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User:Aaroncrick/Ricky Ponting with the Australian cricket team in England in 2009

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In Australia's two drawn warm-up matches ahead of the Ashes, Ponting struggled, with 71 in the first match being his highest score.[1][2][2] Nevertheless he started his Ashes series strongly, scoring 150 in the first innings of the first Test in Cardiff. In his 38th Test and eighth Ashes century, the Australian number three become just the fourth man to score 11,000 career runs in Test cricket. He later revealed he tightened his technique to suit English conditions. "With the wickets we have played on in the last couple of weeks, they have been very slow so you have to be conscious to play the ball in under your eyes a little bit more. That's probably where I got brought undone in Worcester to tell you the truth, with the pace of the ball not quite being there and me pushing at it and going after it, trying to put some pace on the ball. I felt I have been a bit tighter in that regard.[3] Despite his performance, Australia were unable to force a victory, with England's last pair, Monty Panesar and Jimmy Anderson, surviving 66 deliveries before the match was drawn.[4]

Australia were defeated in the second Test at Lords—their first Test defeat at the venue since 1934. In the Third Test at Edgbaston, Ponting became the highest Australian run-scorer in the history of Test cricket on 31 July, overtaking former Australian captain Allan Border's total of 11,174. The match was eventually drawn, partly to do to poor weather. Up to this point, spinner Nathan Hauritz had taken 12 wickets and been unexpectedly successful given Australia's struggles to find a reliable spinner. Ponting captained the Australians to an innings and 80 run victory at the Fourth Test at Headingley, with Hauritz omitted on a pace-friendly wicket. He struck a quick 78 from 101 balls as Australia bowled England out and took the lead on the first day.

Hauritz was again left out for the Fifth and final Test at The Oval as Australia opted to retain the team that had won so convincingly at Headingley, despite the fact that the pitch was very dry and favourable to spin. England went on to win the Test and series 2-1. Ponting therefore became only the third Australian captain to lose the Ashes twice. Despite not being a selector, Ponting was heavily criticised for Australia not playing Hauritz as he's been known to be reluctant to put faith in his spinners. He was questioned, particularly on Australia's recent habit of often not playing a specialist/regular spinner. Instances of these were the first three Tests in India, the omission of Krejza for the First Test against New Zealand immediately after taking 12 wickets on debut, and opting for no spinner in the first two Tests in South Africa.[5]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ "Clarke papers over Australian cracks", Cricinfo, 26 June 2009, accessed 20 September 2009
  2. ^ a b Tour Match: Sussex v Australians at Hove", Cricinfo, June 24–27, 2009, accessed 20 September 2009 Cite error: The named reference "Tour Match: Sussex v Australians at Hove" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  3. ^ "Ricky Ponting bowled for 150, short of runscoring record", Perth Now, 09 July 2009, accessed 20 September 2009
  4. ^ "Ponting's batting makes up for captaincy", Cricinfo, 09 July 2009, accessed 20 September 2009
  5. ^ "StraussvPonting Spoof on Twitter".
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