Resuming at 17 not out here at Edgbaston, the Tasmanian required just eight more runs Friday and an uncertain clip off his legs for three off fast bowler Andrew Flintoff saw him reach the record in 22 fewer matches than the 156 that Border had taken. Paying a tribute for Ponting’s feat, Border released a statement which read, “Clearly, I am a great admirer, having been involved in Ricky’s selection in many great Australian sides, and having enjoyed watching him closely on more occasions than I can remember as a cricket media commentator as well. It is not just the number of runs he has made, it is how he has made them as a dominant force, leading from the front and scoring at a rate previous champions would have regarded as unthinkable.”

Ponting’s stay at the crease was cut short when Graham Onions had him dismissed for 38. Ponting, speaking before this match, had made it clear that, with Australia 1-0 down in the Ashes with three to play, his focus was on team success not individual glory. “Look hopefully it comes. It would be nice to get it out of the way in the first innings of this game and put that behind us. Twenty-five runs is not what I am after in this game, I am after a big score.”

Leading Test match run-scorers (player, country, career dates, matches, innings, not outs, runs, highest score, average, 100s, 50s):

 Sachin Tendulkar (IND) 1989- 159 261 27 12,773 248no 54.58 42 53

Brian Lara (WI) 1990-2006 131 232 6 11,953 400no 52.88 34 48

Ricky Ponting (AUS) 1995- 134 225 26 11,188 257 56.22 38 46

Allan Border (AUS) 1978-1994 156 265 44 11,174 205 50.56 27 63

Steve Waugh (AUS) 1985-2004 168 260 46 10,927 200 51.06 32 50

“You have to try to reply to criticism with your intellect, not your ego,” said the one of the most revered England captains of yesteryears— Mike Brearley. Agreed. In his heyday, England were a stronger unit than what they are now and captains have been a topic of intense debate and discussions for decades now. If Sir Donald Bradman was discussed intently, so was England’s Douglas Jardine.
Over the years, esteemed cricketers such as Richie Benaud, Clive Lloyd, Vivian Richards, Greg Chappell, Kapil Dev, Imran Khan, Sunil Gavaskar, Sourav Ganguly, Steve Waugh, Mark Taylor, Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting, Brian Lara have donned the captaincy hat and while some achieved phenomenal success, some have failed quite miserably.
The biggest blot in Sachin’s otherwise glittering 2-decade old career has been his inability to motivate his players under his captaincy. No, it was not a fault on his part but at that point of time, the Indian team were labelled as poor travellers and rightly so.
Sachin was first made the captain during the Titan Cup in 1996 and he won his very first series and beat the much-favoured South Africans in the final held at Wankhede Stadium. Javagal Srinath’s best bowling figures won the Indian team a win against the Proteas in Ahmedabad and India won the series at the Eden Park in Kanpur.<br />
But Tendulkar completely lost the plot when India toured South Africa and barring the chanceless 169 in Capetown in the company of the sublime Mohammad Azharuddin, Indian batting had nothing much to say. Dravid made his mark felt with his debut hundred at the Wanderers. The rest faltered.
Captaincy from time immemorial has been about not just leading good men but ensuring that the team performed at the right time. Every cricket afficionado can point a good captain, but not many know how to become one. One of the critical issues is the presence of superstars in a side. The records of Allan Border, Clive Lloyd, Steve Waugh, Mark Taylor and Ricky Ponting is a case in point. Lloyd had the services of Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haynes, Best, Richards, Gomes, Logie, Dujon and had Andy Roberts, Michael Holding, Joel Garner to fill the bowling shoes.
Similarly, Waugh or Border too had the best in the business when they were at the helm. The issue never whom to play but whom to drop. The Australians in the last 15 years have been spoilt for choice and when players such as Damien Martyn, Justin Langer, Matthew Hayden, Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne retired, Ponting suddenly appeared to be leading a bunch of amateurs who were not capable of winning in the same manner in which their predecessors were. There were a generation of players such as Adam Gilchrist who were not used to losing at all.
So, to put together mere mortals to function as a champion unit took time and Ponting’s next test will be at the upcoming Ashes.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni, another example of having the right men for the job has Sachin, Sehwag, Raina, Yuvraj, Gambhir, Harbhajan, Zaheer, Ojha, Dhoni (himself), Praveen Kumar, Laxman, Ganguly, Kumble for company and the unit won matches with aplomb.
Many scholars have researched the growth of captains over the years and they have concluded that the main principle behind captaincy will help a youngster become a better leader.
The idea of captaincy or leadership is being accepted as a key ingredient to the existence of the game. However, research on this part of the game is quite subjective. One of the main elements is the ability of a captain to influence the thinking of the game and the players under him.
Captaincy is often judged in a team settings and achievement of goals (in this case a win or a series victory).
If a Benaud or Tony Greig referred to the Australian side of late 90’s as a ‘team of skippers’, it had a valid reason. The thought processes of Steve Waugh dripped down to the lower ranked players such as Justin Langer, Mark Waugh, Matthew Hayden, Shane Warne, McGrath and others in the side. The result was ruthless victories against all and sundry. The quest to become the best in the business always involves on: doing things right with doing the right thing. The combination of the can be lethal.
The best captains are those who make a mediocre player perform to the best of his potential and over a period of time help him become a match-winner. Sadly, in this particular point, leaders such as Steve Waugh, Mark Taylor had little to do as McGrath or Warne were individual superstars and did not have to be told what their roles in the team was.
Dhoni inherited the experience of demigods such as Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Kumble and the enthusiasm of youngsters such as Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina and Pragyan Ojha in the side.
Being a captain, is it crucial to being a great skipper? If yes, then how does one go about it?
Researches have proved that a smart cricketing brain is a trait one is born it and there are quite a few (mind you, very few!) who actually go on to learn this trait on the job. Others, just do not have it. An interesting factor also was the presence of no common factor to judge the captains. Some had good vice-captains (as in the case of Mark Taylor), some was too talented and the rest of the team just obeyed his orders (Allan Border and Clive Lloyd) and successful skippers were all different personalities and displayed different confidence levels at different stages of their captaincy.

