title: Ricky Ponting

text: Australia lost to England 2–1 after starting the series as favourites. Ponting thus became the first Australian captain since Allan Border in 1986–87 to lose an Ashes series. The 2005 series was hailed as one of the great Test series, but Ponting faced significant criticism afterwards and his tenure as captain was questioned. In his defence, Ponting said that Australia had simply been outplayed and had not stepped up at crucial moments in the matches. He rejected suggestions that Shane Warne should be captain in his stead.


title: Ricky Ponting

text: After the first two matches the score was 1–1, having lost Glenn McGrath during the warm-up at Edgbaston and falling short of victory by just 3 run. England had the upper hand throughout the third Test at Old Trafford, where Australia needed to bat through the last day to force a draw. Ponting scored 156, the first Australian century of the series, and was dismissed only four overs from the end of the day. This left Australia nine wickets down but their final pair survived the remaining overs. In the fourth Test at Trent Bridge, Australia again batted poorly and was forced to follow-on. In the second innings, Ponting was well set on a score of 48, and England was in some difficulty due to an injury to key paceman Simon Jones, when the Australian captain was run out by a direct hit from the substitute fielder (Gary Pratt). Ponting reacted angrily, directing an abusive tirade at the English support team in the pavilion concerning the liberal use of substitutes as he walked into the Australian rooms. England had routinely used substitutes so that their bowlers could receive massages between their spells, but in this case, Pratt was on the field due to an injury to Jones, who had been taken to hospital and would go on to miss the fifth and final Test match of the series. Ponting was later fined 75% of his match fee by the match referee.


title: Ricky Ponting

text: Australia went on to lose the match, despite a spirited fightback with the ball on the last day. Also in this match Ponting bowled six overs, and took his first wicket since March 1999; Michael Vaughan caught behind by Adam Gilchrist. The Fifth Test at The Oval was curtailed by rain and although Australia had the English batsmen in danger on the final day, a rearguard counterattacking partnership by Kevin Pietersen and Ashley Giles on the final afternoon secured a draw for the hosts. Thus, the Ashes were lost for the first time in 16 years.


title: Ricky Ponting

text: The setback to Australia, and to Ponting as Australian captain, of the 2005 Ashes defeat, was to prove a strong motivation for the Australian camp to improve their standards and overcome any complacency that may have arisen from Australia's being the world's premier cricketing nation for a decade. Prior to the Ashes defeat, Australia's dominance had prompted the ICC to organise a series against a World XI, immediately after the Ashes. Following the Ashes defeat, Australia were expected to struggle against the World XI, but bounced back to whitewash them 3–0 in the ODIs; they also won the only Test easily, Ponting scoring 46 and 54. However, the series was also criticised due to the apparent lack of collective desire of the World XI, who were regarded more as a collection of individuals.


title: Ricky Ponting

text: Australia were untroubled during the 2005–06 home season, whitewashing the West Indies 3–0 before defeating South Africa 2–0 in three Tests. They then toured South Africa and recorded a 3–0 whitewash in the Tests. In the series against the West Indies, Ponting scored a century in each innings of the First Test in Brisbane, 149 and 104 not out. In his first Test as captain in front of the Tasmanian public, Ponting managed 17 and 0 not out, and he ended the series with 329 runs at 82.25.


title: Ricky Ponting

text: Ponting was in a rich vein of form against the South Africans. After scoring 71 and 53 in the drawn First Test in Perth, Ponting scored 117 on Boxing Day in the Second Test at the MCG. Australia won the match and Ponting scored 120 and 143 not out to end the series and start the New Year with a dramatic win in the Third Test at the SCG. South African captain Graeme Smith declared on the final morning of a rain-curtailed match and tried to open up the game in a bid to equal the series. He left Australia a target of 287 runs in 76 overs, and Ponting made 143 not out in only 159 balls to secure an eight-wicket win. It was the first time anyone had scored two centuries in their 100th Test and Ponting was named man of the match and man of the series. He had scored 515 runs at 103.00.


title: Ricky Ponting

text: In 2005 Ponting began using cricket bats with a graphite covering over the wooden blade of the bat, as did other players contracted to Kookaburra Sport. This was ruled by the MCC to have contravened Law 6.1, which states that bats have to be made of wood, although they may be "covered with material for protection, strengthening or repair not likely to cause unacceptable damage to the ball". Ponting and Kookaburra agreed to comply, before the series against South Africa.


title: Ricky Ponting

text: Australia continued their run in South Africa even in the absence of McGrath for family reasons. Ponting scored 103 and 116 in the Second Test in Durban, making it three Test centuries in consecutive innings at the ground. He ended the series with 348 runs at 58.00. Remarkably his performance at Durban meant that Ponting had scored twin centuries in three separate Tests between November 2005 and March 2006, as part of 1192 runs at 79.5 in nine matches over the same period.


title: Ricky Ponting

text: On 12 March 2006 Ponting scored 164 in only 105 balls in the 5th ODI against South Africa in Johannesburg, as Australia made a record total of 434 for 4, only to be beaten by South Africa's 438 for 9. At the end of the match Ponting was jointly awarded Man of the Match with Herschelle Gibbs. Ponting was not happy with the performance and once in the dressing rooms delivered "the biggest spray" he hoped to do while captain of Australia.


title: Ricky Ponting

text: The Australians moved on to their maiden Test tour of Bangladesh thereafter, and narrowly avoided an ignominious loss in the First Test at Fatullah. After the home side took an unexpected first innings lead, Ponting scored an unbeaten 118 in the second innings to guide his team to a three-wicket win. He scored 52 in the Second Test as Australia won by an innings and took the series 2–0.


title: Ricky Ponting

text: Australia won the 2006 ICC Champions Trophy in India, finally winning the ODI tournament that had eluded them despite their World Cup success. After the final in Mumbai, Ponting drew some criticism for appearing to ask BCCI president and Indian cabinet minister Sharad Pawar to "leave the podium" and pointing towards the exit with his finger, while his teammate Damien Martyn pushed him gently in the back so that his team could commence celebrations. The issue, while minor, was solved when Ponting issued a formal apology to Pawar.


title: Ricky Ponting

text: For his performances in 2006, he was named in the World ODI XI by the ICC. For his performances in 2006, he was named as captain of the World Test XI by Cricinfo.


title: Ricky Ponting

text: In November 2006, the England cricket team again took on Australia in the first Test of a five Test series that was widely expected to be a tremendous contest between Australia, the top team on the world cricket rankings, and the England team, whose aggregated results over the last few years had it standing second in the rankings. Despite Australia this time having the advantage of playing on its own soil, the England team that had wrested the Ashes from the Australians was expected to be highly competitive.


title: Ricky Ponting

text: In the First Test in Brisbane, Ponting top-scored in Australia's first innings with 196 runs, and he followed this up with 60 not out in the second as Australia took the initiative with a commanding win. In the Second Test in Adelaide, Ponting top-scored with 142, helping Australia to a total of 513 in response to England's 6/551. Australia went on to win the match by six wickets after a last day English collapse, Ponting making 49 in the chase. At the conclusion of the match, Ponting's batting average peaked at 59.99. The Third Test played at the WACA Ground saw another win to Australia by 206 runs to reclaim the Ashes; Ponting made 2 and 75. The 15 months they had been in English hands was the shortest period either nation had held the urn. Further wins in Melbourne and Sydney, made Ponting's team the second team (after Warwick Armstrong's Australian team in 1920–21) to win an Ashes series 5–0, and that against what had been thought to be a formidable team, the second strongest cricketing team in the world. Ponting was awarded Man of the Series for the 2006–07 Ashes series after scoring 576 runs at an average of 82.29 including 2 centuries and 2 half centuries. For his performances in 2006, he was named in the World Test XI by ICC.


title: Ricky Ponting

text: Australia then started the ODI series well, qualifying in first place for the final. However, they stumbled and lost 2–0 to England in the finals. Ponting was then rested for the Chappell–Hadlee Trophy ahead of the World Cup, and in his absence, the Australians were whitewashed 3–0, leading to suggestions that his team had slumped just ahead of the most important ODI tournament in world cricket.


title: Ricky Ponting

text: Australia left for St Vincent, Australia's venue for its two warm-up matches against Zimbabwe and England on 28 February without Brett Lee because of ankle damage. In the first warmup game against Zimbabwe, Ponting scored just 2 in Australia's 106 run victory. In Australia's second and last warm up game, this time against England, Ponting again failed to make an impact, scoring just 7 before he was bowled by off-spinner Jamie Dalrymple.


title: Ricky Ponting

text: Australia started its World Cup campaign with three group matches played at Warner Park, St Kitts. Ponting himself began successfully with an innings of 113 from 93 deliveries that included five sixes, as Australia were dominant in 203-run victory against Scotland. Despite scoring just 23 in the next match against the Netherlands, Australia still amassed 358 and proceeded to win by 229 runs. In their next match against South Africa, Australia amassed 377/6—their highest score in World Cups. Ponting also scored 91 from 91 balls, and became the seventh player to score 10,000 ODI runs. Despite South Africa being 160 without loss in the 21st over, they crumbled, losing 9 wickets for just 74 runs.


title: Ricky Ponting

text: Australia comfortably qualified for the Super Eights with their first match played at the new Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua. Ponting stated that he was not very impressed with the outfield labelling it "ridiculously sandy".


title: Ricky Ponting

text: The Australian captain was run out when on 35, with his team amassing 322 mainly thanks to 158 from Hayden. In a match spread out over two days, Australia comfortably defeated the home side by 103 runs. In their next match, Australia come up against lowly Bangladesh in another rain interrupted affair. This time the match was shortened to 22 overs a side. In the end Australia won by 10 wickets with Ponting not getting a chance to bat. In their next match against England, again in Antigua, Ponting scored a half-century, guiding Australia to a seven-wicket victory.


title: Ricky Ponting

text: After not getting a bat in Australia's rout of Ireland in Barbados, Ponting steered Australia to victory in their next match against Sri Lanka in Grenada, with 66 not out. Grenada was again the venue for Australia's final super eights match, this time against New Zealand. Again amongst the runs, Ponting produced a fluent 66 that included seven boundaries, with his team wrapping up their biggest victory of the tournament. With his men now firm favourites for the tournament, they again came up against South Africa in the semi-final. South Africa, who were reeling at 27/5, ended up setting Australia 150 to win. Although Ponting scored 22, Australia easily dispatched South Africa by 7 wickets. He was named as captain of the 'Team of the Tournament' by Cricinfo.


