Captain invloved in bust up

Two North Melbourne players came to blows yesterday as pre-season tension blew up on the training paddock at Arden Street.

North Melbourne captain Brent Harvey and experienced defender Daniel Pratt locked up in a heated brawl after the latter fell heavily on his teammate.

"He clearly couldn't handle being run down from behind", Pratt told his club's website www.kangaroos.com.au.

"I tackled Boomer and the ball went to ground and I just tried to climb over him to get to the ball. There may have been contact with his head on the way through. He didn't like it".

Teammates were forced to separate the duo, after Harvey said he reacted to what he thought was a cheap shot from Pratt.

"I ran off to defend the incoming play and Boomer came at me from behind and threw me to the ground", Pratt said.

"I thought it was pretty funny, but Boomer didn't".

By the end of the training session, the fighting Kangaroos had made peace, and North Melbourne's 2011 campaign resumed.

No science behind wristbands

Australian authorities say the California-based company behind the wildly popular wristbands and pendants “Power Balance” has no business claiming that they improve balance, strength and flexibility.

And they have even got Power Balance to admit it.

The company released a statement saying; “We admit that there is no credible scientific evidence that supports our claims”, and "we have also agreed to give refunds to customers who believe they were cheated".

The company’s admission has now hopped across the globe since its agreement with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission was announced on December 22, and critics railed against the company on Twitter and those who had believed in the bracelet’s power.

It was an answer sought by many who had seen the advertisements and wondered if the colourful silicon bands actually worked.

The company began selling bracelets in 2007 embedded with holograms that were purportedly designed to interact with the body’s natural energy flow.

Since then, the colourful wristbands, have become omnipresent, donned by Los Angeles Lakers’ Lamar Odom, English soccer star David Beckham and many others.

Certified athletic trainer Ralph Reiff said of the bands, “I couldn’t look in the mirror and 100 percent say it’s a product I can put my brand reputation behind”.

Reiff said he believes there’s no reason to think the wristbands could produce a biological benefit, and that any benefit is purely psychological.

“It’s just like a pair of lucky socks”, Reiff said. “It’s a lucky charm, and if you believe in it, then it’s excellent”.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission took action after an independent review panel in September found that the Power Balance claims were misleading and breached the therapeutic goods advertising code.

The Therapeutic Goods Complaints Resolution Panel demanded that Power Balance drop claims from its website that the bands improved flexibility, balance and strength.

Opinion: Test Cricket’s player of the decade

For the last decade no wicket in all of cricket has been more highly prized than that of Jacques Kallis. Kallis has been the colossus of the South African team, a figure whose intimidating presence conjures calm in team mates and dread in opponents.

Kallis’ batting exploits often get forgotten amongst the media circus surrounding higher profile batsmen such as Ricky Ponting and Sachin Tendulkar, but for the past decade, he has stood broad shouldered above the rest and helped South Africa become the cricket powerhouse it stands as today.

Few contemporary players are a better fit for the idea of the traditional cricketer. Kallis is an elegant yet forceful batsman, who has at his disposal both a sure technique and a mind impermeable to distraction.

Perhaps the biggest compliment one can pay him is that Kallis has been so consistent throughout most of his career, that his runs have almost been taken for granted. In the first three years of his Test career Kallis struggled, but thereafter, his career has taken off stunningly, with his average in the last decade exceeding 62, and accumulating almost 11, 000 runs.

For Kallis’ critics who believe that this average has been inflated by matches against weaker opponents such as Zimbabwe and Bangladesh, even with those matches excluded, Kallis' average over the last decade is the best in the world (59.47), almost four runs clear of the second-placed Ponting.

Not only has Kallis amassed nearly 11, 000 runs this past decade, he has snared 270 test wickets at an average of 32, a highly respectable figure for a full time opening bowler. Though his role as a bowler has diminished with each passing season, he will be remembered as a purveyor of surprising pace and swing.

A fine leader on the field and a mentor to his younger South African team mates, Kallis has brought his country to the top of the game, and helped build a new generation of stars.

Kallis has shouldered the role of the fulcrum around which the wheel must try to turn, and South African cricket has never been running smoother. A key component with both bat and ball, he is arguably the greatest and most influential test cricketer of this past decade, and the all-round legacy of Jacques Kallis should be talked about next to greats such as Sir Garfield Sobers, Sir Ian Botham and Kapil Dev.

New rules for NAB cup

Five new rules have been announced by the AFL, and are to be trialled during the 2011 NAB Cup, including awarding a free kick against the last team to touch the ball before it crosses the boundary line.

Boundary umpires will also have the power to award free kicks for holding and high contact at stoppages, whilst video replays will be used to assist the goal umpires.

The rules to be trialled are:

- A player awarded a 50m penalty which takes him inside the 50m area can elect to kick from outside 50 for nine points or from inside 50 for six points

- The goal umpire can consult with the official scorer to determine the correct decision in situations where a video replay is immediately available

- Boundary umpires will be empowered to pay free kicks for holding and high contact at stoppages

- A free kick will be paid against player who drags or holds the ball under his opponent

- A free kick will be paid against the last player to touch the ball before it went out of bounds.

This last rule will apply for the first round of NAB Cup matches only when each of the 18 clubs will be broken up into six groups of three.

