What a relief it was to get the nay-sayers off your back. It seems as though in this country once you pass a certain age the knives come out for sharpening. The Australian media has a long history of hounding batsmen (most of them champions) once they lose form past the age of about 32. Stephen Waugh copped it, so to Brian Lara when he visited these shores.
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| Brian Lara's stunning pull shot |
The problem is, the men who sharpen these knives whilst I'm sure have impressive credentials hanging from their study room walls, have little to no cricketing credentials whatsoever. They call upon statistics to support their claims but statistics can be manipulated to create any picture you want to paint. Take for example Michael Hussey, before this series began apparently his position in the side was clouded. After all he had had a lean return from the previous two 2-test series against the Protea's and the Kiwi's. While statistically that is accurate, what is also accurate is that he was convincingly the leading run scorer on the previous tour of Sri Lanka and fought single handedly against the best bowling attack in the world during the Ashes.
Then there are the technical sides of the game they begin to pick apart, with limited expertise to back their claims.
With Brian Lara they claimed in middle age he became jumpy at the crease, Lara had always had an exaggerated back and across movement. It was born out of being bought up playing against much taller men extracting extraordinary bounce, it was a mechanism to get on top of the bounce and allow him to play the lethal pull and cut shots he was famous for.
When Mike Hussey was out of form they claimed he was beginning to show weaknesses out the off stump while Steve Waugh began showing an increasing awkwardness behind the short ball. Even Dravid and the great Tendulkar came under fire when they lost that ever elusive yet critical element 'form' in '08' and '06' respectively.
Now we come to Ponting, while his figures over the past few years have been underwhelming to say the least, something he has agreed to, you don’t write off champions.
For the wolves that have been circling and have an affliction with statistics Punter gave them a smorgasbord to feast upon. No Test hundreds since 2009, an average of 26 in the past two years and so on.
Then came the technical analysis. There were claims the extra weight of his new rug had exaggerated his head movement falling across to the off side, his trigger movement had become exacerbated, his movements were jerky and his pull shot nullified as his reflexes dimmed and confidence was battered after a Kemar Roach throat ball.
The truth is, every batsmen has technical weaknesses, it’s just a matter of minimizing the weak and amplifying the strong. Watching advertisements during the Boxing Day test when Punter flogged a dodgy brand of vitamins which, if they have you believe give you super human strength, flashed images of Punter in his hay day scoring back to back double hundreds.
The images proved to me what I had long believed; Ponting has always been jerky at the crease. It stems from a sharp open faced back lift towards 3rd slip and a baseball style front foot pump which allows him to play his cuts, back and front foot drives, flicks through mid-wicket and
that famous swivel pull shot!!
It also makes him prone to exaggerated movements across his stumps particularly early in his innings, opening up the chance for LBW and nicks into the cordon, modes of dismissal we've seen all too often in the past 18 months.
For me the turning point came early last year in the World Cup semi final versus the Indian's themselves, he had long been out of form and was fighting against playing the way he had done all his career and playing a slightly more subdued game without the dominance he expected of himself.
When Tendulkar went through his battle's he stripped back his technique to the bare essentials, productive foot movement, presenting the full face and shedding the egotistical part of his mindset that wanted to dominate to become a run accumulator. Ponting likewise had to find his way, not easy for two players used to having their way with the world’s best for well over a decade. One adjustment is the selection of his pull shots, gone are the days when he could hook the world’s deadliest from back of a length, now the reality is, like the rest of the mortals he needs to play the shot with an element of discern.
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| Muddied but not beaten |
In these past few innings the blueprint has been laid, this is the way forward for Ponting’s career. It was appropriate to see the street fighter from the back alleys of Mowbray, stand up and receive generous applause shirt muddied and spitting dirt after the scrap of his career!!
