Granny blames 'nasty' Aussies for Graeme Swann exit

NEWCASTLE: Graeme Swann's grandmother has blamed unwelcoming Australians for the spinner's sudden retirement and said something "nasty" must have happened to convince the England star to turn his back on the Ashes.

Swann quit cricket after the third Test defeat as Australia reclaimed the Ashes, ending an international career which had yielded 255 wickets for the off-spinner.

"There is something gone wrong there and I blame the Australian players. Not all the Australian players, a certain one," Mina Swann, 89, told The Journal newspaper in Newcastle.
"I do not think they have been (made) very welcome, the team. He is not easily upset, there is something nasty happened."

Mina spoke of her disappointment at her 34-year-old grandson's decision. "He was as happy as Larry. He adored his cricket. It is a damn shame, he has lived for that game, he has done everything for that game."

Michael Clarke targets Ashes whitewash as Aussies gun for No 1

Michael Clarke targets Ashes whitewash as Aussies gun for No 1

Melbourne: Michael Clarke vowed Tuesday to lead an all-out assault on England as Australia go for a 5-0 Ashes series triumph, targeting the top spot in Test cricket.

"People have been asking me how we're going to approach the Boxing Day Test after already winning back the Ashes," skipper Clarke wrote in his Tuesday column for The Telegraph.

"The answer is easy - full throttle," he said in what the daily called the "blueprint for Ashes whitewash".

"Momentum is a rare and precious commodity. When you have it you run with it as hard as you can because you're never sure how long it will last." 

Clarke has taken Australia to victory in the opening three Tests, ending England's recent Ashes dominance. "Now that we're starting to win again it would be silly to take our foot off the gas," he said.

Wicketkeeper Brad Haddin said the team were preparing in the same fighting spirit as the previous Tests despite having clinched the series. "You never take a Test match for granted, I've never played in a dead rubber and that's from the bottom of my heart," he said.

"I don't think the feeling in the group's changed since we came together in Brisbane. We've had a clear goal of what we wanted to do as a team and that hasn't changed."

Haddin said the team's plans had always looked beyond the Ashes to cementing the top spot in Test cricket. "We want to challenge ourselves to be the best cricketers we can be as a group, and we hope that end result's to be number one in the world," he said.

"That's the path we want to take and a lot of hard work has to go into that. At the moment we're doing all of the right things to do that."  

Australia are currently in fifth place in the ICC's Test rankings, while England are two places above them in third behind leaders South Africa and India. Australia are due to tour South Africa in February and March with Haddin saying that trip would be a "true test" of their current winning form.

"You want to play the best, you're not going to get to number one hiding away and not playing. You've got to beat the best obviously here in our backyard but in theirs as well."
The fourth Test against England meanwhile starts in Melbourne on Thursday with the final leg in Sydney from January 3.

"We want to show our many thousands of fans in Melbourne and Sydney the same dominant, aggressive cricket we have been able to play at near full stadiums in Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth," Clarke said.

The Australian captain paid tribute to retiring off-spinner Graeme Swann and said England would miss him. "I couldn't believe it when he announced his sudden retirement," on Sunday, Clarke admitted. "England are going to miss him for a number of reasons, not just because he was a high quality spinner.

"He was also integral to England as a slips fieldsman with a very good set of hands and he's one of those cheerful guys who always make life in the change rooms more fun."

'Good as gold' Pietersen rebuffs retirement talk

'Good as gold' Pietersen rebuffs retirement talk

MELBOURNE: Colourful England batsman Kevin Pietersen rebuffed suggestions Tuesday he might be next to quit after Graeme Swann's shock exit and expressed "less than zero" interest in the spinner's retirement saga.

Pietersen, who notched his 100th Test during this Ashes series in Brisbane, also brushed off questions about the tourists' troubled Australia campaign signalling a changing of the guard for the side following Swann's retirement and return home of Jonathan Trott with a stress-related illness.

"I'm 33 years of age, I'm batting as well as I've ever batted," the English linchpin told reporters in Melbourne when asked whether he could be the next to call it a day.

"I'll retire when I can't get up to play for England, I'm good as gold at the moment."

He would not be drawn on the furore over Swann's shock decision to walk away from the team and suggestions that his remarks about some players having "no idea how far up their own backsides they are" were directed at Pietersen.

"I'm not giving any energy to what happened yesterday, the only energy that I've got on this tour left in me is for Melbourne on the 26th, training today, training tomorrow and Sydney," he said. "My interest levels in yesterday are less than zero."    

Asked whether England could be entering a period of renewal after losing three Tests to Australia on the trot and conceding the Ashes with two games left to play, Pietersen was pragmatic.

"I think we've proved that we're world-class players. You don't play three Test matches and become horrendous cricketers, you don't turn up on an Australian tour and lose 5-0 and never have a good day in your career again," the combative batsman said.

"I haven't got a clue what's going to happen but I know -- and that's what keeps a smile on our faces -- the guys that were here in 2006-2007 know, that good things do happen. The sun comes up, you leave, you go home and you turn things around."

Pietersen said the Australians had played "much better cricket" and England had been "hurt big-time here" but team morale wasn't too bad and there had been some constructive talk in the dressing room ahead of Thursday's Boxing Day Test.

"We've had some fairly decent conversations over the last few days on how we want to now try and turns things around. We owe it to ourselves and we owe it to a lot of people who've paid a lot of money to come over here and support us," he said.

"We've let a lot of people down and we now need to turn ourselves on, and that starts today."

Granny blames 'nasty' Aussies for Swann exit