Big Bash League: James Faulkner named David Hussey’s deputy at Melbourne Stars

DAVID Hussey admits it was an “interesting” move by the Melbourne Stars to give him the captaincy in place of Michael Clarke.

One of T20 cricket’s top five runscorers worldwide, 38-year-old Hussey was unveiled on Tuesday by the Stars as their new skipper for the 2015/16 BBL season.

Hussey hopes to fast-track his new deputy and World Cup hero James Faulkner into the captaincy role, following former Test skipper Clarke’s bombshell announcement on September 1 that he needed a break and no longer wanted to play for the Stars this summer.

SPIN KING: Warne to join KP in Big Bash return?

RETIREMENT: Clarke pulls plug on first year with Stars

Hussey says he wants to put some fun back into the game for the Stars, who have crashed out at semi-final stage in the past four BBL seasons.

“It’s an interesting decision by the Melbourne Stars,” Hussey told the Herald Sun.

“James Faulkner’s going to be the vice-captain and he’s going to be a great person to bounce ideas off.

“I’ve also learnt from two great captains before me in Shane Warne and Cameron White.

“In terms of me being captain, it’s a tough one.

“I’m always for never standing in the way of a younger player coming through.

“James Faulkner, hopefully we can work together and maybe he’s going to be a future captain of the Melbourne Stars, maybe next year or the year after.

“I’m really focused on helping the Melbourne Stars. I want to win some silverware.

“It is frustrating. We’ve been semi-finalists every year since the inception of the competition.

This year we have a new coaching staff. Stephen Fleming is going to provide an exciting brand of cricket and hopefully we can go a couple of steps further.”

Hussey played alongside former New Zealand captain Fleming for three seasons at English County side Nottinghamshire.

“We’ve got a very good relationship,” Hussey said.

Fleming says he has huge respect for Hussey the player.

“It’s nice to have a strong Victorian presence as captain,” Fleming told the Herald Sun.

“He has contributed a massive amount to Victorian cricket and certainly to the Stars and to be working with him is quite a key component because I know him so well.”

Hussey’s men open their BBL season on December 18 against the Strikers at Adelaide Oval while the inaugural Women’s BBL kicks off on December 5 when the Stars host the Brisbane Heat twice on one day at Junction Oval.

Stars’ captain Meg Lanning, named in April as Wisden’s Leading Woman Cricketer in the World, says it will take a couple of years for the new league to establish itself.

“There’s eight games televised on Channel Ten so that’s a great start for the first year,” said Lanning, 23.

Shane Warne Big Bash League: Australia’s greatest bowler set for return with Melbourne Stars

SPIN king Shane Warne is considering a shock comeback with Big Bash League team Melbourne Stars.

Warne has sat out the past two summers but the Herald Sun believes he is open to a second return with the green team following the withdrawal of former Test captain Michael Clarke.

A deal would still need to be done with team management to make the bombshell a reality.

After last season’s semi-final failure the Stars lured Clarke to replace Cameron White as captain, but Clarke walked away this month.

The Stars are close to announcing their replacement captain.

Warne captained the Stars for their first two seasons and played a major role in close friend and world cricket’s No. 1 gun for hire Kevin Pietersen signing a two-year contract last July.

English firebrand Pietersen is locked in as the club’s marquee batsman for the upcoming BBL05 season and would partner Warne in a marketing dream for the booming Twenty20 competition.

Warne, 46, was contacted on Monday but would not comment.

The Stars played a straight bat.

“There has been no formal approach made to Shane Warne to return to the Stars for BBL05 in a playing or captaining capacity,” a spokeswoman said.

Shane Warne has been a friend of the Melbourne Stars since inception, but at this stage has no formal role with the club.”

Stars president Eddie McGuire was unavailable for comment.

The legendary leg-spinner and greatest name in Australian cricket yesterday told his Instagram followers he was embarking on a health kick.

