72? Do you even know what you are talking about? And the comment about WW2 well mate you really have lost the plot. Mark Taylor was a great captain and didn't tolerate the terrible stuff that Ponting engendered.
May as well say Aus cricket has been bad since Warwick Armstrong asked a spectator who they were playing in the 20/21 series against England.
Mate read some books. We were always respected until only recently.
Don Bradman, unquestionably the greatest cricketer in history and quite possible the greatest sportsman, was universally disliked as a team-mate, opponent, administrator and businessman
Ian Chappell was credited with introducing sledging as a tactic and his team were a disgrace by today's standards
Despite his athletic grace, his brother Greg was considerably worse
Fortunately, their reign was broken by the cynical, racist rule of Viv
Allan Border (my first A grade captain btw) determined that Oz needed to be "hard" to regain their ascendancy and was so bad that he could not be relied upon to be civil at a mixed club function and was ejected from more than one for foul language
Mark Taylor (who I've played with and against maybe 50 times) captained a side that was characterised by drunken revelry (something that Steve Waugh was determined to stamp out on taking over - read the book!)
Steve Waugh (grew up with him) is a prick
In short, Ponting is no angel but no worse (and decidedly better) than some of his predecessors
BTW, do you have any idea how ridiculous it looks to have 2 Aussies arguing how bad their team's behaviour is on this site?
I do
