Martyn treated badly after Ashes - Ponting

Criticism of Damien Martyn following his dumping from the Test side was unwarranted, according to Ricky Ponting. In another bout of Ashes revisionism Ponting said Martyn, who scored 178 runs at 19.77 during the 2-1 series defeat, was treated badly by the selectors and commentators after the England tour.

Martyn was picked instead of Brad Hodge on Tuesday in the 14-man squad that included Michael Kasprowicz, Michael Clarke and Shaun Tait, sparking a barb from Mark Boucher that Australia were relying on "Ashes rejects". Graeme Smith, the South Africa captain, was also shocked by the selections but said the looking-back policy gave his team confidence. "They realise it's going to be a tough series out here," he told AAP.

Ponting told the agency Martyn, who should bat at No.4 in the first Test next Thursday, was a quality player who deserved his place after his Ashes axing. "You'd think it [criticism] was pretty harsh," Ponting said. "It was pretty harsh he was left out in the first place - I'm not sure if that fact was mentioned either. You look back to what happened through the Ashes series, he didn't have the most luck of all our players through that series and he ended up missing out."

However, Ponting also described Hodge's demotion as "harsh". "He made a very good 60 in his first Test and a double-hundred in Perth, so that's a really tough decision but one that to get the proper answer behind you will have to ask the selectors," he said. "There will be opportunities that present themselves in the next couple of years, and if Brad keeps scoring runs then I'm sure his name will be at the top of the list."

Smith said it was surprising a player of Martyn's age - he is 34 - was coming back into the Test team. "Knowing my luck I'll say yes [he'll be targeted] and he'll go on to get 3,000 runs in the series," he said. "We've got our game plans to him and they've worked well so far in the one-day series especially when we've got him early. Obviously he's a class player. He's got a really good record and you can never write someone like that off."