title: Ricky Ponting

text: The 2007–08 started a new era for Australia, as McGrath and Warne had both retired at the end of the previous Ashes series. The pair had taken more than 1250 Test wickets between them, and the only three Test defeats that Australia had suffered under Ponting, once against India in Mumbai in 2004 and the two against England in 2005, had all occurred when one of the two were injured. Now that both had gone, critics wondered whether Australia and Ponting could maintain their success with their two main strike weapons absent. Australia had not played a Test since the Ashes, while being involved in 32 ODIs and eight Twenty20 Internationals. The period started well for Australia; winning the first Test against Sri Lanka in Brisbane by an innings and 40 runs. Ponting struck 56 from 84 balls (seven fours) in Australia's total of 551. The Second Test in Hobart, saw Ponting score 31 (66 balls) and 53 not out (2 fours and a six) in front of his home crowd, as Australia wrapped up the series 2–0. Ponting scored 140 runs at 70 and took three catches. For his performances in 2007, he was named as captain once again in the World Test XI by ICC.


title: Ricky Ponting

text: However, the series against India was much harder-fought. Australia won the First Test easily, by 337 runs, but the matches thereafter were more difficult. The Second Test was closely fought and ended in Australian victory minutes before the end of play. This saw Australia equal the world record of 16 consecutive Test wins; Ponting, was part of Steve Waugh side that set the previous record in 1999–2001. However, the cricket was overshadowed by player conduct issues.


title: Ricky Ponting

text: After the match ended the stadium erupted in cheering as the Indians walked off the field, and the Australians celebrated their record-equalling win. The Australian team did not shake hands with Indian players on the field, especially Kumble who was waiting there after the fall of the final wicket. Though the Australian and Indian teams shook hands before heading into the dressing rooms later, but Kumble, who was batting at the end of the match, showed his displeasure by not shaking hands with the umpires. India expressed their resentment by boycotting the post-match presentation ceremony.


title: Ricky Ponting

text: In the post-match press conference, Anil Kumble summed up his view of the game by stating, "Only one team is playing in the spirit of the game" – a statement that alluded to Australian captain Bill Woodfull's leaked private admonishment of English manager Sir Pelham Warner during the 1932–33 Bodyline series. Chetan Chauhan, India's team manager said his players were "agitated and upset by... the incompetent umpires here... [and hoped] that they will not officiate again in the series". Ponting was questioned over the wrong decision, the racism row, and especially the wicket of Ganguly during which he held his finger up to indicate to Mark Benson that Ganguly has been caught. Ponting was aggressive towards the Indian journalists, lashing out at them for "questioning my [Ponting's] integrity". The Australian players faced much questioning as a result of the fallout of the incident. The Australian team maintained that they play hard but fair. In regards to the racism issue, Ponting denied he did anything wrong by singularly reporting Harbhajan Singh for being abusive. Ponting stated that he was obligated to refer any incidents of racism to officials as it is widely agreed that racism is unacceptable anywhere in the world. After criticism of the Australian team in multiple media continued, a shocked Ponting promised to ensure that his side's conduct is not seen to be arrogant in future matches. Peter Roebuck, a columnist in "The Sydney Morning Herald", branded Ponting as "arrogant" and insisted that be stripped of the captaincy.


title: Ricky Ponting

text: In the early part of the Test series against India, Ponting continued to struggle against Harbhajan, falling to him three consecutive times in the first two Tests. On the third occasion, Ponting was again caught at bat pad, from the first ball that Harbhajan bowled to him, prompting the bowler to celebrate raucously. Harbhajan missed the Third Test and upon his return in the fourth Test, Ponting broke through for his first Test century against India in matches involving Harbhajan, scoring 140. However, the second half of the series was less successful for Australia as a team; India won the Third Test, ending the Australian streak, and the Fourth Test was a high-scoring draw. The Adelaide Test aside, Ponting had an otherwise unproductive season, scoring 268 runs at 38.28.


title: Ricky Ponting

text: In the Commonwealth Bank series, Ponting struggled until Australia's last round robin match against India where he and another poor performing Australian batsmen, Andrew Symonds put on a 100 run partnership with Ponting making a hundred and Symonds making 50. Australia won two of their three-round robin matches against the Indians, but the tables were turned in the finals, which the tourists won 2–0.


title: Ricky Ponting

text: The tour of the West Indies was the first overseas Test series for Australia in 25 months, and the first for Ponting's new look bowling attack. In five previous Test series in 1999 and 2003, he averaged 98.71, with four hundreds. He also averaged 42.80 in 25 ODIs from four tours—1995, 1999, 2003 and the 2007 World Cup. After eight months of consecutive cricket from the World Twenty20, Ponting was surprised about how good he was feeling, despite believing that he would be weary from the amount of cricket he had played.


title: Ricky Ponting

text: In the only warm up match before the series—against a Jamaican XI, the Australians drew controversy from various sections of the media as they chose to wear a sponsors cap over the traditional Baggy Green cap. This was because wicket–keeper Brad Haddin did not want to receive a Baggy Green as he was yet to play in a Test. The rest of the team decided they wanted to look uniform although they wore their Baggy Greens in Jamaica's second innings. Ponting scored 17 in the first innings and 20 not out in the second, as a storm prevented an Australian victory.


title: Ricky Ponting

text: After winning the toss and electing to bat in the First Test in Kingston, Jamaica, Ponting recorded his 35th Test century and was eventually dismissed for 158 from 224 balls. Despite forcing their way back into contention, the West Indies were defeated by 95 runs. In the Second Test, Ponting became the seventh player and third Australian to score 10,000 Test runs. It took Ponting 118 Tests and 196 innings to achieve the feat, one slower than Tendulkar and Lara. He was dismissed in the following over for 65. Ponting scored 38 in Australia's second innings, as the match ended in a draw. Australia won the third Test, and the Australian captain ended the series with 323 runs at 53.83. Although Australia won the three–Test series handsomely, with a 2–0 margin, they were to face stronger opposition overseas, in the next year. Difficulties were also beginning to appear in the spin department. MacGill, who had taken over 200 wickets in his career despite playing only sporadically due to the presence of Warne, suffered a loss of form and decided to retire during the series. Brad Hogg, the regular ODI spinner had also retired prior to the series, and Beau Casson made his debut in the final Test.


title: Ricky Ponting

text: After not batting in Australia's Twenty20 loss in Bridgetown, Ponting was rested for the List A 50-over game against the University of West Indies Vice Chancellor's XI. He returned for the first three ODIs and scored just 87 runs at 29.00, notching up his 300th ODI during the 2nd match. Ponting scored 69 in the third match, before returning home because of a wrist injury. Under the captaincy of Michael Clarke in the final two games, Australia swept the series 5–0.


title: Ricky Ponting

text: In 2008, Ponting led the Australians back to India and was under pressure following the confrontations during the Indian tour of Australia earlier in the year. He acknowledged that he was keen to rectify his poor Test batting record in India. In the First Test on a turning pitch in Bangalore, Ponting brought up his first Test century in India, 123 on the first day, although he eventually fell leg before wicket to Harbhajan. Australia had the hosts seven wickets down in their first innings, still more than 320 runs in arrears, but India recovered to salvage a draw after a rearguard effort.


title: Ricky Ponting

text: In the Second Test in Mohali. Australia were defeated by 320 runs and Ponting was criticised for using part-timer bowlers against the free-scoring Indian batsmen in the second innings, because of a slow over-rate, which is can be penalised by a fine, or in severe instances, a ban to the captain. This meant that he was not able to use pace spearhead Brett Lee significantly.


title: Ricky Ponting

text: The Third Test in Delhi saw a flat pitch, where India scored 7/613 in its first innings in which Ponting resorted to bowling himself for two overs. Ponting amassed 87 in Australia's first innings score of 577. The match ended in a draw and Australia needed to win in the Fourth Test in Nagpur to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. On the fourth afternoon of the Fourth Test, the Indian batting collapsed, and Australia had an opportunity to bowl them out and chase a target of around 250–300 after the tea break. However, the Australians were a long way behind on their over rate, so in order to avoid a one match suspension, Ponting chose to bowl their part-time spinners and medium pacers such as Michael Clarke, Cameron White and Mike Hussey (who were all unsuccessful in capturing a wicket), as they took less time. In the meantime, captain MS Dhoni and Harbhajan both added half centuries. This drew strong criticism from many commentators, who suggested that their faster bowlers, who had been responsible for the collapse, could have bowled from a shorter run-up. When the fast bowlers were reintroduced, the last four wickets fell quickly. This left Australia chasing 382 runs for victory and they lost by 172 runs to cede the series 2–0. In the first innings, Ponting became Harbhajan's 300th Test wicket and the Australian captain ended the series with 264 runs at 37.71. While below his career standards, it was substantially better than his previous Test efforts in India.


title: Ricky Ponting

text: Fined in India for a slow over rate, Ponting failed to redress the matter during the subsequent home series against New Zealand, when match referee Chris Broad dealt a second successive fine for being three overs behind in the First Test: Ponting was stripped of thirty per cent of his A$12,750 match fee, twice the punishment of his teammates in accordance with International Cricket Council rules for captains. Australia were largely untroubled by New Zealand, sweeping both Tests. Ponting scored only 100 runs at 33.33.


title: Ricky Ponting

text: In the first Test against South Africa in Perth, starting in December, Ponting again had to reduce his reliance on his preferred pace bowlers, and rely more on spinners due to a slow over rate. His persistent problems with the over rate prompted some commentators to criticise him for spending too much time during the match conferring with bowlers. In the first innings he scored a duck, and managed 32 in Australia's second innings. Ponting's inexperienced attack had trouble dismissing the opposition batsmen, and South Africa made 4/414, the second highest successful runchase in history to win by six wickets on the final day.


title: Ricky Ponting

text: Ponting experienced a form slump for much of 2008, albeit in comparison to his usually high standards. However, he again exceeded 1,000 runs in the calendar year. Ponting scored his 37th century in the first innings of the Second Test against South Africa on Boxing Day, and followed that with 99 in the second innings, seemingly a lone stand against the South African bowling attack. The tourists won the match by nine wickets to win the series. Australia thus lost their first home Test series since 1992–93. Australia lost the series 2–1, the first time South Africa had won a Test series against Australian since 1970, and the first on Australian soil. Ponting totalled 285 runs at 47.50 for the series.


