Plan B Forum

Australia have slipped to eighth in the latest ICC Twenty20 world rankings, after the 3-0 series whitewash against India.

Only minnows Afghanistan, Scotland, Bangladesh, Hong Kong, Netherlands, Zimbabwe and Ireland rank below Australia, only a month away from the World Twenty20 in India.


TWENTY20
1 India 120
2 West Indies 118
3 Sri Lanka 118
4 England 117
5 New Zealand 116
6 South Africa 115
7 Pakistan 113
8 Australia 110
9 Afghanistan 80
10 Scotland 66
11 Bangladesh 64
12 Hong Kong 62
13 Netherlands 61
14 Zimbabwe 54
15 Ireland 42

Australia's turbo-charged Eden Park meltdown has brutally highlighted the difficulties Steve Smith's men will face in New Zealand this month as they aim to regain the No.1 Test ranking.

Shaun Marsh is again in the firing line, in danger of losing his place to Usman Khawaja, after again nicking off cheaply with Smith forecasting changes for the must-win second game in Wellington.

The 159-run capitulation to a rampant Black Caps outfit on Wednesday may have come in the 50-over arena but it inspired little confidence for success in the upcoming Test series.


The heavy loss has put the one-day world champion's run of seven consecutive series victories in grave danger and again shone the spotlight on Australia's weakness against the swinging ball.
Smith disputed claims the ball was swinging, which means he is either in denial about Australia's problems or casts the collapse in an even darker light

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Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/sport/cricket/aus ... z3z8eIqBUp
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Players for all 30 teams report to their respective spring training camps in February on the dates listed below.

Gob wrote:

Australia have slipped to eighth in the latest ICC Twenty20 world rankings, after the 3-0 series whitewash against India.

Only minnows Afghanistan, Scotland, Bangladesh, Hong Kong, Netherlands, Zimbabwe and Ireland rank below Australia, only a month away from the World Twenty20 in India.


TWENTY20
1 India 120
2 West Indies 118
3 Sri Lanka 118
4 England 117
5 New Zealand 116
6 South Africa 115
7 Pakistan 113
8 Australia 110
9 Afghanistan 80
10 Scotland 66
11 Bangladesh 64
12 Hong Kong 62
13 Netherlands 61
14 Zimbabwe 54
15 Ireland 42

Bicycle Bill wrote:... Well, at least this will give the UCI something to take their collective mind off of Lance Armstrong for a while...

kmccune wrote:At least ,he hasnt had a gender crises yet .

Bicycle Bill wrote:  Anyone else here able to make that claim?

Lance Armstrong

rubato wrote:

Based on points per population West Indies and New Zealand are cleaning the floor with the rest of them.



yrs,
rubato

Letter Reveals Forced State-Sponsored Doping in China's 'Ma Army'

In the most recent series of drug-related news in track and field, “state-sponsored doping” has been revealed in a letter from World record-holder Wang Junxia of China.

In a letter that was written 19 years ago, two years after Junxia set two world records in the 3K and the 10K, she wrote about how the women on the Chinese team tried to “avoid the state-run doping regime by quietly throwing away pills that were forced on them,” according to a report from South China Morning News.

The letter chronicles Junxia and her fellow athletes’ experience of having their coach Ma Junren personally inject drugs into his athletes, who were collectively known as “Ma’s army.”

Junren’s group of middle distance and distance athletes set a number of world records in the 1990s. The coach is known for his unusual training regime, which included making athletes drink turtle blood and powdered seahorses.

The letter was signed by nine teammates and sent to journalist Zhao Yu 19 years ago, but it went unpublished until Tencent Sports posted it today. The Chinese news outlet reached out to the International Association of Athletics Federations which is reportedly investigating Junxia’s allegations.

“For many years, [he] forced us to take a large dose of illegal drugs. It was true,” said the team members in the letter.

“Our feelings are sorry and complex when exposing his (Ma’s) deeds. We are also worried that we would harm our country’s fame and reduce the worth of the gold medals we have worked very hard to get,” the letter continued.

Junxia became World Champion in the 10K at the 1993 Championships, and later won Olympic gold in the 5K at the 1996 Games. She also captured a silver medal in the 10K at the 1996 Games in Atlanta.

Junxia’s world records in the 3K and 10K were run at the National Games of China in 1993. Over the course of five days, Junxia broke three world records — the 1500m was run on Sept. 11, the 3K was run on Sept. 13, and the 10K was run on Sept. 8. Her 1500m performance at the meet would have broken the then-world record, but her opponent Qu Yunxia beat her in 3:50.46, which stood until Genzebe Dibaba broke the record this year.

Junxia’s preliminary performances at the meet also raised eyebrows as she ran 4:01.55 in the preliminaries of the 1500m on Sept. 9, 3:51.92 in the final on Sept. 11, 8:12.19 in the preliminary of the 3K on Sept. 12, and a world record 8:06.11 in the final of the 3K on Sept. 13. She accomplished these results just two days after running a world record of 29:31 in the 10K on Sept. 8. Her 10K performance broke the previous world record by 42 seconds.

“The IAAF’s first action must be to verify that the letter is genuine,” said IAAF spokesperson Chris Turner. “In this respect, the IAAF has asked the Chinese Athletics Association to assist it in that process.”

According to the World Anti-Doping Agency regulations, Junxia's admission could result in disqualification from meets, ineligibility, and financial sanctions.