Cape Town, Mar. 16: Australia’s chief selector Andrew Hilditch has lauded Ricky Ponting''s "inspirational" leadership.

There was time when Ponting was roundly criticized after a 2-1 Test series belting at home by Graeme Smith''s Proteas.

Now, fortunes have changed. Australia heads into the third and final Test of the return series at Cape Town with a 2-0 lead.

There''s even talk of a "Ponting legacy" to rival his predecessors as captain.

Brisbane (Australia), Mar. 16: Injured Australian fast bowler Stuart Clark has signed a six-week deal to play English county cricket with Kent in the hope of making it back to the national squad for the Ashes this year.

Clark had elbow surgery at the start of the summer then was forced to miss the South African tour because of another flare-up.

Desperate to churn through some overs ahead of the opening Ashes in Cardiff in July, the 33-year-old Clark said the brief stint with Kent was the perfect chance to reignite his ambitions.

Sydney, Mar. 16 : New Zealand''s women cricketers face their most important match in four years against India tomorrow, eyeing revenge against the side who eliminated them from the previous World Cup.

A spot in Sunday''s World Cup final against unbeaten England beckons for the winners of the Super Six match at North Sydney Oval, after Australia tumbled from contention when India upset them by 16 runs at the weekend.

Sydney - An 11-year-old girl missing from her home in Australia's far north is likely to have been taken by a crocodile, Northern Territory police said Monday.

The girl went missing Sunday when she was swimming with friends in a Darwin river.

Her shorts have been found but there has been no sign of the girl or the crocodile.

One of the friends said she saw a crocodile in the river shortly before her friend went missing.

It would be the second fatal crocodile attack in the far north in five weeks.

Sydney - People with companion animals are like people with companion humans: happier, healthier and longer-lived, says Melbourne researcher Tim Rogers.

While the standard logic is that pet owners get out more, and so are fitter because they take more exercise, Rogers says it has more to do with the quality of the outing than simply the cardiovascular benefits of being at one end of a leash.

"Most researchers are now converging on the idea that it's the sense of emotional closeness and support that pets provide that is behind their stress-busting power," he said. "It now appears that animal companions benefit our lives in much the same way as do human companions."

Sydney  - Without their distinctive livery, lots of little reef fish would look much the same. Colour differentiates them, not shape.

The blue-striped fangblenny, found in coral reefs in Indonesia and Australia, is different. What marks it out from every other fish known to man is that it can change colour at will.

The default colour is brown, but the fangblenny can switch to yellow or a range of other bright hues to deceive other fish.

"Their repertoire of disguises appears to prevent or reduce detection by potential victims," says Queensland University marine biologist Karen Cheney. "They may also escape from predators by hiding in a large shoal."