Ashes Heroes No 28: Ricky Ponting

Into the new year and our Ashes Heroes series reaches No 28. There will be 12 captains in the rest of the list, six for each side for those who want to play guessing games, and this week's entry is a man whose record in Ashes series so far is played 2, won 1, lost 1. For all the humiliation he heaped on England in the last series, history will record later this year (barring a surprising sacking) if Ricky Ponting is to be regarded as a successful captain or not. Given his impressive batting record, he probably deserves to be higher in this list.

Ponting was always going to be an Australian legend. Hailed by Rod Marsh as the best teenage batsman he had ever seen, Ponting was fast-tracked into a Test side that was famously hard to break into at the age of 20. He made 96 in his first innings and 71 in his second, both against Sri Lanka, but it took him a while to settle into the side.

This was in part due to the strength of competition. It took something specal to find a way into a top six with Taylor, Slater, Elliott, Blewett, Bevan, Langer and both Waughs in contention - just ask Stuart Law, who made his debut in the same Test as Ponting but only made 54 and never played again. Ponting's well-documented off-field incidents involving bars, brawls and booze also counted against him. His nickname of Punter didn't just come about because it sounds like Ponting. A fondness for spending some of his income on greyhounds may also have had something to do with it.

He was picked for his first Ashes tour in 1997 but missed out on the opening three matches. By the time his debut came at Headingley, the series was poised 1-1. Heck of a time to enter such a pressured contest, especially when you come out to bat with your side 50 for four. Yet Ponting made 127 and shared in a stand of 268 for the fifth wicket with Matthew Elliott to set up an innings victory. It could have been the break he needed, but Ponting's place was still not secure. In the next four innings of that series, he failed to pass 50 and by the next Ashes, in 1998-99, he was still fighting for inclusion.

That was a disastrous series for Ponting. He made 47 runs in four innings, missing out on two trips to the crease because Australia won the first two Tests so comfortably, and was dropped after the third Test for Darren Lehmann. His average at this stage of his career was under 37.

Ponting's average since that Ashes has been above 61 and he has averaged more than 50 against every opponent, including 52 against England. What prompted this improvement? Simple answer: the Australian selectors finally played him in the right position. Since the retirement of David Boon they had been looking for a reliable No 3. They found it in a fellow Tasmanian. Ponting had played three of his first 42 Tests at first fall. Since moving up the order, he has never moved again and has turned himself into Australia's best No 3 since Bradman.

Not that it was the best of starts. The first five innings of the 2001 Ashes accrued 61 runs. Ponting was still an Ashes failure. But then came Headingley again and innings of 144 and 72. Ponting was reborn. Australia lost that Test, of course, but they gained a hero. Two more hundreds against England followed in the first two Tests of the 2002-03 Ashes and then he made 68 at Perth as Australia won the series before Christmas.

Ponting was one-day captain by this point and at the start of 2004 he ascended to the Test captaincy as well. Statistically, he has been a success. Even allowing for defeats to India and South Africa in the past couple of months, he has won 35 out of 53 Tests (as well as a couple of World Cups). But one notable black mark is in surrendering the Ashes in 2005.

You all know the story so I won't rehearse it again here. It was a tense, tight series and Australia could have won it 3-1 as easily as they lost it 2-1. Stray balls, odd decisions, batting tail-enders and dropped catches all played as much of a part in England's victory as Strauss and Trescothick's batting, Jones's reverse-swing and Flintoff's all-round game. But many believe that Ponting was outplayed by Vaughan.

He was certainly out-thought. Vaughan showed that he was not prepared to be cowed by Ponting, which was something of a rarity for England captains. One of the best exchanges of that series was when Ponting tried to give Vaughan some verbal abuse. Vaughan replied: "Who do you think you are, Steve Waugh?" It was a withering put down and spoke volumes. No wonder Ponting snapped after being run out by Gary Pratt at Trent Bridge. England were meant to roll over, not fight.

