It sometimes seems as though Richard Branson is taking over the world. When you see an image like this you realise that, should aliens have landed in the past couple of days, they might assume Branson is the president of Earth.

As the opening Test began in Cardiff, Branson hijacked the Sydney Harbour Bridge to send a message to Ricky Ponting. "Good luck Ricky. You'll need it. Dicky X," the message read.

It came via a 25-metre projection of the billionaire, whose Virgin Media has launched a Fifty50 campaign, whereby the company will donate £1000 to charity each time an England player scores a half-century during the Ashes.