Ponting's cap is past its peak

Ricky Ponting’s Baggy Green cap has been delivered to Hobart ahead of Thursday’s third Test against Pakistan, after undergoing a much-needed facelift at the hands of Sydney seamstress Myung Park.

The cap is not the original that Ponting received on his debut against Sri Lanka at Perth in December 1995 – that was stolen on his return from a subsequent tour of Sri Lanka four years later. Nevertheless, he’s still owned it for more than a decade, and has worn it for 114 of his 141 Test appearances.

"They've had to shave a little bit off it,” Ponting told reporters in Hobart. “It's a little bit shorter in the peak but it's come back in good order, so hopefully I'll get the rest of my playing days out of that cap.”

"It looks different in appearance because of the peak being a bit shorter and they've pulled the coat of arms at the front down over it a little bit, so I've just had to almost massage it back into shape. It had been in a bag flattened and squashed and it looked a bit out of shape. I just had to massage it back into shape a little bit, but it's come up pretty good."