Cairns drags Modi to court

Cairns drags Modi to court

WELLINGTON, May 23: Former New Zealand all-rounder Chris Cairns has finally acted on his threat to sue Lalit Modi and has initiated legal action against the suspended IPL commissioner for suggesting that he was involved in match-fixing.

Cairns’ name was taken off the list of players auctioned in January for the third Indian Premier League and Modi, on his twitter page, had stated that the Kiwi was removed “due to his past record in match fixing.”

Furious with Modi, the all-rounder had threatened legal action at that time but has initiated it only now.

“We are trying to have Modi served with papers. We’re going through that process in India but it takes time to get through the court system. We’re waiting for him, though,” the 39-year-old told New Zealand Herald.

SA pip West Indies by a run

SA pip West Indies by a run

NORTH SOUND, May 21: Ryan McLaren kept his nerve in a tense final over to help South Africa formalise a one-run victory over West Indies, and sweep their two-match Twenty20 International series on Thursday.

McLaren fired in a low full toss very wide of off stump, as West Indies, chasing a modest victory target of 121, required three from the final delivery of the match.

But he conceded just one run, after South African point fielder Jean-Paul Duminy swooped on the ball, when West Indies tail-ender Jerome Taylor essayed a slog at it, and it trickled 15 yards away.

South Africa also won the opening match on Wednesday by 13 runs at the same venue to take a psychological boost into the five One-day Internationals between the two sides, which open on Saturday at the VRCG.

Newcomer David Miller had battled to the top score of 33 from 26 balls, and Johan Botha made 23 from 22 balls to add some respectability to the Proteas’ total of 120 for seven from their 20 overs.

BCCI issues show-cause notices to errant players

BCCI issues show-cause notices to errant players

MUMBAI, May 18: The BCCI on Tuesday issued show cause notice to six cricketers, including star players Yuvraj Singh and Zaheer Khan, for their alleged involvement in a pub brawl after India’s humiliating exit from Twenty20 World Cup in the West Indies.

Besides Yuvraj and Zaheer, show cause notices were served to Ashish Nehra, Rohit Sharma, Piyush Chawla and Ravindra Jadeja as well.

“Board secretary N Srinivasan signed the show cause notices served this afternoon,” a top BCCI source said.

Although details of the notices are not known, it is learnt that the players have been given seven days’ time to respond to the charge of getting involved in a pub brawl in St Lucia on May 11.

According to reports, six Indian cricketers were in the pub where the fans started taunting and abusing them for their failure to reach the semifinal and the cricketers reacted leading to the brawl.

Both Yuvraj and Nehra denied the brawl and even team manager Ranjib Biswal sought to play down the issue on his arrival from the West Indies.

But after Biswal submitted his report to BCCI President Shashank Manohar yesterday, its Chief Administrative Officer Ratnakar Shetty told reporters that the Board had conducted an inquiry into the incident and decided to crack the whip on the errant players.

“We conducted an inquiry over the incident in the West Indies that was widely reported in the media. After considering all the information that we have gathered, the President took the decision that the Board Secretary will issue show cause notices to those players,” Shetty said. (PTI)

Lankans in do-or-die situation against Zimbabwe

Lankans in do-or-die situation against Zimbabwe

GUYANA, May 2: With their campaign derailed by a shock loss to New Zealand, Sri Lanka face a battle of survival against a confident Zimbabwe in their second Group B match of the Twenty20 World Cup on Monday. In their opening match, Sri Lanka had done most things right till the last over. The Islanders posted a good score on board and defended it well before Nathan McCullum stole the match with a six off Lasith Malinga in the final over. That six of the second last ball has placed the Lankans in a do-or-die battle against Zimbabwe, who are coming into Monday’s match after beating formidable Australia and defending champions Pakistan in their warm-up games.