Regarding Ricky Ponting, a couple of people have mentioned that the news reported he wants to be known as Rick from now on, but I didn't see anything like that on SBS's report. I just Googled information now, and if you search Google News for "Rick Ponting", you get two articles: one from CricketWorldCupLatest.com that calls him Rick in the headline and Ricky in the article (including Andrew Symonds calling him Ricky), and one about someone totally different, some J. Rick Ponting, a sociology professor emeritus of the University of Calgary appointed by the Anglican Church to a truth commission re: Canada's First Nations!
So if Ponting does want to be called Rick, the online media at the moment doesn't seem to give a shit! Meanwhile, The Chaser legends continue to dominate headlines ...
major_panic said:
However, I actually do like the Kiwis. They're like the nicer version of Australia, except they don't win as much but have much cooler uniforms.
And, of course, they have Daniel Vettori, who by virtue of his glasses is the single coolest player in cricket ever.
Great rationale! The uniforms certainly do help, it seems. I've met a couple of Australians who actually support the Kiwis just because they think we look cooler and they can't stand certain prominent Aussie sportsmen (not naming names, but Matt Dunning, Phil Waugh, George Gregan, Ricky Ponting, Shane Warne, we haven't forgotten you).
Unfortunately, I've lived in Australia long enough that a lot of people don't guess I'm from New Zealand any more. When I moved to Victoria, people assumed I'd just come from interstate until I said something like "the weather down here is icksillint compared to Queensland's awful bloody heat"!