Warner hits out at 'vile, disgusting' wife jibe

Agencies
March 8, 2018

Sydney, Mar 8: Australia vice-captain David Warner says he will always stick up for his family after claiming a "vile and disgusting" remark about his wife by South Africa's Quinton de Kock led to their ugly altercation.

Both players were punished Wednesday for the bust-up during the opening Test in Durban, with Warner fined 75 percent of his match fee and De Kock 25 percent.

They are free to play the second Test starting Friday in Port Elizabeth, although Warner was also given three demerit points, meaning he will be banned if he gets one more within the next year.

Warner admitted he let his emotions take over after confronting the Proteas wicketkeeper/batsman as the players walked up a narrow staircase to the dressing rooms during the tea interval on Sunday.

The footage was captured on CCTV and leaked, showing the Australian being restrained by his team-mates.

Warner said he was used to taking flak from fans and opposition players, but claimed De Kock's remark crossed a line.

"The other day I was probably out of line. I've seen the footage and I regret the way it played out but for me -- it is how I am and I responded emotionally and regretted the way I played out," he told Australian media in South Africa.

"But I'll always stick up for my family.

"I cop it left, right and centre, especially off the field from spectators. I am used to that and it doesn't bother me.

"But in the proximity of my personal space and behind me, a comment that was vile and disgusting and about my wife and just in general about a lady was quite poor, I felt."

He added: "When it comes to family or racism comments or anything like that, that's just a no-go zone."

New footage shows the pair walking from the ground together and Warner is heard to call De Kock a "fucking sook", according to The Australian newspaper, referring to someone who is soft or easily upset.

He apparently responded by making disparaging remarks about Warner's wife Candice, a model, which escalated the row as they made their way to the dressing rooms.

South African coach Ottis Gibson has defended De Kock against allegations he provoked the heated altercation.

"I think everybody just needs to focus on cricket. Calm down and get back to cricket," he said.

Warner and De Kock are yet to speak since the incident but the Australian opener said he hoped to break the ice at some point in the near future.

"Hopefully I can speak to him in the next couple of days, or after the game, or after the series," he said.

Match referee Jeff Crowe is expected to meet with skippers Steve Smith and Faf du Plessis on Thursday, spelling out how he wants players to behave when the series continues.

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News Network
July 6,2020

New Delhi, Jul 6: India's cricket chief Sourav Ganguly says improved fitness standards and a change in culture have led to the country developing one of the world's best pace attacks.

Spearheads Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah are part of a battery of five formidable quick bowlers that have helped change India's traditional reliance on spin bowling.

"You know culture has changed in India that we can be good fast bowlers," Ganguly said in a chat hosted on the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Twitter feed.

"Fitness regimes, fitness standards not only just among fast bowlers but also among the batters, that has changed enormously. That has made everyone understand and believe that we are fit, we are strong and we can also bowl fast like the others did."

The West Indies dominated world cricket in the 1970s and 1980s led by a fearsome pace attack that included all-time greats such as Michael Holding, Andy Roberts, Malcolm Marshall and Joel Garner.

Recently Indian quicks have risen to the top in world cricket with Shami, Bumrah, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav and Bhuvneshwar Kumar in a deadly arsenal.

"The West Indies in my generation were naturally strong," the former India captain said.

"We Indians were never such naturally strong... but we worked hard to get strong. But I think it is the change in culture as well that is very important."

Shami last month claimed that the current Indian pace attack may be the best in Test history.

"You and everyone else in the world will agree to this -- that no team has ever had five fast bowlers together as a package," said Shami.

"Not just now, in the history of cricket, this might be the best fast-bowling unit in the world."

Shami took 13 wickets during India's 3-0 home Test sweep over South Africa last year, while Bumrah has claimed 68 scalps in 14 Tests since his debut.

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News Network
May 9,2020

May 9: Filipina weightlifting star Hidilyn Diaz noticed live-streamed concerts were collecting money for coronavirus relief and was struck by inspiration: why not raise funds with an online workout?

Since then the Olympic silver-medallist -- and strong contender for her country's first Games gold -- has made enough money to buy food packs for hundreds of hard-hit families in the Philippines.

Diaz has done it all from Malaysia, where she was training to qualify for the now-postponed Tokyo Olympics when much of the world locked down against the virus in March.

"I thought (distribution) would be impossible because I'm not physically present," Diaz, 29, told news agency.

"It's a good thing that I have trusted friends and trusted family members who understand why we need to do a fundraising."

That circle of supporters has handed out the packages, which include vegetables, eggs and rice, to more than 400 families.

The food was bought with donations from about 50 people who joined sessions that lasted up to three hours, and gave them a rare chance to train with an elite athlete.

Diaz rose to fame in 2016 after snagging a surprise silver in the 53 kilogramme category in Rio, becoming the Philippines' first female Olympic medallist and ending the nation's 20-year medal drought at the Games.

Two years later, she won gold at the Asian Games in Indonesia.

However, her quest to qualify for Tokyo is on hold ahead of the Games' rescheduled opening in July 2021.

"I thought all the hard work would soon be over... then it was extended," she said. "But I'm still thankful I can still continue with (the training) I need to do."

Still, the lockdown broke her daily training regimen, keeping her away from weights for 14 days for the first time in her career.

"I felt like I was losing my mind already. I've been carrying the barbell for 18 years and all of a sudden it's gone. Those were the kinds of anxiety that I felt," she said.

But she got access to some equipment, and with her coach's urging, got back to work. She was relieved to find her strength was still there.

Instead of a Tokyo berth, the past months have been about a different kind of accomplishment for Diaz: helping her countrymen get through the coronavirus crisis.

Rosemelyn Francisco's family in Zamboanga City, Diaz's home town, is one of the first to get help from the athlete's initiative, and is deeply grateful.

Her family was not wealthy to begin with, and the pandemic has cost her husband his construction job.

"The food she donated has all everything we need, including eggs," said Francisco, 27.

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News Network
June 23,2020

Karachi, Jun 23: Pakistan cricketers Shadab Khan, Haris Rauf and rookie Haider Ali on Monday tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

"The Pakistan Cricket Board has confirmed three players - Haider Ali, Haris Rauf and Shadab Khan - have tested positive for Covid-19," said the PCB in a statement.

"The players had shown no symptoms until they were tested in Rawalpindi on Sunday ahead of the Pakistan men's national cricket team's tour to England."

The infected players will go into self-isolation.

"The PCB medical panel is in contact with the three who have been advised to immediately go into self-isolation," the statement said.

Earlier this month, former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi was tested positive for the deadly virus.

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