TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2014 SPORTS

Ryder, Bracewell axed Socceroos face Ecuador Pistons fire head coach for late-night drinking in World Cup warm-up Cheeks in half a season WELLINGTON: and Doug Bracewell have been dropped from the New SYDNEY: Australia will play fellow 2014 World Cup finalists Ecuador NEW YORK: The Detroit Pistons have fired head coach Maurice Cheeks after barely half a Zealand squad for the second test against India starting on Friday as punishment for in an international friendly in London next month, Football season in charge of the National Basketball Association team, the club announced on going on a late-night drinking session on the eve of the first test in Auckland. Federation Australia (FFA) said yesterday. Sunday. Cheeks became the first NBA head coach fired this season. “This was a difficult deci- New Zealand coach Mike Hesson told reporters in Auckland yesterday that team It will be the final match Socceroos’ coach Ange Postecoglou will officials had lost confidence in the pair and they would not be considered for the sion for the organization to make but we needed to make a change,” President of Basketball have to give any fringe players an opportunity to push their claims Wellington match, although Bracewell was already ruled out with a broken foot. Operations Joe Dumars said in a statement. The Pistons are ninth in the Eastern Conference “We need to make sure that all our players prepare themselves accordingly for test for his squad at the tournament in Brazil before they re-assemble in this season at 21-29, though they have won their past two games. “Our record does not , and at the moment we don’t have confidence that that’s the case,” Hesson said May ahead of the June 12-July 13 showpiece. reflect our talent and we simply need a change,” said Pistons owner Tom Gores. of the visit to an Auckland bar until the early hours of Thursday. “Both Jesse and Doug “Were excited to have secured the match against Ecuador, which “We have not made the kind of progress that we should have over did not prepare themselves well for the test match and we’re certainly offers us a good test against South American opposition leading the first half of the season. This is a young team and we knew there very disappointed about that. into the World Cup,” Postecoglou said in a FFA statement yesterday. would be growing pains, but we can be patient only as long as “We’re dealing with grown men. If a player was to have a beer “This is also the last match we will play before we get together in there is progress.” Cheeks, 57, was appointed coach in June on a with their meal before a game, we don’t have an issue with that at all. May for our final World Cup preparations so its important that we two-year deal. An NBA point guard for 15 seasons, primarily with “But there’s a big difference between that and what occurred the can build on the first positive steps we took in the match against the Philadelphia 76ers where he was part of the 1983 champi- night before the test match.” Costa Rica late last year.” onship-winning team, Cheeks previously served as head coach of New Zealand won the first match of the two-test series by 40 The clash will be the first between the two teams and will be at the Portland Trail Blazers and 76ers. “The leadership and player runs late on the fourth day on Sunday and Hesson was annoyed that English Championship (second division) side Millwall’s ‘The Den’ sta- development qualities he brings as a former player and coach Ryder and Bracewell’s behaviour was still detracting from that per- dium in southeast London on March 5. blends nicely with the roster we are building for the future,” formance. “The fact that we’ve won a test match yesterday and Dumars said at the time of the hiring. Australia are in Group B at the World Cup with defending cham- the fact the first few questions are based around off-field “He’s won an NBA championship, coached in two NBA Finals as incidents is clearly an extreme disappointment for the pions Spain, the Netherlands and Chile, while Ecuador are in Group an assistant coach and mentored some of the top young play- team,” Hesson said. — Reuters E with Switzerland, France and Honduras. — Reuters ers in the NBA.” —Reuters Zimbabwe cricketers on strike again

HARARE: Zimbabwe’s cricketers went on strike again yesterday and refused to start a domestic Twenty20 tournament after payments promised by the national board to end a two-month standoff weren’t received. A representative of Zimbabwe’s players’ asso- ciation said they also wouldn’t hesitate to pull out of next month’s World Twenty20 in Bangladesh if they aren’t paid. He said the national board, Zimbabwe Cricket, had been “insincere” with its players. Players from all the five provincial sides decided to boycott the T20 competition due to open Monday after a meeting at Harare Sports Club, the venue for the tournament. They decid- ed to go home after payments didn’t appear in bank accounts in the morning, as agreed by ZC at a meeting over a week ago to end the strike. “ZC has been insincere in their dealing with the players,” Eliah Zvimba, the secretary general of the Zimbabwe Professional Cricketers Association, said. “At the moment we have reached a boiling point.” Zvimba said the problem needed to be dealt with “once and for all.” Zimbabwe’s national squad briefly returned to training last week, but the latest strike will have more ramifications for HARARE: Zimbabwe domestic franchise cricket players sit back as players boycott a domestic their preparations for the Twenty20 World Cup T20 tournament ahead of the T20 World Cup. — AFP starting on Mar. 16. against South Africa. There has been no domes- poor state. They have huge debts,” Streak said. Zimbabwe hasn’t played international cricket tic cricket in Zimbabwe for two months. ZC “To get yourself out of that is hard. There are in a since September, when the home test series owes a total of around $217,000 to its centrally trap. With the reputation ZC has no one can give against Pakistan was also undermined by contracted players, Zvimba said, and more to them things on credit. It’s virtually impossible threatened strikes over non-payment. The franchise players. Former Zimbabwe for them to get things back to normal again.” struggling board recently canceled tours by Sri Heath Streak said the national body’s finances Zimbabwe Cricket reportedly has debts of Lanka and Afghanistan because of its financial were in a mess. $18 million and has requested a loan from the problems and also turned down a one-off test “The thing is ZC allowed things to get to this International Cricket Council. — AP ECB: Pietersen axed because team need to ‘trust each other’

