Ricky Ponting announces retirement, official

[maniac]

Much better columnist than Sanju.

I like Darvid way better than manju as a cricketer and as a person but I would disagree here...for all the **** he gets here on ICF,I think Manju is articulate and does not play to the gallery with his points....I do enjoy most of his articles and commentary for the matter of fact.

[Number]

Akash Chopra is also a good writer. He mentions a lot about Ranji so I am always interested in reading his columns.

[Crookbond]

Dont get how that list says Punter struggled aginst Akhtar' date=' Caddick etc??? he plundered heaps of centuries against those two bowlers. Also scored at least 4 test tons vs Anderson, whats up with that list????[/quote'] Ignore him - he's a Harbhajan Singh troll.

[Trichromatic]

To some extent I always wondered if Indian cricket fans hate for Ponting was OTT. Anyways' date=' wonderful article.[/quote'] behavior and success.

[vvvslaxman]

I wish Dravid had retired in India after announcing one test before. Too bad both laxman and Dravid did not get a proper fairwell in the stadium.

[vamos_rafa]

Dravid employed full-time by Cricinfo. He replaced Sanjay Manjrekar in the Test side ' date=' now might do it in CricInfo as well.[/quote'] Both him and Chopra have been contracted by ESPN CI for some period of time. I am not sure about the replacing Sanjay part though.

[jf1gp_1]

Ponting was an as$ , arrogant #$% , never liked him. Great batsman no doubt , but you could see how much he disliked player from sub continent. Bye Ricky , I don't want to see him in commentary box.

[Lord]

Ignore him - he's a Harbhajan Singh troll.

fixed

[Robelinda]

nice article http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2012/nov/30/joy-of-six-ricky-ponting

[jairamesh]

Great batsman, wonderful to watch in full flow. But also a good cheat, which was often mistook for "competitiveness". Will be missed, a titan of the game.

[Magneto]

Got a good beating and was kicked out of Equinox :cantstop:

[Manny_Pacquiao]

what an absolute ****. "i did not ground dat ball" yeah whatever u say m8 good riddance. cant help but lol at his puny average of 52, all that cricket in the era of flat pitches, crap bowlers and he still averages 52 wtf i'll always admire him for his record in india tho, good man

[Robelinda]

interesting article rubbishes the 2nd best aussie batsman claim http://www.theage.com.au/sport/cricket/between-you-and-me-ponting-isnt-our-second-best-20121201-2ao4p.html

[Trichromatic]

^Why won't anyone rate Chappell above him?

[vvvslaxman]

^Why won't anyone rate Chappell above him?

Basically it is typical to go by volume of runs if there is no extraordinary difference in averages. You can't really quantify these things and come to a conclusion. Generally batsman with dominating batting style gets more attention. A reason why chanderpaul despite scoring almost 11000 runs at an average close to 52 is never in the discussion when we discuss about modern day greats. It is always Lara, Tendulkar, Ponting. Kallis is only recently getting the attention.

[BERGKAMP]

glad he is getting a thrashing in his final game.

[SLICKR392]

glad he is getting a thrashing in his final game.

What have you got against Punter? :punter:

[The Outsider]

Second best batsman claim for Ponting is hyperbole gone nuts. He would barely make my top 5 Australian batsmen list with Bradman, S Waugh, G Chappell, and Border clearly better than him and Harvey and Trumper right up there.

[Gambit]

The widely held theory of Australian selectors being ruthless and Punter having timed his retirement correctly (as Chappelli seems to think) seem to be scarcely believable given Ponting's mediocre performance over the last 4 years. Over a 4 year and 43 test period, he averaged 39. His away average was 35. His average against England and RSA was 33 and 28 respectively from 20 tests. If you take India out of the equation, Ponting's average falls to 33 over 37 tests. Furthermore, in last 3 marquee series against England and RSA he averaged 16, 17 and 6 over 9 tests. Timed his retirement right? I don't think so. But the selectors did not drop him, maybe out of emotion but largely out of the belief that he will resurrect himself and that there were no worthy replacements.

[Crookbond]

Ricky Ponting on Steve Smith the substitute fielder missed a direct hit and went for over throws during Mohali 2010 http://www.espncricinfo.com/india-v-australia-2010/content/story/480122.html

"You feel sorry for Smithy," Ponting said. "Young bloke always looking for ways to win the game. Had he hit the stumps it would have been game over. That's what we expect from our guys. If there is a half chance we are going to take it. "If that was me, I would have done exactly the same thing. I wouldn't have worried about who is behind the stumps. If I have a chance to hit the stumps and win a Test match, I am going to take it. There is certainly no blame going Smith's way. That's a great attitude for the young bloke to have." Smith was obviously disappointed during that chaotic last over. "We have all spoken to him," Ponting said. "He was a bit disappointed coming off the ground, but there is no need to be, he saw the stumps, he saw the win there, he had a go and missed. Cost us four runs. Not much more you can say."

Can any player be more 'Australian' ?