Perth, Dec. 16 : Australian captain Ricky Ponting has said that even Brett Lee will be expected to take his turn pushing into Perth''s famous sea breeze.

Ponting also confirmed that Peter Siddle will play the first Test against South Africa, beginning on Thursday, replacing Stuart Clark, who is out with tennis elbow.

Clark had surgery in Sydney on Monday afternoon to remove bone spurs on his right elbow and will miss the remainder of the international summer.

"It''s a big blow for Stuart and the team," Ponting said.

Sydney, Dec. 5: Australian cricket captain Ricky Ponting says his side deserves the number one ranking in Test cricket even if South Africa defeats them this month.

"It has taken us a long time and a lot of great wins in different conditions around the world to get us to that No. 1 spot," Fox Sports quoted Ponting, as saying on Thursday.

Sydney, Dec. 5 : Australian cricket captain Ricky Ponting has said that he should have avoided the team’s tour to India in October and November this year and given himself some more time to recover from his wrist surgery.

"Probably right at the time, with the break that I had after the West Indies and leading into the Indian series, and the Indian series being as big as it was, I was probably not forced, but I wanted to come back and resume playing as soon as I possibly could," Ponting said.

"It would have been nice to have another couple of months off, but I wasn''t afforded that luxury,” Fox Sports quoted him, as saying.

Melbourne, Dec. 4 : Australian cricket captain Ricky Ponting has said that he has no plans to reduce his ODI appearances to prolong his Test career.

He said he wanted to play as much international cricket as he could, and enjoyed the challenge of leading Australia through their transitional phase following the exodus of retirees.

Melbourne, Dec. 4 : Australian cricket captain Ricky Ponting has assured his fans that his well-publicised wrist injury is little more than a niggle and it will, hopefully, be healed by the end of the summer.

Ponting visited surgeon Greg Hoy in Melbourne today for a scan on his right wrist - which has previously been operated on - and was told there no need for cortisone injections or other treatment for the injury.

"It was not a necessity for me to go and see the surgeon, it was more of a check-up," Ponting said.

"As everyone knows, I''ve had a bit of discomfort over the past few months but most players on the international scene have a bit of pain they''ve got to carry through every season," he added.

Sydney, Dec. 4 : Everyone knows that Australian captain Ricky Ponting has been Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh’s bunny in almost all the series that have been contested between the two countries since 2001, and if Ponting does go through with his `horses for course” strategy, he would probably have to bar himself from facing the Indians anywhere on the cricket field.

At least, that is what former Australian fast bowler Damien Fleming thinks. Fleming told the Sydney Morning Herald that in cases where a horses for courses policy has been followed in the past, it has always been the bowlers, rather than the batters, who have been made the whipping boys.