THURSDAY, JULY 16, 2015 SPORTS What next? Indian trying to keep IPL afloat

NEW DELHI: Cricket organizers were in crisis dugout and player auctions. mode yesterday, weighing options for how to Former IPL commissioner Lalit Modi, who keep the Indian Premier League afloat after a was expelled by the BCCI amid charges relat- Supreme Court-appointed committee ing to the administrative and financial man- announced two-year bans on two of the top agement of the competition, said the game’s clubs. Justice Lodha committee announced national governing body had failed its fans in the suspensions Tuesday on former champi- trying to cover up the scandal. ons Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan “BCCI cover up failed only because the Royals while also proposing life bans for courts intervened,” Modi posted on Twitter. Chennai team principal Gurunath Meiyappan Former BCCI president Inderjit Bindra posted and Rajasthan co-owner Raj Kundra for bet- tweets saying Srinivasan should not be ting on IPL games or being in contact with allowed to continue as ICC chairman because illegal gamblers. Lodha’s committee ruled that he’d tried to protect Meiyappan and the Super the clubs had to accept responsibility for the Kings. The “BCCI should take immediate action actions of the officials. Reducing the league against him by withdrawing his nomination to from eight clubs to six would decrease the ICC,” Bindra said. Srinivasan “should step down number of matches in the six-week season immediately, failing which (the) board should from 60 to 34, and would mean re-negotiating take action.” contracts with broadcasters and the remain- Bindra said two new teams should be ing franchises because the tournament is introduced in the next IPL season to ensure based on a revenue sharing model. the value of the league, which is estimated at The IPL governing council, created by the $ 4 billion, does not suffer. “To make IPL viable Board of Control for Cricket in India, has called BCCI could auction 2 more teams and after 2 for a meeting Sunday to discuss the situation years have IPL with 10 teams, as originally amid pressure to restore credibility. intended,” Bindra said. “It is essential ... to take all necessary steps The BCCI, which will receive suggestions so as to restore the credibility of BCCI and for reform by Lodha’s committee, also has to game of cricket in India,” Sharad Pawar, the decide how to accommodate the prominent LONDON: Australia’s Peter former head of India’s national cricket associa- and highly-paid players contracted to the two Nevill dives to make a tion and the International Cricket Council, banned clubs. catch during a nets session wrote to BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya.”It Chennai, a two-time champion and the a day ahead of the second is necessary for the board to be proactive in runner-up this year, is led by India Ashes Test match against this matter and take all necessary actions to Mahendra Singh Dhoni and features New England at Lord’s. — AP clean the game of cricket.” Zealand captain Brendon McCullum, West There was a widely-held perception that Indies allrounder and South the BCCI was shielding the team officials after Africa batsman Faf du Plessis. its own disciplinary committee had cleared Rajasthan, the inaugural IPL champ in them of wrong doing. It took legal action by 2008, is led by Australia’s , and the Cricket Association of Bihar which ulti- includes India batsman Ajinkya Rahane, and Confident England wary mately led to action in the Supreme Court. A New Zealand pace bowler Tim Southee. committee led by Justice Mukul Mudgal inves- The IPL scaled back to eight clubs from 10 tigated corruption in the league after expansion club Kochi Tuskers was and the Lodha committee was subsequently scrapped for an alleged breach of contract in of Aussies Ashes backlash formed to determine the appropriate punish- 2011 and Sahara Pune Warriors withdrew in ment. Meiyappan’s role at the Super Kings was 2013. The BCCI, which is currently considering LONDON: The cracks appear to be showing in the game trying to prove a point and trying to make up Harris before the Ashes even began when a knee disputed initially. He was described as a “crick- appealing a compensation award to the Kochi normally-invincible Australian cricket team. The sec- for their performance in this match.” England cap- injury forced him to announce his retirement from et enthusiast” early on by then BCCI president franchise, announced yesterday that the ond Ashes Test starting at Lord’s today follows hard tain Alastair Cook did not succeed with the bat in cricket. Allrounder James Faulkner was not due to Narainaswamy Srinivasan, his father-in-law, Champions League Twenty20 - an annual tour- on the heels of England’s comfortable 169-run vic- Cardiff, but was widely praised for his tactics in the play any part in the Ashes but may have been in who is now the chairman of the ICC. That nament it helped launch in 2009 for the lead- tory in the first game in Cardiff. field, especially the bowling changes and field contention for a spot in the one-day team until description was widely criticized as ing domestic teams from T20 competitions Australia’s most effective bowler in Cardiff, placements. The new generation of test batsmen - Tuesday, when he was charged in England, where he Meiyappan was seen regularly in