Cricketers at the football

The Australian squad split up last night, with half the team attending a civic reception in Leeds and five of them going to watch Altrincham FC play a Manchester United XI selection in Cheshire. Ricky Ponting, Peter Siddle, Stuart Clark, Michael Hussey and Shane Watson were the biggest names at the game, which they attended because Geoff Goodwin, the Conference club’s chairman, doubles as their bus driver in England.

Ponting was given 500 shares in the club for attending the friendly, matching the allocation handed out to Jason Gillespie and Adam Gilchrist four years ago. Manchester United’s reserves won 2-0 while the first team was preparing to play Valencia on Wednesday night.

Back in Leeds, Mitchell Johnson was one of the guests of honour in a reception hosted by the lord mayor Judith Elliott. Part of the festivities included Johnson and Phil Hughes batting against a computer-generated bowler who delivered from a big screen. A bit like playing Wii. Both missed at every attempt but when the mayor, a grandmother, stepped up she blasted two sixes from three balls before retiring to cheers from the small crowd.