Harbhajan should have been punished - Symonds

Andrew Symonds, the former Australia allrounder, has spoken out about the hurt and anger he felt at what he perceived as administrative mishandling in the aftermath of the 2008 Sydney Test - where an on-field altercation with Harbhajan Singh blew up into a race row.

"If truth, honesty and common sense had prevailed, then there would have been a punishment for the player," Symonds said, speaking to Harsha Bhogle on ESPNcricinfo's Opening Up. "It would have been dealt with, and it would have set a precedent for the future. But I don't think it has done that".

Harbhajan had an exchange with Symonds on day three of the Test, during which he allegedly called Symonds a "monkey". He was handed a three-match ban, which was later overturned on appeal.

Symonds alleged that the BCCI had flexed its muscle to get Harbhajan off, and said he and his team-mates "were made to look idiots" when the ban was reversed. "I think Cricket Australia was intimidated by the Indian cricket board."

"The thing, I think, that was grinding on me the most was the lying. Because the allegation was that this hadn't happened, and it had. Then the lies started, and then it became political. The captain [Ricky Ponting] was made to look like a fool, and that should have never happened, and the other players too."

Harbhajan's appeal was presided over by Justice John Hansen, a former New Zealand high court judge, who said there was insufficient evidence for a racism charge to stick. The offence was changed to a Level 2.8 one according to the ICC's Code of Conduct - abuse and insult not amounting to racism - to which Harbhajan pleaded guilty and was fined 50% of his match fees. Two days later the ICC admitted the judge hadn't been given enough material, especially on Harbhajan's past offences, and apologised for the punishment, which many considered not severe enough for a repeat offender.

Symonds said Australia's case wasn't presented well. "It was really like a courtroom slugfest in the end. And I think the way our side was put across, it wasn't as accurate as it needed to be. We probably missed a couple of points, which in the end cost our side dearly."

Symonds said he was angry at first and then completely disillusioned. He also felt embarrassed because his team-mates had been dragged into it. "If it had been just me, then I would have just kept going forward," Symonds said.

"I was with these blokes day after day, and there were people still writing about it in the paper. You think about their wives, their mothers and fathers, that sort of thing. I think it was, as I said, something that was handled poorly."

Symonds, who effectively retired from international cricket last year after his Cricket Australia contract was cancelled following a string of disciplinary breaches, said of his decision to quit: "I woke up one day and I thought, 'You know what - this isn't originally what I was enjoying."

Symonds' last couple of major infractions were a scuffle in a pub following the win in the first Test against New Zealand late in 2008, and a radio interview early the next year, where he called Brendon McCullum a "lump of s***", which led to him being banned for the tour of South Africa.

Symonds said that the change in the atmosphere of the team was among the factors that contributed to his decision to leave. "There was conflict, there was politics, there were rules that have been broken, there were side contracts, and there were lots of other things involved. The whole sort of feeling in that side was changing. Compared to what I was used to.

"For me, life is not all about cricket, cricket and cricket. I was finding it difficult to enjoy myself in that environment, which was leading me to drink and then not make sensible decisions. It got to the point where I did not want to be in the side." 

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Donald gets a duck

Being taken to The Oval on August 14, 1948 was my birthday treat. A family friend took me into the press box on a bright, clear morning, and England were already 30 for 4.

I was introduced to Jack Hobbs, a kindly figure who told me about oiling my new bat. Then I went to sit on the grass, and watched England dismissed for 52.

There was plenty of chatter, and I recall rabbiting on about the importance of a good foundation as Arthur Morris and Syd Barnes took Australia's score past 100. The most irritating thing was that they were delaying the moment we had all really been waiting for - Don Bradman's last Test innings.

Bradman had scored heavily during the summer, but RC Robertson-Glasgow had detected a tendency at the start of his innings to play the ball where it wasn't. Eric Hollies, who had been selected in place of Jim Laker, had bowled to Bradman at Edgbaston for Warwickshire and thought he could not read the googly. When Hollies finally dismissed Barnes, the Don walked to the wicket to continuous applause. Norman Yardley, England's captain, called for three cheers. Bradman wrote in his autobiography that the reception stirred him deeply and made him anxious.

Hollies' first ball was a legbreak. The next was a good-length ball, and Bradman played three parts of the way forward to it.

"It looked to me as though he had decided it was a legbreak, and that he would let the ball turn away from him," Hollies wrote later. "However, [it was the googly] and the ball turned in just enough to pass the edge of his bat and hit the middle and off stumps."

Bradman's monumental duck meant that his Test average was stuck on 99.94. For myself, I felt very glad he was gone but extremely sorry not to have watched him bat. As he trudged back to the pavilion, Bradman confessed that he had "rather a sad heart". (Note the "rather".) In the press box, Jack Fingleton and Bill O'Reilly, two of Bradman's old team-mates, were laughing. But that is another story. 

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Aamer told to take care after Ponting clash

The match referee Chris Broad has advised Mohammad Aamer to take care when celebrating wickets, but no official action was taken after a clash between the bowler and Ricky Ponting on the first day at Lord's. As Aamer was following through having had Ponting caught at short leg, he ran close to the batsman and contact was made.

