‘Street fighter’ Katich must replace ’soft’ Ponting to revive Aussies: Ex-players

October 5th, 2009 JOHANNESBURG - Australian cricket can look back at its past five months with pride despite the Ashes loss, feels skipper Ricky Ponting. Ponting believes the rejuvenation of the side after the two-one series loss to England will allow the period to be looked back upon as significant.

September 16th, 2009 NOTTINGHAM - Australian skipper Ricky Ponting expects more cricketers to follow Andrew Flintoff and Andrew Symonds in going freelance. Flintoff has rejected an incremental contract with his country and is reportedly been the target of interest from South Australia and Northerns in South Africa.

August 25th, 2009 MELBOURNE - Spin legend Shane Warne would jump at the chance to replace Ricky Ponting and come out of retirement "in a heartbeat" if offered the Australian captaincy, former Test star Dean Jones has said. Ponting's captaincy is under scrutiny after he became only the second Australian captain to lose two Ashes series on English soil.

July 29th, 2009 MELBOURNE - Australian captain Ricky Ponting is in a dilemma on whether to play spinner Nathan Hauritz on the soggy Edgbaston pitch for the third Test beginning Thursday. Though Ponting always prefers a frontline spinner, bad weather and local statistics have combined to force the Australians into a rethink.

July 23rd, 2009 LONDON - Warwickshire batsman Ian Bell is almost certain to play in the Npower Third Ashes Test starting on his home ground of Edgbaston next Thursday, and is desperate for a crack at the Aussies. But he says that he would rather have been picked on merit than benefit from Kevin Pietersen's series-ending Achilles injury.

July 10th, 2009 CARDIFF - Australia captain Ricky Ponting and opener Simon Katich, who scored unbeaten centuries on Thursday to take their team to a formidable 249 for one at stumps in reply to England's score of 436, said they were inspired by the painful memory of the 2005 Ashes series loss. Both veterans combined for an unbroken 189-run partnership in an attempt to bat England out of the first Test.

July 8th, 2009 LONDON - Australian batsman Simon Katich, who is Phillip Hughes's captain at New South Wales, has said that he had initially doubted the then 18-year-old's Hughes talent in 2007 Katich said he and Cricket NSW chief executive David Gilbert had heated arguments over Hughes in 2007, where Katich believed that Hughes was not ready for first-class cricket - as he could not handle the short ball, The Sydney Morning Herald reports. However, when Hughes scored an undefeated 51 on Sheffield Shield debut, Katich's fears were dispelled.

July 7th, 2009 CARDIFF - For Australian opener Simon Katich, participating in an Ashes tour is all about fighting back. Revealing that captain Ricky Ponting and coach Tim Nielsen have introduced a ritual within the Australian team, in which each player is asked to tell his teammates why the Ashes is special, Katich recalls that he has been telling his mates of a past that has left deep scars, but one that has helped him to become a more resilient character.

July 5th, 2009 LONDON - Australian captain Ricky Ponting claims that his team is itching to rip apart England in the First test to be held at Cardiff on Wednesday. Though, the Aussie skipper was disappointed with his squad's performance against the English Lions in a four-day game at Worcester, but he was delighted to see key players like Brett Lee finding form ahead of the tournament.

July 3rd, 2009 LONDON - Ricky Ponting might be disappointed with John Buchanan's new job as an advisor in the English board, but the former Australian coach will be backing Ponting to win the Ashes. Buchanan said that Ponting can lead the team to a win in the series and atone for their loss in 2005.

June 29th, 2009 LONDON - Former England cricket team coach Duncan Fletcher believes former skipper Michael Vaughan is making the right decision by retiring from all forms of cricket. Hailing Vaughan as a "gutsy fighter" of whom the game "can be very proud," The Guardian quoted Fletcher as saying: "Vaughan was a classy batsman, but he became a marvellous captain and a good friend.

June 18th, 2009 LEICESTER - England will get a massive boost with the return of all-rounder Andrew Flintoff to the Test squad ahead of the Ashes series, claims Australian captain Ricky Ponting. Talismanic all-rounder Flintoff, 31, is recovering from a knee surgery.

June 12th, 2009 SYDNEY - After helping Simon Katich sharpen his batting skills for the last Ashes tour, former Australian captain and coach Bob Simpson can again be seen helping the left-handed batsmen improve his leg spin for this year's series starting next month. Katich, Marcus North and vice-captain Michael Clarke have all been told to work on their part-time spin for the Ashes.

June 10th, 2009 LONDON - Australian cricket skipper Ricky Ponting believes he can use this year's Ashes to lift the spirits of the team. Australia's four-month stay in the UK has started on the worst possible note, and Ponting said it was up to him and the coaching staff to move on from the embarrassments and stop the tour from unravelling.

May 30th, 2009 LONDON - The war for Ashes 2009 has begun with Australian captain Ricky Ponting firing the first salvo, questioning whether England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff will be any good this summer. Flintoff underwent knee surgery in April and has not yet started running properly.