Divers scour Russian lake for meteor bits

A meteor crashing to earth in Russia's Ural mountains has injured almost 1000 people, officials say. Source: AAP

DIVERS are searching the bottom of a Russian lake for fragments of a meteorite that plunged to Earth in a blinding fireball whose shockwaves injured 1,200 people and damaged thousands of homes.

The 10-tonne meteor streaked across the sky in the Urals region on Friday morning.

% The meteor brought traffic to a halt in the industrial city of Chelyabinsk as residents poured out on the streets to watch the light show before running for safety as a sonic boom shattered glass and set off car alarms. Most of the injured were cut by glass.

"We have a special team working... that is now assessing the seismic stability of buildings," Emergencies Minister Vladimir Puchkov told residents as he inspected the damage in the central Russian city.

"We will be especially careful about switching the gas back on," he said on television.

A fragment of the meteor - called a meteorite once it hits the ground - was believed to have plunged into the Chelyabinsk region's frozen Lake Chebarkul.

"A group of six divers will inspect the waters for the presence of pieces of a meteorite," an emergencies ministry spokeswoman told Russian news agencies before the start of the operation on Saturday.

But Puchkov said no fragments had been discovered anywhere in the region so far despite some 20,000 rescuers and recovery workers being dispatched there.

The meteor explosion appears to be one of the most stunning cosmic events above Russia since the 1908 Tunguska Event in which a massive blast most scientists blame on an asteroid or a comet ripped through Siberia.

Scientists at the US space agency NASA estimated that the amount of energy released from impact with the atmosphere was about 30 times greater than the force of the nuclear bomb dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima during World War II.

"We would expect an event of this magnitude to occur once every 100 years on average," said Paul Chodas of NASA's near-earth object program office.

"When you have a fireball of this size we would expect a large number of meteorites to reach the surface, and in this case there were probably some large ones," he said in a statement on the NASA website.

The drama in Russia developed just hours before an asteroid - a space object similar to a tiny planet orbiting the sun - whizzed safely past Earth at the unprecedented distance of 27,000 kilometres.

That put it closer to the ground then some distant satellites and inspired calls in Russia for joint global action on the space safety.

"Instead of fighting on Earth, people should be creating a joint system of asteroid defence," the Russian parliament's foreign affairs committee chief, Alexei Pushkov, wrote on his Twitter account late on Friday.

NASA estimates that a smallish asteroid such as the 2012 DA 14 flies close to Earth every 40 years on average and hits the planet once every 1,200 years.

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SA bushfire tragedy commemorated

ON the 30th anniversary of Ash Wednesday, more than 100 people have paid tribute to the volunteer fire fighters who have died serving South Australian communities since 1976.

Country Fire Service regional commander Chris Martin said Saturday's memorial service was a "double barrel" anniversary.

"We are recognising the 30th anniversary of Ash Wednesday, when we lost three firefighters, but also recognising that since 1976 we have had another 10 firefighters killed in action," he told AAP on Saturday.

In 1976 the Emergency Fire Service was renamed the CFS and since 2000 annual memorial services have been held at the Mt Lofty summit.

The area was devastated by the Ash Wednesday bushfires which swept through the Adelaide Hills and the state's south-east three decades ago.

It remains the state's worst natural disaster, with 28 people killed, almost 400 homes destroyed and about 200,000 hectares blackened.

Mr Martin said the simple ceremony involved readings from volunteers, a homily from the chaplain, the presentation of floral tributes, the naming of the deceased and a lament from a piper.

"As South Australians we all have a responsibility to reflect on their sacrifice and the anniversary of Ash Wednesday is an appropriate time to do that."

Mr Martin did not know if any of the firefighters involved in the 1983 blazes were at the service, saying they were welcome to come along but not actively pressured into attending.

Emergency Services Minister Michael O'Brien said CFS volunteers were committed to protecting communities not just from bushfires but other risks and emergencies, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

"This service is about reflecting on the sacrifice of all CFS volunteers who tragically lost their lives before, during and after the Ash Wednesday fires," he said in a statement.

"This includes volunteers who died on duty while attending other emergency incidents, including structure fires, which I believe recognises the diversity of the work undertaken by the CFS."

