STOKES FINED BUT CLEARED TO PLAY FOR ENGLAND

LONDON: England cricketers Ben Stokes and Alex Hales have been handed backdated bans following their involvement in an incident outside a Bristol nightclub in September 2017. Stokes was given an eight-match ban but has already served all of those, while the remaining four matches of Hales’ six-match white-ball ban are suspended for 12 months. All-rounder Stokes has also been fined £30,000, with Hales given a £17,500 penalty, £10,000 of which is suspended.

Shankar stars as India A beat NZ A by four wickets NEW DELHI: Riding on half-centuries from Vijay Shankar and Shreyas Iyer, India A beat New Zealand A by four wickets in the first unofficial ODI at Mount Maunganui on Friday. Asked to bat, New Zealand A posted 308/6 courtesy half-centuries from Jimmy Neesham (79*), Hamish Rutherford (70) and Tim Seifert (59). In reply, India A batsmen scored at a good rate and overhauled the target with six balls to spare. Shankar remained unbeaten on 87 while Iyer hit 54. Brief scores: New Zealand A 308/6 in 50 ovs (Neesham 79*, Rutherford 70; Kaul 2/74) lost to India A 311/6 in 49 ovs (Shankar 87*, Iyer 54) by four wickets.