• Melbourne: Australian captain Ricky Ponting has asked Andrew Symonds and Matthew Hayden not to force the pace of their injury recovery and be careful while getting involved in the team’s practice sessions. Symonds made a comeback from bicep surgery ahead of schedule while Hayden started walking laps at training after breaking his right big toe against New Zealand last month. “It’s great to see Symo just with a bat in his hand. That’s terrific news, but still we have to be really careful with them,” Ponting said. “I have had a chat with both of them this morning, just to make sure they are not getting too involved too soon,” he was quoted as saying by The Herald Sun.Symonds sports new hairdo• Melbourne: He is cricket’s very own David Beckham when it comes to sporting bizzare hairdos and all-rounder Andrew Symonds has lived up to the reputation by getting his curly locks rolled to be in sync with the Caribbean culture during the World Cup. Being in the Caribbean is sort of a homecoming for the all-rounder, who was born to West Indian parents in England in 1975 but was adopted by a family in Australia.Indian fans, dampened spirits • New Delhi: Refusing to part with his hard-earned money for an expensive passage to the West Indies, the average Indian cricket fan has given a firm thumbs down to the World Cup. While tour operators blame it on the team's late peaking, the average crowd find the packages beyond their reach. Tour counsellor Prem Kumar Maurya believes things would have been different had the team peaked earlier. “The hype generally builds around the team's performance and Rahul Dravid and his boys peaked too late. The team was not doing well for the major part of the recent past and it dampened the cricket tourists’ spirit,” he rued.Jayawardene focusing on intensity• Bridgetown: Sri Lanka skipper Mahela Jayawardene believes there is plenty more to come from his team despite a commanding World Cup warm-up win over Scotland. “We had a great day out and we are pleased with the result,” said Jayawardene. “We can get better and we will be working on our intensity. There were times on Monday when we slackened off a bit, so we know what we have to do come Friday (when Sri Lanka face New Zealand in a final warm-up).
