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Deeply hurt by the criticism from Allan Border and Ian Chappell in the Nagpur Test over-rate controversy, Ricky Ponting says he is in no mood to break the ice with the former captains.

Among the torrent of criticism over Ponting`s decision to use part-timers instead of his best bowlers to speed up the team`s slow over-rate in Nagpur, Ponting was cut deepest by that from Chappell and Border.

The pair believed Ponting had put himself ahead of the team`s cause by bowling part-timers to ensure he wouldn`t be suspended for the first Test against New Zealand at the Gabba.

“I haven`t spoken to either of those two gentlemen and probably won`t for a while I wouldn`t have thought,” Ponting said at a pre-Test luncheon in Brisbane.

“I don`t mind anyone questioning tactics of mine but the thing that worried me the most over this whole issue was the fact that everybody seemed to be saying I was putting myself ahead of the team and I thought that was a bit unfair because anyone who knows me would say otherwise,” he said.Ponting also said the International Cricket Council and Test playing nations needed to prioritise Test cricket`s place in the international calendar.

He feared for the future of the five-day game with the rise of Twenty20 cricket, which has eaten into the calendar for Tests.

“I think something has to give,” Ponting said over the growth of new Twenty20 tournaments across the world.

“There`s just not enough time in the calendar to fit everything in. I`m a bit old-school in my thoughts about the game but Test cricket is the purest form of the game and the one I enjoy most.”

Fast bowlers are generally on the downswing after they cross 30, but Australian pace spearhead Brett Lee feels that he would reach his peak speed in mid-30s.

Lee had a woeful series in India but that doesn’t seem to have any effect on his confidence. The fast bowler, who turned 32 last week, believes his strength and fitness levels are such that he would bowl faster throughout an age bracket in which pacers slow down or retire.

‘I might have just turned 32, but I feel like I’m 26 or 27. I always try to be the fittest player in the side, and there’s a lot of stuff I go through on a day-to-day basis to get to that point,’ Lee was quoted as saying by The Age.

Only four Australian pacers have bowled past 35, and all were on decline by that stage of their careers.

‘As any track and field athlete will tell you, the best sprinters can hit their peak between the ages of 34 and 35, and I see no reason why it can’t be the same for fast bowlers with the right training. I see no reason why I can’t bowl faster,’ said Lee, who is just three wickets short of becoming the third Australian to cross the 300-mark in Tests.

With the two-Test series against New Zealand starting in Brisbane Thursday, the focus will be on Lee and Stuart Clark. Both the fast bowlers struggled during the India series, which Australia lost 0-2.

Lee, who overcame a bout of food poisoning, is approaching full fitness and believes that return to form is imminent.

‘I’ve had two games that I would call ordinary in the past 18 months. I have to remind myself that I’m coming off winning the Allan Border medal and I’ve had two lousy games since then. I’m not going to get too down on myself.’

‘There’s been a lot written and said about my preparation for the first two games (in India), but I was really happy with the way I bowled in the third game.

‘The first two were not up to speed, as the results show, but I was happy with the third game, and then unfortunately I got ill between the third and the fourth, which didn’t help,’ he said.

‘It’s hard to look at the results, and I know I didn’t have the greatest series, but deep down I know it wasn’t as bad as some people have made out.’

Lee said his 300th wicket would be a cherished moment.

‘If someone mentions to me that I am approaching 300 Test wickets, then of course it’s something I’m very proud of. I’m very proud of that. It proves that I’ve had longevity in the game, which is a big thing for a fast bowler. I’ll be in my 10th year (of international cricket) next year,’ he said.

Australia is to replace its annual Indy motor race for a round of the A1 Grand Prix series.

Local government officials said they had been forced to scrap the Indy event after failing to reach an agreement with organisers about what time of year to hold the race.

Queensland’s Gold Coast normally holds its race in October but Indy officials wanted to switch it to March, at the same time as the Australian Formula One Grand Prix in Melbourne and the start of the Australian football seasons.

“They have an expanded series of events and our Indy clashes with the early part of the American Football season,” Queensland state Sports Minister Judy Spence told reporters on Tuesday.

