SIXTEEN
RICKY PONTING
‘To this day, that win in Adelaide is the best feeling I’ve had in Tests.’
Ricky Ponting was approximately 20,000 feet up, on board his return flight home from England in September 2005, and still digesting the lessons learned from Australia’s Ashes defeat at the hands of Michael Vaughan’s team, when the debate about his future as captain of Australia erupted.
No less an iconic figure than Dennis Lillee had called for Ponting’s head, suggesting that Shane Warne should be entrusted with the job of regaining the Ashes. ‘Desperate times call for desperate measures,’ Lillee wrote, while other journalists jumped on the bandwagon. When he landed back in Australia, Ponting walked straight into all the furore.
Australians were not used to their cricket team losing. Their last significant defeat had occurred when trying to conquer ‘the final frontier’ of India in 2001. Steve Waugh’s team lost a thriller of a series 2–1, but India was not a place easily conquered, as Mark Taylor had also previously found to his cost. There was no disgrace in coming unstuck on the subcontinent. Defeat in England against the old enemy, however, was unforgivable. It hadn’t happened for nearly 20 years and the knives were out.
Ponting was part of a generation of Australian players who had never experienced an Ashes reverse. His predecessor, Waugh, had been the last survivor of the 1986–87 series defeat under Border and, like his mentor, had used the pain as motivation. Ponting, McGrath, Warne, Langer and all those that followed had enjoyed unbridled success against the English. Ponting’s team, ironically, had been the one to conquer India, albeit with Gilchrist planting the Australian flag. But that only made the Ashes defeat all the more unpalatable. The Australian public and the media had grown used to winning; perhaps the players, too, had grown slightly complacent about it. But now all that had changed.
Looking back at the 2005 series in conversation with Ponting, and discussing the backlash that followed, I can’t help but feel that defeat was the best thing to happen in the evolution of his captaincy. These were far from ‘desperate times’. He still had the best team in the world, his players had just been given a timely kick. The wounded pride was simply more acute because it was an England boot that delivered it. ‘That series had an impact for the Test game right around the world,’ Ponting said. ‘The closeness of the series was a big part of that. Both teams tried their hearts out. There was a bit made of us being a bit friendly with England by a few of our ex-players, but I can tell you that the cricket was as intense as any I’ve ever played.
‘England came all guns blazing at us right from the start of the summer, from the Twenty20 right through the one-dayers and into the Test series, and caught us a bit off guard. That first morning of the first Test at Lord’s when Langer got hit, I got hit and cut my cheek; the atmosphere was something special. And after losing the first Test they staged a pretty remarkable comeback.
‘England were fired up, but they had also planned really well. I studied them before that series and saw, for example, the way they brought Simon Jones through because of his ability to bowl reverse swing. The pitches were very dry, which was conducive to reverse swing, and they certainly out-bowled us. They played aggressively, like they had nothing to lose. We had some things go against us, like McGrath standing on the ball, but England were good value for their win.’
While England’s players were paraded in front of the Prime Minister, the Queen and the nation, and Duncan Fletcher, the coach, prepared for the launch of his book to tell us how it all happened, Ponting and his team began to plot their revenge. ‘Maybe we did need that special kick up the backside that only comes from a serious setback,’ Ponting said. ‘Immediately after we got back we sat the centrally contracted players down and all talked about where we wanted to go and how we were going to get there. One of the things we said we’d do was increase our intensity in training and play like a great team. Talking is all very well, but it’s how you perform that counts. The guys responded well. Everything we talked about we put into action.’
Australia’s first coup was to pinch Troy Cooley, a native Australian but England’s bowling coach, who had been largely credited for the success of England’s pace quartet in 2005. The English Cricket Board dithered on his contract extension, the Australia Cricket Board pounced. Meanwhile, back in action, Australia’s first challenge was a three-match one-day series and a one-off Test against a World XI, which contained a line-up of stellar players, including recent Ashes foes Flintoff and Harmison. ‘I watched our blokes train ahead of the one-dayers and knew something special was happening,’ Ponting said. ‘Warnie rang me to find out how we were going and I said it wouldn’t matter who we were playing – they wouldn’t get near us. You could just look each of them in the eye and tell. As captain, it was an unbelievable feeling to see that response.