It was not the first time on this trip that Aamer collided with a batsman after dismissing him. In the second Twenty20 at Edgbaston, he leapt with such exuberance while celebrating the removal of Michael Clarke that he lost control and crashed into the batsman, although he immediately apologised.

Broad said there was no reason to take official action over the Aamer-Ponting incident, but he was keen to ensure there were no further repeats. The umpires spoke to the Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi after the collision and Broad raised the issue with Aamer and the team coach Waqar Younis at the close of play.

"Aamer is a young, exciting, talented player full of enthusiasm for this great sport and that is to be celebrated and nurtured," Broad said. "But there are a few things he still has to learn in relation to how to conduct himself on the field of play.

"I told him that when he takes a wicket, he should celebrate with his team-mates rather than getting himself into the personal space of the outgoing batsman. It's a spirit of cricket issue.

"It has happened twice now so we as a playing control team thought it would be sensible for me to have a word with him. He accepted it graciously and undertook to avoid a repeat occurrence. As far as we are concerned the issue is now closed."

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Pakistan will miss Yousuf and Younis - Hussey

Michael Hussey believes Pakistan's batting depth will be seriously tested in the absence of Mohammad Yousuf and Younis Khan for the upcoming series against Australia. However, Hussey is wary of an "outstanding" attack that is likely to determine the fortunes of the side six months after they lost 3-0 in Australia.

Younis did not play in that series but has been one of their most reliable Test players in the past couple of years. Both he and Yousuf, the captain during the visit to Australia, average over 50 in Test cricket and in their absence, the only member of the top six who averages above 40 is Umar Akmal, who has played only six Tests.

"I think their depth is going to be tested," Hussey said. "You take Younis Khan and Mohammad Yousuf out of that team and you're losing two outstanding, classy players. That's going to be a big loss, particularly in the Test match arena. It's going to be very hard to find those runs that those guys consistently score in Test match cricket.

"But their bowling attack looks outstanding. They're very well balanced and they cover all bases very well. Run-making for us is going to be tough, but hopefully if we can bowl well and keep them under pressure, I'm hoping we can bowl them out for less runs than us."

Although Pakistan might enter the series with some confidence left over from their two Twenty20 victories in Birmingham, history is against them, as they haven't beaten Australia in a Test since November 1995. During the most recent series in Australia, Salman Butt was the only Pakistan player to score a Test century, and only he and Umar Akmal averaged above 30.

For the Australians, five men posted hundreds and averaged 50-plus including Hussey, whose 134 in Sydney helped Australia to a famous victory from what seemed an unwinnable position. He enters Tuesday's Lord's Test in fine form, having cruised to a century in the warm-up game in Derby, but he knows the challenge will be far greater against Mohammad Aamer, Mohammad Asif, Umar Gul and Danish Kaneria.

"I feel like I'm seeing the ball well, but it doesn't really matter in a practice game," he said. "I'd give all those runs back for a hundred at Lord's in a Test match, that's for sure. The Pakistanis have an excellent attack, it's going to be a lot better than the attack we faced up in Derby. It's going to be a huge challenge."

At 35, Hussey is one of the old men in an unusually inexperienced Australian squad . Five of the 14 members are yet to make their Test debut, although Steven Smith and Tim Paine will wear the baggy green for the first time at Lord's. Hussey said the youth in the group helped create genuine excitement ahead of a rare neutral Test.

"In our team we've got a great mix," he said. "All the guys love playing for Australia and you can really see it in their faces. Even Ricky Ponting at the moment, I think he's loving being captain of the team at the moment. It's a new team, it's fresh, he wants to have an input on how these young guys develop as cricketers and there's a real enthusiasm around the team."

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Clarke predicts tough Tests against Pakistan seamers

Australia's Test vice-captain Michael Clarke believes Pakistan's fast bowlers will be a handful during the upcoming Test series, on the evidence of their strong performances in the two Twenty20s at Edgbaston. The Australians found Mohammad Aamer and Umar Gul difficult prospects during the Twenty20s and both men are in the Test squad, where they will be joined by Mohammad Asif.

Add the coaching expertise of Waqar Younis and the swing of the red Duke ball, and the attack could cause problems in English conditions. Australia found the curving ball hard to counter during their 2005 Ashes defeat and they again failed to win last year, which means they haven't triumphed in a Test series in England since 2001.

"They're going to be tough opposition in the Test match," Clarke said of Shahid Afridi's men. "They're going to have a very good attack, so our batters have to be at our best with the Duke ball that I'll imagine they'll get to swing, in conditions where, if it's overcast, it's going to be quite tough. I think we're in for a really good Test series.

"If it's overcast here, I think they'll swing the ball nicely and they've got some pace as well. I think the Duke will help them. Conditions play a big part in England as to how much swing there is. If it's overcast there's generally a bit of swing the whole day. Hopefully the sun's out."

On Thursday, Australia will play with the red Duke for the first time on the tour when they begin a two-day warm-up match against Derbyshire. It will be a good opportunity for the selectors to see Ben Hilfenhaus, Australia's best exponent of swing, in action after his seven-month lay-off due to knee tendonitis.