“(But) moving our race to March as they had requested was not an option.”

Queensland state premier Anna Bligh said the government had reached an agreement with organisers of the A1 GP to stage a race at the Gold Coast for the next five years.

“The A1GP is a world-class racing series with an action packed race calendar that includes Great Britain, China, Mexico, Portugal, Malaysia, New Zealand, Indonesia, South Africa and the Netherlands,” Bligh said.

France’s Gilles Simon closed in on a place at the season-ending Masters Cup by beating Russian Igor Andreev 6-3 7-5 in the Paris Masters second round on Wednesday.

Simon, eighth in the ATP Race after reaching this month’s Madrid Masters final, will secure one of the three remaining tickets to Shanghai if his closest rivals do not reach the final at the Paris indoor event.

Spain’s world number one Rafael Nadal, Swiss second seed Roger Federer, world number four Andy Murray of Britain and sixth seed Nikolay Davydenko of Russia, four of the five already in the Masters Cup, also reached the third round.

Top seed Nadal beat France’s Florent Serra 6-2 6-4, while Federer subdued Swede Robin Soderling 6-4 7-6.

Murray, who won the Madrid Masters and retained his St Petersburg Open title earlier this month, extended his winning streak to 13 with a clinical 6-2 6-4 win over American Sam Querrey.

Davydenko was made to sweat before he overcame big-serving Ljubicic 7-6 7-5.

The 10th-seeded Simon would have been wary of Andreev since the Russian had come within a point of winning their first-round clash at the Madrid Masters just two weeks ago.

But having squandered four match points in their last meeting, Andreev again allowed Simon to stage a comeback and set up a third-round showdown with seventh seed Andy Roddick.

Simon trailed 3-1 before benefitting from a string of unforced errors to win five games in a row and claim the opening set and rallied from 4-0 down in the second to snatch victory on his second match point.

“I knew that if I was able to pass that round today I would be in a good position to go to the Masters. That was my main goal,” Simon told reporters.

“As soon as I was able to go forward, I felt that I was a lot better than he was.

UNFORCED ERRORS

“I think it was very difficult for him when I was hitting my forehand to make winners. He’s not used to having the ball come back when he plays those forehands, so he can become very impatient and make many unforced errors with his forehand.”

Simon’s victory means Argentine David Nalbandian, who beat German Nicolas Kiefer 7-6 6-3, must retain his Paris title to book a trip to China.

He next faces compatriot and Davis Cup team mate Juan Martin Del Potro, who is seventh in the ATP Race and could lose and still book take one of the spots left up for grabs.

After an early exchange of breaks, Nalbandian and Kiefer held serve until the tiebreak which the eighth-seeded Argentine took 7-5 after 80 minutes after his opponent served a couple of double faults.

Nalbandian then broke in the second game of the second set to open a 3-0 lead, held serve and wrapped up the victory on his third match point.

“It’s going to be a tough one (against Del Potro). We both know each other very well. We are in the Davis Cup team so we practice a lot,” said Nalbandian, who beat Del Potro in the semi-final of the Swiss Indoors last weekend.

France’s Jo-Wilfried Tsonga also kept his hopes of travelling to Shanghai alive when the number 13 seed claimed a 3-6 6-4 6-4 win over Czech Radek Stepanek.

The Australian Open finalist was at first surprised by Stepanek’s cunning shots but he finally outpowered his opponent to set up a third-round meeting with world number three Novak Djokovic, who beat him in Melbourne in January.

Spain’s David Ferrer, ninth in the ATP Race, and Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka, 12th, will not qualify for the Masters Cup after losing to German Philipp Kohlschreiber and Czech Tomas Berdych.

Kohlschreiber next takes on 11th seeded American James Blake, who still hopes to join the eight-man tournament after a 6-7 6-3 6-4 win over Italy’s Simone Bolelli.

Udinese inflicted more misery on hapless Tottenham Hotspur with a 2-0 UEFA group stage victory on Thursday over the London side who contributed to their own downfall through poor goalkeeping and ill-discipline.

In-form Udinese’s victory increased the pressure on under-fire Spurs coach Juande Ramos, whose side prop up the Premier League and failed to finish with 11 men for the second successive match.

