The mellowing down of Ponting
As Ricky Ponting's international career came to an end with the Perth Test, Osman Samiuddin, writing in the National, points to his changed image in the course of his career
ESPNcricinfo staff
25-Feb-2013
As Ricky Ponting's international career came to an end with the Perth Test, Osman Samiuddin, writing in the National points to his changed image in the course of his career. The early half of Ponting's era coincided with Australia's bullying, and he was viewed similarly as being tough and ruthless. But later, it changed.
The late Peter Roebuck's infamous call for Ponting to be dismissed as captain at the start of 2008 may have been a little over-egged but it caught a little of the mood outside Australia about Ponting, Australia and their unhealthy machismo. And it may have been after this point that the fire in Ponting's public persona seemed to dampen a little; was it Roebuck's piece? Probably not as much as it was Australia's difficulties in adjusting to life after Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne and the rest of them, or the fact cricket was changing. Ponting, wrinkled, losing hair, became a little more statesmanly somehow.