SPORTS 15
Tuesday, 2 February, 2016
Watson bids to open at World t20 after unbeaten 124 SYDNEY
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AGENCIES
USTRALIA’S standin skipper Shane Watson has declared his preference for opening the batting with a blistering 124 not out against India, just weeks out from the ICC World Twenty20. But Watson’s huge total, which came off 71 balls at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Sunday, was not enough to prevent India from winning the match to sweep the three-game T20 series. “I am happy to bat anywhere because I really am loving being out there and playing the game,” the 34-year-old allrounder said after the loss. “But there’s no doubt that I certainly do enjoy opening the batting. It has always
suited my game, suited my mentality as well.” India’s Virat Kohli also praised Watson, who retired from Test cricket last year but was recently overlooked for the Australian one-day squad. “He batted out of his skin,” Kohli said. “He’s such a dangerous player when opening the batting in T20 cricket. We’ve seen that in the IPL many a time.” Watson said India — who succeeded in running down Australia’s total of 197 after smashing 17 off the last over with a four off the final ball — were the clear favourites going into the World T20. “I think no matter how things panned out exactly here, they were always going to be favourites,” he said. But the Australian said
there was not “a hell of a lot to worry about” within his team, although he admitted the workload of players was intense over the southern hemisphere summer. Australia’s busy schedule saw the T20 series against India finish Sunday, just three days before a one-day series starts in New Zealand on Wednesday. Watson said because the series were so close, it had meant that players have “come in and out a lot more regularly than what would normally have happened”. But he said he was confident that they would have solidified their roles well ahead of the World T20 which starts on March 8 in India. “The important thing is to get the team nutted out,” said Watson.
Neymar, Barca in the dock over murky transfer MADRID AGENCIES
Barcelona star Neymar and president Josep Maria Bartomeu will be called to give evidence this week in the murky case over the deal which brought the Brazilian to the Catalan giants from Santos in 2013. Bartomeu is due to attend Spain’s national court on Monday with Neymar to follow on Tuesday. Sandro Rosell, Bartomeu’s predecessor who was president of the club when Neymar was signed, and the player’s parents have also been called to testify. Public prosecutors filed for action to be taken against all the parties after a complaint of fraud and corruption was launched by the Brazilian investment fund DIS, which held 40 percent of Neymar’s sporting rights when he played at Santos. DIS has claimed it was cheated of its real share of the benefits of the 23-year-old’s transfer because part of the transfer fee was concealed by Barcelona and Santos. The deal was originally valued at 57.1 million euros by Barca, 40 million of which was paid to the N&N company owned by the player’s father with Santos receiving just 17.1 million. However, Spanish judicial authorities have estimated the number of simultaneous deals in the transfer amounted to at least 83.3 million. After hearing the testimony, a
judge will decide whether the case will progress and charges be filled. However, it is just one of a number of legal battles facing the club, whose reputation has been hit by a series of off-field scandals in recent times despite their continued success on the pitch. In a separate lawsuit, a judge in May 2015 ordered Bartomeu, Rosell and the club itself to stand trial over alleged tax fraud linked to the signing. The scandal over the concealed transfer fee led to Rosell’s resignation as president in January 2014 with then vice-president Bartomeu
taking charge. By splitting the fee between a number of different contracts between Santos and Neymar himself, Barcelona stand accused of defrauding the Spanish taxman of 12.7 million euros. Prosecutors are seeking a prison sentence of two years and three months for Bartomeu and nearly seven years for Rosell, as well as a 22.2 million euro fine for the club. No date for a trial has been set so far. A Brazilian court has also taken action freezing $47 million in assets belonging to Neymar over tax evasion allegations
between 2011 and 2013. Neymar’s Argentine teammates Lionel Messi and Javier Mascherano have also been in trouble with the Spanish authorities over tax issues. Five-time World Player of the Year Messi will stand trial for tax fraud charges on May 31 along with his father for allegedly failing to declare 4.16 million euros ($4.69 million) related to his image rights between 2007 and 2009. Earlier this month, Mascherano accepted a suspended one-year prison sentence a fine of 816,000 euros for committing tax fraud of 1.5 million euros also related to image rights. Despite the series of legal scandals engulfing the club, Bartomeu comprehensively won club elections in July to retain his mandate until 2021 thanks to the team’s success in winning the treble of Champions League, La Liga and Copa del Rey last season. Neymar played a huge role in that success — leading to third place in the Ballon d’Or earlier this month — and has performed even better this season, scoring 21 goals as Barca threaten to sweep all before them once more. However, his fiscal problems have cast some doubt over his future at the club with his father Neymar Sr saying he would seek tax assurances before signing an extension to his Barcelona deal, which expires in 2018, amid interest from Manchester United and Real Madrid.
INDIA REST IN-FORM KOHLI FOR SRI LANKA T20s NEW DELHI AGENCIES
India are resting batting mainstay Virat Kohli for the three 20-over matches against Sri Lanka this month with an eye on the World T20 on home soil. Kohli, the world’s topranked T20 batsman, enjoyed a prolific run of form to help India complete a 3-0 series whitewash in Australia on Sunday. With Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s men kicking off their bid for a second World T20 in six weeks, the team have decided to rest Kohli who was top-scorer in the series in Australia. India recalled Bhu-
CMYK
vneshwar Kumar after the paceman sustained a thumb injury in Australia and missed the T20 series. Left-arm spinner Pawan Negi received his first call-up to the India squad who play Sri Lanka in the first T20 in Pune on February 9. Ranchi and Visakhapatnam host the other matches. Squad: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Manish Pandey, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Ashish Nehra, Harbhajan Singh, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Pawan Negi.
South Africa seek redemption in oneday series
BLOEMFONTEIN AGENCIES
South Africa will be keen to avenge a Test series defeat when they meet England in five one-day internationals, starting at the Mangaung Oval on Wednesday. “There are no soft series or less important series, they are all important, particularly coming off a Test series loss,” said South African coach Russell Domingo. Both teams will be looking to build on recent good results following disappointing campaigns in the 2015 Cricket World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. South Africa showed patchy form in the World Cup but reached the semi-finals, where they were beaten by New Zealand. Since then, they have won a home series against the Black Caps and an away series in India. England had a poor World Cup, failing to reach the knock-out stage after losing all their matches against other Test nations. But they then beat New Zealand 3-2 in a home series, lost by the same margin against Australia and beat Pakistan 3-1 in the United Arab Emirates. Several of England’s leading one-day players did not appear in the recent Test series against South Africa, including wicketkeeper-batsman Jos Buttler, who hit England’s fastest one-day century off 46 balls in the series decider against Pakistan in Dubai. Other new faces include captain Eoin Morgan, opening batsman Jason Roy and bowlers Reece Topley, Chris Jordan, David Willey and Adil Rashid, who all had some success in England’s comfortable win in a warm-up match against South Africa A in Kimberley on Saturday. South Africa’s oneday specialists include hard-hitting left-handed batsmen David Miller and Rilee Rossouw, all-rounder Farhaan Behardien and leg-spinner Imran Tahir. South African captain AB de Villiers, the world’s number one-ranked one-day international batsman, will hope for a return to form after making three ducks in his last three Test innings against England. South Africa added fast bowler Marchant de Lange to their squad following the injury-forced withdrawal of Dale Steyn and the unavailability through injury for the first match of Kyle Abbott.