“Starting a 5 day juice cleanse today as well as a 10 day intense fitness plan plus thinking of growing a beard,” Warne wrote.

US and Australian embassies in Malaysia have warned of a potential terrorist attack

THE US and Australian embassies in Malaysia have warned of a potential terrorist attack at a popular hawker street in Kuala Lumpur.

The US Embassy issued an advisory Thursday saying it has credible threat information and urged its citizens to avoid Alor Street, located in a shopping belt in the city centre, and its immediate surrounding areas.

It said that terrorist organisations had in the past planned attacks to coincide with significant dates, but gave no details.

The Australian Embassy issued a similar alert to its citizens based on the U.S. threat warning.

A police spokesman said a statement will be issued later Friday.

Malaysia has arrested more than 100 supporters of the Islamic State group in the past two years, some of whom were allegedly plotting attacks in the country. They included civil servants and members of security forces.

Police said they were held for offences such as raising funds for the militants, recruiting Malaysians and getting weapons for attacks targeting Kuala Lumpur and other strategic locations. No attacks have occurred in Malaysia.

PETA launches legal action on behalf of Naruto the monkey who took a selfie with photographer’s camera

REMEMBER that monkey who took a selfie and it went viral?

Then the photographer who owned the camera began suing folks claiming copyright over the image.

Well, there’s more.

Seems the righteous peeps at PETA - People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals - have decided to step into the copyright debate by launching legal action on Naruto the monkey’s behalf.

According to papers lodged in the federal court in San Francisco, the animal rights group is seeking orders to allow it to administer all proceeds from the photos for the benefit of the monkey, which it identified as six-year-old Naruto, and other crested macaques living in a reserve on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, The Guardianreported.

The camera the photos were taken on belong to British nature photographer David Slater.

Slater was travelling through Sulawesi, Indonesia in 2011 photographing animals when he left his camera unattended.

He says he owns the rights to the photos, claiming he set up the camera so the monkeys could press the button.

Slater published a book, Wildlife Personalities, that contained Naruto’s selfies but outlets including Wikipedia have distributed them.

When Slater launched legal action against them, Wikipedia refused to take it down, claiming that no-one owns rights to the photo as it was taken by an animal and not a human, Quartz reported.

They subsequently won, and as a result the US Copyright Office updated its policies last year making registered copyright for works produced only by human beings.

Slater has said he was “very saddened” by the lawsuit as he considered himself an animal lover.

“The facts are that I was the intellect behind the photos, I set the whole thing up,” Slater said in an email to the Associated Press. “A monkey only pressed a button of a camera set up on a tripod – a tripod I positioned and held throughout the shoot.”

PETA said it hopes to make history and set a legal precedent with the lawsuit.

“If we prevail in this lawsuit, it will be the first time that a non-human animal is declared the owner of property, rather than being declared a piece of property himself or herself,” PETA general counsel Jeffrey Kerr said in a statement.

If PETA wins it will be the second time an animal would have won rights in a human court.

Display home: Eden Brae’s Hawthorne design delivers single-level family living from $240k

IT doesn’t take long for visitors at display villages to get a must-have list together.

Buyers looking for a family-friendly, single-storey home will be impressed by designs with an array of living areas, offering space for a range of activities such as study, entertaining and children’s play.

Floorplans with a separate wing or zone dedicated to children are a great way to keep toys contained to one area and they offer the opportunity for parents to have privacy in a separate part of the house.

These are all features that come with the Hawthorne design by Eden Brae.

Suited to first home buyers, larger families and those who are downsizing, the four-bedroom Hawthorne design is part of Eden Brae’s Lifestyle Series, which is aimed at providing quality at an affordable price.

It’s available in a number of different sizes and there are also five floorplans available for corner blocks.

The largest of the Hawthorne floorplans, the Hawthorne 31, is on display at HomeWorld Gledswood Hills with the Salisbury facade, one of 12 facade options.

The design includes a double garage and storage has not been forgotten with a walk-in linen cupboard near the laundry.

