Ponting will be remembered as a very poor captain

Viscount - big call champ. Obviously know S.Waugh personally. Played a bit yourself too by the sounds of it.

Indeed. And at least Ponting isn't an absurd self-propagandist like Waugh was. Ponting has occasionally let himself down as Captain, but only ever in the heat of the moment. Waugh devised an entire ethos (if such a term can be used for so dubious a strategem) based upon grotesque sledging and vile abuse of the opposition. Ponting's impact upon cricket has been mostly positive. Waugh's was almost entirely negative.

Ian Chappell thinks Ponting is better than Steve Waugh http://cricketnext.in.com/news/chappell-rates-ponting-better-than-waugh/43442-13.html

Ponting bashing is getting boring - its like listening to a broken record player. If Ponting only has a good win-loss ratio due to the likes of McGrath and Warne then surely the same criteria must be applied to Steve Waugh? The 9 fielders on the boundary tactic was used by Steve Waugh as well, I remember him using it on multiple occasions. Off the top of my head I remember him using it in 1999 against the Windies, again in 2000 against the windies and again in 2001 against SA. Thats just off the top of my head as well. Anyone remember how Waugh went when Warne and McGrath weren't in the side? India racked up 700 against us at the SCG. We also managed to lose to India at Adelaide after we racked up 400 in one day. We lost to England as well in 2002 at the SCG without Warne and McGrath. Fact is, on the rare occasions Steve Waugh didnt have the services of Warne and McGrath, he also struggled and the team mostly lost. Ponting isnt our best ever captain tactically, but I agree with Ian Chappell, for mine he is on the whole a better on field captain and off field leader then Waugh was. Ponting is just the unfortunate one who has to deal with the team losing a lot of good players while those before him like Waugh and Taylor were lucky enough to serve out their entire captainicy careers with those players at hand. On the whole I think Ponting has done that fairly well after Warne and McGrath retired, if you look at this objectively and with logic. Our batting lost us this Ashes series, not the captainicy. Ponting bashing is tiresome, if you dont rate his captainicy then fine, but dont use examples to justify your point (like the men on the boundary issue) when a previous captain in Waugh also employed the same tactics the said author is against. Ponting I suspect is one of those players that we won't realise how much we miss until he retires, both as a captain and as a batsmen. If your not man enough to accept losing without making weak excuses about captainicy then dont follow cricket. Because in a 2 horse race, your going to win some and lose some. Learn to lose without witch hunting - reminds me of a good old English trait.

he doesnt play for NSW though

Hansie, That's crap. It's easy to blame a captain, but it takes more than one person to lose a series. A captain, like a coach, doesn't always have the advantage of quality in his team. Besides, both series (05 & 09) were lost by the narrowest of margins. Blaming Ponting is easy, but not necessarily the observation of a wise person.

Ponting is a poor captain. Losing the Ashes twice sums it up. He's also lost a one-day match to Bangladesh and a 20-20 match to Zimbabwe. He has taken Australia from the highs to the lows. Bowling White at the death in India and North at the death in Cardiff shows his tactical naivety.

