit Nasser Hussain

Australia’s Steve Smith

34 TUESDAY 27 MARCH 2018SPORT

REUTERS

AUCKLAND: Recalled leg-spinner Todd Astle captured two wickets in the final session as New Zealand recorded an innings and 49-run victory over England in a day-night test at Eden Park to take a 1-0 lead in the two-match series.

Astle, who was recalled to replace the injured Mitchell Santner, had Craig Overton trapped in front before he ended the test when Jimmy Anderson was caught by Trent Boult at mid-off to give New Zealand just their 10th test victory over England.

Paceman Neil Wagner’s short-pitched tactics proved effective again as he dismissed both Ben Stokes and Chris Woakes, who had each scored defiant half-centuries and threatened to save the match for the visitors.

Wagner finished with 3-77, while Boult, who took 6-32 in the first innings, took 3-67. Astle fin-ished with 3-39.

“It was a fantastic per-formance from us. If we go back to that first innings, we bowled great lengths and also got lucky to find the edges,” New Zealand captain Kane Williamson said.

“They fought really hard but it was great we were able to fight the pressure and come through.”

New Zealand would have felt aggrieved if the match ended in a draw after they destroyed England in the first innings, bowling them out for a record low of 58 against the Black Caps inside 90 minutes on the first day.

Persistent rain, however, washed out virtually two days of play, with England bowling just 23.1 overs on the second day and 17 deliveries on the third.

The final day had been eerily similar to a match from five

years ago when New Zealand were well placed to win the third test against England at the same ground.

The tourists entered the final day on 90-4 facing an improbable task of scoring another 391 runs in 90 overs to win the match.

Ian Bell, however, scored 75 while wicketkeeper Matt Prior produced a rearguard 110 not out and protected last man Monty Panesar to ensure the match and series ended in a draw.

Yesterday, England began the day on 132-3 and like the 2013 match, their primary goal was to play for time, rather than

to score runs. While Dawid Malan fell early, Jonny Bairstow and Moeen Ali were involved in small but fruitful partnerships with Stokes as the visitors ate up time and ticked down the overs.

Stokes and Woakes then defied New Zealand’s bowlers for the entire middle session with a patient, low-risk partnership of 83 in almost 31 overs.

The left-handed Stokes, however, chased a short Wagner delivery outside off stump in the final over before the dinner break and only succeeded in hitting the ball to Tim Southee at backward point to be out for 66.

His dismissal left England

heading into the final session under lights at 300-7 and needing to survive another 31 overs, but when Astle struck early to dismiss Overton, the victory was in sight.

“We weren’t good enough, simple as that really,” England captain Joe Root said.

“It’s very difficult to get back into the test match after such a poor start. I thought the char-acter of the dressing room and the efforts today were fantastic.”

The second match, a tradi-tional red-ball day game, is at Hagley Oval in Christchurch from March 30-April 3.

REUTERS

SYDNEY: Cricket Australia (CA) are hoping to share the results of their investigation into the ball-tampering scandal within a couple of days as they look to take control of a story that has plunged the country into turmoil.

Steve Smith stood down from his post as captain and was banned for one Test match by the Inter-national Cricket Council (ICC) on Sunday after admitting conspiring to tamper with the ball during the third Test against South Africa in Cape Town.

The incident has been met with astonishment in Australia, with the protagonists -- Smith, his vice captain David Warner and opening batsman Cameron Ban-croft -- lambasted in the media under headlines almost universally trumpeting the word “Shame”.

Cricket Australia (CA) chief executive James Sutherland said he would be heading over to South Africa later on Monday to join integrity chief Iain Roy, who is conducting the investigation.

“I am travelling to Johan-nesburg this evening and will arrive Tuesday morning local time to meet Iain to understand the findings of the investigation to that point, and to determine recom-mended outcomes,” Sutherland said in a statement.

“We know Australians want answers and we will keep you updated on our findings and next steps, as a matter of urgency.”

