Ponting kicks off the Ashes banter

After Ricky Ponting announced that the one thing missing in his CV is being captain of a winning Ashes side in England, Paul Hayward writes in the Observer that the Australian skipper is a man England will have to be wary of.

Most of all the gaze catches on the 34-year-old whose career is defined by his pathological urge to plonk England on an eternal barbecue. It's as if Punter was sent along from central casting. It's all there: the boozy, brawling youth, the earnest clean-up phase, the fearless clubbing of quick bowlers, the less than Corinthian leadership, the abiding obsession with Poms. He is Allan Border and Steve Waugh by other means.