South Africa
South Africa’s Hamza gets 9-month ban for doping offense
South Africa batter Zubayr Hamza was suspended for nine months by the International Cricket Council on Tuesday after admitting taking the banned diuretic Furosemide.
Hamza’s ban was backdated to March 22, the date he was provisionally suspended. His records between Jan. 17, the date he tested positive in an out-of-competition test in South Africa, and March 22 have been disqualified, the ICC said.
Read: Mushfiqur, Liton grind Sri Lanka after Tamim’s ton
In that period he played one test against New Zealand, scoring 25 and 6.
Hamza admitted the violation, the South African cricket body said.
The 26-year-old Hamza, who has played six tests and one ODI for South Africa, will be eligible to play again on Dec. 22.
Read: Bangladesh to play tri-nation T20 series in New Zealand before T20 WC
ICC integrity unit general manager Alex Marshall said the case was “a timely reminder to all international cricketers that they remain responsible for anything they put into their bodies, to know exactly what medication they are taking so as to ensure it does not contain a prohibited substance.”
Former South Africa cricket captain Smith cleared of racism
Former South Africa cricket captain Graeme Smith was cleared of racism allegations on Monday by an independent investigation that looked into claims that he used his influence to ensure a Black player wasn't selected while leading the team a decade ago.
Smith had also been accused of being “racially biased” against Black colleagues in his role as South Africa's director of cricket after he retired from playing. And a third allegation was made against him that he was guilty of “unfair racial discrimination” when, in his role as director of cricket, he appointed former teammate Mark Boucher, who is white, as head coach of South Africa in 2019 ahead of another coach, Enoch Nkwe, who is Black.
The accusations were made late last year in a report that emanated from a series of hearings designed to look into the culture of South African cricket as far back as the 1990s to establish if there was racism. That initial report made “tentative findings” against Smith but recommended a full investigation.
Smith was cleared of all three accusations in a decision released Monday. Two independent lawyers ruled on the allegations and found no evidence of racism against Smith. With regard to the accusations against Smith while he was captain of the team, the investigation found that he had opposed the selection of Black player Thami Tsolekile for South Africa from 2012-14 but it was not proved “he did so by reason of Mr. Tsolekile’s race.”
Also read: Sabbir denies allegation of racism against him by Elias
The South African cricket federation had pursued the allegations and was ordered to pay Smith's legal costs.
Smith's contract as director of cricket expired at the end of last month and Cricket South Africa board chairman Lawson Naidoo said he would be leaving the role for “new challenges.”
Naidoo also said that “CSA appreciates it has been difficult for Mr. Smith to endure the unwarranted public disclosures of his personal information." Details of Smith's salary became public during the course of the investigation.
Boucher, who is still South Africa coach, also faces allegations of racism in a disciplinary hearing that is scheduled for next month and could cost him his job. One of the allegations against the former South Africa wicketkeeper revolves around him singing a song in the changing room while he was a player in the 1990s that referenced the race of a Black teammate.
Also read: Racism in Cricket: Five Racist Incidents in the Gentleman’s Game
Smith and Boucher were stalwarts of the South Africa team during their playing days. Smith played 117 tests from 2002-14 and is the Proteas' longest-serving test captain. Boucher played 147 tests from 1997-2012, when his career was ended by a serious eye injury he suffered in a game.
Floods in South Africa’s Durban area kill more than 340
Heavy rains and flooding have killed at least 341 people in South Africa’s eastern KwaZulu-Natal province, including the city of Durban, and more rainstorms are forecast in the coming days.
The death toll is expected to rise as scores of people, including whole families, are missing, officials said Thursday.
The persistent rains have wreaked havoc in the province, destroying homes, collapsing buildings and washing away major roads.
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The damage to Durban and the surrounding eThekwini metropolitan area is estimated at $52 million, eThekwini Mayor Mxolosi Kaunda said Thursday.
At least 120 schools have been flooded, causing damage estimated at more than $26 million and bringing officials to temporarily close all schools in the province.
At least 18 students and one teacher from various schools have died in the floods, Education Minister Angie Motshekga said.
“This is a catastrophe and the damage is unprecedented. What is even more worrying is that more rain is expected in the same areas that are already affected,” Motshekga said in a statement issued Thursday.
Police used stun grenades to disperse residents in the Reservoir Hills areas of Durban who were protesting what they said was the lack of official assistance, according to South African media reports.
The South African National Defense Force has deployed troops to assist with rescue and mop-up operations.