‘We won the one-dayers 3–0 and the Test match in three-and-a-half days against the best group of players from every other country around the world. That showed me that the guys were fair dinkum about getting everything back in order and being as good as we possibly could be for when England arrived the following season.’
The Ashes were still a year away, but their reclamation was still at the forefront of Ponting’s mind. To avoid getting too far ahead of himself, he set about spending some time in the middle. The result was a Bradman-like sequence of scores, including three occasions when he scored hundreds in each innings of a Test: 149 and 104 not out against the West Indies in Brisbane, 120 and 143 not out against South Africa in Sydney, and 103 and 116 in Durban. ‘One real good piece of advice I received when I first took over the captaincy was from Steve Waugh,’ Ponting said. ‘He told me to make sure I gave myself enough time as a player rather than spend all my time worrying about the rest of the guys. I’ve always believed if I look after my game and I’m playing well then the role of captaincy becomes a little bit easier. Conversely, when you’re under the pump about your own game it can start to take your focus away from the team and what it might need.’
Ponting’s runs contributed to resounding Australian wins in 11 out of 12 Tests ahead of the Ashes sequel. England watched nervously on, their 2005 heroes beginning to creak after a tough winter in Pakistan and India while Ponting’s Australia swept all before them. Coach and captain were taking no chances, however, as Australia were sent to a so-called ‘boot camp’ in special preparation for England’s arrival. ‘Losing the Ashes hurt the whole squad, but particularly Punter [Ponting],’ said Langer. ‘The boot camp was four or five tough days in the bush, and at the very end of it Punter made a speech – it was unbelievable. Blokes would have jumped through brick walls. He said how proud he was of what the blokes had done, what we had learned and where we were going. There was huge energy being directed towards winning the Ashes back. I can’t tell you how much getting them back meant to him.’
Fifteen months after losing the Ashes in London, Ponting at last had the opportunity of erasing the one blot on his captaincy copybook. The meetings, the preparation, wins over the West Indies, South Africa and Bangladesh, and victory in the ICC Champions’ Trophy would all mean nothing if Australia lost to England again.
Ponting won the first toss of the series at the Gabba and elected to bat. Harmison, the man who had set such a hostile tone at Lord’s with that dramatic first over in 2005, stood at the end of his run preparing to launch his first thunderbolt at the diminutive figure of Langer. Unfortunately for Harmison, the ball headed instead towards the larger frame of England’s captain, Andrew Flintoff, standing at second slip. The England fielders exchanged nervous glances.
‘Having faced the first ball in both series, I can honestly say England could not have been more different from 2005,’ said Langer. ‘It was just the body language. In 2005, they were just so pumped up for it. This was the other end of the scale – they weren’t there, mate.’
‘When England came here the roles were reversed from 2005,’ Ponting said. ‘They were holders of the Ashes and the expectation of them performing to the required level came back on them. I think they were nervous after hearing about some of the stuff we’d been doing, the boot camps and the like. You only had to see the start they made in Brisbane to know they were feeling a bit apprehensive.’
Speaking to two fiercely committed men like Ponting and Langer, I thought I could detect disappointment in their voices about the state of England. The Australian team had worked their backsides off for a whole year to get ready for their Ashes revenge mission, and England failed to turn up.
In Brisbane, the pair came together with the score on 79, after Flintoff removed Hayden for 21; they were not parted till midway through the afternoon, Langer also succumbing to Flintoff, for 82. Martyn came and went, but Mike Hussey – in his first Ashes Test – and Michael Clarke kept Ponting company as he marched inexorably towards his 32nd Test century and his ninth in 12 Tests. Ever since he had relinquished the historic little urn, Ponting had been on a personal crusade to win it back. His 196, in a final total of 602, ticked the first box of his lengthy ‘to do’ list. It was lead-from-the-front captaincy of the highest order.
Glenn McGrath and his understudy Stuart Clark, whose angular, upright method apes that of his esteemed colleague, shared nine wickets as Australia bowled England out for just 157. Moreover, though previously advocating the good spirit between the sides as being healthy for the game in 2005, Ponting ensured his team exchanged few pleasantries with England’s batsmen on this occasion. Any banter was far from friendly. ‘Chris Read and Monty Panesar had done well for England in their summer yet in came Geraint Jones and Ashley Giles,’ Ponting said. ‘It was like they were trying to turn the clock back to 2005. We looked at their selection and thought that must have unsettled their dressing-room, so, sure, we wanted to test them out to see if they could handle the pressure.’