the team around the world - would be canceled. — AP , has been receiving injections in an Gary Ballance, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler and Moeen Ali has been playing the county game, with drink-dri- ankle injury and veteran wicketkeeper - all scored good runs and showed little fear of ving. He will appear in court in England later this has withdrawn from the second match for what Australia’s three-man pace attack. month but said he would not be Cricket Australia described as “family reasons.” The Resisting the temptation to bowl bouncers, considered for limited overs games after the Ashes. withdrawal means a test debut for New South England’s pacemen bowled a full length, finding The two teams clearly like to needle each oth- Wales wicketkeeper Peter Nevill. swing that accounted for several Australians who er. The latest barb was aimed by England fast Haddin faced criticism in Cardiff for dropping were tempted into driving far too often. bowler James Anderson, who pointed to the , who went on to score a crucial 134 in “You have to adapt. A lot of our plans went out of Australian players having turned down a post- England’s first innings. Root was on 0 when Haddin the window when we saw the pace of the wicket, match beer in the England changing rooms in put down the catch. Pace bowler is because there’s no point constantly trying to get Cardiff. The tradition of players enjoying a drink tipped to replace Starc if he does not recover. someone’s edge when it isn’t going to carry,” Stuart after the game is widespread, but Australian play- Australia coach was clearly dis- Broad said. ers insisted they’d only sit down to sup with their appointed with the placid wicket in Cardiff that “We had to think on our feet. I didn’t want to opponents at the end of the five-match Ashes negated the bouncers used frequently in the past waste a bouncer.” Australia lost fast bowler Ryan series in September. — AP to intimidate England’s batsmen. “I’d just like to be able to bowl a bouncer on day one. That’d be nice,” he said after the defeat in Wales. The Lord’s strip is usually a perfect test wicket, MCC proposes 12-team offering a reasonable amount of pace and height, but does not have the bounciness often found in Cricket World Cup, not 10 wickets at London’s Oval or Australia’s WACA and beloved by quick bowlers. LONDON: The MCC world cricket committee It also backed Twenty20 for inclusion in the Having arrived in England tipped to easily retain says dropping the World Cup to a 10-team Olympics. “The Olympics is a fundamental the Ashes, Australia is now facing criticism that its event “is a retrograde step.” The last two opportunity for cricket,” the committee said, squad is on its last legs, injury-plagued and general- Cricket World Cups, including this year’s in and wouldn’t detract from its own world tour- ly too old. Several of the tourists, notably allrounder Australia and New Zealand, hosted 14 teams. naments. (34) and Haddin, looked awkward in The next two, in 2019 and 2023, have been “Competing in an Olympic Games would Cardiff and several other players are in their mid- planned with only 10. The committee, follow- be ... a massive boost to developing cricket 30s. England has already announced an unchanged ing a two-day meeting at Lord’s, recommends nations, and give much greater exposure for team to the one that surprised the Australians in 12 with a “preliminary qualifying round.” the sport to a new audience.” Cardiff. England’s new coach has only The committee said on Tuesday that 10- The committee suggested the England and just started his job, and the team revealed a funda- team events are “a retrograde step that dam- Wales Cricket Board, notably president and ICC mental change in strategy in the series against New ages the potential for growth in cricket’s representative Giles Clarke, had been a stum- Zealand earlier in the summer, with the aggressive developing nations,” and “is a handbrake for bling block to cricket’s Olympic ambitions, but batting tactics delighting the fans. That experiment the development of the sport.” new chairman Colin Graves and new chief started before Bayliss was appointed, and contin- The committee, an independent think-tank executive Tom Harrison were willing to rethink ued in Wales when the batters played with freedom chaired by former England captain Mike England’s position. Brearley welcomed their and real determination. Bayliss, an Australian, Brearley and including other past captains open mind, and warned Clarke that as presi- advised his players to beware his countrymen when Ricky Ponting, Rahul Dravid, and Shaun dent, he “is an employee of the board and has they are cornered. “They don’t like losing,” he said Pollock, asked the International Cricket to report to the board. He has to do what he’s after the Cardiff game. “They have a proud record Council to reconsider the number of sides. told.” —AP and losing will mean they come out in the next US Open aces Wimbledon for grand slam prize money