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Iran says it's not seeking nuclear weapons

IRAN'S Supreme Leader says Iran is not seeking nuclear weapons, but that no power could stop Tehran's access to an atomic bomb if it intended to build it.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say on all state matters in Iran, told a group of Iranians at his residence in Tehran that Iran backs the elimination of nuclear weapons.

His comments were posted on Saturday on his website, khamenei.ir.

Iran has been highlighting a religious decree issued by Khamenei that bans nuclear weapons in an effort to back up its claim that Iran's nuclear program is only for peaceful purposes and medical research.

The US and its allies fear that Iran might ultimately be able to develop a nuclear weapon.

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Gaynor on attack as party says he can stay

BOB Katter's Australian Party will not expel a Senate candidate who tweeted that he didn't want homosexuals teaching his children.

The decision prompted an extraordinary attack from Bernard Gaynor, not only on those who decided not to throw him out and on fellow Senate candidate Steve Bailey.

Earlier today, the party confirmed it would not disendorse Mr Bailey, who has publicly said that he supports gay marriage despite one of KAP's core principles being that marriage is between a man and a woman.

The party's National Director Aidan McLindon said candidates were allowed to voice personal opinions, just not on behalf of the party.

"We have our core values and principles like every political party," he said at party headquarters in Brisbane.

"People can champion their opinions, but they can't do it on behalf of the good party."

Mr McLindon had originally asked Mr Bailey to withdraw his candidacy but party leader Bob Katter overrode the decision. Tonight Mr Gaynor welcomed the party's decision not to terminate his own membership.

"The backlash against me from radical progressives was driven from their desire to indoctrinate children, regardless of parents' wishes," he said in a statement.

"Teachers have no right to give the impression that a homosexual lifestyle is moral.

"Indeed, it would be a perverted country if homosexual teachers had more rights than parents to form a child's understanding of morality."

He said parents across Australia should be very uncomfortable about "this disgusting notion", adding that the decision not to terminate his membership was clear proof the management committee was embarrassed about its knee-jerk reaction in the face of criticism from "the flouncing blouse set on the left".

He thanked the party leadership for "belatedly growing a backbone" and deciding not to cave in, before attacking the decision to continue to back Mr Bailey as stupid.

"It is perpetually stupid to keep walking down the aisle with him towards an election," he concluded.

Another KAP candidate, Tess Corbett, withdrew her candidacy last month after telling a newspaper she didn't believe gay people should have the same rights as heterosexuals.

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Extraordinary attack by KAP candidate

BOB Katter's Australian Party (KAP) has decided not to expel a Senate candidate who tweeted that he didn't want homosexuals teaching his children.

However, soon after the decision late on Friday, Bernard Gaynor launched an extraordinary attack on those who decided not to throw him out, and fellow Senate candidate Steve Bailey.

Earlier in the day, the party confirmed it would not disendorse Mr Bailey, who has publicly said that he supports gay marriage despite one of KAP's core principles being that marriage is between a man and a woman.

The party's National Director Aidan McLindon said candidates were allowed to voice personal opinions, just not on behalf of the party.

"We have our core values and principles like every political party," he told reporters at party headquarters in Brisbane.

"People can champion their opinions, but they can't do it on behalf of the good party.

"Australians know what the party stands for and we're not going to be distracted by these side issues."

Mr McLindon had originally asked Mr Bailey to withdraw his candidacy but party leader Bob Katter overrode the decision.

On Friday evening Mr Gaynor welcomed the party's decision not to terminate his own membership, saying it confirmed his statements did not undermine KAP's core values.

"The backlash against me from radical progressives was driven from their desire to indoctrinate children, regardless of parents' wishes," he said in a statement.

"Teachers have no right to give the impression that a homosexual lifestyle is moral.

"Indeed, it would be a perverted country if homosexual teachers had more rights than parents to form a child's understanding of morality."

He said parents across Australia should be very uncomfortable about "this disgusting notion", adding that the decision not to terminate his membership was clear proof the management committee was embarrassed about its knee-jerk reaction in the face of criticism from "the flouncing blouse set on the left".

He thanked the party leadership for "belatedly growing a backbone" and deciding not to cave in, before attacking the decision to continue to back Mr Bailey as stupid.

"It is perpetually stupid to keep walking down the aisle with him towards an election," he concluded.

Another KAP candidate, Tess Corbett, withdrew her candidacy last month after telling a newspaper she didn't believe gay people should have the same rights as heterosexuals.

