Ponting defends Ashes captaincy

Ricky Ponting launched a spirited defence of his leadership ahead of the fifth Test, where anything less than a win will end Australia's 16-year grip on the Ashes. Heavily criticised during the series, Ponting took the unusual step of saying it would be "unfair" to blame him if Australia handed back the urn.

England start with a 2-1 lead at The Oval tomorrow and Ponting, who faces the biggest challenge of his captaincy career, said he was doing his best. "It would be unfair if it was my fault if we lost this Ashes series," he told AFP. "If it came back on me I'll accept it.

"I'm the captain and leader of the side, but I'm not batting out there for everybody and I'm not bowling for everybody either. I'm doing the best I can, I'm sure the other guys are trying their best but we just haven't put it all together yet."

Australia have struggled with key players such as Matthew Hayden, Damien Martyn, Adam Gilchrist and Jason Gillespie out of form against a sustained England attack. However, Ponting has come under pressure for fielding first in the second Test and not being able to lift his side, apart from at Old Trafford when his exceptional century helped snatch a draw. He was also fined for his outburst following his run-out at Trent Bridge.

"I said as early as the second Test I probably wasn't as sharp at changing momentum at different times and being as defensive when I needed to be," Ponting said. "You go in on what you think is right at the time. I'm not a great one at looking back and analysing previous Test matches or previous innings and picking out what I've done well or what I haven't done well because I actually feel I'm doing the right things at the right times in the game."

Ponting said he had spoken about a lot of plans to bowlers during overs in the hope they would execute them. "If they can't, well, it might look as if I'm doing something wrong," he said. "But I've made it clear in this game that I want to communicate as much as I can to the bowlers so we're exactly clear on what we do. If that means we take a bit of time between overs then that's the way it will be."

Preparing for a match that could scar him as the captain who lost the Ashes, Ponting said he had never sat back and taken all the accolades for his team during their wildly successful periods. "I've always shared all that around and never taken any of the great results we've had," he said.

In his column for The Australian Ponting wrote that his side would approach the Test like a one-day decider. "We haven't played great cricket leading into it, but we've won enough games to make it to the final match," he said. "Should we get it right at The Oval like we did in the one-day series in July, then we will take the Ashes home.

"We will be aggressive at The Oval. We'll attack because that's the way we play our best cricket. We won't be sitting back and hiding from anything. We will have one intention, and that is to win the Test match and take the Ashes back with us." Despite what he says about blame, his reputation depends on it.