When Steve Waugh handed over the captaincy of the Australian cricket team to Ricky Ponting in 2004 he handed over a golden legacy and some magnificent players. But that legacy, and the decline and retirement of those players also meant Waugh was handing Punter a poisoned chalice too.
When Waugh’s team thrashed England in 2002/3 the captain was able to call on a host of excellent world class players including Justin Langer, Matty Hayden, Damien Martyn, Adam Gilchrist, Gillespie even, Ponting himself and two of the best players ever to grace the game, Glenn McGrath and the brilliant Shane Warne. Just those last two would have been enough to elegant even a mundane outfit into a top class side.
But a glance down the side that Ponting brought to England in the epic 2005 series reveals that all of his best players were at the wrong end of their careers at the same time. All of those mentioned above except the skipper himself were in their middle 30′s, and even the bright young hope Brett Lee was pushing 30 and already injury prone.
Well, sometime this evening Punter will have achieved the unenviable task of losing three out of four ashes series and seeing his once invincible Aussies slip dramatically down the world ratings. The pugnacious little Tasmanian will inevitably be sacked, maybe as early as tomorrow, and he will be lambasted mercilessly by the Australian media.
For me though, Ponting has been a great leader, even if his captaincy has ocassionally fallen short. It is not his fault that he has to throw the ball to the likes of Mitchell Johnson instead of McGrath, and not only does he not have a Shane Warne but Brad Hogg, seemingly the only other Australian with the ability to spin a cricket ball has also retired. And even though he nearly combusted yesterday when KP was given not out, I always thought Punter was magnificent in defeat. Jaw thrust out, the sweaty baggy green cap pulled down over his steely eyes, ready to take on allcomers if they dared criticise his players but sportingly acknowledging his opponents, like a boxer who had fought the good fight with a fury, and congratulated his opponent at the final bell. Under tremendous pressure at Edgbaston in 2009 he was booed by a few spectators, sending the media into fits of apoplexy, although most of the crowd seemed to sense it was a bit of fun. But Punter stuck out that chin and strolled out defiant. A few moments later he became the highest Australian run scorer in test history and received an incredible standing ovation all around the ground, led by the English barmy army.
It would be good if his career could be judged by his magnificent batting and pugnacious, determined leadership, but sadly I fear the decline of Waugh’s golden generation will always hang around Pontin’s neck and a nation who don’t understand the meaning of defeat will be very unforgiving.
For God’s sake, Piper, get a grip! You’re letting all this Xmas ‘goodwill to all men’ go to your head, either that or its your soppy socialism running amok – again. When it comes to the Ashes and the Aussies – show no mercy! It’s thumb down and off with his head at the very first opportunity. Revenge, particularly petty revenge, is good for you!
Believe me, Duffers, I want to see them ground into the dirt. No mercy, as you say… But I still think the punter is a fantastic guy.
Happy new year, by the way… I’m off to the sun for a few days on Thursday so I might forget to say it.
Yup, I agree. The odd tension-induced abberation apart, I think Ricky Ponting has always played the game exactly as us traditionalists would want it played, and is a good deal more gracious in defeat than I imagine would be – let’s just say – Stuart Broad. His timing has just been unlucky, and if there’d been a good new top order batsman captain coming through he’d have made way gracefully near the top of his game, rather than now when he’s just a year or two past his prime; you can see his eye has gone just enough for him to be able to make the big scores any more.
Spot on Paul (loved the post about Heinz, by the way – here, for anyone wanting a good thoughtful read… http://thoughcowardsflinch.com/2010/12/28/beans-factories-and-creeping-liberal-elitism/)
Completely agree Bob.
It is a shame that a player as great as Ponting will unfairly be remembered as a bad captain when he should be remembered as superb batsmen and as man with a fantastic attitude to the game (fight to the death on the pitch, nice guy off it).
Waugh, Taylor and Border would have all struggled with this very ordinary Australian line up. Watson is useful player but he is not an opening batsmen. Hughes is always a wicket waiting to happen. Ponting, Clarke and Hussey are all good players but two of them are in poor form. Smith is no more a test match number 6 than he is an astronaut. Johnson is good on his day but garbage for much of the time and when your strike bowler doesn’t take the new ball you know something is wrong. Harris is injury prone and even when fit he is not a test match opening bowler. Siddle is a decent 3rd seamer but he has had to so way too much in this series. Hilfenhaus does a job but he would never make it into a half decent Australian team.
Only Haddin, Hussey, Siddle and Watson have had anything like a decent series and in Watson’s case he has let them down by not going on when he has been well set to do so.
It is also worth remembering that a Test series can be won or lost on the smallest of margins and had Katich not run himself out on the first morning at Adelaide (exposing Ponting and Clarke early on) the Aussies could easily have racked up a good total on a very flat wicket and this series could have gone very differently.
“I’m off to the sun for a few days”
Oh no, not again! Dare one ask which sun-drenched dictator you are supporting now? I would avoid North Korea, if I were you, but I understand Libya can be very nice this time of the year, and their medical services are infinitely better than our crap NHS, they actually manage to keep cancer-ridden patients alive well past their die-by-date!
Anyway, my best wishes to you and yours for 2011.
Just the Canary Islands, Duffers, and as Franco is no longer in charge I suspect they won’t suit you either.