An interesting observations of all researches was that the leaders played primarily on tasks at hand or their relationships with a particular player. Another important trait was noticed that the best leaders were those who could adapt themselves on a situation given to them and had the uncanny knack of selecting the ‘best team’ than going in for the ‘best players’. Now this is slightly tricky because going by records (best player tag)— Rahul Dravid should be in the Indian team and that would have been a blind choice. The reality is far different and the Bengaluru boy is yet to play a ODI in the last 2 years. Sourav Ganguly is another case in point. His records speak of the southpaw but he had to retire when the Bengali himself admitted to have atleast a couple of more years left in service.
Maintaining equilibrium is another important aspect of a good leader. By equilibrium, I mean maintaining the right balance within the team and ensuring that the motivation levels are always looking positive and not otherwise.
This is one clear aspect where Dhoni seems to have failed in the World Cup and has looked clueless as to how he needs to go about it.

Cricket Australia had for the first time brought forth the concept of different captains for different formats of the game, something which definitely did not go well Tugga (Steve Waugh) at that point of time, but it worked. Soon other nations and India in particular followed the same theory and suddenly many players who were earlier featuring in all formats of the game were sidelined and labelled as Test players and ODI stars. The likes of VVS Laxman, Dravid were brought in only for the longest version of the game and overlooked for the shorter format.
Lastly, the ability to quickly juggle between different formats of the game is the modern mantra for success. That’s the bottomline and the quicker the captains across the world realise it, the better it is for their teams.
What makes a better captain?
It is ultimately the team that makes a captain and not otherwise. When one says, the captain is as good as his team, he is dead right. Dhoni can’t individually change the tide of the team but needs the fellow Men-in-Blue to maneuver the ship to the shore or else…..

Shane Watson was 62 not out and Australia captain Ricky Ponting 17 not out were at the crease. The hosts made one change to the team that won the second Test by 115 runs —-Ian Bell, returned to England duty on his Warwickshire home ground, replacing Pietersen after KP was ruled out of the remainder of the Ashes with a longstanding Achilles injury.

On the other hand, Australia sprang a surprise by dropping opening batsman Phillip Hughes and bringing in Shane Watson in his place, even though the injury-prone all-rounder has never batted higher than No 6 in a Test. They were also forced into a late change after wicket-keeper Brad Haddin sustained a suspected broken fourth finger of his left hand in the warm-up.

He was replaced by Graham Manou, who makes his Test debut. Australia had to seek permission from England captain Andrew Strauss and coach Andrew Flower to alter their side after including Haddin in the team named at the toss. Four years ago at Edgbaston, Australia saw fast bowler Glenn McGrath pulled out after injuring himself his ankle in the warm-up in a Test that England eventually won.

Hughes was omitted after having struggled against short-pitched fast bowling during the first two Tests. Last weekend Watson, whose inclusion bolsters Australia’s seam attack, scored 84 and 50 in a tour match against Northamptonshire. But in eight Tests the 28-year-old Queenslander has scored just 257 runs at a low average of under 20 and, as an opener, has a first-class average of a mere 6.5. Watson’s last four Test innings have all ended in single figure scores.

However, Australia did keep faith with fast bowler Mitchell Johnson. So far in this series the struggling left-arm quick has taken eight wickets for 331 runs at an expensive average of 41 apiece. Ponting went into this match needing just 25 more runs to become his country’s leading Test match run-scorer and so surpass retired former skipper Allan Border’s mark of 11,174 runs. By going past Border’s career total, Ponting would move up into third place in the all-time list of Test run-scorers. Will we witness Ponting surpassing Border’s record on the second day? Watch this space for more…..

