One of the men to publically criticise Ricky Ponting was former team mate Shane Warne. The former Australian spinner used Twitter to question the tactics used in the recent test series with India.

In particular, Shane Warne slammed the field placings for fellow spinner Nathan Hauritz. On his Twitter page, he said:

“How the hell can Hauritz bowl to this field? Feeling for Hauritz, terrible!! What are these tactics? Sorry Ricky, but what are you doing.”

This was then taken as a rift between Ricky Ponting and Shane Warne, with the former making it clear that he wasn’t particularly happy with the criticism from someone that should be supporting him.

However, Shane Warne has since revealed that he meant nothing too negative by his Tweet and that he and Ricky Ponting are still good friends.

Speaking about the situation, he said:
“My tweet about Ricky’s fields for Nathan Hauritz for two overs has been portrayed as a rift between myself and the Australian captain and ‘journos’ have tried to start a slanging match between us. What rubbish.”

“Yes, Ricky was disappointed with my tweet and expressed his disappointment via SMS to which I replied ’should I take you off the Christmas card list?’ My philosophy is, never lose your sense of humour in whatever you do!”

With the Ashes series just over a month away, it is a very important time for Ricky Ponting and perhaps he will be more pleased with Shane Warne’s latest comments about him remaining the right man to lead Australia.

Some have suggested that Ricky Ponting is coming to the end of his time as captain, but Australian legend Warne says “At no stage did I say Ricky’s time as captain is up. He is the right man to lead us.”

The first of five test matches gets underway on 25th November at Brisbane and Ricky Ponting will look to use this series to prove his critics wrong.  He certainly doesn’t want to be the first Australian captain to lose the Ashes on home soil in 16 years.

His team face an England side high on confidence though and Andrew Strauss will be backing himself to come out on top on the tactics side of things. We shall see how it works out. One thing is for sure, you should all be glued to every second!

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Still looking for his first victory in India as captain of Australia, Ricky Ponting and his selectors have plenty to think about ahead of the upcoming Ashes series this winter.

Interestingly it is the first time that Australia have lost three Tests in a row since 1988 and the once mighty Australia are now ranked below England in the ICC standings, with India firmly cemented in top spot.

Despite England’s form this season, fears of an Australian backlash in the Ashes series is a very real prospect and nothing can be taken for granted by the English team.

As for India, they have no such problems, having introduced debutant Cheteshwar Pujara to the Test match he scored 72 runs to put India on their way to victory on a testing final day wicket, while veterans Tendulkar and Dravid completed the formalities in emphatic style.

The Australian bowlers appeared to have no response to the free scoring Indian batsmen on the final day of the Test and the experienced Tendulkar and Dravid were given the time to pick and choose their run opportunities seemingly at will.

On this performance there is little doubt that India are in superb form throughout the team and they have oozed confidence in this second Test match, sensing that victory was there for the taking and moving in for the kill as if Australia were a wounded animal.

Tendulkar, who scored the winning runs for India was named man of the match and man of the series, having scored a massive 403, an average of 134.5.

Australia captain Ricky Ponting accepted defeat with some dignity saying; “It has been a great series to be a part of as a player, but our second innings batting wasn’t of the standard it needed to be to win the Test match. Deep down I felt we needed a few more runs. Hilfenhaus and Johnson have been exceptional and Shane Watson has been very good at the top of the order. But the rest of us have been a little bit inconsistent.”

Second Test, Bangalore, day five:
India 495 & 207-3 bt Australia 478 & 223 by seven wickets

It was the injured VVS Laxman, batting with a runner, who overcame his excruciating back pain to strike an unbeaten 73 who was the hero of the day as India beat Australia by one wicket to claim the first test in Mohali.

Australia looked to be in command of the match having reduced India to 124 -8 as the home team chased an impossible 216 victory target, but an 81 run stand between Laxman and Ishant Sharma put India within striking distance.

