Chelsea have pledged to ban any fans found guilty of racist comments or chants for life, as an internal investigation surrounding the Champions League tie against Genk in Belgium continues.

Reports have indicated that striker Daniel Sturridge was victim of a derogatory and abusive comment by one of the Stamford Bridge club’s VIP supporters, whilst chants aimed at QPR defender Anton Ferdinand were also sung during the 1-1 draw.

With Blues captain John Terry under investigation over alleged racist comments also, the London club have stated that any evidence of racism by the fans will be treated with the utmost severity.

“We are investigating several complaints as part of our ongoing investigation into offensive behaviour at the game in Genk,” an official statement reads.

“We take all complaints of this nature extremely seriously and are working with supporters and police to identify those that took part. It can sometimes prove difficult to identify offenders at European away games as there are varying degrees of CCTV and TV footage available to us.

“However, we will continue to vigorously pursue any evidence of individuals or groups taking part in discriminatory behaviour and take the strongest action against them.

“Chelsea FC believes such activity shames the club and the game of football and we are fully committed to eradicating such offensive behaviour from the sport,” the statement concluded.

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By Gareth McKnight

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Justin Langer and Ben Hutton put Middlesex back in the running for a National League Second Division promotion place with competition-best perfomances at Edgbaston.Skipper Langer’s patient 93 laid the foundations for a commanding 201 for nine and Hutton’s four for 32 undermined Warwickshire as they floundered under the Edgbaston floodlights.Hutton needed to take the wickets to get back in favour with Langer after he was involved in the run out that cost his captain a certain century.Langer had taken no risks and appeared in no trouble in a sensible 122-ball innings until Hutton changed his mind about a quick single in the penultimate over and Langer was unable to beat Dominic Ostler;s throw from midwicket.Langer gave Hutton a backward glance as he trudged back to the pavilion but the youngster, the grandson of Sir Leonard, was quickly forgiven as he applied the brakes to Warwickshire’s innings.Hutton, bowling gentle seamers, concentrated on line and length and struck in his first over when he had Ashley Giels stumped.The wickets of Dominic Ostler and Trevor Penney, both LBW, and Michael Powell, who was bowled through the gate followed, as Warwckshire slipped to 186 all out and their fourth straight home defeat in the competition.Langer said when he won the toss and opted to bat first that he did not fancy the chances of the side batting last under the temporary floodlights and so it proved.His innings ensured that Middlesex had just enough runs to force victory but his stands of 68 for the third wicket with Mark Ramprakash and 73 for the fourth with Irishman Ed Joyce enabled Middlesex to survive a late clatter of wickets of their own.

Baroda were on the brink of a crushing innings victory over Saurashtrain a West Zone Ranji Trophy game at the Gujarat State FertilizerCorporation Ground in Baroda. After bowling out Saurashtra for 197 intheir first knock, Baroda had them struggling on 92/5, the second timeround.Carrying off at 64/3, Saurashtra’s overnight pair of Rakesh Dhruv andPrakash Bhatt were separated at 115 after a 79 run stand. Dhruv wasthe first to go and when Bhatt followed him back to the pavilion,after top scoring with 63 (130 balls, 9 fours), the innings fellapart. Saurashtra closed at 197, the last six wickets tumbling for 46.Sixteen year old left arm seamer, Irfan Pathan grabbed 5/55 while leftarm spinner Valmik Buch finished with a haul of 3/26.Following-on, 284 runs behind, Saurashtra lost both openers with justfour runs on the board. Skipper Sitanshu Kotak led a rally with a fine51 (72 balls, 7 fours) which ended when he was bowled by Buch. Thechief destroyer this time was medium pacer Rakesh Patel, a product ofthe National Cricket Academy, who finished with 3/22. When stumps weredrawn, Saurashtra needed a further 192 to make their opponents batagain.

