Melbourne, September 16
Troubled Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds today apologised for the 'gone-fishing' episode and promised to return to the side a better person.

"I apologise for some of the things I've done over the last little bit. Hopefully I'll come out of it a better person and not make those mistakes in the future," Symonds said in his first interaction with the media since his sacking from the side for lacking commitment.

Symonds preferred a fishing trip to a compulsory team meeting, inviting the wrath of the leadership group comprising stand-in skipper Michael Clarke, coach Tim Nielson and manager Steve Bernard.

The 33-year-old was subsequently sent home from Darwin where Australia played a three-match ODI series against Bangladesh.

Symonds, who was also omitted from the squad for the upcoming Test series against India for his indiscretion, said he has realised his mistakes and promised to change his attitude.

"I think I probably do need to put a little bit of thought into some of the things I am doing," Symonds said.

"I'm in a position of responsibility and I can't live so irresponsibly and I've realised that. It's probably taken longer than it should have," he added.

Symonds asserted he would bounce back from the latest setback by focussing on his cricket even as he learns to deal with life as a public figure.

"You go from being something and you get something cast over you which you have no control of. Being recognised and that sort of thing is something that sometimes I deal with well and other times I don't deal with as well," he said.

"I like my time by myself and I like my privacy, but I do love the challenge of cricket. I'm going through the process of trying to improve and become not only a better cricketer but a better person," he added.

Symonds' apology comes after he was lambasted by former greats like Steve Waugh and Shane Warne for his attitude.

The big-hitting all-rounder's commitment to the team was also questioned with his one-time close pal Clarke being among his most vocal critics during the entire episode.

Cricket Australia had even asked him to take a counsellor's help to get his career back on track. — PTI

New Delhi, September 16
Led by a strong 196-run stand between opener Akash Chopra and Virat Kohli, Delhi made a stunning comeback to take a 110-run lead against Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited (SNGPL) in Mohammad Nissar Trophy at Feroz Shah Kotla here today.

At stumps, the Ranji Champions had reached 242 for one with Chopra batting on 93 and Kohli was giving him company on 91 after the Pakistani side was bowled out for 266.

Trailing by 132 runs, Delhi captain Virender Sehwag began in his characteristic fashion and clobbered the bowling to all parts of the ground.

Sehwag in his 29-ball stay at the wicket smashed away 37 runs which included six hits to the fence and a towering six before the opener fell to first innings' hat-trick boy Imran Ali.

Chopra and Kohli then held the fort and made sure that their star-studded batting line-up does not have to go through the same embarrassment that it went in the first innings when the hosts were bundled out for a paltry 134.

First innings' half-centurion Kohli looked in even better form as he piled on 91 runs with the help of 14 boundaries and both batsmen looked to demolish the Pakistani hopes of winning their maiden Mohammad Nissar Trophy.

Earlier in the day, resuming from 143 for six, Khurram Shehzad and Imran made sure that the visitors do not give away the advantage they took by bowling out the the Delhi team for a small total.

While Shehzad became a victim of leg-spinner Chetanya Nanda on 56, Rajat Bhatia brought Imran's downfall when he was on 36.

For Delhi, Ashish Nehra and Nanda bagged three wickets each while left-arm pacer Pradeep Sangwan claimed two wickets. Ishant Sharma had to be content with just one wicket that came in form of Imran Khalid. — UNI

Scoreboard

Delhi (1st innings) 134

SNGPL (1st innings)

M Hafeez c G Chabra b Nehra 28

Y Arafat lbw Nehra 0

U Akmal b Nanda 58

A Shafiq lbw Sangwan 22

Misbah b Nanda 9

K Shehzad c Chopra b Nanda 66

A Akmal lbw Nehra 14

I Khalid c Chopra b Ishant 15

I Ali c Narender b Bhatia 36

Asad Ali b Sangwan 8

Adil Raza not out 0

Extras (b-4, lb-5, nb-1) 10

Total (all out, 78.3 overs) 266

Fall of wickets: 1-7, 2-56, 3-99, 4-113, 5-118, 6-133, 7-173 8-250, 9-262, 10-266

Bowling: Nehra 18-3-70-3, Ishant 17-3-65-1, Sangwan 18.3-1-87-2, Bhatia 7-3-7-1, Nanda 16-8-24-3, Sehwag 2-1-4-0

Delhi (2nd innings)

Chopra batting 93

Sehwag c A Ali b Imran Ali 37

Kohli batting 91

Extras (b-10, lb-2, w-1, nb-8) 21

Total (1 wkt, 51 overs) 242

Fall of wicket: 1-46

Bowling: A Ali 14-3-45-0, Imran Ali 11-0-58-1, Adil Raza 5-0-28-0, M Hafeez 3-0-16-0, I Khalid 13-1-65-0, Azhar Shafiq 5-1-18-0.

