Cricket: Tim Paine-led Australia look to move on from ''Sandpaper-gate''

Agencies
October 7, 2018

Oct 6: Australia`s hopes of winning back respect and moving on from a ball-tampering scandal that plunged the team into disgrace face their first test on Sunday when Tim Paine`s rebuilding side meet Pakistan in the series-opener in Dubai.

With former captain, Steve Smith, and opening batsmen David Warner and Cameron Bancroft serving suspensions for `Sandpaper-gate`, the Australians have brought a vastly different squad to the Middle East from the one belted 3-1 in South Africa six months ago.

A whole third of the 15 in the United Arab Emirates have yet to play a test, and Paine`s side will feature three uncapped players when they head out into the Dubai heat to play Sarfraz Ahmed-captained Pakistan in the first match.

Paine will be supported by a new vice-captain in all-rounder Mitchell Marsh and a new coach in former Test opener Justin Langer. Change is also in the air back in Australia, with the nation`s cricket board announcing a successor to long-serving CEO James Sutherland, even before the release of a review into the board`s culture and governance.

With a separate review into the culture of the men`s team also set to land, Australia will be under plenty of scrutiny during the two-test series which finishes in Abu Dhabi. Paine, who many feel is only a caretaker captain until Smith becomes eligible for the role again, has no illusions about the scale of the task.

"We want to build a culture that makes people want to be better and produce not only better cricketers but better people," he told Fairfax Media.

"If we can do that, that`s the sort of environment people want to be involved in and that culture spreads really quickly through the team rather than having to try and sell your culture all the time- just set that culture, live that culture, and guys that want to be involved will carry it through."

Australia enjoyed a positive warmup, with opener Aaron Finch, middle-order batsman Travis Head and the Marsh brothers all getting runs in the tour match against a Pakistan `A` side.

That was enough for Langer to confirm that one-day specialist Finch and South Australia skipper Head would play their first tests.

South Africa-born batsman Marnus Labuschagne was confirmed as the third debutant on Saturday, with Matt Renshaw overlooked due to match fitness concerns rather than concussion fears.

"The decision was made because he just hadn`t played enough cricket," Paine said of Renshaw, who was struck in the head by the ball when fielding in the tour match. "Marnus has played quite a bit of cricket on the A tour and he`s in really good form and he deserves a chance."

Pace workhorse Peter Siddle will support spearhead Mitchell Starc rather than the uncapped Michael Neser. Usman Khawaja will open with Finch, with Mitch Marsh promoted to fourth in the batting order behind his brother Shaun. Head will bat at five ahead of Labuschagne.

Pakistan are in the midst of their own rebuild in the wake of retirements to former skipper Misbah-ul-Haq and Younis Khan, but having trounced a stronger Australia 2-0 in the last UAE series in 2014, they will fancy themselves to win this one.

Little may be expected of Paine`s Australia in a series that will play out when home fans are sleeping, but the 33-year-old skipper is mindful that results, as well as culture, are key to restoring goodwill.

"We are certainly making some changes and it`s something we are really serious about but we are also aware that we need to be playing a high level of cricket and winning games," he said.

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News Network
June 24,2020

New Delhi, Jun 24: Star Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan deeply regrets his "silly mistake" of not reporting a corrupt approach by an Indian bookie to the ICC, leading to his one year suspension from the game.

Shakib was banned for two years, one year of it suspended, for failing to report corrupt approaches during an IPL edition by an alleged Indian bookie named Deepak Aggarwal.

"I took the approaches too casually When I met the anti-corruption guy and told them and they knew everything. Gave them all the evidence and they knew everything that happened," Shakib told Harsha Bhogle on 'Cricbuzz in Conversation'.

"To be honest, that's the only reason I was banned for a year, otherwise I'd have been banned for five or 10 years," he added on the ICC's investigation.

The 33-year-old, who was in brilliant form before the ban, amassing 606 runs in the 2019 World Cup in the UK, said he regrets how he went about the situation.

"But I think that was a silly mistake I made. Because with my experience and the amount of international matches I've played and the amount of ICC's anti-corruption code of conduct classes I took, I shouldn't have made that decision, to be honest."

Lesson learnt, Shakib's advice to all young criceters is to never take any such message lightly.

"I regret that. No one should take such messages or calls (from bookies) lightly or leave it away. We must inform the ICC ACSU guy to be on the safe side and that's the lesson I learnt, and I think I learnt a big lesson," he added.

The all-rounder, whose ban ends on October 29, said he became a bit arrogant and never felt he was doing anything wrong by not reporting the bookie's approach immediately.

"Because you do most things right in your life, you tend to get arrogant with some decisions. You may not realise but you're doing wrong by the books. It never came to my mind that I am doing something wrong

"It was just a feeling of 'okay, what's going to happen, leave it' and I continued with my life. But that's the mistake I made. And that happens," Shakib said.

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News Network
March 2,2020

Mar 2: Indian captain Virat Kohli was left frustrated and deflated as New Zealand won the second Test inside three days in Christchurch on Monday to sweep the series.

India started the day at 90 for six and were all out for 124, before New Zealand chased down the required 132 to win for the loss of three wickets in 36 overs.

It ended a disappointing tour for India and Kohli as New Zealand, who won the first Test by 10 wickets early on day four, wrapped up the series with ease.

New Zealand are now unbeaten in their last 13 home Tests, winning nine of them, and in the past decade their record as hosts is played 39, won 20, drawn 13 and lost five.

In the latest series, on traditional New Zealand green wickets, India managed scores of 165, 191, 242 and 124, reflecting the low contributions from Kohli of 2, 19, 3 and 14.

Kohli came to New Zealand as the world's top Test batsman and oozing charm as he described New Zealand as the “nice guys” of cricket.

But during the series he lost his top ranking to Australian Steve Smith and when Kane Williamson went for three in the first innings of the second Test the pressure showed when he gave the New Zealand skipper a very animated send-off.

There was further evidence of frustration when he was caught on camera yelling an obscenity at a group of New Zealand supporters on Sunday.

The end came quickly for India on day three as Tim Southee and Trent Boult tormented the batsmen with their variety of inswing and outswing deliveries targeting both sides of the stumps.

Hanuma Vihari was the first to fall, in Southee's second over, when he turned a legside delivery too fine and was caught by BJ Watling diving to his left.

Five balls later and with no addition to the score, India's other overnight batsman Rishabh Pant was caught behind off a Boult delivery that swung away.

Mohammed Shami was caught for five by Tom Blundell at deep mid-wicket and Jasprit Bumrah was run out when trying to give the strike to Ravindra Jadeja, who was unbeaten on 16.

Boult and Southee signed for most of the dismissals with Boult taking four for 28 and Southee three for 36. The swing pair accounted for 25 of the 40 Indian wickets in the series.

There was enough seam and swing available for India to keep the New Zealand batsmen guessing but Bumrah and Umesh Yadav were unable to apply consistent pressure and Mohammed Shami was troubled by a sore shoulder.

New Zealand coasted through a century opening stand by Tom Latham and Blundell before losing three quick wickets.

Latham notched his 18th half-century and second of the Test before he was caught behind off Yadav for 52, Kane Williamson had a short stay for five, and Blundell went for 55.

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Agencies
January 14,2020

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