A batsman and captain whose natural instinct was to attack, whatever the situation, he leaves the game as one of its greats and arguably its toughest competitor.
He will play the last of his 168 Tests where it all began back in 1995, at the WACA, the announcement coming earlier today at a press conference attended by the entire Australian team and their teary captain, Michael Clarke. Sports teams generally like to do their grieving in private but Ponting is held in such high regard by players of all generations in Australia, that a public display was felt more appropriate.
There were tributes from opponents too and Kevin Pietersen, enjoying a short break with England in Mumbai, tweeted: “Ricky Ponting - one of the greats. I always got excited playing Australia so I could watch him bat up close. Well done Punter. Legend.”
Opinion about him wasn’t always that complimentary. As one of the most talented teenage batsmen Rod Marsh had ever seen pass through Australia’s Academy, Ponting was picked for his first Test at the age of 20.
Whether solely a case of too much too young, he struggled to cope with the attention and hit the bottle, a decision that saw him involved in several unseemly incidents including a brawl in the famous Bourbon and Beefsteak bar in Sydney’s sleazy King’s Cross area.
Cricket Australia came down hard and to his credit he turned away from that life, finding fulfilment in nurturing his substantial talent further to contribute to Australia’s greatest ever era under Mark Taylor and Steve Waugh. Two years ago he beat Shane Warne’s total of Test match wins to become the only man in history to be involved in 100 Test victories.
Controversy never really left him though and it resurfaced in another guise when he inherited the captaincy from Waugh.
Transferring the ruthless, uncompromising streak that had fired his batting to maintaining Australia’s dominance of world cricket, saw him and his team involved in several unsavoury incidents as aggression spilled over into naked animosity.
One series against India was close to being called off, so high did feelings run, that several commentators in the Australia media called for him to be sacked.
Once again Ponting adjusted, ameliorating his win at any cost policy - some say to his and Australia’s detriment after they lost the 2005 Ashes series, their first defeat to England for 19 years.
His captaincy certainly came under scrutiny in that series, especially his decision at Edgbaston where he bowled first after winning the toss despite losing Glenn McGrath just minutes earlier when he sprained his ankle treading on a cricket ball. Yet Australia came within two runs of winning, so it was hardly the catastrophic error many claimed it to be.
That Ashes defeat was the first of three he suffered as the team’s leader, the most by an Australian captain. He also won one, 5-0, in 2006/7 which had only been done once before, so there was one almighty feast among the famine.
Nevertheless, he led Australia to 47 Test victories and 34 consecutive wins in World Cup matches, an incredible record, and all those who played under him speak of a leader they would follow without hesitation.
His batting is what those outside the dressing-room will remember most. Blessed with preternatural hand-eye co-ordination, Ponting could destroy just about any attack when the mood took him.
His habit of going at the ball hard gave him problems early in his career against spin, especially on slow pitches, but he overcame that to become the complete batsman and form one third of that generation’s sainted trio of stroke-makers alongside Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar.
When Ponting's eye was in his high backlift allowed him to pull and drive with equal facility, a combination that left the bowler with no option but to persuade his captain to try someone else.
His 41 Test hundreds and 30 one-day hundreds, make him second behind Tendulkar’s combined total of 100 centuries, though the Little Master did have a six-year start on him. His 196 against England at Brisbane is his highest Ashes century but his 156 in the last innings to save the match at Old Trafford in 2005 is one of his favourites.
England looked likely winners there to take a 2-1 lead but Ponting enabled his team to maintain a level footing, the innings pressing all the pleasure centres his brain being against the Poms and made under extreme pressure.
Unlike Tendulkar, he always relished getting into opponents faces while in the field. While Tendulkar likes to be with his own thoughts on the boundary at third man or fine leg, Ponting always wanted to mix it with opponents and intimidate them from cover point where his brilliant ground fielding brought about more than the occasional run-out.
At 37, he could have played for a few more years, his fitness not being an issue. His Test average since handing over to Clarke 18 months ago is decet enough too being 41.7 from 25 Test innings. But, as he said today, he’d been “falling at the big moments in games” and that, for a man who always prided himself at staring down trouble, was unacceptable.
With retirement looming another decision beckons. Will he become another former captain squeezing into Channel Nine’s commentary box, or will he be like Steve Waugh and head off in other directions?
Cricket has driven his life since the age of 16 but Ponting has always been resourceful and prepared to change, characteristics that should enable him to flourish once more as he embarks on the second great adventure of his life.
Source:-Telegraph
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