At the same time, Pakistan will be honing their skills with a tour game against Leicestershire. The first Test begins at Lord's next Tuesday, before the teams move on to Headingley for the second Test beginning on July 21.

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Khawaja picked to face country of birth

Pakistan's players may wonder about the one that got away when they peer into the Australian dressing room during the series in England next month. Sitting there will be Usman Khawaja, a 23-year-old batsman, who was born in Islamabad.

Since Khawaja's family moved to Sydney when he was three, he has developed into one of the most impressive young batsmen in the country, sworn his allegiance to the quest for a baggy green, and become a qualified pilot. If he plays at Lord's or Leeds in July he will become Australia's first Muslim Test cricketer by appearing against his country of birth.

"When I first got told that I was going over to England that didn't even cross my mind," he said in Brisbane. "It [being a Muslim] doesn't cross my mind until someone brings it up. I am around the boys all the time and I never once feel like I am different."

Khawaja is currently on tour in Queensland with Australia A and he tried to remain cool when told of his selection in the 14-man squad. "I was a bit shocked, I had a feeling I was close," he said. Khawaja quickly told his excited father Tariq, who has increased his love of the Australian team as his boy became more accomplished.

Usman last visited Pakistan four years ago and is unsure where the loyalties of his extended family, including his maternal grandmother, will lie. He hopes they will cheer for him if he gets a game.

"I haven't thought about it like that," he said. "I am just very happy being in the squad." In England he will be on standby for the top four batsmen, but will mostly be there to gain experience for what could be a barrier-breaking career.

One of those left-handers who seem to see the ball in slow motion, Khawaja is rarely rushed at the crease and is treasured for his composed performances in the four-day format. (He has played only four domestic one-day games.) There has been a feeling around the state scene for the past two years that Khawaja's rise to Australian colours was inevitable and the elevation has arrived despite him not completing a full Sheffield Shield campaign.

New South Wales' strong line-up of internationals has contributed to him appearing in only 18 first-class fixtures for his state but, despite a mid-season broken thumb, he still managed three centuries and 698 runs at 63.45 in seven games last summer. Two of the hundreds came in back-to-back matches, with 132 against Queensland on a testing pitch at the Gabba and 107 in more comfortable conditions in Newcastle.

Like Michael Clarke, Khawaja went to Westfields Sport High School in Sydney and he has a similar build to Australia's Test vice-captain, weighing in at around 77kg and standing 1.77m tall. He plays for Randwick Petersham, the club Nathan Hauritz captains and Simon Katich turns out for when time allows, and has been in the same state sides as Brad Haddin and Clarke a couple of times.

He is as fresh as his young New South Wales team-mates Phillip Hughes and Steven Smith were on their first senior trips. "When I was a kid I dreamed of going on tour but I am not looking too far ahead," he said. "If I just carry the drinks the whole time, it doesn't really bother me. It's just exciting to be around Punter [Ricky Ponting] - I have never met him."

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Behind every successful captain ...

It's been a tumultuous week for international cricket captains, past, present and even in-waiting. Three Pakistan captains - in their case it's difficult to distinguish the blurred line between the incumbent and those who have recently been demoted - have either been suspended or heavily fined. Then Australian captain in-waiting, Michael Clarke, abandoned the tour of New Zealand to return home in an attempt to sort out his private life.

First, the Clarke situation. It's very difficult and generally fraught with danger to pass opinion in affairs of the heart. However, Clarke's move, while it was the correct one for his own peace of mind, will have given the Australian selectors some reason for concern.

There are a number of factors that go into deciding who should captain an international cricket team. In the case of Australia, stability and continuity are priorities that, while not at the top of the list, are weighty factors. Hence one of the more remarkable statistics in the international game: in 133 years of Test cricket Australia has only appointed 42 captains, and at least eight of those were stand-in skippers. It's a job-security record rarely seen in modern times, and testament to the method of choosing a suitable candidate on the basis of form and fitness.

There's no doubt Clarke qualifies for the job on his batting form and tactical nous, as displayed in the one-day internationals and Twenty20 games where he has been a successful captain. Nevertheless, his long-term captaincy aspirations already feature a question mark because of a dodgy back. It's an unfortunate quirk of fate to be born with such a degenerative condition but it's unwise to add to the selectors' concerns by having an unstable relationship that generates more publicity than a Hollywood marriage.

Clarke has now moved to rectify this situation and, wisely, will return to the team for the first Test against New Zealand. Hopefully, he's now in a state where he can concentrate on his cricket and let the captaincy situation take care of itself.

Over the years players who have craved the Australian captaincy have generally been inferior natural leaders to those who have come upon the job by way of natural progression or unusual circumstances.

Currently Clarke is the best candidate to inherit the Test captaincy and he's now at the right age to take on the role. In addition, there's a paucity of long-term candidates waiting in the wings, but Clarke's tumultuous relationship could well have made the selectors nervous enough to buck tradition and consider opting for a short-term captain, like Simon Katich or Cameron White.

