Nathan Bracken Decided To Retie After Knee Injury

Australian medium pacer Nathan Bracken has decided to retire from the international cricket after his knee injury didn’t respond well. He was world’s number 1bowler in ranking and he had done a lot for Australia. He had an ability to swing the ball both ways. He had played last test match two years ago for Australia. Since then he has been facing Knee injury.

His knee injury forced him out of international cricket. While playing for New South Wales he suffered chronic knee injury. He was left arm bowler and took 174 ODI wickets. His bowling had brought many victories for Australia. He was also name as Australia’s world number 1 bowler after he was named world’s number 1 bowler previous year.

Bracken is of 33 years and he has tried a lot to plat international cricket. His injury didn’t allow him to play international matches and he has decided to retire from international cricket. He has operated his knee to have it in better position. He also wanted to change his bowling action but this entire thing doesn’t go in his favor and he decided to quit. He added that he wants to play for the country but his knee doesn’t allow him to continue.

Lee hopeful over comeback to ODI cricket

WELLINGTON: Brett Lee may in the twilight of his career and having to knock hard on the door to regain a place in the Australian one-day international cricket side but the fast bowler is not about to button off his pace.

Lee, 34, arrived in Wellington today to play five matches for Wellington in the domestic Twenty20 championship beginning with tomorrow’s encounter against Auckland at the Basin Reserve and said he was still bowling at a fair clip.

Lee, who retired from Test cricket earlier this year, put his hand up for a recall to the Australian one-day side when he helped guide his New South Wales side to a three-run victory over South Australia in a one-day championship match yesterday, conceding just four runs in the final over of the match.

“I hit a couple of high 140s (kilometres per hour), and tipped 150ks, yesterday on a pretty slow wicket, so I am

Indian interest in new Aussie T20 series – report

MUMBAI: Indian investors are poised to grab a share of Australia’s revamped Twenty20 competition in the biggest shake-up since Kerry Packer’s World Series Cricket, newspapers said on Thursday.

Cricket Australia will decide this week whether to accept private equity from Indian and other overseas investors as part of the ownership of Australian teams, reports said.

The Daily Telegraph said two of Australia’s most powerful cricket states, New South Wales and Victoria, have already sold shares to giant Indian corporations for around 60 million dollars (59 million US).

It said the outlays are in return for anticipated profits from an Indian Premier League-style eight-team tournament, mooted to start in Australia in January 2012.

Sources told The Daily Telegraph and The Australian that the new T20 series could even surpass late media mogul Packer’s

Indian interest in new Aussie T20 series – report

MUMBAI: Indian investors are poised to grab a share of Australia’s revamped Twenty20 competition in the biggest shake-up since Kerry Packer’s World Series Cricket, newspapers said on Thursday.

Cricket Australia will decide this week whether to accept private equity from Indian and other overseas investors as part of the ownership of Australian teams, reports said.

The Daily Telegraph said two of Australia’s most powerful cricket states, New South Wales and Victoria, have already sold shares to giant Indian corporations for around 60 million dollars (59 million US).

It said the outlays are in return for anticipated profits from an Indian Premier League-style eight-team tournament, mooted to start in Australia in January 2012.

Sources told The Daily Telegraph and The Australian that the new T20 series could even surpass late media mogul Packer’s

Lee needs more cricket to earn place in team: Hilditch

Injury-prone pacer Brett Lee is very much in contention for next years World Cup but he needs more cricket to earn his place back in the team, feels Australian chief selector Andrew Hilditch. 33-year-old Lee was ignored for the one-off twenty20 international against Sri Lanka though the cricketer made a successful comeback for New South Wales after a six-month layoff with an elbow injury. Lee was also overlooked in the 15-man squad announced on Tuesday for the three-match one-day series against Sri Lanka starting next week. Its not something hes particularly happy with, he thinks hes ready to go, Hilditch told Australian media. But we still feel after a very long period off with injury, and then to come back on pretty limited preparation to what is really three one-day internationals in six days, I think is just a bit too much at this stage. Hes making really good progress and seems to be back bowling really well. Were hoping hell be fully fit and roaring to go for the World Cup, he added. Lees agent Neil Maxwell said the pacer was bowling fast consistently but he was not contacted by the selectors. That can only be an assumption because nobody has bothered to contact Brett, he said. Brett wanted to get back to bowling 150km/h and thats what he has been able to do, he added.
Lee, however, was backed by Cricket New South Wales chief executive David Gilbert who felt the paceman did enough to earn a selection.
Ive seen Brett bowl at Hurstville Oval and at the SCG and I thought he bowled fantastic and surprised me how quickly he has clicked back into the groove, Gilbert said. Were talking about a very experienced international cricketer who wouldnt have come back from his latest injury unless he was 100 per cent sure he would be able to perform at the level he has become accustomed to.I can understand Hilditch saying he might not have done enough, but at the same time you have to pay respect to Brett who has been around the game more than 15 years, he added.Lee is determined for a final hurrah on the sub-continent, where the World Cup is being held next year. Lee had also been supported by skipper Ricky Ponting, who had expressed his desire to have him in the squad for the World Cup in the sub-continent.

Fierce storm lashes eastern Australia

SYDNEY: Homes were damaged and thousands of people were without power Sunday as a fierce storm lashed Australia”s south east coast, officials said.