LIVING

On entering the home, a multipurpose room is situated to one side. It’s a great getaway space and while it would be ideal for a study, it would also suit activities such as sewing or other hobbies.

Further through the home is the living room, and nearby is the combined kitchen, family and meals area.

An island bench with double-basin sink sits at the centre of this spacious area and a walk-in pantry offers plenty of additional storage.

Just beyond, and overlooking the backyard, is the rumpus room, which offers direct access to an alfresco area that’s perfect for entertainers and is included in the price.

Children are well catered-for with this design, with a kids “breakout” room situated near the three smaller bedrooms.

BEDROOMS

At the front of the design, away from the other bedrooms, the main bedroom has a sense of sanctuary about it.

It comes with a walk-in robe and a generous ensuite that is more like a family bathroom with a bath, double vanity, shower and toilet all included.

Situated in the children’s wing are the remaining bedrooms and each includes a built-in robe. A private corridor separates the sleeping spaces from the living areas.

These bedrooms are grouped near the main bathroom, which has a shower, vanity, bath and separate toilet.

WHAT THE BUILDER SAYS

The Hawthorne is one of the most popular single-level designs in our range because it is a practical, elegant and a comfortable home. A spacious home with ample accommodation, it includes a study, supersized master bedroom and children’s retreat. There is also a formal lounge, dining, rumpus and double garage. The kitchen is in the heart of the home overlooking meals and a grand alfresco area. The Hawthorne will please the most discerning buyers.

DETAILS

Hawthorne 31 Eden Brae

Base price: $240,000

View: Peregrine St, Gledswood Hills

Open: Daily 10am-5pm

Phone: 9606 7701

Web:edenbraehomes.com.au

Area: 285sq m

Width: 13m Depth: 22.5m

The most terrifying hotel room for those scared of heights

PERCHED 4000m above a valley sits perhaps some of the most terrifying hotel rooms you’ll ever see — a series of cocoon-like transparent capsules hanging from the side of a mountain in Peru.

To get to Natura Vive’s three sky-high Skylodge Adventure suites near the city of Cusco, guests have to strap on some hiking boots, gloves and a helmet and climb a steel ladder up a 400m-tall rocky cliff face, which is part of the Andes mountain range.

Luckily, there’s a safety rope attached to you via a carabiner. An alternative to the ladder is a hike-and-zip-line route. And since you’re scaling the sides of the Sacred Valley, perhaps divine intervention will prevent injuries.

A three-hour slog brings you up to Skylodge’s cozy pods, which are made of aluminium and polycarbonate and measure seven metres in length and 2.4 metres in height and width.

Each capsule has four beds, a dining area and a shared bathroom.

Compensate for a rustic toilet with a stellar view, since the walls and ceiling of these suites are transparent.

Inside, four lamps and a reading light are all powered by solar panels.

For the particularly brave, there’s an open-air seating area on top of each polyhedron.

There’s no way to order room service, as servers would have a pretty tough time scaling the mountain, so meals are all included.

On TripAdvisor and Airbnb, guests rave about the experience, even those who initially had jitters.

These “condor’s nests” — oh, and you’ll see plenty of those feathered friends up there — opened in the summer of 2013.

Current rates start at $A412 ($US289) per night, including transportation from a Cusco hotel, guides, equipment, a snack for the ascent, dinner with wine and breakfast.

And since those three pods have a total capacity of only eight people, adventure travellers had better get a move on.

Diners eat out flat chat in Chatswood

FIVE years ago you could have played cricket in this mall at lunchtime, there was no-one here,” says Willoughby Mayor Gail Giles-Gidney as she looks around the bustling Chatswood Mall, packed shoulder-to-shoulder with people at lunchtime on a Monday. “And now look at it.”

Welcome to Sydney’s new culinary boom town, a neighbourhood so crammed with up-and-coming food options, you could eat here for years without dining at the same place twice.

