MELBOURNE: Muttiah Muralitharan said today that he was upset at the way the Australian public had treated him this summer. The Sri Lankan spinner said he felt Australian spectators had unfairly turned against him after he was accused of throwing the ball instead of bowling it with a straight arm.

Muralitharan told an Australian television network today the pressure was starting to get to him. ``It's frustrating when you go to the ground and people are shouting at you every time,'' he said.

Muralitharan's unusual bowling action came under spotlight when Australian umpire Darrell Hair no-balled him seven times for throwing during a Test match in 1995. He was later International Cricket Council (ICC) but was cleared.

Lee makes Australian One-Day side

HOBART: All-rounder Shane Lee woke up this morning expecting to spend the day in the field in a trial match for his New South Wales state side in Canberra. By lunchtime, he was in Hobart with theAustralian limited-overs team, and hoping to take the field against Sri Lanka at Bellerive Oval on Thursday.

Lee was called up this morning to replace Damien Fleming, who has returned to Melbourne for treatment to tendinitis of his bowling shoulder. Lee's call-up was largely a reward for excellent performances for Australia A in its three matches against Sri Lanka immediately before the triangular series started.

Samaranch was gifted expensive sword

TOKYO: Japan's Nagano governor Goro Yoshimura said today the bid committee for the 1998 Nagano Olympics Winter Games presented an expensive Japanese sword to International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Juan Antonio Samaranch. Yoshimura, who was chairman of the bid committee, said he learned about the sword incident only recently. The Governor said the sword was donated to the bid committee by somebody in the private sector, and that he does not know the value of the sword or who made it.

Courier alleges rampant doping onTour

Former world No 1 Jim Courier made explosive new allegations of doping in tennis today saying tennis players were cheating to keep up with the punishing professional tour.

Courier told a news conference today he was more concerned about blood doping in the sport than steroids.

``I'm much more inclined to have a concern for something that we cannot test for under the current system of testing, which is blood doping,'' Courier said.Blood doping, involving blood transfusions to boost an athlete's crucial red cell count, is usually linked to endurance sports such as cycling and cross-country skiing.