title: Ricky Ponting

text: With the retirement of experienced opening batsman Matthew Hayden—who was replaced by the uncapped 20-year-old Phillip Hughes—the Australian team that toured South Africa in February, March and April 2009 was its most inexperienced since the defections to World Series Cricket. This was further compounded by the loss of Andrew Symonds to injury, who was replaced by the uncapped Marcus North. The bowling attack also required major changes, due to the injuries to Brett Lee and Stuart Clark. Subsequently, paceman Mitchell Johnson was the only bowler with more than four Tests heading into the series. Of the First Test team, Hughes, North, Ben Hilfenhaus, Peter Siddle and Andrew McDonald had only five Tests between them, with the former three making their debut. Ponting's team took the series 2–1, so Australia maintained their No. 1 Test ranking. Ponting was praised for cobbling together an unexpected win, as South Africa were thought to be stronger on home soil. He scored eighties in the first two Tests, ending with 210 runs at 35.00.


title: Ricky Ponting

text: After losing their opening match of the 2007 World Twenty20 to Zimbabwe, Ponting's men were looking for a more positive start to the 2009 edition in England. They opened their campaign in early June against a West Indian outfit that had recently been whitewashed 2–0 in the Test series against England. However, Ponting made a second ball duck in Australia's seven wicket defeat. They played Sri Lanka in their next match, this time at Trent Bridge in Nottingham. Ponting hit five boundaries on his 25 before he was bowled trying the run-rate, before Sri Lanka won by six wickets. The defeat consequently eliminated Australia from the tournament.


title: Ricky Ponting

text: In Australia's two drawn warm-up matches ahead of the 2009 Ashes, Ponting struggled to adjust to the English conditions, somewhat, with a highest score of 71. Nevertheless, he started the Ashes series strongly, scoring 150 in the First Test in Cardiff. In his 38th hundred and eighth in an Ashes series, the Australian number three batsman became just the fourth man to score 11,000 runs in Test cricket. The match ended in a draw and Ponting drew criticism for failing to bowl fast-bowler Ben Hilfenhaus while England's last-wicket pair of Monty Panesar and Jimmy Anderson were batting to save the match. Ponting could only manage two and 38, as Australia were defeated in the second Test at Lord's—their first Test defeat at the venue since 1934. On 31 July, during the Third Test at Edgbaston, Ponting became the highest Australian run-scorer in the history of Test cricket, overtaking former Australian captain Allan Border's total of 11,174 in his first-innings score of 38. The match was eventually drawn, partly due to poor weather.


title: Ricky Ponting

text: Australia went on to lose the series 2–1 and Ponting became only the third Australian captain to lose the Ashes twice. Despite not being a selector, Ponting was heavily criticised for Australia not playing Hauritz and his apparent reluctance to put faith in his spinners. He was questioned, particularly on Australia's recent habit of often not playing a specialist/regular spinner. Instances of these were the first three Tests in India, the omission of Krejza for the First Test against New Zealand immediately after taking 12 wickets on debut, and opting for no spinner in the first two Tests in South Africa.


title: Ricky Ponting

text: On 7 September 2009, Ponting announced his retirement from Twenty20 international cricket in order to prolong his career. He was succeeded as Australian Twenty20 captain by team vice-captain Michael Clarke.


title: Ricky Ponting

text: Australia came into the Champions Trophy ranked second in ODIs; along with being the events reigning champions. They opened their campaign against an undermanned West Indian outfit who were without prominent players because of an industrial dispute. On a "lively pitch", Ponting top-scored with 79, after reaching his half-century in 63 balls. He hit opening bowler and future nemesis, Kemar Roach, for four boundaries in the seventh over of the match, and scored a six and two fours against the fast-bowler when he was reintroduced into the attack in the 21st over. The innings set up Australia's comfortable 50-run victory. Australia next match against India was abandoned due to rain. Before the weather intervend Ponting had scored 65 from 85 deliveries, before being run out. The result meant Australia needed to defeat Pakistan in their third and final group match for a place in the semi-finals. Though Australia collapsed when Ponting was dismissed for a patient 32 in pursuit of low total they won by two wickets.


title: Ricky Ponting

text: Australia defeated England by nine wickets in their semi-final, with Ponting scoring an unbeaten 111 from 115 deliveries (12 fours and one six); his 28th ODI century. During the innings, Ponting became the third batsman to score 12,000 ODI runs and was also involved in a record 252-run partnership with Watson—Ponting's seventh double-century stand for Australia in the format; the only player to achieve this feat. Despite Ponting's score of only one in the final in Centurion against New Zealand, Australia won by six wickets—their second consecutive Champions Trophy victory. Ponting was presented with the golden bat award for most runs in the tournament—288 at an average of 72 in four games—and also received the man-of-the-series award, before praising his young side for the title defence.


title: Ricky Ponting

text: Australia proceeded to tour India for seven ODIs starting in mid-October and ending in early November. In the opening match, Ponting top-scored for Australia with 74 from 85 balls, as his team narrowly escaped defeat. Ponting made just 12 in India's comprehensive victory in the second match, while he scored a slow 59 from 93 balls (four boundaries) in another Indian victory in the third match. The Australian captain stuck a more fluent innings of 52, scored in 59 deliveries in the following fixture. Australia amassed their biggest total of the series in the fifth match, with Ponting contributing a run-a-ball 45. A slow, low, turning wicket was presented to the teams for the sixth ODI in Guwahati. Ponting fought his way to 25 from 57 balls, before falling to Harbhajan, as Australia comfortably chased down India's total of 170 with six wickets remaining. The final match in Mumbai was washed out after a cyclone formed over the Arabian Sea; securing a 4–2 series victory to the injury depleted Australians. "It's probably one of the best one-day series I have ever been involved in, with all the injuries and setbacks at the start of this tour", Ponting said. He ending the series with 267 runs at 44.50.


title: Ricky Ponting

text: Leading West Indian batsmen Chris Gayle and Shivnarine Chanderpaul returned for the opening Test of the 2009–10 Australian cricket season starting on 26 November in Brisbane, after the industrial dispute was resolved. Ponting scored 55 in an Australian innings victory, before many sections of the media attacked the West Indies lack-lustre performance. Ponting produced scores of 35 and 20 in the following Test in Adelaide, as the touring side responded to their critics by securing a draw. For the first time since 2002, Ponting slid out of the top ten Test batting rankings—dropping to 12th—as Australia faced the prospect of falling to third in the team rankings if they were not able to achieve victory in the final Test of the series. Matters got worse for Ponting, as former Australian fast-bowler Rodney Hogg voiced that he should be sacked as captain and replaced with New South Wales leader Simon Katich. He said the team had become a "boys club" and was not preparing adequately for the future. However, former Australian Test opening batsman Justin Langer labelled Hogg's comments as "rubbish", something that was backed by Katich.


title: Ricky Ponting

text: In the first innings of the Third and final Test, Ponting was immediately greeted with short pitched bowling. After mis-timing a pull-shot from Roach on his first ball, Ponting was struck on the elbow in the following delivery. After battling through obvious discomfort, Ponting eventually retired hurt on 23 from 25 balls—the only time he had taken such action in his international career. Nevertheless, he did manage to hit two fours and a six from short deliveries in Roach's 12th over. Michael Clarke replaced Ponting at his number three batting position, as the Australia captain did not want to risk further damage to his elbow tendon injury ahead of the Boxing Day Test against Pakistan in Melbourne. Nevertheless, Australia collapsed and he eventually came to the wicket at number nine, with Australia at 7/125. The West Indian bowlers again bowled short deliverers to Ponting until he turned one such delivery to short-leg and was dismissed for two.


title: Ricky Ponting

text: After spending time in a hyperbaric chamber to increase the speed of his recovery from the elbow injury, Ponting recovered sufficiently to play in the Boxing Day Test, the opening match of a three-Test series against Pakistan. Despite still being inconvenienced by the injury, he scored 57 at close to a run-a-ball, before being dismissed by another short pitched delivery for 12 in Australia's second innings. The home side went on to win the match comfortably, and Ponting overtook Shane Warne's record of 91 Test victories and surpassing Steve Waugh as crickets most successful Test captain. Ponting scored 853 runs at 38.77 in 13 Tests in 2009, and scored only one century and seven half-centuries.<ref name="Records / 2009 / Test matches / Most runs"></ref> Nevertheless, his ODI form was more convincing, topping the run-scoring list with MS Dhoni. His 1,198 runs were scored at an average of 42.78, including two centuries and nine half-centuries in 29 matches.<ref name="Records / 2009 / One-Day Internationals / Most runs"></ref> Ponting was criticised for choosing to bat on a green pitch for the Second Test. Australia were dismissed for 127, and Ponting was re-dismissed from a short ball, this time for a first-ball duck, and many sections of the media called for him to stop playing the hook and pull shots. He fell for only 11 in the second innings, and when Australia lost their eighth wicket, they were only just over 50 ahead. However, a 123-run ninth-wicket partnership between Michael Hussey and Peter Siddle rescued the home-side, helping them win by 36 runs. After being dropped on zero, Ponting scored his fifth double-century in the Third and final Test in Hobart. His innings helped Australia complete a 3–0 series victory.


title: Ricky Ponting

text: In the following five ODIs, Ponting could not continue his Hobart form, scoring 125 runs at 25 in the series, boosted by a half-century in the final match; his performances improved in the five ODIs starting soon after against the West Indies. He was named man-of-the-series thanks to his 295 runs at 73.75, including two-half centuries and his 29th ODI century and first in Brisbane during the fourth match.


title: Ricky Ponting

text: Australia entered the 2010–11 Ashes series hoping to regain The Ashes from England on home soil as they had four years previously. The First Test in Brisbane was drawn after both sides posted large batting totals. Ponting was caught behind for 10 in the first innings and 51 not out in the second. A barren run followed in the subsequent three Tests, scoring 52 runs in total as Australia lost the series. Ponting became the first Australian captain to lose an Ashes series in Australia since Allan Border in 1987. During the Fourth Test Ponting was involved in an on-field argument with umpires, and was fined 40% of his match fee, which accounted to around $5,400. Ponting missed the Fifth Test due to a finger injury, and Michael Clarke stood in as Australia's captain. Australia's heavy defeat in the series and Ponting's poor run of form caused his position in the team to be questioned. Former Australian captain Steve Waugh suggested dropping him down the batting order; others, such as former Australian batsman and South African captain Kepler Wessels, called for him to relinquish the captaincy to focus on his batting.