England will be entering the third Ashes Test on Thursday at Edgbaston against a low Australians and will be extremely confident of their talismanic titan Andrew Flintoff but sans the services of Kevin Pietersen even as Australia look to level the series at 1-1.
Freddie’s spell on the day 5 of the Lord’s Test sealed a 115-run win for England, their first in the ground in 75 years.
But, Pietersen gave in to his Achilles problem and said that he would take no further part in the series. Flintoff, had earlier announced before the match that the series will be his final Test series.
Captain Andrew Strauss will hopeful to use Flintoff as and when appropriate. It had earlier been reported that Freddie has been sleeping with a special compression machine on his troublesome joint and Aussie’s Michael Clarke said, “Andrew Flintoff is an amazing player. He is always up for the big contests. He seems to perform under pressure and no doubt he will be ready on Thursday to give us more stick.”
Bell was drafted into the squad in place of Pietersen and  the selectors have made it clear that Bell was their man.
Bell a veteran of 46 Tests, has missed England’s last eight and was dropped in the Caribbean and his average against Australia is a modest 25.
Clarke said Australia had been given a lift by Pietersen’s absence. “Anytime a very good player is not playing, like Kevin  Pietersen, it gives the team a boost but Ian is a very good player himself.”

Ashes holders Australia are again set to be without fast bowler Brett Lee because of the side injury that ruled him out of the first two Tests. That wouldn’t be an issue if left-arm quick Mitchell Johnson wasn’t struggling so much for line and length. A good news will await their skipper Ricky Ponting as he needs another 25 runs to surpass retired former captain Border’s mark of 11,174 runs and move up into third place in the all-time list of Test run-scorers. If Ponting achieves this feat, he would have taken 22 Tests fewer than Border to score the runs. Ponting was quite candid and when questioned on it, had a tongue-in-cheek reply in place, “I have known about it since the beginning of the series. Things came up on the board during the first Test, given I went past 11,000 and all that stuff. So I have had a rough idea but I have not thought about it or focused on it at all. I have bigger fish to fry than that right at the moment. But, look hopefully it comes. It would be nice to get it out of the way in the first innings of this game.”

Well, one can only hope that Ponting can surpass Allan Border in this Test and ensure that his good run in Ashes 2009 continues and his team level the series in what promises to be a nail-biting contest. Let the games begin!

It could not have been more one-sided than this. In a show of great strength and character, Australia pummeled their way to secure a 239-run lead on the fourth day and with it set the tone for the rest of the Ashes. Centuries from Aussie skipper Ricky Ponting, Simon Katich, Marcus North and Brad Haddin have ensured that this Test will only have one winner. Your guess is as good as mine!

Ashes 2009
The Ashes series got a very lukewarm coverage from the media the world-over and much of it goes to the energy of the media being spent covering the Twenty20 Carnival that just happened at the same country and to host Ashes within a few weeks was ask.
However, cricket pundits have spoken different things on the series thus far. The most important moment of the Test was Ponting scaling the 11000-run mark in Tests, passed by legends such as Brian Lara, Allan Border and our home boy Sachin Tendulkar.

England cricket and Ashes legend Sir Ian Botham made a remark on it. “If you look at the guy he’s closing in on, Allan Border, those two could be two peas out of the same pod. The way they play, their doggedness, they’re tough, they  get stuck in and once they’re in you, need dynamite to remove  them. Ricky Ponting is a fantastic player. He’s one of those guys you really enjoy watching. He can play all the shots, but you know he’s not going to give anything away. He was in total control,” he was quoted by the Daily Mail.

Did England Miss (read Mess) a trick?
Hell Yes! Where was the gentle giant named Steve Harmison???? This question was raised by former fast bowler from Yorkshire Darren Gough. In an interview to Daily Mail, he said, “Where is Steve Harmison? We keep saying ‘he doesn’t like touring, he doesn’t like this, he doesn’t like that’. He should be playing. He’s a wicket taker. He bowls aggressively and, on this sort of pitch, you can’t have bowlers bowling little swingers to try to get Australia out. You need someone with raw pace who might get wickets on this sort of pitch.”
He went on to make some interesting and glaring errors in this Test. “I’m sorry, but no way. Andrew Flintoff was bowling at 93 mph and the keeper was about four yards back. When Broad was bowling, the speed cameras must have been turned up because there’s no way he was bowling at 94 mph. Flintoff was, Broad wasn’t.”
Well, one can surely say that the Poms have missed more than just one trick or two and Kevin Pietersen’s remark that spin will win them the Test may have to be eaten up by the tall-Englishman.
What is even more interesting is the fact that England had more variety in their attack and were allegedly spoken in high regard. But neither did the combination of Broad, Anderson and Flintoff brought them the purchase nor did their tweakers Monty Panesar and Graeme Swann.

With Australia giving a solid batting display in the first Test, the onus will be on their bowlers to make it count. Will they?