Sydney, Feb 21 : South African broadcaster and sports writer Neil Manthorp has said that Australian players should behave more gracefully after end of their 15 years at the top.

Manthorp, who covered the Proteas' tour in Australia this summer, is clearly not impressed by the arrogant attitude of Australian players.

His basic complaint is that Australian cricketers remain as arrogant as ever, even though they have little now to be arrogant about, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

London, Feb. 21 : England's players became uncertain about their finances after hearing that the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) will not be associated with disgraced Texan tycoon Allan Stanford.

The ECB insists that the 18 first-class counties will not be out of pocket even though they were due for a handout from Stanford, The Sun reports.

The Board on Friday cut-off all contractual ties with Stanford after he was charged with serial fraud worth over six billion pounds.

Stanford's Twenty20 for 20, which was due to run for another four years, has been scrapped. The ECB were due to rake in around 2.4 million pounds each year from the event.

London, Feb 21 : Former Zimbabwe opener and assistant coach of the England cricket team, Andy Flower, wants to become the new team director and help solve the puzzle of why they cannot win Test matches.

Flower has decided to apply for the job made vacant by the sacking of his friend Peter Moores.

ECB chiefs on Friday launched their quest for the new man by advertising the 300,000 pound-a-year post and upgrading the title from head coach to team director.

Washington, Feb. 20: Texan cricket tycoon Sir Allen Stanford is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation over a suspicion that he ran a form of ponzi scheme through his Stanford International Bank.

Stanford, who is currently being investigated for a 6.4 billion pound fraud, could face criminal fraud charges, US law enforcement sources said.

Federal prosecutors are expected to probe whether his bank was involved in a Ponzi scheme, in which money from new investors who used to pay high returns to older investors, The Telegraph reports.

In a major relief to IPL chairman Lalit Modi, the Supreme Court had ordered that the Rajasthan Cricket Association (RCA) elections, which were originally scheduled for February 22, be held on March 1.

A Bench comprising Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan and Justice P Sathasivam said Justice N. M. Kasliwal would act as an observer.

The court made it clear that the elections would be held as per the old unamended constitution of the association of February 11, 2005.

Barbados (West Indies), Feb. 21: Injured England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff is reportedly under pressure not to play in the 2009 Indian Premier League Twenty20 competition.

With Australian captain Ricky Ponting and several other players from that country deciding to opt out, Flintoff's fragile fitness has assumed a larger than life picture, especially in the wake of England failing to win the third Test in Antigua.