| Rickey Ponting's Bat is Illegal: ICC
Dubai: The graphite reinforced bat used by Australia captain Ricky Ponting and several other leading international players is to be withdrawn after it was ruled to have contravened the laws of cricket.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) confirmed Thursday that Kookaburra, the Australian manufacturer of the bat, had agreed to its immediate voluntary withdrawal from international cricket.
Kookaburra's move came after it was told by the ICC that the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), the body responsible for cricket's rules, that the bat contravened Law Six and, in MCC's view, was illegal.
With several players using the Kookaburra bat, including Ponting, his Australia team-mate Justin Langer, Sri Lanka's Sanath Jayasuriya and New Zealand's Nathan Astle, the firm said it had undertaken to re-supply all international cricketers with alternate bats as soon as possible.
The ICC said it had accepted the firm's assurances that this would be done with all possible speed following an MCC investigation which began last year.
Law Six states that the blade of the bat shall be made solely of wood but that it may be covered with material for 'strengthening, protection or repair' as long as the material doesn't damage the ball.
In 2005, while using the bat, Ponting became the world's top-ranked batsman and played his 100th Test, enjoying a run-glut that recently saw him awarded the Allan Border medal for Australia's player of the year.
He hit 1,596 Test runs with seven centuries and also scored 1,137 runs in one-day internationals, with another two hundreds.  | 
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