title: Ricky Ponting

text: Ponting retained the captaincy of Australia for the 2011 World Cup in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Australia had won the previous three World Cups and entered the tournament as the world's top-ranked ODI team. Australia qualified for the quarter-finals, although Ponting failed to find form, scoring 102 runs in five innings during the group stage of the tournament. Australia met India in the quarter-finals and were defeated by five wickets. Ponting scored 104, his first century in international cricket in over a year. After being knocked out of the tournament, Ponting resigned his position as captain at both Test and ODI levels, endorsed Michael Clarke as his successor, and indicated his intention to continue playing.


title: Ricky Ponting

text: In 2011, Ponting was inducted into Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) 'Best of the Best'. He was selected in Michael Clarke's teams for the tours of Sri Lanka and South Africa in 2011, scoring an important half-century (62) in the fourth innings of the second Test against South Africa in Johannesburg, helping Australia chase down a target of 310 to draw the series 1–1.


title: Ricky Ponting

text: In the 2011–12 Australian summer, a disappointing series draw with New Zealand gave rise to calls for Ponting to be removed from the team following perceived underperformances. The selectors resisted the calls, selecting Ponting for the Boxing Day Test—the first of a four-Test series against India. Ponting scored two half-centuries in Australia's first Test win, followed by a century (134) in Australia's first innings of the second Test in Sydney. The century was his first in Test cricket in almost two years. His fourth-wicket partnership of 288 runs with Clarke, who went on to make 329 not out, set a new record for the biggest partnership by an Australian pair of batsmen against India. Australia sealed the series win by defeating India in Perth, and in the fourth Test in Adelaide, Ponting and Clarke beat their own record, putting on 386 runs. The partnership was the fourth highest to that point in Australian Test cricket. Ponting's own score was 221. During the innings, he became only the third player and the first Australian (after Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid, who were playing in the same match) to pass 13,000 career Test runs.


title: Ricky Ponting

text: On Australia Day 2012 he was appointed as an Officer of the Order of Australia for services to cricket and, through the Ponting Foundation, the community. Ponting was promoted to captain in the 2011–12 Commonwealth Bank Series in Australia in Michael Clarke's absence due to injury. However, after only two games as captain he was dropped, having scored only 18 runs in 5 games of the 2011–12 Commonwealth Bank Series. At a press conference thereafter, Ponting conceded, "I don't expect to play one-day international cricket for Australia any more and I'm pretty sure the selectors don't expect to pick me either ... I will continue playing Test cricket and I'll continue playing for Tasmania as well".


title: Ricky Ponting

text: On 29 November 2012 Ponting announced that he would retire from Test cricket after the WACA test against South Africa.


title: Ricky Ponting

text: After retiring from test cricket, Ponting played out the Sheffield Shield season with eventual champions Tasmania. He was the competition's leading run scorer with 911 runs at an average of 75.91. As a result of his prolific form with the bat, he was named the Sheffield Shield player of the year.


title: Ricky Ponting

text: He signed on to play for the English County side Surrey during June–July 2013. His score of 192 on debut against Derbyshire was the highest score by a Surrey batsman on their first class debut for the county. Ponting scored an unbeaten 169 against Nottinghamshire in his final first class innings, ensuring his team held on for a draw.


title: Ricky Ponting

text: At the formal opening of the Bellerive Oval redevelopment in January 2015, it was announced that the new Western Stand would be named the "Ricky Ponting Stand" in his honour. On 9 December 2015 Ponting also unveiled a bronze statue placed at the ground in his honour.


title: Ricky Ponting

text: Ponting was known as an aggressive competitor, as manifested in his on-field conduct. According to former Australian captain Allan Border, what you see with Ponting is what you get, and "he wears his heart on his sleeve". Border also noted that Ponting has an abundance of determination, courage and skill.


title: Ricky Ponting

text: However, his competitive attitudes could be overly aggressive, pushing the boundaries of cricket etiquette. In early 2006, in the Chappell–Hadlee Trophy, Ponting had an on-field argument with umpire Billy Bowden over signalling a no-ball because not enough players were within the inner circle. In mid-2006, during a tour of Bangladesh, Ponting was accused of "badgering the umpires until he got what he wanted".


title: Ricky Ponting

text: The South African captain, Graeme Smith, described Ponting as the toughest competitor he had ever played against.


title: Ricky Ponting

text: Ponting was known as an aggressive right-handed batsman who played a wide repertoire of shots with confidence, most notably the pull and hook. However, he had some technical weaknesses, such as shuffling across his stumps and being trapped leg before wicket, and thrusting his bat away from his body—especially early in his innings, because he wants to move forward and across to drive rather than backwards and across to cut the ball. Despite being widely renowned as the best player of the hook and pull shots in the world, Ponting was equally adept on both the front and back foot. However, during the latter stages of his career, the hook and pull shots have often been the cause of his dismissal. He adopts a more traditional V-grip lower down the handle as he is a short batsman who doesn't have natural power on the shot.


title: Ricky Ponting

text: He was considered by some observers to have trouble against quality spin, especially against Indian off spinner Harbhajan Singh, who dismissed Ponting on 13 occasions in international cricket. Ponting had a tendency to rock onto the front foot and thrust his wrists at spinning deliveries, resulting in many catches close to the wicket. Ponting rarely employed the sweep shot against spin, something considered unusual for a top-order batsman. Instead, he looked to use his feet to come down the wicket to spinners, or play off the back foot through the off-side.


title: Ricky Ponting

text: Former West Indian captain, Viv Richards, who was rated as the third best Test cricketer in a 2002 poll by Wisden, said Ponting was his favourite current-day player to watch, slightly ahead of Sachin Tendulkar.


title: Ricky Ponting

text: A right-arm medium bowler who tends to bowl off cutters or faster offspin, Ponting rarely bowled, although he has notably dismissed West Indian batsman Brian Lara in an ODI match and former England captain Michael Vaughan in an Ashes Test in 2005. He was also ceremoniously asked to bowl in his final test match against South Africa in 2012. He was, however, rated one of the best fielders in the world. He usually fielded in the slips, cover and silly point. His good eye and accurate throws often saw him run batsmen out with direct hits.


title: Ricky Ponting

text: Ponting has often been criticised for his lack of imagination in his captaincy, though many players who played under him say he is a good leader. According to former Australian opening batsman Justin Langer, "He is quite inspirational as a leader and I just never get all the detractors he has. Whether it's in the fielding practice, the nets, the way he holds himself off the field—every time he speaks, these young guys just listen, they hang on every word he says."


title: Ricky Ponting

text: "Ponting captained 2 consecutive World Cup victories in 2003 and 2007 (out of Australia's hat-trick of World Cups – 1999, 2003, 2007)"


title: Ricky Ponting

text: Ponting was the Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World in 2003 and one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Year for 2006. He has been the Allan Border Medalist a record four times in 2004, 2006, 2007 and 2009 (with Michael Clarke). Ponting has won the award of Australia's best Test player in 2003, 2004 and 2007 and Australia's best One Day International player in 2002 and 2007.


title: Ricky Ponting

text: Ponting also coached the Mumbai Indians of the Indian Premier League from 2014 to 2016, helping them win a championship in the 2015 edition of the IPL. On 1 January 2017, Ponting was named an interim coach for Australia's T20I series against Sri Lanka. Ponting joined the Australian cricket coaching team as an assistant for the 2017–18 Trans-Tasman Tri-Series.


title: Ricky Ponting

text: Ponting was appointed as the new coach of Delhi Daredevils of the Indian Premier League on 3 January 2018. In the 2018 edition of the IPL, Delhi Daredevils finished last place. Ponting helped foster a new team environment, helping young talents such as Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant grow. In 2019, Delhi (now Delhi Capitals), finished in 3rd place, a large improvement from their previous season. In 2020, Delhi would finish second, and in 2021 Delhi would finish in third place being the only team to qualify for the playoffs in 2019, 2020 and 2021, subsequently. In 2022, Ponting is still head coach of the Delhi Capitals, with the goal of winning their first tournament.


title: Ricky Ponting

text: Throughout his career in international cricket, Ponting has been involved in the writing of a number of diaries on Australian cricket, which depict his experiences during the cricketing year. The books are produced with the help of a ghostwriter. His autobiography, Ponting: At the Close of Play, was published and released in November 2013.


title: Liza Lapira

text: Liza Lapira (born December 3, 1981) is an American actress. She played Kianna in the 2008 film "21", Special Agent Michelle Lee in the CBS police procedural series "NCIS" and Ivy, Topher Brink's assistant in "Dollhouse".


title: Liza Lapira

text: Lapira has also co-starred in the short-lived sitcoms "Traffic Light", "Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23", "Super Fun Night" and "9JKL". As of 2021, she currently stars in CBS's "The Equalizer".


title: Liza Lapira

text: In New York, she acted on stage and in independent films. She moved to Los Angeles in 2004 to work in television. Lapira is an avid supporter of LA's Best, which provides after school services to 28,000 children in 189 schools in the neighborhoods with the highest needs around Los Angeles. Also, she participates in the Children's Hospital Los Angeles Charity Triathlon each fall in Malibu. Currently, she is working with The Impact Theatre in Harlem, while living on the east coast.


title: Liza Lapira

text: Lapira's New York stage credits include "As You Like It", "The School for Wives", "The Odyssey", and Alexandra Cunningham's "No. 11 Blue and White". Most recently, she played Suzanne in Steve Martin’s "Picasso at the Lapin Agile" at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego.


title: Liza Lapira

text: Early film credits include director Tony Scott's "Domino" and independent feature "The Big Bad Swim", which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2006. Lapira appeared in J. J. Abrams' 2008 film "Cloverfield" as Heather and also appeared in "Table for Three" and "21". In 2009, she played Agent Sophie Trinh in the film "Fast & Furious" opposite Paul Walker, and in 2010, she played Alva in "Repo Men". She portrayed Liz, the sharp-tongued friend of Hannah (Emma Stone) in the 2011 film "Crazy, Stupid, Love." In 2021, she played Teresa in Dante Basco's directorial debut "The Fabulous Filipino Brothers."


title: Liza Lapira

text: Lapira's first major role was a series regular spot on the Showtime TV series "Huff". Lapira played neuroscientist Ivy in both seasons of Joss Whedon's series "Dollhouse", appearing predominantly with Fran Kranz and Dichen Lachman.


