The aura of invincibility maybe wearing thin but Ricky Ponting vowed Australia would do whatever it takes to remain the number one team in both the Test and limited over formats of the game.

Ponting, who received the ICC One-Day International Championship shield from the ICC Principal Adviser IS Bindra here today, said Australia has set high standards and the challenge before his team was to maintain that and cement its place as the number one team in the world in both forms of the game.

"Great challenge lies ahead in Test and one-day cricket ... We have set some great standards over the last couple of years and the target is to maintain the standard and to remain the number one team in both forms of the game," Ponting said.

The high expectations from the players and an excellent work ethic would help Australia retain its place at the top, said Ponting.

"We have certain expectations, we need to play that brand of cricket. We'll continue to challenge ourselves and test ourselves and find out how individual players can be better as can be the team. There is a good work ethics in the team and hope we can continue that in all series," Ponting said.

Having lost the shield to South Africa last year, the team under Ponting went on to win 25 of the 34 ODIs -- with three no-results -- since April 1, 2007 to win back the shield.

"It means a lot to the Australian cricket team. Last time, we stumbled on the last hurdle and actually relinquished the shield to the South Africans.

"It has been a great year for Australia in one-day cricket. Lot of great individual performances and lot of great team performances along the way. This is certainly what the Australian team strives to achieve," Ponting said.

"We strive to be the number one team in the world in both forms of the game and thankfully for the last two years, we have been able to manage a pretty high standard.

So, there's some challenge ahead in the next couple of weeks as we know and we are looking forward to it," added the Australian captain.

ICC Principal Adviser IS Bindra congratulated Ponting on the achievement and said, "I'm happy that the Aussies have come at the top of the table again. For a while, they lost it to South Africa. They bounced back, won their series and white-washed the West Windies. They always bounce back when they are under pressure.

“I wish them all the best for the upcoming Test matches.

"They have given immense amount of joy to fans the world over, including India," Bindra said. — PTI

Melbourne: The Indian bowlers - Zaheer Khan in particular - have so far successfully managed to tie him down, but Australia opener Matthew Hayden has vowed to bounce back when the third Test gets underway in Delhi from October 29.

The left-hander has managed just 42 in the first two Tests, with 29 being his top score, but said he has learnt from his mistakes.

"I won't change my strategy, but that aggression I showed in the second innings (in Mohali) is just how I want to play here," he said about his whirlwind 29 off 20 balls in Australia's losing encounter.

"I want to be strong at the ball and give myself the best chance to hit the ball. I am at a stage of the tour where I have hit a lot of the balls. I am confident with my hands and my feet," he was quoted as saying by 'Daily Telegraph'.

Hayden said his injury prevented him from playing enough cricket before coming to India and that he was a bit rusty.

"I almost did come here a bit short of cricket and momentum because of the achilles injury. You feel like you are playing catch-up a bit. But I feel confident and the second innings is how I know I play my best here," he said.

Hayden's explosive batting forced stand-in India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni to spread the field around despite the fact that Australia were chasing 516 to win.

"I think more than anything I am such a weapon here because I think as you saw, when I started attacking, they just got so defensive," he said.

"Then the game from that point is really an adjustment for me as well, because I have to switch out of that mode."

Hayden, who has scored 835 runs at an average of 49.11, has faltered this time with his technique of taking a big step to the line of the delivery.

"The Indians sit back and get the other side of the ball," Hayden said.

"In the second innings I started to do that as well. It's clearing your feet and using your eyes and hands to play the ball as opposed to moving your feet to the line of the ball and your head to the line of the ball," said the opener hoping that it would enable him to deal with India's pace duo of Ishant Sharma and Zaheer Khan.

Hayden is aware that failure in the next two Tests could see him in the firing line.

"Right now I have a lot of fight in me and I am enjoying the challenge of where I am at," he said admitting, "It's not all going my own way and me having to stretch myself and work a bit harder”. — PTI 

Melbourne, October 26
Adam Gilchrist has hinted in his autobiography that Andrew Symonds should have "walked" after getting a nick on way to his big hundred during the spiteful Sydney Test but contradicted himself by saying that he felt uneasy when the all-rounder admitted the umpire's error.

Symonds made 162 in Australia's first innings in the second Test against India which was marred by umpiring errors and racial abuse controversy and he later admitted at a press conference that he had a big nick.

"... the second Test was overshadowed by controversy around some bad umpiring decision. Symo, early in his innings, nicked one off Ishant Sharma. The umpire erred, neither hearing nor seeing the deflection. It drew me, because of my stance on walking. By not walking, Symo was giving ammunition to all those who accused Australia of not playing in the right spirit," Gilchrist wrote in his yet-to-be published autobiography 'True Colours'.

