Sydney, Sept 8 : Former Australian cricket captain Ricky Ponting and wife Rianna has been blessed with a second baby daughter, whom they have named Matisse Ellie.

Ponting flew home from the tour of Sri Lanka to be present for the birth of their second daughter, telegraph. com. au reports.

The Pontings have a three-year-old daughter, Emmy.

It is expected that Ponting will return to Sri Lanka for the third and final Test, which is scheduled to begin on September 16 in Colombo.

Colombo, Aug 31: Ricky Ponting will become the first cricketer to play in 100 winning Test matches if Australia wins the ongoing Galle Test against Sri Lanka.

Ponting already has the records of more Test and one-day victories as captain.

Not surprisingly, the top eight players on the list of Test victories are Australians, the Courier Mail reports.

The 36-year-old is followed by Shane Warne (92), Steve Waugh (86), Glenn McGrath (84), Adam Gilchrist (73), Mark Waugh (72), Matthew Hayden (71) and Justin Langer (70). (ANI)

Colombo, Aug 30: Australian batsman Ricky Ponting has a simple piece of advice to his teammates preparing to bat in the first Test against Sri Lanka - get your starts right and you'll be fine.

Ponting reckons that if batsmen can get through their first 20 deliveries they can succeed in the island nation.

Colombo, Aug 6: India's tour of Australia will be the toughest for the Michael Clarke-led team this year, according to Ricky Ponting.

Australia have tours of Sri Lanka, South Africa and New Zealand before they face India in December, but the former captain said that Australia-India series have always been one of cricket's biggest and most volatile clashes.

The Australian captain Ricky Ponting has said that the team is only thinking of winning the Ashes on home soil. Last year, England has registered an empathic Ashes series win over the Australian team. That was second time in Ponting's career that Australia has encountered an Ashes series defeat.

In 2006-07 season, Australia has posted a 5-0 whitewash of the Ashes series. Now the Australia skipper is anticipating repeating the same in this season.

But this time it has become a tough task for him. Because the English team is quite confident and much composed.

IPL boss Lalit Modi, a day before accused the Australian captain Ricky Ponting of interfering in the Australian players' decision of participating in the IPL over the security issue. He slammed Ponting and further warned the players that this kind of behavior would not be acceptable and they could not go about dictating terms as per their choice. Ricky Ponting's contract with KKR was terminated this season.

Its IPL making the news again. In the country of cricket fans, IPL has emerged as a major event in the country and during the past two events, the impact was phenomenal.

IPL is always in the news for reasons, right and wrong. There were reports that suggested that Australian captain Ricky Ponting has been advising his teammates to back off from the IPL.

Australian cricket is in great shape ahead of their next two major assignments, winning back the Ashes and chasing a fourth-straight World Cup triumph, said Captain Ricky Ponting.

The Sydney Morning Herald quoted Ponting, as saying," We''re heading in the right direction in all forms of the game and with the exposure that we''ve been able to give a lot of the younger guys as well, a lot of them aren''t so young any more in terms of having games of cricket under their belts."

Melbourne, Feb 7: Australian skipper Ricky Ponting has backed his fast bowlers to contain West Indies captain Chris Gayle and his team in the one-day series starting at the MCG from Sunday.

Ponting also claimed to have assembled the best fast-bowling group in the world after the West Indies captain coolly tipped his team to thump Australia in the series.

Gayle has predicted said that the West Indies would win the series 4-1 despite Australia taking a stranglehold on the 50-over format in recent months and the Calypso outfit being weakened by injuries to experienced players.

Sydney, Jan 2 : Australian captain Ricky Ponting has warned his side against underestimating the unpredictable Pakistan team in the second cricket Test beginning here Sunday.

Australia won the first Test at Melbourne by a convincing 170-run margin, but Ponting knows that Pakistan have the talent to turn the tables on the hosts.

"Teams are probably at their most dangerous when they've come off a heavy loss like last week," Ponting said Saturday. "The challenge for us is to not get carried away with what we've done."

Sydney, Jan 1 : Australia cricket captain Ricky Ponting is happy with the way his spinners, especially Nathan Hauritz and newcomer Steve Smith, are improving.

