Published 17:37 IST, April 24th 2020
Ricky Ponting gets nostalgic about one of his finest Test knocks in Ashes 2005
Former Aussie skipper Ricky Ponting got nostalgic about one of his finest Test knocks in Ashes 2005. England won the five-match Test series 2-1
Ricky Ponting is considered to be one of the most successful captains in world cricket. He was an integral part of Australia's three World Cup triumphs between 1999 to 2007 and had led them to successful triumphs in 2003 and 2007 editions. Ponting has also led the Aussies to back-to-back Champions Trophy wins in 2006 and 2009. Meanwhile, he has talked about one of his best Test knocks against arch-rivals England in Ashes 2005 at Manchester's Old Trafford where he had scored 156. England beat Australia 2-1 in that series.
'Under the grip': Ricky Ponting
"In the back half of my career, I marked the hundreds I made on the handle of my bats under the grip. This is the bat I used when I made 156 against England at Manchester in the 2005 Ashes. It's probably the innings I'm most proud of from my whole career." Earlier this month, Ponting recalled the 2005 Ashes and termed it as one of the greatest cricket series ever played. "It was my childhood dream to play some Ashes cricket. I have played in eight or nine Ashes series so there are some fond memories and then there are some which are not that fond memories," Ponting said in the video posted on Instagram.
Ricky Ponting on Ashes 2005
“It was my childhood dream to play some Ashes cricket. I have played in eight or nine Ashes series so there are some fond memories and then there are some which are not that fond memories,” Ponting said in the video.
“One such not so fond memory includes the 2005 Ashes series, where Michael Vaughan’s England beat us. It was probably one of the all-time great series, Vaughan’s team was too good. We won the first Test at Lord’s, but then came the Edgbaston Test, it was one of the all-time great Tests and we came up short, then in the third Test we had to battle it out for a draw,” he added.
“The fourth Test we ended up losing and England snuck up the line, and the fifth ended in a draw, and we ended up losing the Ashes. Unfortunately, we were not good enough. The everlasting image to come out of that series was that of Brett Lee and Andrew Flintoff down on one knee celebrating the end of a great Test match,” Ponting said.
“After winning the match, Flintoff’s first gesture was to go up to Brett, they are the things I remember about Ashes cricket the most, we enjoyed playing hard on the pitch and so did Vaughan’s team in the 2005 series,” he added.
Image Courtesy: AP
( With ANI Inputs)
Updated 17:37 IST, April 24th 2020