"To make matters worse, Symo made a big hundred. To make matters really worse, at his press conference Symo admitted, in a very matter-of-fact way, that he had nicked it. Like most of the team, I didn't feel easy about him being so upfront."

Gilchrist also admitted that umpires had erroneously not given Ricky Ponting out even as the Australian captain clearly nicked a delivery in that Test.

"First, Ricky nicked one down the leg side and was given not out. Then, as if to even it up, he was given out leg before wicket off Harbhajan (Singh) when he'd smashed it of the inside edge into his pad.

"... most cricketers believed, which was that good and bad decision even out over time, the umpire had job to do, and you had to ride your luck," extracts of his autobiography say.

Gilchrist said "walking" was his personal choice and he did not think of imposing it to any of his teammates. That is why, he said, when he was (stand-in) captain of Australia in 2004 India tour he would not have said 'I am captain and we are all walking'.

"I had zero support in the team for any kind of new ethics policy on walking. Whenever the topic came up from outside I felt extremely uncomfortable in the changing room."

"If I had been on a crusade to change others behaviour my opportunity would have been in India in 2004 when I was captain. But there was no way I was going to say 'I am captain and we are all walking'. I just dint feel I had the right to impose it on anyone else," he wrote.

The retired stumping great accepted that his stance on 'walking' has made a "wedge" between him and his teammates.

"I spent a lot a time 'walking away' from the subject of walking because inevitably it drove a wedge between me and team mates. I felt isolated in the same way, silently accused of betraying the team. Implicitly, I was made to feel selfish, as if I was walking for the sake of my own clean image, thereby making everyone else look dishonest.

"But I was committed to walking because, as a player, I had the ability to make the game, in a tiny little way, better when I left it than when I found it.

"It was safer to stick together, to have a unified approach (of the team) that rejects walking. By doing it I was breaking ranks. The fact that I walked was not a judgement on others.

Gilchrist felt that by 'walking' the number of incorrect decisions by umpires could also be reduced. — PTI

New Delhi, October 26
Rahul Dravid does not rule out an Australian backlash in the third Test but the former India captain expects the hosts to wrap-up the four-match series at their happy hunting ground, Ferozeshah Kotla. India has not lost at the Kotla in the last six Tests and Dravid said he was confident that the hosts would maintain the unbeaten streak.

“It’s a great venue for us. I haven’t played in a Test that we have lost here. So, it’s always nice to come back here. Hopefully we will wrap it up here and make it seven in a row,” Dravid said after today’s practice session.

Dravid also issued a warning to his teammates, saying Australia, trailing 0-1, would do everything to bounce back in the series. “Definitely, we outplayed them in all three departments; batting, bowling and fielding (in Mohali). They will be hurting. They have had a lot of success over a long period of time,” Dravid said.

“They have not seen many failures and would be keen to come back. But rather than thinking about them, we will focus on our preparations,” Dravid said.

“They would want to prove a point here but we are ready,” he added. Dravid attributed India’s thumping 320-run win in Mohali to the bowlers. “I will put that down to our bowling. Zaheer (Khan) and Ishant (Sharma) have bowled really well, all credit to them,” he said. Zaheer, in particular, has become a thorn in the Aussie flesh and his ability to reverse swing the ball has made him almost non-negotiable for the rival batsmen but Dravid said it was a simple case of hitting the right areas consistently.

“I think he is hitting the right areas consistently. His rhythm is fantastic. Standing in the slips, I can see how good a rhythm Ishant and Zaheer have. Zak has put in a lot of bowling and that is showing now,” Dravid explained. Zaheer maybe in the form of his life but Dravid himself is struggling. The veteran right-hander, however, insists he is in good touch and a big innings was just around the corner.

Cuttack, October 26
Powered by a tidy bowling performance, India Blue registered a comprehensive eight-wicket win over Red to retain the Challenger Trophy for the NKP Salve Trophy here tonight.

Bengal pacer Ashok Dinda (two for 23) and Irfan Pathan (two for 30) mesmerised the rival batsmen with a fiery first spell to give Blue a spectacular start.

Gujarat seamer Siddharth Trivedi (three for 23) and Tamil Nadu off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin (two for 32) carried on the good work as Red, having opted to bat, were bowled out for 151 in 43 overs.

Chasing a modest 152 to win, Blue got off to a watchful start with the first two overs bringing home six runs. But in the third over, Ajinkya Rahane started to explode with two back-to-back boundaries.

Robin Uthappa too joined in the act and fired on all cylinders to bring an early Diwali at the packed Barabati Stadium.

Fifteen runs from Piyush Chawla's first over meant that the target was just round the corner as Blue raced to 78 in 13 overs.

The opening duo put on 93 runs in 19.3 overs before the Karnataka batsman, who became the tournament's top-scorer with 216 runs, departed four runs short of a half-century.

