The Ponting formula

It is very obvious that during the past four years Ricky Ponting has been the most consistent batsmen in world cricket. He has eclipsed all the other leading contenders in terms of quality, consistency and output. It was no surprise that he was named the Cricketer of the Year and the Test Cricketer of the Year, awards he richly deserves having performed so consistently throughout the year.

Comparisons are always made between batsmen of the same generation as we try to identify the world's best batsman. But if you judge this in terms of output and consistency then there is no doubt that he is the leader of the pack. Rahul Dravid may be the closest to him but Rick stands out with the never-ending stream of match-winning knocks against all opposition in all conditions.

I do not know him intimately, but judging by the media reports, the early days of his career as a professional cricketer appears to have been turbulent. There were suggestions of an alcohol problem and various off-field incidents. But to his huge credit he seems to have gathered himself together and put all his energies into becoming one of the greatest cricketers in the modern era, a wonderful achievement.

Ponting is not one of the most suave or savvy cricketers, but as a player and as a leader he has achieved success by focusing on his strengths. His style of captaincy is to lead by example, do the basics well, work hard and grind the opposition down. He leads from the front as their premier batsman and also in the field. Very rarely do international captains field at cover point, slip and short leg - Ponting does, putting himself on the frontlines of every battle.

It is hard to put him in the same class as a captain as the likes of Stephen Fleming, Steve Waugh, the Chappell brothers or Mark Taylor. But he has proven to the world that you don't have to be the most innovate and shrewdest thinker to be a successful captain. He is fortunate to have class players all around him, but his great success has been getting the best out of them in crunch situations.

As a batsman he stands apart because of his ability to rise to occasions and instinctively adapt himself to different match conditions. Even at the start of his career when he came into the game with the experts drooling over his talents, he was able to overcome those huge expectations. He was under massive pressure, but he has shown himself capable of soaking up pressure time and time again.

One of the key factors to his success is his ability to deal with the short ball so effectively. No one is quicker to pick up the length in world cricket right now. He has an unusual first step for a batsman, which would be a technical weakness for others, but he uses it to help him with the pull stroke, which he plays brilliantly off the back for and off the front foot.

I can see similarities with Aravinda de Silva in this ability to pull and hook. Good length balls are dispatched to the boundary and both players were therefore able to score all around the wicket, which makes it incredibly hard for bowlers to intimidate him. On the contrary, Ponting imposes himself on the opposition and makes bowlers bowl to him.

When Ponting walks to the crease you can see and feel the self-confidence that runs through his veins. You have to admire his presence in the middle. He knows his game plan and he always backs himself to deliver. Most importantly, he will always be aggressive, forever searching out runs with a proactive attitude that is his greatest asset. He will only revert into a defensive mould if required to do to save the game for Australia and even then - like he did in the last Ashes - he will score freely.

The pride he holds for playing for Australia is plain to see © Getty Images

His self confidence and positive approach has allowed him to overcome his weaknesses. People talked in the past about a fallibility against spin. However, when I saw him tackle the threat of Murali I immediately saw that he had the confidence to overcome this deficiency. He remained positive and did not allow Murali to bowl maidens, remaining faithful to the old adage: "The best place to bat is at the non-striker's end." Now he excels against slow bowling too, rotating the strike, working singles and reversing the pressure onto the bowlers.

The pride he holds for playing for Australia is plain to see. He wears it on his sleeve. I remember his match-saving hundreds in the last Ashes and then against Bangladesh when the side was in dire straits. He took personal responsibility for saving Australia and turning around the game single-handedly. It spoke volumes about his never-say-die attitude. He clearly has that precious ability of top sportsmen to reach inside when the going is toughest and raise his game.

There are various criticisms levelled at Australia regarding sledging and their high-handed attitude to winning. But at the end of the day you have to grudgingly admit they have raised the benchmark for Test cricket. The rest of the world has been playing catch-up. Indeed, one of Australia's positive achievements has been to push all the other nations to raise their standards, which has been brilliant for the modern game.

Ponting has been at the forefront of this process, pushing the boundaries of excellence to new levels, forcing us all to aspire to ever-higher levels of consistency. He already has 31 Test centuries and I suspect he will overtake Sachin Tendulkar soon to set a record that will take some beating. The highs keep coming for him and there will be more along the way because you know with his focus and work ethic he can reach even greater heights. That's great news for Australia and for the game ... but its bad news for us.