CARIBBEAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION

Sagicor UWi win

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Tuesday, 21 May 2013 11:59

Defending champions Sagicor UWI began the BCA Sagicor General T20 season on a winning note, beating Banks by five wickets at the 3W's oval Sunday.

Banks batted first and made 84 for seven. UWI reached 85 for five. At Friendship, Premix & Precast Yorkshire defeated Counterpoint Wanderers by 13 runs, scores there, Yorkshire 156 for five, Wanderers 143 for eight.

At Bank Hall, ICBL Empire enjoyed a seven wicket win over Seven Seas Police. The blues won the toss and decided to bat in cloudy overcast conditions and made 118 for eight in their 20 overs. Richard Greaves was the leading scorer with 43, which included five threes and four fours. Lemar Mascoll was the pick of the bowling for Empire, with 4-19 from his four overs. When they batted, they made 120 for three to take the victory.

Meanwhile, at LIME, the home team defeated CGI Maple by seven wickets. Maple made 118 for six to which LIME replied with 119 for three.

Over at Foursquare, Super Centre Spartan narrowly got home with a one run win over ESAF Pickwick, scores there, Pickwick 150 for six, Spartan 151 for six.

At Beckles Road, Republic Bank St. Catherine whipped YMPC by four wickets, St. Catherine 134 for six, YMPC 130 for six.

Carlton went to Blenheim and crushed BRC BCL by eight wickets. BCL 75 for seven, Carlton 76 for two in a match reduced to 14 overs due to wet conditions.

There was absolutely no play in the game between Ince Transport MTW and the BDF due to damp conditions.

Brathwaite second at IAAF

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Tuesday, 21 May 2013 11:09

Barbadians Ryan Brathwaite and Ramon Gittens were in action Saturday night at the IAAF World Challenge meet in Puerto Rico.

Brathwaite was second in the men's 110 meter hurdles, clocking 13.25 seconds behind orlando ortega of cuba who won in 13.23.

Gittens meanwhile was second in the men's 100 meters.

He clocked 10.33 seconds behind the eventual winner Jeffrey Demps of the USA with 10.27.

Meanwhile Kirani James is sending out early warnings ahead of this year's IAAF World Championships in Moscow.

The Olympic champion James clocked a world leading 44.02 second in the men's 400 meters at the Shanghai Diamond League meeting this weekend, smashing the meet record in the process.

Olympic champion Shelly-Ann Fraser Pryce won the women's 100 meters in a world leading 10.93 seconds while Olympic bronze medalist Warren Weir took the men's 200 meters in 20.18 seconds.

Pollard in IPL row

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Friday, 17 May 2013 15:30

Rajasthan Royals captain Rahul Dravid has blasted Mumbai Indians all-rounder Kieron Pollard for the way he celebrated to send off Royals batsman Shane Watson in an Indian Premier League (IPL) match on Wednesday.  

Watson was caught by Pollard and the West Indian gave the batsman a send-off with his hand gesture after celebrating the dismissal.

"One of the things that I find when you send off batsman after you have got him out is that it is an act of cowardice. That is my personal opinion,” said the former India captain in the post-match media conference Wednesday night.

“Batsman can never respond after you have got him out and you send him off”.

Pollard is reported to have made a remark to Watson when he came out to bat, triggering a response from the Australian all-rounder and leading to a verbal spat.

On-field umpires had to intervene and separate the two players before the incident got ugly.

"Saying something on the field is part and parcel of the game,” Dravid said in a strong reaction to the incident at the Wankhede Stadium.

“Having a chat, a bit of banter while the game is on is fine but my personal opinion is that when you send a batsman off after you have got him out is an act of cowardice”.

The episode also invited the ire of the match referee who hauled up the home team skipper Rohit Sharma and Pollard in a hearing after the game.

Sharma, meantime has defended Pollard saying there was nothing personal in the way the Trinidadian celebrated Watson’s dismissal.

"We were just at the match referee's hearing (before attending the presser) and what Pollard said was that is what he always does. That is the kind of celebration he does even when he takes wickets. You can go and watch the video of his celebration. I don't think he was personally pointing to anyone. It was his personal celebration," he said.

"All these things happen. It is part of the game. I don't think we should take it too seriously. All these things keep happening, we shouldn't be talking about this I feel”.

Sharma has also accused Watson of starting the fight when Pollard was at the crease by making comments at the big-built West Indian all-rounder.

"Not me but certainly Pollard got something from Watson. So these things keep happening, so there isn't too much to look into," Sharma said.

Indian cricketers arrested over spot-fixing allegations

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Thursday, 16 May 2013 13:53

Three Indian cricketers have been arrested over allegations of spot-fixing in the Indian Premier League.

The players - S Sreesanth, Ankeet Chavan and Ajit Chandila - are all from the Rajasthan Royals team.

The team said it had "a zero-tolerance approach to anything that is against the spirit of the game", and India's cricket board suspended the players.

There has been no word from the cricketers themselves, but Sreesanth's family said he was innocent.

Spot-fixing involves illegally rigging parts of a match, for example by timing the delivery of a deliberate wide or no-ball, to benefit bookmakers or those betting on matches.

Police said they had also arrested 11 bookmakers.

Rajasthan Royals are captained by legendary Indian batsman Rahul Dravid and owned by Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty and her businessman husband Raj Kundra.

Fast bowler Sreesanth has represented India in many international games. He has played 27 Tests and 53 one-day internationals.

"I have full faith in him, he would never do anything like this," his mother Savitri Devi told the BBC Hindi service.

'Rotating watches'
 
The players were arrested in Mumbai late on Wednesday and they are expected to appear in court in Delhi later on Thursday.

At a press conference on Thursday afternoon, the city's police chief Neeraj Kumar gave out the details of what he called the "spot-fixing scam".

He said: "There was an agreement between bookies [bookmakers] and players that in a certain over they would give away minimum amount of runs. The bookies also gave them directions that they have to indicate that they are ready to give away those many runs.

"The indications that players had to give bookies included rotating their watches, putting towels in their pants, taking out locket from shirt, taking out shirt and vest that you're wearing, make signs with jersey."

Mr Kumar said the team matches on 5 May with Pune, 9 May with Punjab and 15 May with Mumbai were fixed.

Earlier in the day, the Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) suspended the three players.

"The IPL governing council has met and decided that the cricketers found involved will be dealt with severely," the board said in a statement.

"As of now, the three players - Ankeet Chavan, Ajit Chandila and S Sreesanth - stand suspended pending enquiry. All information required to bring the persons involved to book will be collected and strictest action will be taken, if found guilty," it added.

BCCI president N Srinivasan told reporters that he was "shocked" by the developments.

"I don't know about others but I am shocked, the BCCI never expected it. It was a bolt from the blue. We will see whatever is there to be done is done," he said.

'Taken by surprise'
 
The team owners Rajasthan Royals also issued a statement saying they had "been informed that three of our players have been called in for investigation on spot-fixing in matches. We are completely taken by surprise.

"We do not have the full facts at this point and are unable to confirm anything. We are in touch with the BCCI on this matter. We will fully co-operate with the authorities to ensure a thorough investigation."

The sixth season of the IPL, which is considered to be the world's showcase for Twenty20 cricket, is currently under way in India.

Top Indian and international players take part, contributing to what is the world's richest cricket tournament.

The scandal is the latest to affect cricket.

Last year, Indian cricket officials suspended five players after a sting by undercover TV reporters purported to show cricketers agreeing to bowl no-balls and spot-fix matches.

And in 2011, three top Pakistani players - Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir - were banned after they were found guilty of involvement in a betting scam.