Michael Di Venuto: "We'd be mad not to look at some of the world's best players." GETTY IMAGES
Surrey County Cricket Club coach Michael Di Venuto confirmed he would be "keen to sign" one of Australia's banned test players. Di Venuto was Australia's batting coach until '16 and "remains close" to Steve Smith and David Warner, who are serving 12-month bans from int'l and domestic cricket. Cameron Bancroft was issued a nine-month suspension. The trio are only permitted to play grade cricket in Australia, but their bans "do not prevent them from playing in England" (SYDNEY MORNING HERALD, 4/18).
An Australian Football League contingent "will head to Texas next week for the NFL draft as part of a fact-finding mission as the league gears up for the introduction of live trading of picks." Three unspecified league officials are bound for the U.S. to "gain a greater understanding of how live trading operates at the NFL draft." In-draft trading is expected to be introduced in the AFL this year (THE AGE, 4/19).
Cricket Australia directors are "set to discuss" the four current and former players who will be on the cultural review panel of former cricketer Rick McCosker's inquiry into the men's side. The appointment of the next national coach is "expected to come before the completion of the cultural review," with senior officials "keen" for the incoming coach "to have input into McCosker's report" (SMH, 4/19).
A second member of the Rwandan Commonwealth Games team "vanished" and failed to travel home with the rest of the squad. Beach volleyball player Denyse Mutatsimpundu is among "at least 14 Africans" who traveled to Australia for the Games and are "believed to be in hiding in a bid to gain asylum." Athletes from Cameroon, Uganda and Sierra Leone also stopped communicating with their teams and walked out during the Games (THE AUSTRALIAN, 4/19).
The "largest global study into the long-term health issues of Olympians" was launched by the World Olympians Association. More than 10,000 athletes who no longer compete at the Olympic level are "being targeted for the project." The study is being led by British former short track speed skater Debbie Palmer and "will focus on the risks associated with elite-level sport" (BBC, 4/19).