Regardless of the loss, however, Ponting should be remembered for one of the great innings of Ashes history. I wrote earlier that England could have lost 3-1 if Edgbaston and Trent Bridge had gone the other way, but they could have won by even more if Ponting had been dismissed earlier at Old Trafford. His second-innings 156, taking up almost seven hours, saved the match for Australia.

Regaining the Ashes in such a humiliating way for England and Andrew Flintoff was also a Ponting triumph (as it was for John Buchanan and the other bruised victims of 2005). With the bat, he began with 196 at Brisbane and followed it with 142 at Adelaide, as brutal a personal statement of revenge as you can get. As captain, he kept Australia's foot down on the accelerator. He inspired them. How they need that inspiration again now.

What tales remain to be written about Ponting? He still has traces of his old aggression and hot-headedness. Questions remain about his tactical nous. He has not been dealt the best cards by the selectors of late. But he remains the most dependable batsman that Australia have and Australia have generally let their captains decide when to leave if they are in good form. The job is his for as long as he is scoring runs. Don't write him off yet.

Comments

[Cricket Fan]

First did Tresco cheat? By his admission yes, but in mitigation I wonder which pro-cricketer hasn't used sugarcaoted saliva on a ball? Don't think that because Tresco has admitted to it that he is the only player to have done it.

As for the Punter, a great batsman worthy of being counted among the very best, but as a captain he is a bit limited. England ambushed Australia in 2005 and perhaps Punter was a bit too expectant of success and forgot to see the job through first. More recently in the SA ans India series I thought he captaincy was a bit lacking in imagination and tactics, not to say motivating the players in a couple of situations in the first two tests that Australia could and should have won.

[SouthernWaratah]

We Australian’s are a tough judge of batting talent. For it to be widely accepted that Ponting is not only the best No.3 but the best bat since Bradman speaks volumes. Chappell’s, Waugh’s, Border, Harvey could all put their hand up but most will concede Ponting is the best. Six Australian Captains to follow? Border. Waugh, Taylor, Bradman, Laurie, I.Chappell – Close Patrick?

[SouthernWaratah]

Further more why are you all talking about Trescothick? If all you have to write about him is Murray Mints then enough written I feel! We've never rated him as he never scored any runs against us

[Xan]

Marcus Trescothick. A cheat who is branded a cheat by his own pen for financial gain. Are we to take the word of this dishonest man that he didn't lie and cheat in a particular series where his team won? Would it take the gloss of a win if he were lying? Would it garner him more or less royalty cheques? Is it cricket? Marcus Trescothick is a cheat and has said so himself. No further discussion on this blight on English cricket who has tarnished the game and every man he has played with. Did you also send letters to your Australian friends with his image on them in 2005? Reading Harold Pinter's thoughts on everything that is good about cricket this week I noticed nothing resembling this odious excrescence.

[GA]

Exactly, I did some research, and it proves Tom's point.

[geoff of melbourne]

Hmm.
According to all this, Trescothick used his mighty, minty saliva in 2001, but there were no signs of unusual swing. In 2005 the English did nothing untoward, (heaven forbid), and yet the ball hooped around everywhere. It is all very strange.
I vote we wait and see what happens in 2009. At the first sign of excessive swing I vote that we get Billy Bowden to taste the ball to ensure that all is in order.

[Patrick Kidd]

well done GA, you will have noted the last paragraph of that piece then which said that the activity happened in 2001, by Trescothicks admission, not 2005. Or did your detiled research only take in the first paragraph?

[GA]

Tom. I've done some research:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article4615159.ece

[Tom]

Glen, when Trescothick wrote about the use of mints he was talking about the Hussain era ashes test series (2001 I think) and not the Ashes of 2005. You really should read his book or at least do some research before making silly, childish comments like that.

[Glen]

You forgot to mention the influence in 2005 of Trescothick`s use of mints to assist in reverse swing. Don`t worry though, this comment will be moderated out.Can`t let the truth get in the way , even if it is a self confession !