Quietly and without much fanfare, Chatswood has overtaken all Sydney’s other centralised ethnic food destinations, and then some. With restaurants that cover the spectrum from regional Chinese to Korean to Thai to Japanese, and, more lately, cafes and modern European offerings, it’s no wonder the centre is drawing upwards of 45,000 car commuters a day.

According to Giles-Gidney, 52 per cent of residents in her zone have Chinese heritage, and 35 per cent of residents speak English as a second language at home. On top of the large Chinese population, there are also huge Korean, Japanese and Indian migrant groups in the area, all of whom have a growing demand for quality food options.

Mayor Giles-Gidney says the boom in quality dining in Chatswood has been fuelled by the exponential growth in apartment living in the suburb, with many opting to dine out more often than eat in.

This is a market that is used to living in apartments and who enjoy eating out,” she says.

Indeed, the Chatswood dining scene has become so huge that visitors may be overwhelmed by the options and dining precincts, which include The District, above the bus and rail interchange, three malls — Chatswood Chase, Westfield Chatswood and Lemon Grove — and Anderson St, which is lined with small eating options. So here’s our guide to just some of what’s on offer.

Chinese/Taiwanese

Din Tai Fung

The famed Taiwanese dumpling chain does the world’s best xiao long bao — soup dumplings — in this super busy yet relatively stylish shopping centre location.

Westfield Chatswood, 
1 Anderson St

Tim Ho Wan

This Michelin-starred Hong Kong dumpling house selected Chatswood as its first Australian outlet and the queues have hardly subsided since its April opening. Go for the sugar-coated pork buns, an international Tim Ho Wan speciality.

The District, 1 Railway St

New Shanghai

This chain, which specialises in Shanghainese-style dumplings, started in Ashfield and is now ubiquitous where good food is found, including in dual Chatswood locations. The Chatswood Chase venue wins the prize for best fitout but, at both, the xiao long baos rival Din Tai Fung’s for quality, which is saying something.

Lemon Grove Shopping Centre, 427 Victoria Ave; Chatswood Chase, 345 Victoria Ave.

Bao Dao

This tiny Taiwanese street food venue is so popular it does no less than five sitting a night. Go for a soft, sticky, sumptuous steamed bun with pork belly, or perhaps two, considering they’ll only set you back $4.50 a pop.

8/376 Victoria Ave

Mrs Mi

This new and fantastically colourful venue specialises in Shanxi street food, in particular, knife-shaved noodles. Go for bowls of shaved noodles in braised beef soup or pork mince with noodles (no soup). Prices hover around $10 a bowl and apparently the noodles are shaved by a “robot” chef to ensure quality and consistency.

Chatswood Chase, 345 Victoria Ave

Grape Garden

This deeply authentic Beijing restaurant has an obscure food court location and no written menu. What devotees come for are the hand-stretched noodles either eaten dry or as a soup.

Lemon Grove Shopping Centre, 427 Victoria Ave

Simmer Huang

This gleaming new venue specialises in “simmer” pots, which are like hot pots except less soupy. Shiny pots are placed on small stoves built into tables and heated directly, with guests huddling over bountiful offerings of seafood, meat and veg mixed with a special spicy sauce.

The District, 1 Railway Ave

Thai

Khao Pla

This ultra-bustling venue offers hot Thai food in a cool urban space with ex-Ms G’s chef Pla Rojratanavichai in the kitchen. Go for an excellent banana blossom salad, char grilled pork cheek or tamarind prawns that are rich, salty and sweet.

7/370 Victoria Ave

Chum Tang

A younger sibling to Khao Pla, Chum Tang is positioned inside a space made to look like a Thai railway station. The menu offers some exciting dishes rarely seen in Sydney including beautifully done Isaan chicken wings and crisp fried morning glory in tamarind and roasted chilli.

The District, 
1 Railway Ave

Korean

Soban

This established Korean venue offers simple but effective dishes from shallot pancake to bulgogi salads.

