Ponting to step down as Australia captain

Ricky Ponting, the most successful captain in test cricket, will step down as Australia skipper later on Tuesday but continue as a batsman with the team, local media reported.

The 36-year-old, who has led Australia in one day internationals since 2002 and tests since 2004, has been under increasing pressure after an Ashes defeat to England and a quarter-final exit as defending champions at the World Cup.

Australia has called a news conference for 1pm local time (0200 GMT), promising a major announcement involving a senior Australian cricketer.

While Ponting's batting record brooks no argument, his captaincy has often been criticised as Australia has declined as a force in world cricket, with three Ashes series defeats to England in...

Changed Australia series, Stoner No Problem

PHILLIP ISLAND - MotoGP plans to advance the implementation schedule of the Australian MotoGP. Casey Stoner claimed no matter when it actually happened.

Yes, by reason of weather, the MotoGP hope Australia is willing to advance the schedule on the upcoming 2012 season. If not, then the possibility of losing Phillip Island Circuit for permission to hold a race.

I've seen the weather conditions in the two periods in the same year. We have fantastic weather at the end of the season, and we also have bad weather at the beginning of the season, said Stoner opinion.

I know some people who plan to move the race into March. But, they also can get cold and bad weather as well, said the Australian-based riders reported by MCN, Wednesday (16/2/20211).

But, Stoner claimed no matter when the schedule was moved. Provided, Circuit Phillip Island still...

England crush Australia to take Ashes series

Sydney: Dominant England claimed their first Ashes series in Australia for 24 years with their third innings victory over the home team in the final Sydney Test.England wrapped up an innings and 83-run victory early on the last day after victory was assured when they had Australia seven wickets down on Thursdays close.England wrapped up an innings and 83-run victory early on the last day after victory was assured when they had Australia seven wickets down on Thursdays close.

It was Englands first series victory Down Under since Mike Gattings team beat Australia 2-1 in 1986-87.

The tourists posted their highest-ever score in Australia on 644 and dismissed the hapless hosts for 280 and 281.

It was probably Englands most comprehensive performance of the series with Alastair Cook (189), Matt Prior (118) and Ian Bell (115) all claiming centuries in an overpowering first innings lasting 177.5...

Adelaide, South Australia
Adelaide was supposed to be of this Ashes series - extremely easy on the eye, possibly a little bland, very little chance of a result. Instead the first half hour on Friday was more : shocking, slightly bonkers and like nothing you'd ever seen before.
The 517-1 England supporters saw glowing from the electronic scoreboard at the Gabba earlier in the week should have been impossible to top. Three overs into the morning here, the beautifully ornate old manual board at the Cathedral End was showing something equally impossible: Australia 3-2.
In English scoring terms - two down for just three runs - it would have been happy enough. That it was in the local lingo was the stuff of wild English fantasy: three prime men back in the hutch for two runs on the best batting track in the country, after Australia had won the toss and quite sensibly opted to bat.
The scoreboard at the close, bathed in the baking evening sunshine and reading 245 all out, was...

Visakhapatnam: Virat Kohli hit an excellent 118 off 121 balls while Suresh Raina and Yuvraj Singh contributed with solid fifties as India successfully chased down a target of 290 to take a 1-0 lead in three match ODI series at the floodlit Dr Y S Rajasekhara Reddy ADA-VDCA Cricket Stadium, here on Wednesday.

Chasing a stiff target of 290, India got off to a disastrous start by losing debutant Shikhar Dhawan for a second ball duck when he was clean bowled by Australian pace bowler Clint McKay.

Fellow opener Murali Vijay soon followed him back to the pavilion when he edged a McKay delivery to wicket-keeper Tim Paine. Vijay was looking solid but poor shot selection led to his downfall for 15 from 18 balls.

However, Virat Kohli changed the entire complexion of the match with a flawless century as he shared...

