deeps
International 12th Man
Captain
1. Waugh
2. Border
3. Ponting
Batting
1. Waugh/Ponting Tie
3. Border
Reasoning:
Waugh inherited a strong team. It was a solid team, right up there with the best of the world, but they were never considered unbeatable. He turned this solid team, into a top notch, world class team, which very rarely lost a match. The important thing to remember, particularly in test matches, was that when Waugh's team did lose a match, it almost always involved a member of the other team playing a super human innings.
We think back to Lara in the West Indies playing those amazing innings' and Laxman and Dravid in India etc. These were all 'miracle' innings. The opponents playing well would not see them beat Australia, they had to create a miracle to beat Australia. That is how good Waugh's team was.
Pontings team on the other hand, has lost to teams like Bangladesh (unheard of in the Waugh era), lost the Ashes to England, amongst other things. They certainly don't look anywhere near as dominant now as they did under Waugh.
Ponting also plays favourites with his bowling changes. One example I can site, is that when Brad Hogg played his test matches earlier in the series, Tendulkar was taking him to the cleaners playing two shots in particular. A slog sweep sort of shot, and a paddle sweep. Ponting refused to put fielders there to cut off this shot, and Tendulkar continued to play the shot over and over again. After a few overs, he took Hogg off, and gave it to his best friend Andrew Symonds. It appeared that Hogg had continually been asking for a man to cover the slog sweep. Ignoring the above example, me and many of my mates have noticed that he is very slow, sometimes obstanant not to change the field.
Border was a good captain, who used his resources brilliantly. I don't think he was as influental on the team as Waugh. Border however was very influental on Waugh himself.
As batsman, Waugh faced the best of the best. Ambrose, Waqar, Wasim, etc. We saw in England that when the ball started to swing, the Aussies, including Ponting, had no idea. They made Harmison look like a champion. Even now in Australia, the pitch has a little something for the bowlers, and Ponting struggles. He came across one flat pitch now, and he made 100+
Waugh was batting on hard pitches against top notch bowlers for most of his career, and succeeded. He was not a flat track bully. I'm not saying Ponting is, but when the ball starts to do things, he, like most of the Australian team at the moment, really struggles.
1. Waugh
2. Border
3. Ponting
Batting
1. Waugh/Ponting Tie
3. Border
Reasoning:
Waugh inherited a strong team. It was a solid team, right up there with the best of the world, but they were never considered unbeatable. He turned this solid team, into a top notch, world class team, which very rarely lost a match. The important thing to remember, particularly in test matches, was that when Waugh's team did lose a match, it almost always involved a member of the other team playing a super human innings.
We think back to Lara in the West Indies playing those amazing innings' and Laxman and Dravid in India etc. These were all 'miracle' innings. The opponents playing well would not see them beat Australia, they had to create a miracle to beat Australia. That is how good Waugh's team was.
Pontings team on the other hand, has lost to teams like Bangladesh (unheard of in the Waugh era), lost the Ashes to England, amongst other things. They certainly don't look anywhere near as dominant now as they did under Waugh.
Ponting also plays favourites with his bowling changes. One example I can site, is that when Brad Hogg played his test matches earlier in the series, Tendulkar was taking him to the cleaners playing two shots in particular. A slog sweep sort of shot, and a paddle sweep. Ponting refused to put fielders there to cut off this shot, and Tendulkar continued to play the shot over and over again. After a few overs, he took Hogg off, and gave it to his best friend Andrew Symonds. It appeared that Hogg had continually been asking for a man to cover the slog sweep. Ignoring the above example, me and many of my mates have noticed that he is very slow, sometimes obstanant not to change the field.
Border was a good captain, who used his resources brilliantly. I don't think he was as influental on the team as Waugh. Border however was very influental on Waugh himself.
As batsman, Waugh faced the best of the best. Ambrose, Waqar, Wasim, etc. We saw in England that when the ball started to swing, the Aussies, including Ponting, had no idea. They made Harmison look like a champion. Even now in Australia, the pitch has a little something for the bowlers, and Ponting struggles. He came across one flat pitch now, and he made 100+
Waugh was batting on hard pitches against top notch bowlers for most of his career, and succeeded. He was not a flat track bully. I'm not saying Ponting is, but when the ball starts to do things, he, like most of the Australian team at the moment, really struggles.
