Adelaide, Australia  - Cycling legend Lance Armstrong was back in the saddle Tuesday in his first stage race since the last of his seven Tour de France victories in 2005.

The 37-year-old Texan is out of retirement and at the head of the Astana Team in Australia's six-day Tour Down Under in the south-coast city of Adelaide.

The gods smiled on the cycling god with the temperature a balmy 25 degrees and most of the 133 riders in the 140-kilometre stage taking things easy on the first day of the opening tour of the 2009 professional road racing season.

Adelaide, Australia  - Mis-firing Mark Philippoussis has apologized for a miserabke performance at the World Tennis Challenge, as the two-time Grand Slam finalist made a timid return to the game.

The 32-year-old was competing for the first time in more than a year since re-injuring his right knee and undergoing another operation. Australia with Philippoussis and Pat Cash lost to the US side with Jim Courier and Taylor Dent.

Adelaide, Jan 5 : The wife of late Indian Satish Narayan, 47, whose genitals were set on fire, had confessed before her neighbours that she torched him due to jealousy, saying that "his penis should belong to me", a South Australia court heard.

Rajini Narayan, 44, is said to have told her neighbours that the reason she set her husband's genitals on fire was because he was having an affair.

Prosecutors told Adelaide Magistrates Court that she should not be released on bail without an extensive psychological assessment.

"She told neighbours `my husband loves another woman, he hugs her,'" Adelaide Now quoted Lucy Boord, for the Crown, as saying.

Adelaide, Dec. 7: Former Australian fast bowler Jason Gillespie has accused Cricket Australia of deserting some of the country''s finest players during the series against India that was held last year.

The Sunday Mail quoted him as saying that Cricket Australia was kowtowing to the powerful Board of Control for Cricket in India.

The South Australian pacer banned from first-class cricket in Australia after signing a three-year deal with the non-ICC sanctioned Indian Cricket League, also criticized Indian Premier League (IPL) chief Lalit Modi, adding that Cricket Australia is afraid to stand up to Modi and the BCCI.

Adelaide, Dec. 2 : Australian skipper Ricky Ponting''s amazing slip catch to dismiss New Zealand batsman Jamie How has been described by faster bowler Brett Lee as the best he has seen.

Ponting made a spectacular leap to a wide second slip after Lee had squared up How with a ripper delivery and took the catch one-handed.

"That was the best catch I have seen live. There''s obviously been a lot of great catches around since cricket has been on. Playing in games and watching a game live, that is the most amazing catch I have ever seen," the Herald Sun quoted Lee, as saying.

Ponting, 33, expressed his delight by setting off on a celebratory sprint and out sprinting his pursuing teammates.

Adelaide, Dec. 2 : Australian cricket captain Ricky Ponting has backed all-rounders Andrew Symonds and Shane Watson to fire at the WACA during the contest against South Africa, which begins from December 17.

Ponting has said that he will contact Perth curator Cameron Sutherland well before the first Test to uncover whether he plans to use an old strip or one of the WACA Ground''s recently relayed pitches.

The latter wickets have provided pace and bounce for domestic fast bowlers all season, and if Sutherland indeed intends to use a relayed surface for the match against South Africa, Krejza may be facing a third consecutive Test as Australia''s unlucky loser.