Melbourne, Dec. 3 : Australian cricket team physiotherapist Alex Kountouris has dismissed speculation that captain Ricky Ponting''s career could be cut short by a wrist injury.

Ponting was visiting his surgeon Greg Hoy in Melbourne on Thursday for assessment of his right wrist, after he had a screw inserted in July to repair tissue and tendon damage.

The Sydney Morning Herald quoted Kountouris as saying that the appointment had been planned six weeks ago. He said the pain Ponting was experiencing was standard after any type of surgery and was not severe enough to have caused him to miss a training session let alone consider being rested from any matches.

Sydney, Dec. 3 : The Times, one of Britain''s most respected newspapers, has extraordinarily referred to the Australian cricket team as "the weasels of international sport".

In article for the paper, Simon Barnes attacked the Aussies during an impassioned plea to the England players not to duck out of their resumed tour of India in the wake of the Mumbai terror attack.

Lahore, Dec. 3 : Pakistan cricket captain Shoaib Malik has said that the Indian cricket team’s tour of his country in January and February next year should go ahead, saying "cricket diplomacy" would ease existing tensions between the neighbors.

"If we play cricket matches, then the people of both countries will have a chance to divert their attention and the situation will definitely improve. Cricket diplomacy has helped in the past as well in the same manner," The News quoted Malik as saying.

Adelaide, Dec. 2 : Australian captain Ricky Ponting believes that inexperience in Australian conditions, especially at Perth, might count against the South Africans when undertake the tour Down Under.

"On paper, it''s a very good attack. But it''s an attack that hasn''t played in Australia. We all know that it''s pretty easy to get carried away with conditions in Perth if you haven''t played there before," The Age quoted Ponting, as saying.

Dubai, Dec. 2 : Australian fast bowler Mitchell Johnson has broken into the top 10 of the Reliance Mobile ICC Test bowlers for the first time in his career following another good performance against New Zealand at Adelaide.

The 27-year-old left-armer took match figures of 5-85 as Australia registered a comfortable victory over the Black Caps and as a result he has gained another four places in the rankings. He now sits in eighth place, level with Shoaib Akhtar of Pakistan and Sri Lanka’s Chaminda Vaas.

It is a remarkable turn around for the Queenslander considering he was outside the top 30 as recently as last month.

The England cricket team is likely to return to India on December 3 for the next rounds of Test series against India. Earlier, the UK team returned, following security threats in the wake of the terror attack in Mumbai. The team was playing fifth ODI in Cuttack on Wednesday when Mumbai came under terror attack, leading to the suspension of the forthcoming matches.

The security issue has become very important for the next matches in Indian fields. England captain Kevin Pietersen hoped that security adviser Reg Dickason would allow them to play ODI matches.