Briefly cricket

WADA sets time limit for ICC
New Delhi: The WADA on Tuesday gave ICC time till November 2011 to convince its member boards to accept the vexed 'whereabouts' clause. WADA director general David Howman also served a veiled warning to BCCI when he
indicated that India could be barred from participating in this year's Asian Games in Guangzhou, where cricket in the form of Twenty20 would make its debut in the multi-sport extravaganza if the stand-off continues. "It will be Olympic Council of Asia's decision," he said.

SA win despite Sammy's knock
Antigua: South Africa withstood a late West Indies fightback led by Darren Sammy's 58 from 24 balls to prevail by 17 runs in the second one-day international on Monday and take a 2-0 lead in the five match series.
Brief scores: South Africa 300 for 5 in 50 overs (G. Smith 37, H. Amla 92, J Kallis 85, AB de Villiers 41;Taylor 2/50, Pollard 2/39) vs West Indies 283 all out in 48.1 overs (D. Richards 51, D Bravo 74, D Sammy not out 58; Morkel 3/58).

ICC gives Sydney Test clean chit
Melbourne: The ICC has stopped investigating the Australia-Pakistan Sydney Test after finding no evidence of match-fixing, a Cricket Australia spokesman said. "The ICC has replied, saying it has seen no evidence of match-fixing and that there is no current investigation of match-fixing," CA spokesman Peter Young was quoted as saying by The Australian. "Haroon Lorgat has assured James Sutherland that Australia won the match on its merits," Young added.

Afridi to lead in all formats
Lahore: Pakistan on Tuesday named Shahid Afridi captain for next month's Asia Cup and the subsequent full tour of England, opting for a single skipper for all three formats of the game. "Afridi will lead Pakistan in one-day and Test cricket and is our best choice," Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Ejaz Butt told reporters.

Swann voted best English player
London: Off-spinner Graeme Swann beat competition from his skipper Paul Collingwood among others to clinch the 'England Cricket of the Year' award at Lord's. Selected by the British media, Swann claimed the award beating the likes of Stuart Broad, Andrew Strauss, Paul Collingwood and James Anderson. Swann played 45 matches in all formats of the game, taking 99 wickets at an average of 26.26.

Pak's entire 'dysfunctional' Oz tour under ICC scanner

The entire Pakistan tour of Australia in 2009-10 is under a cloud with the International Cricket Council (ICC) anti-corruption unit investigating the visiting team's performance during the series, and not just the 'controversial' Sydney Test.
Outgoing ICC Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU) chief Paul Condon said that his department has been concerned about the entire tour and not just the New Year's Sydney Test.
"It is a series that worried us. The challenge is to find where the solid fact is, because what you've got there is a lot of internecine strife within the team and within Pakistan politics, with rival camps making allegations," The Australian quoted Condon, as saying.
"We are satisfied that that was a totally dysfunctional tour from a Pakistani point of view, and that dysfunctionality in the dressing room led to players not performing well, and maybe making them potentially underperform deliberately," he added.
Condon further said the ACSU was still inquiring into the series to establish facts.
"What we are trying to establish is whether that was because rival camps wanted to (bring) down captains or potential captains, or whether they were doing something more serious, for a financial fix," he said.
Meanwhile, Cricket Australia (CA) has promised to co-operate, but chief executive James Sutherland has written to the ICC for more details of its investigation.
"We have no knowledge of any concerns and we'd have expected to have some knowledge if there were any," a CA spokesman said.
"If the ICC had any concerns, we would absolutely provide them with whatever support they needed. At this stage we believe we won that game on the merits of our performance," the spokesman added.
The Pakistan Cricket Board punished almost half of the Pakistan team for their performance in Australia. Mohammad Yousuf and Younis Khan were banned indefinitely, Shoaib Malik and Naved-ul-Hasan were suspended for a year, while Shahid Afridi and the Akmal brothers, Umar and Kamran, were fined and placed on probation for six months

"Pak's entire dysfunctional tour of Australia" under ICC anti-corruption scanner

Sydney, May 22(ANI): The entire Pakistan tour of Australia in 2009-10 is under a cloud with the International Cricket Council (ICC) anti-corruption unit investigating the visiting team's performance during the series, and not just the 'controversial' Sydney Test.

Outgoing ICC Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU) chief Paul Condon said that his department has been concerned about the entire tour and not just the New Year's Sydney Test.

"It is a series that worried us. The challenge is to find where the solid fact is, because what you've got there is a lot of internecine strife within the team and within Pakistan politics, with rival camps making allegations," The Australian quoted Condon, as saying.

"We are satisfied that that was a totally dysfunctional tour from a Pakistani point of view, and that dysfunctionality in the dressing room led to players not performing well, and maybe making them potentially underperform deliberately," he added.

Condon further said the ACSU was still inquiring into the series to establish facts.

"What we are trying to establish is whether that was because rival camps wanted to (bring) down captains or potential captains, or whether they were doing something more serious, for a financial fix," he said.

Meanwhile, Cricket Australia (CA) has promised to co-operate, but chief executive James Sutherland has written to the ICC for more details of its investigation.

"We have no knowledge of any concerns and we'd have expected to have some knowledge if there were any," a CA spokesman said.

"If the ICC had any concerns, we would absolutely provide them with whatever support they needed. At this stage we believe we won that game on the merits of our performance," the spokesman added.

The Pakistan Cricket Board punished almost half of the Pakistan team for their performance in Australia. Mohammad Yousuf and Younis Khan were banned indefinitely, Shoaib Malik and Naved-ul-Hasan were suspended for a year, while Shahid Afridi and the Akmal brothers, Umar and Kamran, were fined and placed on probation for six months.