Europe Malayalee web blog

BRISBANE: Senior Australian opening batsman Matthew Hayden announced his immediate retirement from representative cricket at a press conference on Tuesday.

Hayden’s anticipated announcement at the age of 37 followed a poor run of form in Australia’s recent losing Test series against India and South Africa.

The aggressive left-hander leaves after 103 Tests with 8,625 runs at a batting average of 50.74.

He hit 30 centuries, which ranks him sixth all-time behind Indian Sachin Tendulkar’s 41.

‘Today I’m announcing my retirement from representative cricket, effective immediately,’ Hayden told the press conference.

‘I know that now is the time to move on. I am retiring from cricket, not from life, there is still so much that I want to achieve and contribute to the community.’

Family time, cooking, fishing and spending time outdoors were among the passions Hayden said he wanted to pursue.

Hayden joins celebrated cricketers Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, Justin Langer and Adam Gilchrist, who have retired from international cricket in the last two years.

New Delhi: A day after Kerala Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan insulted the family of martyred NSG Commando Sandeep Unnikrishnan, he refused to apologise for the denigrating remark. 

“No, no,” is all he said when journalists confronted him with the question.

Achuthanandan on Monday heaped scorn on the family of NSG Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan – slain in the Mumbai terror attack during commando operations - after smarting under the snub from the father of the angry officer.

“If it had not been (Major) Sandeep’s house, not even a dog would have glanced that way,” he said when turned away at the door by Unnikrishnan’s father.

The octogenarian CPI-M leader was turned away from the Bangalore home of Sandeep, a Keralite, on Sunday for what K Unnikrishnan perceived as Kerala government ignoring his son’s supreme sacrifice.

“He (Sandeep’s father) says that the Kerala Chief Minister did not come whereas the Karnataka Chief Minister came in the morning itself…and that Kerala has ignored him. He got all worked up over this,” Achuthanandan told a news channel in Thiruvananthapuram

The Chief Miniser asked “Is there a rule that the chief ministers of Kerala and Karnataka should be there at the same time?

After a pause, the Chief Minister went on to say “If it had not been Sandeep’s house, not even a dog would have glanced that way.”

“It is Sandeep’s family and that is why we went. A soldier’s father should have had the sense to understand that,” the Chief Minister said. 

Meanwhile, the slain commando’s father is distancing himself from the controversy, asking for space to grieve. 

“I dont want any controversy. I will not talk to any channel or news network. I have had enough from my Chief Minister, there is lots of work to be done for Sandeep and I’m doing that,” he said.