Ricky Ponting is in his home state, Tasmania, in search of a score that will end his century drought
Brydon Coverdale in Hobart07-Dec-2011The last time Ricky Ponting played a Test in Hobart he made 298 runs. It is the most he has scored in a Test. In the near two years since then, he has averaged 28.74 and hasn’t posted a century. It is the longest such dry spell he has endured. Will the drought break in his home state, in front of family and friends, at the venue where he last made a Test ton? Maybe, maybe not. At least his scores have been heading in the right direction.In Sri Lanka, Ponting made a few starts without turning any into a half-century. In South Africa, he began the tour with scores of 8, 0 and 0, before his second-innings 62 in Johannesburg helped Australia to a memorable victory. He followed that with 78 at the Gabba, again missing the chance for a hundred when he was lbw to a Chris Martin ball that angled towards him.During his lean period, Ponting insisted that he was still batting well, just without luck. A little bit of good fortune came his way at the Gabba. For most of his career, back-to-back fifties would hardly be newsworthy; now, they have left spectators wondering if that big, elusive three-figure score is on its way.”It is just that the hard work I have been doing is starting to pay off, which is nice,” Ponting said ahead of the Hobart Test. “I felt comfortable at the crease during the innings in Brisbane. Though I was obviously disappointed with myself not to go on and make a hundred that I have been striving for for a long time, I know that if I keep doing the things I am doing, and more importantly applying myself out in the middle when I need to, then that big score is not far away.”[It’s] very rare that I get the chance to come back and play international games down here in front of my home crowd. It always has a little bit of extra meaning to play this game. It took me a while to get used to coming back here and playing international games. I never had much success early on but the last couple of visits down here have been pretty good. I am looking forward to the week.”It seems Ponting now looks forward to every match with renewed enthusiasm. He turns 37 later this month and his lean run highlighted to him that any Test could be his last. Already he is looking forward to the Boxing Day challenge against India, every game now an opportunity to score runs and win matches without the weight of captaincy on his shoulders.This time last summer he was the leader and No. 3. Now he bats at second drop, behind one of Australia’s most inexperienced top orders of all time: David Warner (one Test), Phillip Hughes (16) and Usman Khawaja (five). The captaincy has passed to Michael Clarke, and when asked about adjusting to the change, Ponting smiled and said it was “a lot of fun” not being in charge.”Actually it’s a lot more relaxing for me just to be an everyday player and just to turn up and get my batting and fielding work done and go and sit in the change room and not have to think about the wicket conditions or picking teams and anything like that,” Ponting said. “It’s a bit of a load off my plate to be an everyday player again.”I don’t have any regrets about standing down. I did it because I felt it was the right time and I did it to try and make myself the player that I wanted to be. By standing down after the World Cup and the Ashes, it gave the incoming captain a lot of time to get experience and knowledge under his belt for the next really big series.”If you look up what we’ve got coming up against India, Michael has got seven Tests under his belt and that’s really good experience. Then we’ve got the Ashes and Champions Trophy around the corner, so he’ll be a very experienced captain by the time those tournaments come around.”Ponting expects to still be around for the India series. As for the Champions Trophy and the next Ashes, who knows. For now, he just wants to enjoy his seventh Test in his home state. Pakistan couldn’t stop him last time at Bellerive Oval, when he scored 209 and 89 in January 2010.That double-hundred was his 39th Test century. He’d love nothing more than scoring No. 40 in Tasmania as well.