Cricket Australia Chairman David Peever said the body expected to be able to “fully update the Australian public on the findings” on Wednesday morning Australia time.

Smith, Cricket Australia said earlier on Monday, would remain

in South Africa until the investi-gation was concluded even though he would be unable to play in the fourth Test in Johannesburg later this week.

The story continued to dom-inate the major newspapers in Australia and abroad with Aus-tralia’s belief of playing the sport ‘hard but fair’ in complete tatters.

Smith, widely accepted as the world’s best batsman of the current generation, has been reduced to a villain, with former Australian cricketers deeming his return to lead the team as untenable.

“Steve Smith’s time as Aus-tralia’s captain is surely up,” former fast bowler and possible future Australia coach Jason Gillespie wrote for Guardian Australia.

“It is impossible to envisage a

scenario where he stays in the job. This is a train wreck.

“This was pre-planned cheating. It may have been imple-mented by a junior player in Cameron Bancroft but it came with the backing and knowledge of ‘the leadership group’, a core of senior guys in the Australian set-up.”

The Times of India, the crick-eting superpower’s best selling English daily, called the Australia side “Repeat Offenders”, listing six other controversial incidents they have been involved in the past.

The news of the stepping down of Smith and Warner from their leadership roles was the top story for the daily and promi-nently placed on the front pages of most newspapers in India yesterday.

In more trouble for the game

Down Under, Australia’s major cricket sponsors, including Qantas Airways, breakfast cereal maker Sanitarium and brewer Lion, have said they were assessing their rela-tionship with Cricket Australia.

It could not have come at a worse time for the governing body as CA are at the climax of talks about a five-year broadcast rights deal with Australian television networks.

Independent media analyst Peter Cox said the ball-tampering scandal could prove disastrous for cricket’s reputation and negoti-ating clout in Australia.

“It could not have possibly come at a worse time,” Cox told Reuters in a phone interview. “The individual incident will eventually blow over but they will lose a segment of the viewing market because of this.”

CA launches ball-tampering probe

Cricket Australia’s CEO James Sutherland speaks to media in Melbourne on Sunday, after addressing the issue of Australia’s ball-tampering charges laid during their cricket Test match against South Africa in Cape Town.

New Zealand’s Todd Astle (centre) celebrates with team-mates after dismissing England’s James Anderson to win the first Test match at the Eden Park in Auckland yesterday.

Astle mops up tail as Black Caps claim historic pink ball Test win

ENGLAND first innings 58NEW ZEALAND first innings 427-8 decENGLAND second inningsA. Cook c Watling b Boult ...................................... 2M. Stoneman c Boult b Wagner .........................55 J. Root c Watling b Boult ......................................51D. Malan c Latham b Southee ............................23B. Stokes c Southee b Wagner ...........................66J. Bairstow c Williamson b Astle ........................26M. Ali lbw Boult ......................................................28 C. Woakes c Nicholls b Wagner ..........................52C. Overton lbw Astle ............................................... 3S. Broad not out ........................................................1J. Anderson c Boult b Astle ....................................1Extras: (b8, lb2, w1, nb1) ................................... 12Total: (for 10 wickets; 126.1 overs) .......320 Fall: 1-6, 2-94, 3-132, 4-142, 5-181, 6-217, 7-300, 8-304, 9-319, 10-320 Bowling: Boult 27-9-67-3, Southee 26-4-86-1, de Grandhomme 24-10-40-0 (1nb), Wagner 32-11-77-3 (1w), Astle 16.1-5-39-3, Williamson 1-0-1-0 Result: New Zealand won by innings and 49 runs

SCOREBOARD

Sponsors ‘deeply concerned’ over Australia scandalAFP

SYDNEY: Cricket Australia was under mounting pressure to act decisively from key sponsors Monday who voiced “deep concern” over a cheating scandal that has rocked the sport and damaged its reputation.