Udinese, second in Serie A, were gifted the chance to take the lead midway through the first half when Spurs’ keeper Heurelho Gomes failed to clear a backpass and then fouled Fabio Quagliarella to stop the Italian striker gaining possession.

Fellow Italian international Antonio Di Natale swept home the penalty. Spurs, who had two players sent off in their defeat by Stoke City at the weekend, were reduced to 10 men just before the hour when Jamie O’Hara was booked twice in a minute.

A swift break secured the Group D points for Udinese four minutes from time with Simone Pepe firing home from eight metres.

DZAGOYEV DOUBLE

CSKA Moscow’s talented teenage playmaker Alan Dzagoyev scored twice as the 2005 winners opened their Group H campaign with a 3-0 win at home to Deportivo Coruna.

Dzagoyev, who made his debut for Russia in a World Cup qualifier against Germany this month, struck twice in three first half minutes for CSKA, unbeaten in the Russian league since July 20. Brazilian Vagner Love added a third on the hour.

This is the last season at the helm for coach Valery Gazzaev, who led CSKA to their first European trophy when they beat Sporting in the 2005 final. He said in July that he would step down when the Russian season finishes at the end of November.

Bundesliga leaders Hamburg and German rivals Schalke 04 recorded opening group stage victories.

Hamburg won 2-1 in Slovakia against Zilina in Group F, while 1997 UEFA Cup winners Schalke 04 brushed aside Paris St Germain 3-1 in their Group A tie in Gelsenkirchen.

PSG defender Larrys Mabiala put through his own net after 12 minutes and Schalke striker Kevin Kuranyi struck just before halftime. Halil Altintop made it 3-0 before Clement Chantome hit a stoppage time consolation.

In later matches on Wednesday, competition favourites AC Milan play at Heerenveen and twice winners Sevilla host VfB Stuttgart.

The top three from each of the eight groups progress to the first knockout round where they will be joined by the eight teams finishing third in their Champions League groups.

Australian cricket captain Ricky Ponting said today that he expected the Indian selectors to show more faith in his Indian counterpart Anil Kumble than the media seemed to have, but at the same time accepted that Kumble seemed to be unwilling to stick it out and re-establish his reputation against his opponents.

“We knew it was only going to take one or two bad performances for some of their more senior players and the whole Indian media was going to be all over them,” Fox Sports quoted Ponting, as saying.

“Probably (Sourav) Ganguly and (VVS) Laxman took a bit of it off themselves with a few runs in the Test, but for Kumble to go through a Test without taking any wickets obviously a lot of pressure is going to come back onto him. But I think for the sort of guy who’s played as much as he has, he can be afforded a bad game every now and then,” Ponting added.

Ponting has watched the local media treatment of Kumble with a combination of anticipation and fascination, sympathy and surprise.

The anticipation came pre-series when Ponting pondered the role the vast and often excitable Indian media could play in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series, particularly with so many ageing warriors in the home side.

The fascination is much the same for any Australia cricketer, who thinks he’s under the microscope at home until he arrives in India to discover just how intense and unrelenting the spotlight is on the subcontinent.

The sympathy is natural from one captain to another.

And the surprise was Ponting’s response to Kumble’s reaction to his media bake this week, published in his syndicated column, which sounded touchy, hurt and less worldly than one might expect of an intelligent man with 18 years experience on the global stage.

“He should know better I suppose, shouldn’t he?” Ponting told AAP.

“I mean we’ve all understood how difficult it is for their players to play here in India, the spotlight from the people, the public, let alone the media, is pretty intense, and immense, so yeah I’m a bit surprised that he’d be surprised by it.”

Criticism goes with the territory for international captains, even more so when they are not performing with bat or ball. Some have handled it better than others.

Kumble has responded sharply to the wave of negativity he has received from reporters, former captains and members of the public dialling in to talk shows on one of the nation’s cricket-only sports channels.

“Over the past few days, given all the media attention I have received before and during the match, with various uncharitable comments on my fitness and retirement and performance as a player and captain, it does seem like I’m back in Australia again,” Kumble wrote.

