Ponting is captain cool!

As he joined his team-mates in Brisbane yesterday after being on the road continuously for almost a year ahead of another six-months away, Ricky Ponting said "right now I am feeling pretty good about the world."

The Australian captain wrote in his syndicated yesterday: "Things are great at home, we are on top of the one-day rankings, our Test squad is in good shape for the summer ahead, my own form has been really sharp and I reckon we are looking good for the next era of Australian cricket.

"This week has been very special in so many ways (since) I arrived back from Mumbai into Melbourne to be reunited with family and spend a few days following the great Tiger Woods," Ponting said.

"As a golf fanatic, this was the perfect way for me to get my mind clear of the frenetic last few months of international cricket.

"When we get on the plane tomorrow evening, my mind will switch completely to our preparation for the first Test (starting on Thursday) and the important summer ahead.

"I am really looking forward to the Test series against the West indies and Pakistan. These Tests are absolutely critical to our preparation for regaining the Ashes next summer.

"We play just 10 Tests between now and the first one in Brisbane next year and I am very clear that each ball of every day in those 10 Tests is fundamental to our plans to regain the urn.

"The Test squad is fairly well settled and we will be looking to becoming more consistent in our five-day cricket. We didn't do this in England and that cost us the Ashes."

Load management
Ponting dwelt at length upon workload management and the need to rest players often. "I have been thinking about this a lot and have a few strategies for the Tests against the West Indies and Pakistan," he said.

"Workload management is also about active rest. As a captain I have the responsibility to the team to help each player through certain parts of a game and make sure they are as fresh as possible for when they have to perform at their peak. The most obvious of these is bowling rotations but field placements have also become a far more important part of keeping our players fresh.

"The old days of having the bowler field at fine leg in between overs has now given way to a more sophisticated approach to ensuring that each player is able to perform at their optimum when required.

"Sure, you will still see bowlers fielding at fine leg but you might also see opening batsmen being placed in more restful positions later in an innings to help them get ready to bat. We have also developed a field placement strategy to maximise shifts in momentum when we are in the field.

"So you'll see us adapting tactics from time to time to achieve a more consistent performance."

"I cannot wait for this summer there has been talk about it being low key, but I think the public are in for a real treat as I expect both the West Indies and Pakistan to be tough competition. Never mind expectations that they will be easybeats. There is no such thing in cricket. We will need to play our best cricket to win," Ponting said.

Great touch
"I have been happy with my own form during our recent one-day successes. It is as well as I have batted in one-day cricket and I am ready to take this form into the Test match arena next week.

"My body is feeling strong and I've really enjoyed the challenges that we have overcome with our one-day wins in England, the Champions Trophy in South Africa and most recently in India."

Addressing the question of his retirement from Test cricket,u00a0 Ponting said: "There were questions after the Ashes about how long I would play for, but retirement could not be further from my mind. I have never been more determined to lead such a great bunch of cricketers into a domestic series."

Posing the question himself about who, in his opinion is the greatest sportsman of all time, Ricky Ponting replied: "Donald Bradman, of course, with Tiger a distant second.

"No elite sportsman comes close to the statistical dominance of Sir Donald Bradman and his equal will never be seen in our sport."

A point of view that votaries of Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar will, doubtless, dispute!