Captain Steve Smith admitted he hatched a plan to change the condition of the ball during the third Test against South Africa in Cape Town on Saturday, throwing the game into turmoil.

He was stood down from his role as skipper for the remainder of the match then banned for one game by the International Cricket Council, with CA conducting its own investigation.

The crisis couldn’t have come at a worse time for the governing body, which is renegotiating a lucrative TV deal, with the existing Aus$600m five-year agreement expiring at the end of the year.

There are concerns that broadcasters could use the con-troversy as a bargaining chip.

Sponsors of the team made clear yesterday they were not happy, amid fears of the fallout on their brands.

“This is deeply disappointing and certainly not what anyone expects from our national cricket team,” airline Qantas, whose logo is on the team shirts in South Africa, told AFP. “We are in discussions with Cricket Australia as this issue unfolds.”

Financial giant Commonwealth Bank, which sponsors the national women’s team, said it wanted a full explanation.

“We are disappointed about the events that have emerged from the third Test in South Africa and have asked for a full explanation from Cricket Australia following the conclusion of its investigation into this affair,” it told AFP.

CA’s head of integrity Iain Roy and head of team per-formance Pat Howard were dispatched to South Africa to find out what went on and who knew about it.

The team’s biggest sponsor, fund manager Magellan, told the Australian Financial Review: “We’re deeply con-cerned about it, it involves cheating, in no way would we condone it in what we do.”

Magellan’s Hamish Douglass added that it was appro-priate for CA to respond “quickly”.

Jaimie Fuller, executive chairman of the Skins com-pression wear group of companies, said CA’s reputation was on the line in how it responds.

Pakistan ignore Kamran for WI T20sAFP

KARACHI: Pakistan yesterday ignored in-form opener Kamran Akmal but included three uncapped players in the squad for next month’s three-match Twenty20 series against the West Indies in Karachi.

Sarfraz Ahmed will captain the hosts in the matches played in Karachi on April 1, 2 and 3 -- the first ties between inter-national sides to take place in the port city since 2009.

The 36-year-old Kamran misses out despite notching 425 runs in 13 Pakistan Super League (PSL) matches, including a century and four half-centuries for Peshawar Zalmi. But the selection com-mittee led by former captain Inzamam-ul-Haq and head coach Mickey Arthur did not include him due to his age and poor fielding.

Two players from Islamabad United, who won the PSL by beating Peshawar Zalmi in Sunday’s final, were included in the squad -- Asif Ali and Hussain Talat.

Lahore Qalandars’ teenage paceman Shaheen Shah Afridi also received a call-up.

Asif, 26, smashed three sixes in one over to help Islamabad win the final and impressed with his power hitting throughout the PSL. Talat, 22, is an exciting all-rounder who bats left-handed. Shaheen, a tall left-arm paceman, took 5-4 against Multan Sultan in one PSL match.

SQUAD: Sarfraz Ahmed (captain), Ahmed Shehzad, Fakhar Zaman, Babar Azam, Shoaib Malik, Asif Ali, Hussain Talat, Faheem Ashraf, Mohammad Nawaz, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Amir, Hasan Ali, Rahat Ali, Usman Khan Shinwari, Shaheen Shah Afridi.

35TUESDAY 27 MARCH 2018 SPORT

Atlanta Hawks’ forward Taurean Prince (12) shoots the ball as Houston Rockets’ centre Clint Capela (15) defends during the second quarter of their NBA game at Toyota Centre.

NBA: Indiana Pacers seal play-off berth in styleREUTERS

NEW YORK: Victor Oladipo scored 23 points, including a key overtime 3-pointer, to lead the Indiana Pacers to a 113-107 victory over the Miami Heat on Sunday in Indianapolis.

Darren Collison scored eight of his 12 points in overtime as the Pacers clinched a play-off spot with the win. The result also sealed a post-season berth for the idle Philadelphia 76ers.

Thaddeus Young contributed 22 points and nine rebounds, and Bojan Bogdanovic added 18 points for the Pacers.