QATAR: Tom Boonen (left) of Belgium and the Omega Pharma-Quick Step team LONDON: Kevin Pietersen’s international lic comment was contained in the original runs in one-day internationals but he was receives his trophy on the podium after winning stage two of the Tour of Qatar from career was ended because captain Alastair statement announcing his sacking, during never far from controversy. the Camel Race Track to Al-Khor Corniche. — AFP Cook needed to be able to trust and rely on which he said he regretted he would not be His impact on and off the field was dra- the support of all his players, the England playing for England again. “Following the matic and he was dropped over “provocative” and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) said on announcement of that decision, allegations text messages sent to opposition players Boonen wins Tour Sunday. The controversial batsman’s have been made, some from people outside during a test series against South Africa in England career finished on Tuesday when he cricket, which as well as attacking the ration- 2012 before being reintegrated into the was left out of the squad for this month’s ale of the ECB’s decision-making, have ques- squad. Following England’s drubbing in of Qatar stage one-day tour of West Indies and the World tioned, without justification, the integrity of Australia, however, media reports emerged Twenty20 in Bangladesh in March. “The team the England team director and some of of more problems. Pietersen, for his part, said DOHA: Tom Boonen claimed the Tour of reported Boonen. needs to rebuild after the whitewash in England’s players,” the ECB said on Sunday. he wanted to keep playing in all three for- Qatar second stage yesterday, the former He added: “Towards the finish we were Australia,” the ECB said in a statement, refer- “Clearly what happens in the dressing mats of the game until at least 2015. The ECB world champion fending off Denmark’s all dead, you could see that by the fact that ring to the 5-0 Test defeat Down Under. room or team meetings should remain in offered additional support for Cook, Prior Michael Morkov in a sprint finish. only five or six riders took part in the sprint “To do that we must invest in our captain that environment and not be distributed to and Flower on Sunday. The 33-year-old Belgian’s Omega finish.” This was Boonen’s 21st stage win in Alastair Cook and we must support him in people not connected with the team. This is “These are men who care deeply about Pharma teammate, Niki Terpstra of the Qatar in an event he has already captured creating a culture in which we can be confi- a core principle of any sports team and any the fortunes of the England team and its Netherlands, retained the leader’s yellow four times. “Generally, when I do well in dent he will have the full support of all play- such action would constitute a breach of image and it is ironic they were the people jersey. Boonen is back in action after miss- Qatar the rest of the season goes well. I ers, with everyone pulling in the same direc- trust and team ethics. who led the re-integration of Kevin ing the second half of last year, including hope it’ll be the same this year.” tion and able to trust each other. Pietersen into the England squad in 2012,” the world championships in Florence, due Terpstra holds a 14-second advantage “It is for those reasons we have decided to TOTAL RESPECT the ruling body said. Pietersen, no longer to a saddle injury. over Boonen in the overall standings, with Boonen and Morkov were joined on the the Belgian reflecting: “It’s not going to be move on without Kevin Pietersen.” The ECB “Whilst respecting that principle it is contracted to the ECB, is now likely to turn podium after yesterday’s 160-kilometre easy to make up that time in tomorrow’s had come under-fire for not disclosing the important to stress that (former coach) Andy his attention to lucrative Twenty20 competi- ride from the Camel Race Track to Al Khor time trial, even if I’m going to give my all.” reasons for sacking Pietersen, with friends of Flower, Alastair Cook and Matt Prior, who tions in India and other countries and possi- by another Belgian, Jurgen Roelandts. “The Today’s third stage, a 10.9km race against the South African-born 33-year-old, current have all been singled out for uninformed and bly move into the media. “The ECB recognis- final 40 kilometres, with the wind on our the clock, is being held at the Losail motor and former players and media commentators unwarranted criticism, retain the total confi- es the significant contribution Kevin has backs, we were riding at 60-70kmh ,” racing track near Doha. — AFP wading into the debate. dence and respect of all the other members made to England teams over the last Television personality Piers Morgan and of the Ashes party.” decade,” said the board. “He has played England wicketkeeper Matt Prior engaged in Pietersen scored 8,181 runs in 104 tests, some of the finest innings ever produced by Pakistan PM sacks PCB a spat on social media. Pietersen’s only pub- including 23 centuries, and more than 4,000 an England batsman.” — Reuters

