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Career highlights

 * 20 November 1992: Ponting makes his First-Class debut for Tasmania against South Australia at the age of 17. He scores an impressive 56 in his first innings.
 * 13 December 1992: Ponting makes his List A debut for Tasmania against Victoria at the age of 17.
 * 15 February 1995: Ponting makes his One Day International debut for Australia against South Africa at the age of 20.
 * 8 December 1995: Ponting makes his Test Match debut for Australia against Sri Lanka at the age of 20. He strikes a fluent 96 to start his Test career in style.
 * 9 January 1996: Ponting scores his first One Day International century for Australia with a mature 123 off 138 balls against Sri Lanka. Ponting came to the crease with Australia in trouble at 3-33 but assisted them to a respectable total of 213.
 * 26 July 1997: Ponting reaches his first Test match century against England at Headingley. This was Ponting's first Ashes innings and his first test innings back from being dropped.
 * 22 March 2002: Ponting captains his first One Day International match for Australia. He has a successful captaincy debut as his team accounted for South Africa by 19 runs at Johannesburg.
 * 23 March 2003: Ponting captains Australia to their third World Cup title. Ponting won Man of the Match in the final with a supreme unbeaten 140 off 122 balls. Australia went through the whole tournament undefeated, winning each of their 11 games.
 * 26-30 December 2003 Ponting posts his highest test score of 257 runs,
 * 8 March 2004: Ponting captains his first Test match for Australia. Just as in his One Day captaincy debut, Ponting led his team to victory, this time over Sri Lanka in Galle.
 * 2 January 2006: Ponting plays his 100th Test for Australia in a match against South Africa at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Ponting became the 9th Australian to play 100 Test matches, and the first cricketer to ever score centuries in each innings of their 100th Test match with scores of 120 and 143*.
 * 28 April, 2007: Ponting captains Australia to their third consecutive, and fourth overall World Cup title. Once again, Ponting led Australia through the tournament undefeated.
 * 6 January 2008: Ponting captains Australia to a record equalling 16th consecutive Test win in controversial circumstances that prompted the opposing captain, Anil Kumble, to question the spirit in which Ponting's team had played the match.
 * 19 January 2008: Ponting, during the second innings of the Third Test in Perth, became the leading run scorer on Australian soil, surpassing the previous record holder Allan Border's mark of 5,743 set in 86 Tests between 1978 and 1994.
 * 30 May 2008: Ponting scored his 10,000th Test match run against the West Indies at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, Antigua. He became the third Australian to reach this milestone after Allan Border and Steve Waugh.

TVS One Day International Cup in India; and Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and India in Australia, 2003–04
Ponting then scored 10 and 59 as Australia recorded comfortable innings victories in their inuaugural series against Bangladesh, played in Darwin and Cairns in the tropical north of Australia in the winter of 2003. In the third and final match of the ODI series following the Tests, Ponting scored a composed century, as he and Michael Bevan put on a run-a-ball 127 run stand. Strangely, Ponting's 14th ODI century, included only two fours, despite hitting four sixes.

Australia's cricket summer started in October; a month earlier than usual because of their upcoming ODI series in India following their home series against Zimbabwe. Due to the seasons early start, many of the Australian players were without match fitness. McGrath missed the series with an ankle injury, and there were concerns about whether Australia should be playing Zimbabwe because of Robert Mugabe's regime. The first Test started on 9 October in Perth, as Australia reached 3/368 at the end of day one. The Zimbabwean bowling attack lacked penetration on a flat WACA wicket, with Heath Streak being the tourists only strike bowler. Hayden was not out on 183 after poor form against Bangladesh, while Steve Waugh and Martyn both scored half-centuries by stumps. However, Ponting was dismissed leg before wicket for 37. On day two, Hayden broke Brian Lara's word record score of 375, as Australia declared on 6/735 in the last session. The opening batsman was dismissed on 380; after hitting 38 fours and 11 sixes. Ponting wrote:

"Fantastic. Awesome. Brilliant. To be Matthew Hayden's team-mate on the day he achieved the world record score is all of those things and more. And those worlds also go some was to describing the innings of a lifetime by Hayden. There is no doubt in my mind that the previous record score - the 375 made by Brian Lara against in Antigua in 1994 - was a better innings, because it came against a better attack, but that takes nothing away from the achievement of Hayden today. You still have to go out and score the runs, no matter who is bowling, and he did exactly that. And not only that: he did it in five sessions of plat, which is truly unbelievable."

