LONDON:-England great Ian Botham has backed controversial plans for a new city-based 100-ball competition despite widespread criticism from within the game. The former all-rounder believes England and Wales Cricket Board chairman Colin Graves is right to press ahead with the “Hundred” concept in the hope that it can match the global appeal of the Indian Premier League and Australia’s Big ...

The inaugural elections for USA Cricket, the national governing body seeking to replace the expelled USA Cricket Association as the ICC’s member board in America, have been postponed to May 29. According to ICC Americas USA project manager Eric Parthen, the decision was made primarily to allow the nominating and governance committee to properly vet eligible candidates. “We communicated internally ...

LONDON: – Hampshire announced the signing on Thursday of Afghan teenager Mujeeb Ur Rahman and New Zealand s Colin Munro for the Twenty20 Blast. Mujeeb will be available for the whole of the county s T20 campaign and white-ball specialist opener Munro can play until he moves to the Caribbean Premier League in August. Mujeeb has been a revelation since ...

ROME: Rafael Nadal continued his clay domination on Friday, rallying from a set down to reach the Italian Open semi-finals with a 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 victory over Fabio Fognini. The world number two needs to lift an eighth career title at the Foro Italico on Sunday to return to the top of the ATP rankings after losing that position to ...

PARIS: Marseille star Dimitri Payet was left out of France’s World Cup squad announced by coach Didier Deschamps on Thursday, completing a miserable 24 hours for the playmaker. The former West Ham United player was forced off with a hamstring injury in the first half of Marseille’s Europa League final defeat against Atletico Madrid on Wednesday, and that fitness doubt ...

Pakistan’s Maaz Khan has qualified for the finals of Shanghai Cooperation Organization International Wushu Sanda Tournament, which is currently being held in Chongqing (China). Photo: Facebook/Shafi Ur Rehman Pakistan’s Maaz Khan has qualified for the finals of Shanghai Cooperation Organization International Wushu Sanda Tournament, which is currently being held in Chongqing (China). Khan defeated India’s Pawan Gupta in the semi-final ...

Photo: Twitter AB de Villiers seems to make it a habit of being spectacular in whatever he does on a cricket field and the talismanic South African´s gravity-defying catch in Thursday’s Indian Premier League (IPL) match only added to his legend. The Sunrisers Hyderabad’s chase was into its eighth over when their English opener Alex Hales launched spinner Moeen Ali ...

LONDON: Joe Root believes a year in the captaincy has given him the experience he needs to move up the England batting order to the pivotal number three position for the two-test series against Pakistan beginning on Thursday. Since replacing Alastair Cook as the test captain last year, Root has batted at number four and juggled the dual demands of ...

KARACHI: Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Friday issued a show cause notice to Muhammad Hafeez after the all-rounder called into question the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) process for reporting suspect bowling actions. Hafeez, who was suspended from bowling in international cricket for the third time last year and was finally cleared to bowl, had raised doubts about the process calling ...

Dubai:Pakistan’s debutants, all-rounder Faheem Ashraf and left-handed opener Imam-Ul-Haq have entered into the International Cricket Council (ICC) Test Player Rankings in the list for batsmen at 81st and 113th positions, respectively. Faheem scored 83 in the first innings against Ireland at Malahide while Imam had scores of seven and 74 not out, an ICC press release said. Pace bowlers Mohammad ...