Sydney, Jan 3 : Cricket Australia chairman Jack Clarke has said that chief selector Andrew Hilditch and captain Ricky Ponting have been unfairly criticised.

Clarke chose to draw on Australia's past success as World Cup winners and Test cricket's top ranking in his attempt to defend Hilditch and Ponting, whose field settings and bowling tactics have been questioned, The Herald Sun reported.

"Both men have been crucial to the Australian men's team's success during this period, and I believe that they have recently received unfair criticism," Clarke said in a statement released on Saturday.

Sydney, Jan 2 : There is good news for Cricket Australia after all. Andrew Symonds and Stuart Clark, who are currently injured, are expected to play again this summer after undergoing surgery.

Surgeons removed loose cartilage in Symonds' right knee on Wednesday, and the all-rounder could return for the latter stages of Australia's limited-over series.

Clark, meanwhile, hopes to make his comeback from elbow surgery in a grade game for Sydney University on January 25, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

He will then endeavour to play in NSW's Sheffield Shield match against Tasmania in Newcastle from January 30.

Sydney, Jan. 2 : South African cricket captain Graeme Smith has taken painkillers in an attempt to make the team for the third and final Test against Australia, which is being played at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG).

According to team coach Mickey Arthur, Smith is keen to ensure a clean sweep of the series.

Arthur said that he will be risking Smith, who requires revolutionary blood injections to treat a painful elbow injury, in a ruthless bid to record a clean sweep on Australian soil.

Sydney, Jan. 1: Embattled Australian opener Matthew Hayden says he is not thinking about hanging up his gloves just yet, and warned that if he has to go, it will be on a winning note.

Battling to extend his international cricket career despite having averaging just 21 in his last ten Tests, Hayden says he is looking forward to taking on the South Africans in the third Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG), which starts on Saturday.

Sydney, Jan. 1: Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds is set to miss the start of Australia''s back-to-back one-day series against South Africa and New Zealand after undergoing arthroscopy knee surgery.

According to the Daily Telegraph, Symonds had the surgery yesterday after battling right knee pain in the opening two Test losses against the Proteas and being ruled out of the third Test at the SCG starting on Saturday.

Cricket Australia today said Symonds developed the pain during the first Test at the WACA.

Sydney  - Australia said goodbye to 2008 and the global recession with a multi-million dollar fireworks extravaganza over its biggest city Sydney's Harbour Bridge and iconic Opera House that was watched by an estimated 1.5 million people.

Although New Zealand's Auckland was the world's first city to welcome 2009 with its own fireworks display, Sydney's spectacular show two hours later traditionally attracts a television audience around the world that is expectantly awaiting its own fresh start of a new year.