Suriname’s anticipated debut at the ICC Americas Under-19 Division One championship will have to wait at least another two years after the team was forced to withdraw from the event starting on Sunday in Bermuda. According to an ICC release, the U-19 Division Two champions had to pull out after failing to secure transit visas.A source told ESPNcricinfo that because there were no direct flights from Suriname to Bermuda, the squad needed to secure visas to transit through either the USA or Canada in order to get to Bermuda. However, the visa applications were not processed in time.The tournament’s format originally stipulated that the four competing teams – Bermuda, USA, Canada and Suriname – would play an initial round-robin stage after which the lowest-ranked team on the points table would be eliminated before commencing a second round-robin stage with the three remaining teams. Instead, USA, Bermuda and Canada will play a double round-robin amongst themselves, as was the format in 2013.The first-place team in Bermuda gains automatic entry into the 2016 ICC U-19 World Cup in Bangladesh. The runner-up will have a second chance at qualification in a global qualifier comprised of runner-up teams from other ICC Associate regions due to be held in Nepal later this year.In addition to the 10 Full Members who received automatic entry, other teams to have qualified for next year’s U-19 World Cup include Afghanistan, Namibia and Fiji while the runner-up teams who have gained a spot at the repechage qualifier are Nepal, Uganda and Papua New Guinea. The ICC Europe U-19 Qualifier begins on July 11 in Jersey.

Australia’s selection chairman Rod Marsh has said that he and the coach Darren Lehmann had no choice but to retain Peter Nevill ahead of Brad Haddin for the Edgbaston Test match.In one of the most vexing selection decisions to confront the panel for some time, Haddin was not reinstated for the third match of the Investec Ashes series after withdrawing from the team for the Lord’s Test as his ill daughter Mia was in hospital. It is a decision that effectively ends Haddin’s 68-Test career, barring injury to his replacement.Nevill took seven catches and scored a fluent 45 on debut, playing a key role in Australia’s 405-run victory over England that levelled the series after Haddin endured a poor match in Cardiff. The performances of the two glovemen in their respective appearances left Marsh to conclude that the younger man had to be chosen.”We’ve made the call to stick with the same XI that played at Lord’s and we were hoping we were able to do this,” Marsh said. “Obviously we had to wait on Chris Rogers but we decided that Nevill had such a good game at Lord’s, the team played that well, won by 405 runs, it was very hard to change a winning side.”Haddin has taken the decision as well as could be expected, but others including Ricky Ponting have criticised the selectors’ choice of Nevill. As coach, Lehmann has always emphasised the importance of “family first”, and there is some disquiet at how Haddin could have been in line to play at Lord’s but then fallen behind in the space of one match. Marsh, though, cited Haddin’s recent loss of batting form.”He’s a fantastic player with a fantastic attitude,” Marsh said, “but he’s averaging 15 in his last 12 Test matches, we needed runs down there, he didn’t keep well and he’ll admit that at Cardiff and the new boy did very, very well at Lord’s, so in my way of thinking, we didn’t have an option.”The omission of Haddin was difficult for numerous members of the squad to deal with, not least the captain Michael Clarke. Marsh has also known Haddin for a long time, referencing their time together at the Cricket Academy in Adelaide more than 15 years ago.”It was amazingly hard call, but we have to try and do the best thing for the country and the selection panel believe that was the best thing for the team, for the country,” Marsh said. “I’ve known Brad for a hell of a long time. I had Brad at the academy back in Adelaide at the turn of the century, even before that.”The opening batsman Chris Rogers looked uncomfortable when asked about whether there was unease within the team over the decision. “I don’t really want to talk about that,” he said. “That’s something for the selection panel. Maybe at the end of the series I can think about that, but at the moment I don’t really want to.”

India fast bowler Mohammed Shami, who has not played international cricket since the World Cup in February-March, has been picked among 30 cricketers to be part of a preparatory camp ahead of the series against South Africa.Shami had suffered a knee injury early on the tour of Australia from December 2014, but had bowled through the pain. He missed only two games across four Tests, four ODIs in a tri-series with Australia and England and then eight matches in the World Cup. He went for surgery upon returning home and had spent his rehabilitation period at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore.

