Ashes 2010-11: Bleak days ahead for Ricky Ponting

Ashes 2010-11: Bleak days ahead for Ricky Ponting

After giving away the Ashes series rather cheaply in an innings defeat at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, holding onto the Australian Test captaincy has become a tough task for Ricky Ponting now. Although the debris of Australia’s humiliating defeat will fall hard on the skipper, Ponting is still looking forward to salvaging some of the Aussies’ lost pride in the final Ashes Test in Sydney.

Ponting must realize that the next venture at the Sydney Cricket Ground will probably be his last one. He also knows that this is not the way he intended to end his career with captaincy, but unfortunate times have encircled the once legendary player. Big players like Ponting are usually expected to mark a comeback in the form of winning the home series, but it was not to be this time. Ponting has become the first Australian captain since Allan Border (in 1986-87) to lose the urn on home soil. He has also become the second Australian captain since Billy Murdoch (in 1890) to lose three consecutive Ashes series.

"The fact that I've lost those three series is disappointing for me," said Ponting. "Hopefully, I'm not only remembered as that guy, the guy that lost three Ashes series. There's lots of other great things I've been lucky to be able to be part of as a player throughout my career. This result is not one of my proudest."

The last three Ashes series, including this one, have been absolutely bizarre for the Australia’s highest ODI and Test scorer. Only a few years after taking over from Steve Waugh in 2004, Ponting established an Australian Test record of 48 wins out of 77 Test matches. His latest record is not so pretty, though, and may result in him being dismissed as captain – as is the suggestion being voiced by several in the Australian media and cricketing world.

"I probably haven't got much of a case at the moment," Ponting said. "I've got a lot of knowledge on the game. The fact that I've played 150 Tests and won 99 Test matches, not as captain, but (Tests) that I've been part of. I've captained a lot of winning teams. There is no doubt that the experiences I have in the game will hold me in good stead.”

Reports suggest that Ponting may not even be retaining the captaincy for the last Ashes Test at the SCG, and that vice captain Michael Clarke may lead the team instead. However, given Clarke’s own poor form during this Ashes series, that scenario is rather unlikely.

Other reports claim that Ponting may have to sit out the Sydney Test altogether, in order to avoid risking aggravating his finger injury (sustained during the third Test at Perth) so soon before the 2011 Cricket World Cup. Ponting left the MCG for x-rays as England were finishing off Australia during the fourth Test. The results of the x-rays will determine whether or not he is to play at Sydney, but Ponting remains confident he will be there.