Hindustan Times (Delhi)

Shami cleared of fixing, given contract

- HT Correspond­ent sportsdesk@hindustant­imes.com

starting with former captain Alastair Cook, failed to move their feet and were crease bound, with four wickets falling to catches behind the wicket.

ANGRY BOWLERS

England captain Joe Root (nought), Ben Stokes (nought) and Chris Woakes (five) were all also bowled by Boult, while Moeen Ali failed to clamp down on a Southee yorker.

“We always hoped there would be something in the wicket,” New Zealand coach Mike Hesson said. “It didn’t do a lot but it did enough.

“Sometimes when it does a bit more, they play and miss but once they found their length in about the fourth over they were exceptiona­l and Trent certainly deserved the plaudits he got and Tim did a great job as well.”

England’s bowlers appeared angry at their sensationa­l collapse -- their lowest score against New Zealand and sixth worst overall -- and strangled the hosts’ batsmen for long periods of the remaining two sessions.

Tom Latham and Williamson, however, stoically wore the bowlers down and took their side to a 30-run lead entering the final session under lights.

BROAD RECORD

The 31-year-old Stuart Broad, however, broke through in the first over of the evening session, with Latham clipping a full delivery to Woakes at mid-wicket on 26 to give him his 400th test victim.

Despite becoming just the second England bowler to reach the milestone -- new ball partner Jimmy Anderson has 525 wickets -- Broad’s celebratio­ns were muted as he raised the ball to the applauding crowd when they were informed of the milestone. NEW DELHI: Mohammed Shami, facing allegation­s from his estranged wife Hasin Jahan,received a boost to his career after a BCCI probe report said on Thursday that it did not find any evidence of match-fixing against the India pacer. The Board gave him the allclear on receiving the report from it’s Anti-corruption Unit chief Neeraj Kumar, who had investigat­ed claims by Mohammed Shami’s wife that a payment the pacer claimed to have received from a Pakistani national in Dubai could be linked to corruption. BCCI announced that

An aggressive­lyminded Ross Taylor was the only other wicket to fall under the lights when he misread an Anderson bouncer and was caught by Woakes at mid-wicket for 20.

Brief scores: England 58 all out (Craig Overton 33*, Trent Boult 6/32, Tim Southee 4/25) vs

New Zealand 175/3 (Kane Williamson 91*). Shami has been included in Grade B of the players’ annual retainer contract. The India pace spearhead was left out of the list following allegation­s raised by his estranged wife. Hasin Jahan filed a criminal complaint that Shami had cheated on her with several women. The allegation­s included attempt to murder against the player.

A BCCI statement said following the probe report submitted by Neeraj Kumar, former Delhi Police Commission­er, the Committee of Administra­tors decided no further actions/ proceeding­s under the BCCI anti-corruption code was warranted against Shami.

Shami faced a slew of allegation­s from his estranged wife on his return from the South Africa tour and the BCCI not including him in the annual contracts raised serious doubts about his career. The BCCI clean chit should also pave the way for his participat­ion in the 2018 Indian Premier League for Delhi Daredevils.

Shami has repeatedly rejected all allegation­s against him.

The BCCI had introduced a new A+ category in the new annual retainer contracts, with the likes of Virat Kohli, Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma in that category worth Rs seven crore. Grade B category contracts are worth Rs three crore.

The Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administra­tors (COA) had written to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to investigat­e the charges levelled against Shami by his wife Hasin Jahan. The COA, led by Vinod Rai, had given a seven-day deadline to BCCI’S Anti-corruption Unit (ACU) head Neeraj Kumar to submit the report on the issue. This direction came after cricketer’s wife levelled various allegation­s, including of match-fixing, against the fast bowler.

Neeraj Kumar has submitted his confidenti­al report to the COA. Based on the conclusion­s, the COA states that no further action under BCCI anticorrup­tion code are warranted in the matter.

COMMITTEE OF ADMINISTRA­TORS, on Mohammed Shami’s case

 ?? REUTERS ?? Trent Boult returned a careerbest 6/32 after an opening spell of 4/9 in his first six overs.
REUTERS Trent Boult returned a careerbest 6/32 after an opening spell of 4/9 in his first six overs.
 ?? AFP ?? For latest in sports, go to www.hindustant­imes.com/ sport-news Mohammed Shami was offered BCCI’S Grade B contract.
AFP For latest in sports, go to www.hindustant­imes.com/ sport-news Mohammed Shami was offered BCCI’S Grade B contract.

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