Tens of thousands of people are set to say a final farewell to boxing legend Muhammad Ali in his home city of Louisville in Kentucky. The heavyweight champion and rights activist died last Friday aged 74. A procession will take Ali’s body past key sites in his life, ahead of an interfaith memorial service. Actor Will Smith and ex-boxer Lennox Lewis will be among the pallbearers, while former…

BCB president Nazmul Hassan has said that the board is in talks with the WICB to host West Indies in September. He, however, did not specify the format of the proposed contest. If West Indies’ tour materialises, it would fill a substantial void in Bangladesh’s calendar in 2016. Bangladesh haven’t played international cricket since their loss to New Zealand at the World T20 in India…

Maria Sharapova has been banned for two years by the International Tennis Federation for using a prohibited drug. The Russian was provisionally banned in March after testing positive for meldonium at January’s Australian Open. The heart disease drug, which 29-year-old Sharapova says she has been taking since 2006 for health issues, became a banned substance on 1 January 2016. The five-time Grand…

The International Cricket Council has announced an unchanged elite panel of umpires for 2016-17. The ICC said its elite panel had recorded a correct-decision percentage of 95.6 – up from 94 in 2014-15 – in 220 matches across formats, the best since the Decision Review System was introduced in 2008. Geoff Allardice, the chairman of the umpires selection panel, commended the elite panel…

A decision on whether November’s Adelaide Test between Australia and South Africa will be played as a day-night fixture will be made public by Wednesday, June 8. Tony Irish, CEO of the South African Cricketers’ Association, told ESPNcricinfo the player body is “still dealing with the issue”, and will have a “final decision one way or the other within the next two days”.…

Former Pakistan right-arm fast-bowler Aaqib Javed on Monday refused to join the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) as bowling coach. The 43-year-old is currently working with one of the five Pakistan Super League sides, Lahore Qalandars, as the director of cricket operations. Aaqib resigned from his head coach post with UAE in April after working with them for four years to take up the role with Lahore…

Lionel Messi looks likely to miss Argentina’s most important match of the opening phase of the Copa America against title holders Chile at Santa Clara, California on Monday.   Messi has not trained with his team since he suffered a back injury in a warm-up friendly nine days ago, a 1-0 win over Honduras in Argentina.   The Argentina captain, four times world player of the year, has…

Convicted spot-fixer Mohammad Amir was on Sunday selected in the Pakistan cricket team that will tour England for a four-Test series for the first time since the spot-fixing scandal broke in 2010.   However the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is still awaiting for Amir’s visa approval from the UK High Commission.   24-year-old Aamir has made an impressive comeback in shorter formats and…

Mustafizur Rahman’s participation in the English Twenty20 tournament for Sussex was thrown into doubt on Thursday after Bangladesh cricket officials said they feared the paceman may be suffering from burnout.   The 20-year-old bowling sensation, nicknamed Fizz, returned home this week to a hero’s welcome after helping Sunrisers Hyderabad win their maiden Indian Premier League title…

West Indies star Chris Gayle said on Friday he was the victim of “double standards” after sparking a sexism row with comments he made to a female television reporter in Australia.   Gayle, 36, came under fire for asking Australian broadcaster Mel McLaughlin out on a date in a live television interview during a Big Bash Twenty20 game in January.   “I wanted to see your eyes…

There have been fresh questions raised about the India-Bangladesh one-off Test match later this year, with reports indicating that the BCCI have requested Bangladesh’s cricket board to defer their travel plans for now. With a jam-packed calendar not allowing any breathing space this year, January 2017 is being looked at as a possible option for the match to be held. March 2017 is the extended…

Providence, Guyana: Sunil Narine snared career-best figures of six for 27 on his return to West Indies colours as the hosts defeated South Africa by four wickets in the opening match of the Tri-Nation One-Day International series at the Guyana National Stadium on Friday. Forced to remodel his action after it was deemed illegal during the Caribbean side's last ODI campaign in Sri Lanka last November,…

A weeklong look at the top 25 players we expect to see at the Copa America Centenario.   Messi is the greatest player in the game, with very little question. He possesses the best balance and close control history has ever seen, but those words: “balance” and “close control” are an extremely imperfect way to describe what the Argentine can do.   His innate understanding…