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Airbus decides against lithium batteries

Airbus has announced it wont use lithium batteries in the A350 long-range liner under development. Source: AAP

AIRBUS will not use lithium batteries in the A350 long-range liner under development, a company source says.

"The first planes will be delivered with cadmium, not lithium batteries," the source told AFP on Friday, adding that the airliner's first test flights would take place with the lithium batteries.

The announcement comes as Boeing's 50 Dreamliners in service around the world have been grounded since January, after battery smoke forced an emergency landing of one plane and a battery fire was reported on a parked plane.

US air safety investigators have since zeroed in on how a battery fire occurred on the parked plane - a Japanese Airlines 787 at Boston's Logan airport - saying evidence pointed to a single cell on the eight-cell lithium-ion battery, which short circuited, leading to a rise in temperature.

Investigators do not yet know what specifically caused the short circuit.

The Airbus A350 is due to enter service in the second half of 2014, with the company hoping the liner will make it competitive in the long-haul market, where its planes have found it hard to challenge Boeing's 747s and 777s.

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Troops deployed in India after poll deaths

INDIA has deployed hundreds of troops and imposed a curfew as the death toll from electoral violence in the northeastern state of Assam reached 20.

Most of the deaths have been the result of firing by police, who have been trying to halt attacks by machete-wielding tribesmen opposed to local elections.

"Eight people were killed in overnight clashes, taking the total number of people who have died so far to 20," Bhupen Bora, an Assam state home ministry official, told AFP in the state's main city Guwahati on Wednesday.

Bora said a curfew had been declared in two violence-racked areas and about 500 soldiers had deployed to help police control the situation in Goalpara district, some 120 kilometres from Guwahati.

But despite the strict curfew orders, tribesmen armed with swords, machetes, spears and axes were seen marching through streets in their villages where several houses were set ablaze on Tuesday night.

The Rabha and Hasong tribal villagers, who have been demanding local autonomy and reject government rule in the area, are protesting at the polls for "panchayat" or village councils that were held Tuesday.

They say the elections undermine the authority of their own Rabha Hasong Autonomous Council.

"We want the right to rule, we believe in self-governance. The government has no right to impose elections on us," said Anil Rabha, a tribal leader.

With tensions high, Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has announced plans to pay compensation of 500,000 rupees ($A8,780) for the families of those killed in the police firing.

On Tuesday, security forces opened fire when the tribesmen began setting fire to houses and attacking government officials with bows and arrows.

Northeast India has seen decades of friction among ethnic and separatist groups, although some rebels have recently started peace talks with the government.

More than 10,000 people have lost their lives to unrest in the the tea and oil-rich state of Assam over the past two decades.

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Hilton bombing victims remembered

Dozens of people gathered in Sydney's CBD to commemorate the 35th anniversary of the Hilton Bombing. Source: AAP

COUNCIL workers and police officers have laid wreaths and flowers outside the Hilton Hotel in Sydney as they remembered three men killed in Australia's first terrorist attack.

Garbage collectors Alex Carter and William Favell were killed on February 13, 1978, when a bomb concealed in a rubbish bin exploded outside the hotel.

Police officer Paul Birmistriw was guarding the entrance of the hotel, where a Commonwealth Heads of Government regional meeting was to be held.

He was fatally wounded in the explosion and died nine days later.

Members of the United Services Union (USU), NSW police, and family and friends gathered on George Street in Sydney's CBD to place flowers in front of the memorial plaque and observe a minute's silence.

USU spokesman Graeme Kelly said Mr Carter and Mr Favell were known to be "larrikins" and "dedicated family men".

A council worker who had worked with the men described them as "good blokes".

NSW Police Association president Scott Weber said Mr Birmistriw had been a "first-class constable".

Though two men were convicted over the bombing, the crime remains something of a mystery.

In 1989, Evan Pederick - a former adherent of Ananda Marga, the obscure Hindu sect suspected of being behind the bombing - confessed to planting the bomb.

He accused fellow sect member Tim Anderson, who had been jailed in 1979 over the bombing but pardoned in 1985, of putting him up to it.

Pederick was convicted and walked free in 1997, after serving eight years in a NSW jail.

Mr Anderson, now a university lecturer, was reconvicted, but cleared on appeal in 1991, with Pederick's evidence discredited.

