Australian Football League CEO Andrew Demetriou "hailed the three-week trade period as a success despite its length and club anger over compensation selections."
Demetriou said that "the fact 35 players changing clubs in a mainly seamless movement of players showed the system was working" (HERALD SUN, 10/28). ... The slow pace of work to develop stadiums for next year's World Twenty20 Championships in Bangladesh on Sunday "resulted in Cox's Bazaar being dropped as one of the venues for the March 16 to April 6 tournament."
Another doubtful venue, Sylhet, which is scheduled to host the women's leg of the World T20, "has been retained" by the Int'l Cricket Council (PTI, 10/27). ... Disappointed that South African cricket player Faf du Plessis "was let off with a fine for ball tampering," the Pakistan Cricket Board will write to the Int'l Cricket Council "to review match referee's decision and impose harsher punishment for his 'grave' violation of rules." Du Plessis "was caught tampering with
the ball on the third day of the second Test in Dubai." But he "escaped with only a fine of 50% of his match fee after he pleaded guilty to the charges, by Australian match referee David Boon" (PTI, 10/28). ... Japanese players may be joining MLB as early as November, "when the new posting agreement between America’s professional Baseball league and Japan is expected to come into place." Once sealed, ball players from Japan "will have easier and faster opportunities" to play in the U.S. (JAPAN DAILY PRESS, 10/28). ... The int'l "push for longer bans for serious doping offences is expected to gather strength following the publication of research that suggests steroids continue to boost muscles long after the drugs have been taken."
The latest study, in mice, "found that exposure to the drug for a short period had long-lasting impact on the animals' ability to build muscle during training" (THE AUSTRALIAN, 10/29).