Melbourne, September 16
Cricket Australia (CA) today confirmed the Indian tour, formally announcing that its team will go ahead as scheduled despite Saturday’s serial blasts in New Delhi.

Cricket Australia said it has reviewed its security advice and confirmed that travel to India remains “appropriate”.

Earlier after the blasts, CA, on Sunday, had said it would send a review team to inspect the security situation in the country. ''We have done a review of our security advice and it has not changed since last week,'' CA public affairs manager Peter Young said. ''The safety and security advice for India is broadly speaking to exercise caution.''

''Our advice is there are some concerns and to exercise caution, but currently they do not compromise the tour,'' Young said in a statement on the organisation's website.

Young said the organisation would put up a stringent security arrangement for the senior team and the Australia A side which is currently in India for a tri-series which also includes New Zealand A as the third side.

CA has had discussions with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), which would also upgrade the security in and around the dressing rooms and provide escorts for the team to and from the ground.

New Delhi, September 16
Maharaj Krishan Kaushik will be back as India's hockey coach ten years after he piloted the team to Asian Games gold medal at the 1998 Bangkok Asian Games.

His name was finalised at the selection committee meeting of the ad hoc committee set up by the Indian Olympic Association here on Tuesday. He will be in charge of the team till the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games in China. Kaushik is presently the coach of the Indian women's team.

The meeting, presided over by Ajitpal Singh and attended by all members - Aslam Sher Khan, Ashok Kumar, Zafar Iqbal and Dhanraj Pillay - also finalised a list of 48 probables for upcoming international events.

A formal announcement of Kaushik's appointment as well as the release of the list of probables will be made on Wednesday after the ad hoc committee headed by IOA president Suresh Kalmadi ratify it.

A.K. Bansal, who was the coach of the team that finished runners-up at the Azlan Shah Cup tournament, was also considered but it was felt that he should not be disturbed as coach of the junior team preparing for the World Cup. He was the coach of the team that won the junior Asia Cup in Hyderabad in July.

The marathon six-hour meeting also believed to have approved the names of former internationals goalkeeper A B Subbaiah, defender Harinder Singh and and forward Ramandeep Singh as assistant coaches.

Kaushik told IANS that he had not been formally informed about his appointment, but he would be only too happy to be taking over as coach if offered to him. "The job is not going to be new to me as I had the privilege of guiding the 1998 gold-medal-winning Asian games team. I will put in my best to see that the team does well in the two years I have to mould it." — IANS

Karachi, September 16
The Pakistan Cricket Board has told Shoaib Akhtar to forget about playing in next month's National Twenty20 Championship unless he pays the Rs 7 million fine imposed on him for indiscipline or gets a favourable ruling from the court.

Confusion prevailed at the launching ceremony of the prestigious tournament when Shoaib's name was missing from the list of players from his region, Islamabad.

Later a PCB spokesman confirmed that Shoaib's name was submitted by the regional team as the 16th player of the side.

"They gave us a list of 16 players but in the slides only the names of 15 players were shown. That is why there was some confusion about whether Shoaib was part of the Islamabad side or not," Raza Rashid, the spokesman, said.

But he said as per the board's policy, Shoaib was required to first pay the fine of Rs 7 million or get a ruling from the court against the fine before he can play in Pakistan's premier domestic event.

"The board's policy is very clear on this," he said.

Shoaib had a five-year ban imposed on him by PCB's disciplinary committee, which was subsequently reduced to 18 months by an appellate tribunal in June which heard his appeal against the ban for disciplinary violations.

But the tribunal, while reducing the ban, also asked him to pay the fine of RS 7 million rupees.

Shoaib has filed a writ petition in the Lahore high court against the ban and fine but the court, while suspending the ban, have given no order on the payment of fine. 
— PTI 

Hyderabad, September 16
Riding on an unbeaten century from opener L Ronchi (108), Australia ‘A’ registered a 17-run victory over India ‘A’ in the rain affected second match of the triangular one-day series at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium here today.

The match was called off amidst heavy rains when Aussies had put on 168 runs for the loss of opener P J Hughes (47 from 77 ball with 8 fours) at the end of the 27th over.

After an inspection a hour later, on-field umpires S Dua and V.D. Nerurkar in consultation with match refree S S Patil awarded the match to the visitors leveraging the VJD method used in Indian domestic cricket.

