Felipe Massa clearly has a lot to consider over the Christmas break

While acknowledging that Steven Smith took some convincing to sit out the remainder of the Sri Lanka tour in order to rest and re-charge for Australias forthcoming fixtures, coach Darren Lehmann has strongly defended the move as being in the teams best interests.We just wanted to make sure that hes fresh and ready to go for South Africa and then the big summer ahead, Lehmann told reporters in Colombo. It was well-planned and well thought out, and thats what were doing.Australia are due to tour South Africa for 5 ODIs in September-October, before hosting them for three Tests in November. That will be followed by home series against New Zealand and Pakistan. Australia will then tour New Zealand and India early next year.Despite leaving the tour early, Smith has emphasised his desire to continue captaining Australia in all three formats, and Lehmann backed that sentiment.He wants to keep doing that and were very happy with the way hes leading the side, Lehmann said.Smiths departure will give David Warner the opportunity to captain his country for the first time. Warners captaincy experience so far is limited to leading Sunrisers Hydrabad in this years IPL season and a lone match as captain of Sydney Thunder in an earlier edition of the Big Bash League.If Steven happened to get injured then we need David to have some experience, Lehmann said. So thats another opportunity and thats important for us to get him that experience. Theyre a great leadership duo together and Davids been exceptional over the last couple of years, coming through some difficult times and now playing really well.Obviously wed like him to make a few more runs in this tour but, having said that, with the leadership, he did really well with the IPL side [Sunrisers Hyderabad] so were confident hell do a good job for us.The move to send Smith home mid-way through the ODI series in Sri Lanka has been criticised by a number of former players. Michael Slater tweeted that the captain should be there to the end, while Dean Jones and Michael Clarke felt that, if Smith had to be rested, it should have been done before the ODI series began, rather than halfway through it. Meanwhile, Mahela Jayawardene also expressed surprise, wondering if other Australia captains would have done likewise. Lehmann accepted that past players were entitled to their opinions, but reiterated his stand that resting Smith was for the best.We respect our former captains and former greats who have an opinion. Theres no dramas, theyre entitled to that. But we think its the best thing for Steven to get him right and ready to go. Cheap College Basketball Jerseys . Now, correct me if Im wrong but I saw one official distinctly pointing at the net indicating a good goal but after an inconclusive review they overturned the goal. Shouldnt the ruling on the ice (good goal) stand after an inconclusive review? Why was this overturned? James Veaudry Pembroke, ON -- Hey Kerry, Youll get a lot of these, but why was the Montreal goal against Nashville Saturday night overturned? Eller puts the puck on net and the on ice ruling from the ref behind the net is a Montreal goal. Wholesale NCAA Baseball Jerseys . 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Felipe Massa clearly has a lot to consider over the Christmas break -- with a sensational return to Formula One currently high on the agenda.Massa retired from F1 after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, with Williams announcing Lance Stroll to partner Valtteri Bottas during November. However, its driver line-up no longer looks secure, with Bottas the favourite to replace the retiring Nico Rosberg at Mercedes.Williams appears to be willing to let Bottas leave for Mercedes -- a deal which would include an ￡8.4 million discount on its engine supply -- but only if an experienced, credible alternative was available. Claire Williamms has named Massa, who drove for Williams between 2014 and 2016, as one such driver following a report in LEquipe stating the team was in advanced talks with the Brazilian driver over a return next season.ddddddddddddDeparting for his Christmas holiday this week, Massa tweeted the following message with an emoji suggesting hes got a lot to consider over the festive season:If Massa does return, it would give him the chance to add to the 250 race starts he accumulated between 2002 and 2016. ' ' '