Tyler Johnson led the Heat with 19 points, including 12 in the first quarter. James Johnson added 15 points and Bam Adebayo 14 for Miami. Dwyane Wade had 13 points and seven assists off the bench.

Rockets 118, Hawks 99James Harden posted his

fourth triple-double of the season, and Houston parlayed torrid 3-point shooting into a victory over visiting Atlanta.

Houston extended its winning streak to nine games.

The Rockets converted 14 of 28 3-point attempts in the first half to build their advantage.

They finished 20 of 52 from long range while extending their home-court winning streak to 16 games.

Harden tallied 18 points, 10 rebounds and 15 assists to help steer the Rockets, who were without Chris Paul (hamstring)

for a third consecutive game. Taurean Prince and Isaiah Taylor scored 28 and 26 points, respectively, for the Hawks, who were without Dennis Schroder (ankle).

Celtics 104, Kings 93Terry Rozier scored a

career-high 33 points, including a tiebreaking 3-pointer with 8:53 remaining that gave Boston the lead for good at Sacramento.

Rozier’s game-high point total included a career-best eight 3-pointers as he single-handedly out-scored the Kings 24-21 from beyond the arc in Boston’s third consecutive win.

Reserve Buddy Hield had three of the Kings’ seven 3-pointers and a team-high 21 points.

Cavaliers 121, Nets 114LeBron James totaled 37

points, 10 rebounds and eight assists, and Cleveland made the plays down the stretch to win at Brooklyn.

Kevin Love added 20 points and 15 rebounds for his 29th double-double of the season as Cleveland shot 50.6 percent from the floor.

Joe Harris scored a career-high 30 points, but the Nets lost for the 14th time when holding a lead or being tied going into the fourth quarter.

Clippers 117, Raptors 106Lou Williams had 26 points

and Tobias Harris added 20, and Los Angeles opened the fourth quarter with a big run to post a win at Toronto.

Montrezl Harrell had 19 points and Milos Teosodic added 15 points for the Clippers, who have won two of three after losing four straight.

Jonas Valanciunas had 16 points and 10 rebounds, Fred VanVleet had 16 points and Pascal Siakam added 15 to lead the Raptors, who lost for the third time in five games.

Trail Blazers 108, Thunder 105

CJ McCollum scored 14 of his 34 points in the fourth quarter as Portland got past host Oklahoma City.

Damian Lillard added 24 points for the Trail Blazers, who snapped a two-game losing streak. Jusuf Nurkic had 17 points and 12 rebounds for Portland, which swept its season series with Oklahoma City 4-0.

Russell Westbrook collected 23 points, nine assists, eight rebounds and four steals for Oklahoma City. Steven Adams had 18 points and 10 rebounds for the Thunder.

Bucks 106, Spurs 103Giannis Antetokounmpo had

25 points and 10 rebounds and Eric Bledsoe finished with 23 points to lead Milwaukee past visiting San Antonio.

Coming off a career-high, 45-point performance in an overtime victory over Utah Friday night, LaMarcus Aldridge paced San Antonio with 34 points.

Pau Gasol scored 22 points and grabbed 13 rebounds in 24

minutes off the bench for the Spurs, who saw their six-game winning streak end.

Jazz 110, Warriors 91Joe Ingles, Donovan Mitchell

and Ricky Rubio hit 3-pointers during an 18-3 flurry to start the second half as Utah pulled away from short-handed Golden State.

Utah, which had a 12-game road winning streak snapped Friday in an overtime loss at San Antonio, regained its winning ways away from home en route to the 23rd victory in its past 27 games. Mitchell scored a game-high 21 points.

Playing without injured stars Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Kevin Durant and Draymond Green, the Warriors fell for the fifth time in 11 games in March, their losingest month in the Steve Kerr era.

Quinn Cook led Golden State with 17 points.

Knicks 101, Wizards 97Trey Burke scored a game-

high 19 points as New York defeated host Washington.