And on the subject of tumultuous, the Pakistan captaincy would rank alongside the Richard Burton-Elizabeth Taylor relationship.

Prior to the 1992 World Cup final I described the eventually successful Pakistan side as a skilled rabble. These days there's a lot less of the skill and considerably more of the rabble.

There's no doubt Pakistan cricket needed a shake-up. A good, honest appraisal of what has happened and where they are headed was long overdue. However, it would have been preferable if the accountability process had also included the officials.

The suspension and fining of a number of Pakistan players, including three former captains, is shrouded in mystery. The lack of transparency in the process and the findings has only added to the impression of a muddle-headed administration. The failure to outline reasons for the suspensions and fines will only lead to more conjecture. If the administration had hoped to quell rumours of performance-fixing, which shadow the Pakistan team like a faithful hound, then all they have succeeded in doing is increase the volume of the baying.

The best thing for Pakistan cricket could well be a clean-out, which will necessitate a dip in fortunes for the time being, followed - if done sensibly - by a prolonged spell of success. However, the clean-out should also include officials, otherwise the same erratic play and behaviour on the field will continue.

Only one person can run a team successfully and that's a strong-minded and clear-thinking captain. However, behind every successful captain is a stable administration and a supportive family.

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Shaun Tait unleashes 160 kmph thunderbolt

Shaun Tait bowled what was reportedly the quickest delivery on Australian soil in the home side's two-run win over Pakistan, when he unleashed a 160.7 kmph rocket off just the third ball of his opening over.

Tait was the man-of-the-match for figures of 3/13, but talk centred equally on his magnificent bowling as on that particular delivery.

The huge crowd of more than 60,000 at the MCG let out a collective gasp when the scoreboard immediately flashed just how quick it was with Channel Nine later reporting that it was the fastest ball ever delivered by any bowler in Australia.

Tait's thunderbolt was the third-fastest ball ever bowled, behind Brett Lee, whose quickest is 160.9kph, and Pakistan's record holder Shoaib Akhtar, who unleashed a 161.3kph ball during the 2003 World Cup in South Africa.

Tait, whose decision to give up first-class cricket in order to ensure he remains injury-free for the shortened forms of the game is starting to pay off, said fans should not expect him to bowl as quick as he did at the MCG on Friday night on a regular basis.

"I was obviously feeling pretty good today and every now and then there are nights when everything goes well and your timing is right," he said after Friday night's game when quizzed about his record-breaking delivery.

"You can't really explain why some nights it comes out so well and the next night is not so good."

Tait, who has battled countless injuries during his career given the toll his unique slingshot action takes on his body, said he was feeling fresh going into the game because rain in the lead-up to the match had prevented him from bowling in the nets.

"As far as I am concerned that (not bowling in the nets before a game) is good preparation," he joked.

However despite coming so close to bowling the fastest ball in the history of the game, Tait doubts he will break Akhtar's record.

"Shoaib bowled whatever he bowled - I don't know how because I almost killed myself out there tonight," he said.

"It's not something I think about all the time and there are only certain moments when you are bowling in your career when you have got a chance to do it."

"You have probably only got two balls in a game where you can do it and then after that it's hard to get back up to that sort of pace."

"But the decision I have made to only play the short forms of the game was a good one and I have been feeling fresh for a majority of games this season apart from just a couple maybe."
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Yousuf not our problem: Aussies

SO MUCH for solidarity. As Mohammad Yousuf waits to find out if his tenure as Pakistan captain extends beyond this weekend, his Australian rivals, whose dominant form has put Yousuf under intense scrutiny, say they are ambivalent to his plight.

After officially losing the one-day series on Tuesday night, the 35-year-old said he had been told by Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Ijaz Butt — through team manager Abdul Raqeeb — no decision had been made on the captaincy.

"The [team] manager and the chairman had a chat, and [the] manager told me ... chairman said he didn't say anything [about sacking me]," Yousuf said. "He told [the] manager, manager told me."

Butt's sentiments, if correct, are in contrast to comments last week when he reportedly declared the board had already agreed Yousuf would be sacked as captain — controversial because the team had only just begun its five-match one-day series against Australia. The chairman did, however, tell smh.com.au the reports he had prematurely ended Yousuf's captaincy were "rubbish talk".

Irrespective of the conjecture, Yousuf's immediate captaincy in Australia will not extend beyond the double-header in Perth. Shahid Afridi took over the national Twenty20 captaincy late last year, after the resignation of Younus Khan, and will lead the team in its sole Twenty20 match of the tour, against Australia at the MCG next Friday.

Australian wicketkeeper Brad Haddin yesterday said he and his teammates were not sympathetic to Yousuf's situation.

"It's not something I give too much thought to. We're there to win every game we play, and if that puts pressure on the captain then so be it. That's not something for me or the team to worry about," he said. "We're trying to make the opposition feel as uncomfortable as we possibly can and win all the games we're out there for, so I'm not too worried about his future."

Haddin believed the Australian team's success against Pakistan this summer — six victories in a row since last month's Test series — was because it had been able to nullify the positive aspects of the visitors' reputation for being unpredictable.

