Ponting glories in rite of passage

View from Oz

To appreciate properly Ricky Ponting's laser-like hundred against Sri Lanka at Centurion Park on Friday we should wonder what Steve Waugh thought of it all and revisit a defining moment in the career of another Australian captain, Ian Chappell.

Chappell, too, was in a place faraway from the comforts of home, the Caribbean, where in 1973 on a crumbling Trinidad pitch the grey colour of death and in sauna-like heat he fashioned an innings that ended on 97 but took a ton of courage. In those days the West Indian strike bowler was Lance Gibbs, the angular off-spinner, and Clive Lloyd bowled a few overs with the new ball just to rough it up for Gibbs and his spinning cohorts, usually three, so they could best exploit pitches made to turn.

To survive – and score runs – a batsman needed patience and precise, slick footwork. So, imagine the drama in the Australian camp on Test eve when Chappell, while boldly putting into practice some smashing advice he had received from Wimbledon champion John Newcombe, severely sprained an ankle in a social tennis match. A combination of ice packs, heavy strapping and clenched teeth enabled him to disguise his predicament when he went out to toss on the first morning of what was the Third Test in a series that the West Indian administrators, at least, expected to turn on that tricky Trinidad surface.

Those were tough times for a captain who had only been in the job for a dozen Tests. He was without four major players who just a few months before had helped draw an Ashes series against the odds – Paul Sheahan and Ashley Mallett were unavailable and Dennis Lillee and Bob Massie had broken down. Now this series was on a knife's edge and the captain's most inspirational quality, leading from the front, had been nobbled by a wonky ankle.

At the crease Chappell was a sort of Arnold Schwarzenegger figure. Opponents were unnerved by his displays of ugly courage and aggression yet those same characteristics comforted team-mates with a simple message: "I'm in charge here!"

Not so in the first innings at Trinidad. Self-relegated to No 6 in the order, bandaged and creasebound, he prodded a forgettable eight. Yet, in the second innings he went in to bat when the first wicket fell at 31, and left 230 inspirational minutes later, seventh man out. The spinners bowled 94 of the 107 second-innings overs, which is not so much a numerical postscript as a tribute to Chappell's genius on one and a half legs. His team stole the Test by 46 runs and the series.

There are splashes of Chappell in Ponting's cricket probably because Chappell was an occasional Cricket Academy tutor when Ponting was graduating. Ponting favours the hook, a shot of bygone eras and one of Chappell's favourite "response weapons".

Friday's hundred was a classic. There was a clinical efficiency about the shot selection and its timing was ideal. There was personal pressure: Ponting had made fewer than 150 runs in the Cup and his strike-rate was tending downwards. There was captaincy pressure: the match had to be won to protect a clean slate, to still residual Sri Lankan cockiness and to smooth over the rough edges exposed by England a game before. There was fringe pressure: Jason Gillespie was suddenly out of the Cup, another distraction following the Shane Warne fiasco and the intense campaign to resurrect Steve Waugh's one-day career.

This century was "the captain's knock" in its truest sense. It had focus, maturity, and it was inspirational. But of course Ponting is only the Australian one-day captain, which in terms of "baggy green" tradition is rather like winning second prize in the lottery.

In cricket, timing is everything, whether you are batting, bowling, fielding or selecting a team. Steve Waugh, the 40th Australian Test captain, made another century for New South Wales last week but is doggedlyuncommittal about his availability for the upcoming Caribbean tour.

Ponting showed special qualities enough on Friday to suggest one option for Waugh would be to stand aside as Test captain but remain as a player. There are precedents for that. Ian Chappell relinquished the captaincy to brother Greg in 1975 and Richie Benaud did the same for Bob Simpson in 1963, but both former captains remained in the team.

It is true there was a minor downside to the manoeuvre because neither Greg Chappell nor Simpson were perceived to be as aggressive or as extrovert as their predecessors. Perception is unlikely to be a problem in any Waugh-Ponting switch because we've seen what we'll be getting with Ponting.