Barmy Army deny Ponting abuse

The Barmy Army have rejected criticism that they have actively booed Ricky Ponting, the Australia captain, in the Ashes.

Ponting was roundly booed by the Edgbaston crowd as he came into bat in both innings of the drawn third Test, but Katy Cooke, the general manager of the Barmy Army, insisted that her group were not the culprits.

"We weren't responsible for the booing of Ponting," Cooke said. "From what I can gather it was pretty tongue in cheek. He is one of the best, if not the best, batsman in the world and if we can do a bit to get under his skin and stop him concentrating 100% on his batting then we are doing a service to the England team."

England fans have long been considered some of the most courteous in the world, but there has been far less reverence towards Australia's players on the current Ashes tour, and in particular to Ponting. At the post-match presentations at Lord's, for example, Ponting revealed that the replay screen had shown his dropped catch off Peter Siddle countless times, and he was at odds to explain why the crowd seemed to be so against him.

"I'm not sure what all the animosity was there," Ponting said. "They seemed to take great pleasure out of me dropping that catch. I won't lose any sleep, though. I got my first clap as I left the stage after the post-game interview. But it took me to crack a little joke to get a laugh out of them."

Cooke, however, maintained that the Barmy Army were not actively encouraging foul play by their members, insisting that the England team have long been fans of these particular fans. "Andrew and (his wife) Ruth Strauss sat down with a couple of our guys after the Lord's Test and said, 'You guys rock.' I have a framed letter on the wall, hand-written by Michael Vaughan thanking us for all the support we have given him and the team during his captaincy and to carry on the hard work.

"We are supporters of the England cricket team and as long as we get that feedback we're not doing anything wrong."