Amid the heat and intensity of the Indian assault Ponting allowed himself to be overwhelmed by the small matters - in this recent case, the slow over rate - than with what was actually needed to win the Test.
It suggested a man overwhelmed by pressure. India found his limit and, with it, Australia's. Now the rest of the world knows it, too.
Ponting's two most recent predecessors, Mark Taylor and Steve Waugh, built an Australian team that was ruthless and unbreakable. They were built on the back of their own characters.
Over time it became Australia's "culture'', and the culture was one of winning. Here, the process took care of the result, and all that.
The by-product was that they then hit all the right buzzwords: ownership, accountability, intensity, relentlessness, the stuff you find in any coaching manual today.
The problem nowadays is too many athletes seem to have a culture of talking about their culture than of actually living by it.
Ponting's deflection away from admitting his mistake to criticism of selector and former skipper Allan Border instead is the best example.
While all the right comments were being made, and the chest puffing convinced the more easily swayed, the right kind of work is not being done. Australia has been softened by success.
Cameron White was chosen as Australia's first choice spinner but used sparingly. In other words, he was never going to be the final answer.
Jason Krejza's style was perfect for the Indian decks and got his chance almost too late. Krejza drops the ball on the batsman and locks them to the crease, shifting the pressure onto them. The curious use of our spinners is endemic of the wider problem.
In the two years since Warne retired Australia has tried six spinners. A whole generation was stuck behind him, quite rightfully, but all they did was train and train.
Beau Casson went through the cricket academy and was trained to bowl slower through the air, like Warne did. He later graduated and looked set for a big career until dropped from the Test side. He bowled too slow through the air.
In their dedication to study and analysis, applying the formula everybody was following, nobody gave thought that Warne had slowed his pace only after he began to dominate Test cricket. Which only allowed him to continue dictating.
With Casson, they got it backwards. When Dan Cullen first hit the academy there was a short intake of breath. Coaches fell over themselves to help this kid come through. A year later Cullen had lost this beautiful rhythm, his head a playground of chaos and confusion.
He considered feet position and pace and ball rotation and a dozen others factors every time he rolled the arm over. The India tour has shown it is time for a rethink.
Australia's place at the top is no longer under threat, it is gone. Most blame Australia's decline on the loss of Warne and Glenn McGrath.
Again they have got it backwards. Their loss is the symptom, not the cause.
For too long the focus has been on doing what has always been done, without understanding why or if it needed to be changed. That time has come, and Ponting must be the first to understand it.
http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,24638176-5017479,00.html
It suggested a man overwhelmed by pressure. India found his limit and, with it, Australia's. Now the rest of the world knows it, too.
Ponting's two most recent predecessors, Mark Taylor and Steve Waugh, built an Australian team that was ruthless and unbreakable. They were built on the back of their own characters.
Over time it became Australia's "culture'', and the culture was one of winning. Here, the process took care of the result, and all that.
The by-product was that they then hit all the right buzzwords: ownership, accountability, intensity, relentlessness, the stuff you find in any coaching manual today.
The problem nowadays is too many athletes seem to have a culture of talking about their culture than of actually living by it.
Ponting's deflection away from admitting his mistake to criticism of selector and former skipper Allan Border instead is the best example.
While all the right comments were being made, and the chest puffing convinced the more easily swayed, the right kind of work is not being done. Australia has been softened by success.
Cameron White was chosen as Australia's first choice spinner but used sparingly. In other words, he was never going to be the final answer.
Jason Krejza's style was perfect for the Indian decks and got his chance almost too late. Krejza drops the ball on the batsman and locks them to the crease, shifting the pressure onto them. The curious use of our spinners is endemic of the wider problem.
In the two years since Warne retired Australia has tried six spinners. A whole generation was stuck behind him, quite rightfully, but all they did was train and train.
Beau Casson went through the cricket academy and was trained to bowl slower through the air, like Warne did. He later graduated and looked set for a big career until dropped from the Test side. He bowled too slow through the air.
In their dedication to study and analysis, applying the formula everybody was following, nobody gave thought that Warne had slowed his pace only after he began to dominate Test cricket. Which only allowed him to continue dictating.
With Casson, they got it backwards. When Dan Cullen first hit the academy there was a short intake of breath. Coaches fell over themselves to help this kid come through. A year later Cullen had lost this beautiful rhythm, his head a playground of chaos and confusion.
He considered feet position and pace and ball rotation and a dozen others factors every time he rolled the arm over. The India tour has shown it is time for a rethink.
Australia's place at the top is no longer under threat, it is gone. Most blame Australia's decline on the loss of Warne and Glenn McGrath.
Again they have got it backwards. Their loss is the symptom, not the cause.
For too long the focus has been on doing what has always been done, without understanding why or if it needed to be changed. That time has come, and Ponting must be the first to understand it.
http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,24638176-5017479,00.html
