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... and whilst setting conservative fields may not look as sexy (for want of a better word  )
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PLEASE don't say sexy! Everything's described as being sexy nowadays. It seems like half the population have Subaru and renewable energy fetishes.
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...as Waugh's ultra aggressive 4 slips 2 gullys, bat pad, leg gully e.t.c it's arguably more effective and the number one reason that Ponting was able to beat India away.
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Actually, that was Gilchrist who won the series in India; Ponting only captained in the final game which we lost, with that notorious broken pitch.
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... something that Waugh for all his many qualities as captain and leader wasn't.
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Fair enough. I don't think Waugh was the greatest captain in the world either.
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...but that's just the solitary series and one Ashes loss really shouldn't define Ponting's tenure as captain. As one loss in India (where had Ponting been at the helm the result I suspect would have been different) doesn't seem to have defined Waugh's.
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You're right about that, Waugh seems to have escaped with remarkably little punishment for the collosal ****-up with the follow-on. But I don't judge Ponting's leadership entirely on the Ashes- that example I mentioned with Oram was before the Ashes. As I say (or think I said), I think Ponting's gotten better since then.
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...the point was England didn't get away and the first 7 overs brought something like 5 singles and forced Strauss to attempt something way out of his comfort zone and got Koertzened which led to the collapse as Warne and co began to squeeze the life out of England.
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Well, as I said, he has gotten better. He's certainly a competent tactician on the field, and from what I've heard he's a very good man-motivator. However, the question I was responding to was "is Ponting a better captain than Waugh?" And I say no, because on balance, I consider someone who's generally aggressive when the chips are down, and who maintains an "ice-man" demeanour in a crisis, to be the superior captain.
Actually, the man who I consider to be the best captain in Australia is Tasmania's Daniel Marsh, son of Rodney. He always maintains aggressive field placings, and resists the urge (which many captains are unable to do) to save singles when it won't do him any good.