The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Ashes defeat was a wake-up call: Ponting

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Thursday, Nov 10, 2005

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Ashes defeat was a wake-up call: Ponting

SYDNEY: It's taken nearly two months for Ricky Ponting to admit it, but the Australian captain says that losing the Ashes may have been a good thing.

``I don't think it was a bad thing for the team or for Australian cricket, to tell the truth,'' Ponting said on Wednesday at the launch of his book Ashes Diary 2005.

``It was a learning curve for a lot of us. I certainly think and feel that I have learned a lot through the Ashes tour. I think a lot of players learned a lot about themselves as well. Since we've been back, we've managed to turn things around quite drastically and dramatically.''

Ponting became the first Australian captain to lose the Ashes since 1986-87 when his team was beaten 2-1 in the five-match series that finished in mid-September in England.

Since then, Australia has won three limited-overs games and a Test against a World XI side and beaten the West Indies by 379 runs in the first of three Tests.

Ponting said the Ashes defeat had helped renew the focus and desire for a team which had become accustomed to easy wins.

``It helped to make us aware of some of the areas in which we were a bit deficient, and give the players and the coaches something to go away and focus on,'' Ponting said.

In his diary entry for Sept. 12, the day the Ashes was lost, Ponting said the 2-1 margin probably flattered Australia.

Complete failure

``The hardest thing about our defeat is that we know what went wrong — we failed with the bat, lacked penetration and control with the ball (except Warne and McGrath), dropped catches, bowled far too many no-balls and lost McGrath to injury in the vital Edgbaston Test. — AP

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