Tuesday, June 11, 2002

Ricky Ponting's face is a cartoonist's dream. He is the first regular Australian captain to sport a goatee occasionally and, when he does, he has the swashbuckling, dishevelled look of a pirate. Or maybe a rat.

More often he is clean-shaven, which accentuates the muddy brown twinkle in his eyes and makes him look like a schoolboy: the sort who can be very, very good when he wants to be, but who you suspect is going to do something very, very bad the minute you turn your back. In the past couple of days he has favoured a mock-rugged, full-facial stubble. This may have represented an attempt to cultivate the wise, biblical appearance expected of a leader of men. Or it may have been simply that it was a long weekend in Australia and he couldn't be bothered shaving. Either way, he still looked a boy; a roguish one, sure, but one you wouldn't mind sharing a beer and a laugh with.

It is hard to remember an Australian captain with more expressive features. Richie's face, back in his heyday, must surely have been a delight to watch, that bottom lip curling in disgust every time Alan Davidson dropped too short or started limping. But recent Australian captains have had largely unmemorable faces. Ian Chappell was simply too hairy. So was Graham Yallop. Kim Hughes was the opposite; his was the kind of face that would struggle to muster a goatee if he kept his flashing blade in the bathroom cupboard all winter.

Steve Waugh's face reminds you of the way he bats; forever grizzly, giving nothing away. Mark Taylor and Allan Border's faces offered a window into their moods - invariably cranky in Border's case, unfailingly cuddly in Taylor's. Ponting is different. His might be the most expressive face but, whether smirking or scowling, you suspect it gives little away as to what he really thinks.

There is no scientific reason for discussing any of this. The boffins are working overtime but, as yet, have come up with no meaningful algorithms proving that bearded, boorish captains are any more successful than smooth, smiling ones. It is relevant only because on Wednesday, under the rainless heavens of Melbourne's Colonial Stadium, Ponting will captain his country for the first time at home. And, as only the fourth man in 17 years to regularly hold that office, aspects of Ponting few of us have ever thought about are guaranteed to come under feverish scrutiny.

Apart from the way he looks, Ponting will be judged on the way he talks. He has made a bad start in this respect. So bad, in fact, that the ICC's ever-diplomatic Malcolm Speed has admitted to being "a bit disappointed" with Ponting's failure to instruct his men to mind their Ps and Qs - not to mention their Fs and Cs - in the wake of the sledging allegations by South Africa's Graeme Smith.

Ponting was right to say last week that he would not tolerate personal sledging. He was right, too, in not going overboard and pledging to ban sledging altogether. But his claim that swearing abuse at a batsman constitutes "a bit of friendly banter" was timid. His intimation that Smith is a whinger was irresponsible. And his assertion that he was apparently locked away in a soundproof booth in the covers, and never heard anyone say boo to Smith, was weasel-like. Weasels, Ponting would do well to remember, make far less cunning captains than rats do.

Ponting will be judged on the way he bats. For around five years he has been a very good batsman on the verge of greatness. His Test average of 45.51 is hardly shabby but seems a mediocre return for someone who won his first bat contract at the age of 12. He is one of only three players in Australia's first-choice Test XI - Matthew Hayden and Brett Lee are the others - never to have been named one of Wisden's Five Cricketers of the Year. He has hit only three hundreds in his last 22 Tests. He has rarely played poorly, but nor has he imposed himself the way he might have done.

Yet he is magnificent against ordinary bowling - his all-time Sheffield Shield average of 64.17 trails only Bradman, Ponsford, Kippax, Noble and Woodfull - and he has no obvious weakness against good bowling. He is tight in defence, awesome in attack and, despite floundering against Harbhajan Singh, capable of executing every shot on any wicket. The one thing missing has perhaps been focus, and the selectors, by taking a punt on Punter as captain, are clearly hoping that will come with responsibility.

Ponting will be judged, finally and most harshly, on results. Despite the cakewalk in South Africa he takes over at a time of relative turmoil for Australia's one-day team. Jimmy Maher has made a bright start but is he really a better bet than Mark Waugh? Surely Steve Waugh is worth a place on guile alone? Has Shane Warne lost it? Will Ian Harvey or Andrew Symonds ever find it? And how much longer can Brett Lee afford to give up six runs an over? For the first time in years, Australia's one-day side invites as many questions as answers.

Pakistan, meanwhile, look at their sharpest in years, their natural talent seemingly allied with a less natural resolve. Expect either side to clinch the three-match Super Challenge 2-1. If Australia win, Ponting will have taken his first tiny steps towards being seen as the worthy successor to Border, Taylor and Waugh, all treasured national icons. If they lose he might want to think about growing one of those big, bushy, curly-all-over beards that Greg Chappell used to have - and hiding behind it.

Chris Ryan is a former managing editor of Wisden Cricket Monthly and a former Darwin correspondent of the Melbourne Age.

More Chris Ryan

Sledging - why bother?
Hooked

© Wisden CricInfo Ltd