Aggers’ Ashes. Jonathan Agnew

would certainly be in the reckoning. Add a legendary opening partnership in Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer, Mike Hussey and Michael Clarke in the middle order and quicks Brett Lee and Stuart Clark, and you have a juggernaut of an outfit. With such weapons at his disposal in his first few years as skipper, Ponting, who replaced Steve Waugh in 2004, was given something of an armchair ride, winning 27 of his first 35 matches in charge. After that, however, Ponting’s armchair started losing some of its springs.

      In the space of a couple of years Warne, McGrath, Langer, Gilchrist, Hayden and Lee all called it a day, as did lesser lights such as Stuart MacGill and Damien Martyn. And just like that, Ponting went from a skipper in charge of a great team with the best winning percentage in Test history to, well, a skipper with a pretty good record in charge of a pretty good team. “Let’s be honest, Ricky’s had some wonderful players at his fingertips,” says Mike Gatting, the last man to lead England to Ashes glory in Australia, in 1986-87.”A captain can only be as good as his players. If you’ve got a Warne and a McGrath in your side, you don’t have to tell them what to do because they are very good professionals who love winning for their country. You shouldn’t have to do too much to get them motivated. The same with Gilchrist, Langerand Hayden.”

      There are many in Australia – former fast bowlers Geoff Lawson and Jeff Thomson have been merciless in their criticism – who believe Ponting has been unmasked as a poor captain and that he should have been replaced by Clarke following the 2-0 series defeat in India which made it three Test defeats on the spin, something that hadn’t happened to Australia since 1988. But former skipper Ian Chappell, who won 50% of his Tests to Ponting’s current record of 64%, is not one of them, believing the punchy Tasmanian remains the best man for the job.

      “Ricky Ponting is a good captain,” says Chappell. “It shouldn’t come as any surprise that when you lose Warne and McGrath, Ponting isn’t winning as often as he was. But Ponting can point to the fact that he wins 64% of his Tests overall and say it works. I’ve not seen a day’s play with Australia where I’ve looked out there and felt the team hasn’t been pulling as one. I’ve never seen that happen under Ricky Ponting’s captaincy. The day that happens is the day you know you’ve got a problem and that’s when you’ve got to go.”

      However, there are many who disagree with Chappell and argue that statistics are not the best way to measure a captain. The same people would argue that former New Zealand skipper Stephen Fleming and former England skipper Michael Vaughan were vastly superior to Ponting, not because of their winning percentages, but because of the manner in which they marshalled inferior sides and got them punching above their weight.

      Ponting’s frailties were there for all to see during the 2005 Ashes series, when he was knocked out of his groove by an injury to McGrath, the lack of form of some of his key players and the in-your-face aggression of Vaughan’s England outfit. One of the biggest mysteries of that series was Ponting’s decision not to pick MacGill, a man who finished his career with 208 Test wickets at an average of 29, for the final two Tests when his fellow leg-spinner Warne was scalping England batsmen for fun. Fast bowler Shaun Tait, preferred to MacGill at Trent Bridge and The Oval, was then mysteriously underused.

      Roll forward to 2009 in Cardiff, with England nine wickets down in their second innings and Monty Panesar and James Anderson in the middle. Ponting made the truly baffling decision to bring part-timer Marcus North to bowl two of the last four overs, with fellow spinner Nathan Hauritz operating from the other end. Panesar and Anderson held firm, Ponting appeared haunted at not being able to force the win and England went on to reclaim the Ashes.

      During the recent Test series in India, Ponting took a lot of flak in Australia’s media for negative fields, a lack of faith in his players and a tendency to flinch in the heat of battle, a most un-Australian trait. When Warne criticized Hauritz’s field placings during the Second Test in Bangalore, Ponting’s reaction of claiming the bowler had chosen them on his own seemed indicative of a lack of leadership skills.

      Australian fans declare themselves baffled at why a batsman of such attacking verve and pugnacity and so steeped in the traditions of the game should prove to be so devoid of tactical nous and composure when things get uncomfortable. There won’t be too many people putting their hand up to replace Ponting if he becomes the first Australian captain to lose three Ashes series since Billy Murdoch in 1890. But you might hear a lot of people saying: “Seriously, who’d want to captain this side?”

      DAY 22: 24 November 2010

      Sod’s law: with the First Test starting tomorrow I am struck down by a stomach bug. It is nothing serious, but it is uncomfortable and disabling, and with so much work to do today, rotten timing. My old TMS producer and good friend, Peter Baxter, throws a BBQ at his Brisbane home and although I attend I am still feeling pretty crook and can’t enjoy it as much as I would have liked. Peter, the lucky so-and-so, spends half the year here, and halfback in the UK.

      The cabbie who takes me to the Gabba doesn’t lift my mood when, having told him where I wanted to go, replies: “Hey! You’re Aggers, aren’t you?” A little puffed up, I confirm that indeed I am none other, only for my ‘fan’ to offer up: “My! You’re much less handsome than you sound on the radio!” Thanks a lot, mate.

      The captains’ press conferences are very well attended – the ranks of the English media must have trebled since our arrival in Brisbane, but surprisingly there isn’t a reporter present from ABC Radio. This is potentially tricky for me as I need an interview with Ponting, and the usual pre-match form is that I stick my microphone into the ABC interview and send the result on to London. The Cricket Australia people are clearly very agitated that ABC aren’t here – they chose to record the television press conference – but kindly agree that I may have a few minutes with Ponting to myself. This takes place in a corridor so dark that I can barely see his face, but he is his usual professional self, and I appreciate his co-operation. This comes only a few minutes after Ponting has fallen for one of the great tabloid stitch ups that always occur on the day before the opening Test of an Ashes series in Australia. Because of the time difference it is a blank day for the writers. John Etheridge of the Sun tosses out the usual question about whether the Ashes urn should be held in the country that wins it rather than being permanently housed at Lord’s, and Ricky bites: “Why not, that would be good.” ‘Ponting will Urn Trophy’ is the resulting headline in the Sun.

      Strauss strikes me as being rather tense, which is entirely understandable. After I put down my microphone and he starts to walk away I shout after him: “Andrew. Please make sure you all enjoy it. There’s nothing better than this!” “Don’t worry. We’re going to,” he calls over his shoulder, before disappearing down the same dark corridor.

      Later that evening I make good on a promise and meet up with a group of England supporters – who arrived in Australia only this morning – for a swift question and answer session to get them in the mood. After twenty minutes, loud snoring interrupts my flow. It’s all been too much for one old boy in the front row!

      AUSTRALIA AWAITS AS ENGLAND EXPECTS

      Tom Fordyce | 24 November 2010

      There’s been talk of little else – a team of English stars, exposed to the toughest challenges Australia can throw at them, battling enormous pressure and a huge weight of expectation back home in Blighty. Still, enough of I’m a Celebrity. After months of bellicose build-up and fluctuating form, the Ashes are finally upon us. And for England fans both at home and here in Brisbane, there’s an unfamiliar sense of optimism in the humid Queensland air.

      It’s not normally this way. At this stage of an Ashes ding-dong Down Under, England are usually being ripped apart by a caustic local media and mercilessly taunted by cocksure Aussie fans. It shouldn’t even make sense. The hosts haven’t lost a Test at the Gabba in over 20 years. England haven’t won a series here for almost a quarter of a century. They’ve only won three of the last 24Tests on Australian soil.

      But this time around, the established order appears to have been turned on its head. Australia are the ones coming into the series with injury problems and ropey form, England are the team with wins under the belt and a settled side. So far the