Australian Cricketers Association's (ACA) chairman Greg Dyer has slammed the national board's "slash and burn approach" to combat the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, saying it will "have disastrous long-term consequences on the health of the game".
Under immense financial stress, Cricket Australia has put 80 percent of its staff on 20 percent salary till end of June, while a handful of others, including the executives, remained on 80 percent pay to cope up with the challenges posed by the pandemic.
The decision saved the board AUD 3 million, which was slammed by critics due to the fact that CA had some AUD 90 million in reserves at the end of March (2020), including 36 million in stock investments.
Dyer also questioned the board's financial policy, saying the game has "yet to experience a significant negative revenue event".
"It saddens me, that for the game that I have loved my whole life, cricket's response to the Covid-19 pandemic is risking an opportunity lost," Dyer said in an ..

COVID-19: ACA slams Cricket Australia's 'disastrous slash and burn approach'

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The Italian Football Federation (FIGC) has announced that all its competitions, including Serie A, will remain suspended until June 14.
The Lega Serie A had hoped for a return on June 13 but the FIGC has pushed back the date in line with a government decree that all sports competitions be suspended until next month.
The FIGC said the choice was made "pending any further... decision by the authorities", suggesting the possibility of a restart on June 13 might still exist.
The Italian season has been on hold since March 9 amid the pandemic which has killed more than 32,000 people in Italy.
But Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte on Saturday said he needed "more guarantees" before the green light could finally be given for football to resume.
A meeting is planned in the near future between Conte and Italian football bosses.
The government's technical and scientific committee will decide in the coming days if it accepts the new health protocols proposed for a return to group training ...

No Serie A restart before June 14, says FIGC

La Liga's proposed restart next month has left fans juggling the excitement of football's return and the disappointment it will resume without them.
More than two months after the coronavirus pandemic halted the season in Spain, players have begun training in small groups as they aim to be as ready as possible for the planned reboot on June 12.
Yet goals, saves and tackles will all be greeted by silence or at best, artificial cheers approved by authorities to be pumped out of a sound system.
Even for Sevilla against Real Betis, the usually-heart thumping Andalusian derby that encapsulates the importance of supporters more than any other Spanish fixture, the atmosphere will be non-existent on the first weekend back.
But for clubs, there is a financial necessity given La Liga president Javier Tebas has estimated cancelling the season could cost them 1 billion euros ($1.08 billion).
"People need their dose of football," Adolfo Barbero, a commentator on Movistar, Spain's primary football .

Fans torn as Spanish football prepares to begin recovery without them

Babar Azam wants to take a leaf out of Imran Khan's aggressive captaincy and besides cricket, he is also brushing up his English to become a "complete leader" like the World Cup-winning all-rounder.
Last week, the star batsman took over the reins of Pakistan's white-ball cricket after being appointed as the ODI skipper.
Azam, who was one of the world's leading batsmen across formats last year and already the T20 skipper, replaced wicket-keeper batsman Sarfaraz Ahmed as the ODI captain for the 2020-21 season.
"Imran Khan was a very aggressive captain and I want to be like him. It is not an easy job captaining the Pakistan team but I am learning from my seniors and I have also had captaincy experience since my under-19 days," Azam said.
He said that to be a complete captain one must be able to interact comfortably with the media and express oneself properly in front of an audience.
"These days I am also taking English classes besides focussing on my batting," he said on Monday.
The ...

I want to be like Imran Khan, says captain Babar Azam

The US Golf Association is cancelling qualifying for the US Open, which remains scheduled for Winged Foot in Mamaroneck, New York, in September.
The major championship was originally set for June 18-21 at Winged Foot, and postponed as part of the major revision of the international golf calendar in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.
While the US Open remains on course for September 17-20, the USGA said that the usual local, sectional and final qualifying would not take place.
"As you can imagine, this was an incredibly difficult decision, as qualifying is a cornerstone of USGA championships," said John Bodenhamer, senior managing director of Championships for the USGA.
The governing body said the fields for the US Open and the US Women's Open would be filled entirely through exemptions, with information regarding expanded exemption categories to be made available in the coming weeks.
"We take great pride in the fact that many thousands typically enter to pursue their dream of ...