"I think what we've done this summer is not allow them to get into the rhythm of their cricket, which has been good from our point of view. So there's been some glimmers of very good performances [from Pakistan] but we've played very well as a unit and not allowed them to get into rhythm with their cricket."

Exciting teenage paceman Mohammad Aamer's only chance of featuring again this summer is seemingly the MCG Twenty20 match, with the recurrence of a groin injury that forced him out of Tuesday night's match set to keep him sidelined for the Perth matches as well.

"I think he's not playing the next two games. I don't know about [whole] summer but not the next two games," Yousuf said.

Australia will rest Shane Watson and Doug Bollinger for at least the two Perth ODI matches. Mitchell Johnson is the only new addition to the squad, in which late call-up Ryan Harris has been retained following his five-wicket haul in the last match against Pakistan.

Peter Siddle's back injury will be tested today at training. Captain Ricky Ponting was optimistic the Victorian paceman would be available for the match at the WACA Ground, insisting he had only been withdrawn from the Adelaide Oval match as a precaution.

"It's not as if it's going to be a week's injury," Ponting said. "He [physiotherapist Alex Kountouris] was going to bring him [Siddle] down for a bowl early ... but Alex gave me a call and asked what I thought, and I said if there's any doubt about him at all, just give him [Tuesday] off and we'll put him in cotton wool for a couple of days, and just hope that he comes up and is ready to play in Perth."

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Ponting pulls his way out of trouble

Time was when a Ricky Ponting pull was the central symbol of Australia's dominance and the root cause of an opposition's misery. His pulls were not brutal as, say, a West Indian one might have been in the 80s, but they were as emphatic. In a very different way they were just as good to look at, for the straightness of the lines he drew with his movement.

Everything about the shot rubbed it in. Ponting's movements when batting have always been so decisive, be it the forward lunge or the early backlift, and the pull is no different. The sound of the ball hitting the bat was enough to kill most bowlers; so clean, so middled and just so pulled. If bouncers were door-to-door salesmen, Ponting's pull would be the door firmly shut on their face.

He could hit it in front of square or behind it; up high or along the ground, rolling his wrists to keep it down. But he has always pulled. Michael Clarke reckoned, probably only half in jest, that the one shot has got him 6000 of his Test runs. It is the way Ponting and the Australian team is - no backward step ever taken.

"The fast bowler is testing your courage and your speed of reaction and you are trying to hit him either to, or over the boundary," Viv Richards said of the hook once. "You are telling the bully with the ball that you are not scared of anything he can send down at you."

The inverse applies now. The batsman is the bully and to pull is to be strong. But the heart of the matter with pulling is that as a stroke, it is mostly a consequence of ego. Despite all the talk this summer about Ponting's susceptibility to the shot, this has fundamentally remained the same. Instinct, which Ponting says drives his pulling, is simply a part of that.

Since being hit by Kemar Roach attempting one, Ponting has seemed doubly keen on pulling whatever came his way. He has talked about it almost as much as he has done it. "Keep bowling short to me and I'll keep pulling," he has said often. Twice against Pakistan, he pulled and paid the price. When he did it first ball at Sydney, it seemed purely out of conceit.

For the first thirty runs of his innings today, Ponting lived off it, pulling relentlessly, trying to prove a point. He should have been out fourth ball doing it of course but such are the gifts Pakistan bring with them. Caution was absent from Ponting's approach, for that is also weakness. He carried on pulling and doing it poorly; one hit him flush on the helmet, a couple got the bottom edge of his bat, he jerked his head away a few times, got on top of them rarely. He ducked just once. At that moment, Ponting's shakiness with pulling seemed emblematic of Australia's decline over the last two years.

Perhaps it is the years - and reflexes - and perhaps it is nothing, just one of those freakish phases batsmen, bowlers and cricket is replete with.

Mostly today he was early on the shots rather than late, a result he said, of a surface that was holding up the ball. And it isn't as if he has been succumbing to the pull consistently. He's been dismissed twice driving loosely too in this series, though no one seems to worry about that much.

"I don't look at it as being a statement," he said. "It's just one of those shots that comes more naturally to me than it does to most. It's a lot to do with the way I pick the bat up and the way my foot movements are, is the reason I play the shot as much and as often as I do."

Fortunately Ponting's genius is of many shades and resilient, even if in the last few years it has begun to fade. At various stages Danish Kaneria and Mohammad Asif asked him questions and though he stuttered, he answered back. Once he had survived a tricky path to fifty - only his third in 10 innings - the day was his.

Thereafter he drove and swept and punched through covers off the back foot as if the summer and the last three years had never happened. There were even a couple of proper pulls, more controlled and played as if he knew he needn't really have done it, but did so to merely prove a point.

A first hundred in 16 innings, a second on his nominal home ground seemed inevitable after the fifty, though Pakistan-watchers sensed it the moment he was dropped on zero. The last two pulls he played for the day rolled the years back, as he kept his eyes on the ball and rolled his wrists over them to bisect two fielders in the deep.