Australia won the Test by a comfortable innings and 175 runs on the final day. Although they were not without injuries, as Stuart MacGill (discomfort behind his right knee) and Jason Gillespie (side strain) both left the field injured on day three. The injuries to the bowling duo meant Australia used part timers, Lehmann, Martyn, Waugh and Ponting for 57 overs in Zimbabwe's second innings to give the strike bowlers a rest. The heavy bowling workload on Lehmann caused him to tear a muscle in his left Achilles tendon. An inexperienced Australian team won the next Test at the SCG by nine wickets; sweeping the series 2-0. Ponting struck 169 and 53 not out, and passed 5,000 Test runs in his first innings century. The Australian number three ended the two-match series with 259 runs at 129.50. After the series Ponting wrote how he was unsure whether Bangladesh and Zimbabwe should be playing Test cricket:

"The public's response to the series, along with the relative poor crowds for the Bangladesh Top End tour, has confirmed my view that something needs to be done to avoid mismatches at the highest level. These types of games clearly do not appeal to the public, because they are poor spectacles. Maybe there is a mileage in some sort of two-tier system with the tp eight countries playing in the highest division, but with the chance for other sides to join them through a proportion and relegation test every four years or so. That way they would have time to build up proper infrastructure at a domestic level rather than to being rushed into Test cricket, as it seems Bangladesh have been, without the infrastructure in place to support international cricket."

Australia flew to India two day after the conclusion of the Zimbabwean series; to play in the TVS Cup cup against India and New Zealand. They opened their campaign on 26 October against India in Gwalior. They were defeated by 37 runs, as Ponting was caught and bowled off Anil Kumble for two. Australia played New Zealand in match three of series in Faridabad. An early 9am start saw New Zealand bowled out for 97, despite Australia bowling 17 wides. Australia comfortably reached the target, losing only two wickets in the process; one of which was Ponting for 12. "I feel in terrible form, and it showed as I made a very scratchy 12. It is not as if I have not been practicing, but the harder I try, the worse I feel at the crease, Ponting wrote. Before Australia's next game, Ponting was named Wisden International Cricketer of the Year in an award ceremony in Mumbai. Two days later, the city saw Australia defeat India by 77 runs on a "wearing pitch". Coming to the crease in the opening over, Ponting scored 31 from 37 deliveries in an innings which included three fours. The pitch for match five between against New Zealand, "weighed conditions far too heavily in favour of the side (Australia) bowling first," according to Ponting. The Australian captain scored just 16, as his team won in the last over by two wickets.

He regained his form in a victory over New Zealand in match—scoring 52 in Guwahati. Ponting improved further against India in match eight in Bangalore. After Gilchrist scored his first ODI century against India, Ponting scored an unbeaten 108 from 103 balls, to help Australia win by 61 runs. Ponting hit seven sixes and one four, becoming the first batsman to end up with only one four in an ODI century. Ponting struggled to come to terms with the pitch early, reaching his 50 in 69 balls, before scoring his next 50 in 31 deliveries. "I scratched around early on, unable to time the ball, while my feet felt as if they were set in cement. And when I did get them moving I managed to miss the ball, only for Rahul Dravid to give me a let-off, missing an easy stumping chance. That was my cue to believe it was my day. I decided to be really positive against the spinners and it paid off. The left-armer, Murali Kartik, bowled really well, turning the ball sharply, but without any luck ... I went for broke, and it was one of those days when that approach paid off. After defeating New Zealand, India qualified for the final against Australia. Batting first in Kolkata, Australia managed 5/235, as Ponting scored 36. India were bowled out for 198, leaving Australia victors by 37 runs. Ponting said, "We weren't thinking of losing here in 2001. You can't control what happened nearly three years ago. We were worried about this game. Because you can control what happens on the ground tonight. We're going home and we've won the series. That's all that counts. He finished the series with 296 runs—the third highest run-scorer—at an average of 42.83.

After making 54 and 50 in the rain-drawn First Test in Brisbane, Ponting scored double-centuries in back-to-back Tests against India, in the Second Test at Adelaide (242) and at Melbourne (257, his career high). He hit 31 not out in the second inagainst New Zealand, nings in Melbourne as Australia levelled the series 1–1 and scored 25 and 47 in the drawn Fourth Test in Sydney to end as the leading run-scorer for the series, with 706 runs at 100.85. Harbhajan had been sent home after the First Test with an injury to his spinning finger.

Having also scored 206 at Port-of-Spain earlier in the year, he became only the second player (Sir Donald Bradman the other) to hit three double-centuries in a calendar year. Ponting's 242 against India at Adelaide is also the highest ever Test score by a batsman whose team was subsequently defeated in the match. After Steve Waugh's retirement at the beginning of 2004 following the drawn home series against India, Ponting assumed the Test captaincy. Since 1997 the Australian team has not always had the same captain for Tests and for ODIs, with Mark Taylor and Steve Waugh being dropped from the ODI team whilst still the Test captain.

Key achievements
Ricky Ponting is considered one of the finest batsmen in the history of the game, and is currently ranked 18th in ODI's and 6th in Test Cricket. He is the only cricketer to have twice scored more than 1500 runs in Test matches in a calendar year (2003 and 2005) and on 3 December 2006 overtook Steve Waugh as the leading Australian century maker with 33 Test centuries. He now has 38 and lies second in highest number of Test centuries in the history of cricket, four behind world leader Sachin Tendulkar. He is also the third fastest batsmen ever to reach 10,000 runs in Test matches. He has scored over 11,000 Test runs at an average near 57, but since the February 2002 tour of South Africa (when he was elevated to the ODI team captaincy) he has scored 25 of his Test centuries and averaged above 74, leading to comparisons with Sir Donald Bradman.

