Greg Baum of the Age has penned a very good article which I think bears repeating:
Six months that changed the way we feel about Punter Greg Baum
March 29, 2011 - 1:57PM
In the goldfish-length memory of the modern sporting world, Ricky Ponting as Australian captain was only as good as his last six, fruitless and frustrating months. That memory needs jogging, and the Ponting era needs context.
Steve Waugh, Ponting’s predecessor, thought he would do well to survive five years in the job, such were the myriad demands. That was without factoring in the onset of hard times and the inquisition Waugh never faced. Ponting lasted seven. He won more Tests as captain than any other in history, and until two weeks ago, he had not lost a World Cup match as captain.
This was despite the certainty that after his first couple of years, Ponting’s was a team in a state of constant flux. In Waugh’s five years and 57 Tests as captain, Australia fielded six debutants. In Ponting’s seven years and 78 Tests, it fielded 32.
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The life and times of Ricky Ponting
After making his Test debut against Sri Lanka in Perth, Ricky Ponting smashes a six during day two of the second Test of the series in Melbourne in December 1995. Photo: Vince Caligiuri
The difference was as simple as Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath, who played all the Waugh years, and all the Mark Taylor years before him, but only half of Ponting’s. Indubitably, a cricket captain is only as good as his team. Ponting’s was much turned over, became brittle and unstable, yet somehow was allowed to grow old and stagnant, too. It was also distracted by the Indian Premier League revolution.
It was said of Sir Donald Bradman that his unique advantage as captain was himself as batsman. It could be said of captain Ponting that he had only himself upon who to rely. Ponting batted at No. 3 throughout his tenure, indeed has batted in that keystone position exclusively for the past 10 years. It is a singular feat of shouldered responsibility; Sachin Tendulkar, for instance, has never played a Test innings at No. 3.
In his insistence to bat so high, Ponting was in the end too stubborn. The strain showed in other aspects of his captaincy, and grew. But Ponting’s fault was to care too much rather than too little. Besides, no likely usurper emerged, either as captain or No. 3, a detail that tells of Australia’s cricketing decline.
When retiring or vacating, sportsmen agonise about when is too soon and too late. Ponting was too late, but only by six months. As recently as Australia’s visit to India last October, he was still Australia’s best batsman, and its best captain, too. No bells were tolling then.
Historically, those two titles are one, a protocol that has served Australia well. But last summer, it led to a confusing conflation. Ponting, like so many greats, puzzled about his loss of form, thinking that it must return soon; it always had before. It got to him.
But the out-of-form batsman was no better or worse a captain than previously. Ponting was never a great captain anyway, lacking Taylor’s intuitive touch, for instance, or Ian Chappell’s powers of rallying the troops. But he was not as poor as some now make out. Importantly, he kept the faith of the dressing room; there are more mutinous mutterings about the next captain than ever there were about the last. It was not as if he surrounded himself with lickspittles; he backed Andrew Symonds when few others would.
Simply, it fell to Ponting to manage the decline. Spoiled for so long, the Australian cricket public could not accept it, and blamed him, which was too easy. A brilliant captain can make his team more than the sum of its parts. But if it is less, generally, it is because the parts have failed. Cricket is at heart an individual sport played by teams; the collective will never achieve what any of its components cannot. That was painfully clear in the Ashes series.
Ponting can bat down the order now with a clearer mind, and conscience; it will not be his indulgence, but the wish of the new captain, certain to be Michael Clarke. Clarke will not mind having him in the team; he has said repeatedly that he defers to Ponting anyway.
Australian cricket is not so blessed that it can afford to do without him altogether. If there is a god, Ponting has an Indian summer in him yet, and as it happens, next summer’s visitor is India. But he should have given up one-day cricket forthwith.
Now, a line must be drawn. The Ashes are long lost, the World Cup forfeited, too. After this there is the mini-series in Bangladesh, then no more serious cricket until August. The time for sweeping change is now, and not a moment later.
