Hints and tips:
...Ever fewer Americans knew their neighbours, worked as a volunteer or went bowling in clubs any more....
...Then there is the spin-bowling question. Since Graeme Swann retired, there is always the spin-bowling question....
...■ Australian captain Ricky Ponting scored 113 runs in the series at an average of 16. Ponting is the second highest run scorer in Test cricket with 12,363....
...After Graeme Swann took the final wicket, Ricky Ponting, the Australian captain, emerged manfully on to the field to shake the hand of his counterpart Andrew Strauss....
...Their cricketers made a sensational start to the Second Ashes Test, bowling Australia out for 245 on the first day in Adelaide....
...Ricky Ponting, Australia captain, recently suggested that fast bowler Shaun Tait should be considered for the Test squad, and he would prove a handful for any opposition batsman....
...But nothing can explain, for instance, how Australia’s best batsman, Ricky Ponting, got suckered into an ill-advised and badly executed hook. It could have been worse for Australia....
...And their wicket-keeper and fielders were showering England with gifts, most spectacularly when captain Ricky Ponting let the ball through his legs....
...After Hughes was out, Simon Katich and captain Ricky Ponting put on an unbroken 189, both reaching their hundreds shortly before the close....
...England were helped by an abrupt change in the conditions, which suddenly favoured swing bowling....
...Some blamed them for bowling short, but that was not the issue. They had to bowl straight....
...Graham Onions removed Simon Katich, bringing in his captain Ricky Ponting. He was again booed to the crease....
...England captain Andrew Strauss rates at 365 to 385 with Australian captain Ricky Ponting, one of the most consistently prolific batsmen in history, at 400 to 420....
...Less encouraging was the ebbing menace of Brett Lee, suddenly a fast-bowling spearhead in name only....
...Steve Waugh, Mr Ponting’s predecessor as captain, has for years raised money for a leper children’s colony in Kolkata (Calcutta) while Dennis Lillee, an Australian fast-bowling hero, has run a bowling academy...
...For those, at least, who accept his bowling action as beyond reproach, Muralitharan will be the worthiest of record-breakers....
...Ricky Ponting bats first drop for Australia because he is the best in the business. Kevin Pietersen should do the same....
...Even then, the Australians’ bowling had performed well enough, and this ruthless eight-wicket victory suggested all aspects of their game were now performing better than well enough....
...Led by Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist and the Michaels Clarke and Hussey, the batting remains muscular, if lean beyond number six....
...In a corner of the Australian dressing room at Perth’s Waca ground sat a contented Ricky Ponting, beer in hand, reflecting on a job well done....
...On Sunday in dusty Multan he could be seen grinning happily as he slapped the Pakistan bowling around....
...And everywhere the strategy of captain Ricky Ponting is under attack....
...You would have thought someone might have mentioned this to Ricky Ponting, Australia’s captain, before he chose to put England in to bat after winning the toss....
...Bowling actions can often reveal the man. Does the laid-back simplicity of his mirror the inner Harmison? "Yeah, I'm laid-back. Don't get fazed too much, or riled or upset....
...As for the fieriest spell of fast bowling he has faced, there have been so many occasions, he says. “Melbourne ’99, Brett Lee’s debut Test – he was consistently fast....
International Edition