Ponting emulates Bradman as 4th Test begins

MELBOURNE— Australian skipper Ricky Ponting has emulated Sir Donald Bradman’s generosity of more than a half-century ago, giving each of his teammates a limited-edition luxury watch to celebrate Australia’s Ashes win over England.
After the famous Invincibles tour of England in 1948, Bradman gave each of his teammates a pair of gold cufflinks. “It’s a great opportunity to say thanks to the guys personally for what they’ve done over the last four or five weeks and also something they can wear around and play in if they want to,” Ponting said of the watches which will be handed out by Christmas.
“It’s really capturing the moment of what we’ve done over the last few weeks. There’s no doubt this has been a special moment for me, as it is for the rest of the players.” The gesture is courtesy of one of Ponting’s personal sponsors. He said he knew about Bradman’s 1948 gesture when he decided to hand out the watches. Australia clinched the Ashes with a win at the WACA Ground in Perth last Monday, its third straight victory in the five-match series.
We will remain No 1: Gilchrist New Delhi: Damien Martyn has retired while Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath have announced that they would bring the curtains down on their Test career after the Ashes series.
And some of the biggest stars in the Australian team are nearing the end of their career very soon. Openers Matthew Hayden, Justin Langer, wicketkeeper and vice-captain Adam Gilchrist and skipper Ricky Ponting are over 30 as is the new batting sensation Michael Hussey.
With the departure of Warne and McGrath many believe that the Australian bowling attack will lose its sting.
The two have played 102 Tests together and accounted for 963 batsmen. The duo is easily cricket’s most successful bowling pair ahead of West Indies legends Courtney Walsh and Curtly Ambrose.
The team also realise that the going will not be so smooth without Warne and McGrath though vice-captain Gilchrist does not see any threat to their Numero Uno status.
According to him Australia have the strength and the potential to retain its top position in world cricket and nothing of the sort that happened in the 80’s will happen.
Gilchrist, who has this week reassured Cricket Australia that he intends to remain behind the stumps for the near future, was quoted by The Age as saying, “I think it’s possible to remain the No. 1 team in the world.”
“Then how you make judgements and cast opinions on teams from that, other than those statistical results, is difficult. It’s going to be extremely difficult to maintain the playing style or types of standards we’ve hit under the guidance of Warne and McGrath whenever that day does come that they’re both not there together. We’ve been without them before at the same time, and we’ve still been able to win but maybe it’s not been quite as comprehensive, or it’s been more of a fight,” Gilchrist said.
“That’s natural, because they’ve got 1200 wickets between them and they’re the best ever.”—Agencies