Cricket

Taylor is one of the top scoring batsmen in New Zealand cricket history.

He's also the only Black Cap to have scored 290 in an away game against Australia and is one of only three New Zealanders with 17 test centuries under his belt.

As the commentators praise his on-field exploits, less often mentioned is his Samoan heritage.

Taylor said he grew up knowing it was never the norm for island kids to play cricket.

The claims by Fairfax Media were not true, a jury in Sydney ruled on Monday.

Massage therapist Leanne Russell had told the hearing that Gayle exposed himself to her in Sydney in 2015.

However, Gayle successfully argued the incident did not happen. It is unclear how much he will seek in damages.

"I am a good man. I am not guilty," Gayle told reporters outside Sydney's King Street court complex.

"I am glad the public actually get a chance to read into things and they can hear what actually transpired."

The Garamuts backed up their day one win over Fiji with a mammoth 212 run win over a young Samoan side.

Opener and player of the match Igo John Mahuru (98 off 139 balls) led from the top to bring up the tournament’s first half century, unfortunately falling just short of his hundred after trying to go long down the ground.

He was ably supported by his captain Vagi Karaho (41 off 37 balls) and Kevau Tau (32* off 34 balls) as PNG set an imposing total of 295 from their 50 overs.

Hosting an international cricket tournament is a special occasion for any nation and there is hope an event in Samoa will inspire a new generation of players.

The island nation is set to host the 2018 ICC Under 19 Cricket World Cup – East Asia-Pacific Qualifier 2017 and the host’s coach is excited by the prospects for the event.

Winning the tournament means automatic qualification for the 2018 ICC Under 19 Cricket World Cup to be played in New Zealand in January next year.

Coach Imran Adi leads a group of Samoan cricketers he believes have exciting futures.

The sport has only featured in one Olympics so far, the 1900 Games in Paris, but the International Cricket Council (ICC) is understood to be close to announcing a formal application to join the programme for 2024.

Earlier this year, ICC chief executive David Richardson told Press Association Sport a decision would have to be reached by the end of July and the "time was right" for cricket to make a concerted push for Olympic inclusion.

Dean Elgar, Hashim Amla and returning captain Faf du Plessis all brought up half-centuries, with the home attack forced to toil for their wickets before the Proteas declared on 343-9.

Alastair Cook had a first-ball lbw dismissal by Morne Morkel overturned on review as England began an improbable attempt at what would be a world-record chase of 474 and, even though he and Keaton Jennings nervily reached one without loss at the close, Joe Root's side are likely to head to The Oval at 1-1 in the four-match series.

Fakhar capitalised on a lucky escape to strike a superb 114 and lift Pakistan to a commanding total of 4-338 and fast bowler Amir ripped out India's top three batsmen before the defending champions subsided to 158 all out.

Pakistan had come into the tournament as the lowest-ranked team and lost heavily to India in their opening group match but they beat South Africa and Sri Lanka to make the semi-finals where they knocked out hosts England.

The result saw the Tigers claim their first triumph over the Black Caps outside of Bangladesh and also served as a dose of revenge for last week's four-wicket loss against the same side. 

Fittingly, Mahmudullah (46) struck the winning runs in a contest that saw him surpass 3,000 runs in one-day internationals, as Bangladesh enjoyed a pre-ICC Champions Trophy morale boost.

After the early loss of Luke Ronchi (2), New Zealand upped the run rate as captain Tom Latham (84) and Neil Broom (63) compiled a 133-run partnership.

In a winner takes all final round robin match at the East Asia-Pacific Qualifier, Samoa were put into bat and slumped to one run for two wickets after losing both openers in the first three overs.

Captain Regina Lili'I (32 off 45 balls) and Lelia Bourne (19 off 22 balls) stabilised the innings with a 43-run partnership before a mini-collapse saw Samoa lose three wickets in five balls.

From there the Samoans scraped through to post 79 for 9 from their 20 overs.

In yesterday’s match between Samoa and Japan, the trend of bowling first continued as Samoa sent Japan in.

Japan never looked like setting a competitive total with a run rate of under two runs an over for most of the match.

Some late hitting from Rio Endo (9 not out) brought some spark to the last quarter of the innings but it was too late and Japan could only manage 49 runs from their 20 overs.