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There's no doubting that Ponting was always the more naturally better player. Hayden didn't go the Academy and for the first half of his career was quite a limited player in terms of shots and his temperament was questionable against high quality bowling.
Ponting has been a wunderkind from day 1, went to the Academy and was touted as a future great even then by Rod Marsh. He has always had all the shots and the right attitude to succeed but he always had a tendency to push himself too hard and get wrapped up in playing shots to every ball, hence he got out to attacking shots in the early part of his career trying to force the pace.
Next thing, Hayden works on his shots to the extent that he went from a player who had a reasonably solid defence, booming front-foot drives and cut shots but nothing else to a player who can now play off the back-foot on both sides of the wicket, can play off his pads VERY well and can push the singles as well as using his natural advantage as a left-hander to enhance his defence. He's also gone from being Darryl Cullinan-like in playing spin to being an exceptionally GOOD player of spin. He now appears like he's finally MENTALLY realised just how good he is, hence it's rare to see a bowler actually dominate him or even have him in any trouble anymore. Hayden has MADE himself the player he is.
Ponting on the other hand, had to curb his natural instincts and choose his shots better to turn himself into the player he is today. It naturally comes with experience and confidence but he's learnt to better choose when to use the weapons he has, rather than trying to play them all the time. He's figured out he doesn't have to be a guy who scores at break-neck speed all the time but can turn it on when he needs to. His defence against the deliveries coming back into him is MUCH tighter and his front-foot play is less hurried and more assured.
His only remaining weakness is quality spin on a turning deck. He plays with hard hands far too much against good spin, resulting in many deliveries catching the glove for catches in close and he needs to work on his pad positioning to deliveries moving away from him as he leaves his gloves out in front of his pad too much looking for the flick off the front-foot. Plus, being such a great player of pace bowling means he's prone to not waiting for the ball, a la someone like Mark Waugh.
So in short they are both great players right now and are playing as well as each other but Ponting is easily the more naturally talented player, though Hayden is the more powerful.
Ponting has been a wunderkind from day 1, went to the Academy and was touted as a future great even then by Rod Marsh. He has always had all the shots and the right attitude to succeed but he always had a tendency to push himself too hard and get wrapped up in playing shots to every ball, hence he got out to attacking shots in the early part of his career trying to force the pace.
Next thing, Hayden works on his shots to the extent that he went from a player who had a reasonably solid defence, booming front-foot drives and cut shots but nothing else to a player who can now play off the back-foot on both sides of the wicket, can play off his pads VERY well and can push the singles as well as using his natural advantage as a left-hander to enhance his defence. He's also gone from being Darryl Cullinan-like in playing spin to being an exceptionally GOOD player of spin. He now appears like he's finally MENTALLY realised just how good he is, hence it's rare to see a bowler actually dominate him or even have him in any trouble anymore. Hayden has MADE himself the player he is.
Ponting on the other hand, had to curb his natural instincts and choose his shots better to turn himself into the player he is today. It naturally comes with experience and confidence but he's learnt to better choose when to use the weapons he has, rather than trying to play them all the time. He's figured out he doesn't have to be a guy who scores at break-neck speed all the time but can turn it on when he needs to. His defence against the deliveries coming back into him is MUCH tighter and his front-foot play is less hurried and more assured.
His only remaining weakness is quality spin on a turning deck. He plays with hard hands far too much against good spin, resulting in many deliveries catching the glove for catches in close and he needs to work on his pad positioning to deliveries moving away from him as he leaves his gloves out in front of his pad too much looking for the flick off the front-foot. Plus, being such a great player of pace bowling means he's prone to not waiting for the ball, a la someone like Mark Waugh.
So in short they are both great players right now and are playing as well as each other but Ponting is easily the more naturally talented player, though Hayden is the more powerful.
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