Ponting declares change in policy

On the second morning at the MCG, Cricket Australia launched a "Know When to Declare" campaign aimed at responsible drinking and understanding when you've had enough. The message was flashed up on the big screen throughout the day and the wording was appropriate for Ricky Ponting, who is starting to recognise the limitations of his team and realises that pushing on too long can result in a nasty hangover.

Ponting closed Australia's effort at 5 for 454, which was the smallest total he had ever declared on in the first innings of a Test and the lowest for any Australian team in nearly 30 years, excluding rain-affected matches. A flat, unhelpful surface labelled as Faisalabad-like by Mohammad Asif certainly affected Ponting's decision to declare earlier than most onlookers expected.

But it has also started to dawn on the captain that he can no longer rely on his bowlers to skittle a side in a matter of hours, as he could during the Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath years. Australia's young attack has potential but for now needs time to bowl teams out, although they started well with four wickets before stumps on the second day.

Since the retirement of Warne and McGrath, Australia have played 29 Tests and they've dismissed teams in fewer than 70 overs on nine occasions. In the same number of matches leading up to the stars' farewell, Australia achieved that 19 times. During the West Indies series, Ponting said that he sometimes expects too much of his bowlers and gets grumpy when they fail to deliver the wickets that he demands.

That contributed to his decision here, as did his dislike of enforcing the follow-on. When he did it at the Gabba last month his strike bowler Ben Hilfenhaus was ruled out for the rest of the summer and Australia's long list of fast-bowling injuries will discourage him from doing it again in the near future. His bold, attacking move was commended by many at the MCG, including the Pakistan coach Intikhab Alam.

"I thought it was a very positive declaration," Intikhab said. "I think it was very wise that he declared. He needed more time. Those days have gone of getting other people to follow-on. You need to give some rest to your bowlers also. I think it was a very positive, very exciting declaration."

Ponting has had plenty of learning opportunities. In Cardiff, he let Australia's innings drag on for 181 overs. It gave Australia just over a day to dismiss England and win the match, but they couldn't do it. Two summers ago, only a last-minute gamble on Michael Clarke rescued Australia from a similar result against India at the SCG.

Australia's prime minister Kevin Rudd was at the MCG to help launch the Know When to Declare campaign and during a stint in the commentary box he told Warne that it was his national duty to make a comeback. Ponting's responsibility is to have realistic expectations of a Warne-less attack still learning about Test cricket.