When Sharma fell for 31 India still needed eleven runs to win the match, with the arrival of tail ender Pragyan Ojha at the crease. Having survived both an lbw appeal and a woeful attempted run out that saw the ball run to the boundary for four runs, India sealed the game with a scrambled two runs off Ojha’s pads.

First Test, Mohali (Result)
India 405 & 216-9 bt Australia 428 & 192 by one wicket

The teams will head to Bangalore on Saturday where Australia will look to level the series in the second and final Test.

champions trophy hero shane watson

Ricky Ponting led the Australian team to victory in the ICC Champions Trophy in South Africa, beating New Zealand by six wickets as they continued the imperious form that started with the seven day ODI series against England after the Ashes defeat.

Ponting singled out the excellent Shane Watson who scored his second successive century for Australia, reaching an unbeaten 105 against the New Zealander’s, following his Man of the Match performance against England in the semi final.

After their innings New Zealand had left the Australians needing only 201 runs to win the final, but a rocky start to the Aussie batting quickly saw the dismissal of both Paine and most suprisingly Ponting with just one run apiece at 6 for 2.

Australia dug in and despite a slow build up of runs eventually took the game by the scruff of the neck, losing only two more wickets during the day with White going for 62 and Hussey for 11.

The victory was achieved during the 46th over thanks largely to Watson’s stand of 134 with Cameron White. A great and deserved victory for the Australians who picked up the ICC Champions Trophy for their remarkable accomplishment in the tournament.

Australia

England had managed just 257 all out with the bat, Tim Bresnan making an impressive 80 before falling to Brett Lee. Luke Wright enjoyed a good partnership of 107 runs with Bresnan, making 48 himself, while only Collingwood (34) and Denly (36) could manage decent scores.

The Australian’s lost a quick wicket when Paine was caught by Davies off Onions bowling and at 6 for 1 England’s chances looked very good indeed.

Ricky Ponting and Shane Watson had different ideas and between them made 252 not out to easily surpass the English total and make their way into the final.

It was another deserved victory for Australia both Ponting and Watson relished the challenge and controlled the English bowlers with ease. Ponting comes in for a lot of stick particularly back in Australia when the team are not winning games, but he has proved himself to be among the best batsmen in the world over the years and today’s performance was no exception.

The 34 year old Australian hit his first 50 off 58 balls and his unbeaten 111 was his 28th century in one day internationals. He also became the first Australian and only the third player in the world to pass 12,000 runs in ODIs, an incredible milestone for an incredible player.

Memories of England’s win over hosts South Africa are already in the dim and distant past, the loss to the Australians in seven out of eight one day encounters really means that things still need fixing in the England camp.

England head into the one-day series buoyed by the Ashes triumph and captain Andrew Strauss urged his players to use that success as inspiration as they look to build consistency into their one-day cricket. Consistency in One Day International cricket has not been a strong point for the England team and they will be looking to address the problem with a string of positive results.

Strauss has given his backing to Ravi Bopara who is drafted into the team following an injury to the Kent opening batsman Joe Denly during  a pre match football game amongst the England squad yesterday.

Bopara was dropped for the final Ashes test following some poor performances with the bat during the series where he struggled to average 15 runs over seven innings. The Essex batsman responded to being dropped for the Ashes match by returning to his county game with a splendid double hundred over Surrey.

Going into the ODI series Australia will need no more incentive than their own recent memories of the Ashes and will be led by Michael Clarke for the first three matches while regular captain Ricky Ponting takes a well earned break.

Fast bowler Brett Lee is fired up and set to return to the team after injury robbed him of a place in the Ashes team. Lee may not pose the threat he did a few years back but his hunger for victory and his very presence is intimidating enough for most opposition.

There is nothing quite like One Day International cricket, a mini test match with all the excitement contained within one day, where do or die is the order of the day, with both World rankings and national pride at stake.

The seven match series takes place at various grounds around the country and tickets for the One Day Internationals are currently on sale for all venues.

