Sydney, Feb. 20 : Former Australian cricket captain Steve Waugh has backed incumbent Ricky Ponting's decision to pull out of the Indian Premier League 2009, describing it as "a smart move and a good decision".

Ponting, who is currently leading the Australian team in South Africa, opted for a two-week break with his wife and daughter rather than press ahead with the two-week stint for the Kolkata Knight Riders.

Ponting said his country came first and there was no way he could give his all for Australia if he played in India.

Melbourne, Feb 20 : Michael Clarke and his fiance Lara Bingle have decided to sell their luxurious waterside pad because the model gets too lonely when the Australian vice-captain is away playing cricket.

Bingle said that the couple is selling their recently renovated home in Lilli Pilli and may quit the Sutherland Shire.

"I love it here. It''s a big house but Michael is away (for cricket) a lot," Hearld Sun quoted Bingle, as telling the St George and Sutherland Shire Leader.

Melbourne, Feb 20 : A leaked document purportedly listing the `winners' of this weekend's Academy Awards is nothing more than a hoax, according to an Oscars spokeswoman.

Papers alleging to be the complete list of Oscar winners have been published on the Internet.

The authentic-looking document, which seems to have been scanned in, has an Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences letterhead and what looks like the signature of the Academy''s president, Sid Ganis.

Potchefstroom (South Africa), Feb. 20 : Australian cricket team coach Tim Nielsen is bristling at suggestions from antagonistic South Africa wicketkeeper Mark Boucher that the tourists are too timid with "loopholes" in their squad.

Melbourne, February 20 : British author Jeffrey Archer claims that Oscar-winning Australian film actor Peter Finch's father could have been the first man to conquer Mount Everest in 1924, had the UK's Royal Geographical Society not intervened.

Archer, whose claims are part of his research for a new novel titled `Paths Of Glory', says that Aussie mountaineer George Finch was set to accompany his regular climbing partner George Mallory, a Briton, on a bid to conquer Everest before the society intervened.

The writer tells in a Daily Telegraph report that they wanted Mallory to take with him another British climber named Sandy Irvine, reports News. com. au.

Potchefstroom (South Africa), Feb. 20: Former South African captain Kepler Wessels feels that Australia should consider handing batsman-off-spinner Marcus North his Test debut in place of bowling all-rounder Andrew McDonald in next week''s first Test against South Africa in Johannesburg.

Wessels believes it is vital for the tourists to play six specialist batsmen against the much vaunted South African pace attack led by Dale Steyn, as he expects conditions to favour fast bowlers.