"The bottom line with me is if I can't stop playing it, I've just got to play it better. I've played it well through my career and it has brought me a lot of runs," he said. Bowlers will keep bowling it to him, but they are stubborn beasts anyway. The debate is closed for now, but rest assured it will be revisited in time to come.

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Ponting delighted with the thrilling win

Australian captain Ricky Ponting was delighted with his side's stunning win over Pakistan and has rated this as one of the most satisfying wins in his career.

"I don't think anyone else in the world other than probably all the blokes inside our room thought we could win," Ponting said.

While Australia clinched thrilling wins at the SCG in the past, Ricky Ponting said this win over Pakistan topped the charts.

"The other (SCG Tests) we've probably been in positions where we probably should have won the games. So this one, turning up today 80 runs ahead I think all of us in our change room felt that if we could get 150 we were going to be right in the game."

"Where it ended up today was a sort of a difficult number I think for Pakistan to look at and try and chase. It sort of throws up, do you go out and aggressive and try and get 60 or 70 while the ball's hard with a chance of losing a couple of wickets which is what they did today."

"Those sort of totals are always hard to chase but what Huss and Sids (Hussey and Siddle) did today and what the bowlers did and probably more importantly today what the fielders did .. those little things like that can be the difference between winning and losing the game."

Ponting said he always stood by his decision to bat first and added that inability to make runs fearing the pitch was the last thing on his mind.

"It's been a pretty tough few days not only for me but the team. We felt that we probably underperformed a little bit on the first day and as a captain and a top-order batter the last thing I want to do is bat on a wicket that I don't think we can make any runs on," he said.

"So I backed us at the start of the game to make more in the first innings of the game than what I thought Pakistan could make in the last innings of the game."

"As it turns out we got 120-odd and then bowled then out for 139 in the last innings of the game. It just goes to show I guess how hard chasing runs in Test cricket is," Ponting added.

"What we've read over the last couple of days and what we've seen and heard on the news probably just steeled us all a little bit and just made us want to fight the game out as much as we can and prove that we're never out of the contest."

Disappointed after losing from a winning position, Pakistan captain Mohammad Yousuf accepted the blame for his side's lacklusture batting in the second innings.

"I think they (Australia) batted very well in the second innings and my shot this afternoon was very pathetic and it turned the game that shot," he said.

"I think otherwise we win the game, not easily but we (would) have won," said Yousuf.

"We have to be professional, we have to perform .. we need to take the pressure, especially me.. I'm a very experienced player, while they're all young."
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I don't think it was a 127 all-out pitch: Hussey

Mike Hussey insisted that the bowler friendly SCG wicket was not entirely to blame for his side's disastrous performance with the bat on day one of the second Test.

"I don't think it was a 127 all-out pitch. They did bowl well and credit where credit is due ... but I think at the end of the day we are disappointed to be bowled out for 127."

Regarding the captain Ricky Ponting's decision to bat first, Hussey said, "We didn't really discuss it I think it was left up to Ricky and probably the coaches and Michael Clarke as VC to discuss that."

"I must admit I did joke with Ricky one day before the game saying that he batted at Johannesburg in the first Test against South Africa and that wicket had branches growing off it," he said.

"So I didn't think he'd bowl first on any wicket in the world and that was sort of proved again today I guess."

While admitting that Pakistan were in a dominating position going into day 2, Hussey was confident his bowlers could turn the game around in Australia's favour.

"We've got to come here tomorrow with a positive attitude. If we can bowl with real patience and real discipline and get enough balls in the right areas we'll create enough chances to hopefully have the game on an even keel tomorrow night, and then the toss is sort of irrelevant."

"I still think there's going to be lots of movement in there tomorrow. There's quite a lot of live green grass on that pitch, there's certainly still going to be moisture in that pitch overnight and for tomorrow."

Meanwhile, the wrecker-in-chief Mohammad Asif, who scalped his career best figures of 6/41, said "I had a very bad memory when I had a debut in this ground in 2004/05 and after that Test match they sent me back home. So I just wanted to clean up the whole memory so I just did and I'm very happy now."

"I just tried to bowl on the right areas and just tried to swing the ball because I know their batsmen are very good. I'm very happy, this is my career best and I'm just very glad now."
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Ponting concerned by shrinking Shield

Ricky Ponting has expressed his fears over the possible reduction of the Sheffield Shield competition to allow for the expansion of the domestic Twenty20 tournament.

The Australian captain said the Sheffield Shield had played an important role in Australia being the leading cricket nation over the past 15 years.

"I'd hate to see the day where we start playing more Twenty20 cricket at the expense of Sheffield Shield cricket," he said.

"One thing I think we've had over other nations for the last 15 years is the great strength of our domestic cricket.

"If you start taking those Sheffield Shield games away then before you know it ... you just don't want to tinker with things that are working so well."

His comments come as Cricket Australia weigh up increasing the size of the Big Bash competition for the 2011/12 season following its increase in popularity this season.

This summer's domestic Twenty20 tournament has been aided by the appearances of overseas stars such as Chris Gayle, Shahid Afridi and Dwayne Bravo.