Ponting is also Australia's leading ODI run-scorer and century maker. His century against the West Indies in Jaipur at the 1996 Cricket World Cup made him the youngest ever World Cup centurion, and his unbeaten 140 against India in the 2003 Cricket World Cup final was the highest by a captain in a World Cup final. In 2007 Cricket World Cup match against South Africa at St Kitts, Ponting became the first Australian to reach 10,000 runs in ODI Cricket and the 7th in world cricket to achieve this distinction. He recently reached 10,000 Test runs against the West Indies in June 2008 and crossed 11,000 ODI runs in the Commonwealth Bank series in 2008.

Like many Australian batsmen, Ponting is particularly strong against pace bowling, with the full array of back foot shots, including the pull, hook, and square cut. Early on, he was regarded as a near-compulsive hooker, but he has lately moderated this tendency. He tends to move across his off stump and lean back towards the leg side, and has therefore been regarded as vulnerable to LBW early in his innings. He is less adept against spin bowling, particularly on very helpful spinning pitches such as those in India where his average is 20.85.

After his first 30 Tests in just under four years his average was 38.62, and after rising into the mid-40s had dipped again to 40.50 after 45 Tests. Since that time his average has consistently risen; his averages in recent calendar years are 70.93 in 2002, 100.20 in 2003, 41.00 in 2004, 67.13 in 2005 and 88.86 in 2006.

Ponting bowls very occasional medium pace, and has experimented with off spin. He has taken 5 wickets in his Test career, the first being Asanka Gurusinha in only his second Test. Since he became captain, he hasn't bowled often; but he took his first Test wicket in five and a half years when he dismissed Michael Vaughan caught behind in the 4th Test in the 2005 Ashes Series. In One Day Internationals, he has taken 3 wickets, but has not bowled at this level since 2001.

He is an outstanding fieldsman square of the wicket or at silly point, with fast reactions and hand-eye coordination and (especially in the one-day game) a reputation for hitting the stumps to run out opposition batsmen. A report prepared by Cricinfo in late 2005 showing that since the 1999 Cricket World Cup, he had effected the second highest number of run-outs in ODI cricket of any fieldsman, with the sixth highest success rate.

In a Test against West Indies in 2008, Ricky Ponting scored his 10,000th run, becoming the third fastest to do so. On July 9 2009, in the first Ashes Test at Cardiff, Ponting joined the aforementioned batsmen when he went past 11,000 Test runs, scoring a century in the process.

West Indies 1998/99 tour
In Australia's first series under Steve Waugh's captaincy, Ponting was unable to force his way into the side in the first two tests. Number 3, Justin Langer had cemented his spot and Greg Blewett in good form at number six - especially against the fast West Indian attack. Before the third Test, Blewett suffered a hand injury, and Ponting was recalled into the side. On a pitch that according to Tony Cozier "... rapidly lost its early morning life under the influence of a hot sun and strong breeze," Ponting - who came to the crease with the score at 4-144 - joined Steve Waugh in a 281 partnership. After Waugh survived one of Ambrose's 'more threatning spells', he (141) and Ponting (65) ended the opening day with Australia in the box seat. Waugh later wrote "Ricky batted with maturity and even temperment associated with the champions of the game."

Controversies
Ponting's career has not been without controversy. He has been fined for dissent on more than one occasion. Ponting was involved in a fight outside a pub in Kings Cross, New South Wales in early 1999, and earned a suspension from the national team. He sustained a black eye in the fight. Ponting admitted to media that he suffered from alcoholism, and sought external help to attend to this problem.

During Australia's tour of India in 1998, Ponting was thrown out of Equinox night club in Kolkata. The Indian papers reported that Ponting was misbehaving with several women in the nightclub. Ponting was fined by Australian team management for this incident, and later apologised to the nightclub staff. No criminal charges were laid against Ponting.

During the 4th Test of the 2005 Ashes series, at Trent Bridge, Ponting was angrily outspoken about the use of substitute fielders by the England side, particularly after being run out by such a substitute. He directed an abusive tirade at the England dressing-room and was subsequently fined 75 per cent of his match fee. After England won the match to take a two-one lead in the series Ponting returned to the subject of substitutes in an interview with Australian radio: "I think it's an absolute disgrace the spirit of the game is being treated like that. It is within the rules; it's just not within the spirit of the game." England coach Duncan Fletcher later commented on this incident: "He [Ponting] completely blew his top. I did not actually think it at the time but, looking back now, that might be the moment when it became clear that England were going to regain the Ashes."

In 2005, he began using cricket bats with a graphite covering over the wooden blade of the bat. This was ruled by the MCC to have contravened Law 6.1, which states that bats have to be made of wood, although they may be "covered with material for protection, strengthening or repair not likely to cause unacceptable damage to the ball". Ponting and his bat supplier, Kookaburra Sport, agreed to comply.

In early 2006, in the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy, Ponting had an on-field argument with umpire Billy Bowden over signalling a no-ball because not enough players were within the inner circle. In mid 2006, during a tour of Bangladesh, Ponting was accused of "badgering the umpires until he got what he wanted". He has also been accused of charging at the umpires in appeal, which is forbidden, and can result in suspensions if a player is found guilty of intimidating the umpires.

