Ricky Ponting has played in 135 Tests but the Australia captain insists he’s never been as excited by one as much as he has been by the Ashes finale against England at the Oval starting on Thursday.
It’s no wonder.
The series is all square at 1-1 heading into the fifth Test, with Australia needing only a draw to retain the Ashes and England victory to regain them.
There’s also the added spice of the fact that this will be match-winning England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff’s final Test before the injury-prone star retires from the five-day game.
But that is not what has got Ponting going.
Four years ago he was captain of the Australia side that lost the Ashes in England 2-1.
It was a reverse that hurt Ponting more than he cared to admit at and, while arguably Australia’s greatest batsman since the incomparable Don Bradman holds many records, he has no desire to become the first Australian captain in over a century to preside over two losing Ashes campaigns in England.
”This game now, I don’t remember being this excited for a game. I was up at 6:30am wanting to get to breakfast, have a team meeting, get to training,” he told reporters at the Oval on Tuesday.
”I can’t wait for Thursday to come around and I can sense that around some of the other players.”
He added: ”Everyone is talking about this sudden transformation in the team but it hasn’t necessarily been that.
”We’ve played some really good cricket throughout the series and we’ve just had a couple of down periods that have cost us — the first morning bowling at Lord’s [where England won the second Test by 115 runs] and the first innings batting there.
”Our cricket has been on a steep curve upwards since that.”
Asked what it would mean to him to win the Ashes in England, in what could be the 34-year-old’s final series in the country, Ponting’s reply told you one thing and his steely expression another.
”It would be great but as I’ve said before, when we lost in ’05, I don’t think it hurt me any more than it hurt the next guy in the changerooms and it will be the same this time around.”
Australia’s crushing innings and 80 run win in the fourth Test at Headingley, where they levelled the series inside three days, suggested that several of their players were coming into form with recalled and accurate quick Stuart Clark anchoring the rest of the pace attack.
Meanwhile vice-captain Michael Clarke and left-hander Marcus North continued their impressive form with the bat.
That match saw Australia drop off-spinner Nathan Hauritz and play four quicks instead.
Fast bowler Brett Lee, yet to play in the series because of a side injury, is also desperate for a recall but Ponting, while refusing to rule out any options, did say it would be ”very hard” for a player who didn’t feature at Headingley to get back into the side at this late stage.
England, by contrast, will be handing a Test debut to Jonathan Trott after the out-of-form Ravi Bopara paid the price for the team’s double batting collapse at Headingley.
”It probably shows a bit of desperation I guess on their behalf, to be doing that,” said Ponting when asked about Trott’s inclusion.
And as for the Flintoff factor, with the star of the 2005 Ashes set for one last crack at Australia after missing Headingley because of a knee problem, Ponting said: ”He’ll want to have a good game in his last Test, so whether or not that frees him up or puts more pressure on him, I’m not sure.
”He’s been a great opponent of ours over the years and someone who’s always played the game in the right spirit.
”Whenever he’s bowling, the whole ground lifts a little bit and the difference between the first three games and Headingley was they just didn’t have him to turn to and the crowd didn’t get involved in the game.”
But the biggest problem for Australia may be making sure they are not emotionally spent before the game starts.
”That’s why I’ve tried to not necessarily down play this week but not talk about how big a game it is, just talk about how exciting it is,” Ponting said.
And he added the way in which fast bowlers Peter Siddle and Mitchell Johnson, who both maybe let the occasion of their first Lord’s Test get to them a touch, had performed in recent weeks was encouraging.
”If you look back to the Lord’s Test, if you’re talking about Siddle and Johnson probably being a bit over-awed that morning, they’ve been the two guys that have got themselves in some really good touch at the moment and have led the attack particularly well for us over the last few weeks, so I’m sure they’ll be right and ready to go.”