Australia 'A', who lost their opening match to New Zealand 'A', picked up 5 points after today's win while India got one point.

Brief scores: India A: 207 all out in 49.4 overs (Yusuf Pathan 54, Praveen 31, Noffke 4-39, Tait 3-27)

Australia A: 168 for 1 in 27 overs (Ronchi not out 108, Hughes 47)— UNI

New Delhi, September 16
The second edition of the Indian Cricket League (ICL) Twenty20 Championship will have more teams, more international and Indian players, and most importantly, more money will be invested to give it a wider canvas.

"Cricket Hai Meri Life" is the catchline of the ICL as Kapil Dev asserted that the very purpose of the ICL was to promote cricket and cricket players, and nothing else.

At the formal launch of the ICL here tonight, Kapil Dev, chairman of the ICL executive board, said this year with the induction of the Dhaka Warriors, there will be nine teams, which include two from abroad - Lahore Badshahs being the other.

The ICL, starting on October 10, will be played at Panchkula, Gurgaon, Delhi, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad. The teams in the fray are Chennai Super Stars, Delhi Giants, Chandigarh Lions, Mumbai Champs, Ahmedabad Rockets, Royal Bengal Tigers, Lahore Badshahs, Hyderabad Heroes and Dhaka Warriors. The opening match of the league will be held in Hyderabad.

The Dhaka Warriors will be led by their World Cup captain Habib-ul-Bashar and coached by Indian World Cupper Balwinder Singh Sandhu of the Kapil's Devils fame of 1983. The teams will be represented by 55 foreign players, including six from Bangladesh, and 90 from India.

Kapil said the ICL Twenty20 Championship will be followed by the World Series, featuring four teams - ICL India, ICL Pakistan, ICL World and ICL Bangladesh. This event will be staged in Hyderabad from November 16 to 23.

Himanshu Mody, business head of the ICL, said Rs 50 crore will be invested for the promotion of the event, as the purpose was to make it financially viable.

Kapil said he was not worried that the India-Australia Test series, starting on October 9, will be clashing with the ICL matches. "The purpose of the ICL is to build up the Indian boys for our international series", he said.

He said the ICL was in no way competing with the Indian Premier League (IPL), run by the Board of Control for Cricket in India. "If they can promote cricket in the country, so can we", Kapil stated.

"The work we are trying to do is for the betterment of Indian cricket. We make sure that we are not a 'rebel' team, but we want to promote cricket. We want to be a part and parcel of the growth of Indian cricket", Kapil said.

Chandigarh, September 16
Pinegrove, Mayo, YPS girls registered impressive victories as the All-India IPSC Girls Cricket Tournament today. The competitions saw some good cricket being played by all the participating teams at Pinegrove School, Dharampur.

Pinegrove School outplayed Daly College, Indore by 157 runs in a one-sided match.

Daly College girls won the toss and decided to bowl first.

Pinegrove had a decent start as captain Kirat Bajwa, who scored 44, and Rajnimrit Kaur, who contributed 64 not out, helped the team score 179 runs for the loss of three wickets.

Daly College were all out for a meagre 22 runs in 15.2 overs. Pragalbha took 4 wickets. Urvashi and Meghna also took 2 wickets each. Rajnimrit was awarded the Player of the Match .

YPS Mohali got the better of Maharani Gayatri Devi, Jaipur, in the second match.

YPS girls won the toss and decided to bat first. They piled up 136 runs for the loss of 4 wickets. Harleen was the top scorer with 45 runs while Meghna contributed a classy 28. For Jaipur team, Shreya took 2 wickets while Srishti took one wicket.

While chasing the target, the Jaipur girls failed to get going. None of their players could spend time on the crease as the team was bundled out for 81 runs. Only Shalu 27 and Srishti who made 19 were impressive.

For YPS, Mohali, Akanksha took 3 wickets while Meghna not only took 4 wickets for which she walked away with the Player of the Match award.

The next match was a cakewalk for Mayo College (Girls), Ajmer against Lawrence School, Lovedale (TN). The latter won the toss and batted first but were all out for a paltry 21 runs in 14.5 overs. Shruti took 3 and Chandni took 2 wickets for Mayo. Mayo College team won the match in the first over itself by 10 wickets. Shruti was declared the Player of the Match. 

Manchester, September 16
Manchester United begin their Champions League defence at home to Villarreal on Wednesday and manager Alex Ferguson has set his side the target of becoming the first team to retain the title.

AC Milan were the last side to retain Europe's top trophy in 1990 but since the group stage format was introduced in 1992-93, nobody has matched them.