After the final of the 2006 ICC Champions Trophy, Ponting drew some criticism for appearing to ask BCCI president and Indian cabinet minister Sharad Pawar to "leave the podium" and pointing towards the exit with his finger, while his team-mate Damien Martyn pushed him gently in the back so that his team could commence celebrations. The issue, while minor, was solved when Ponting issued a formal apology to Pawar.

After the Second Test of the 2007-08 Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Ponting and the Australian team were strongly censured by sections of the media and commentators for not playing the match in the spirit of the game.The Sydney Morning Herald carried a headline: Arrogant Ponting must be fired as well as a scathing critique by journalist and former English player Peter Roebuck, who branded Ponting arrogant and insisted that he be stripped of the captaincy. In a blog entry for The Bulletin, however, former Australian cricket captain Ian Chappell argued that Ponting should not be sacked because of his willingness to learn from his mistakes.

During Australia's 2008-09 tour of India, Ponting came under criticism for his inability to keep his bowlers up with the required over-rate, arguably squandering a small chance of victory in the final Test in a bid to avoid suspension; instead he incurred a fine. He failed to redress the matter during the subsequent home series against New Zealand, when match referee Chris Broad dealt a second successive fine for being three overs behind in the First Test: Ponting was stripped of thirty per cent of his A$12,750 match fee, twice the punishment of his team-mates in accordance with International Cricket Council rules for captains.

2008 Wimbledon Championships Men's Final
The final Sunday, featuring the men's singles final, saw Rafael Nadal win the first Wimbledon title of his career and fifth Grand Slam tournament. No. 1 seed and five time champion Roger Federer was aiming to equal William Renshaw's record of six consecutive Wimbledon titles (1881–86), and edge ever closer to Pete Sampras's record of 14 Grand Slam titles, of which Federer had 12. Nadal, the No. 2 seed and four-time French Open champion was Federer's challenger for the third consecutive year, and was aiming to become the first man since Björn Borg to win the French Open and Wimbledon in the same year. Nadal's countryman, Manuel Santana, the last Spaniard to have won the Wimbledon title (in 1966), said Nadal could take inspiration from Spain's victory in the recent European Championships, which Spain had last won in 1964.

Rain and lightning delayed the final, scheduled for 14:00, until 14:35 (UTC+1). The final itself was a fragmented affair, with two rain delays removing the possibility of an uninterrupted final. However, the playing time made it the longest final in Wimbledon history, at four hours and 48 minutes.

Nadal began well, winning the first set 6–4 in just under an hour, and taking the second by the same scoreline, despite having been down 4–1 at one point. The third set was interrupted by rain delays but the players returned to finish the set with a tie break, which Federer won by seven points to five. The fourth mirrored the third by also going to a tie break, in which Nadal took a 5–2 lead. Nadal was on serve but served a double fault and then was forced by Federer in to a hitting a backhand into the net. Later in the tie break, Nadal had two championship points, including one on his serve, which he squandered, with Federer triumphing 10-8, and forcing a final set. The fifth set went only four games before another rain delay; the score was 2–2 (40–40) when they returned. Nadal eventually prevailed, winning the final set 9–7, at 21:16 local time. Nadal celebrated his win by climbing to his family in the crowd, including coach Toni Nadal, and then traversed a roofed area to shake hands with members of Spanish royalty. Pundit and three-time Wimbledon champion John McEnroe lauded it as "the greatest match I have ever seen."

Playing style
Ganguly is an aggressive player and has often attracted controversy. He has attracted the wrath of match referees quite a few times, the most severe of which was a ban for 6 matches by ICC match referee Clive Lloyd for slow over rates against Pakistan and therefore his tour to Sri Lanka for the Indian Oil Cup 2005 was uncertain. These circumstances led to Rahul Dravid being made captain for the tour. Later, Justice Albey Sachs reduced the punishment from 6 matches to 4, and this permitted Ganguly to join the team, but as a player and not captain. In his opening match he made the highest score of the side (51 off 110 balls). He was again named captain for the Zimbabwe tour of August-September 2005. With this, he has captained India in the highest number of Tests (49).

During the 2003 World Cup final against Australia, Ganguly won the toss and decided to field. This decision raised eyebrows but Sourav remained confident that there would be moisture on the pitch that would help his bowlers; however the bowlers flopped and Sourav performed poorly with the bat. India went on to lose by 125 runs, a staggering defeat.

Ganguly's performance in the last couple of seasons after that were extremely poor. This put his place in the Indian team under pressure. In the tour of Zimbabwe, in which he was newly reinstated as skipper, Ganguly ground out a painfully slow century, against what is regarded as one of the weakest bowling attacks in international cricket. During the match he told reporters that newly-appointed coach Greg Chappell had asked him to stand down as captain &mdash; a comment which Chappell later played down. However, forty-eight hours after saying that he respected the Indian captain and looked forward to working with him in the future, Chappell sent an email to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Both Ganguly and Chappell were summoned to a BCCI board meeting in which they agreed to work together for the good of the team. Rahul Dravid was appointed captain for the series against Sri Lanka and South Africa after Ganguly was not selected for the opening games due to injury. When the two series were over, Rahul Dravid was asked to continue as skipper.