Uthappa, who had already hit five boundaries and two sixes, attempted another heave off Chawla, but was caught by Murali Vijay at the mid-on. 

Scoreboard 

India Red:

Parthiv lbw b Dinda 0

Vijay c Kaarthick b Trivedi 30

Rohit c Kohli b Dinda 1

Badrinath b Ashwin 56

Jaydev b Trivedi 4

Abhishek Nayar c Kohli b Trivedi 4

Chawla c Nanda b Ashwin 3

Praveen lbw b Nanda 35

Vinay not out 7

Parmar b I Pathan 0

Balaji lbw b I Pathan 5

Extras (b-1, lb-1, w-3, nb-1) 6

Total (all out, 43 overs) 151

FoW: 1-6, 2-10, 3-47, 4-53, 5-67, 6-72, 7-138, 8-140, 9-141.

Bowling: I Pathan 9-1-30-2, Dinda 8-1-23-2, Trivedi 7-0-23-3, Ashwin 9-2-32-2, Nanda 6-1-21-1, Yuvraj 4-0-20-0.

India Blue:

Rahane lbw b Parmar 53

Uthappa c Vijay b Chawla 46

Kohli not out 35

Yuvraj not out 8

Extras (lb-1, w-9): 10

Total (for 2 wkts in 25.4 overs) 152

FoW: 1-93, 2-133.

Bowling: Praveen 6-0-28-0, Balaji 4-0-20-0, Vinay Kumar 5-1-34-0, Chawla 7-0-44-1, Parmar 3.4-0-25-1. — PTI 

Karachi, October 26
Miffed at the "hostile" statements from Sri Lanka Cricket officials against Indian Premier League, the BCCI has decided to put on hold India's all future bilateral series against Sri Lanka.

According to confidential documents obtained by PTI relating to a recent meeting between officials of the two boards, the Indians have made it clear that until the SLC changes its present hostile attitude towards BCCI, all tours by the Indian team in the FTP till 2012 stand unconfirmed.

Documents show that IPL Chairman Lalit Modi and other BCCI officials were extremely unhappy with some of the statements made by the Sri Lankan board officials, particularly president Arjuna Ranatunga, about the BCCI and Indian Premier League.

"Modi and (Niranjan) Shah were very puzzled and shocked at the attitude of Sri Lankan cricket towards the BCCI and had serious concerns with regards to some of the press statements which had been released by some SLC officials," the document stated.

"Further they were very curious to find out the hostile manner in which the SLC mentioned BCCI/IPL." The meeting was attended by Modi and other Indian board officials with a delegation of the Sri Lankan cricket board, including Siddath Wettimuny.

The documents state that the Indian board had also decided to withdraw the $ 40 million bailout package offer to Sri Lankan cricket as they are not happy that the SLC chairman had decided to make public what was a confidential offer. — PTI

BRIEFLY

LONDON
Kevin Pietersen congratulates Tendulkar: England captain Kevin Pietersen congratulated Sachin Tendulkar on becoming the highest Test run scorer, saying he would love to make 10,000 Test runs here on Sunday. “I congratulate Sachin Tendulkar on becoming the highest Test run scorer. I myself have targets. I would love to make 10,000 Test runs, though I’m about 6,000 short at present. My fear is that in future, people are not going to have the same priorities,” Pietersen told the Mail on Sunday. Tendulkar became the highest run-scorer in the history of Test cricket when he surpassed West Indies’ legend Brian Lara’s record of 11,953 during India’s second Test against Australia in Mohali. — PTI 

Spurs sack Ramos,  Redknapp takes over: Tottenham Hotspur sacked manager Juande Ramos and Portsmouth’s Harry Redknapp said he would be taking charge of the English Premier League team. Speaking to Sky Sports News on Saturday, Redknapp said he had accepted Tottenham’s offer to become manager and Portsmouth would receive about £5 million ($7.79 million) in compensation. “It’s a big opportunity for me to manage a big club before I retire,” said the 61-year-old. “Until yesterday morning when I got the phone call (from Tottenham) I never thought I would ever leave. — Reuters 

Basel
Bhupathi-Knowles lift Swiss indoor title: India’s Mahesh Bhupathi and partner Mark Knowles of the Bahamas defeated Christopher Kas and Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany in straight sets to lift the ATP Swiss Indoor doubles title here on Sunday. The Indo-Bahamian pair won 6-3, 6-3 to pocket 46,500 euros in prize money. The Indo-Bahamas pair had earlier defeated the Argentine pair of Jose Acasuso and Agustin Calleri in straight sets 7-5, 6-2 in just an hour and 17 minutes. Even in the quarters, Bhupathi-Knowles had made a brilliant comeback after losing the first set to prevail over Jordan Kerr of Australia and Jarkko Nieminen of Finland 5-7, 6-3, 10-5 in just 81 minutes. — PTI