Windies almost bottom of Test table

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (CMC):

Lowly ranked West Indies have experienced an 11-point slide and are in danger of replacing Bangladesh at the bottom of the table in the ICC Test team rankings.

Bangladesh are breathing down the necks of the West Indies Test side, trailing them by just eight points, according to the latest International Cricket Council (ICC) Test rankings, which included the annual update, released yesterday.

West Indies have retained eighth position, but have dropped from 79 points to 65.

The gap between the Caribbean side and ninth-ranked Bangladesh has been slashed from 29 points to just eight points.

The ICC says with the annual update the results from 2012-13

are no longer included in the calculations and outcomes from the 2014-15 series are weighted at 50 per cent.

Meanwhile, Australia have opened up a six-point gap over India at the top of the rankings, while India now lead third-placed Pakistan by just one point.

Wade 'honoured' to be Prince's favourite player

MIAMI (AP):

Dwyane Wade says he's feeling "all kinds of emotions" after hearing that he was Prince's favourite basketball player.

The Miami Heat star took to Twitter after hearing Prince's comments in a 2012 Australian radio interview the late pop icon conducted with model Damaris Lewis.

Wade tweeted that he knows he has fans and supporters around the world, but "hearing Prince say those words was an ultimate compliment".

Prince died last month at his Minnesota home at the age of 57.

 

Bahamas FA backs Haven against FIFA ban

NASSAU, Bahamas (CMC):

The Bahamas Football Association (BFA) has thrown its support behind Lionel Haven, a former executive member of the Caribbean Football Union (CFU), who has been slapped with a five-year ban by FIFA, football's governing body.

"Lionel has worked with the BFA for a number of years," Sealey said. "He was a dedicated and committed general secretary, who helped us achieve much of what we are being credited for today."

Haven, also a former Bahamas Football Association's (BFA) secretary general who has denied any wrong doing, was slapped with a fine of US$3000 in addition to the five-year ban.

FIFA's ethics committee says Haven has failed to disclose information on cash payments at a CFU event in 2011.

"We are confident and satisfied that his involvement in this, is as he stated," said Sealey. "I spoke to him immediately after having reported it and I'm satisfied that he had no involvement in this and we stand behind him."

The ban stems from the so-called cash for votes controversy, in which Caribbean football executives were handed US$40,000 stuffed in envelopes at an upscale hotel in Trinidad ahead of the 2011 FIFA presidential election.