A free won't be paid if the umpire is unable to determine who touched the ball last, if the ball goes out of bounds from a spoil after a marking contest, or if the ball goes out of bounds as a result of a defensive smother to a kick or a handball.

Man in hospital following umpiring decision

A man was taken to hospital after an argument over an umpiring decision at Melbourne Park took a violent turn yesterday.

A 48 year old man was allegedly assaulted by a 51 year old man during a juniors tournament, prompting a call to Emergency services.

Police spokeswoman Sharna Roberts said officers were called to the spat about 4pm.

"As a result, one man was arrested and interviewed for assault-related matters", Ms Roberts said.

"He was released pending further inquiries".

Ms Roberts wouldn’t comment on what triggered the spat or whether a weapon was used.

Susannah Wilson, spokeswoman for Ambulance Victoria, said the 48 year old was left with bruising to his face, a cut to his nose and grazing on his knee and elbow

The spat occurred during a game at the 'December Showdown', a series of national junior titles being held at Melbourne Park.

The Good, The Bad and The...(14/12)

The Good – Peter Senior

Peter Senior has proved that "age is but a number" and shot his way into the record books, as one of the rare golfers to win tournaments across five decades.

At the second hole of a sudden death playoff on Hyatt Coolum's closing hole, the 51 year old toppled Australian Open champion Geoff Ogilvy to claim his third Australian PGA title.

The victory comes 21 years after Senior's first Australian Open triumph in 1989, and he seems to be enjoying his golf more than ever.

"Tom Watson proved that age is nothing when he nearly won the British Open (at 59), so we are really lucky that we play a long-life sport that we can get a lot of enjoyment out of".

Senior has now earned above $1 million in earnings for this year.

The Bad – Donald Sterling/Baron Davis

Baron Davis is used to being heckled, however, the recent jeers directed at the team’s struggling point guard are coming from a far more surprising source: The man paying Davis, Clippers owner Donald Sterling.

Sterling has expressed his displeasure about Davis’ play by taunting him from his courtside seat at Clippers’ home games, amongst Sterling’s verbal attacks:

“Why are you in the game?”, “Why did you take that shot?”, “You’re out of shape!”.

While Sterling has also taunted other Clippers players since the middle of last season, none have received it worse than Davis. Davis has missed 14 of the team’s 25 games this season and is only averaging 7.4 points, while making a team-high $13 million.

One member of the organization who wished to remain anonymous expressed disappointment in Sterling’s lack of support for Davis and the players.

“The owner of the team has to be the main supporter of the team and the staff”, the source said.

“And when the owner of the team isn’t supporting the players, it doesn’t give you confidence to play the way you want to. This guy is supposed to be on your side, not against you. You want someone who can support what you’re doing and be on your side”.

The … Streak – Brett Favre

Brett Favre will miss his first NFL start in more than 18 years as a strained throwing shoulder has sidelined the quarterback for today's game against the New York Giants.

Favre was listed on Minnesota's inactive list with an injury that snapped his National Football League record for consecutive starts at 297, dating back to September 20, 1992 with the Green Bay Packers.

The 41 year old Favre has fought through various injuries to get on the field throughout his illustrious career with the Packers, New York Jets and Vikings, but the three-time league MVP could not overcome the latest injury, suffered last week against the Buffalo Bills.

Opinion: Confusion reigns over Test team

Andrew Hilditch and his team of Australian test selectors are puzzling the nation one person at a time, and slowly killing interest in one of Australia's favourite past times.

Yesterday Andrew Hilditch announced the third test squad to a wall of silence, the media and public stunned.

Hilditch called back Ben Hilfenhaus and Mitchell Johnson into the squad, a step into the past, but looked to the future, with Steven Smith and unknown spinner Michael Beer joining the squad... the message ... still very unclear..

Are we looking forward, or clinging to the past?

In Mitchell Johnson's case, obviously his mental and bowling issues are now well and truly rectified, a full week after saying he wasn't ready for the stresses of test cricket.

The selection of Michael Beer is one for the future, and I praise them for that, but the reasons Hilditch gave for the selection confused me even more.

"Michael is a left-arm orthodox spinner who has been very impressive at domestic level this year. He took wickets against England in the tour match earlier this summer and we expect he will bowl very well against the English on his home ground".

But Hilditch's comments seemingly ignore the fact that the WACA has been Beer's home ground for only a few months, after he moved from Victoria during the off-season. He has played only THREE first class matches at the ground and in his five first class appearances, all of which have taken place this summer, he has 16 wickets at 39.93 with a best of 3 for 39.

Nathan Hauritz looks like Shane Warne in comparison.

The move smelt of desperation, just like the inclusion of Philip Hughes for the injured Simon Katich.

Hughes has had a horrible summer, averaging a mere 22 runs, and most recently made a combined four runs in his two innings against South Australia.

Why can't Michael Hussey open the batting (which he has done with great effect before), and bring in a David Hussey or a Shaun Marsh to provide some stability in our shaky middle order? Both are in terrific form, and the latter would certainly love the opportunity to bat in front of his home crowd.

As one cricket fan put it to me last night, "I'm just not interested anymore; they've just lost the plot".