Sydney, Feb. 2: Tough times may be hard to endure, but, they also provide an opportunity, says noted cricket columnist Peter Roebuck, adding that the Australian cricket establishment needs to use the recent retirement of performing players to recruit new ones and take bold steps to get back on track.

"Numerous names have been bandied about. By all means, let''s join that debate. But it does not go to the root of the problem. Selectors can only choose from players thrown up by the states," he says.

Sydney  - Melbourne's record-breaking heat wave has knocked out its brand-new 120-metre observation wheel.

"The excessive heat we've had in Melbourne caused one of the members to buckle, and that's created some cracking in the bracing structure up towards the hub," Southern Star Management Group spokesman Fred Maybury said Monday.

"There's nothing in danger of falling off, but it's something we want to rectify and make sure it doesn't happen in the future," he said.

Sydney, Feb 1 : Former New Zealand all-rounder Craig McMillan has warned that Andrew Symonds had provided Brendon McCullum with the perfect motivation to take the game to Australia in the Chappell-Hadlee series starting in Perth today.

And South African coach Mickey Arthur added it was up to the likes of McCullum to help drive the stake further into Cricket Australia's heart by taking the fight to the hosts, who lost their world No. 1 one-day ranking to the Proteas.

Symonds was fined 4000 dollars by Cricket Australia for describing the Kiwi batsman-keeper as a "lump of s-t" during a radio interview in the lead-up to last weekend's domestic Twenty20 final between eventual champions NSW and Victoria, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

Sydney, Feb 1: Skipper Ricky Ponting believes that Australian selectors should stick with experience as two strenuous tours of South Africa and England are in the offing over six months.

Ponting said he would be advising the team's selection panel that the exhausting schedule would better suit accomplished players such as Phil Jaques.

"I'm not sure if it's a time for us right now in Test cricket to really go all out looking for youth," the Sydney Morning Herald quoted Ponting, as saying.

Sydney, Feb 1 : Gone are the days when conjugal fights were confined to the bedroom only, for couples have now become more open about discussing relationship issues, so much so, that they use cyberspace to air their problems.

Sidetaker. com, a site created by an American webpage designer, is one such example.

Thousands of people can express their opinions about who is right and wrong, and could then read their bickering.

Justin Marinos created Sidetaker. com about three months ago, but already couples and singles across the globe are flooding in to take part.

Sydney (dpa) - Fire razed five houses on Melbourne's forest fringe Friday as residents of Australia's second-biggest city battled a record-breaking three consecutive days of above 43-degree heat.

The homes were lost in Boolarra North just hours before a cool change came through Melbourne and most of the state of Victoria and the temperature plunged to 28 degrees Celsius from 45 degrees Celsius.