India squad for preparatory camp

Batsmen: Virat Kohli, Shikhar Dhawan, Murali Vijay, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, Karun Nair, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, Kedar Jadhav, Manish Pandey
Wicketkeepers MS Dhoni, Wriddhiman Saha, Naman Ojha
Allrounders: Stuart Binny, Ravindra Jadeja
Spinners R Ashwin, Amit Mishra, Harbhajan Singh, Axar Patel, Pragyan Ojha, Karn Sharma
Seamers Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Varun Aaron, Mohammed Shami, Mohit Sharma, Dhawal Kulkarni

This training camp, also to be held in Bangalore from September 21 to 27, will be the first time Shami will be back with the India team in five months.The rest of the 30 members include the core of the Indian team along with the fringe players who have already tasted international cricket. Karun Nair, the Karnataka batsman, is the only uncapped player although he had been with the Test team in Sri Lanka. Wriddhiman Saha and M Vijay, who had to come home after the P Sara Test due to hamstring injuries, are also in the mix.Ravindra Jadeja, who was chosen as part of the India A squad to play a three-day game against Bangladesh A from September 27, also finds a spot. The final day of the camp clashes with the first day of that fixture, and Jadeja, Ojha, Nair, Shikhar Dhawan and Varun Aaron are in both squads.Jadeja is one of three left-arm spinners along with Pragyan Ojha and Axar Patel in the 30-man training squad. Harbhajan Singh has also included, indicating he still remains on the selectors’ radar.

Former West Indies captain Richie Richardson will join the ICC’s elite panel of match referees as a replacement for the retiring Roshan Mahanama.However, Richardson will not take up his new position until early next year, when he completes his current tenure as manager of the West Indies team. Mahanama last week announced his intention to step down from the ICC’s elite panel at the end of the year after more than a decade in the role.The appointment means Richardson will become the first West Indian to serve as a match referee in Tests since Clive Lloyd, who retired in 2007. He also follows fellow West Indians Jackie Hendriks, Cammie Smith, Everton Weekes and Clyde Walcott, who all served as match referees in the past.”I am excited and honoured to have been selected for one of the most important jobs in cricket,” Richardson said. “Having been on either side of the fence, first as a player and then as an administrator, I think I have the experience and insight to help me contribute positively alongside some of the finest and most experienced match officials.”Richardson played 86 Tests from 1983 to 1995, as well as 224 one-day internationals. He was appointed team manager of West Indies in January 2011 and will continue to serve in the role until the end of the Test tour of Australia, which concludes with the Sydney Test from January 3 to 7 next year.”Until the end of the Australia tour, I will remain fully committed and focused on my current assignment as the West Indies cricket team manager and I would like to thank the West Indies Cricket Board for its support over years as well as the encouragement it provided to me in taking up this new role,” he said.The ICC’s elite panel of match referees is made up of seven former cricketers who officiate in Test matches, and Richardson will join Ranjan Madugalle, Chris Broad, David Boon, Andy Pycroft, Javagal Srinath and Jeff Crowe. The ICC’s general manager of cricket, Geoff Allardice, said Richardson would be a valuable addition to the panel.”Richie is one of the greats of the game, who is admired for not only his accomplishments as a batsman but also the way he captained the West Indies when he embodied traits such as integrity, leadership and sportsmanship in his dealings both on and off the field,” Allardice said.”He is very familiar with the demands of international cricket through his experiences as a player, captain and now team manager, and he will bring a fresh perspective to the role. On behalf of the ICC, I congratulate Richie on his appointment and look forward to working with him. We have no doubt that he will make a strong and important contribution to ensuring the game continues to be played in the right spirit.”