"The fact that no club has won it in successive seasons shows just how hard it is to win the thing in the first place. But I really do think we've got a great chance," Ferguson said this week.

The Scot's optimism is based on the depth of his squad and the different options open to him as he plots a third Champions League success following on from 1999 and last season's final win over Chelsea.

The arrival of striker Dimitar Berbatov, a former Champions League finalist with Bayer Leverkusen, adds greatly to United's attacking threat.

However, they start their challenge from Group E short of the kind of form that helped them dominate last season.

The English and European champions have won just once this season and suffered a rare league defeat at Liverpool on Saturday, going down 2-1. — Reuters

Sirsa, September 16
Former cricketer and the BJP MP Navjot Singh Sidhu feels that the changes that have come in cricket with the advent of Twenty20 are welcome and good for the future of the game.

He was here in the JCD Vidyapeeth last night to attend the closing ceremony of the JCD International Cricket League.

Accompanied by film star Sunil Shetty, Sidhu inaugurated the final match between the Lahore Lions and Indian Air Force last evening.

Talking to mediapersons, Sidhu said it was correct that the soul of cricket lies in the Tests, but the spectators today “want to see a three hour film and not a tele-serial lasting a few days”.

Sidhu said the way tournaments of this kind are being organised in small towns like Sirsa, the game of cricket is definitely going to gain.

Mumbai, September 16
It may not have the aura of an Ashes but an India-Australia cricket series is no less compelling, feels retired Aussie wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist.

Gilchrist said if the Ashes has the long history of a famous rivalry, the competition between Australia and India has evolved into its own special status.

"It has been a fantastic series in the past 10 to 12 years whenever the two teams have locked horns. It has lived up to the tag of an iconic series. As far as history goes the Ashes are important but this (India vs Australia) has its own status," he said here.

Gilchrist predicted the upcoming India-Australia Test series for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy would be a hard fought one though the visiting side is "relatively inexperienced."

"The (Australian) team this time is relatively inexperienced but it does not mean they don't know the conditions here. They should do well," said Gilchrist who was in the city as a brand ambassador for the Australian Wollongong University. — PTI

London, September 16
Aston Villa moved into the top four with a 2-1 win at Tottenham that inflicted on the London club its worst start to an English Premier League season.

This had been the game yesterday to put Tottenham back on track after taking just one point, albeit at Chelsea, from its first three matches.

But any hopes of a UEFA Cup finish, let alone a top-four Champions League qualification, look fanciful after defeats from Middlesbrough, Sunderland and Villa to continue sitting at the bottom of the table.

Villa was fourth with seven points from four games.

Nigel Reo-Coker scored his first league goal for Villa in the fifth minute.

Gabriel Agbonlahor, released by Ashley Young, whipped in the right cross that John Carew neatly flicked across for Reo-Coker to slot home.

Ashley Young was gifted a second in the 55th thanks to an error by Heurelho Gomes reminiscent of Paul Robinson, his predecessor in the Spurs goal.

Young weaved through the midfield before unleashing a shot from 25 metres that Gomes attempted to save, but instead diverted backward over the line.

Spurs pulled one back in the 87th when Jermaine Jenas' strike was steered in by Darren Bent, but the late scramble couldn't produce an equaliser and the home side was lucky Gomes' error-strewn performance didn't produce a greater deficit.

Tottenham has struggled on attack since manager Juande Ramos' plans were plunged into turmoil when Robbie Keane and Dimitar Berbatov, last season's most prolific strike duo, said they wanted to advance their careers at Liverpool and Manchester United respectively.

Darren Bent laboured alone up front initially, then had Roman Pavlyuchenko for company after arriving for $25 million two weeks ago.

They were stung into action after the early goal, but Luka Modric attempt at a swift response was blocked by American goalkeeper Brad Friedel on his 157th straight league appearance, and Pavlyuchenko's elaborate overhead kick came to nothing in the ninth.

The confident Villa unit never looked like surrendering its advantage as it dictated proceedings.

Carew's nod led to Barry's 22nd-minute strike being turned away by the stretching Gomes, and two minutes later Agbonlahor's header was denied by the 27-year-old Brazilian, who scrambled back after coming forward to punch a corner. — AP

Dhaka, September 16
In the doldrums after six national team members announced hasty retirements to join the Indian Cricket League, the beleaguered Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has managed assurances from other contracted players that they would not fall for the lure of easy money.

National team players Shakib Al Hasan, Shahadat Hossain, Mehrab Hossain, Abdur Razzak, Mushfiqur Rahim, Syed Rasel, Mahmudullah Riyad and Zunaed Siddiqui met the BCB officials at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur to assure the board that they won't turn 'rebels'.