Also read:South Africa's Durban area hit by heavy floods, 45 dead
The floods have knocked out water and electricity to large parts of Durban and the surrounding eThekwini metropolitan area and it will take at least a week to restore those services, according to officials.
President Cyril Ramaphosa visited is convening an emergency Cabinet meeting to declare the floods a national disaster so that funds can be released to help repair the damage. He visited several areas hit by the floods and mudslides on Wednesday.
Fourteen crocodiles that were swept away from a farm in the Tongaat area north of Durban have been recaptured, according to wildlife officials.
South Africa's Durban area hit by heavy floods, 45 dead
Prolonged rains and flooding in the Durban area of South Africa have claimed the lives of at least 45 people, damaging the port, major highways and surrounding areas in KwaZulu-Natal province, according to local officials.
South Africa's military has been deployed to Durban and the surrounding eThekwini metropolitan area on Tuesday to assist with rescue operations as residents flee flooded areas.
Some people have been swept away by surging waters, say officials. Durban port, the largest and busiest shipping terminal in sub-Saharan Africa, has been inundated with floodwaters that carried away shipping containers and left them in a jumbled pile.
Authorities are providing shelter for several hundred people whose homes and possessions were washed away by the floods and technicians are working to restore electricity to areas where power had been knocked out.
READ: Dams needed to boost Australia's flood resilience: PM
Emergency services have for several days been responding to urgent calls for help from people stuck in their houses but the number is beginning to decrease, emergency services spokesman Robert McKenzie told The Associated Press on Tuesday.
“There are still cases of collapsed buildings where operations are still continuing,” he said.
“Most of our power stations have been flooded and our teams are working hard to restore power to the affected areas," Moxilisi Kaunda, mayor of the eThekwini metropolitan municipality, told a press briefing Tuesday.
“Our teams are on the ground to try and return the situation to normalcy," he said. "We continue to assess the damages, we cannot be sure of the extent of the damages at the moment.”
South Africa bat first in 2nd Test vs Tigers
South Africa won the toss and opted to bat first in the second of the two-match Test series against Bangladesh at Port Elizabeth on Friday.
Bangladesh has, however, made two changes in the playing XI -- Tamim Iqbal has replaced Shadman Islam, and Taijul Islam is in the team in place of Taskin Ahmed, who has been ruled out due to a hand injury.
With the return of Tamim, Bangladesh can hope for a strong top-order batting display.
Bangladesh lost the first Test in Durban by a big margin of 220 runs after a batting collapse in the second innings.
Also Read: SA vs BAN 2022: Bangladesh Aspire to Level the Test Series with Fresh Strategy
Mahmudul Hasan Joy was the best performer for Bangladesh in the first Test. The young batter hit a ton in Durban, which was the maiden Test century by any Bangladeshi batter in South Africa.
While Bangladesh have made two changes, the hosts are playing with an unchanged XI.
Bangladesh (Playing XI): Tamim Iqbal, Mahmudul Hasan Joy, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Mominul Haque (c), Mushfiqur Rahim, Liton Das (w), Yasir Ali, Mehidy Hasan, Taijul Islam, Khaled Ahmed, Ebadot Hossain
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South Africa (Playing XI): Dean Elgar (c), Sarel Erwee, Keegan Petersen, Temba Bavuma, Ryan Rickelton, Kyle Verreynne (w), Wiaan Mulder, Keshav Maharaj, Simon Harmer, Lizaad Williams, Duanne Olivier
Durban Test: Tigers fold inside an hour on day 5
Bangladesh were dismissed for their second lowest score in Test cricket on the last day of the first Test against South Africa on Monday, losing the match by 220 runs.
Bangladesh needed to score 274 to win this match. But they were all out for 53 in just 19 overs. Keshav Maharaj scalped seven wickets conceding 32 runs while the other spinner Simon Harmer took three wickets.
At the end of day four, Bangladesh were at 11 for three in six overs. For the first time in their history, South Africa opened the bowling with spinners in the Test at home, and they got a good result from both ends. While Harmer removed Shadman Islam as the first wicket, Keshav scalped the second and third wickets— Mahmudul Hasan Joy and Mominul Haque.
South Africa did not require any other bowler to dismantle the Tigers. Keshav bowled 10 overs and Harmer bowled nine to wipe out all Bangladeshi batters.
The two unbeaten batters were Mushfiqur Rahim and Najmul Hossain Shanto, both failed to take up the onus. Shanto scored 26, but Mushfiqur failed to add anything on the board. Apart from Shanto, Taskin Ahmed was the other batter to reach a double digit total— 14.