HANOI: Former war enemies Australia and Vietnam on Monday signed a memorandum of understanding that foresees stepped-up joint military training and exercises, Australia said.

Canberra's Minister for Defence, Stephen Smith, and his Vietnamese counterpart Phung Quang Thanh signed the document ahead of an inaugural Asia-wide defence forum being held in the Vietnamese capital on Tuesday.

It will provide the framework for enhanced practical cooperation between Australia and Vietnam in areas including strategic level policy dialogue, military training and exercises, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, a statement from the Australian embassy in Hanoi said.

Vietnam and Australia last year established a Comprehensive Partnership Agreement covering trade, development assistance, security and defence.

Australia's Smith is among eight regional defence ministers, including from the United States, who will meet Tuesday with their counterparts from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN),...

Melbourne: After a long lull in the racial attacks in Victoria, there has been another suspected racial attack on an Indian national on Sunday. A 21-year-old man was reportedly brutally beaten up by four teenagers on bikes.

The victim was apparently even asked if he was an Indian before being attacked. He has told the police that his attackers looked to be not more than 15-16 years old.

According to a local newspaper Dandenong Leader, police said the man was walking to Sandown Park rail station about 6.40 am when four teenage males on bikes approached him, three with baseball bats.

One asked him Buddy, are you Indian? police official Jo Hayden said the man was hit from behind, fell and was kicked while lying on the ground. Two passers-by took the man home, she said. He was bruised and had a large cut on his nose. He told police his attackers looked about 15-16 years old.

Federation of Indian Association of Victoria (FIAV) president Vasan Srinivasan said he was surprised...

WELLINGTON: Swimming New Zealand is mulling taking part in an alternative swimming meet if the crisis-hit Commonwealth Games in Delhi are cancelled, the organisation said Thursday.

Swimming New Zealand chief executive Mike Byrne told the BBC that he was trying to remain optimistic the Games, due to start on October 3, would proceed but would look at other options.

If the unthinkable happens and the Games are cancelled, one of the things we need to look at is if there is another competition we can take part in, he said ahead of an announcement that New Zealand had delayed the departure of its athletes over accommodation problems.

Swimming superpower Australia also said it had looked into alternatives if the Games in India are scrapped.

Swimming Australia confirmed that Commonwealth swimming officials canvassed the possibility of taking their teams to another venue at last month's Pan Pacific championships in California.
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Joe Rokocoko will become New Zealand's most-capped winger when he plays in their Tri-Nations game against Australia in Melbourne on Saturday.

The 27-year-old has recovered from a hamstring injury and will play his 64th Test while Jimmy Cowan replaces new father Piri Weepu at scrum half.

Australia fly-half Quade Cooper is to find out on Wednesday if his appeal against a two-week ban has been upheld.

Utility back Berrick Barnes has been drafted in as cover for Cooper.
Mark Giteau has been switched to fly-half, although the last time he and Barnes played together, the Wallabies were trounced 33-6 by the All Blacks in Wellington in last year's tournament.

Hooker Stephen Moore is the only other change for Australia. He has recovered from a broken jaw and replaces Saia Faingaa.

The All Blacks go into the game looking for a third successive win after winning their first two...

LEEDS: Pakistan captain Salman Butt praised his young side and their supporters after leading the team to a first Test victory over Australia in 15 years in his first game in charge.

Pakistan just about held their nerve to complete a three-wicket win on the fourth day of the second Test at Headingley here on Saturday as they finished on 180 for seven.

And when tailender Umar Gul hit the winning run at 11.35am local time (1035GMT) on the fourth day, it meant Pakistan had ended a record run of 13 straight Test defeats by Australia stretching back to 1995.

Pakistan's victory also saw them square the series at 1-1 after a 150-run loss in last week's first Test at Lord's which led to their former captain Shahid Afridi's retirement from five-day cricket.

