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Ricky Ponting: man for the big moment
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Ricky Ponting is fast becoming the man for the big moment. He scored a tremendous century in the World Cup final and since then has produced some magnificent innings when Australia has needed them. I've never seen him quite that emotional as he did today when he scored his century. Obviously the Ashes and regaining them means so much to him and with that sort of drive, he really set himself to play well and Ricky Ponting is undoubtedly the best batsmen in world cricket today and he made it count at the Gabba.
It's a very very good pitch at the Gabba, and it a terrific toss to win, but you feel like England let things slip a little bit. [Steve] Harmison in particular was most disappointing. Justin Langer, the last time he played Test cricket, got a nasty whack on the head and he had to be reminded of that. The Englishmen didn't make any attempt until [Andrew] Flintoff came in to put one past Langer's nose. Very disappointing performance from Harmison, so disappointing that after two overs he was taken out of the attack. If England are going to compete in this series they've got to get a lot more out of Harmison.
Justin Langer played really well if you consider that the last Test match he played he was badly injured. He is obviously a very determined player and came out and played aggressively and counter-attacked and really set the stage for Australia and Ricky Ponting. scoring 350 in a day has set them up for a really good situation in this match. The pitch is going to remain very good for three days, high temperatures are predicted and we've already seen a little bit of turn particularly from Pietersen.
Sitting in the pavilion, Shane Warne, would have been particularly happy to see the turn and there was good bounce. Ashley Giles in fact got Damien Martyn's wicket with a ball that bounced a lot. Giles absolutely staggered me. He's completely reinvented himself as a bowler. He's always been a conservative, negative type of bowler who plays on the batsman's patience. But here at the Gabba he flighted the ball beautifully; whether he's been spurred on by Monty Panesar's success I'm not sure, but he has re-invented himself. But England have got some major problems, they've got to get so much more out of their pace attack.
I thought in England they relied so much on the ball swinging that when it got old on the flatter pitches, if they didn't have something else to come up with they would be in trouble, and today at the Gabba the Australians took advantage of the fact that it was a really good pitch and that the ball wasn't swinging much at all. Michael Hussey is another man who is very determined to be successful in an Ashes series; he was out in the middle, almost before Martyn got off, a man who is determined to get at the opposition and he played a very good complementary knock to Ricky Ponting.
The Australian captain did everything he would have wanted to do on the first day of the Ashes. He won the toss, elected to bat on a very good pitch and he played a brilliant innings and he set his team up for a very huge score and with Shane Warne lurking on a pitch with a little bit of turn and bounce, I think England are in a lot of trouble.