title: Liza Lapira

text: Her TV credits include recurring roles in "Dexter", "ER", "Monk," "Grey's Anatomy", "", "The Parkers" as Shaquan, "Sex and the City", and "The Sopranos".


title: Liza Lapira

text: Lapira had regular roles as: Agent Michelle Lee in "NCIS", Lisa in "Traffic Light", Robin in "Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23", Detective Jacocks in "Battle Creek", Leslie Barrett in "Cooper Barrett's Guide to Surviving Life", and Eve in the CBS comedy "9JKL".


title: Liza Lapira

text: In 2020, Lapira was cast as a lead on CBS' "The Equalizer" reboot opposite Queen Latifah and Chris Noth.


title: ...Baby One More Time (album)

text: ...Baby One More Time is the debut studio album by American pop singer Britney Spears. It was released on January 12, 1999, through Jive Records. It is Spears' most successful album with sales of 25 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling albums of all time, as well as the best-selling debut album by a female artist. "...Baby One More Time" has been cited as a hallmark for pop music and is praised for the revival of the teen pop genre. The album received two nominations at the 42nd Annual Grammy Awards, for Best New Artist and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.


title: ...Baby One More Time (album)

text: Spears had been a child performer on "" during 1993–1994, and was looking to expand her career as a teen singer. After being turned away by several record companies, Spears signed with Jive for a multi-album deal in 1997. Spears traveled to Sweden to collaborate with producers Max Martin and Rami Yacoub, who had been writing songs with producer Denniz Pop and others. Their collaboration created a pop, dance-pop, and teen pop record, with Spears later saying that she felt excited when she heard it and knew it was going to be a hit record. The album was completed in June 1998.


title: ...Baby One More Time (album)

text: At the time of its release, "...Baby One More Time" garnered mixed reviews from music critics, with many praising its commercial appeal but deeming it silly and premature. Retrospectively, it has been hailed for its major impact on pop culture, citing it as one of the most influential pop records of all time. The album was a massive global success, topping the charts in five countries and reaching the top ten in 17 territories. Spears became the fifth artist under the age of 18 to top the "Billboard" 200. It received worldwide certifications, including a 14× platinum certification from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), for shipments of over 14 million copies in the US. According to Nielsen SoundScan, the album has sold 10.7 million copies, with additional 1.6 million sold at BMG Music Clubs.


title: ...Baby One More Time (album)

text: Five singles were released to promote the album. The lead single "...Baby One More Time" brought Spears tremendous global success, reaching number one in most countries it charted in, the best-selling single of 1999 in the UK, and one of the best-selling physical singles of all time, selling over 10 million copies. In 2020, the title track was named as the greatest debut single of all time by "Rolling Stone". Whereas "Sometimes", "(You Drive Me) Crazy", and "Born to Make You Happy", peaked within the top 10 in most countries of Europe and North America. Spears heavily promoted the album through interviews and performances on national television. Furthermore, Spears embarked on her first headlining concert tour, entitled ...Baby One More Time Tour in 1999, and later continued on a second tour, entitled (You Drive Me) Crazy Tour, in 2000.


title: ...Baby One More Time (album)

text: In June 1997, Spears was in talks with then-manager Lou Pearlman to join the female pop group Innosense. Lynne asked family friend and entertainment lawyer Larry Rudolph for his opinion and submitted a tape of Spears singing over a Whitney Houston karaoke song along with some pictures. Rudolph decided to pitch her to record labels, which required a professional demo. He sent Spears an unused song from Toni Braxton; she rehearsed for a week and recorded in a studio with a sound engineer. Spears traveled to New York with the demo and met executives from four labels, returning to Kentwood the same day. Three rejected her, arguing audiences wanted pop bands such as the Backstreet Boys and the Spice Girls, and "there wasn't going to be another Madonna, another Debbie Gibson or another Tiffany." Two weeks later, executives from Jive Records returned calls to Rudolph. Senior vice president of A&R Jeff Fenster stated, "It's very rare to hear someone that age who can deliver emotional content and commercial appeal. [...] For any artist, the motivation—the 'eye of the tiger'—is extremely important. And Britney had that." They appointed her to work with producer Eric Foster White for a month, who reportedly shaped her voice from "lower and less poppy" delivery to "distinctively, unmistakably Britney."


title: ...Baby One More Time (album)

text: Spears recorded thirteen songs with Eric Foster White, including "Autumn Goodbye", "E-Mail My Heart", "From the Bottom of My Broken Heart", "I'm So Curious", "I Will Still Love You", "Luv the Hurt Away", "Let Me Take You There", "Soda Pop", "Thinkin' About You", "Nothing Less than Real", "Wishing on a Falling Star" and "You Got It All". The singer also recorded a cover of Sonny & Cher's 1967 single "The Beat Goes On". White was responsible for the vocal recording and song production, while additional production was done by English electronic music group All Seeing I.


title: ...Baby One More Time (album)

text: After hearing the material, president Clive Calder ordered a full album. Spears flew to Cheiron Studios in Stockholm, Sweden, where half of the album was recorded from May 1998, with producers Max Martin and Rami Yacoub, and contributions from others including songwriting from Denniz Pop who was too ill to attend any recording sessions. Martin showed Spears and her management a track titled "Hit Me Baby One More Time", which was originally written for American R&B group TLC; however, they rejected it. Spears later said that she felt excited when she heard it and knew it was going to be a hit. "We at Jive said, 'This is a fuckin' smash'," revealed the label's A&R executive, Steven Lunt; however, other executives were concerned that the line "Hit Me" would condone domestic violence, and later revised it to "...Baby One More Time". The singer revealed that she "didn't do well at all the first day in the studio [recording the song], I was just too nervous. So I went out that night and had some fun. The next day I was completely relaxed and nailed it. You gotta be relaxed singing '... Baby One More Time'." By June 1998, the album was done, and Spears embarked on a promotional tour sponsored by L'Oréal. The title track was released as a single in September 1998, followed its video in November, and it rose quickly up the pop charts. The album was initially set to release in October but due to marketing issues, it was pushed back to January 12, 1999.


title: ...Baby One More Time (album)

text: Spears originally envisioned "Sheryl Crow music, but younger more adult contemporary", but she acquiesced to the wishes of her label, since "It made more sense to go pop, because I can dance to it—it's more me." The album opens with the first single "...Baby One More Time", a teen pop and dance-pop song that begins with a three-note motif in the bass range of the piano. The opening was compared to many other songs, such as "We Will Rock You" (1977), "Start Me Up" (1981), "These Words" (2004) and the theme song of the film "Jaws" due to the fact the track "makes its presence known in exactly one second". According to magazine "Blender", "...Baby One More Time" is composed by "wah-wah guitar lines and EKG-machine bass-slaps". Claudia Mitchell and Jacqueline Reid-Walsh, authors of "Girl Culture: Studying girl culture : a readers' guide" (2008), observed that the lyrics of the song "gesture toward [Spears] longing for the return of an ex-boyfriend." The next song and third single, "(You Drive Me) Crazy" runs through a moderately slow dance beat, and has a rhythm and blues melody mixed with edgy synthesized instrumentals. The third track and second single "Sometimes" is a ballad, that Spears begins with "You tell me you're in love with me/That you can't take your pretty eyes away from me/It's not that I don't wanna stay/But every time you come too close I move away". Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic noted the song has "a catchy hook and endearing melody, with a reminiscent euro-dance rhythm."


title: ...Baby One More Time (album)

text: After "Sometimes" is "...Baby One More Time's" fourth track, "Soda Pop", a song that draws influences from bubblegum pop and dancehall, and features background vocals from co-writer Mikey Bassie. Spears' vocals on the fifth track, "Born to Make You Happy" (which was released as the album's fourth single in Europe), span more than an octave. Its lyrics allude to a relationship that a woman desires to repair, not quite understanding what went wrong, as she comes to realize that "I don't know how to live without your love/I was born to make you happy". The sixth track and final single, "From the Bottom of My Broken Heart", is a sentimental slow-tempo teen pop ballad. "I Will Be There" is a pop rock song that features a guitar riff similar to Natalie Imbruglia's "Torn" (1997), with a "rousing chorus about standing by your man (or a best friend or a house pet)", as noted by Kyle Anderson of MTV. The eleventh track, "E-Mail My Heart", is a sensitive piano ballad where Spears sings, "E-mail me back/ And say our love will stay alive". The cover of Sonny & Cher's 1967 single "The Beat Goes On" is influenced by bossa nova and trip hop, and features a similar sound to spy movies themes. Among the bonus tracks included on some editions of the album is a cover of J'Son's 1996 song "I'll Never Stop Loving You".


title: ...Baby One More Time (album)

text: Promotion for "...Baby One More Time" began in May 1998, when Spears performed "...Baby One More Time", "Sometimes" and "You Got It All" at the Singapore Jazz Festival. Subsequently, she embarked on the L'Oréal-sponsored promotional tour titled L'Oreal Hair Zone Mall Tour, visiting malls and food courts across North America from June to August. In December, "...Baby One More Time" first showed up on MTV's and The Box's most-requested video charts. In the United States, "...Baby One More Time" was released on January 12, 1999, by Jive Records, with its international release occurring within the following three months. Spears had appeared on "Ricki Lake", "The Howie Mandel Show", and was a presenter at the 1999 American Music Awards prior to the release. However, after hurting her knee in February, she rescheduled appearances on several shows, such as "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" and "Live with Regis and Kathie Lee". Additionally, she appeared on "MTV Spring Break" and on the hundredth episode of Nickelodeon's "All That". After recovering, Spears embarked on another promotional schedule, appearing at the 1999 Kids' Choice Awards on May 1, "Live with Regis and Kathie Lee" on May 3, MTV's "FANatic" on May 12, and "The Rosie O'Donnell Show" on May 25.


