'It was the pressure that got me' - Ponting
Gideon Haigh, writing for the Australian, picks out some of the more interesting revelations from the autobiography of Ricky Ponting who talks about his retirement, Monkeygate, his strained relationship with Cricket Australia, and the problems created by
20-Oct-2013
With Ricky Ponting's autobiography At the Close of Play set to go on sale on Monday, Gideon Haigh, writing in his blog in the Australian, picks out some of the more interesting revelations from the book made by the former Australian captain about his retirement, Monkeygate, his strained relationship with Cricket Australia, and the problems created by Twenty20 cricket.
Ponting comes out and says that his end was one not of loss of enthusiasm, or anxiety about performance, or technical frailty, or physical infirmity, but 'pressure.' Of his last season he writes: 'In the lead-up to the Shield final, I was named the competition's player of the year, having averaged 87.5 over eight matches. I was also picked in the Big Bash team of the year. This confirmed for me what I already knew: that it wasn't a decline in my reflexes or my eyesight or my fitness that stopped me scoring runs in Test cricket. It was the pressure that got me.'