READ: South Africa win 1st test as Bangladesh all out for 53
Bangladesh lost all of their last seven wickets in just 16 overs with Keshav taking five of them.
“We tried to play according to the merit of the ball. We wanted to play till the final session. Unfortunately we lost three wickets last night, that was crucial. We are used to playing spin. We also know that Durban spins from 3rd-4th day, we didn't capitalise well with the bat,” Bangladesh captain told the broadcasters.
Earlier, South Africa ended their second innings on 204 in 74 overs. Captain Dean Elgar posted the highest 64 while Keegan Petersen and Ryan Rickelton posted 36 and 39 respectively.
For Bangladesh, Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Ebadot Hossain bagged three wickets each. Taskin Ahmed also scalped two wickets.
In the first innings of this Test, South Africa posted 367 with Elgar and Temba Bavuma leading their batting line-up scoring 67 and 93.
Khaled Ahmed led Bangladesh’s bowling, taking four wickets— his best in the format, while Mehidy Hasan took three.
In reply, Bangladesh’s first innings was a heroic show by Joy who hit a ton in his first Test in South Africa. Riding on his century, Bangladesh ended up on 298. Joy fell as the last batter scoring 137.
Harmer bagged four for South Africa in Bangladesh’s first innings.
Before this series, Bangladesh played 12 Tests against South Africa but failed to win any of them.
However, the Tigers won the ODI series right before the ongoing Test series which was Bangladesh’s maiden ODI series win on the soil of South Africa.
The second Test of the series will be played from April 8. Bangladesh will miss the service of Taskin Ahmed and Shoriful Islam in the second Test as both the Pacers are set to return home on April 5 due to injuries.
Bangladesh slump to 11-3 chasing 274 vs South Africa
Bangladesh lost three quick wickets and was struggling at 11-3 in pursuit of a victory target of 274 against South Africa after giving themselves a sight of victory in the first Test and another piece of history Sunday.
Bangladesh took nine wickets for 88 runs in the last two sessions of the fourth day to bowl South Africa out for 204 in their second innings when it looked like the home team was about to build an unassailable lead.
But just as South Africa lost quick wickets to change the complexion of the match and raise the Tigers' hopes of a first Test win over the Proteas, the Bangladesh batsmen slumped at the start of their chase.
Read:Bangladesh 298 all out, South Africa lead by 75 in 1st Test
Openers Shadman Islam (0) and Mahmudul Hasan Joy (4) and captain Mominul Haque (2) were already out for Bangladesh having hardly helped in the chase.
South Africa turned to their spin bowlers to open the bowling at the end of the day and it worked perfectly.
Keshav Maharaj collected 2-7 and Simon Harmer 1-4, and Bangladesh were in deep trouble after facing just six overs before bad light forced the umpires to call stumps.
South Africa were 116-1 in their second innings soon after lunch, 185 runs ahead and seemingly in position to build a huge advantage at Kingsmead and take the game away from Bangladesh.
But pace bowler Taskin Ahmed forced out South Africa captain Dean Elgar lbw for 64 for the crucial breakthrough, and Bangladesh's other bowlers took that cue to run through the South Africans and keep the Test alive.
Seamer Ebadot Hossain and spinner Mehidy Hasan Miraz claimed three wickets each as South Africa went from that position of strength at 116-1 to 204 all out.
Read: SA vs BAN Series 2022: Joy's Joyful knock is an Inspiration to Bangladeshi Players
The victory target of 274 meant Bangladesh had a realistic chance to win the opening Test and follow up on their historic one-day series result last month when they won a series in South Africa for the first time.
But Bangladesh's maiden Test win over South Africa is in the balance.
Offspinner Harmer had Shadman caught at slip in the second over of the innings and left-arm spinner Maharaj sent Mahmudul and Mominul packing in the fifth over.
Bangladesh bowl first against South Africa in first Test
Bangladesh captain Mominul Haque won the toss and opted to bowl first in the first Test of the two-match series against South Africa in Durban.
Tamim Iqbal is missing this match due to stomach problem, team physio Bayezedul Islam has said.
Read:Tigers look to continue the winning streak against South Africa
Ahead of this series, Bangladesh and South Africa played 12 Tests against each other. Bangladesh failed to win any of those games.
Bangladesh are charged up with their recent ODI series win against South Africa. Taskin Ahmed did tremendously well in that series. The right-arm pacer is expected to lead the Bangladesh pace battery in the Test series as well.
