Ponting furious with damp practice pitches

October 30th, 2009 more images more imagesSYDNEY - Skipper Ricky Ponting has admitted that the Australian bowling department is facing a big problem in the last 10 overs against India as the team conceded 87 runs in the first ODI in Vadodra and 108 runs in the second game in Nagpur. Ponting said his team's lack of prowess in bowling the death overs had increased in the past week due to the hamstring injury to all-rounder James Hopes, which has forced other bowlers to close out the innings in the opening two matches of the series.

October 30th, 2009 more images more imagesNEW DELHI - Ahead of Saturday's third ODI against India, Australia skipper Ricky Ponting on Friday accused the groundsmen at Ferozshah stadium of hampering their morning practice session by watering the pitch. "I was disappointed when I had a look at the practice wicket which was watered this morning.

October 21st, 2009 MUMBAI - Australian captain Ricky Ponting Wednesday said the India-Australia One-day series should ideally be best-of-five and not seven. Ponting said that a five-match ODI series would have kept the players motivated.

October 2nd, 2009 CENTURION - Unbeaten centuries from opener Shane Watson and skipper Ricky Ponting kept defending champions Australia in contention to retain the title after they knocked out England from the Champions Trophy with nine wickets in the semi-final at the SuperSport Park here Friday. Chasing a target of 258, Watson (136 not out) and Ricky Ponting (111 not out) were in complete control of the game as Australia romped home in 41.5 overs.

August 31st, 2009 Yankees RHP Kennedy to throw batting practiceTAMPA, Fla. — Yankees pitcher Ian Kennedy will throw batting practice Wednesday for the first time since surgery May 12 to remove an aneurysm from beneath his right biceps.

August 24th, 2009 LONDON - Australian skipper Ricky Ponting has refused to rule out being back in England in 2013 after losing the Ashes here again. Ponting has probably played his last Ashes Test in England however he conceded he could have unfinished business here.

August 15th, 2009 SURREY - Australian captain Ricky Ponting has said that ground conditions will decide whether pacer Stuart Clark or spinner Nathan Hauritz start for the fifth and final Ashes Test match at The Oval, starting on Thursday. "There are no favourites for that bowling spot at the moment," The Daily Telegraph quoted Ponting, as saying.

August 4th, 2009 BIRMINGHAM - Australian skipper Ricky Ponting claims injured spearhead Brett Lee may be bowling at "100 percent" in the next couple of days as he makes a bid for Ashes selection for Friday's fourth Test at Headingley. "The way things are coming along I'd expect him to be able to bowl 100 percent over the next couple of days.

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 27th, 2009 SYDNEY - Australian skipper Ricky Ponting feels England's star batsman Kevin Pietersen's absence will add more pressure on the Lord's Test hero Andrew Flintoff. Ponting believes his team had Pietersen's measure during the first two Tests of the ongoing Ashes series but wonders how England will cope without their batting star now he has been ruled out of the series following Achilles tendon surgery.

July 25th, 2009 MELBOURNE - Australian skipper Ricky Ponting said he won't be fooled like in the last Ashes tour after it was reported that pitch preparations for the third Test at Edgbaston next week had been ruined by rain. Ponting was strongly criticised four years ago for bowling first without injured spearhead Glenn McGrath after concerns that heavy rain would make the pitch a minefield.

July 15th, 2009 LONDON - Former England coach Duncan Fletcher has claimed that Australian captain Ricky Ponting knows nothing about the spirit of cricket. Fletcher, who was abused by Ponting during the 2005 Ashes over the use of substitute fieldsman Gary Pratt, said England would have been delighted to get under Ponting's skin in the Cardiff Test.

July 13th, 2009 LONDON - Ricky Ponting accused England of lack of cricketing spirit with their cynical time-wasting tactics to cling on for a first-Test draw in the Ashes, but his England counterpart Andrew Strauss refuted the claim saying his team's intentions were good and not deliberate. A furious Ponting flayed England's move to send physiotherapist Steve McCaig and an acting 12th man onto the field with gloves for tailender Jimmy Anderson as he and No.

June 30th, 2009 WORCESTER - Australian captain Ricky Ponting appears to be quite desperate to get as much information about the pitch at Cardiff, the venue for the first Ashes Test against England, that he is preparing to send a spy to unravel the confusion surrounding the controversial Sophia Gardens pitch. Reports about how the new strip will play in the first Test, beginning Wednesday week, have been so contradictory that Ponting is desperate for more information.

June 23rd, 2009 LONDON - Australian skipper Ricky Ponting has said that he loves Leicester, where his team has been based after their early exit from the Twenty20 World Cup. The skipper further said that Australian players are perfectly prepared for their Ashes tour.