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Two firefighters killed at Vic fire: union

TWO firefighters have died after a tree fell on their vehicle as they battled a large bushfire burning in Victoria's alpine region, a union says.

The Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) firefighters were working on the 27,000-hectare Harrietville fire burning near Mount Hotham.

The Australian Workers Union (AWU) said two DSE firefighters were killed in the line of duty in a fire in the Ovens region on Wednesday afternoon.

"Our members have confirmed that two firefighters unfortunately lost their lives," AWU Victorian secretary Cesar Melhem told AAP.

The DSE said there had been a serious accident at the Harrietville-Alpine North fire, but authorities have not confirmed any deaths.

Emergency services are en route to the incident involving an emergency services vehicle near Pheasant Creek Track at Selwyn.

"At this stage police believe the vehicle was on the fireground and has been hit by a falling tree, so due to the fire in the area and the terrain emergency services are having difficulty attending the scene," a police spokeswoman said.

Mr Melhem said DSE firefighters were "unsung heroes" and there was little recognition of their work because they were not usually seen, working behind the fire lines.

"These DSE firefighters work in the most horrific conditions imaginable, away from the big centres, out in the bush, and with very little recognition for their heroic contribution to this state," he said in a statement.

"They have died heroes, which will be small comfort to those that grieve them."

Mr Melhem said the priority would be to recover the bodies from behind the fire lines and support the rest of the firefighters, before investigations were undertaken.

DSE and CFA firefighters have been making the most of mild weather conditions working around the clock to control hotspots and build containment lines around the fire, but have faced a challenge in getting into isolated locations where it is still burning.

Crews have had to trek for more than two hours to get to hard-to-reach locations to construct control lines to help stop the spread of the fire if it flared up again, Ovens incident controller Tony Long said earlier on Wednesday.

"Where crews can't walk into the affected areas, we use rappel crews who rappel down ropes from a hovering helicopter carrying their gear to put out hot spots," he said.

The Harrietville fire has burned 27,000 hectares since it was started by lightning on January 21 and Mr Long said it would continue to burn until the alpine region received significant rain.

The deaths come a month after Peter Cramer, a DSE firefighter and CFA volunteer from Tyers in Gippsland, died while working on bushfires in Tasmania.

Mr Cramer, 61, died on January 13 at Taranna, east of Hobart, while working on foot to identify potential containment lines on the southern boundary of the Forcett fire about two to three kilometres from the active fire edge.

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Whitehaven keen to produce soon at Maules

WHITEHAVEN Coal plans to bring its controversial Maules Creek mine into production as soon as possible after being granted conditional approval by the federal government.

The mine is expected to produce 10.8 million tonnes of a coal a year (Mtpa) of thermal and coking coal.

Federal Environment Minister Tony Burke on Monday gave the green light to the open cut Maules Creek and nearby Boggabri mine proposals in north west NSW.

Mr Burke said that was satisfied with extra work in place and that the projects could go ahead without "unacceptable impacts" on areas protected under national environment law.

Whitehaven managing director Tony Haggarty welcomed the approval and said he looked forward to working with the minister and the department on approval conditions.

"We are pleased that the minister has now stated that based on the conditions laid down he is satisfied the project can proceed without unacceptable impacts on matters protected under national environmental law," Mr Haggarty said in a statement.

"Notwithstanding the stringent environmental conditions which have been placed on the project and the difficult coal market at present, this is an excellent project and Whitehaven will be seeking to bring it into production as soon as possible."

Mr Burke said if new plans or further modelling were needed, it must be carried out to his satisfaction.

Mr Burke only last week extended his department's timeframe for considering the Maules Creek project until April 30, much to the disappointment of Whitehaven and its investors.

But he was forced to act on Monday after the leaking of a commercially sensitive letter on the weekend that indicated Mr Burke had intended approving the mine back in December.

Mr Burke has accused the NSW government of leaking the letter, and has ruled them out of any future dealings with the coal company over its flagship development.

Community and environment activists say the Maules Creek project threatens koala habitats, thousands of hectares of old growth forests and will force farmers off their land through soil damage.

Mr Burke said he looked at the likely ecological impacts on the critically endangered blakely's red gum and yellow box trees, as well as swift parrot populations.

The Whitehaven proposal gained notoriety after activist Jonathan Moylan admitted sending a press release to media outlets in early January falsely claiming the ANZ Bank had pulled its $1.2 billion loan to the miner.