Ponting's comments come a month after he raised his concerns over the dearth of good slow bowlers in the country.

"I'm very happy with the way our spin bowling stocks are looking at the moment," Ponting was quoted as saying by the Sydney Morning Herald.

Melbourne, Dec 25 : Australian captain Ricky Ponting Friday said he would be fit in time for the Boxing Day Test against Pakistan starting here Saturday.

Ponting suffered a nasty hit on his elbow off Kemar Roach's bowling during the Perth Test against the West Indies.

On Christmas Day, he faced teammates Peter Siddle and Doug Bollinger during a gruelling net session at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) and said that he has a 'strong chance' to play.

Melbourne, Dec. 25 : Australian captain Ricky Ponting is wary of the ‘young’ Pakistani team, and has described the visitors as a much better side than the West Indies.

Ponting said he expects the Pakistani players to fight hard during the series, adding that the team has ‘boundless talent’.

Melbourne, Dec. 25 : Australian captain Ricky Ponting has said that he is quite confident about playing against Pakistan in the first Test at the MCG, starting tomorrow.

"I went well today actually, I went better today than yesterday. I had a bit of pain in the nets yesterday. I was always going to bat two days into the game. I''m really confident that I can play the game," the Daily Telegraph quoted Ponting, as saying.

New South Wale''s Phillip Hughes will stay with the team as standby until the match starts on Boxing Day.

Brisbane, Nov. 29 : Captain Ricky Ponting has promised to maintain Australia''s aggression against the West Indies in the team’s quest to climb back to the top of the ICC Test world rankings.

The Australian team’s belligerent approach was a feature of its victory by an innings and 65 runs in the opening Gabba Test.

Sydney, Nov 28 : Australian batsman Marcus North has said that the team has its share of ‘bling boys’, but he is happy to work in the shadows and be a dependable batsman.

North may not have set pulses racing at the Gabba with his 79 runs, but halfway through his eighth Test he has scored 648 runs at an average of 54, including three centuries, a Test record to be proud of.

“I think, we have other players who can play that role and I just try and be someone Ricky Ponting can rely on,” Fox Sports quoted North, as saying.

Brisbane, Nov. 25 : Australian captain Ricky Ponting has confirmed that off-spinner Nathan Hauritz will be a part of the first Test squad taking on the West Indies at the Gabba in Brisbane on Thursday.

Pacer Doug Bollinger will be the 12th man, while the other quicks featuring in the team would be Mitchell Johnson, Peter Siddle and Ben Hilfenhaus, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.

Australian team: Ricky Ponting (c), Shane Watson, Simon Katich, Michael Hussey, Michael Clarke, Marcus North, Brad Haddin, Michael Johnson, Nathan Hauritz, Peter Siddle, Ben Hilfenhaus.
12th man: Doug Bollinger.

Brisbane (Australia), Nov. 23 : Australian cricket captain Ricky Ponting has revealed he has two tricky dilemmas ahead of the first Test against West Indies -- whether to throw Mitchell Johnson the new ball and how much to bowl Shane Watson.

According to Fox Sports, Johnson and Watson return to the Gabba as key men in the Test team, but still with doubts over how they can best utilise their talent.

Mumbai, Nov. 12 : Australian skipper Ricky Ponting rates Shane Watson as cricket''s gun all-rounder.

Ponting predicted that Watson, being sound in body and having peace of mind, would be enshrined as the game''s next crack all-rounder.

"The extended run he has had injury-free means he is starting to show everybody what a few us believed he was going to be able to achieve at international level," the Daily Telegraph quoted Ponting, as saying.

Sydney, Nov 7 : Australian skipper Ricky Ponting hopes that luck will continue to favour him against dangerous Virender Sehwag, who has not been so successful in the ongoing seven match series so far.

Australia have escaped lightly in their dealings with Sehwag so far this series, and captain Ricky Ponting is hoping to claim an unbeatable 4-2 lead at Guwahati.

In each of the five matches played on the tour, Sehwag has scored 13 (11 balls), 40 (31), 11 (25), 30 (19) and 38 (30).