Westfield Chatswood, 
1 Anderson St

The Bulgogi

Cook your own beef strips over hot coals at this traditional Korean in an up-market space.

380 Victoria St

Japanese

Ippudo

The famed Japanese chain that does excellent and consistent ramen has opened a glistening venue at The District that does a bustling evening trade on the back of its refined yet deeply sensual noodle soups.

The District, 1 Railway St

Malaysian

PappaRich

This enormous restaurant has a friendly street food feel and offers quality Malaysian food, served quickly and cheerfully.

63A Archer St

Petaling St

An offshoot of a cheap and cheerful Chinatown outlet, this takeaway offers sizzling koay teow and Malaysian curries.

The District, 1 Railway St

Vietnamese

De Pho

This unassuming pho house is constantly crowded as locals pack in for aromatic, herb-filled soups.

Lemon Grove Shopping Centre, 427 Victoria Ave

Filipino

Sari Sari

Filipinos from all over Sydney flock to this shop that sells all things needed for Filipino cookery.

Lemon Grove, 
427 Victoria Ave

Australian/Western

Lid & Jar

This airy, hipster-influenced cafe does a good line in coffee, cold-pressed juices and cakes in a sunny alfresco location.

The Concourse, 419 Victoria Ave

Stone & Peel

Dubbed a wellness bar, this smallish cafe offers cold-pressed juices, superfood smoothies, probiotic yoghurt and wholefood snacks and is constantly packed.

Chatswood Train Station

Passion Tree

This new dessert bar has rows and rows of gorgeously coloured macarons and other delicious treats for those who need a sweet treat after dining elsewhere at The District.

The District, 1 Railway St

Markets

Bustling markets featuring stalls selling fresh produce and a range of genuine street foods — including Korean, Malaysian and Taiwanese — occur every Thursday and Friday evenings in from 5pm.

Chatswood Mall, Victoria Ave

NRL finals 2015: Melbourne Storm hail ongoing influence of Cameron Smith

IT was the one-percenter that won Melbourne Storm a week off and hosting rights to Saturday night’s preliminary final against North Queensland at AAMI Park.

The moment that, in many ways, sums up Cameron Smith’s remarkable career and his unquenchable desire for success, even after more than 300 NRL matches and every accolade the game can offer.

It came in the final 90 seconds of the qualifying final two weeks ago at Allianz Stadium with Storm clinging to a two-point lead against the fast-finishing Sydney Roosters.

The minor premiers had the ball 40m out from Storm’s line on their final tackle with halfback Jackson Hastings looking to put up a high ball in the direction of young Melbourne fullback Cameron Munster.

If Munster takes it cleanly, Storm wins. If he spills it, the Roosters could score and steal the match at the death.

Sensing the importance, an exhausted and flu-ridden Smith conjures the energy to sprint out from marker to pressure Hastings before he can hoist the ball.

The young Rooster rushes the kick, allowing Munster to make the catch ­unchallenged. Smith is on his haunches with nothing left, but he has won Storm the game.

They bombed it and he was the one who came out putting pressure on them and, if he hadn’t Hastings may have put it where he wanted it,” Storm coach Craig Bellamy said.

Even in the heat of the battle, Bellamy allowed himself a split second to applaud his captain, whose clutch goalkicking on the night proved the difference.

“I often think of how blessed I’ve been,” Bellamy said.

“They’re the things you expect of him because he keeps doing it, but it still amazes you how he keeps doing it.

“You’re just still in awe of what he can do ... his want and desire to keep going is quite amazing.”

But that is just Smith, the ­ultimate competitor who stops at nothing to achieve success.

In the pre-season, the ­experts were lining up to write off Storm’s chances. On Saturday night, the club will host a preliminary final.

When asked if the knockers had been a motivating factor this year, Smith replied: “Maybe a little bit, I’ll be honest.

“I think like most people, particularly sportsmen, there is a lot of pride about what we do.

“So when people start knocking your team or your team’s ability, you take a bit of offence at that.