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Australia's Ricky Ponting is run out for 5 during the One Day International, Australia v New Zealand match at the WACA in Perth, Sunday Feb. 1, 2009. AAP Image/Tony McDonough
Talent is a gift from the Gods. Reputation is man-made and has its price. The currency it is paid in can be courage, conviction or unwavering dedication.
Ricky Ponting has been making down payments since he was “the most exciting teenager in Australian Cricket”, an accolade from no less discerning a man than Rod Marsh.
The original hardwood of Australian cricket, Ricky is hewn from the same timber as the Centurion eucalyptus and Mountain Ash from the Tasmanian forests. Trees reaching 100 metres high and forty centimeters in circumference.
Ponting is not a man driven by records and is almost dismissive of them.
He is aware that he needs only 25 more runs to pass Allan Border as Australia’s highest rungetter, but says “I have bigger fish to fry.”
Speaking to Cricinfo he said he hoped he got a lot more than 25 in Edgbaston. His priority is winning the game and he will, as usual, lead from the front.
This is his working class ethos. He rolls up his sleeves and gets his hands dirty.
Captaincy has not dimmed his potency and he has scored 17 of his 38 hundreds since assuming the leadership from Steve Waugh. Ian Chappell has been mildly critical of his captaincy, but is unreserved in his praise of Ricky’s batsmanship, calling him a “great temperament … counter attacking … and wonderful all round fieldsman.”
Chappell also picked him and Johnson as the only Australians if a World XI were picked in March 2009.
Ponting is the second most successful captain in the history of the game, with 38 wins from 58 tests. Only Steve Waugh, with 41 wins from 57 Tests, has a higher win percentage (72%).
Detractors of this record point to Edgbaston 2005, Sydney 2008 and Nagpur 2008 as the blots on his copybook.
Jason Gillespie is quoted as saying Ponting would have been justified in 2005 if Australia had held their chances.
Sydney 2008 had many heroes, villians, bungling officials and emotive commentators. This is for another time and another place.
Nagpur 2008 exposed Australia’s bowling weakness and intensified the scrutiny on Ponting’s captaincy. Border has since remarked that captaincy is also a reflection of “the cattle you have.”
Former captains abound in the airconditioned commentary boxes around the world and Edgbaston is no different. It is easier to duck a bouncer when you have a mic in your hand and are 200 meters from the action.
Alexander Pope, in “An Essay on Criticism,” said “fools rush in where angels fear to tread” and “a little learning is a dangerous thing.”
He was in essence saying, judge the entire work and not isolated incidents.
Ponting is into his fifth year as Test captain and seventh as the One Day captain. He is a three time World Cup winner and twice as captain.
For over a decade he has been Australia’s premier batsman and has won away Test series’ in every country except England and Pakistan. (Gilchrist was the nominal captain in India 2004 as Ponting watched injured from the dressing rooms).
History, I suspect, will judge Ponting more kindly than some of you.
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