Aware it would be a long series for his mature bowling attack, Ponting opted against enforcing the follow-on, which gave Langer an opportunity to record his least important hundred for Australia. Ponting cruised to 60 not out before declaring 647 ahead. England performed better in the second innings, Paul Collingwood and Kevin Pietersen both falling just short of deserved centuries, but they were bowled out for 370; Australia had won by 277 runs. Australia had delivered a crushing blow to lead 1–0. The whole vibe of the contest at Brisbane had felt different from the previous series, but the wounded Australian animal would still not forget the mauling it took the last time the score had read thus.
As if Ponting needed any further reminder of England’s fighting qualities, Pietersen and Collingwood provided it in the second and pivotal Test at Adelaide. In the first innings the pair added 310 for the fourth wicket, Collingwood scoring a magnificent double-hundred, Pietersen a fluent 158 until he was run out brilliantly by Australia’s all-action skipper. Flintoff weighed in with 38 before declaring on 551 for 6, hardly a tactical howler but perhaps ignoring recent Test history at the ground. Two years earlier Australia had made 556 in their first innings against India and lost. It hardly seemed relevant as Flintoff removed Langer to leave Australia 28 for 1 overnight.
The following morning Ponting – who had made 242 in the first innings of that 2004 Test – reminded his players of how India batted themselves back into contention with Rahul Dravid also making a double-century. ‘Even after England got past 500, I honestly believed we could win,’ Ponting said. ‘We’d seen it happen two years before and I tried to use that as motivation. A lot of rubbish had been written in the press, too, about England being back on top, which again I showed to the guys.’
Langer continues the story thus: ‘Punter walked in and said, “There’s not one person in this world who thinks we can win this Test from here, so let’s see about that.” He said it with the same fire as the speech he gave at the end of boot camp. You could just feel the boys thinking, “He’s serious here.” His belief was a catalyst for us. He scored a brilliant hundred and then was constantly pushing us in the field to make sure we could win a miracle Test match. Warne’s bowling was crucial, but Punter’s hunger and leadership enabled us to do that.’
An Australia victory had seemed completely implausible as England reduced Australia to 65 for 3. If Giles had clung on at deep square leg to a relatively straightforward offering by Ponting, mis-hooking Matthew Hoggard, Australia would have been 78 for 4 and hard pushed to save the Test match. Instead Ponting, on 35, survived and in alliance with Hussey set about mending the damage before pushing for parity. Ponting made 142, his tenth hundred in 13 Tests, before he was caught behind off the doggedly heroic Hoggard. But there was no slackening of Australia’s pace as Clarke (124) and Adam Gilchrist (64) took over, adding 118 for the sixth wicket. Australia were finally bowled out for 513, but they were back in the game.
Australia’s bowlers came hard at England at the end of the fourth day and were rewarded with the wicket of Alastair Cook, who edged a ball slanted across him by Clark to Gilchrist, exactly as Ponting had planned. With Strauss and Bell guiding England to the close, effectively 97 for 1 on what was still a belting pitch, however, there was no sign of the drama to come.
The next morning Warne strangled the life out of England. He no longer possessed the vast repertoire of flippers, wrong-’uns and sliders of his youth, but he’d been tormenting English batsmen for years and over those years he’d found different weapons. His latest was an old friend: patience. Allied to his big-turning leg-break, which had never deserted him, and a poker player’s instinct for when an opponent might make a move, it was this virtue that caused England to crack. They simply could not score a run against him. He accounted for Strauss and then, when Collingwood tried to pinch a risky single, Bell was run out by Clarke’s athleticism. Enter Pietersen, to join Collingwood.
In the first innings these two players with their contrasting styles had made hay in the South Australia sunshine; this was an altogether different situation. Few had played Warne better in recent times, but on this occasion Warne snared his Hampshire colleague, who was bowled sweeping for two. It was the big wicket. In 14 overs Australia had taken three wickets for 14 runs. If Pietersen couldn’t play Warne, none of them could.
