Ricky Ponting

When I was a small child, I never miss any of the Australian matches. I had also become a great fan of Ricky Ponting because of his aggressive leadership skills, which won him two consecutive World Cup’s on the trot. I reckon he never felt the burden of captaincy as he took Australia to comprehensive wins single-handedly. One of the best innings was against India in the World Cup final 2003. It was actually a controversial decision made by Ganguly in the final of the World Cup as he sent Aussies to bat first. It was perfect strip for batting at Johannesburg and Ricky Ponting made full use of the track and scored a brilliant century as Australia posted an enormous total of 359 runs for the loss of 2 wickets. His innings was equally supported by his bowlers as they wiped of India’s top-order in quick succession and ultimately emerged as the 2003 World Champions by 125 runs.

That particular triumph gave Ponting the much needed confidence for the Ashes Series at England in the year 2005. By the way, he was appointed as the Test skipper in the year 2004 following Steve Waugh’s retirement from Test Cricket. Thus, entire responsibility was shifted to Ricky Ponting and he was the man in-charge for the team. His chemistry with Coach John Buchan worked pretty well as Australia dominated the Cricket for more than 6 years under Ricky Ponting. Ponting in fact had a very good start to his Test career as skipper as his team had a clean sweep 3-0 in Sri Lanka. Ricky Ponting had a fantastic run in the year 2004 as Australia managed to win all the Test matches played during that year and hadn’t lost a single match.

How was this possible? Many of us would say that Australia have dominant pace-attack. That’s right, but bringing out the talent requires a motivation, and that’s exactly what Ponting did, and this is why he’s been able to produce desired results for his side. For winning continuously without a loss, it requires – hard work, patience, team spirit and desperation. Apart from this, an aggressive leadership is required, which was the basic quality of Ponting. In Test matches, he usually has three slips, a gully, and a man at point much closer, and a silly point. He has this kind of field placement because McGrath and Lee have the ability to swing the ball constantly and trouble the batsman. Therefore, batsman can’t afford to be in two minds – whether to go for a shot or leave it. If he’s in this state, then he is certainly a goner. This was the strategy he followed till his reassignment from captaincy.

He also has the apt of using his bowlers efficiently. He saves his resources for crucial situations of the match. For instance in the 2007 World Cup match against South Africa Australia posted a comprehensive 374 runs in their allotted 50 overs. South Africa flourished in the first 15 overs as they scored around 120 runs and were in command. At that moment, McGrath was brought into the attack. Until then, he wasn’t given a single over to be bowled though he’s been a great bowler with the new ball. McGrath immediately got rid of both the openers Smith and De Villers as South Africa’s scoring rate gradually came down, and ultimately at the end Australia emerged as winners.

Ponting however failed to win the Ashes Series in the year 2005 in England as they lost to them by 1 – 2 margin. Though they started the series superbly, their performance especially with the ball was not upto the mark, which led to the defeat. However, in the following year Ponting regained the Ashes Series, which in fact marked the final appearance of Shane Warne as Ponting and his men had a clean sweep 5-0 at their home ground. Ponting in fact played a crucial role in Australia’s win in the first Brisbane Ashes as he scored a spectacular 196 runs in the first innings, which was followed by 60* in the second innings.

Ponting, though he has been a great captain in the Test matches, hasn’t won a Common Wealth Bank ODI Series at home. Their performance in the group matches will not be seen in the best of three-finals as they fumble to win the Series. For instance in the year 2006, Ponting won the Ashes 5-0 for Australia, but failed to replicate the same in the ODI series as they lost to England in the best of three-finals 1 – 2. Same as the case when India toured Australia, Ponting was the key player in Aussies Test series win over India, but failed to perform well in the ODI series as India thumped the Aussies 2 – 0.

Gradually there was a decline in form from 2008 and he lost the second Ashes Series as captain both home and away as England played smart cricket to outplay Ricky Ponting and his Co. It’s only because of Ponting failure with the bat; Aussies were outplayed in the Ashes. Suppose if he could have stayed in the centre, innings would have revolved around him and certainly Australia would have had their chances.

Soon after, Ponting had trouble with short-pitched bowling. His reflexes gradually came down and he wasn’t as fluent as he is used to be. It was a horrible year for Ponting as he slipped to 12 in ICC Test batsman rankings and further, Australia slipped to third in the ICC Test Rankings. In 2009-10, West Indies had a tour to Australia. In the third Test, he had a problem of facing Roach as he was constantly receiving short-ball treatment. After a long battle he was retired hurt on 23 of 25 balls studded with two blistering boundaries and a six over square leg. Australia however collapsed to 125/7, and Ricky Ponting batted at number 9. Yet again, he was troubled with short-pitched deliveries and eventually he was dismissed for 25.

However he had a better World Cup 2011 with Australia managing to enter knock-out stage of the tournament without Punter’s contribution. I thought he saved his best for the last. He scored a spectacular century against India in the quarter-final match of 2011 World Cup as Australia piled up 260 runs of 50 overs. However, his century went in vain as India thrashed the Aussies by 5 wickets. Nevertheless, at last not a finest, but a important century came from Ricky Ponting. Soon after he requilishned his captaincy and Clarke was the successor of Ponting.

After facing these kinds of problems, Ponting finally announced his retirement on November 29 2012 from Test Cricket. Nonetheless, it was an incredible career that Ricky Ponting had as he had won two consecutive World Cup’s and dominated the Cricket for more than 6 years. What can we expect beyond this? One of the greatest cricketer for Australia!