Winds gusting at up to 120 kilometres (75 miles) per hour had smashed into coastal areas near the New South Wales town of Moruya and were now moving north towards Sydney, some 300 kilometres away.

The government has warned people living in coastal regions south of Sydney to be prepared for the storm.

“We just reiterate the warning to people not to go into flooded waterways or creeks, make sure they”re staying a bit back from the coast, obviously the waves on the coast are pretty severe,” state Emergency Services Minister Steve Whan said.

About 9,000 homes are without power while emergency officials have received about 160 calls for help, including from homeowners whose roofs have been ripped off.

Officials said the storm could intensify later Sunday.

“The communities will have an impact of heaving rain or wind or both, then there may be a lull, then there may be a follow on after that,” a State Emergency Services” spokesman told ABC radio.

Tribal gunmen kidnap 2 American tourists in Yemen

SAN”A: Yemeni officials say tribal gunmen have kidnapped two American tourists and are demanding the release of a jailed tribesman for the pair.

The U.S. Embassy in San”a says it doesn”t have any information about the kidnapping.

Security officials, a taxi driver and tribesmen say the two, a man and a woman, were seized Monday as they were traveling west of the capital in al-Hudaydah province.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they aren”t authorized to speak to the media.

Taxi driver Mohammed Saleh, who was driving the two, says six gunmen stopped them on the road and took them to al-Hamra village. Al-Sharda tribesmen say the hostages are “guests”” in their village.

Kidnappings are endemic in Yemen and are usually carried out by disgruntled tribesmen hoping to win concessions from the government.

In the past few years, however, al-Qaida has begun kidnapping foreigners as well, often with lethal results.

The kidnappings often take place outside the heavily guarded Yemeni capital, San”a, underlining the fragility of security in rural areas.

Australian scientists create world”s smallest electronic switch

SIDNEY: Scientists have created the world”s smallest electronic switch, measuring just seven atoms.

The transistor, measuring four-billionths of a metre and embedded in a single silicone crystal, is the first step in a “quantum computer” which will make calculations millions of times faster than existing devices.

Michelle Simmons, the lead researcher, said the technology has major implications for code-breaking, financial transactions and weather forecasting, which involve testing enormous numbers of possible scenarios.

“You”ll be able to solve problems that would take longer than the life of the universe with a classical computer,” she said.

The University of New South Wales” Centre for Quantum Computer Technology (CQCT) and the University of Wisconsin-Madison created the transistor by manipulating atoms using a special microscope.

The breakthrough promises to reduce the size of microchips, which contain billions of transistors, by up to 100 times, simultaneously accelerating processing speeds “exponentially.”

“Australia”s first computer was commissioned in 1949. It took up an entire room and you could hold its components in your hands,” Miss Simmons said.

“Today you can carry a computer around in your hand and many of its components are more than 1000 times smaller than the width of a human hair.

“Now we have just demonstrated the world”s first electronic device in silicon systematically created on the scale of individual atoms.”

Miss Simmons said commercial applications for the technology were about five years away. Her team is now working towards the first ultra-fast quantum computer, predicted to be the size of a current silicone chip.

Hearing on banned players appeals begins tomorrow

LAHORE: The first hearing on appeals by the players, who were banned after their poor performance on the tour of Australia, will be held here tomorrow.

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB)’s legal adviser Tafazzul Rizvi will not be present in the hearing on behalf of the board.

Former judge of the Lahore High Court justice retired Irfan Qadir will hear the cases at 10-30 in the morning on Friday here at the National Cricket Academy after which a separate date for each appeal will be determined.

The punished players – Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, Shoaib Malik and Younis Khan – had challenged their punishments through lawyers while Shahid Afridi, Kamran Akmal and Umar Akmal had appealed themselves.

However, all the three players who appealed themselves are not available in the country so this is likely that hearing on their appeals will be held after the team’s return from the West Indies.

Meanwhile, the PCB has decided that senior lawyer Talib Rizvi will represent the board in the hearing instead of the PCB’s legal adviser Tafazzul Rizvi as he was a member of the committee punishing the players.

Harris as Lee’s replacement in Aussie team approved

DUBAI: The ICC has confirmed the event technical committee of the ICC World Twenty20 2010 has approved Ryan Harris as a replacement player for the injured Brett Lee in the Australia squad for the tournament, which runs from 30 April to 16 May in the West Indies.

The confirmation was conveyed to Cricket Australia on behalf of the event technical committee on Wednesday. Harris will replace Lee, who is suffering from an arm injury. Lee was declared unfit by his board and, as a result, CA chose to seek a replacement for the entire event.

The 30-year-old Harris from New South Wales has previously played two Tests, 12 ODIs and two T20Is. Any injury-based replacement requires a written submission to the event technical committee along with a diagnosis from a medical practitioner as to the extent of the injury. Once replaced, a player cannot return to the squad.

As with all players in the tournament, the eligibility of a replacement player is subject to approval by the ICC before that player can be officially added to the squad.

The event technical committee of the ICC World Twenty20 2010 consists of David Richardson (ICC, chairman), Robert Bryan (Tournament Director), Campbell Jamieson (IDI representative), Tony Howard (WICB representative), Alan Wilkins (independent nomination) and Sanjay Manjrekar (independent nomination).

Australia opens its campaign against defending champion Pakistan in St Lucia on May 2 and then takes on Bangladesh in Barbados on May 5.

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