– Match abandoned
Scorecard1:15

‘We now focus on Kanpur’ – Domingo

A waterlogged outfield forced the third T20 between South Africa and India to be abandoned without a toss or a ball bowled at Eden Gardens. The no-result gives South Africa a 2-0 series win and deprived India of a shot at redemption.India captain MS Dhoni revealed at the presentation ceremony that they had planned on three changes to their starting XI: Ajinkya Rahane to open the batting, Amit Mishra to reinforce the spin department and Stuart Binny as the allrounder even as they targeted a consolation victory. Instead, they have slipped two places to sixth on the ICC T20 rankings, which is where South Africa sat before this series. The visitors have now moved up to fifth.South Africa did not reveal if they were going to give an opportunity to Eddie Leie or Khaya Zondo, but captain Faf du Plessis admitted to being disappointed at not being able to complete a whitewash. The showers that fell on Thursday had ceased at least an hour before play was due to begin and three supersoppers were in operation from then on, but the outfield remained soggy.Three inspections were conducted at hourly intervals, the first being 30 minutes after the scheduled start of play at 7pm and the last at 9:30pm, two-and-a-half hours after the game was due to begin. The latest the match could have begun was 45 minutes after that, at 10:15pm, when there would have only been time for between five and seven overs a side.Eden Gardens is due to host the World T20 final and there will be concerns over the drainage although India’s captain MS Dhoni said he did not expect the outfield to dry without any sun and given the amount of rain that fell and the exposed areas of the field.

Defending champions Wellington started their Georgie Pie campaign with a seven-wicket win against Canterbury in a rain-hit match at the Hagley Oval in Christchurch. Wellington’s top order starred in the 15-overs-a-side match as they chased down 135 with two balls to spare.Rain had reduced the overs even before the match begun and Canterbury were given a strong start by opener and captain Ronnie Hira’s 36-ball 44, after they were put in. He stitched a crucial stand of 53 runs in five overs with Peter Fulton (25) that gave them the impetus for a strong total. However, they lost three more wickets before reaching 100 and a 13-ball 23 from Andrew Ellis took them to 134 for 5.Wellington were off to flying start with an opening stand of 37 in inly 3.2 overs, including 21 runs off the third over, between Michael Pollard and Michael Papps. Pollard had contributed only six runs to the partnership and his dismissal in the fourth over was Wellington’s only stutter. Craig Cachopa’s 37 off 32 then led the chase with Stephen Murdoch (40*) even after Papps fell for a quickfire 22-ball 39, with four fours and two sixes, and when Cachopa was run-out, Wellington needed 14 from the last over. Murdoch started off with a six off Ellis’ first ball, and Matt Taylor struck one too two balls later, to ease it down and claim four points.

Sharjah, March 24: South Africa clinched their 14th win on the trotover Pakistan but not before they were made to sweat in the SharjahCup match at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium here on Friday evening.Pakistan, batting first, limped to 195 for eight from their allotted50 overs. S. Africa reached victory with 33 balls to spare.Pakistan staged a compelling fightback reducing the South Africans toseven for 163 by the 39th over, but unheralded Nicky Boje rose to thechallenge from nowhere to blow their hopes. The gusty player, known byspinning fingers, smashed a cool-headed unbeaten 35.Pakistan, already handicapped by the absence of star players likeSaeed Anwar, Saqlain Mushtaq and Azhar Mahmood, suffered a furtherblow when Wasim Akram and Shoaib Akhar were omitted due to groininjury.South Africa also owe thanks to Jacques Kallis (35) and Neil McKenzie(31) for making useful contributions after a stunning five-wicket haulfrom Man-of-the-Match Lance Klusener restricted Pakistan to a modest196.The match was still tight when Waqar Younis returned for his secondspell with South Africa needing 12 runs, but he conceded 11 runs andit was all and over for Pakistan.Earlier, Pakistan faltered badly after a pretty good start, theirseasoned batsmen once again failing to provide the solidity to theinnings in the middle. The pressure, of course, was there to step thescoring rate, but then that’s one-day cricket: things are never servedon a platter.Young Imran Nazir and Younis Khan played with cultured innings, nevermissing out on a chance to go for big hits after the early fall ofShahid Afridi. Nazir, in particular, was pretty impressive andexecuted strokes with grace and conviction.The two, who put on 115 runs for the second wicket in 176 balls, werenot exactly on fire, but that was understandable since it has beenlong since Pakistan batsmen have been among the runs. The first 20overs yielded just 54 runs and by the 30th over they were 103 for one.