The Star Online: Sports
The Star Online: Sports |
- Cricket: Kaneria loses appeal against life ban
- Cricket: Taylor dismissal puts Bangladesh on top
- Gritty Sharapova books Stuttgart semis berth
| Cricket: Kaneria loses appeal against life ban Posted: 26 Apr 2013 05:55 PM PDT LONDON: Controversial Pakistan leg-spinner Danish Kaneria failed in his appeal to overturn his lifetime ban from cricket on Friday. Kaneria was banned last year for his role in a spot-fixing plot, but denied all involvement and immediately indicated his intention to contest the decision. The 32-year-old was found guilty of "cajoling and pressurising" former Essex team-mate Mervyn Westfield into accepting cash in return for trying to concede a set number of runs in an over during an English county Pro40 match in 2009. Following the appeal hearing, England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) chief executive David Collier hailed the decision to uphold Kaneria's ban, saying: "I welcome wholeheartedly the independent panel's decision to dismiss Mr Kaneria's appeal and uphold the earlier decision made by the Cricket Discipline Commission last summer. "I should like to thank the appeal panel for their time and diligence in hearing this case and I congratulate the ACCESS unit for its work in support of the successful prosecution of this corrupt activity. "Corruption has no place in sport and ECB will continue to be vigilant and adopt a zero tolerance approach in this area." However, Kaneria has now launched a further appeal in which the length of his ban could be reduced. "I am very disappointed with the decision made by the panel," he said. "We are waiting for what are the reasons behind it and as soon as we know the reasons we will take some further steps." Westfield served two months of a four-month prison sentence last year after admitting spot-fixing and was banned from professional cricket for five years. The 24-year-old was summoned to appear as a witness, against his wishes, at the appeal after the ECB obtained a witness summons order from the High Court to force Westfield to attend to give evidence against Kaneria. During his criminal trial last year, Westfield named Kaneria as the figure who induced him into accepting 6,000 from a bookmaker to under-perform in a match in 2009. That evidence was key to the ECB's case in imposing their life ban on the former Pakistan leg-spinner but, feeling he was harshly treated in return by the governing body in terms of his own ban, Westfield refused to cooperate further. With Kaneria's legal team arguing Westfield's original evidence was inadmissible at the appeal, the ECB took the last resort of an order to compel Westfield. Kaneria's appeal hearing was due to take place last December but was postponed because Westfield did not attend. The Pakistan Cricket Board said in July that he would be suspended from playing in his home country until the outcome of the appeal was known. - AFP |
| Cricket: Taylor dismissal puts Bangladesh on top Posted: 26 Apr 2013 05:52 PM PDT HARARE: Robiul Islam's tireless spells of fast bowling and an unusually loose stroke from Zimbabwe captain Brendan Taylor allowed Bangladesh to close day two of the second Test with a hard-earned advantage. Robiul charged in for 19 overs in a little more than two sessions, dismissing Zimbabwe's openers and applying pressure to the middle order before a late flurry of runs saw the hosts close on 158 for four. That left them 233 runs short of Bangladesh's 391 all out, in which Nasir Hossain's aggressive 77 had stretched the final total on Friday morning. Taylor was the lynchpin of Zimbabwe's batting during their handsome victory in the first Test, and so his dismissal for 36 in the final session was a clear triumph for Bangladesh. The 27-year-old had ridden out a prolonged spell of short bowling from Robiul and eaten up 80 deliveries to score his first 16 runs, but his patience finally broke when he holed out to deep midwicket off the bowling of off-spinner Sohag Gazi. Malcolm Waller had been Taylor's companion in a watchful 52-run partnership that rebuilt the innings from the troubled position of 45 for three, and went to stumps on 30 not out from 112 deliveries. He was joined for the last 17 overs of the day by Elton Chigumbura, who threw caution to the wind and survived a dropped catch on his way to an unbeaten 45 from just 49 balls that gave Zimbabwe