Wellington, Jan. 14 : West Indies captain Chris Gayle has stormed his way back to the number one place in the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for ODI batsmen after a series of fine performances against New Zealand.

AN ICC media release said the 29-year-old Jamaican has gained five places in the rankings to knock India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Australia's Michael Hussey down to second and third place.

London, Jan 14 : England must find another way to unsettle Australia in this summer''s Ashes series after opening batsman Matthew Hayden announced his retirement from international cricket to spend more time with his family.

Hayden had been unable to find his best form in his two series in England, and his average of 34.50 (with only two scores over fifty), being his lowest in any country other than New Zealand.

Melbourne, Jan 14 : A poll conducted among Australian cricket fans has thrown up Phil Jacques to be the favourite to replace Matthew Hayden alongside Simon Katich at the top of the batting order.

Of the 1,384 people who voted, 38 per cent preferred the New South Wales batsman to Chris Rogers (15 per cent), Shaun Marsh (14 per cent), or any other opener (33 per cent), according to The Australian online poll.

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.

Lahore, Jan 14 : Former Pakistan Test batsman Mohammad Yousuf has slammed the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for their subservience to the Indian Cricket Board, particularly in their ongoing policy of life bans on ICL players.

He has called on all cricket boards to resolve the issue and restore normalcy, especially in Pakistan, which has lost several cricketers to the ICL.

"I just say the PCB should take its own independent decision. It should not toe the line of the Indians," the Daily Times quoted Yousuf, as saying.

Melbourne, Jan. 14  Test greats fear that Mathew Hayden's decision to retire from all forms of the game will end Australia's aura of invincibility on the cricket field.

Former skipper Steve Waugh claimed that the powerful opener had "changed the face of Test match batting forever".

Current skipper Ricky Ponting hailed Hayden as arguably the greatest Test opener the world had ever seen, while bowling legends Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne said they feared Australia could take years to recover.