On 22 November 2005, Ganguly stepped down as captain of Bengal cricket team after being replaced as captain of the India Test team. He played in the first two Test matches in the three-Test series against Sri Lanka. However, on 14 December he was controversially dropped for the third Test at Ahmedabad, to make way for Wasim Jaffer, an opening batsman for Mumbai. Jaffer was picked by the selectors as they wished to build up a player selection pool with sufficient experience to succeed at international level. Despite this, in December 2005 he retained his A-grade contract from the BCCI.

Following the drop, fans blocked roads and railway tracks in Kolkata, burning effigies of chief selector Kiran More and Indian coach Chappell, and the urban development minister of West Bengal, Asoke Bhattacharya, said Ganguly was a victim of the internal politics of the BCCI. Cricinfo editor Sambit Bal wrote in a commentary that this was "in all probability ... the end of the road for him." However, it was announced on 25 December 2005 that he was selected as part of the Indian team to tour Pakistan. Kiran More cited his experience as the key reason, with Mohammed Kaif being dropped. He was in the playing XI in the Lahore and Karachi Tests, but was dropped for the Faisalabad match. He was unable to play in the England home series and the West Indies tour. He was also not selected for the following tri-series in Sri Lanka. However, he was chosen amongst 30 probables for the ICC Champions Trophy after being left out in the dark for almost close to a year. Ganguly failed in the Challenger Trophy, however, managing less than 30 runs in two games, and so the chances of recall to the ODI side look bleak.

Ganguly later sent an email hitting out at his one time mentor saying that Jagmohan Dalmiya did not deserve to become CAB president as he had played with his career and that Ganguly was a victim of internal politics within the BCCI. This was in the backdrop of the CAB elections which Jagmohan Dalmiya won.

Controversies, problems and miscellaneous

 * In January 2004, he found his life and focus on cricket affected after his mentor, David Hookes, was struck by a hotel bouncer in front of Lehmann, and died after going into cardiac arrest. Lehmann had to testify at the trial later that year.
 * In December 2004, he was labelled a 'snail' after losing a 100 m sprint to New Zealand's slowest cricketer, Mark Richardson, in his home capital of Adelaide.
 * He has released a book, Worth the Wait.
 * He was found guilty of racially abusing Sri Lankan players, calling them "black cunts" outside their dressing room in January 2003 and was banned for a series of five one-day internationals. Lehmann accepted that he had made these statements.
 * In May 2007 he suffered a DVT after routine surgery for an Achilles tendon complaint. He joins Steve Waugh as famous Australia cricketers who have suffered this ailment during their playing career.
 * Lehmann was elected President of the Australian Cricketers Association on 4 October 2006, the first person to be elected to this position while still playing the game.
 * His many nicknames include "Boof", "Darryl" and "Shrek".
 * Former England cricketer and Yorkshire team-mate Craig White is Lehmann's brother-in-law; Lehmann is married to White's sister, Andrea.
 * Lehmann and Arjuna Ranatunga are the only batsmen to have hit the winning runs in a World Cup final.

Quotes trimed
"I think it’s important that we sit back and look at that footage. Look at our body language. See if there are areas that we can improve on. We’ll look at some of the footage, its perception and the way people see things when they’re off the field. I might be talking to opposition players on the field but it might be construed by people watching on television that you’re in a slanging or sledging match when that’s not the case. What I want is for the Australian cricket team to be the most loved and the most respected sporting side in this country. That’s always been one of my aims and it will continue to be. One thing I’ve been conscious of over the last five years I’ve been captain is that this team is going to be recognised as one of the all-time great Australian cricket teams. But what I’ve also been conscious of is making sure the guys are remembered as being good people to go along with being great cricketers. In the last two or three seasons especially, we’ve actually started to change the perception, the way in which the public see us. There have been less (players reported). We’re ultra-conscious of how we play the game and the spirit of cricket which we all signed on to."

"After the second day's player. Dene Hills had run into a former Australian Test batsman who I believe is over here with a your group. 'When are you coaches going to do something about Ponting's technique?' this bloke asked. 'He falls across his front foot an hits across the line too much.' During South Africa's first innings, I'd dropped Herschelle Gibbs as second slip, which only provided more ammunition. 'He can't catch,' was how my fielding was rated. 'He shouldn't be in the slips any more.' It's funny how the ex-player s look at the modern game. Most of them are ultra-positive, but there are always a few who reckon they were better in their day. Dene recalled this rather one-sided conversation just as I was about to walk to bat in our second innings, and while it didn't act as any extra motivation it still stuck in my mind as I scored a hundred in both innings of a Test for the third time in my career. I have no idea why this bloke was into me, but it was nice to maybe set him straight."

