Best thing about all these Australia players is they were/are all happy to bat at #3, the hardest position, if and when required.Battle of the ATG-lites
Ponting clearly stayed on beyond his best years on purpose. He knew he was done but Australia would have ****ed without him being around. Had he retired in 2009 or thereabouts this conversation wouldn't be happeningI don't know whether Ponting staying on post 2010-11 Ashes was a good thing or a bad thing for his legacy.
Redeemed himself against India, but then got beaten for pace by Jacques Kallis at 110kph in the single most blatant moment I've ever seen where you know a player is done.
FtfyWhat Smith has going for him is that his tendency to get squared up by left arm orthodox spinners is a lot less significant than Ponting's relative weakness against Harbhajan in Asia.
There is a good chance that peak ponting would have hooked/pulled a new bowler like Archer (bowling short) out of confidence in the first couple of overs of the spell. Sometimes a few shots is all it takes with a green bowler. Admittidley, it only takes one (miss)shot to reward the bowler as well, but peak ponting was perhaps the best i have ever seen at knowing when to time assaults on pace.He did play Murali well.
Ponting was perhaps the better player of extreme pace. Peak Ponting was probably the most well-equipped player to deal with that Archer spell. Both have their strengths and are bonafide ATGs but it's still close imo.