a much-needed lift. While Zimbabwe still have some way to go to achieve parity, Bangladesh know that the remaining six wickets could be difficult to come by on a pitch offering little assistance to the bowlers. "Bowlers have to work hard to get wickets on this track because it's a much better wicket than the last one," Shakib Al Hasan said. "But if we are patient enough and create lots of pressure then we will take wickets." Zimbabwe may be hampered by the loss of a key player, with Keegan Meth confirming that he is battling an injury to his right patella. Despite requiring a painkilling injection to bowl on Friday, Meth showed greater control than his teammates in taking two for 41 from 22 overs. "I have to bite the bullet. There isn't much Test cricket to come after this so I just have to get through it," said Meth. "We're behind the game at the moment, we understand that. But that's one of the reasons why we've picked four all-rounders in the side - we bat quite deep." - AFP |
| Gritty Sharapova books Stuttgart semis berth Posted: 26 Apr 2013 05:50 PM PDT STUTTGART, Germany: Defending champion Maria Sharapova had another tough battle on Friday as she booked her place in the semi-finals of the Stuttgart WTA tournament with a 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 quarter-final win against former world number one Ana Ivanovic. The 26-year-old Sharapova, who is using the claycourt tournament to help prepare for the defence of her French Open title at the end of May, was again taken to three sets as Ivanovic rallied in the second set. Having needed three hours to beat Lucie Safarova in Thursday's second round, the statuesque Russian has now played more than five hours of tennis inside 24 hours after needing two hours, 16 minutes to beat Ivanovic. "It's good to face different styles of playing from different opponents," said Sharapova. "Ana is a bit more aggressive, while Lucie had a bit more variety in her game yesterday. "I am happy to get through, but I had to push myself. "It was a tough battle, it was hard to get my body going again after the last game, but it was good to get another three sets under the belt." After Sharapova took the first set, claycourt specialist Ivanovic rallied in the second with plenty of aggressive shots on her forehand and is on her way back up the rankings, but lacks consistency. Sharapova broke Ivanovic twice in the third, in a sequence of three breaks, before her aggressive game finally wore down the 25-year-old Serb, who reached the world number one ranking just after winning the 2008 French Open title. Sharapova, ranked second in the world, will now play third-seed Angelique Kerber in Saturday's semi-final after the German beat Kazakhstan's Yaroslava Shvedova 6-3, 7-6 earlier. Qualifier Bethanie Mattek-Sands of the USA, ranked 104th in the world, has made it through to the semi-finals on her first appearance in the main draw after she enjoyed a 6-4, 6-2 win over Germany's Sabine Lisicki. Having failed to qualify on her last attempt here in 2005, the 28-year-old will now faces face Chinese second-seed Li Na for a place in Sunday's final. Li enjoyed a 6-3, 7-5 win over fifth-seed Petra Kvitova, but the Chinese faced some nervous moments in the second set after her strong start left her 2-0, then 5-2 up, before her Czech opponent levelled at 5-5, but Li clung on. "It's never over until it's game, set and match," said the 31-year-old who reached the Australian Open final and is bidding to reach her third WTA final of the year after winning January's Shenzhen tournament. "Sorry if I gave the fans some nervous moments," she added with a smile. Mattek-Sands is on her way back from injury and having won their last meeting, a three-setter in the quarter-finals at the 2011 Madrid Open, Li said she is relishing her chance to reach the final. "I saw Bethanie play earlier on and she looks like a good, aggressive player," said Li. "We'll see how tomorrow's match goes." - AFP Collated results from the fifth day of the WTA Stuttgart tournament on Friday (x denotes seeding): Women's singles Quarter finals Angelique Kerber (GER x3) bt Yaroslava Shvedova (KAZ) 6-3, 7-6(7/2) Maria Sharapova (RUS x1) bt Ana Ivanovic (SRB) 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA) bt Sabine Lisicki (GER) 6-4, 6-2 Li Na (CHN x2) bt Petra Kvitova (CZE x5) 6-3, 7-5 - AFP |
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