Brisbane/Perth, Jan. 28 : Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds will travel to Melbourne to face Cricket Australia's disciplinary hearing on Thursday in connection with his "lump of shit " radio jibe at New Zealand wicketkeeper Brendon McCullum.

According to The Age, Symonds was originally set to give evidence via a phone hook-up in order to stay and train in Brisbane in preparation for his comeback match for Queensland against Western Australia on Friday.

Brisbane, Jan. 28 : Australian all rounder Andrew Symonds international cricket career could be saved by his psychologist Deidre Anderson, who will report to Cricket Australia (CA) that the all-rounder is unlikely to be a disruption to the Australian team should he be selected.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Anderson, who helped swimmer Ian Thorpe reach his decision to retire, is to give CA an assessment of Symonds''s mental readiness to rejoin the team and handle the related responsibilities.

Brisbane, Jan. 27 : Queensland cricket team coach Trevor Barsby has told troubled all-rounder Andrew Symonds that all support mechanisms are in place to help him deal with his problems, but ultimately, it was up to him to take charge of his life.

"He is a big boy, so, he must realize that he has to take control of his own destiny. He has the full support of current and former players - and a direct line to some counsellors - but at the end of the day the buck stops with him," the Daily Telegraph quoted Barsby, as saying.

Brisbane, Jan. 22 : Australia's star all-rounder Andrew Symonds has said that when he returns to first-class cricket next week, his focus will be on becoming a specialist batsman. He also said that he would like turn out in the same capacity for Australia.

According to Fox Sports, Symonds will turn out for his club side Gold Coast on Saturday in the first step on the road back to the Australian side.

Brisbane, Jan. 14 : Former Australian opener Mathew Hayden has said that his decision to retire from all forms of the game was not an easy one to take.

Speaking a day after his retirement, he recalled speaking with Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd for about ten minutes or so, discussing how both would love to work together to try to advance the well being and prospects of Aboriginal cricketers.

These are the two lives of Hayden, the public figure and the outdoors boy who might one day just disappear into the wilderness and not come back.

Brisbane, Australia - Australian Open finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga recovered from a horror start to impose his game on fighting Finn Jarkko Nieminen for a 0-6, 7-6 (7-1),
7-6 (7-5) win into the quarter-finals of the Brisbane International on Wednesday.

The Frenchman looked like becoming an upset statistic like top seed Novak Djokovic the day before. But he took the contest in hand against 41st-ranked Niemimen, who won their only other encounter a year ago when the event was played in Adelaide.