Skip to main content

Virat Kohli is perfect for No. 4 spot: AB de Villiers

India has struggled to find a suitable No.4 ever since Yuvraj Singh retired from cricket from | The Hindu https://ift.tt/gQTYZn4
Post a Comment

Steve Smith eligible to captain Australia as two-year leadership ban post ball-tampering scandal ends

Sydney: Steve Smith's two-year leadership ban ended quietly on Sunday, leaving him eligible to captain Australia at a time of uncertainty over when international cricket will resume.

File image of Steve Smith. Reuters

Smith was stripped of the captaincy and banned from leading Australia for two years over his involvement in the 2018 ball-tampering scandal in South Africa. His sentence ended Sunday and he can again captain Australia if called upon.

Australian players were due this week to conclude a series of matches in New Zealand and, for some, to join the Indian Premier League. But it wasn't clear Sunday if the IPL will take place this year and when international matches will resume. Australia's scheduled mid-year tours to England and Bangladesh are in doubt.

Smith told Channel Nine television's Sports Sunday he is doing his best to stay mentally and physically fit, training in his home gym, going on 10-kilometre runs and practising the guitar.

"It's obviously not looking likely (the IPL will go ahead) at the moment," Smith said. "I think there might be some meetings over the next few days to discuss what the go is with it all."

"I'm just trying to stay physically and mentally fit and fresh and, if it goes ahead at some point, then great. And if not, there's plenty going on in the world at the moment. So just play it day by day."

It seems unlikely Smith will return to the captaincy when cricket resumes. Tim Paine is firmly established as Australia's Test captain and at 35 is not immediately considering retirement. Aaron Finch has captained Australia successfully in white-ball cricket.

The conclusion of Smith's ban ends the period of upheaval in Australian cricket that followed the ball-tampering incident in the second Test at Cape Town in 2018 when Cameron Bancroft, with the knowledge of Smith and his vice-captain David Warner, used sandpaper to change the condition of the ball.

Smith and Warner received one-year bans from international and most domestic cricket and Bancroft was banned for nine months. The scandal also resulted in the resignation of coach Darren Lehmann and the departure of Cricket Australia's chief executive, James Sutherland.

Warner remains under a career-long leadership ban.



from Firstpost Sports Latest News https://ift.tt/33TxkPE
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Please do not Enter any Spam Link in Comment Box

Popular posts from this blog

Past masters of Indian badminton: Meena Shah defied norm to clinch dozen national titles before knee injury cut career short

In the history of women’s badminton in India, there have been three outstanding players who have each had the distinction of bagging the national singles title seven times in a row. The first of these was Meena Shah, who made the national crown her own between 1959 and ’65; the second was Madhumita Goswami-Bisht, who won the title in an unbroken reel of seven from 1984 to ’90, and ended up with ten singles crowns; and the third was Aparna Popat, who made it nine in a row between 1997 and 2005. Stroke artist Ami Ghia-Shah, who reached an unbelievable 15 national singles finals among the 36 summit clashes she managed in a 19-year career, has also been anointed national singles queen on seven occasions, but these were not in consecutive years. Ami won four consecutive titles from 1973 to ’76, and then again in 1979, ’80 and ’83. There is one thing that Aparna, Madhumita and Ami had in common – they have all been slim and trim during their reign at the top. Meena Shah, on the other hand
Post a Comment
Read more