title: ...Baby One More Time (album)

text: Outside the US, Spears visited the German shows "Wetten, dass..?" and "Top of the Pops" on June 25. She also went to the United Kingdom, making appearances on programmes such as "This Morning", "" and "National Lottery". Spears visited the music variety show "Hey! Hey! Hey! Music Champ" in Japan, and performed at the Festival Bar in Italy. Spears was also featured on an episode of the ABC sitcom "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch", in which she played herself. According to "People", Spears was returning a favor to actress Melissa Joan Hart, who played a cameo role in Spears' music video for "(You Drive Me) Crazy". The episode aired on September 24. The same month, Spears performed on "The Rosie O'Donnell Show" on September 27, and visited Carson Daly on MTV's "Total Request Live" the following day. Spears also performed live with Joey McIntyre in the Disney Channel taped concert event titled Britney Spears & Joey McIntyre in Concert. In November, Spears performed "...Baby One More Time" and "(You Drive Me) Crazy" at the 1999 MTV Europe Music Awards. Promotion for the album continued in early 2000, when Spears performed at the 2000 American Music Awards, and also performed "From the Bottom of My Broken Heart" in a medley with "...Baby One More Time" at the 42nd Annual Grammy Awards.


title: ...Baby One More Time (album)

text: On March 5, 1999, it was reported that Spears was planning her first headlining tour. She announced that the tour would start in July. On May 12, Tommy Hilfiger was announced as the main tour sponsor, as Spears was being featured in the company's "AllStars" campaign at the time. On December 17, during the premiere of the music video of "From the Bottom of My Broken Heart" on "Total Request Live", Spears called the show to announce the March 2000 US tour dates. The extension, entitled (You Drive Me) Crazy Tour, was considered a prelude to her future world tour, Oops!... I Did It Again Tour. The leg's main sponsor was Got Milk?, whose media director Peter Gardiner explained: "Britney is magic with teen-age girls, and that's an absolutely crucial target for milk". Spears shot an advertising campaign to be shown before her performances began. The secondary sponsor was Polaroid, who released I-Zone as the tour's official camera. Spears used the I-Zone onstage to take pictures of the audience and further promote the product. The show was divided into segments, separated by interludes, and ended with an encore. The set list consisted of songs from "...Baby One More Time" and several covers. Some changes were made during the 2000 leg, with the covers replaced by songs from her second studio album "Oops!... I Did It Again" (2000). The tour received positive critical reception. During the tour, Spears was accused of lip synching, although she denied those claims. On April 20, the concert at Hilton Hawaiian Village in Honolulu, Hawaii, was taped. It was slightly altered from its tour incarnation and featured different costumes. On June 5, it was broadcast on Fox, airing several times during the year. On November 21, Jive Records released the video album "", which included the Fox special. It was certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for shipping 300,000 units.


title: ...Baby One More Time (album)

text: On August 14, 2017, 18 years after the release of "...Baby One More Time", it was announced that 2,500 pink-and-white-swirl copies of the album would be released on vinyl exclusively through Urban Outfitters on November 3. During the celebration of the 20th anniversary of Spears' debut single "...Baby One More Time", on October 19, 2018, Legacy Recordings announced the global release of the album on vinyl for November 23.


title: ...Baby One More Time (album)

text: "...Baby One More Time" was released to radio airplay as Spears' debut single on September 28, 1998, followed on October 23 by the retail CD and cassette singles. The song received generally favorable critical reviews, mostly praising its composition. After the music video appeared in late November, the single attained worldwide success in early 1999, reaching number one in most European countries where it charted. It received numerous certifications around the world, and is one of the best-selling singles of all time, at over ten million copies. The video, directed by Nigel Dick, portrays Spears as a high school student who starts to sing and dance around the school, while watching her love interest from afar. In 2010, the music video for "...Baby One More Time" was voted the third-most influential video in the history of pop music.


title: ...Baby One More Time (album)

text: "Sometimes" was released as the second single on April 6, 1999. "Sometimes" achieved commercial success worldwide, reaching number one on Ultratop Flanders Singles in Belgium, Mega Single Top 100 in Netherlands and RIANZ Singles in New Zealand, while peaking inside the top five in four countries. In the United States, "Sometimes" missed the top-20, peaking at number 21 on the "Billboard" Hot 100. The music video for the song was directed by Nigel Dick. During rehearsals, on February 11, 1999, Spears injured her left knee and needed surgery. After recuperating in Kentwood, Louisiana, the music video was shot on April 9–10, 1999 at Paradise Cove in Malibu, California.


title: ...Baby One More Time (album)

text: In May 1999, Max Martin and Spears went to the Battery Studios in New York City to re-record the vocals of "(You Drive Me) Crazy", for a reproduced version called "The Stop! Remix" that was going to be included on the original motion picture soundtrack of the film "Drive Me Crazy" (1999). "The Stop! Remix" of the song was released as the album's third single on August 24, 1999. The remix has the addition of a stanza where Spears yells "Stop!", then all sound cutting out, followed by a transition. It also omits the lines "Lovin' you mean so much more, more than anything I ever loved before". The music video was directed by Nigel Dick, and featured actors Melissa Joan Hart and Adrian Grenier.


title: ...Baby One More Time (album)

text: "Born to Make You Happy" was released in Europe on December 6, 1999, as the fourth single, and received mixed reviews from music critics. The song achieved commercial success, peaking inside the top-five in eleven countries. The music video for it was directed by Billie Woodruff and produced by Geneva Films, choreographed by Wade Robson. The song was not released as a single in the United States.


title: ...Baby One More Time (album)

text: "From the Bottom of My Broken Heart" was released on December 14, 1999, as the fifth and final single. The song also received mixed reviews, finding the song a classic hit and competent single, despite considering it as an unremarkable song that refers only to kissing. "From the Bottom of My Broken Heart" achieved moderate success, peaking at number thirty-seven in Australia, and twenty-three in New Zealand. Through imports, the song reached one hundred seventy-four in the United Kingdom. In the United States, "From the Bottom of My Broken Heart" reached number fourteen on "Billboard" Hot 100, and seventeen on Pop Songs, and was later certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on March 28, 2000, for selling over 1,000,000 physical units of the single. The music video, directed by Gregory Dark, was released on December 17, 1999. It was highly criticized due to the fact that Dark had previously directed porn films.


title: ...Baby One More Time (album)

text: At the time of its release, "...Baby One More Time" received mixed reviews from critics. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic gave the album four out of five stars, "Billboard"s Paul Verna considered the album "a top 40-ready workout filled with hook-laden songs from the same bag as the title cut". "Village Voice" critic Robert Christgau highlighted the title track and "Soda Pop" while summing the album up as a "girl next door" version of Madonna.


title: ...Baby One More Time (album)

text: Kyle Anderson of MTV said he "was surprised in more ways than one" with his first listening of "...Baby One More Time", commenting he "expected there to be a lot of filler (there sort of is), though I didn't expect it to be as odd (at least sonically) as it ended up being. There has never been any mystery to why Spears became such a superstar, but these songs probably would have been huge even if Britney wore burlap sacks in all of her videos." Barry Walters of "Rolling Stone" gave the album two stars out of five, and compared the album's sound to early hits of Debbie Gibson, Mariah Carey, and Samantha Fox. Walters also said that "while several Cherion-crafted kiddie-funk jams serve up beefy hooks, shameless schlock slowies, like 'E-Mail My Heart', is pure spam." A "NME" reviewer rated "...Baby One More Time" 1 out of 10, saying that "we seem to have reached crisis point: pubescent pop is now so rife that 17-year-old Britney 'lizard-lounge' Spears is already halfway through her lucrative showbiz career". He also found the album premature, commenting, "hopefully, if she starts to live the wretched life that we all eventually do, her voice will show the scars, she'll stop looking so fucking smug, she'll find solace in drugs and we'll be all the happier for it. Now grow up, girl. Quick!" Amanda Murray of Sputnikmusic felt that, "with the exception of the terrific title track, "...Baby One More Time" is a collection of either competent pop songs underwhelmingly executed or underwhelmingly written pop songs competently executed." The album has listed as the 16th best female album of all time on "Billboard" 200.


title: ...Baby One More Time (album)

text: "...Baby One More Time" debuted at number one on the "Billboard" 200 selling 121,000 copies in its first week, replacing DMX's "Flesh of My Flesh, Blood of My Blood" (1998). Spears broke several records by doing so. The singer became the first new female artist to have a number-one single on the "Billboard" Hot 100 and number one album on the "Billboard" 200 at the same time; the first new artist (male or female) to have a single go to the number one spot the same week that the album debuted at number one; and the first new female artist to have the first single and first album at number one the same week. Spears is also the youngest female in "Billboard" history to have a simultaneous single and album at number one in the same week. After four weeks since its release, the album had sold more than 500,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan sales data. After dropping to the top five, the album went back to number one in its fourth week. On its fifth week, it reached its highest sales week with 229,000 copies sold, and a total of over 804,000 copies sold. "...Baby One More Time" spent a total of six non-consecutive weeks at number one, and sold more than 1.8 million copies in its first two months of release in the country. In its forty-seventh week on the "Billboard" 200, the album held strong at number three, and with sales of over of 10 million copies in the United States alone. The album was certified diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on December 9, 1999, making Spears at 18 the youngest artist to receive that award, breaking Alanis Morissette's record, who was 21 when she released "Jagged Little Pill" (1995). The album was the 14th album since 1991 to sell over 10 million copies in the United States, and Spears became the best-selling female artist of 1999. "...Baby One More Time" spent a total of 51 weeks in the top 10 of the "Billboard" 200. It was the second best-selling album in the US, only behind "Millennium" by the Backstreet Boys. The album spent a total of one-hundred-and-three weeks on the chart. "...Baby One More Time" landed at number three on BMG Music Club all-time best-sellers list, selling 1.6 million units, behind Shania Twain's "Come on Over" (1997). As of May 2020, "...Baby One More Time" has sold 10.7 million copies in the United States according to Nielsen SoundScan, with the additional 1.6 million sold at BMG Music Clubs. Nielsen SoundScan does not count copies sold through clubs like the BMG Music Service, which were significantly popular in the 1990s.


title: ...Baby One More Time (album)

text: The album debuted at number one on the Canadian Albums Chart, totaling nine non-consecutive weeks at the top. On December 12, 1999, the Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA) certified it diamond, for sales over one million units. "...Baby One More Time" spent two weeks at number two on the European Top 100 Albums, and sold over four million copies within the continent, being certified quadruple platinum by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI). The album reached number two on the UK Albums Chart, number four on French Albums Chart and was certified quadruple platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), double platinum by the Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique (SNEP), triple gold in Germany by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), and decuple platinum (diamond) by the Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry (ZPAV). "...Baby One More Time" debuted at number nine in May 1999 on the ARIA Albums Chart in Australia, reaching number two nine weeks later, placing behind the "Dawson's Creek" soundtrack. The album became the seventh highest-selling of 1999 in the country, and was certified quadruple platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) the following year after shipping 280,000 copies to retailers. The album debuted at number three on the RIANZ Albums Chart in New Zealand, placing behind Shania Twain's "Come on Over" (1997) and The Corrs' "Talk on Corners" (1997). The album was later certified triple platinum in the country by the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand (RIANZ).


