London, Oct 23 (ANI): It won't be long before you may see Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal wannabes striking the tennis ball with a racquet, that has two handles, quite unlike the traditional single armed racquet.

The bizarre two-handled racquet with a fork-like grip has been designed by Lionel Burt, and is being used by two American brothers, Dann and Brian Battistone.

The racquet, named 'The Natural,' has two handles positioned at a right-angle to the head, allowing players to play two-handed open-stance forehand shots from both sides.

While the use of such racquets has been permitted, it still gets raised eyebrows in the traditional sport.

While playing with this innovative creation, one of the American brothers uses a volleyball-style jump serve, switching the racket from hand to hand mid-leap.

But, the racquet brothers take an International Tennis Federation (ITF) certificate to every game they play, proving that the use of the racket, named 'The Natural,' is legal in every sense of the word.

"We knew some people would be against the racket. There's a lot of tradition in tennis so this is quite radical," The Telegraph quoted Brian, 29, from Las Vegas, as saying.

Burt has claimed that it wasn't quite difficult for them to convince the ITF to approve the racket.

"Their basic position is, 'If you can beat Roger Federer with a snow shovel of that dimension, go ahead and do it."

It took 18 years for Burt to develop the racket, which he designed after being inspired by his permanent back problems caused by always playing on one side. (ANI)

Karachi, Oct 23 (ANI): PCB sources have revealed that former Pakistani Test skipper Javed Miandad will soon be absorbed in the Board in the position of a member of the governing board.

They confirmed that Miandad has agreed to become a governing body member in place of Ijaz Butt who is now the Chairman of the PCB.

"Miandad will return to the board since he was forced to step down as coach in 2004 following Pakistan's loss in a home series against India," one official said and added that the chairman had been very keen to have Miandad on board and use his expertise. Miandad was a critic of the former PCB chief Nasim Ashraf who resigned in August.

Miandad also said that he was willing and eager to give his services to the Board. "I have never had problems giving my service to Pakistan cricket and I will like to help out the board in any capacity as long as my role is a productive one," the Daily Times quoted Miandad as saying.

PCB's governing body is due to meet in the third week of November under the chairmanship of Butt. The Chairman had recently indicated that he would be introducing new faces as part of his team in next couple of days. (ANI)

Sydney, Oct 23 (ANI): Australia's strapping all-rounder Andrew Symonds fell for a golden duck as Queensland were beaten by Victoria in the Sheffield Shield clash at the Gabba.

The Bulls were bowled out for just 150 in their second innings with left-arm destroyer Dirk Nannes taking career-best figures of 7-50.

Victoria (1-45) polished off the 43-run victory target in the 12th over and tasted a nine-wicket victory.

There was a long string of failures in the Bulls batting lineup including Symonds who got a leading edge on his first ball at the crease, snapped up at gully by Damien Wright off the bowling of Nannes.

Symonds' first-ball dismissal was the last thing he needed as debate rages over whether he should be called up for Australia's tour of India. That seems extremely unlikely now.

Victorian paceman Shane Harwood is sure to have raised the ire of the Queenslanders when he went down in a mock machine-gunning motion when he had Ashley Noffke (6) caught at leg gully.

Many of Harwood's teammates pretended to fall over as they celebrated the wicket and rubbed salt into Queensland's wounds.

New Bulls skipper Chris Simpson (5) failed again although he was clearly unlucky to be judged caught behind off a Nannes delivery, which missed the bat. (ANI)

Karachi, Oct 23 (ANI): A couple of days after new PCB chief Ijaz Butt had described the national team coach Geoff Lawson as "useless", former Pakistan cricketers Imran Khan and Javed Miandad have defended him, saying the Australian was not the only one responsible for the team's poor performances.

"How can you blame the coach for Pakistan cricket's ills when your domestic structure is stagnant," Khan said.

Imran Khan said Pakistan needed to improve its domestic cricket structure. "Don't expect miracles from the coach. If a coach could produce results without a proper domestic system then Bangladesh had the best coach (Dav Whatmore) and they should have been world champions," Khan said.

Lawson, a former Australian Test pacer, was appointed coach in July 2007 after the death of Bob Woolmer during the World Cup. He has not commented on Butt's remarks. Butt had said that Lawson's coach would not be renewed once it expires in July.

Miandad said Lawson was not the only one who should be blamed for the inconsistent performances of the team. "It is not just an issue of coaching. Lawson should not be blamed solely. The players should also take responsibility and I think they should be held accountable as well," The News quoted Miandad as saying.

Miandad pointed to a lack of Test cricket as one cause of Pakistan's unsatisfactory performances. Foreign teams have been anxious about travelling to the country because of security concerns. "I think the former board management is also responsible for this as they were least interested and did not care at all for this," he said.

Khan and Miandad are regarded as Pakistan's greatest cricketers and spearheaded the team that won the 1992 World Cup. (ANI)