The Ricky Ponting era has just begun

Australia''s easy victory over India in the World Cup final masks the vigour,regimentation and resolve which has gone into making them the best side in theworld. Over the six-week tournament, Ricky Ponting''s side was often up, butnever complacent, and sometimes down, but never out. In the final, of course,they were in a league of their own. The team is clearly driven by alegacy of excellence. In eight World Cups, Australia have played five finals(including the last three) and won thrice — the last two and earlier in1987. Such continued success leaves no scope for fluke; indeed it establishes anethos that sees excellence essential to competitive sport. Atraining regimen that involves hours of toil in improving fitness and cricketingskills is the cornerstone of this success, as skipper Ponting and coach JohnBuchanan revealed at the post-final press conference. The Australians wereeasily the best athletes on view, apart from having some of the bestpractitioners in the game like Adam Gilchrist, Brett Lee, Matt Hayden, GlennMcGrath and skipper Ponting himself.The gap between Australia andthe other cricket-playing nations has never been wider. Yet, the achievement ofPonting''s team is all the more remarkable because it came in the wake of muchcontroversy, and after overcoming many obstacles. The Waugh twins, thatwonderful pair of cricketers who held the team together for so many years, hadquit the scene less than a year earlier.Before the tournament began,Shane Warne was discovered to have taken banned substances and was forced toreturn home. The loss of a mega-talent like Warne would have been hard to takefor any side, but even more difficult given the extenuating circumstances.Worse, for the first two matches in the tournament, Ponting did nothave the services of Darren Lehmann, who was serving a ban for a racist sluragainst a Sri Lankan player in an earlier tournament, and as the World Cupprogressed he lost Jason Gillespie, his best bowler till then. Intermittently,he had to do without Andrew Symonds and Damien Martyn who injured themselves.Any other side would have capitulated under so many problems.Australia rose to greater excellence. Established stars like Gilchrist, Pontinghimself, Martyn, Lee, McGrath and Bevan took on added responsibility to ensurethe team''s progress was not stunted. Back up players like Andy Bichel, AndrewSymonds and Ian Harvey maintained, if not bettered the high standards thatAustralian cricket has demanded. The juggernaut rolled on. Symonds''scorching hundred in the opening match against Pakistan gave an indication ofthe team''s depth and resolve. It also served as a beacon for one or the otherplayer to come to the rescue of the party when the chips were down. Bevan did aHoudini against England, Bichel''s surprising batting prowess helped them winagainst New Zealand, Symonds held up the innings again in semis. Lowscores in some matches, especially in the three games at Port Elizabeth, gavethe impression that the Australian batting was wobbly and vulnerable. But thisnever obscured their superiority, or the comprehensive manner in which they wonall their matches.The bowlers held the key in this success, and Lee,McGrath and Bichel, had no conquerors. Pace bowlers of complete contrastingstyles, they had every opposition on the run. But skipper Ponting was the mostdominant factor in this success.His leadership was imaginative— from the manner in which he unleashed Brett Lee, the psychologicalsupport for Symonds, his superb bowling changes and unorthodox field placements.His aggressive instincts were never subdued. In the line of greatAussie captains, the Ponting Era has begun.