title: ...Baby One More Time (album)

text: Spears was at the forefront of the female teen pop explosion starting in 1999 and extending through the 2000s, leading the pack of Christina Aguilera, Jessica Simpson, and Mandy Moore. All of these performers had been developing material in 1998, but the market changed dramatically in December 1998 when Spears's debut single and video were charting highly. RCA Records signed Aguilera and rushed her debut single to capitalize on Spears's success, producing the hit single "Genie in a Bottle" in June 1999 and Aguilera's debut album a few months later. Her album sold millions but not as many as Spears's. Simpson consciously modeled her persona as more mature than Spears; her single "I Wanna Love You Forever" charted in September 1999, and her album "Sweet Kisses" followed shortly after. Moore's first single, "Candy", hit the airwaves a month before Simpson's single, but it did not perform as well on the charts; Moore was often seen as less accomplished than Spears and the others, coming in fourth of the "pop princesses". Fueling media stories about their competition for first place, Spears and Aguilera traded barbs but also compliments through the 2000s.


title: ...Baby One More Time (album)

text: "The Daily Yomiuri" reported that "critics have hailed her as the most gifted teenage pop idol for many years, but Spears has set her sights a little higher-she is aiming for the level of superstardom that has been achieved by Madonna and Janet Jackson." "Rolling Stone" wrote: "Britney Spears carries on the classic archetype of the rock & roll teen queen, the dungaree doll, the angel baby who just has to make a scene." Rami Yacoub who co-produced Spears's debut album with lyricist Max Martin commented, "I know from Denniz Pop and Max's previous productions, when we do songs, there's kind of a nasal thing. With N' Sync and the Backstreet Boys, we had to push for that mid-nasal voice. When Britney did that, she got this kind of raspy, sexy voice." Chuck Taylor of "Billboard" observed, "Spears has become a consummate performer, with snappy dance moves, a clearly real-albeit young-and funkdified voice ... "(You Drive Me) Crazy", her third single ... demonstrates Spears' own development, proving that the 17-year-old is finding her own vocal personality after so many months of steadfast practice." Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic referred to her music as a "blend of infectious, rap-inflected dance-pop and smooth balladry." Sputnikmusic writer Amanda Murray noted the album "offers a marker for Spears' progression as an artist, as a celebrity, and as a woman." In 2010, the album was included in the book "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die".


title: ...Baby One More Time (album)

text: Spears became an international pop culture icon immediately after launching her recording career. "Rolling Stone" magazine wrote: "One of the most controversial and successful female vocalists of the 21st century," she "spearheaded the rise of post-millennial teen pop ... Spears early on cultivated a mixture of innocence and experience that generated lots of cash". She is listed by the "Guinness World Records" as having the "Best-selling album by a teenage solo artist". Melissa Ruggieri of the "Richmond Times-Dispatch" reported, "She's also marked for being the best-selling teenage artist. Before she turned 20 in 2001, Spears sold more than 25 million albums worldwide". Barbara Ellen of "The Observer" has reported: "Spears is famously one of the 'oldest' teenagers pop has ever produced, almost middle aged in terms of focus and determination. Many 19-year-olds haven't even started working by that age, whereas Britney, a former Mouseketeer, was that most unusual and volatile of American phenomena — a child with a full-time career. While other little girls were putting posters on their walls, Britney was wanting to be the poster on the wall. Whereas other children develop at their own pace, Britney was developing at a pace set by the ferociously competitive American entertainment industry". "...Baby One More Time" is Spears' most successful album to date, with worldwide sales of 25 million copies. It was also ranked as the 41st best album of all time on the "Billboard Top 200 Albums of All Time".


title: Airbus A310

text: The Airbus A310 is a wide-body aircraft, designed and manufactured by Airbus Industrie, then a consortium of European aerospace manufacturers.


title: Airbus A310

text: On 7 July 1978, the A310 (initially the A300B10) was launched with orders from Swissair and Lufthansa.


title: Airbus A310

text: On 3 April 1982, the first prototype conducted its maiden flight, and the A310 received its type certification on 11 March 1983.


title: Airbus A310

text: Keeping the same eight-abreast cross-section, the A310 is shorter than the initial A300 variants, and has a smaller wing, down from .


title: Airbus A310

text: The A310 introduced a two-crew glass cockpit, later adopted for the A300-600 with a common type rating.


title: Airbus A310

text: It was powered by the same General Electric CF6-80 or Pratt & Whitney JT9D then PW4000 turbofan jet engines.


title: Airbus A310

text: In April 1983, the aircraft entered revenue service with Swissair, and competed with the Boeing 767-200, introduced six months before.


title: Airbus A310

text: Until the last delivery in June 1998, 255 aircraft were produced, as it was succeeded by the larger Airbus A330-200.


title: Airbus A310

text: It was available as a cargo aircraft version, and was also developed into a military variant, the A310 MRTT multi-role transport, then tanker.


title: Airbus A310

text: On 26 September 1967, the British, French, and West German governments signed a memorandum of understanding to commence the joint development of the 300-seat Airbus A300. This collaborative effort resulted in the production of the consortium's first airliner, known as the "Airbus A300". The A300 was a wide-body medium-to-long range passenger airliner; it holds the distinction of being the first twin-engine wide-body aircraft in the world. The design was relatively revolutionary for its time, and featured a number of industry firsts, making the first use of composite materials on a commercial aircraft; during 1977, the A300 became the first ETOPS-compliant aircraft, which was made possible due to its high performance and safety standards. The A300 would be produced in a range of models, and sold relatively well to airlines across the world, eventually reaching a total of 816 delivered aircraft during its production life.


title: Airbus A310

text: During the development of the earlier A300, a range of different aircraft size and capacity were studied by the consortium; the resulting Airbus A300B proposal was one of the smaller options. When the A300B1 prototypes emerged, a number of airlines issued requests for an aircraft with greater capacity, which resulted in the initial production A300B2 version. As the A300 entered service, it became increasingly apparent that there was also a sizeable market for a smaller aircraft; some operators did not have enough traffic to justify the relatively large A300, while others wanted more frequency or lower aircraft-mile costs at the expense of higher seat-mile cost (specifically Swissair and Lufthansa). At the same time, there was great pressure for Airbus to validate itself beyond the design and manufacture of a single airliner. In response to these desires, Airbus explored the options for producing a smaller derivative of the A300B2.


title: Airbus A310

text: In order to minimise the associated research and development costs for the tentative project, Airbus chose to examine several early design studies performed during the A300 programme. The company ultimately chose to prioritise its focus on one option, which became known as the "A300B10MC" (standing for "M"inimum "C"hange). As envisioned, the airliner's capacity was reduced to a maximum of 220 passengers, which was viewed at the time as being a desired capacity amongst many airlines. However, such a design would have resulted in a relatively small fuselage being mated to a comparatively large wing and oversized undercarriage; such an arrangement would have, amongst other things, made the aircraft consume an unnecessarily larger amount of fuel as it carried heavier weight than what was otherwise required.


title: Airbus A310

text: Another problem for the programme was presented in the form of inflation, the rate of which in the United Kingdom (one of the early members of the Airbus consortium) was around 35 per cent during 1979–80. This factor was responsible for significantly raising the program's development costs and, as a knock-on effect, increase the per-unit cost of the resulting airliner. During the development of the A300, British manufacturer Hawker Siddeley Aviation (HSA) had been appointed as the subcontractor to perform the manufacturing of the wing of the aircraft; shortly afterwards, the British government chose to withdraw from the newly formed venture during 1969. During 1977, HSA subsequently merged with three other British aircraft companies, resulting in the formation of British Aerospace (BAe). By this point in time, the British government had publicly indicated its intentions to rejoin the Airbus programme. During May 1976, the French government entered into a series of discussions on cooperation, during which its representatives stated that the placing of an order by British Airways (BA) was a condition for the re-admission of the United Kingdom into Airbus Industrie as a full partner.


title: Airbus A310

text: However, both BA and Rolls-Royce had not relinquished their will to collaborate with the Americans in future aircraft endeavours and, in BA's case, procure American aircraft. During the late 1970s, BA sought to purchase two separate types of aircraft in development by American company Boeing, initially known as the "7N7" and "7X7", which would develop into the 757 and 767, the latter of which being an intended rival to the upcoming A310, as well as the existing Boeing 747. Independent of the British government, BAe commenced its own dialogue between itself and American aircraft manufacturers Boeing and McDonnell Douglas, for the purpose of assessing if BAe could participate any of their future programmes, although the company's chairman, Lord Beswick, publicly stated that the overall aim of the firm was to pursue collaboration in Europe. At the 1978 Farnborough Air Show, Eric Varley, the British Secretary of State for Industry, announced that BAe was to rejoin Airbus Industrie and participate as a full partner from 1 January 1979 onwards. Under the negotiated arrangement, BAe would be allocated a 20 per cent shareholding in Airbus Industrie, and would perform "a full part in the development and manufacturing of the A310".


title: Airbus A310

text: From late 1977, prior to the Varley announcement, BAe had already commenced work on the design of the new wing at its facility in Hatfield. However, due to negotiations with Britain on its return to the Airbus consortium being protracted, alternative options were explored, including potentially manufacturing the wing elsewhere. At the same time as the British efforts, French aerospace firm Aérospatiale, German aircraft manufacturer Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm (MBB), and Dutch-German joint venture company VFW-Fokker were also conducting their individual studies into possible options for the wing of the prospective airliner.


title: Airbus A310

text: At the April 1978 Hanover Air Show, Airbus exhibited a model of the proposed A310. Its wing area, at was slightly larger than that studied, at ; its passenger cabin was twelve frames shorter than the A300, accommodating typical passenger loads of 195 in two-class, or 245 in economy. However, during the next twelve months, almost every aspect was further refined. On 9 June 1978, Swissair and Lufthansa developed a joint specification for the aircraft, and within a month, announced that they would place the launch orders. On 15 March, Swissair became the first airline to place a firm order for the type, announcing that it would acquire ten aircraft, with a further ten under option, to replace its McDonnell Douglas DC-9s on its major intra-European routes. Lufthansa was quick to place a $240 million ten-aircraft order; additional orders from French operator Air France and Spanish airline Iberia shortly followed.


