Sydney, Dec. 31 : Cricket is a game forever on the cusp of disappointing its traditionalists.

If 1932-33 was its defining angry flashpoint (Bodyline Series), then this year, or more specifically 2009 when the second season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) gets underway, must challenge Packer''s 1970s World Series revolution as the most violent rupture in the sport''s economics.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, 2009 looms as a crucial period in clarifying where the game is headed, for its fans, players, administrators, and those that make money from it.

One test will be the integrity of cricket''s new constellation of money and power - with India and Twenty20 at its center - in the face of the world''s financial crisis.

Karachi, Dec. 31: The Director-General of Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), Javed Miandad, has rejected chief selector Abdul Qadir's proposal to host a series of trial matches ahead of the home team's upcoming international fixtures.

Qadir failed to impress both Miandad and PCB chairman Ijaz Butt with his idea of playing trial matches which would help the selectors to pick the best possible team for the home assignment apart from providing the players a perfect opportunity to get ready for challenging assignments.

Sydney, Dec. 31: Well known cricket columnist Peter Roebuck believes that Australia's period of cricketing domination is over, and therefore, it needs to pass the champions baton to the South Africans.

With Australia losing its series to South Africa two nil, Roebuck says that the matches at Perth and Melbourne showed the hosts letting go of advantages after securing powerful positions.

Karachi, Dec. 31: The Sri Lankan tour of Pakistan seems to have hit another road block just when the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) was preparing to host Sri Lanka for a test and one day international series.

The Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has turned down the PCB's proposal to play three tests and five one-dayers.

"Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has turned down the Pakistan Cricket Board's proposal to play three Tests and five one-dayers, making it clear that such an assignment would put extra work-load on their players," The News quoted an SLC source, as saying.

Melbourne, Dec. 31: South African cricketing all rounder Jacques Kallis has described his team's series win over Australia as good as winning the World Cup.

"It is up there with winning the World Cup, if not better. What better place do you want to do it? I have had some individual high moments here, but ... this takes the cake, having won a Test match here," Kallis said.

"All the younger generation, I don''t think they appreciate just how tough a place Australia is to tour," he added.

Melbourne, Dec. 31: Australia's cricket selectors continues to face flak in the wake of the national team's two-nil series defeat to South Africa.

The Andrew Hilditch-led committee is being accused of muddled thinking that has contributed in a large measure to the end of a sustained period of world domination in the sport.