Lee, meanwhile, was working up a head of steam at the other end and he joined the party by having Flintoff caught behind with a good ball, which reverse swung. How England must have been cursing their employers, who allowed Troy Cooley to return to the Australia camp. England lunched at 89 for 5, having lost four wickets for 30 runs in 28 overs in the session. As an England fan, it was painful to watch; I turned off the television. England’s stultifying batting had been just macabre enough to hold my attention, but the session highlights – no thank you.
England survived for another 26 overs, but they forgot the theory that says, ‘Every run you score is another one they’ve got to get.’ They added 40 more runs, which left Australia with a target of 168 runs in the last session. Anything like a credible rate of scoring from England earlier in the day would have seen them safe by tea. Was this the same team that had won the Ashes under Vaughan, playing as if without a care in the world? No, but Ponting and his bowlers must take a lot of credit for that.
Langer skipped down the wicket second ball to smear Hoggard over mid-wicket. The two teams were playing different games. Ponting notched 49 and Hussey saw the Aussies home with 61 not out at nearly a run-a-ball to win by six wickets. ‘I had said after England’s first innings that if we played near perfect cricket from then we could win,’ Ponting said. ‘And we did that. Warnie’s bowling on that final morning was exceptional and the way we chased down the target was professional. To this day, that win in Adelaide is the best feeling I’ve had in Tests.’ Australia had just performed an Ashes miracle on a par with those achieved by Mike Brearley at Headingley and Edgbaston in 1981. The Aussies knew they had broken England’s spirit. ‘If we could win from there, we could win from anywhere,’ said Langer.
The third Test at Perth was notable firstly for the introduction of Panesar. His stock had risen in his absence and he didn’t disappoint, picking up 5 for 92 in the first innings in Australia’s total of 244. Yet England still conceded a first innings lead, only Pietersen passing fifty in their meek reply of 215.
Australia’s second innings saw the two Michaels, Hussey and Clarke, lay the foundations with hundreds before Gilchrist erupted. Australia’s gloveman, who had endured a quiet 12 months with the bat by his prolific standards, treated the WACA crowd to his own brand of pyrotechnics. He struck twelve fours and four sixes in a 59-ball hundred, the second quickest century in Test history.
A shell-shocked England saved some face through their young batsmen, Cook and Bell, the former reaching his first Ashes century in his 12thTest. Pietersen made 60 not out off 150 balls, but this was not the kind of cricket he’d signed up for. The body language was more resigned, the exuberance and swagger of 2005 long departed. Fittingly, it was Warne who sealed the Ashes, bowling Panesar as he swiped obligingly across the line. If there was one man who hadn’t deserved to be on the losing side in 2005, it was Warne. Had Australia won in England, he might have retired then, but after righting the wrong and reclaiming cricket’s oldest prize he announced the next two Tests would be his last. McGrath followed suit.
Warne and McGrath rolls off the tongue like Lindwall and Miller, caught Marsh bowled Lillee, Morecambe and Wise. One the dependable straight man, the other the showman. Together they had made Australia the most formidable cricket team on the planet, arguably in the history of the game. But Warne had better scriptwriters than any comedy duo. They deemed he would take his 700th wicket on Boxing Day in front of his home crowd in the coliseum that is the MCG. A mere 90,000 fans turned up, Flintoff had a bat and eventually Ponting gave the great leg-spinner the nod.
His 20th delivery had enough flight to lure Andrew Strauss down the track before dipping and breaking back through the gate to smash into the stumps. The crowd roared and Warne did a passable impression of a Monty Panesar celebration before holding the ball up to all quarters of the stadium. Number 700 was also coincidentally his 50th wicket at the MCG in the 100th Test at the ground. Warne then proceeded to run through a beleaguered England batting line-up, taking 5 for 39 in their total of 159. Flintoff fought back with three quick wickets, reducing Australia to 84 for 5, but the big Queenslanders Matthew Hayden and Andrew Symonds slammed the door shut on England with a partnership of 279 for the sixth wicket.
Ponting had long been a fan of what Symonds brought to the Australian team. He showed faith by selecting him for the World Cup of 2003, which Symonds duly repaid, and now the Aussie skipper was to see a greater return on his investment. Circumspect to start with, taking 21 balls to get off the mark, the big dreadlocked all-rounder soon began to locate the middle of the bat. Hayden, one of his best friends in the team, proved a useful foil and it wasn’t long before they were trading haymakers. Symonds brought his fifty up off 79 balls and approached his maiden Test hundred like a man in a hurry. Facing Collingwood, he got one in the slot and promptly launched him over long-on for six to bring up the milestone. A jubilant, adrenalin-fuelled Symonds jumped and landed in the arms of Hayden a split second before the ball smashed into the seats.