title: Airbus A310

text: Increasingly strong interest in the tentative airliner, coupled with the recovery of the industry during the late 1970s, contributed to Airbus deciding to put the A310 into production on 7 July 1978. During the latter half of 1978, an order for ten A300s was placed by independent British airline Laker Airways, satisfying Airbus's demand for the placing of a British order for their aircraft. On 1 April 1979, Lufthansa decided to raise its commitment for the type to 25 aircraft, along with 25 options. Two days later, Dutch operator KLM signed its order for ten aircraft and ten options at £238 million. On 6 July 1979, Air France announced that it had raised its order from four to thirty-five airliners. Other airlines announcing orders for the A310 during 1979 included Martinair, Sabena, and Air Afrique.


title: Airbus A310

text: Initially, a pair of distinct versions of the A310 had been planned by Airbus; the regional A310-100, and the transcontinental A310-200. The A310-100 featured a range of with 200 passengers, whilst the A310-200 possessed a higher MTOW and centre section fuel, being able to carry the same load a further . Basic engines offered for the type included the General Electric CF6-45B2 and Pratt & Whitney JT9D-7R4. At one point, British engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce was openly considering offering an engine for the A310, the Rolls-Royce RB.207, however, it ultimately chose to discard such efforts in favour of a smaller three-spool design, the RB.211.


title: Airbus A310

text: The range of the A310 exceeds that of the A300 series, with the exception of the A300-600R, which in turn surpasses that of the A310-200. The greater range of the A310 contributed to the airliner being used extensively by operators on transatlantic routes. The A300 and A310 introduced the concept of commonality: A300-600 and A310 pilots can cross-qualify for the other aircraft with one day of training.


title: Airbus A310

text: Sales of the A310 continued through the early 1980s. On 3 April 1982, the prototype A310-200 airliner conducted its maiden flight; by this point, the type had accumulated a combined orders and options for 181 aircraft, which had been placed by fifteen airlines worldwide, which was a better start than the original A300. The launch customer of A310, Swissair, became the launch operator in April 1983. Over time, it had become clear that the longer-range series −200 aircraft was the more popular of the two models on offer. During 1979, in response to the lack of demand for the A310-100, Airbus decided to stop offering the lower gross weight model which had been originally proposed for Lufthansa; as a consequence, none of this variant were ultimately manufactured.


title: Airbus A310

text: During the early 1990s, demand for the aircraft began to slacken; there were no new A310 passenger orders placed during the late 1990s, in part due to the introduction of the newer and more advanced Airbus A330 during this time. As a result, during June 1998, the last delivery of the A310 was completed. The A310, along with its A300 stablemate, officially ceased production during July 2007, though an order from Iraqi Airways for five A310s had remained on the books until July 2008. The remaining freighter sales were to be instead fulfilled by the new A330-200F derivative.


title: Airbus A310

text: The A310 has been commonly marketed as an introduction to wide-body operations for airlines based in developing countries. The airliner was replaced in Airbus' range by the highly successful A330-200, which shares its fuselage cross-section. Between 1983, and the last aircraft produced in 1998, 255 A310s were delivered. The A300 and A310 established Airbus as a competitor to Boeing, and allowed it to go ahead with the more ambitious A320, and A330 / A340 families.


title: Airbus A310

text: , thirty-seven A310s remain in commercial service; major operators are Air Transat and Mahan Air with nine aircraft each; Fedex Express (six), and seven airlines operating thirteen aircraft between them.


title: Airbus A310

text: The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) currently operates a fleet of five Airbus CC-150 Polaris, civilian Airbus A310-300s, originally owned by Wardair, and subsequently Canadian Airlines International, after the airlines merged. The aircraft were then sold to the Canadian government, and have been converted for use as the primary long-distance transport aircraft as part of the Royal Canadian Air Force's fleet of Royal Canadian Air Force VIP aircraft.


title: Airbus A310

text: The Airbus A310 was a medium- to long-range twin-engined wide-body jet airliner. Initially a derivative of the A300, the aircraft had originally been designated the "A300B10". It was essentially a shortened variant of the earlier aircraft; however, there were considerable differences between the two aircraft. Specifically, the fuselage possessed the same cross-section, but being shorter than the A300, it provided capacity for a typical maximum of 200 passengers. The rear fuselage was heavily re-designed, featuring altered tapering, while involved a move aft of the rear bulkhead to create additional capacity; this same design change was later transferred back to later variants of the A300, such as the A300-600 and A330/A340 fuselages. The A310 also had a different emergency exit configuration, consisting of four main doors (two at the front and two at the rear of the aircraft), and two smaller doors over the wings.


title: Airbus A310

text: The wing of the A310 was redesigned, possessing a reduced span and wing area, and incorporating simpler single-slotted Fowler flaps designed by British Aerospace shortly following its decision to join the Airbus consortium. Other changes to the wing included the elimination of the outer ailerons, which were occasionally referred to by the manufacturer as being "low speed ailerons", and the addition of electrically actuated spoilers. The wing also featured common pylons, which were able to support all types of engines that were offered to customers to power the airliner. From 1985 onwards, the A310-300 introduced wingtip fences which reduced vortex drag and thus improved cruise fuel consumption by over 1.5%. A limited number of alterations were also performed to the airliner's tail unit, such as the adoption of smaller horizontal tail surfaces.


title: Airbus A310

text: The A310 was furnished with a two-crew glass cockpit configuration as standard, removing the requirement for a flight engineer; Airbus referred to this concept as the "Forward-Facing Crew Cockpit". The company had developed the cockpit to significantly enhance the aircraft's man-machine interface, thereby improving operational safety. It was outfitted with an array of six computer-based cathode ray tube (CRT) displays to provide the flight crew with centralised navigational, warning, monitoring, and general flight information, in place of the more traditional analogue instrumentation and dials, which were used in conjunction with a range of modern electronic systems. The same flight deck was incorporated into the A300-600, a move which increased commonality between the two types, and enabled a dual type rating to be achieved, this same approach was later used on many future Airbus aircraft. In addition to the two flying crew, provisions for third and fourth crew seats were present within the flight deck.


title: Airbus A310

text: The A310 was initially proposed with a choice of three engines: the General Electric CF6-80A1, the Pratt & Whitney JT9D-7R4D1, and the Rolls-Royce RB211-524. The A310 was launched with the Pratt & Whitney JT9D-7R4D1 or the General Electric CF6-80A3. Subsequently available were the CF6-80C2A2 or the PW4152. From late 1991 the higher thrust CF6-80C2A8 or PW4156A became available.


title: Airbus A310

text: The A310 was equipped with a modified undercarriage, derived from the A300; the landing gear were outfitted with carbon brakes, which were fitted as standard. The structure of the airliner featured a high level of composite materials throughout both primary and secondary structures, increased beyond that of the earlier A300. The A310 is outfitted with integrated drive electrical generators along with auxiliary power unit, which were improved versions of those used on the A300.


title: Airbus A310

text: The A310 is available in two basic versions, the medium range −200 and the longer range −300. The first version of the aircraft to be developed was the −200, but this was later joined by the −300, which then became the standard production version of the aircraft. The short range −100 variant was never developed due to low demand.


title: Airbus A310

text: As of September 2015 there have been 12 hull-loss accidents involving A310s with a total of 825 fatalities; and 9 hijackings with a total of five fatalities.


title: Airbus A310

text: An Airbus A310-300 of the fictional Belarus Airways appeared in the 2013 movie World War Z. The plane was leased from HiFly, a Portuguese airline, with registration number CS-TEX.


title: Laura Nyro

text: Laura Nyro ( ; born Laura Nigro; October 18, 1947 – April 8, 1997) was an American songwriter, singer, and pianist. She achieved critical acclaim with her own recordings, particularly the albums "Eli and the Thirteenth Confession" (1968) and "New York Tendaberry" (1969), and had commercial success with artists such as Barbra Streisand and the 5th Dimension recording her songs. Wider recognition for her artistry was posthumous while her contemporaries such as Elton John idolized her. She was praised for her strong emotive vocal style and 3-octave mezzo-soprano vocal range.


title: Laura Nyro

text: Between 1968 and 1970, a number of artists had hits with her songs: The 5th Dimension with "Blowing Away", "Wedding Bell Blues", "Stoned Soul Picnic", "Sweet Blindness", and "Save the Country"; Blood, Sweat & Tears and Peter, Paul and Mary with "And When I Die"; Three Dog Night and Maynard Ferguson with "Eli's Comin'"; and Barbra Streisand with "Stoney End", "Time and Love", and "Hands off the Man (Flim Flam Man)". Nyro's best-selling single was her recording of Carole King's and Gerry Goffin's "Up on the Roof".


title: Laura Nyro

text: Nyro was posthumously inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2010, and into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012.


title: Laura Nyro

text: Nyro was born Laura Nigro in the Bronx, the daughter of Louis Nigro, a piano tuner and jazz trumpeter, and Gilda (née Mirsky) Nigro, a bookkeeper. Laura had a younger brother, Jan Nigro, who has become a well-known children's musician. Laura was of Russian Jewish and Polish Jewish descent, with Italian American ancestry from her paternal grandfather. Her father gave her the name "Laura", after hearing the title theme of the 1944 film "Laura". Nigro and his family often insisted that their surname be pronounced as instead of to avoid racial connotations. However, after Laura left high school, she chose her own surname, "Nyro", having it pronounced as .


title: Laura Nyro

text: "I've created my own little world, a world of music, since I was five years old", Nyro told "Billboard" magazine in 1970, adding that music provided, for her, a means of coping with a difficult childhood: "I was never a bright and happy child." As a child, she taught herself piano, read poetry, and listened to her mother's records by Leontyne Price, Nina Simone, Judy Garland, Billie Holiday, and classical composers such as Debussy and Ravel. She composed her first songs at age eight. With her family, she spent summers in the Catskills, where her father played trumpet at resorts. She credited the Sunday school at the New York Society for Ethical Culture with providing the basis of her education; she also attended Manhattan's High School of Music & Art.


title: Laura Nyro

text: Nyro was close to her aunt and uncle, artists Theresa Bernstein and William Meyerowitz, who helped support her education and early career.