Burke, who played 57 games for the Wizards last season, started for the first time with the Knicks and came up with a big three-point play with 35 seconds left that gave New York a 97-95 lead.

Burke added a free throw with 18 seconds remaining, and the Knicks held on for the upset.

The Wizards, who were led by 14 points from Bradley Beal, are just 4-8 in their past 12 games.

Baseball: Prized prospect Kingery, Phillies reach 6-year contractAP

NEW YORK: The Philadelphia Phillies are banking on young Scott Kingery. A prized prospect who has never played in the majors, Kingery reached a six-year deal with the Phillies that takes him through the 2023 season.

The contract includes three team options running through 2026. Multiple media reports said Kingery was guaranteed more than $23m.

The 23-year-old Kingery is batting.392 in 20 spring training games and is tied for the Grapefruit League lead with 20 hits.

Kingery hit a combined.304 with 26 home runs and 29 steals as a second baseman for Triple-A Lehigh Valley and Double-A Reading last year. He was a second-round pick in the 2015 draft from the Uni-versity of Arizona.

Kingery is regarded as the best second-base prospect in baseball. The Phillies currently have Cesar Hernandez as their starting second baseman, so Kingery has also seen time at third base this spring and worked in the outfield.

Coming off a 66-96 record and last-place finish in the NL East, the Phillies have been aggressive going into this season. They recently signed former NL Cy Young Award winner Jake Arrieta after previ-ously adding slugger Carlos Santana.

NATIONALS 4, CARDINALS 2Washington starter Stephen Strasburg struck out 10 in his final

tuneup, pitching 5 2/3 innings and giving up two runs on three hits and three walks. Michael A. Taylor and Matt Adams homered for the Nationals. Bryce Harper went hitless in three trips and is batting.283. Tommy Pham had two hits, scoring twice for St. Louis.

ASTROS 6, MARLINS (SS) 2Carlos Correa, Marwin Gonzalez and Brian McCann homered for

Houston and Dallas Keuchel gave up two runs in five innings. Odrisamer Despaigne pitched four innings for Miami’s split squad, allowing two runs and two hits.

METS 4, MARLINS (SS) 3Yoenis Cespedes hit his sixth spring homer, Jay Bruce also con-

nected and Amed Rosario had two hits, including a two-run triple for New York. Steven Matz threw four shutout innings, striking out four and allowing two hits and a walk.

ORIOLES 6, PHILLIES 5Maikel Franco hit his sixth homer and Rhys Hoskins hit his fifth

for Philadelphia and Roman Quinn stole his ninth base, most in the majors this spring. Chance Sisco and Ruben Tejada both had two hits and scored a run for Baltimore. Sisco, competing with Caleb Joseph for the starting job at catcher, is hitting.429.

RAYS 11, YANKEES 1Carlos Gomez hit one of Tampa Bay’s six home runs and C J Cron

had two hits. Meanwhile, Yankees first baseman Greg Bird is set to see a specialist in New York for inflammation in his right foot.

RED SOX 6, TWINS 1Mookie Betts hit a pair of home runs and walked, driving in three

runs and scoring three for Boston. J.D. Martinez had three hits and an RBI for the Red Sox, while Andrew Benintendi homered for a fourth time.

TIGERS 10, BRAVES 3Detroit starter Michael Fulmer pitched two-hit ball for seven

shutout innings, Miguel Cabrera homered and Jose Iglesias had three hits for Detroit. Mike Foltynewicz’s final spring start for Atlanta lasted just two innings after he surrendered six runs on eight hits.

PIRATES 7, BLUE JAYS 4Francisco Cervelli had two hits, including his fourth homer, driving

in three runs and scoring twice for Pittsburgh. Jose Osuna hit his fifth home run for the Pirates.

INDIANS 6, REDS 4Jose Ramirez had three hits and Yonder Alonso added a two-run

double for Cleveland. Josh Tomlin pitched 6 2/3 innings and allowed two runs on three hits. Luis Castillo pitched five innings for Cincinnati and gave up four runs on seven hits and two walks.