USGA scraps qualifying for US Open

Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James has said  he's eager for the NBA season to resume, as long as the health of players and their families won't be endangered amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
James, speaking on the "WRTS: After Party" programme on the Uninterrupted multi-media platform, said he hoped the NBA season resumes sooner rather than later.
"Definitely not giving up on the season," said James, whose Lakers led the Western Conference when the NBA suspended play on March 11 after Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert tested positive for the coronavirus.
The virus brought global sport to a virtual standstill, but as lockdowns aimed at preventing its spread have begun to ease, sport has begun to re-emerge.
Germany's Bundesliga became the first top European football league to resume after a two-month hiatus at the weekend.
In North America the popular NASCAR stock car series resumed without spectators on Sunday and golf stuck a toe in the water with a made-for-TV charity event featuring ...

Lakers' LeBron eager to get back to basketball

Two-time world champion Fernando Alonso has said he is looking for a challenge "at the top level" and is not ruling out a return to Formula One, amid increasing speculation he could sign for Renault.
"I'm in great physical shape and my motivation is sky high, so I wanted to focus on a top-level category, be it the return to F1, the endurance championship, Indycar..."
Alonso said in a video call with students at the Real Madrid Graduate School-Universidad Europea.
Alonso, who won his two world titles with Renault in 2005 and 2006, quit Formula One at the end of the 2018 season.
The Spaniard is a two-time winner of the Le Mans 24 Hour endurance event and finished 13th in his Dakar Rally debut in January. He also plans to race at this year's Indianapolis 500.
"It was when I was searching for challenges and options for the coming years that I decided to opt for the Dakar adventure," Alonso said.
"It was like tossing a coin and seeing how I could enjoy what's a really different car. It was 

Alonso open to Formula One return

Jamaica's Olympic sprint legend Usain Bolt has become a father for the first time after welcoming the birth of a baby girl with partner Kasi Bennett, reports said.
Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness appeared to confirm the birth of Bolt's daughter in a social media post.
"Congratulations to our sprint legend Usain Bolt and Kasi Bennett on the arrival of their baby girl!" Holness wrote on Twitter.
Local media reports said the couple's daughter was born on Sunday.  No further details were immediately available.
Bolt, 33, had revealed he was expecting a daughter with Bennett on social media in March, jokingly warning any future suitors to steer clear of his daughter.
"Any man! Any boy! Don't play with me!" the eight-time Olympic gold medallist quipped.
Bolt, the world record holder at 100m and 200m, retired from athletics in 2017 after a decade of dominance in men's sprinting.
At the 2016 Olympics, Bolt became the only man to win the 100m and 200m titles at three consecutive

Sprint legend Bolt and partner welcome baby girl

The Premier League has been told by government experts that coronavirus restrictions could endure for at least a year across English football, with players allowed to resume only non-contact training from Tuesday.
England's top division has been studying how the Bundesliga was able to resume at the weekend while being realistic about missing its aspiration of getting back underway by June 12.
We have to be flexible about it, Premier League chief executive Richard Masters said in a media call on Monday.
The Germans are a couple of steps ahead of us obviously and we can learn from them and watch them and take confidence from their success."
Team executives will hold talks next Tuesday to discuss protocols for allowing players to take part in contact training, but it is dependent on government approval and there being no new spike in COVID-19 cases after an easing of lockdown restrictions.
(Once) we have had a proper discussion with clubs about how much is required to create the fitness .

EPL players face year of coronavirus restrictions

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf says NASCAR can hold its races at Pocono Raceway in late June if the coronavirus situation improves in the area, though the races might have to go off without fans.
Pocono Raceway is in Monroe County, which currently is under Wolf's strictest pandemic orders, or a red designation. But Wolf said Monday that if the county moves to yellow, then NASCAR may hold the two races as long as there are no spectators present and guidelines are followed to keep competitors safe.
Wolf on Friday said he had told NASCAR officials that his state wasn't ready to make a decision on the reopening of Pocono Raceway, which is scheduled to host races June 27 and 28. Parts of Pennsylvania have moved to the yellow designation.
NASCAR resumed its Cup Series schedule Sunday at Darlington, South Carolina, without fans.

NASCAR's Pocono races might be run without fans

The much-vandalized statue of Zlatan Ibrahimovic is staying in Malmo. Where, exactly, remains to be seen.
Committee members from the Swedish city's council met Monday to discuss proposals from local citizens about where to move the statue of the soccer player from its current location outside the stadium.
The 500-kilogram (1,100-pound), 3-meter (9-foot-10) bronze statue has been repeatedly attacked since Ibrahimovic become a part-owner in Hammarby, a Stockholm-based team and a rival of the striker's boyhood club of Malmo. The most recent act of vandalism saw the statue cut off at the ankles, leading to it being removed in early January for repairs and put in a secret location.
The sculpture stays in Malmo, said Frida Trollmyr, the city's deputy mayor for culture and sports.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic is a son of Malmo, this is where he belongs.
Trollmyr said there would now be a process to determine the specific location where the statue will be placed. A final decision will be made in ...

