Aussies won't miss Waugh any more

By Gaurang
August 15 2005

The Aussies manage to draw the third test in Old Trafford despite a huge lead for England thanks to a captain's knock by Ponting, perhaps the turning point in this series.

This match has finally brought out the best in Ricky Ponting. True to his nature as a barroom brawler when he was under siege from all quarters, he came out punching and did something that Steve Waugh never could achieve in his entire career of over 150 Tests: a fourth-innings match-saving hundred.

The English establishment, including surprisingly even the mainstream media, were going after the opposition captain with a vengeance -- a regular Australian tactic. There were reports of dubious merit suggesting a huge bust-up in the Australian camp, with Ponting and senior pro Warne the main culprits, and scathing articles about a simpleton Australian captain who was no match for the brainy and brilliant English leader, as well as other articles that suggested the Australians were getting too old or losing the stomach for fight.

It was delicious irony that both Ponting and Warne will no doubt savor for the rest of the tour, if not longer, that it was their partnership of 76 priceless runs over 22 pressure-filled overs that brought Australia back from the brink and towards safety.

In a truly amazing captain’s innings, Ponting has single-handedly snatched back the reigns of the Australian stagecoach and steered it back on track, even as it hurtled towards cliff’s edge, chased by the English version of a war party on the rampage.

His team will now get a chance to regroup a bit, and come back for the final two Tests with the momentum swinging back in their favor. It was fitting that Adam Gilchrist, who many said was the obvious choice to be the captain that Ponting wasn’t, played only a minor role in this drawn Test, which can be considered a moral victory: something alien to Australian sensibilities but which has been the staple of English thinking for the entire dark decade and a half when the Ashes were about as competitive as Australia versus Bangladesh.

One gets the feeling this amazing and defiant innings, which no doubt some overzealous Australian journalists will soon be comparing to deeds at Gallipoli, has earned Ponting the authority and maybe the confidence to become the leader that Australia hoped he would be from the beginning.

For England, the scary thought is that Adam Gilchrist has not yet done anything of note in the series, and he is not the sort to let a whole series go by without stamping his authority on it, especially against the “old enemy”.