CA is considering plans for the 2011/12 season to increase the number of Twenty20 games from 17 to 31 and that could potentially cut the Shield competition from 10 rounds back to eight.

Ponting thought it would be hard to find space in the summer for Australia's international stars to have much of an involvement in any enhanced Twenty20 tournament.

"It's a competition that we've all enjoyed playing in the past and I'm sure the current Australian players would like to play a bit more over the coming years," he said.

"With the way international cricket is at the moment it's going to be exceptionally hard to find a window to get even four or five international teams completely free."

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Warne rules out Australia comeback

Melbourne: Spin legend Shane Warne has ruled out coming out of retirement to play for Australia despite Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's personal plea to the cricketer to don the national colours again.

Warne wrote in his blog for the Herald Sun he was "very flattered" by Rudd's request yesterday while sharing the commentary box with him during the second day of the Boxing Day Test between Australia and Pakistan, but returning to top class cricket is "highly doubtful".

"I am very flattered but it is highly doubtful. I am sticking in the commentary box," Warne wrote in his brief response.

The 40-year-old Victorian also ruled the option of playing domestic Twenty20 cricket in England.

"I've had offers from a few different counties to play in the Twenty20 competitions, but I have also been offered to commentate for Sky, so I will probably elect the commentary box, unless, it's an offer I can't refuse," Warne said.

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Pakistan need strong leadership to tame Aussies: Hughes

MELBOURNE: Former Australia skipper Kim Hughes warned Pakistan will be no pushovers in upcoming Test cricket series, while hoping opener Phillip Hughes has fixed his technical flaws against the short ball.

Hughes says Pakistan will be formidable foes in the series, starting in Melbourne from Dec 26, if skipper Mohammad Yousuf can gel his men as legendary Imran Khan once did.

‘I think we will see some wonderful cricket from them but their consistency is a worry,’ said Hughes, who suffered a 0-3 away Test series loss as skipper to Imran Khan’s side in 1982.

‘You need good, strong leadership. They have had more captains than pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, with the comings and goings. They need an Imran Khan, someone who is strong at the top.’

Hughes was impressed by emerging stars of Pakistan side, particularly middle-order batsman Umar Akmal.

The 19-year-old made 129 on debut against New Zealand at Dunedin last month and 379 runs at 63.1 for the series.

‘Umar looks a tremendously exciting player,’ said Hughes of Lahore prodigy, who is a younger brother of wicket-keeper Kamran Akmal.

‘New Zealand are difficult at home and there is no doubt that two Akmal brothers –– Kamran and Umar –– are good.’

He suspects a Pakistan attack featuring pace pair of Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamir could trouble Australia, who may recall left-hander Phillip Hughes if skipper Ricky Ponting does not recover from an elbow injury.

‘Phil Hughes is a promising but with a severe technical deficiency he needs to overcome,’ the 70-Test Hughes said.

Pakistan might be cricket’s touring nomads but re-emergence of leg-spinner Danish Kaneria and promising rookies mean Australia would be challenged in three Test series, Hughes said.

‘They have useful bowlers and produce wonderful cricketers. As far as producing sheer talent, Pakistan has some wonderful young talent and will test our blokes,’ he said.

‘If Australia has an edge it will be that they are more physically and mentally hardened.’
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Warne, Buchanan seek revamp after West Indies defeat

Australia's three-day defeat of West Indies over the weekend has prompted fresh calls for a restructuring of world cricket, and for a revamp of cricket in the West Indies. While Shane Warne advocates a two-tier Test structure to ensure more competitive cricket, former Australia coach John Buchanan has called for a "dramatic" intervention to save West Indian cricket.

Writing in the Herald Sun, Warne said he believed that the mismatch reiterated the massive gap between the top four or five Test teams and the also-rans. "I love Test cricket, but I think it is has got to the stage where there are some things that need to be addressed", he wrote. "I reckon we need a two-tier system for Test cricket with a grand final for the top two sides in a neutral venue in a one-off Test.

"I believe two tiers is the future and a grand final. Which means the fifth side in the top tier would be relegated to the bottom tier and the top team in that tier would be promoted."

Warne suggested that the ICC rankings could be used to decide which tier each Test playing nation should be slotted into. He believed that this system could promote more attacking and result-oriented Test cricket.

Buchanan meanwhile has asked the ICC to focus on improving the state of cricket in the Caribbean because of the far-reaching implications it has on the international game.

"The ICC must intervene in West Indian cricket ... it is a massive job but a strong West Indian team is essential for the future of world cricket," Buchanan was quoted as saying in the Courier Mail. "They need to work out how all the problems there can best be attacked over the shortest period of time ... even if the ICC diverts resources away from other countries."

Buchanan believes that these problems have not surfaced suddenly and that the warning signs have been visible for long in the inefficient West Indian cricketing infrastructure.

"Some of the things we take for granted, things like good training facilities and talent identification programs are not available in the Caribbean. Even when things do happen there are major problems. For the World Cup (in 2007) there were good facilities built but there were already signs there at the end of the World Cup they wouldn't be maintained or retained," he said.