Bangladesh are going to miss the service of Shakib Al Hasan. The allrounder returned home after the ODI series in South Africa to stay with the ailing members of his family.
While Bangladesh are without Shakib, South Africa are without some of their key players who preferred IPL over the Test series against Bangladesh.
Read:SA vs BAN Series 2022: Bangladesh Aim Unprecedented Feat on South African Territory
Bangladesh (Playing XI): Shadman Islam, Mahmudul Hasan Joy, Mominul Haque (c), Najmul Hossain Shanto, Mushfiqur Rahim, Liton Das (w), Yasir Ali, Mehidy Hasan, Taskin Ahmed, Khaled Ahmed, Ebadot Hossain
South Africa (Playing XI): Dean Elgar (c), Sarel Erwee, Keegan Petersen, Temba Bavuma, Ryan Rickelton, Kyle Verreynne (w), Wiaan Mulder, Keshav Maharaj, Simon Harmer, Lizaad Williams, Duanne Olivier
Tigers look to continue the winning streak against South Africa
Charged up post their historic ODI series win against South Africa on the latter's home soil, Bangladesh aim to continue their winning streak in Tests too.
“When you come to play a full series and win the first one, you are one step ahead in terms of confidence,” Bangladesh Test captain Mominul Haque said ahead of their first Test against South Africa on Thursday.
Read:SA vs BAN Series 2022: Bangladesh Aim Unprecedented Feat on South African Territory
"Though the red-ball cricket is slightly different from the white-ball cricket, we have to start over, but we are confident," he told reporters.
Bangladesh and South Africa are all set to take on each other in the first of the two-match Test series at Kingsmead, Durban, later in the day.
Ahead of this series, Bangladesh won the three-match ODI series against the hosts 2-1. The Tigers won both the matches in Centurion riding on an outstanding team-effort.
Bangladesh played a total of 12 Tests against the Proteas and failed to win any of them. Bangladesh only have two draws which came with the help of rains.
And six among these Tests were played in South Africa and Bangladesh lost all of them. This history is not going to help the Tigers in any way.
“We have to work on the things that went wrong against New Zealand earlier this year,” Mominul said. “We have to follow the process that helped us gain success against the Blackcaps in the Test we’ve won.”
While Bangladesh are full of confidence ahead of the Test series, South Africa are undermanned with some of their key players leaving the team due to their commitment with their respective Indian Premier League teams.
Mominul said that it would keep them ahead of the hosts, but "the hosts will also get some advantage as they are playing in their own land and in front of their own people".
The Bangladesh captain also said the performance of the pace bowlers is important for his team to win a Test in South Africa. “Some of our pacers have done really well in the ODI series. It’s important for our pacers to do well if we want to win a Test here."
Read:SA vs BAN Test Series 2022: Five Bangladeshi players with High Potency
Taskin Ahmed, the right-arm pacer, was the player of the series in ODIs. He is expected to do well in the Test series too. To play in this series, Taskin turned down an offer to play in the Indian Premier League.
Bangladesh are going to miss the service of Shakib Al Hasan in the first match of the two-match Test series. The allrounder is currently in Bangladesh staying with his family. He had to return home after the ODI series as a few members of his family were in the hospital with different illnesses.
He, however, is expected to join the Bangladesh team ahead of the second Test which will be played in St George's Park, Port Elizabeth, from April 8.
Shakib set to return home from South Africa
Bangladesh allrounder Shakib Al Hasan is returning home from South Africa. He is expected to take a flight on Thursday, confirmed Tanvir Ahmed, chairman of the media department of the Bangladesh Cricket Board.
Along with his two children, at least four members of Shakib’s family are hospitalized for different illnesses. Shakib wants to stay with his family during this time.
The allrounder is expected to fly for South Africa ahead of the second Test against the hosts starting from April 7 in Porth Elizabeth. However, he is going to miss the first Test starting from March 31.
Also read Imperious Tigers complete historic series win in South Africa
The Bangladesh team won their maiden ODI series in South Africa on Tuesday. Shakib was one of the mainstays in this series for the Tigers. He was awarded the player of the match for his fifty in the first match Bangladesh won by 38 runs.
The allrounder was uncertain in this series. Right before the series, Shakib had said that he was unable to play international cricket for some mental issues. He was granted a two-month break from BCB too. But he changed his mind and opted to take part in this series.
Meanwhile, with winning the ODI series in South Africa, Bangladesh secured their place at the top of the ICC World Cup Super League points table.
Also read: Tigers Create Path-Breaking history in South Africa by Conquering Proteas in the ODI series decider