RICKY PONTING GETS IT RIGHT

You can never write off Australians in Ashes battles

ALL OVER NOW - Ricky Ponting declares at Cardiff

By RICHIE BENAUD, the voice of cricket, 11/07/2009

IT is always dangerous to write off Australians as being of indifferent quality in Ashes battles.

Invariably, it lifts the team and they play with heart as well as skill.

England won the early part of this match and may escape defeat due to bad weather.

But, by closing his side's first innings with a lead of 239, Ricky Ponting has set Andrew Strauss a task that will test his leadership as well as his batting ability.

There is nothing wrong with the pitch, though dire things were predicted when Nathan Hauritz turned a few off breaks on the first day.

The thinking was that if Hauritz can do it on day one, the rest of the world can double up for the remaining four.

I was disappointed in England's bowling attack because I've been singing its praises of late.

Jimmy Anderson, Stuart Broad and Andrew Flintoff were in the form of their lives and I rate Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar highly.

When the pitch is flat and unresponsive for the pacemen, it is the spinners who come in - combining a clever mix of spin and subtle changes of pace with accuracy.

Neither the England off spinner nor the left hander bowled a tight line and length and their changes of pace were virtually non-existent.

Ponting, Simon Katich and Michael Clarke handled them superbly, but I give top marks to Marcus North. When Ponting was dismissed with Australia 118 behind, the chance was there for England to gain a sizeable lead - but North rebuffed them.

More credit to him because he was another written off as being below Ashes standard.

Quick

Ponting's declaration was perfectly timed as he was keeping tabs on the weather. He also wanted 10 overs at England before the rain arrived. In fact he managed only seven, but it was enough to take two England wickets.

Strauss will no doubt tell his team-mates to play sensibly. But will Kevin Pietersen decide to continue playing the sweep to Hauritz, as he did in the first innings?

Yes he will. But the second dimension is whether he will be quick enough to pull out of the shot when it appears to be a complete nonsense!

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