I've been following cricket since 1968. My first Australian captain was Bill Lawry. Those who captained in more than 10 tests or more since have been: Ian Chappell, Greg Chappell, Bobby Simpson, Kim Hughes, Allan Border, Mark Taylor, Steve Waugh & Ricky Ponting. That's 9 major captains in 40 years - a special breed! Here's my take on each of them. Bill Lawry - talented, dour & obstinate opening batsman, good fielder but conservative, dull, obstinate leader. Ian Chappell - okay batsman but utterly dependable in a crisis. Brilliant slip fielder & combative, inspirational leader who led from the front on the field, & stood up for his men off the field. Greg Chappell - brilliant, stylish bat & allround, athletic fielder. Also useful medium pacer. A good rather than great captain, certainly not in his brother's class as a leader. Kim Hughes - exciting, impulsive batter & excellent fielder. Also an impulsive captain, too skittish & unpredictable. However, he didn't deserve to be placed in the intolerable position he found himself in. Bobby Simpson - this was his second stint, coming out of retirement due WSC. Wonderful opening bat, unrivaled slip fielder & dangerous if expensive leggie. As a captain, largely conservative but a strong disciplinarian. Allan Border - obdurate, courageous batter. A reluctant leader, but utterly reliable in a crisis. Answered his nation's call in its hour of need. Although conservative, inspirational through personal example. Mark Taylor - talented but colourless opening bat. Brilliant slip fielder. The most tactically astute captain of this group, but compromised this with a lack of killer instinct. Steve Waugh - totally re-invented himself as an utterly dependable batsman. Brilliant point/gully fielder & above average medium pacer. As a captain was totally ruthless, perhaps more so than Bradman. I don't think he was as tactically astute as some may suggest. He covered any tactical naivety with his ruthlessness. Plus he had the Aussie team at its absolute peak. Ricky Ponting - best batsman we've had after Bradman, & a brilliant, athletic fielder. His captaincy is solid rather than brilliant, but I don't see that necessarily as a negative. I read once that Australian cricket has never had a bad leader, just good, better & best (to borrow a popular beer jingle). It's the same, I imagine, as being president of the USA. You may not be the best, but you sure as hell are special in your own way. I would also say it's like being selected to become an astonaut. Ricky Ponting was appointed Australian cricket captain - he was recognised as having the "right stuff"! "Australian cricket captain".......... I salute them all!

A failure,but with more class?

Who’s to say that the number 1 wasn’t an over achievement?

I agree Ponting bashing is becoming a yawn but you can be a good captain without a great side. Stephen Fleming and Arjuna Ranatunga are two captain s that in different ways got a lot from limited sides. Graeme Smith also doesn't have a spinner, and his team looks about par with Australia's at the moment but I would rate him a better captain than Punter.

Viv Richards is not remembered as a good tactition. This doesn't matter if you have an unbeatable side. Australia doesn't have an unbeatable side, so Ponting as skipper is an indulgence.

There are two types of captains;one has great fast bowlers,the other doesn't. Clive Lloyd did not have to think too much about strategy. Great bowlers,like a good coat of paint, can disguise a multitude of mistakes.

Punter lives in NSW...

That's true but surely all of Ponting's inadequacies can't be attributed to the strength of the side he captains, which was - after all - number one in the world this time last week?

Apologists who reciognise he does not have Warne/McGrath and Gilchrist anymore. With due respects to Bill the best leg spinner and batsman wicketkeeper the world has seen and Mcgrath was also right up there.

Chappell holds a grudge against S Waugh and wanted the drugs cheat to be Taylor's successor.

He sure will; in spite of the cavalcade of mates/apologists who ignore the negative results and Punter's little boy lost portrayal when up against an opponent that doesn't simply roll over. I seem to remember Ponting spending the first two home Tests against South Africa hands on hips, hapless. But, hey, next up comes West indies 'C' and a travelling Pakistan, so I suspect there's little need for a decent captain in order for Australia to record crushing victories there.

When Steve Waugh was out of the test side, having been dropped, he captained NSW in the Shield and I remember reported comments from his team mates at the time to the effect 'tactically brilliant', 'a real good captain'. He then came back into the test team under Mark Taylor who was a very thoughtful and accomplished captain, but not very ruthless. Steve Waugh then succeeded Tubby as captain and took the test team and one day sides to new heights, even when McGrath and Warne were absent due to injury. Ricky Ponting does not stack up against either man regardless of playing personnel. McGrath and Warne both had a great say in the fields they wanted when bowling but Ricky does not seem to allow the same latitude to today's bowlers. Maybe he should think about that? Ian Chappell has far more cricket knowledge than me but I sometimes think his judgement is sadly lacking, as in this case where he says Ponting is better than Waugh. Pull the other one Chapelli.

A while back I had a look at Ponting versus Waugh’s records when they both had McGrath and Warne at their disposal, punter certainly looked the goods then. Yet we now consider Ponting is this lame duck cricketing retard and Steve was the embodiment of leadership.