MARINERS 11, PADRES 7Nelson Cruz had two hits, including his second homer for Seattle.

Robinson Cano doubled and is batting.406 while Dan Vogelbach also doubled and scored after learning he’ll break camp with the big league club.

CUBS 5, ROYALS 3Kyle Hendricks pitched four scoreless innings in his final tuneup

for Chicago, allowing one hit and issuing two walks. Ben Zobrist had a pair of doubles for the Cubs, scoring a run.

Tampa Bay Rays’ starting pitcher Blake Snell (4) throws a pitch during the first inning of a Spring Training baseball game against the Pittsburgh Pirates at LECOM Park on Saturday.

Jets wrap up play-off bidAFP

NEW YORK: Mark Scheifele scored in a shootout and Connor Hellebuyck made it stand up by stopping all three attempts as the Winnipeg Jets clinched a play-off berth with a 5-4 victory over the visiting Nashville Predators on Sunday night.

Kyle Connor had a goal and two assists, Bryan Little and Blake Wheler each had a goal and an assist, and Dustin Byfuglien also scored for Winnipeg, which won its fifth con-secutive game with its NHL-best 29th home win. Hellebuyck finished with 32 saves.

Viktor Arvidsson, Kyle Turris and Ryan Ellis each had a goal and an assist and Roman Josi and also scored for Nashville, which moved a point ahead of the Tampa Bay Lightning for the NHL’s top total. Predators goalie Juuse Saros made 43 saves.

Bruins 2, Wild 1 (OT)Brad Marchand scored his fifth overtime

goal of the season and Tuukka Rask made 24 saves as Boston beat Minnesota in Saint Paul.

Marchand, sprung by Torey Krug, zipped down the wing and ripped a top-corner shot

past Wild goalie Alex Stalock 28 seconds into overtime. David Pastrnak scored a second-period goal for the Bruins, and evened the score for the Wild midway through the third.

Marchand finished with a goal and an assist, giving him a five-point weekend in which he had a hand in all five goals over two games. He tied the record for most overtime goals in one season, also held by Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Toews and Alex Galchenyuk.

Penguins 5, Flyers 4 (OT)Bryan Rust redirected a Sidney Crosby

shot into the net 2:25 into overtime, giving host Pittsburgh a victory over Philadelphia.Crosby shot the puck from the left wing, and Rust sent it past goalie Petr Mrazek from right in front.

Derick Brassard, Patric Hornqvist, Evgeni Malkin and Crosby scored in regulation for the Penguins, and Justin Schultz notched three assists. Travis Sanheim, Brandon Manning, Jordan Weal and Sean Couturier (the tying goal with 43 seconds left in regu-lation) scored for the Flyers.

Ducks 5, Oilers 4 (OT)Hampus Lindholm scored the

game-winning goal 1:21 into overtime as Anaheim overcame a big night from Connor McDavid and posted an impressive victory at Edmonton.

The Ducks gained a point in their sixth straight game after Adam Henrique netted the tying goal with 89 seconds left in regu-lation on his second tip-in of the night.

McDavid scored Edmonton’s first goal and set up two others, increasing his season points total to 99. He is four points ahead of Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov for the league lead.

Canucks 4, Stars 1 Reid Boucher scored a goal and added

an assist as visiting Vancouver beat Dallas.The Canucks earned only their second

win in the past 10 games. It was only Van-couver’s second win in the past 16 meetings with Dallas.

The Stars took their eighth straight loss and saw their flickering playoff hopes fade further.

Vancouver goaltender Jacob Markstrom finished with 30 saves on 31 shots, while Dallas netminder Kari Lehtonen blocked 23 of 26 shots.

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36TUESDAY 27 MARCH 2018

I think I’m playing good. I can play even better, but I need to get confidence playing on this court, trying to keep winning matches. But it is not easy.