"I'm fully aware that I've had an amazing run lately, and afterwards someone asked me if I was worried it might not last forever. But I've never thought about it ending, because it's not my way to overanalyse things, especially when things are going well. It's when things start going badly that people begin thinking about things too much, and in the past few years I've been extremely conscious if never letting self-doubt infiltrate my outlook. When I'm on strike, I don't want to be thinking about anything other than watching the ball. I say it to myself twice, every ball, once when the bowler is halfway through his run-up and again when he is in his delivery stride. 'Watch the ball ... Watch the ball.' This process reminds me of the most important thing I have to do and also keeps thoughts that don't matter from clouding my mind."

"I hated the feeling of helplessness and embarrassment I experienced during that South African run-chase. The idea of being captain of the team that had just conceded a world record total didn't thrill me one but. So when I saw the people in out dressing room clapping the South Africans off the field and in my eyes not looking too disappointed at all, I just lost it. I'm sure our support staff would say they were simply caught up in the occasion and were being sporting losers, but in the blur of such a dismal defeat I didn't see it that way. Instead, as soon as the dressing-room door was shut, I sailed into the biggest spray I expect I will ever deliver as Australian captain.

I told the team that not being able to defend such a score was simply unacceptable. If they weren't embarrassed, they bloody well should be. As captain, I roared, the buck stops with me, but there was no way any member of the squad was going to duck his individual responsibility for such a dreadful performance."

"I remember thinking Glenn's decision to take on the West Indies bowlers sent out a positive message to the West Indies that the Australian side was really up for it," Ponting said. "Ambrose, Walsh Kenny Benjamin had never been treated like that before. It made the West Indies sit back and think, 'This Australian team is fair dinkum — they're really up for it.' "Even if you aren't the murder boys of cricket, you can show little things to let the opposition know you are serious. It might be the way you warm up, how you dress to go to the ground. Perception can be enormous. If you can give off the right signals to (a) bluffing them or (b) showing them what you're all about. McGrath, at that stage of his career, showed them what he was all about. His body language and the way he looked at their batsman — the wry smile — it sent a signal to the batsman and his own team-mates that he knew what he was doing."

"I felt as if I hardly hit a ball in the middle all day. When I was out there with Haydos, I felt like a flyweight batting with George Foreman. The fact I managed 91 from 91 balls was purely a reflection on the short distance from the middle to the boundary rope. Even when I got out, caught on the long-on boundary, the ball hit the toe of the bat and I was surprised it flew that far."



Endorsements
Ponting has appeared in promotional advertisements for National Foods's Pura Milk, Rexona, Medibank Private, Victoria Bitter, Valvoline, KFC, Swisse and Weet-Bix. In 2007 Ponting signed a deal with India's ING Vysya Bank whereby customers starting an account with the bank went into a draw to win a dinner date with the Australian. He was also the face of Codemasters's Ricky Ponting International Cricket 2005 and reprised his role for the 2007 version.

Ashes
Australian captain Ricky Ponting won the toss and chose to bat in the opening Test at Lord's, London. England's opening bowler Steve Harmison—who struggled for form a consistency on their recent tour of South Africa—shook up the Australian batsmen early on, hitting Justin Langer on the elbow with the second ball of the match. The pitch offered bounce and swing from the start, while Matthew Hoggard swung a ball between Matthew Hayden's bat and pad and into his off stump. Hayden was dismissed for 12, having, according to a BBC report, "played nervously from the word go". In the 11th over, Ponting attempted to hook Harmison, but was struck on the face. The blow later required eight stitches; however the Australian captain batted on, before the Harmison had Ponting edging a defensive shot to Strauss at third slip. Langer was the next batsman to be dismissed, when he sliced a hook shot off Andrew Flintoff straight up in the air, for 40. In the next over, Simon Jones was brought onto bowl, and got immediate success, when he had Damien Martyn caught behind for 2. In the penultimate over before lunch, Michael Clarke was lbw to Jones, leaving Australia five down with only 97 runs on the board after the first session of play.

After lunch, Jones and Flintoff returned to the bowling crease, with Gilchrist edging the latter to the keeper in the sixth over after the resumption. The Australian wicket-keeper struck six fours in his 26. Simon Katich and Shane Warne fought to save the Australians from an embarrassing total, with Katich defending stodgily. Nevertheless, Warne was more confident, hitting Flintoff for six. He failed to see off Harmison, who had Australia's leading wicket-taker bowled for 28, after having him dropped at gully on 23, as Australia slumped to 7/175. Katich (27) was dismissed in the same over when he knicked a ball to Jones. In Harmison's following over, Lee was dropped by Pieterson at gully, before inside-edging a delivery to Jones later in the over. The fast-bowler had Jason Gillespie leg before wicket in his following over, to dismiss the world champions for 190 in the 41st over. He completed a spell of 4/7 from 14 balls, securing his first ever five-for [5/43] against Australia.

