Will Ponting beat Waugh's consecutive test wins record

[Seamer]

Well, after Australia's victory over Sri Lanka at the Gabba yesterday, that takes Ponting to 13 consecutive wins - three short of Waugh's 16.

Can he equal it, or even pass the mark?

Australia faces Sri Lanka on a traditionally benign Hobart wicket this thursday, with Sri Lanka likely to be strengthened with the inclusion of Sangakarra and Malinga.

After that, Australia face India, the team that ended Waugh's run, for a four test series.

Now, India was the last team to seriously challenge Australia at home in 2003, when Australia scraped through to a 1-1 series draw. Now, they have us in the experience department, have (on paper) a strong batting lineup, a decent pace attack, and possible have Australia in the spin department.

Australia first faces them Melbourne, then in Sydney, then the WACA with the series ending in Adelaide.

Will India (or the rain) spoil Ponting's party once again, or will Ponting lead Australia through to setting a new record?

[greg]

Well it wouldn't surprise me if India got a draw against you or maybe even a win as they still have a quality batting line up as England found out this summer.You should beat Sri Lanka again but i would be surprised if you broke the record.

[acker]

Originally Posted by greg

Well it wouldn't surprise me if India got a draw against you or maybe even a win as they still have a quality batting line up as England found out this summer.You should beat Sri Lanka again but i would be surprised if you broke the record.

greg

You are talking about a side that is probably complaining to maiden century maker "Phil Jaques" about occupying to much time at the crease.

Except for Magill (75% champion) taking over from Warne (125% legend), with the addition of Tait I think it will be even stronger than last years squad.

And further down the track with Ronchi and White joining it prior to the next ashes series, it may resemble Mount Everest + 10000 feet.

[Warne]

Simply for the sake of fun, I would have liked a pace attack of Lee, Tait & Johnson with Macgill as the spinner against India. Indian batsmen won't enjoy so much pace! But I don't think it'll be wise to ignore the steadiness of Clark at one end, it's not probable to go with 4 pacers either _ at WACA maybe.

Coming to the thread, I think only rain can spoil it, I don't see either Lanka or India doing it.
By the way, the way Ponting handles & backs his bowlers, is he an even better captain than Waugh, or in the process of being one? It might be a good debate.

[engssmoothcriminal]

Agree with Greg, India still have the one great batting performance in them and this new look Aussie bowling unit has yet to be put under any kind of pressure. At some point in the next 3-4 games they will have to bowl to batsmen who are not terrified to be playing Australia (in Australia) without the security of 550+ runs behind them and then I suspect we will then see that the loss of McGrath and Warne is not something you can just casually brush aside.

[Aurelius]

By the way, the way Ponting handles & backs his bowlers, is he an even better captain than Waugh, or in the process of being one? It might be a good debate.

No, he isn't. I heard that Ponting's quite a good motivator, and he's a competent strategist. However, he has two serious faults.

Whenever the opposition starts going along nicely and is attcking, Ponting goes on the defensive. Example- when Jacob Oram made that century in Brisbane, he didn't try to get him out. Rather he put everyone on the boundary and tried to get him off strike to have a crack at Vettori- a strategy that didn't work.

Another example- Adelaide last year. Ian Bell comes to the crease, immediately lofts Warne over mid off for four. What does Ponting do? Drops the mid off down to a long off, to a batsman fresh to the crease. A more aggressive captain would have kept him up and tried to encourage him to go over the top again- but he took the defensive option.

His second fault is that whenever it looks like crunch time- especially in ODIs- he just looks really worried. Check for yourself next time. His body language and demeanor is nowhere near as good as Waugh's was.

[bl8ke]

Im think India might spoil it for the Australians, but then they don't have the best record here..

[greg]

Originally Posted by Aurelius

His second fault is that whenever it looks like crunch time- especially in ODIs- he just looks really worried. Check for yourself next time. His body language and demeanor is nowhere near as good as Waugh's was.

You only need to look at his reaction in England when he lost,he threw the toys out of the pram and looked like he was going to cry.

No way would Waugh,Taylor or Border have reacted the same.

[engssmoothcriminal]

Originally Posted by Aurelius

Whenever the opposition starts going along nicely and is attacking, Ponting goes on the defensive. Example- when Jacob Oram made that century in Brisbane, he didn't try to get him out. Rather he put everyone on the boundary and tried to get him off strike to have a crack at Vettori- a strategy that didn't work.

Another example- Adelaide last year. Ian Bell comes to the crease, immediately lofts Warne over mid off for four. What does Ponting do? Drops the mid off down to a long off, to a batsman fresh to the crease. A more aggressive captain would have kept him up and tried to encourage him to go over the top again- but he took the defensive option.

I'd agree he's unquestionably a far more defensive captain than Waugh but personally I don't view this a failing of Ponting. The best way of taking wickets in the modern game is to stop batsmen scoring and wait for the mistake and whilst setting conservative fields may not look as sexy (for want of a better word ) 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. He was willing to adapt his sides strategy to the situation (the way he worked out Dravid was just brilliant planning and execution) something that Waugh for all his many qualities as captain and leader wasn't. Of course had Waugh been captain in 2005 we simply wouldn't have won the Ashes because he had that aura of invincibility over England and wouldn't have allowed us up off the canvas after Lords (though I reckon he still would have bowled first at Edgebaston) 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 (hwere had Ponting been at the helm the result I suspect would have been different) doesn't seem to have defined Waugh's.

The final day of the Adelaide test you mentioned for me summed up everything that's good about Ponting as a captain. I remember Chappell droning on and on for the first 40 minutes about the fields Ponting was setting with only a couple of slips and men back on the cover fence for both Clark and Warne but 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. Had Waugh been captain he would have tried to bully England with the over the top field placings (and Lee who is a far better bowler under Ponting's leadership would have been used to buy wickets rather than build pressure) and tried to blast the English batsmen out which on such a slow dead track simply wouldn't have worked.

[Aurelius]

... and whilst setting conservative fields may not look as sexy (for want of a better word )

PLEASE don't say sexy! Everything's described as being sexy nowadays. It seems like half the population have Subaru and renewable energy fetishes.

...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.

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.

... something that Waugh for all his many qualities as captain and leader wasn't.

Fair enough. I don't think Waugh was the greatest captain in the world either.

...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.

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.

...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.

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.