Cape Town (South Africa), Mar. 23: Australian cricket captain Ricky Ponting has appealed to the national selectors to provide him with a specialist spinner for the Ashes series.

The appeal has gone out following the disastrous debut of Bryce McGain in Cape Town, reports The Age.

McGain took 0-149 from 18 overs at 8.27 runs per over, the second-worst economy rate by a bowler in an innings in Test history.

Cape Town (South Africa), Mar. 19 : An unwell Australian middle-order batsman Marcus North is still likely to feature in the squad that takes on South Africa in the third Test that starts here today.

The 29-year-old left-hander made a century on debut in last month''s Johannesburg Test and is a key member in Australia''s batting line-up, especially with no reserve batsman in the squad.

"There''s no other batters here to bring in," Australia captain Ricky Ponting said.

Cape Town (South Africa), Mar. 19 : Australia have made clear their intentions to push hard for a 3-0 sweep of their Test series against South Africa by suggesting that stand-in Proteas skipper Jacques Kallis has "enough on his plate".

Kallis quit as vice-captain in 2007 after being left out of Proteas'' squad for the ICC Twenty20 World Cup.

The 33-year-old is the only South African in Test cricket''s 10,000-run club and has also taken 258 wickets at 30.88 in 130 matches, as well as being one of the game''s finest slips fielders.

Cape Town (South Africa), Mar. 13: Australian captain Ricky Ponting is scared that the "glitz and glamour" of Twenty20 will overtake Test cricket in the popularity stakes.

Durban, Mar. 12 : Australian skipper Ricky Ponting has praised opener for maintaining his equanimity in the second Test against South Africa here, and added that during the match he was looking for signs of an inflated ego, which fortunately never surfaced.