Thursday, February 24, 2011

Cricket-Box hit television not my bat, explains Ponting

Ricky Ponting


Ricky Ponting was still amused on Thursday at the furore he caused after his flying groin protector damaged a television in the Australian team's dressing room during a World Cup match.

Ponting was given a dressing down by the sport's governing body (ICC) on Wednesday for damaging the set but insisted it was purely accidental and not malicious.

"The television wasn't hit by me with my bat at all, it was hit by my box that I had thrown down," Ponting told reporters on Thursday, ahead of his team's Group A match against New Zealand.

After being run out for 28 by Zimbabwe on Monday, Ponting was seen angrily talking to himself as he walked back to the pavilion. Once inside, he struggled to put a lid on his emotions.

Conflicting reports suggested the damage had been caused by his groin protector, his glove and even his bat.

"I'm not sure where the lot of those stories have come from," he added with a smile. "But I have accepted what the ICC have come up with as far as a reprimand is concerned from the incident.

"There was some small damage to the TV set and I went and reported it to the team manager straight away. They actually replaced the television set there and then.

"Some of the stories I have been hearing the last couple of days have been a little bit different to what the list of events actually were."

Ponting, 36, accepted that he had crossed the line but wanted an end to the controversy once and for all.

"Hopefully we can put this all behind us and start worrying about a big game of cricket (tomorrow)," he said.

"There's a limit I guess... you can let off steam in a dressing room. It is a pretty sacred sort of place in international cricket.

"But there's a line you can't over-step. I accept responsibility for that happening, albeit by total accident and with no malice involved whatsoever.

"What's happened has happened, I'd like to be able to take it back but I can't."

Ponting, who is chasing his third consecutive World Cup triumph as captain, escaped any further censure even though he could have been fined up to 50 percent of his match fee, the ICC said in a statement on Wednesday.
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