Power of Punter

The West Indies' performance in winning the final Test against Australia was certainly a remarkable achievement. Yet behind all the gloss and glory for the home team, a potentially damaging problem within the Australia side has gone almost unnoticed.

Ricky Ponting deservedly won the Player of the Series award despite not playing in the fourth Test, amassing 523 runs from just five innings. He scored centuries in each of the first three Tests, and dominated the bowlers on the back of an impressive opening combination.

Yet without Ponting there in Antigua, a gaping hole was left in the batting order that eventually resulted in Australia losing a Test it should have won.

There is no doubt Martin Love is a very good batsman and, as is the case with many Australians of his era, he would undoubtedly have played many more than three Tests had he been born anywhere else in the world.

At the same time, Love is simply not in the same class as Ricky Ponting. But to place any blame on Love would be unfair, as it was the other batsmen who failed to lift in Ponting's absence that let the West Indies into the match.

It is always hard to replace a brilliant player. On this occasion, Australia proved that this is even the case for the best side in the world. No matter how good they are.

Not only is Ponting brilliant in terms of the amount of runs he has plundered in recent times, but it is also the way in which he has gone about it.

Along with the Hayden-Langer combination and Gilchrist in the middle order, Ponting has taken batting in Test cricket to a new level. It is now not enough for them to simply score the runs.

Ponting has led from the front here, showing his intentions from the moment he arrives at crease. He has plundered the best bowlers in the world, dominating and intimidating them through the speed and style in which he crashes boundary after boundary, to and over the fence.

Much like Tendulkar and Lara, Ricky Ponting has developed the ability to completely obliterate an opposition attack and leave them wondering when, if ever, the next wicket will come.

Coming off a Hayden-Langer opening stand, this type of display has no doubt made batting life much easier for the likes of Lehmann, Martyn and Waugh.

Without Ponting, Martin Love was left with the number three duties. His 36 in the first innings was solid without being spectacular, and took up almost 100 balls.

Even if Ponting had only made 36, there is no doubt it would have taken less than 60 balls and threatened to blow the game apart, still providing confidence for Lehmann to continue on his form from the previous Test.

However Love, who looked more than comfortable against the pace bowling but was troubled from the outset by young spinner Omari Banks, was unable to have the same impact. And that impact should not have been expected from him.

Love was playing just his third Test, but Australia have been so used to a whirlwind assault from Ponting that when it didn't come from the inexperienced Queenslander, they tried to invent it themselves.

Darren Lehmann wanted to force the pace too early and fell for just seven, no doubt a subconscious effort to make up for Ponting's absence.

This added further pressure, and Love fell soon after. Waugh, Gilchrist and Bichel chipped in but none had the same impact they have when the Australain one-day captain is there.

Clearly each Australian batsman should have played their own game and not attempted to play like Ponting. After all, there are few in world cricket that really can.

A more steady and traditional approach would have been appropriate and that is something that Australia, being the professional unit they are, will remember next time Ponting is out of the team or out of form. Because currently, the middle order is the weakness in the Australian side.

The second innings was an even more alarming indication of the effect Ponting has on his team, despite the score of 417. Steve Waugh admitted that he would have liked a greater score given the start, but in reality an Australia with Ponting would likely have cracked 7-550 declared.

Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath, two of the greatest bowlers of all time, were adequately replaced by other bowlers in this series. Yet a batsman with Ponting's mere presence at the wicket seems much harder to do without.

The power of 'Punter' is there for all to see.

Posted by JohnC