Juan Martin del Potro talks about his current form.

Marin Cilic of Croatia serves against Vasek Pospisil of Canada during the Miami Open in Key Biscayne, Florida. Miami Open:

Cilic and Del Potro reach fourth round

Venus outlasts Bertens, gets ready to play Konta

AFPMIAMI: Former US Open champions Marin Cilic and Juan Martin del Potro powered into the fourth round of the Miami Open yesterday with straight-sets victories.

Argentina’s fifth-seeded Del Potro, chasing his second ATP Masters title in as many weeks, breezed past Japan’s Kei Nishikori 6-2, 6-2.

Ranked sixth in the world after vanquishing Swiss great Roger Federer in the final at Indian Wells last weekend, Del Potro needed just 73 minutes to book a fourth-round meeting with Filip Krajinovic of Serbia, who beat France’s Benoit Paire 6-3, 6-3.

Second-seeded Cilic also reached the fourth round with a 7-5, 7-6 (7/4) victory over Canadian Vasek Pospisil. Cilic produced six aces and saved all three break points he faced. But Pospisil made him work to finish it off, save three match points on his own serve in the 12th game of the second set.

“It was a relief at the end,” Cilic admitted. “I had those three match points at 6-5 and there was that great rally at deuce. I was playing really well in the tie-break, returning really well and serving really good. I saved the best for last and I’m really pleased with the victory.”

Cilic will face 14th-seeded American John Isner for a quarter-final berth. Isner defeated Russian veteran Mikhail Youzhny 6-4, 6-3.

Cilic and Del Potro are the biggest names left in a field lacking star power thanks to the early exits of Federer and Novak Djokovic and the injury absences of Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray. Third-seeded Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria joined the exodus as he fell 6-4, 6-4 to unseeded Frenchman Jeremy Chardy.

Del Potro, the hottest player on the ATP tour right now, is actually in search of a third straight ATP crown after back-to-back victories in Acapulco and Indian Wells.

His win in the California desert was his first in a Masters 1000 event, a welcome milestone after a succession of injury setbacks almost forced him into retirement in 2015.

“I think I’m playing good,” Del Potro said after his 13th straight match win. “I can play even better, but I need to get confidence playing in this court, trying to keep winning matches.

“But it’s not easy,” he added. “My body starts to feel tight because of all my success.”

In other third-round action, South Korean Chung Hyeon posted a convincing 6-1, 6-1 victory over American qualifier Michael Mmoh. Chung, who has yet to drop a set in Miami, needed just 63 minutes to advance to a meeting with Portugal’s Joao Sousa, who rallied for a 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over American Jared Donaldson.

AFP

MIAMI: Three-time winner Venus Williams (pictured right) saved three match points in a three-set victory over Kiki Bertens yesterday, lining up a fourth-round clash with reigning champion Johanna Konta at the Miami Open.

Williams, ranked eighth in the world, labored nearly three hours to beat 29th-ranked Bertens 5-7, 6-3, 7-5.

The 37-year-old American was cruising with a 5-0 lead in the opening set, but she squandered three set points as Bertens reeled off seven straight games to snatch it.

The second set was another streaky affair, but Williams gained a decisive break for a 5-3 lead and fought off a break point in the next game to force the decider.

The seven-time Grand Slam champion would have to dig deep when she fell 1-4 down to her Dutch opponent in the third.

Bertens served for the match at 5-3 but was unable to convert two match points as Williams broke to put the match back on serve.

Williams would face one more match point against her own serve in the next game, but she held on as Bertens appeared to struggle with cramps in the final games. Williams sealed the win with an emphatic forehand winner, giving a little leap of elation.

“It didn’t look good sometimes, that’s why you keep playing until the last point,” said Williams, who lifted the trophy in Miami in 1998, 1999 and 2001. “And that’s why I love this game.”