Glenn McGrath was the not out batsman—ending with 10 runs—before he opened the bowling with Brett Lee. England batted for six overs until tea, scoring ten runs without the loss of a wicket, but McGrath—who bowled his usual accurate line and length— reaped the rewards after tea. Marcus Trescothick fell first ball after the resumption, edging to slip to become McGrath's 500th victim in Test cricket, and Strauss fell in similar fashion three balls later. Michael Vaughan and Ian Bell survived six overs, adding seven runs, before McGrath had them bowled in the innings' 13th and 15th overs. Flintoff was bowled by McGrath in the 17th over, and England had lost five wickets for 21 runs, with five of their top six batsmen out in single figures. McGrath had taken 5/2, and had "swung the match." However, Kevin Pietersen and Geraint Jones batted together to add 58—England's highest partnership of the innings—and according to the BBC report, treated "Jason Gillespie with some disdain". A short ball from Brett Lee was too much for Jones, however, and he fended it to wicket-keeper Gilchrist to be out for 30. Ashley Giles hit two boundaries to finish the over, but the last ball of Lee's next over was glanced to the keeper, and Giles was out for 11—stepping on his stumps in the process: England 7/92 at stumps; 98 runs behind Australia. The day saw 17 wickets fall, and though Australia lost ten of them, the BBC thought Australia were in the box-seat. The usually aggressive Pieterson—who was in his first Test—fought his way to 28 in two hours, showing his determination. Harmison was interviewed by the MCC Museum after stumps were drawn. "I don't care if a player gets hurt," he said commenting on the blow he delivered Ponting. "It's my job. I'm six-foot-five.

England cut the deficit on the second morning, but were still bowled out before they could build a first-innings lead. Hoggard departed for a 16-ball duck, cutting a delivery from Shane Warne to Hayden in the slips. Pietersen now started to attack, taking twenty-one runs off seven deliveries before he was out caught by Damien Martyn, a diving catch just inside the boundary, and England were nine down for 122, still trailing by 68. The English tenth wicket pairing of Simon Jones and Harmison added 33 after that, a stand which was fifth-highest of the game thus far and which reduced Australia's lead to 35 runs. In the field, England started by having Langer run out for 6 in the fifth over, but Hayden and Ricky Ponting rebuilt to bat until lunch unbeaten.

Though Hayden was bowled by Flintoff for 34 three overs after lunch, the batsmen from three to six all passed forty; it was to be the only time in the series that Australia accomplished this feat. Clarke needed an extra life to do it, but made England pay after Pietersen dropped him on 21, and thus the partnership was allowed to last for 34.3 overs, with 155 runs being scored. Flintoff was smashed to all corners, with 84 runs being scored off him in his nineteen second-day overs, but in the last ten overs England came back to take wickets. Started by an inside-edge from Clarke off Hoggard, which left Australia's 24-year-old batsman bowled for 91, and Australia lost a further three wickets for 24 runs before the end of the day. The Australian lead was still 314, twice England's first innings total and then some, and Katich was still batting, not out on 10.

Four overs into the morning, specialist spin bowler Ashley Giles was involved in a dismissal for the only time in the match, having Lee run out for 8. However, Jason Gillespie batted for an hour and 15 minutes, and took part in a 52-run stand with the recognised batsman, Katich before Simon Jones got his reward with an away-swinger that crashed into Gillespie's off-stump - after having three catches dropped. The last wicket partnership rubbed it in with 43 more runs before Katich was caught by Simon Jones off Harmison, but England were set what would be a world record 420 to win.

They started positively, riding some favorable umpiring decisions; Aleem Dar turned down four strong leg before wicket (LBW) appeals off Shane Warne. Strauss and Trescothick could thus add 80 for the first wicket before Strauss edged a short-ball from Lee back into the bowler's waiting hands. Vaughan got off the mark with a four with his second ball, before facing 24 dot balls in the next three-quarters of an hour. Meanwhile, wickets fell at the other end, as Trescothick departed for 44, edging a straight ball from Warne to first slip after having taken him for ten in the previous over, and Bell was out LBW to a ball that didn't turn. Three overs later, Vaughan was bowled cleanly by Lee and Flintoff gave a catch to Gilchrist, England were five down for 115, and though Pietersen once again put on more than 40 runs with Geraint Jones, England still needed 301 for the last five wickets, which would mean five partnerships higher than England had managed all match.

Rain frustrated both Australia and neutral fans who wanted to see cricket played on the morning of the fourth day, but at 1545 BST the rain relented and the covers were taken off. Then, it took ten overs for Australia to wrap up England's innings, McGrath taking four of the five wickets required and Warne the last; Giles, Hoggard, Harmison and Simon Jones were all dismissed for ducks, and England could only cut 24 runs off Australia's eventual win margin of 239. 22 of those fourth-day runs came from Pietersen who was left stranded on an unbeaten 64 to have a Test batting average of 121 after his first match.

Education
The education system in Launceston comprises two tertiary education institutions; the government-run kindergarten to Grade 12 schooling system and the religious-based private schools and colleges. Launceston is home to a campus of the University of Tasmania, situated in Newnham. Due to the university's growth, a new $42 million university village is to be built nextdoor.