‘Understanding the personalities of your players is such a big part of captaincy,’ Ponting said. ‘To communicate well you have to know what makes them tick. Andrew Symonds would be a good example. He probably played five or six years of one-day cricket for us on and off without even knowing what his role was or what was expected of him. I spent a lot of time with him one-on-one and got to know the right way to talk to him. It was about keeping it really simple. Give him a task and he’ll go away and work out a way of getting that done for us.’
Australia’s Symonds-led recovery saw them make 419, a lead of 260. They were never in danger of batting again, as England subsided to defeat by an innings and 99 runs inside three days. Throughout the series Ponting refused to get caught up in the media hype of a 5–0 victory. Even ahead of the Sydney Test, Ponting maintained his composure. ‘We’ve got an opportunity to create something very special,’ is all he said at the time.
Australia’s victory had a certain inevitability about it. Ponting’s belief had broken England’s spirit back in Adelaide, while Australia’s hurt from their 2005 defeat meant there was never going to be any let-up. Australia bowled England out for 147 in the third innings of the game to leave themselves just 46 to get. Warne and McGrath were chaired off the ground and then the latest retiree, Langer, bounced his way out of the pavilion to a standing ovation to knock off the runs with Hayden. Not since Warwick Armstrong’s team in 1920–21 had Australia whitewashed the old enemy; it was a fitting way to bring down the curtain on some great careers.
The last time three greats had retired simultaneously – Greg Chappell, Rod Marsh and Dennis Lillee in 1984 – Australia spent several years in the cricketing wilderness as Allan Border set about rebuilding the team. The tributes to Warne, McGrath and Langer were deservedly lengthy and heartfelt. But this victory had been as much about Ponting. It was his fire and unshakeable belief in what needed to be done that turned the ship around. It was his runs in Brisbane and Adelaide that had made it possible. Brisbane prompted Steve Waugh to say Ponting would finish his career as ‘the best batsman since Bradman’. Few would argue.
The challenges for Ponting moving forward are enormous. In direct contrast to Border, at the start of Australia’s great modern age, Ponting began as captain with an embarrassment of riches before seeing some of the greats of the game retire on his watch. Warne, McGrath, Langer, Gilchrist and Hayden cannot be replaced overnight, if at all. The Ashes of 2006–07 represented a last hurrah for that golden generation, and Ponting himself is the only true great left from that side. Alongside him are some very good players and a number of rookies. He is not motivated by statistics or milestones because he just wants to do his best for the team, yet increasingly he will shoulder more and more responsibility.
In Melbourne in 2008, he scored 101 and 99 as his team lost to South Africa. There is a danger he could do a Border in reverse – a great player overseeing his team’s steady decline. Six months before the 2009 Ashes, though, Ponting was positive about the future. ‘I said 12 months ago when the transition of our team started that it was one of the most exciting times in my career,’ he said. ‘To have some of these new and fresher faces around is going to be a great challenge for me. There’s a bit more responsibility on the captaincy side, but bringing on some of these younger players is a role I’ve always cherished. A lot of the guys who debuted under Steve [Waugh] – Gilchrist, for example – have been world-class players, so I’m hopeful that one of the guys that have come into my side will be similarly great one day.’
There can be no doubt that the Ashes hold the key for Ponting’s own lasting reputation. Australia’s home defeat to South Africa, following a 2–0 reverse in India, led once again to ex-players questioning Ponting’s captaincy credentials. Ponting has been there before, of course. The last time someone challenged his position at the top of Australia’s tree he let his bat do the talking and whitewashed England to reclaim the Ashes.
‘We’ve been talking about the Ashes already,’ he said, early in 2009. ‘We’ve looked at our side and are making sure we’ve got certain players right for it. I know England have been doing the same. It’s impossible to downplay how passionate Ashes cricket can be. It should be a cracking series.’ On his own playing future, meanwhile, Ponting is typically down-to-earth. ‘I’ve never thought about not being the Australian captain. It’s a role I feel lucky and privileged to have had, because only 42 of us have ever done it.’