Melbourne, Nov. 14 : Australian Test captain Ricky Ponting today endorsed the recall of Andrew Symonds to the national team, describing him as an invaluable asset.

"He''s a great team man and a great player. He''s someone we look forward to having around," the Courier Mail quoted Ponting, as saying.

Launching his sixth book of the series Captain''s Diary in Sydney, Ponting''s praise of Symonds came just a couple of hours before the all rounder was named in the Test team to play New Zealand.

Melbourne, Nov. 14 : An evening of Twenty20 cricket at the Gabba in Brisbane today, will see a new generation of cricketers going to work on innovative shots and styles with the potential to send the pyjama format of the game on a different evolutionary path.

An Australia XI will play an All Star XI in which players will be drawn from both Test and Sheffield Shield sides.

The ones to watch out for will be 23-year-old Peter Siddle, an emerging fast bowler, and 22-year-old Dave Warner, the New South Wales all-rounder, who has mastered the art of switching from left to right and vice-versa while pummeling the ball to all parts of the ground.

Melbourne, Nov 14: One cannot expect Andrew Symonds back to be a saint overnight as his push for a Test recall gathered momentum, said the sports psychologist who guided the troubled all rounder to overcome his problem.

Dr Phil Jauncey said the allrounder would continue to face major challenges as Symonds was named in a 13-man Australian squad for next week’s first Test against New Zealand at the Gabba, the Daily Telegraph reported.

London, Nov 13 : England fast bowler Stuart Broad, who was struggling with a sore knee, has reportedly recovered in time and will feature alongside Jimmy Anderson, Steve Harmison and Andrew Flintoff in the English pace attack in the series against India.

Speaking ahead of the first of the seven-match series, skipper Kevin Pietersen said: "I think our bowling has been pretty special. I think that''s been our strength against South Africa. Certainly since Harmison and Flintoff have come back into the team, they''ve excelled."

Sydney, Nov 13 : As cricket is changing by the day, so are the paraphernalia. A new bat is in the making which would enable a batsman to hit with both the sides.

The back of the bat could be used to defuse full-length yorkers often employed by bowlers in Twenty20 cricket to restrict scoring options. With the back of the bat in play batsmen figure they can reach forward and "lap" it up over their shoulder to the undefended boundary behind first slip.

Stuart Kranzbuhler, the bat maker, said that but young hitters, looking for an advantage in Twenty20 cricket, are already interested in the new blade.

Abu Dhabi, Nov 13 : Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar missed the first one-day match against the West Indies here after pulling his left calf muscle during a practice session.

Team manager Yawar Saeed said that the latest setback in the 34-year-old bowler’s injury-prone career was not serious.

“We are not treating it as an injury, it’s just a calf muscle pull and we will reassess his injury on Wednesday and then on Thursday before deciding when he can take the field,” said Saeed.