Conditional federal approval was also granted on Monday to a coal seam methane gas project at Gloucester in NSW owned by AGL Energy.

The Gloucester CSG project was subject to 36 conditions and would not go ahead until a hydrological model was carried out, conducted to determine any potential impacts on groundwater, Mr Burke said.

Whitehaven shares closed four cents lower at $2.96.

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Suicide bomber kills four in Somalia

AT least four people were killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up in his car in an attack aimed at a senior police officer in Somalia's central Galkayo region, police say.

"There are at least five people dead, including the bomber," said Mohamed Abdullahi, a police officer in the town, which straddles the border between the northern breakaway state of Puntland and the self-proclaimed region of Galmudug.

Security sources said that a senior Puntland police official was wounded in the blast, but the reports could not be independently confirmed.

The violence is the latest in a string of attacks in the region, where tensions are high between rival political and clan groups.

Somalia's Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab insurgents also operate in the wider area, and have carried out a series of guerrilla style attacks, but have tended to target mainly the capital Mogadishu.

The Shebab have claimed responsibility for most of the suicide attacks that have taken place in the past year.

Newly elected President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, who took office in September after being chosen by the country's new parliament, faces multiple challenges in efforts to restore peace to the war-torn Horn of Africa nation.

Large parts of the country has been carved up by rival militia forces who have developed autonomous regions that pay little if any heed to the weak central government in Mogadishu.

But Shebab fighters are on the back foot, having fled a string of key towns ahead of a 17,000-strong African Union force, which is fighting alongside Somali government troops to wrest territory from the Islamists.

Ethiopian troops are also battling the Shebab in the southwest of Somalia.

The Shebab remain a potent threat, still controlling rural areas as well as carrying out guerrilla attacks in areas apparently under government control.

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European stocks mixed at open

EUROPE'S main stock markets opened mixed on Monday, with London virtually flat, Frankfurt sliding and Paris posting gains.

London's FTSE 100 index of top companies dipped 0.04 per cent to 6,261.31 points, Frankfurt's DAX 30 shed 0.32 per cent to 7,627.72 points and in Paris the CAC 40 grew by 0.27 per cent to stand at 3,659.30.

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Iranians march to mark revolution

HUNDREDS of thousands of people have marched in Tehran and other cities chanting "Death to America" as Iran marked the 34th anniversary of the Islamic revolution that ousted the US-backed shah.

In the capital on Sunday, crowds waving Iranian flags and portraits of revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini walked towards the landmark Azadi (Freedom) Square, in a government-sponsored rally which is now a cornerstone of the regime.

Marchers also chanted "Death to Israel" and "Death to America" as they headed for the square, some waving posters of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, where President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was expected to speak.

Iran is holding similar rallies nationwide, especially in large provincial capitals such as Mashhad, Isfahan, Shiraz and Kerman.

At the Tehran rally, foreign media were being closely monitored and allowed to cover the event from officially designated areas only.

The rally marks February 11 when the army declared solidarity with the people, turning its back on shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. Ten days beforehand, Khomeini returned in triumph from exile in France to lead the revolutionaries to power.

Tehran is currently under a series of international sanctions aimed at curbing its controversial nuclear program of uranium enrichment.

World powers and Iran's arch regional foe Israel suspect that Tehran is trying to develop atomic weapons under the cover of its civilian program, a charge repeatedly and vehemently denied by the Islamic republic.

The sanctions have led to a severe economic crisis, choking Iran's banking system and limiting its oil exports, the country's main foreign revenue earner.

According to a recent survey by the US polling firm Gallup, Iran's nuclear program is supported by a large majority of its population.

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Indian Kashmiris chafe under curfew

RESIDENTS of India's Kashmir valley are upset over a curfew imposed following the hanging of a local separatist which has sparked a fresh debate on capital punishment.

Mohammed Afzal Guru, a Kashmiri Muslim convicted of helping plot the 2001 attack on the Indian parliament which killed 10 people, was executed on Saturday in New Delhi's Tihar jail.

Fearing a backlash over his death, Indian authorities imposed a tight curfew on Saturday in major populated areas of Kashmir.

Internet services were shut down and they also blocked local newspapers in a bid to prevent protests.

