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A man who reached peak

By Tym Glaser (China Daily)
Updated: 2011-03-30 07:54

Ricky Thomas Ponting began his ascent of Mt Cricket as a precociously gifted 17-year-old way back in 1995.

After reaching the summit in 2004 and having a good, long, hard look around, he began the descent on Tuesday a battle-weary, but not beaten 36-year-old.

The spit-in-the-hands, no-frills skipper of the Australian Test and one-day sides has stepped down from those posts and will now just bat out the twilight of one of the greatest Aussie cricket careers of all-time; perhaps second only in batsmanship to the legendary Sir Donald Bradman.

The numbers are astounding. The slight guy from Launceston, Tasmania, has amassed (to date) the second most Test runs of all-time (12,363) behind only his great Indian contemporary Sachin Tendulkar (14,692 - and still counting) and is third on the ODI list with 13,288 to his credit, trailing Tendulkar (a ridiculous 18,008) and Sri Lanka's Sanath Jayasuriya (13,428).

As a skipper, Ponting won more Tests (48) than any other captain and his overall winning percentage (62.33) is second only to his predecessor, Steve Waugh (71.92), on the list of 25 or more Tests in charge.

In the shorter form of the game, Punter, as he is widely known, was at the helm for a record 228 games and a whopping 164 victories - 57 more than the next best, compatriot Allan Border. His overall winning percentage of 76.38 is second only to the West Indies' Big Cat, Clive Lloyd (77.71).

Like Lloyd, Ponting also won two World Cups as skipper and, most impressively, with undefeated campaigns in 2003 and 2007 at that.

However, it's one little number that has caused Ponting to embark on his final path in the game - three.

That's three lost Ashes campaigns, the last of which came earlier this year and signaled an imminent changing of the guard. With respect due, Ponting was allowed to chase a hat-trick of World Cups on the subcontinent, but when that campaign ended at the quarterfinal stage, he had no choice but to pack his bag and move on.

For an Australian captain to lose one Ashes series is a case for corporal punishment; three is a capital offense Down Under.

It's hard to say how history will look upon Ricky the Captain. He inherited a team with all-time great players like Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden and then looked on as, one by one, they crested the mountain and headed off into the sunset. Their replacements could never emulate them, and Ponting became the man in charge of a team in transition which struggled and lost its invincible aura.

Maybe as Ricky heads down that final path now he will look up from underneath that baggy green cap, see his numbers and give that quirky smile of his.

More likely, with the sun at his back and his collar rolled up, he will spit in his hands, rub them together and say "let's get on with it".

Tym Glaser is a sports copy editor who would love to see Punter play in one more Ashes series. He can be contacted at tymglaser@hotmail.com

(China Daily 03/30/2011 page22)