Ponting hopes to maintain top position in cricket

SYDNEY: Australia’s skipper Ricky Ponting hoped that his team would continue to maintain its number one ranking in the cricket world next year too. Ponting said South Africa will not deserve to be called the world's best team even if it wins the forthcoming three-Test series starting in Perth this month.Australia is 13 points ahead of the second-placed Proteas on the International Cricket Council's Test rankings.Ponting says it takes a long period of domination for a team to become world champion."It has taken us a long time and a lot of great wins in different conditions around the world to get us to that number one spot," he said."If South Africa beat us 3-0, I don't know if that gives them enough points to get over us."But if they won the series 1-0 or 2-1, I don't think that would mean that they deserve to take over that mantle."Ponting said he had been assured that his wrist problem would not force him to scale back his workload.

Comments

Cuba's world-famous cigar festival closes in Havana

Sunday, February 28, 2010 HAVANA: Hundreds of wealthy merchants and cigar aficionados from all parts of the world gathered in Havana this week to bid high stakes for humidors full of premium cigars. Cuba's annual Habanos festival ended on Friday night with an auction of ornate humidors of cedar and mahogany stacked with hand-rolled stogies that raised 800,000 euros ($1.09 million dollars). Habanos S.A. executives this month said cigar sales fell 8 percent to $360 million in 2009, so they have created the Julieta, a smaller, milder version of the Romeo y Julieta cigar, aimed specifically at female smokers. Women now make up only 5 to 10 percent of customers for Habanos. But even with the creation of the Julieta, Garcia said Habanos has only modest hopes for 2010 sales, due largely to a weak economy in Spain, the biggest market for Cuban cigars. The flavor of premium tobacco relies on the soil and climate in which it is grown. The western province of Pinar Del Rio, famous fo...

Snake bite deaths

Monday, July 06, 2009 COLOMBO: The Sri Lankan government recorded some 33,000 snake bites in 2008, with most of the victims coming from remote villages.The Department of Government Information said in a statement that most of the snake bite cases could be fatal if neglected.The statement said snake bites are often neglected in Sri Lanka as victims do not seek treatment at hospitals where advanced medication is available. Instead, the victims rush to traditional type of treatment which could be a risk, reports Xinhua.Snake bites death at domestic level, outside hospitals, go unrecorded, said the statement.Most victims of snake bite are from the rural and remote villages where there is no electricity after dusk.Statistics show that Sri Lanka has over 90 species of snake with around 10 species possessing venom capable of killing a human being.In Sri Lanka the annual death rate due to snake bite envenoming is one of the highest in the world being 6 in 100,000 population.

New arts space on the block

Updated at: 1821 PST, Saturday, September 19, 2009 NEW YORK: The Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC) has officially opened LentSpace, a half-acre public park in lower Manhattan that it plans to use as a temporary gathering space, contemporary-art venue, and performing arts site. The block, which is bounded by Grand, Varick, and Canal streets and Sixth Avenue, is owned by the Trinity Real Estate Corp., which manages Trinity Church's real estate holdings. Unable to arrange a sufficiently lucrative arrangement for the property, church officials decided to allow the LMCC program to go there until economic conditions improve.

ONE NEWS

Search This Blog