At 32, the cricketing world is at Ricky Ponting’s feat. Australia’s captain is not merely the best player in the team, but he is also the best batsman in the world by a distance. The conferring of a second straight ICC Cricketer of the Year award was no more than a formality, given the spectacular trail ‘Punter’ has blazed over the last 12 months.

As captain, he had quite the ideal year. Australia set out with three massive goals at the start of last season — to win the Champions Trophy for the first time, to regain the Ashes and to clinch a fourth World Cup. They accomplished all three feats between October and April with almost ridiculous ease, firmly brushing aside any lingering thoughts that the rest of the world was beginning to catch up with the devils from Down Under.

Dream run
For having steered the fortunes of his side, Ponting had to be named the Captain of the Year. For his exploits with the bat — he made 1,185 runs at 51.52 in 28 one-dayers and 576 runs at 82.28 in five Tests as 34 international innings combined netted five hundreds and 12 fifties — he had to be the undisputed choice for the Cricketer of the Year award.

“I have been lucky to be reasonably consistent,” Ponting observed, in all humility and with no pretence whatsoever. “The Australian cricket team has had a fantastic year, and to accomplish all three goals that we set out to achieve was a great feat.

“I might be the Captain of the Year, but you are only as good as your team. I wouldn’t be here with this award without their terrific contributions. It has been an amazing little period, we were good enough to win the three big trophies.

“The more you play and learn, the more you can keep improving. Last year was a bit different in that we played just five Tests and a lot of one-day internationals. I was happy with the way we went about things in the Ashes. We lifted our level, and that was the result of a lot of hard work going into our cricket. That sort of momentum spilled over to the World Cup. I am very proud of what we have achieved.

"Of course, this is the first Twenty20 World Cup and you could say there is some unfinished business yet! All of us are a bit rusty, there are a few cobwebs that we need to brush off to play good cricket,” added Ponting, sounding an ominous note as Australia eye a second World Cup crown in five months.

Consistency
Despite his always-obvious talent, Ponting didn’t embrace consistency as a batsman until some four summers back, and he has been in sublime touch over the last two seasons. “I have always striven for consistency,” he acknowledged. “I have maintained that consistency over the last couple of years. To win the Cricketer of the Year award for two years in a row is a great achievement. When I look back at my career after I am done with the game, I can tell myself that I must have done a few things right. I am told I am the first person to win it twice on the trot. Hopefully, I can put my head down and score a few more, and maybe there will be another one round the corner!

“But, of course, the main reason behind wanting to score runs is to help Australia win matches. At the end of the day, irrespective of the awards that come your way, it is what you do for the team that is of most importance.”
Several great batsmen have struggled in their primary vocation — run-making — after being elevated to the captaincy. If anything, Ponting the batsman has grown substantially after being made the Australian captain.
“I have tried to separate them both,” he offered. “As a batsman, I never take the field thinking I am the captain. I am expected to bat at number three, to score well and to score consistently, and when I have a bat in my hand, that is all I focus on.

“My game sort of turned around when I moved up to bat at number three from number six. I have become more aware, more mature, more consistent. I know a lot of star batsmen have not been able to make the adjustment after being made the captain. I have tried to separate the two of them, but I have also paid a lot of attention to both aspects,” he added, making it sound oh so simple. It probably is, for him!

Ponting is almost shy talking about himself, but ask him what is the secret behind Australia’s success as a team, and he breaks out into a broad grin. “It’s pretty hard to out your finger on one particular thing,” he said.
“We pride ourselves on the fact that we train and prepare better than any other team in the world. We have some very, very talented players, some of whom have retired in the recent past. The real challenge is how we handle the next 12 months, without some of our key performers for the last decade and more.

‘Enjoy hard work’
“Like I said, we train very hard, but we enjoy that hard work during training. And at the end of the day, we all realise that we are in a lucky position to be able to play for Australia. After all, in 120 years, only 400 players have turned out for Australia; to be among that 400 means you are a very lucky man, and that you must show yourself and the world that you deserve to be there.”