ASIDE from the fact that Ricky Ponting’s “announcement” on Tuesday was one of the more pointless press conferences I’ve ever witnessed, you have to admire his backbone.
There is one reason alone why the room was packed with journalists with microphones and recorders at the ready.
It’s the same reason we dropped our pencils and flicked on the television at 11am on Tuesday morning.
Retirement.
Some of us were hoping to hear Ponting utter the word, while others just didn’t want to miss a potential historical moment.
All of us were left a little deflated.
In fact, when it became clear the former Australian skipper wasn’t bowing out of the longest form of cricket, the television was turned off and we all moved on with our lives.
Because in all honesty, we’ve heard it all before.
It became another instance of Ponting backing himself above and beyond the overwhelming pressure to retire.
It’s like a demented form of peer pressure, but Ponting is too resilient to be bothered.
Strength of character or denial? Some of us can’t decide.
The thing is, Ponting is our most successful one-day batsmen.
He’s scored more runs than I’ve had breakfasts, and he’s the only Australian batsman ever to crack the 10,000 runs mark.
But as any professional athlete on the wrong side of 35, his reflexes, timing and talent has started to diminish.
That’s not an opinion, it’s the truth.
Ponting admitted it himself, he alone is his greatest selector.
If he was making runs, he would not have been dropped from the one-day team.
It’s black and white.
So why was there such an uproar following his axing?
When Ponting, Haddin and Hussey were staring down the barrel of being dropped from the Australian Test side at the start of the summer, the selectors looked completely spineless when they didn’t make the cutting call.
As the series wore on, it all started to make sense.
Apparently they knew what they were doing the whole time.
The old dogs blew us away and proved beyond doubt that they’re still relevant to Test cricket.
We should trust the selectors on this one too.
John Inverarity’s call to cut Punter only shows us that they’re doing their job in not allowing anyone, be it Ponting or anyone else, to become complacent.
If you’re a batsmen and you can’t make runs, you’ll be shown the door.
At the end of the day that’s all we ask as cricket fans, isn’t it?
To be represented with the best possible chance of victory?
My only hope is when the time comes for Ponting to hang up his helmet, it’s a decision off his own bat (pun intended).
The indignity of being dropped from the team shouldn’t be lumped on one of our greats.
One-dayers are one thing, but Test cricket is a whole different kettle of fish.
Plenty of people were disappointed to see Ponting dropped from the limited overs form, but when the end of his Test career sneaks up I hope he recognises it and bows out.
For his perseverance, bravery and leadership he deserves at the very least to call his own shots.
Ponting was admirable in not retiring on Tuesday, but I hope he shows the same strength in making the tough call for himself when the time comes.
Email a friend