Punter's predicament

Ricky Ponting might be my favourite batsman of the last thirty years or so. Of course, when he’s been playing against England I’ve been willing him to fail, but even then it is hard not to be won over by his beautiful footwork, superb balance and wonderful range of strokes. He doesn’t have Lara’s flashing blade, Tendulkar’s appetite for runs or Richards’ power, but the aesthetics of his batting, in my opinion at least, are superior to them all.

Now, however, he has two problems that are comparatively new to him. The first is that his side is not the force that it was: Ponting has an admirable captaincy record but has never completely convinced in the role, largely because of the perception that he has mostly been in charge of a side that has simply been better than their opponents.  As a captain he faces the greatest challenges since Allan Border in that he has to meld a group of talented but not stellar cricketers into a force to be reckoned with. His captaincy and, rather unfairly, his career may end up being defined by whether or not he succeeds.

His second problem is the more pressing, however. Even though he may not have been the most tactically astute of skippers he has always lead from the front. His 156 at Old Trafford in 2005 was an epic captain’s knock that deserves its place in the pantheon of great Ashes innings, and he has frequently been the rock around which Australia’s batting has been built. The immediate aftermath of the retirements of Hayden, Langer, Martyn and Gilchrist saw him in imperious form which papered over the new found cracks in the batting line-up and delayed the process of decline.

Now, however, he finds himself less reliable with the bat. His, by his standards, recent mediocre run of scores would be less of a concern if he hadn’t started getting out to shots that used to be his bread and butter. His once imperious pull has given way to a reflex paddle that plays into the bowler’s hands and at the same time his tendency to play around his front pad early in his innings, which for a long time was his only acknowledged weakness, has become more pronounced and lasts longer. If he can overcome this and be, as many assume, a significant force this winter then he could end up being the difference between the two sides, but equally if he can’t then it could be a long series for Australia.

I think that it is unlikely that Ponting will end the series riding off into the distance on a white charger, his second Compton-Miller medal around his neck, but it certainly won’t be for want of trying.