Taunting is not upsetting Ponting

RICKY PONTING accepts his pantomime villain role in this summer’s Ashes simply “goes with the territory” for a touring Australia captain.

On the eve of the fourth npower Test at Headingley, where an England victory would see the hosts regain the Ashes, Ponting confirmed he was involved in a heated exchange with a fan at Edgbaston last weekend.

Ponting, 34, has been the target of English supporters’ boos most of the summer, and Yorkshire chief executive Stewart Regan has pledged to prevent spectators getting close to the players in Leeds.