KARACHI: The Pakistan government dis- channel. Preview missed the country’s cricket board yes- “The charges include that he (Ashraf) terday and appointed an ad-hoc com- left Pakistan isolated in world cricket mittee to run the sport. with his mishandling of the big three Following an order from Prime issue and there were also financial mis- Pace battle as S Africa, Minister Nawaz Sharif, an 11-member management and appointments in his committee will run cricket in the coun- tenure.” try, replacing the Zaka Ashraf-led Pakistan and Sri Lanka abstained Australia square up from voting on Saturday when the International Cricket Council board passed structural and financial reforms CENTURION: Batsmen can expect a torrid time aged to go flat out against the batsmen, as well against high-quality . Despite even- to effective place India, England and when South Africa and Australia square up at as a makeshift practice game. tually winning all five matches comfortably, Australia in charge of the game. SuperSport Park tomorrow in the first of three Both teams have selection challenges. It will Australia were in trouble several times against The new committee includes former Test matches. Both teams have formidable fast be the first series for South Africa since the England. test players Zaheer Abbas and Iqbal bowling attacks at a venue which usually favors retirement of star all-rounder Jacques Kallis, South Africa’s has been solid in recent Qasim and former board chiefs fast bowlers. their leading batsmen of the past decade. times but Kallis will be missed. Hashim Amla and Shaharyar Khan and Najam Sethi. South Africa’s battery is spearheaded by Faf du Plessis is slated to move up to take JP Duminy had poor series against India recent- According to a government notifica- and , who are first Kallis’ place at number four in the ly, while Smith was troubled by Johnson in par- tion, the committee will nominate a and second in the International Cricket Council’s to enable AB de Villiers to continue to keep wick- ticular when South Africa lost at home to chairman to head the administration. Test rankings, while Morne Morkel is 13th. et and bat at five. Australia in 2008/09 - the last time South Africa Ashraf was reinstated as the PCB chair- Australian fast bowlers Ryan Harris, Peter All-rounders Ryan McLaren and Wayne were beaten in a Test series. man last month by the Islamabad High Siddle and Mitchell Johnson are third, fifth and Parnell are competing for the vacancy left by Centurion has been a stronghold for South Court after filing an appeal against his ninth respectively. Australian captain Michael Kallis. McLaren is the steadier player but left- Africa, who have won 14 out of 18 Test matches LAHORE: Ousted Pakistan Cricket dismissal by a single bench of the same Clarke claimed after a crushing 5-0 Ashes series armer Parnell bowls with greater pace and could at the ground. Three matches were drawn and Board (PCB) chairman Zaka Ashraf court in May last year. win over England that his side had the best be a better attacking option. After playing all only one was lost - a contrived finish against speaks on a cell phone in Lahore. The single bench had declared the bowling attack in the world - an assertion he five Ashes Tests with the same eleven, Australia England in 1999/2000. Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz election process during which Ashraf repeated when he arrived in South Africa. will be forced to make at least two changes. South Africa (likely): Graeme Smith (captain), Sharif has removed the country’s was elected last year as malafide and South African captain Graeme Smith said his Batsman George Bailey was dropped, while all- Alviro Petersen, Hashim Amla, Faf du Plessis, AB cricket chief Zaka Ashraf in the latest polluted and dismissed him, following world champion team would not be drawn into rounder Shane Watson was ruled out of the first de Villiers (capt), JP Duminy, Robin Peterson, twist to a long-running saga dogging which the government appointed Sethi a war of words. “We just want to focus on our- Test with a calf strain. Ryan McLaren or Wayne Parnell, Vernon the national board. —AFP as acting chairman. “I am still the chair- selves and get ourselves ready,” he said when his Uncapped Alex Doolan is the favourite to Philander, Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel. man of the board and this notification team assembled an unusually early nine days take over from Watson at number three, while Australia (likely): Michael Clarke (captain), Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), of which has no bearing on my position,” a defiant before the start of the series. Phil Hughes and Shaun Marsh will be in con- Chris Rogers, David Warner, Alex Doolan, Steve Sharif is the chief patron. “Zaka Ashraf Ashraf told Geo News. “This decision will While South Africa had a three-day practice tention for the remaining batting place. Smith, Phil Hughes or Shaun Marsh, Brad Haddin has been dismissed on several charges only further weaken Pakistan’s position match against a composite team, Australia’s only Moises Henriques could also come into con- (wkt), Mitchell Johnson, Ryan Harris, Peter by the Prime minister, who is a great in international cricket and I will decide scheduled warm-up game in Potchefstroom was tention if Australia opt for an all-rounder to aug- Siddle, . lover of the sport,” Shakil Sheikh, a mem- on what legal recourse to take soon,” he cancelled because of persistent heavy rain. ment the bowling attack of Harris, Siddle, Umpires: Aleem Dar (PAK), Richard ber of the committee, told Geo News said. — Reuters But the tourists have had some hard work- Johnson and off-spinner Nathan Lyon. Illingworth (ENG) TV umpire: Ian Gould (ENG). outs in the nets, with the fast bowlers encour- Both batting line-ups could be vulnerable Match referee: Roshan Mahanama (SRI). — AFP