"We feel proud to represent the national team", was the refrain.

Meanwhile, the BCB's effort to draw the ICL-bound players to the discussion table to stop the exodus looks an exercise in futility.

Of the rebels, former skipper Habibul Bashar and stumper Dhiman Ghosh have already left for India, while disgruntled Shahriar Nafees is unhappy after he got an SMS to join today's meeting.

"SMS is not a proper way to communicate with somebody. Any board official is yet to give me a call and only a board employee rang me yesterday. I will only think about attending the meeting if the invitation comes in a proper way," Nafees was quoted as saying by 'The Daily Star'. — PTI 

BRIEFLY

Melbourne
ACA concerned about security in India: Cricket Australia might be ready for the tour of India despite last week's serial blasts in New Delhi but the players' association here remains jittery about the situation. While CA has stated that there is no threat to next month's four-Test tour of India by the world champions, the Australian Cricketers' Association (ACA) is not so convinced and says that it still awaits the security experts' assessment before advising the players on the matter. "We're concerned about all those things (terrorist activities)," ACA president and former Test cricketer Darren Lehmann was quoted as saying by news agency 'Australian Associated Press'. — PTI

London
Bopara is Young Cricketer of Year: Ravi Bopara was named as the Young Cricketer of the Year for 2008 by the British-based Cricket Writers' Club at an awards ceremony in central London. Bopara has enjoyed several fine performances since making his Test debut for England in Sri Lanka in December. In June, he became the first Essex player to score a double century in one-day cricket, something not even England great Graham Gooch managed for the eastern county, when he made 201 not out against Leicestershire at Grace Road in a Friends Provident Trophy quarterfinal for the eventual winners. That innings, which featured 10 sixes and 18 fours, propelled Bopara back into Test contention and he was recalled to the squad when Michael Vaughan resigned the captaincy last month. Bopara, beaten to the award by Yorkshire leg-spinner Adil Rashid last year, has won three Test caps and appeared in 28 one-day internationals. So far this season, Bopara has scored 1,046 runs and taken 25 wickets in 11 first-class matches. 
— AFP

Monza
Fisi laments missing top-10 finish: After qualifying an encouraging 12th at the Italian Grand Prix, Force India driver Giancarlo Fisichella lamented that he could have broken into the top 10 if car problems had not forced him to retire. “It was a good qualifying session,” said Fisichella. “I was just two hundredths slower than Massa, and I could have been in the top 10. Obviously the weather conditions were better for us. It was good. I was heavier than them with the fuel, and I was keeping a good pace,” he added. — UNI

Kolkata
Ojha confident of Test debut against Oz: He may have been benched during the Test series against Sri Lanka, but Indian left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha is not disappointed and remains confident of getting a dream debut against Australia next month despite his inexperience. Ojha said the Australian batsmen, despite their known vulnerability against spin, will be a challenge for him if he is selected for the four-Test series starting October 9. "It's a dream for anybody to play Tests and a debut against Australia will be just perfect,” Ojha said. Picked for the Rest of India squad against Delhi in the Irani Trophy, the only proper practice game ahead of the tough four-match Test series against the world champions, Ojha said he would try and impress the selectors in the practice game to be played on September 24-28 in Vadodara. — PTI

Karachi
Save Pak cricket, Rameez appeals to Imran: Former Pakistan captain Rameez Raja has made a passionate appeal to his ex-skipper Imran Khan to quit politics and lead the country's embattled cricket set-up out of its current crisis. Rameez said Imran had the ability to head the Pakistan Cricket Board and put the game back on track. "You cannot find a better person to lead the cricket board. He can see us through this crisis. Pakistan cricket board is facing problems and Imran is the right man to lead it now," he added. Imran, since retiring from international cricket in 1992, has kept a distance from the game refusing lucrative and prestigious posts in the cricket set-up. He has formed his political party, the Tehreek-e-Insaaf, and is now a mainstream politician. — PTI

Rewari
Bodybuilding team: Ravi Kumar from Punjab, Daljit Singh (Punjab Police) in the 60kg category, Kishan Singh (Manipur) in the 65kg category, Ankur Sharma (Haryana) in the 75kg category, Amit Chaudhary (UP) in the 80kg category and Parsad Kumar (Air Force Services) in the 85kg category have been selected as members of the Indian bodybuilding team which will participate in the First Bali Beach Asian Games to be held at Bali, Indonesia, from October 16 to 21, Amit Swami, executive director of the Indian Body Building and Fitness Federation (IBBF) said. 
— OC