Pollard century fails to prevent easy Aussie win

Australia maintained their dominance over the West Indies cruising to a five-wicket victory to lead their one-day international series 4-0 at the Sydney Cricket Ground yesterday. Only a belligerent unbeaten century from man-of-the-match Kieron Pollard gave the West Indies a respectable score of 220 after they were 55 for six at one stage. But it was easily run down by the Australians, who secured victory with 31 balls to spare and will now go after a series clean sweep in Melbourne on Sunday. If not for Pollard’s 109 off 136 balls it would have been an even more emphatic victory for Michael Clarke’s team who always had control of the run chase under lights. Shane Watson followed up his 122 in Wednesday’s 39-run series-clinching win in Canberra with 76 off 84 balls and skipper Clarke hit 37 off 65 balls before he was out gloving down the leg-side to express bowler Tino Best with the scores level. Glen Maxwell came in and hit the winning run with Matthew Wade not out 13. Yet despite Australia’s dominance the towering Pollard was named man-of-the-match for preventing his team’s innings from falling apart after it had tottered at 55 for six before a series of late partnerships gave his side something to defend. BCCI fined $9.8 m over ‘unfair’ IPL deals The Board of Control for Cricket in India was fined $9.8 million by the government, which described the board’s unfair practices related to Indian Premier League contracts as “abuse of a grave nature” yesterday. The Competition Commission of India asked the BCCI to “cease and desist” denying market access to potential competitors. The penalty from the CCI, set up to eliminate practices that have an adverse effect on competition, was the result of investigating IPL deals for more than two years. It’s yet another setback for the BCCI. It was served a $433 million income tax notice last year, and its IPL franchise, the Rajasthan Royals, was fined $18.8 million this week by India’s Enforcement Directorate for flouting foreign exchange rules. The CCI investigated the BCCI on whether it had abused its dominant position in respect to selection of players, media rights, composition of franchise teams, choice of stadia, and logistics contracts. “Virtually, there is no other competitor in the market nor was anyone allowed to emerge due to BCCI’s strategy of monopolizing the entire market,” the order said. “The abuse was of a grave nature and the quantum of penalty that needs to be levied should be commensurate with the gravity of the violation.” The BCCI’s cash-rich IPL has been riddled with controversies since it began in 2008, with teams chopped and changed, sometimes at the behest of court orders. From AFP