Australia

Ricky Ponting batting at Edgbaston last week. Photo: Tom Shaw/Getty Images. Three – yes, a whole three –  cheers for Dominic Lawson’s article in the Independent today. He is right: booing Ricky Ponting is disgraceful. There may be a cartoonish element to it all and perhaps the Barmy Army will signal this by cheering the Australian skipper to the echo at the Oval when, we assume, he plays his final test innnings in England, but that’s still not quite good enough. For the time being, too many England cricket fans – not to be confused with supporters of English cricket – seem to have decided that Ponting is some kind

That’s the question Dan Drezner asks, riffing on this frankly dubious Toronto Star survey of North American cities. The Star bases its criteria upon winning percentage which is a rum, if typically North American, way of looking at these matters, and comes up with the rather surprising verdict that Indianapolis is the best sports city in North America. Make of that what you may. It wouldn’t be enough for me. Anyway, Dan wonders how to take this “global” factoring in all those non-American sports and coming up with a candidate for the title of “Greatest Sporting City in the World”. I suspect readers will have their own views on this

Having come-off second-best in our West Indies game, I’m duty bound to suggest (gently) that I’ve had the better of Norm in the Australian leg of the series. In large part, of course, this reflects the luxury of being able to select Don Bradman with the first pick, just as Norm benefitted from choosing Gary Sobers first last time. In each case the player picking first has been able to acquire two players for the price of one. That’s quite an advantage. Having Bradman in my side permitted me to pick Keith Miller second, to provide balance, and my two favourite Aussie fast bowlers with my third and fourth selections.