The One Day International Series Fixtures:

Friday 4th September, Day/Night, Kennington Oval, London

Sunday 6th September, Day, Lords, London

Wednesday 9th September, Day/Night, Rose Bowl, Southampton

Saturday 12th September, Day, Lords, London

Tuesday 15th September, Day/Night, Trent Bridge, Nottingham

Thursday 17th September, Day/Night, Trent Bridge, Nottingham

Sunday 20th September, Day, Riverside Ground, Chester-le-Street

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In another up and down day, the Australian batsmen showed their bloody minded resilience as they dug in defiantly and chased the game. After losing two early wickets Ponting and Hussey then defied the odds with a brilliant display of first class batting, causing the nerves to jangle for England fans and players alike.

It was Andrew Flintoff’s excellent run out of Ponting that changed the balance of the game, a wonderful dead eye dick throw to smash the stumps, with Ponting in no mans land.

When Michael Clarke was also run out five minutes later for naught, England could sense the collapse. But Hussey had other ideas, batting a suberb 121 innings he refused to give up the fight as the Australian batting order came and went around him.

Hussey was finally caught by Cook of Swann at around 5.45pm, ending the game with the Australian’s trailing by 197 runs.

While I believe this series lacked the all round quality of England’s famous 2005 victory, the roller-coaster ride of ups and downs has made for some absorbing cricket.

My man of the series is England captain Andrew Strauss who has led from the front when some of his more flamboyant players have struggled. He has won his personal battle with Australia’s Ricky Ponting, who is no slouch himself in rallying the troops, and fully deserves this excellent win for England.

Australia in contrast showed tremendous form, seizing the match by the scruff of the neck and but for some controversial lbw dismissals this afternoon would find themselves in the much stronger position their play deserved.

Recalled Stuart Clark bowled excellently for his 3 -18 and Peter Siddle with 5-21 saw off the tail order in spectacular fashion. England contrasted that with a dismal display at the crease, with only Alistair Cook (30) and MattPrior (37) making double figures. The other nine batsmen scoring a dismal eighteen runs between them!

England all out for 102.

Sadly both teams continued to show similar form in their reverse roles. Things did look a little promising when Steve Harmison took the wicket of Kattich at 14 for 1, but England would have to endure another 119 runs being added before capturing another scalp. By that time Australia were firmly in control with a brilliant partnership involving Ponting and Watson.

Watson was the second victim of the day, falling at 133 and then by some act of god England took two more quickly after with Australia at 151 for 4. Clarke (34) and North (7) ended the day for Australia at 196 for 4 and leading the match by 94 runs.

This is going to take something very special indeed for England to get back into the game tomorrow.

The early morning collapse saw captain Strauss unable to add to his overnight total of 161, his was the first wicket of the day with England then at 364 for 7, but Swann and Broad followed with just fourteen more runs on the board before the last wicket stand of Anderson and Onions ended the day for England at 425 all out.

Two quick wickets for England saw the scalps of  Hughes for 4 and Ponting for 10 early on and when Katich fell for 48 at 103 for 3 England took control of the game. Hauritz and Siddle remain at the wicket for tomorrow with Australia needing 70 runs to avoid being asked to follow on.

First Innings Scores

England 425 all out    Australia 156 for 8

There is no doubt that England were guilty of some extreme gamesmanship, sending on 12th man Bilal Shafayat to deliver new gloves to batsman James Anderson and then re appearing with the physio at the end of the next over, only to be ushered off the pitch by angry Australian players.

If the tactics frustrated Ponting, the way that Australia allowed England back into a game they had so obviously lost earlier in the day – will no doubt have angered the Aussie captain more than anything else.

England have been second best throughout the first test against what many consider to be a weak Australian team. The have performed the great escape in Cardiff earning themselves a draw against all the odds, but I can’t see Ponting and co letting such an advantage slip through their fingers in the remainder of the Ashes series.