Quotations

 * "Image is Everything." - coined by Canon and announced by a teenage Agassi in a series of commercials, this quote was associated with Agassi and long used as a criticism of his character. In his book, Agassi writes, "They treat this ridiculous throwaway slogan as if it's my Confession, which makes as much sense as arresting Marlon Brando for murder because of a line he uttered in The Godfather."
 * About Pete Sampras' retirement: "You grow up with a guy, you compete against him for so long, he's such a big part of your career, something that's pretty special, so you do have that sense of personal regret that he's not around any more. You miss having that around."
 * During the 2005 US Open: "I've been motivated by overcoming challenge and overcoming the hurdles and obstacles that face me. There still is plenty out there to get motivated by." After defeating James Blake in a quarterfinal, Agassi said, "First of all, let me say, 1:15 in the morning, for 20,000 people to still be here, I wasn't the winner, tennis was. That's awesome. I don't know if I've ever felt so good here before."
 * When Mats Wilander was asked in 2005 to name the top five tennis players of the previous thirty years, he placed Agassi, Pete Sampras, Roger Federer and Björn Borg in the top four (in no order) and tied John McEnroe, Ivan Lendl and Jimmy Connors for fifth place. Concerning Agassi, Wilander said, "He has some limitations, like he can't serve and volley, yet he has won all four Slams. He has a very high energy level, quite like Borg. He is on fifth gear from the very first point. There is some abnormality in his eyes, otherwise he wouldn't have had such a phenomenal return. He sees the ball like no one else and just guides it wherever he wants to. He's just played a Grand Slam final at 35, that tells me he wasted the first five years of his career, otherwise, he couldn't have lasted this long. No one has done more to tennis than Agassi and Borg."
 * “When Andre’s on, forget it,” says Sampras. “He does practically everything better than anybody else.”

Bangladeshi cricket team in Australia in 2003
I'm planning on pushing this to FA soonish - month or two - as it's a rather short article. The background and aftermath (almost non-existant) needs expanding. Would it need a kind of stat summary? Perhaps to try and pad it out a bit. The amount of cricinfo refs will raise an eyebrow.  Aaroncrick  TALK 04:44, 25 August 2010 (UTC)
 * A few things
 * politics and economics of playing against Bangladesh and losing money, therefore an additional winter series in small towns
 * Not sure in aftermath if any Bangladesh players were promoted/demoted or change of strategy as a result of performances in Aus. No changes to Aus
 * I would expand the matchplay etc as the bulletin is fat and they probably have the commentary logs as well, notwithstanding the fact that the matches often only lasted 50% of the allotted overs, as at the moment in some places it just skips to the end of a Bang collapse
 * Need better range of comments than involved parties who have an interest in being overoptimistic about Bang (eg Bang saying they are worthwhile, opponents saying they are good to try and prove that a freebie 100 5fer means anything
 * There were some dudes calling for SRW to retire so that young players eg Mr bingle could get blooded against weak attacks. Maybe it was hookes again  YellowMonkey  ( new photo poll )  07:34, 25 August 2010 (UTC)

Thanks muchly. I'll do some research.  Aaroncrick  TALK 11:13, 25 August 2010 (UTC)
 * Inside Stroy by Haigh and Frith has a section saying that Australia were under pressure to host Bang since apparently they were one of the main backers of Bang's Test status  YellowMonkey  ( new photo poll )  01:29, 26 August 2010 (UTC)

Early life of Tim Paine
The son John and …. Paine, Tim was born in Hobart, Tasmania on 8 December 1984. He grew up in the sea-side suburb of Lauderdale where he often played beach cricket. As a junior, Paine was a talented Australian rules player considered good enough to make the Australian Football League (AFL), and his brother Nick—one of four siblings—plays in the Tasmanian Football League with the Clarence Football Club.[1][2] Paine's uncle, Robert Shaw, was an AFL player and coach.[2] Paine captained Tasmania at Under–15 and Under–17 level, along with being a member of its Under–19 team at the age of just fifteen. He was vice-captain of the Australian under–17, before scoring a first grade century for the University club in Hobart.

"It hit us all very hard. Seeing my father so heartbroken hurt as much as knowing that my mother had gone. Being only twelve and Mark just seven, we were totally bewildered by this sudden, massive change in out life. Without warning, my special person — my mum — was gone. And we'd been close. I relied on her love, the affection that you can only get from your mother. Suddenly that was gone. There's no doubt that my mother's leaving has had a massive impact on me. And it tore my father apart, to the point where he needed sleeping tablets to get through each night. I'd never seen Dad so shattered — he looked like death warmed up. Not knowing where Mum had gone or whatever or whether she was coming back almost killed him. And she was nowhere to be found. As it turned out, Mum was still in Wagga, but we didn't discover that until a week or so later, when she eventually contacted us.

One hopeful day Mum called and said she would try to work things out with Dad. At the time, Tracey, her boyfriend Stephen, Mark, Dad and I were going on holiday to Surfers Paradise, and Mum promised that when we returned, she'd be back at home in Wagga waiting for us. We kids were incredibly excited. After driving back from Surfers, I remember Mark and I running down the driveway, calling out for Mum. But when we reached the back door, it was locked. She did eventually arrive back home the next week, but she only stayed about a week. A few days after she'd returned she suggested that Dad take us kids out for a game of golf. When we got home, she'd gone — this time for good."