Ibrahimovic statue to remain in Malmo despite vandalism

The coronavirus has left the English cricket season in limbo but Lancashire were dealt a devastating personal blow when they lost their chairman, David Hodgkiss.
Just weeks later the Manchester-based county have returned record financial results -- a fitting legacy for Hodgkiss, who died in late March at the age of 71 after contracting the virus.
And they have put themselves in the frame to host Tests during the English summer.
Lancashire, who chose not to follow other counties in furloughing players during the COVID-19 crisis, have announced their highest-ever annual turnover of ?34 million ($41 million).
EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization) for the Red Rose county in 2019 were ?7.6 million, a 10-fold increase since 2015 and a record for a first-class county.
"Excluding minority interests and one-off legacies it is absolutely a record," CEO Daniel Gidney told AFP.
"It's a very proud day for the club.
"A hundred percent it is David's legacy. He was a .

Lancashire offer to stage Test cricket during crisis as they post strong earnings

Celtic's grip on Scottish football remains unbreakable after a ninth consecutive league title was confirmed even though they have not kicked a ball for two months.
Nine in a row is a landmark staging post in Scottish football. Only twice has it been achieved before, once on either side of the Glasgow divide -- by Celtic and Rangers.
But Celtic's feat in matching those historic achievements feels like an anti-climax after the coronavirus lockdown deprived them of the chance to win it on the pitch.
"They are the ones who have lost out the most in terms of the opportunity to play in front of the supporters, going for nine in a row," said Celtic manager Neil Lennon of his players.
"I feel so sorry for them." Scottish league chiefs on Monday declared the season over, drawing a line under a bitter squabble over how to finish the campaign.
Rangers failed to gain sufficient support among the other 41 league clubs for an independent inquiry into the controversial vote that allowed the season ..

Celtic celebrate nine in a row despite anticlimactic end to Scottish season

Exactly 60 years ago, in an era when going to a big football match meant cramming together with no thought to social distancing, 127,000 people crowded into Hampden Park in Glasgow to see the European Cup final and were rewarded with "a fantasy staged in heaven".
Real Madrid beat Eintracht Frankfurt 7-3 to win a fifth straight European Cup in a game that marked both a start and an ending.
It was just the fifth year of the European Cup's existence, but the brilliance of the football and an international television audience of 70 million, a record for a live broadcast by the BBC, created an unprecedented buzz.
The match also marked the end of Real's first period of European domination and a final international peak for a pair of 33-year-olds: Ferenc Puskas and Alfredo Di Stefano.
Real had other stars including winger Francisco Gento, defender Jose Santamaria and captain Jose Maria Zarraga, but Di Stefano and Puskas were the first 'Galacticos'.
For Di Stefano this was a fifth straight ...

The night Real Madrid and European football struck gold

Bayer Leverkusen cruised past Werder Bremen 4-1 as the Bundesliga completed its first full round of games on Monday after resuming competition.
German soccer has so far avoided major pitfalls in three days of games following a two-month suspension for the coronavirus pandemic.
Some of Leverkusen's players clustered together after scoring in Werder's empty stadium, rather than opting for the league's recommended celebrations of minimal physical contact.
Werder was without one player who was isolating at home after someone in his personal life tested positive for the coronavirus. Werder said on Friday that the player, who the club has not named, tested negative.
The Bundesliga faces its next test this week as players return to live at home ahead of the weekend's games. Teams spent the seven days leading up to their first games in a group quarantine in hotels, but that was a one off.
Both Leverkusen and Werder kept up their form from before the break, with Leverkusen staying six league ..

Leverkusen beats Bremen 4-1 in Bundesliga

France was right to end its football season, said the country's sports minister on Monday, casting doubt on the wisdom of restarting the Bundesliga, despite the coronavirus pandemic, at the weekend.
"It was important for me to give primacy to the health and the psychological well-being of athletes over economic considerations, which, indeed, in other countries, have taken precedence," said Roxana Maracineanu on a visit to the French high performance institute (INSEP) on the outskirts of Paris.
While the French league season has been declared over with Paris Saint-Germain champions, the Bundesliga resumed on Saturday, behind closed doors.
"Each country was affected differently" by Covid-19, said Maracineanu, who also pointed to the German federal system in which "the regions make their own decisions, whether it's to reopen schools or resume sport."
While "the stakes are not the same in Germany and France", the minister questioned "the notion of fairness" in the event of the resumption .