“That time … saw me unfortunately having to split my time between playing cricket and handling a host of unnecessary off-field issues. I didn’t really expect to have to go through this all over again on my home turf. What has also been somewhat unexpected is the way the Indian media seems to have delighted in analysing and sensationalising every little action, remark or gesture. I would really appreciate if certain people realise that cricket is not spoken, it’s played and we, the Indian team, are out to play it,” he added.

Ponting has also had his share of criticism, most notably from columnist Peter Roebuck, who went as far as to call for his resignation for not scoring runs in India.

“It’s more difficult when you’re captain as well,” Ponting said with some sympathy.

“I think him (Kumble) being captain of the side they would have had great expectations, the Indian media and public, going into that Bangalore game and I think we showed if we play somewhere near our best then I don’t care what opposition we’re playing against or anywhere in the world, we’re going to be very competitive,” he said.

Boston pitcher Josh Beckett threw a side session Thursday during an off-day in the Red Sox-Angels playoff series, and remains scheduled to start Game 3 Sunday in Boston.

Beckett, originally scheduled to start Game 1, injured a muscle in his side last Friday during a bullpen session.

“He ended up with 67 pitches, which is a pretty aggressive side, but I think we probably needed to do that,” Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. “We’ll monitor him as we go, but the medical people were out there and I think we were very pleased with the way things went.”

The Red Sox lead the series 1-0 going into Friday night’s game in Anaheim.

Vince Young has started working his way back onto the practice field for the Tennessee Titans. Once his knee is healthy enough to return fully, coach Jeff Fisher says it will be as the backup to veteran Kerry Collins.

Young hasn’t played since spraining his left knee midway through the fourth quarter of the season opener on Sept. 7. He skipped a scheduled MRI exam a day later, then prompted a police search when he panicked someone by taking off hours later without his cell phone.

Fisher announced Sept. 15 that Collins would be his starter until the Titans lose or struggle, and Tennessee now is off to one of the best starts in franchise history.

Young watched practices the past two weeks, standing off to the side. He didn’t go with the team to Cincinnati on Sept. 14 and watched last week’s 31-12 win over his hometown Houston Texans from the coaches’ box but was listed as the emergency third quarterback for each game.

The No. 3 pick overall in 2006 started running Tuesday and was throwing after practice Wednesday.

“I can’t say how close he’s getting,” Fisher said. “He ran yesterday, had good success on the field, and he threw. He’s going to go through some sets and drops today and run a little bit after.”

When Young is ready to return?

“He comes back and he’s ready to go, we’re going to move him from third to the second quarterback,” Fisher said.

Australian captain Ricky Ponting has said that the expert security advice his team received halted what could have been a disastrous tour of Pakistan.

A suicide bomber detonated a truck packed with explosives on Saturday in Islamabad, killing about 60 people and injuring 200 at the Marriott Hotel.

It has been described as one of the biggest terrorist attacks in Pakistan’s history, and there were fears more dead would be found inside the hotel, a popular gathering place for politicians, foreigners and the Pakistan elite.

“It’s devastating for the people involved in Pakistan. I mean, we’d be talking hypothetically, if us being in the hotel or England or South Africa being in the hotel … I think what we’ve done, and what we“ve done right the way through, is that we just have to listen to the advice from the experts and our Department of Foreign Affairs,” Ponting said.

“Security advice right the way through has been (that) they have not been happy for us to tour Pakistan, so obviously nothing has changed right now,” a leading daily quoted Ponting, as saying.

“It is an absolute shame that things like this continue to happen in Pakistan, because, believe it or not, as players you want to travel all around the world and play in all the conditions around the world, but unfortunately right at this moment there“s no way we could be touring Pakistan,” he added.

Australia were due to play in Pakistan this week but the Champions Trophy was postponed after several countries, including Australia and South Africa, refused to travel there.

Commenting on the bombings in Pakistan, Cricket Australia spokesman Peter Young said: “Our reaction is that it’s terribly sad and tragic news. Australian cricket has got a lot of friends in Pakistan and I think everyone at the national level is really sorry to hear this sort of continuing news coming out of the place.”