A raw side, without senior batsmen Mohammad Yousuf and Younus Khan - both left at home after the fall-out from bans imposed following Pakistan's 3-0 Test series loss in Australia last year - resumed on 140 for three.
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LONDON: Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi has challenged his side to build on last week's Twenty20 wins over Australia in the two-Test series between the countries that starts at Lord's here on Tuesday.

Pakistan failed to win a single international match on a tour of Australia concluded this year, sparking a series of bans and fines imposed on several players by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).

The fall-out meant a youthful squad arrived in England without its two leading Test batsmen in former captains Mohammad Yousuf and Younus Khan, who both had disciplinary action taken against them by the PCB.

But the way Pakistan beat Australia in back-to-back Twenty20s at Edgbaston, suggests a bowling attack featuring Umar Gul and teenage left-arm quick Mohammad Aamer, and set to be bolstered by leg-spinner Danish Kaneria and paceman Mohammad Asif, will pose problems.

However, the key factor in determining the outcome of the series is whether Pakistan's batsmen can...

Umar Akmal's stunning 64 from just 31 balls set up a 23-run win for Pakistan over Australia in the first of two Twenty20 internationals at Edgbaston.

Roared on by a partisan crowd blowing vuvuzelas, Pakistan posted a decent 167-8 thanks to Akmal's three sixes and seven boundaries batting at number six.
It did not look quite enough, but some brilliant bowling from Umar Gul tilted the balance back in Pakistan's favour.

Gul bowled two batsmen in his final over, with Australia all out for 144.
Pakistan started the game poorly to stand on 47-4 in the eighth over.
But Akmal, who arguably should be batting much higher in the order, got going with two lofted straight drives for six off leg-spinner Steve Smith.

After putting on 51 with Shoaib Malik, the 20-year-old Akmal continued to combine explosive hitting...

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Ijaz Butt has swept away all match-fixing allegations made against the Pakistan team by confirming that neither the board nor the International Cricket Council (ICC) has any evidence against any players.

“The Australian tour chapter is now closed and we have finished our inquiry,” said Butt. “We have found no evidence of any match-fixing during the tour. The ICC has the right to investigate any series or any match but as far as the Australia tour is concerned, it has already said there was no evidence. We set up a committee to evaluate the Australian tour and now an independent judge is dealing with the matter, so we’ll wait for his report.”
Lord Condon, the outgoing head of the ICC’s Anti- Corruption and Security Unit, revealed that investigations were still ongoing to determine Pakistan’s performance on the tour and whether...

BRIDGETOWN: Australia captain Michael Clarke wasted little time in upping the pressure on England's Kevin Pietersen ahead of the World Twenty20 final between cricket's oldest rivals here on Sunday.

Pietersen has led the way for England with 201 runs at an average of 67, including match-winning fifties in the Super Eights against both defending champions Pakistan, who lost to Australia in a thrilling semi-final, and his native South Africa.

Only a brief break to return to London for the birth of his son staunched the flow of runs and there was no sign of jet-lag as South Africa-born Pietersen made an unbeaten 42 off just 26 balls in England's commanding seven-wicket semi-final win over Sri Lanka.

Kevin Pietersen coming back into form plays a huge part, Clarke told reporters after Australia had chased down a mammoth 192, thanks mainly to Michael Hussey's superb unbeaten 60, to beat Pakistan by three wickets with a ball to spare.
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Australia seek treble as England bid to end wait
May 16, 2010, 6:45 am

BRIDGETOWN, May 15 (Reuters) - Australia seek a world title treble while England will be chasing a first global one-day trophy when the old enemies meet in Sunday's Twenty20 World Cup final in Barbados.

Australia already own the titles in the 50-over World Cup and the Champions Trophy but England have failed to land a prize in the 35 years since the International Cricket Council began global one-day events.

An exciting tournament will end at the Kensington Oval with the two best teams meeting in a fixture given added spice by the ancient rivalry between Australia and England.

While Australia have dominated the Twenty20 throughout, they will face an England team that has...