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Watson world's No. 1 all-rounder: Ponting

Sydney: Australian skipper Ricky Ponting believes all-rounder Shane Watson has the capability to become the world's premier all-rounder in the coming years.

Ponting said that with England's Andrew Flintoff retiring from the international scene and South African Jacques Kallis career almost coming towards its end, Watson has the chance to press his claims to be considered as the No. 1 all-rounder.

“I have always seen that he has the ability to do that. He's had his fair share of blokes that have knocked him along the way and they have knocked me and the selectors for keeping on picking him. But, he's starting to show now what he's capable of, he has a great opportunity that he can become that considering a lot of the other guys are coming towards the end,” The Age quoted Ponting, as saying.

“If you look at the outstanding all-rounders around the world- Flintoff is finished, Kallis does not have far to go, Bravo (West Indian Dwayne) is thereabouts, but he is a bit up and down. There are not many of them around,” he added.

Ponting also said the 28-year-old can have a massive impact on world cricket.

“I think with the way his game is shaping up, he can have a massive impact on world cricket,” he said.

“So for him, things are right on track for his cricket at the moment,” he added.

Most of Watson's international cricketing highs have come on foreign soil, and his numbers in Australia look particularly feeble in comparison, something he is keen to rectify during this summer’s tournament against West Indies and Pakistan.

While his Test career is very much in its infancy, his ODI batting average at home is 31.09 compared to 42.97 when he is away.

He has collected 25 wickets at 32.52 in Australia and 74 wickets at 27.77 overseas.

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This is a special win: Ponting

Australian captain Ricky Ponting rated the hard-fought ODI series victory against India in the same bracket as his country's World Cup and Champions Trophy victories and one of the "special" triumphs in his career.

"We have won a lot of series here in India. But this one (series triumph) will be up there with some of the specials that I played in, including our Champions Trophy and World Cup wins," Ponting said after Australia's six-wicket victory over India in the sixth one-dayer here.

Ponting gave full credit to his young players for sealing the series and said their performance was an encouraging sign for Australia's 2011 World Cup campaign at the sub-continent.

"It's really satisfying when the so-called younger and less experienced guys coming into the side and really pop their chest to be part of a successful side. Full credit to them, we cannot have asked for anything better," said Ponting.

"I cannot be any more proud from this group, they have got together, they have put their best game together to win the series. It's really a positive thing for Australian cricket. We are coming back to India to play World Cup, whatever exposure the youngsters get will be a positive for them," Ponting said.

He said winning the series against India at their own backyard and with so many injury problems was satisfying.
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Australia all-rounder Henriques out of one-day series

HYDERABAD, India (Reuters) - Australia suffered another injury setback ahead of Thursday's fifth one-dayer against India with all-rounder Moises Henriques ruled out of the remainder of the series with a hamstring injury.

A Cricket Australia (CA) statement on Wednesday said Henriques had suffered the injury during the fourth game on Monday which the world champions won by 24 runs to level the seven-match series 2-2.

The tourists are struggling to put up 11 fit players for Thursday's day/night game in Hyderabad after Henriques, who flew in as replacement for the injured James Hopes, joined fast bowler Peter Siddle on an expanding injury list.

Siddle will return home after experiencing stiffness in his left side in the fourth one-dayer.

All-rounder Andrew McDonald and fast bowler Burt Cockley will join the team as replacements before the sixth one-dayer in Guwahati on Sunday, CA said.

"Moises complained of some discomfort after the fourth ODI in Mohali. He had an MRI scan when we arrived in Hyderabad which showed signs of injury to the right hamstring," the statement said.

"The medical staff believe the injury will not recover sufficiently for him to participate in the last week of the tour and therefore we have decided he will return to Australia where he will continue his treatment."

Strike bowler Brett Lee, all-rounder Hopes and stand-in wicketkeeper Tim Paine have already returned home with injuries while first choice wicketkeeper Brad Haddin, vice-captain Michael Clarke and left-arm seamer Nathan Bracken did not make the tour due to injuries.

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Haddin looks forward to IPL, Windies Tests

Sydney: Australia's wicketkeeper Brad Haddin returns to first-class cricket and the injury-enforced break might be a blessing in disguise for him.

Haddin is also planning to play in the Indian Premier League next year for Mumbai Indians who are most likely to secure his services.

Haddin's focus is the first Test of the Australian summer, against the West Indies from November 26.

"The plan was always to be right for the first Test. I was a little bit nervous going into the (one-day) game because I wasn't sure how it was going to respond but it's come through well," The Sydney Morning Herald quoted Haddin as saying.

"I hadn't played cricket for 11 weeks. It's been a frustrating break but I think it will freshen me up, especially with all the cricket the boys have been playing and, the way blokes are going down at the moment, it might work out to be a bit of godsend," he said.

Haddin broke the ring finger on his left hand during the warm-up for the third Ashes Test, paving the way for Graham Manou to debut, but carried the injury through the last two Tests.

The 32-year-old expressed no regrets about playing through the pain, which he knew could make the injury worse, and in the early stages of his recovery from the operation, he struggled to change the nappy on his 13-month-old son, Zac, let alone grip a cricket bat
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