Konta, whose victory here last year propelled her into the top 10 in the world rankings, advanced with relative ease, beating Belgian Elise Mertens 6-2, 6-1.

Konta exchanged early breaks with Mertens, but gained the upper hand with a break for 3-2 when the Belgian double faulted four times in one game.

It launched a streak of four straight games for Konta that gave the Briton the opening set.

She powered through the second to

reach the fourth round, where the 26-year-old will try to get past the last 16 of a tour-nament for the first time this season.

Fourth-seeded Elina Svitolina and sixth-seeded Jelena Ostapenko, the reigning French Open champion, also advanced, as did 2016 Olympic gold medalist Monica Puig.

Ukraine’s Svitolina beat Daria Gavrilova 4-6, 6-0, 6-1, her fourth straight win over the Australian.

In a match of tense rallies Svitolina fin-ished with 28 winners and won 70 percent of her first-serve points.

Svitolina will battle for a quarter-final berth against another Australian, 21st-seeded Ashleigh Barty, who beat Croatia’s Petra Martic 6-4, 6-3.

Latvian Ostapenko defeated Brazilian Beatriz Haddad Maia 6-2, 7-6 (7/2). She led by a set and a break before Haddad Maia battled back to level the set.

Ostapenko twice served to avoid a third set. She fell behind 0-2 in the tiebreaker before winning seven straight points for the victory.

“In the tie-break, I showed my great tennis, and I won the match,” Ostapenko said.

“I’m really glad it happened that way,” she said.

She next faces ninth-seeded Czech Petra Kvitova, who rallied for a 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 victory over American qualifier Sofia Kenin.

Puerto Rico’s Puig followed up her upset of second-seeded Australian Open champion Caroline Wozniacki with a 6-3, 7-5 victory over Greece’s Maria Sakkari.

MIAMI: Results at the WTA and ATP Miami Open tournament (x denotes seeding):

Men’s Third Round

Juan Martin del Potro (ARG x5) bt Kei Nishikori (JPN x26) 6-2, 6-2

Filip Krajinovic (SRB x22) bt Benoit Paire (FRA) 6-3, 6-3

Jeremy Chardy (FRA) bt Grigor Dimitrov (BUL x3) 6-4, 6-4

Joao Sousa (POR) bt Jared Donaldson (USA) 1-6, 6-3, 6-4

Chung Hyeon (KOR x19) bt Michael Mmoh (USA) 6-1, 6-1

John Isner (USA x14) bt Mikhail Youzhny (RUS) 6-4, 6-3

Marin Cilic (CRO x2) bt Vasek Pospisil (CAN) 7-5, 7-6 (7/4)

Milos Raonic (CAN x20) bt Diego Schwartzman (ARG x13) 7-6 (7/5), 6-3

Women’s Third Round

Jelena Ostapenko (LAT x6) bt Beatriz Haddad Maia (BRA) 6-2, 7-6 (7/2)

Petra Kvitova (CZE x9) bt Sofia Kenin (USA) 3-6, 6-2, 6-4

Ashleigh Barty (AUS x21) bt Petra Martic (CRO) 6-4, 6-3

Elina Svitolina (UKR x4) bt Daria Gavrilova (AUS x26) 4-6, 6-0, 6-1

Venus Williams (USA x8) bt Kiki Bertens (NED x29) 5-7, 6-3, 7-5

Johanna Konta (GBR x11) bt Elise Mertens (BEL x22) 6-2, 6-1

Danielle Collins (USA) bt Donna Vekic (CRO) 4-6, 6-2, 6-1

Monica Puig (PUR) bt Maria Sakkari (GRE) 6-3, 7-5

Jeremy Chardy of France plays a forehand shot against Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria in their third-round match at the Miami Open.

“It was a relief at the end. I had those three match points at 6-5 and there was that great rally at deuce. I was playing really well in the tie-break, returning really well and serving really good. I saved the best for last and I’m really pleased with the victory,” says Marin Cilic.

WTA and ATP Miami Open results