NEW YORK: The US Open leapfrogged With Tuesday’s announcement, the US Open the US Open offers one of the most lucrative purs- Wimbledon as the richest grand slam event in has inched ahead, based on the curre nt exchange es in all of sports,” USTA president and US Open tennis as the United States Tennis Association rate, in what has become something of a wage chairwoman Katrina Adams said in a statement. announced on Tuesday a 10.5 percent prize mon- race. Additionally, the top finishers in the “As we have stated, total player compensation ey increase for next month’s championship. Emirates Airline US Open Series of events lead- at the US Open will reach $50 million by 2017.” The purse for the US Open will hit $42.3 mil- ing up to the grand slam are eligible for bonus For 2015, the singles remuneration for each INDIA: In this photograph taken on May 12, 2012, Chennai SuperKings (CSK) captain lion, with the men’s and women’s singles winners prize money. round will increase by at least 10 percent. Mahendra Singh Dhoni (right) and CSK owner Gurunath Meiyappan attend the pres- each pocketing $3.3 million. The All England Club In 2014, women’s singles champion Serena All 128 singles entrants are guaranteed entation ceremony. — AFP upped the Wimbledon prize money this year by Williams took home $4 million, the biggest single $39,500, with prize money almost doubling with seven perce nt to 26.75 million pounds ($41.82m). payday in tennis history. She earned $3 million as each victory. The payout for the doubles competi- Singles winners Novak Djokovic and Serena the US Open singles champion and a $1 million tion will increase by 8.4 perce nt overall, with the Nevill swaps guitar for gloves Williams each received 1.88 million pounds, just bonus as the Open series champion. men’s and women’s doubles champions earning under $3m at the current exchange rate. “We continue our commitment to ensure that $570,000, the most ever at the US Open. —Reuters SYDNEY: A guitar-strumming rocker when better wicketkeeper.” Nevill had his strongest not keeping wickets, Australia’s Peter Nevill Sheffield Shield showing last season for NSW, will hope to hit the right note when he makes which earned him the medal for Manager of Women commission FIM his surprise test debut against England in the the state’s best player. second Ashes match today. Brad Haddin’s He scored 764 first-class runs at an aver- decision to skip the Lord’s test due to family age of over 76, including an unbeaten 235 hails efforts of Nasser Al Attiyah reasons has cleared the deck for Nevill’s test against Tasmania in Hobart, and his form with debut and this is not the first time the 29- the bat meant he played as a regular batsman Nita Korhonen, Manager of Also many manufacturers are year-old had to fill in for his mentor. for NSW when Haddin was available for Women commission FIM said all at the moment manufacturing He flew to West Indies in 2012 as a reserve domestic cricket. events happening in the Middle more bikes that would attract for second-choice when Nevill also had 34 Shield dismissals in the East are due to the support and the women as they realize how Haddin was forced to return home due to his last season, enough to earn a spot in the test motivation of the FIM Deputy important it is to get new target daughter’s illness. squad as the second keeper behind Haddin President, Nasser Khalifa Al Attiya groups. So a lot has happened The competition with Wade for a playing on the tours of West Indies and the Ashes. and the region thanks him for all just in few years and I am so spot in the Victoria team prompted Nevill to “I can always learn a lot from Hadds, but those opportunities and the con- grateful for all the efforts every- move to New South Wales in 2008 and that is this tour I’ve got to prepare to play,” Nevill tinuous help to promote women in one are doing at the moment! where he blossomed both with gloves and said. “I need to be on top of my game and motorsport in every possible way. As for me it’s not that impor- bat and developed a close friendship with ready to go should that opportunity arise.” “I am extremely happy that tant to have girls or women in Haddin. “Brad has had a massive impact on my Now that the opportunity has arrived, his the federations and manufactur- motorcycling, but the most ers are working so hard to get important thing is that all the career, he’s always so generous with his time,” Australia team mate Peter Siddle was con- more women into the motorcy- people no matter what the gen- vinced Nevill would make it count. “He’s Nevill, who often carries a guitar with him, cling. I was recently in Lebanon der, are able to follow their said during a News Corp interview in March. played well in the opportunities he’s had. His where they organised their first dreams, do what they want and “He’s helped me out a lot and he’s got a record back home speaks for itself, he’s had a women in Motorcycling seminar. to have same possibilities as great eye for wicketkeeping and understands couple of great years in first-class cricket,” said Many Middle East countries are everyone else. If a girl or a woman the technical aspects of it so well. “Just little Siddle, Nevill’s former Victoria team mate. “I really doing a lot at the moment wants to be involved in motorcy- things like talking to him about scenarios or played a lot with him as a youngster, being a to improve the situation of cling I definitely would encour- mentally what he’s thinking and his keys as a Victorian boy. He gets his opportunity, I’ve got female riders and this is just bril- age them to do so because this is keeper. He’s certainly helped me become a no doubt he will be ready to go.” — Reuters liant, she said.“ so much fun.