Sports minister says French football put health first

A total of Rs 1.21 lakh has been raised through a 72-hour-marathon online chess event organised by young Tamil Nadu Grandmaster P Iniyan to raise funds for relief work related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The money would go to the PM CARES Fund and the state chief minister's relief fund.
The fundraiser event, because of various time zones across the globe, began at 2.30 pm IST on May 15 (Friday) and concluded on Monday.
Players and non-players contributing to the cause through the event added up to Rs 1,21,199, a press release said.
Apart from this amount, Iniyan, on his part, is separately contributing Rs 20,000 to the welfare of Erode district, from where he comes.
Iniyan played 271 games overall - 250 wins, 12 losses, 9 draws - and was engaged in the event for more than 72 hours. All the games were played in the Blitz time control (3 minutes and 2 seconds increment for each player).
The event was hosted by technology partner Internet chess club (www.chessclub.com).
Besides India, ...

Chess marathon organised by GM Iniyan raises Rs 1.21 lakh for COVID-19 relief work

Cricket is set to do away with one of its oldest practices -- the use of saliva to shine the ball -- as an Anil Kumble-led ICC committee on Monday recommended banning it owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, the ICC Cricket Committee saw no health hazard in continuing with the use of sweat.
During a meeting over a video conference, the committee also pushed for bringing back two non-neutral umpires (both from the host nation) for all internationals matches, as DRS ensures more accurate decision making. This was also recommended to curb travel.
In line with its proposal, the committee has recommended an increase in the use of DRS review per innings, from two to three.
"We are living through extraordinary times and the recommendations the Committee have made today are interim measures to enable us to safely resume cricket in a way that preserves the essence of our game while protecting everyone involved," Kumble said in an ICC release.
"The ICC Cricket Committee heard from the Chair .

Kumble-led ICC committee recommends ban on saliva due to pandemic, wants non-neutral umpires

The Anil Kumble-led ICC Cricket Committee on Monday recommended banning the use of saliva to shine the ball owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.
During a meeting over a video conference, the committee also pushed for bringing back two non-neutral umpires for all internationals matches.
"We are living through extraordinary times and the recommendations the committee made today are interim measures to enable us to safely resume cricket in a way that preserves the essence of our game," Kumble said in an ICC release.
The use of saliva to shine the cricket ball, especially in the red-ball format, is primarily meant for swing bowling but the practice is now being seen as a health risk.
As the ICC last month contemplated banning the use of saliva as a safety measure in what is expected to be a very different world, it has throw the floor open for a fierce debate in the cricket community.
Only time will tell how much of an imbalance between the bat and ball will the whole thing cause but fast ...

Kumble-led ICC committee recommends ban on saliva due to pandemic

The Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) on Monday said they are awaiting for more clarity from the BCCI on opening the Eden Gardens for training after the central government gave a go ahead for resumption of  sporting activities across the country in its fresh guidelines for the fourth phase of the nationwide lockdown.
The Ministry of Home Affairs on Sunday said stadiums will be allowed to stage games without spectators which may come as a huge relief with the much-anticipated Indian Premier League being postponed in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"With regard to training of players, it has been stated by the Indian Cricket Board (BCCI) that it would study guidelines at the state level and will work in sync with state cricket associations to chalk out a programme for skill-based training at a local level.
"Therefore, CAB would wait for such guidelines before taking a further decision in the matter," the CAB said after a meeting of its office bearers via video conference.
The Eden .

Waiting for more clarity from BCCI on opening of Eden Gardens and office: CAB

Thomas Mueller expects Bayern Munich's showdown behind closed doors at closest rivals Borussia Dortmund in a week's time to decide who wins the Bundesliga title.
Goals by Robert Lewandowski and Benjamin Pavard sealed a 2-0 win for Bayern at Union Berlin on Sunday as the German top flight restarted behind closed doors.
The result in Berlin maintained Bayern's four-point lead at the top of the table after the league took a two-month hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Second-placed Dortmund smashed Schalke 4-0 on Saturday with Erling Braut Haaland opening the scoring before Raphael Guerreiro netted either side of a Thorgan Hazard goal.
Dortmund host Bayern on May 26 and Mueller expects the potential top-of-the-table clash to be a key factor in determining whether Munich will go on to clinch an eighth straight league crown.
"The match in Dortmund will decide how exciting and close it will be in the next few weeks, that's for sure," said Mueller.
Former Dortmund striker Lewandowski ...

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