At least four people were injured on Saturday during protests, including two who received bullet wounds when government forces fired on a crowd in a village 40km from the biggest city of Srinagar.

Abdul Hafeez, a resident of Srinagar, said his two-month-old granddaughter needed milk but they were unable to go shopping because of the strict orders restricting people to their homes which have been imposed indefinitely.

"We have seen so much violence in the past. We just hope that things return to normal as quickly as possible," he told AFP.

Guru was convicted of waging war against India and conspiring with the Islamist militants who attacked the parliament - an event that brought nuclear-armed India and Pakistan to the brink of another conflict.

The one-time fruit merchant and medical college dropout always insisted he was innocent and claimed he was denied a proper legal defence, while some protesters in Kashmir accused the police of framing him.

India, the world' biggest democracy uses capital punishment for the "rarest of rare" crimes.

There had not been an execution since 2004 until the hanging in November last year of Mohammed Kasab, the lone surviving gunman of 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai.

The two executions - both approved under new President Pranab Mukherjee - worried human rights activists who had hoped India was phasing out the practice following its informal eight-year moratorium.

"India should end this distressing use of executions as a way to satisfy some public opinion," said Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director at Human Rights Watch.

Amnesty International was also quick to condemn Guru's hanging as a "disturbing and regressive trend" towards executions in India.

Some of India's press speculated on who could be the next to face the gallows, while respect left-of-centre newspaper The Hindu slammed the execution.

"Guru was walked to the gallows... at the end of the macabre rite governments enact from time to time to propitiate that most angry of gods, a vengeful public," it said.

"There is no principle underpinning the death penalty in India today except vengeance. And vengeance is no principle at all," the daily wrote.

In Kashmir, where a bloody separatist conflict has killed an estimated 100,000 people in two decades, some feared the execution could feed local anti-India feeling and spur more violence.

Police also prevented local newspapers from publishing on Sunday and seized copies of four dailies who managed to go to press in defiance of the restrictions.

"Police seized our newspaper from the press without any prior information to our management," Haji Hayat, editor-in-chief of the English language newspaper Kashmir Reader, told AFP.

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Curry plays cricket like John Howard

AUSSIE actor Stephen Curry says when it comes to cricket, he's like former prime minister John Howard.

At the cricket-themed premiere of the Save Your Legs! in Sydney on Sunday night, Curry said he would have a bit of a game on the green carpet if he wasn't so hopeless.

"I'm no good with the bat, so I don't really want to show off my skills here," Curry, who's best known for his roles in The Castle and The Cup, said.

"(I'm) more of a cricket tragic in the way that John Howard, our former Prime Minister was a cricket tragic - loved the game, armchair expert, couldn't play to save himself.

"And I'm a redhead in this so I'm very similar to Julia Gillard."

Directed by Boyd Hicklin, in Save Your Legs! Curry plays Teddy, the president of D-grade cricket team the Abbotsford Anglers, who find themselves on a cricket tour of India.

Wearing his blue and yellow Anglers jacket, Curry said in light of the recent cheating scandals in Aussie sports he came to the Sydney premiere prepared.

"Look, tonight I am full of peptides," he said.

"I had them injected into my stomach and I was forced to sign a waiver, so I feel like it's basically going to make my green carpet performance as good as it possibly could be, and I'll probably recover very nicely in the morning."

Based on a true story, Save Your Legs! was written by and stars Brendan Cowell, who is a self confessed "cricket nut", having played since he was five and been a member of the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) since he was 14.

Walking the green carpet with Curry and co-star Damon Gameau, he joked that he was OK missing Australia's match against the West Indies for the premiere, because "this is where the real fixture is".

"The Abbotsford Anglers, they're the team everyone's talking about, so we're here and this film's been to London, it's been to Mumbai, so now we're at our home ground at the SCG, ready to play some strokes," he said.

For Cowell and Curry, an Aussie cricket movie has been a long time coming.

Cowell joked that with the success of 1984 Australian miniseries Bodyline, "I think people have been waiting for a great cricket movie, so it's timely".

Curry thinks it's interesting Aussies haven't tried to propel cricket onto the big screen before.

"It's fascinating that in this rich history of filmmaking in this country and our great affiliation with cricket that there actually hasn't been a feature film about cricket," Curry said.

"So I think it's about time and hopefully we've done it justice."

* Save Your Legs! releases in Australian cinemas on February 28.

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