Yes and no. From an Aussie perspective, in all series' he played against them, Donald was considered a bit of a sook. Bowled only a couple of really top spells in Australia where he really fired up, otherwise the perception was that if you weren't intimidated by his pace/swing/attitude and got through his opening spell, he'd lose his **** a bit too easily trying to blast you out and get pumped, even in SA.
Where did I say anything about that innings?
I wouldn't call it a no contest since Ponting junior scored a ton in his first ever innings against him. Just had to see the series. Ponting scored 137 runs in his first test against Donald and 62 in the second test and didn't need to bat again. He wasn't troubled; Australia wasn't troubled really. Ironically, the thing I remember about that series is Kallis and Cronje saving their asses. And I am terrible at remembering stuff yet that one sticks out.
Ahh, interesting. Now that you mention it, I can't remember too many times when he tried to frustrate batsmen into getting out. But that might be because my impression of him was largely based on matches against India when he hardly needed to!
Yeah, exactly. His game was geared to fairly bowler-friendly conditions and in OZ, even in the 90's, the guys who did the best had the capability to throttle back when needed and still be a threat even when holding a line/length. Guys like Taylor, Slater and Elliott played him very well too, just sweating on him losing patience. Blokes like them fed off emotional bowlers like Donald. Contrastingly, they all seemed to struggle against less emotional types like Ambi. My opinion but I reckon being difficult to get a bead on emotionally spooks Aussie batters.
To be fair, if Donald wasnt injured in 98 at the Adelaide test SA wouldve easily won that test and drawn the series, remember the Mark Waugh hit wicket that wasnt? We hung on for a close draw, Donald was so missing for SA. He'd bowled really hostile in the first two tests. Had the Waugh boys in tremendous trouble in the SCG test, hit on the body everywhere. Cronje throwing a stump through the umpires door after the 3rd test draw was a classic!
Sure, it seems to have been a great inning. But saying Donald didnt trouble him in 3 innings doesn't mean anything though! I mean if someone only saw 3 innings of Ponting in that 2001 series in India, they'll wrongly judge him to be hopeless against spin. You need some sort of a sample to make such judgements.
Again this involves 4 innings against W&W of 0,0,0,197. Again this is a hopelessly small sample that didn't prove anything except that he's capable of such innings against the best.
Plus Shoaib too on a VERY quick Perth pitch. Aus were 4/50 from memory and Punter played a sensational innings. Lots of hooking and pulling. Saqlain was pretty ordinary, but Akram was on fire early on and Punter was coming off 3 ducks (?) and just played out of his skin.
Just going on what I've heard, tbh. True or not, that was the way the Aussie top-order viewed him. Get through that first spell and he'd give you plenty work with later. Of course, being a top-class quick, getting through that first spell wasn't easy!
What the above shows is that across all those innings, which is a fairly large sample, he made a significant amount of runs. It's veryunlikely for someone to fluke that kind of average across all those bowlers even if he were to play them 2 tests each. It's very unlikely. In fact, I can't think of a bowler who really got on top of Ponting be it pace or spin, international or domestic cricket. The only person who has routinely troubled him is Harbhajan and that only in India.
The only post I completely agree
