The next RICKY or the first STEVE

Ricky Thomas Ponting, or known by his fans and followers as “PUNTER” is definitely one of the cricketing greats seen by the cricketing world. The young Tasmanian boy made his debut in the year 1995 under the Australian Cricket Team led by Mark Taylor and showed glimpses of brilliance as he was settling his nerves. Some seemed impressed by the talented young boy but it wasn’t until late 1999 when Steve Waugh let Australia to a historic 2^nd World Cup win that ushered the GOLDEN ERA for Australian Cricket.

Aussies became the invincible following the 99 world cup win and soon after Steve Waugh’s retirement in 2003, Ricky Ponting took charge and there was no looking back. Punter not only build up a team of the all stars with Binga(Brett Lee) and Pidge (Glenn McGrath) along with Bracks(Nathan Bracken) and Dizzy(Jason Gillespie) leading the pace attack followed by the wizard Shane Warne dominating the spin department along with Brad Hogg and Stuart MacGill. 

In the batting department he had Churchy (Adam Gilchrist) and Haydos (Mathew Hayden) the 2 most feared openers in cricketing history followed by Punter himself along with Michael Bevan who later got replaced by Mr. Cricket himself Mike Hussey after Bevan’s retirement. Punter also made way for a young PUP (Michael Clarke) who would later go on to be Punter’s successor. He had backup in the form of Roy (Andrew Symonds), BJ (Brad Haddin) and Watto (Shane Watson) in the middle and lower order.

Punter found success in every quest put ahead of him, he not only won series after series but went on to create records after records. The entire team was on high spirits as Punter went on to win the 2003 Cricket World Cup as the captain marking Australia’s 3^rd World Cup win followed by the 2007 Cricket World Cup marking Australia’s 4^th World Cup win and becoming the first captain in Australian History to win 2 World Cups. Australia continued their success with the 2009 ICC Champions Trophy win and Their glory days seemed far from over until the 2011 World Cup which marked Ricky Ponting’s final World Cup and he retired failing to qualify for the semi finals.

Pup( Michael Clarke) took over the captaincy from Punter and so far has had a good mix of win is to loss ratio. He has silenced his critics when needed and has delivered big time for the Aussies. He has been so far the right appointment as Punter’s successor. 

Pup got the Aussies the Ashes back from England recently with the help of players like Llyod (Dave Warner) and Notch ( Mitchell Johnson) and also had a successful series against the proteas (South Africa) which helped Aussies reclaim their number 1 spot in the ICC test rankings. PUP has been the architect and has build himself the next generation of Australian greats and out of them the gem which has the whole cricketing world buzzing is STEVE SMITH who is also known as Smudge.

Smudge came into the Australian squad as a replacement for Shane Warne as a right arm leg break bowler who could bowl that googly right into the ruff patch. He came in under Punter’s captaincy and showed brilliance with the bowl and his athletic fielding. It wasn’t until IPL where Smith played for the franchise Pune Warriors under Sourav Ganguly and he instantly turned into a batsman. He came to bat at number 4 for Pune Warriors and became a match winner at several occasions and could handle pressure at ease. This soon repositioned Smudge in the Aussie national team and he got promoted up the batting order. 

His real test came recently in 2014-15 series against the World Champions India where is shocked the world with his tremendous run of form. With Captain Michael Clarke injured, Smudge led Australia to win the test on his debut as a skipper in the second test at Gabba. 

He became more of a run scoring machine smashing records becoming the 6^th Australian to reach his maiden test 100 with a six, During the 4th Test against India in Sydney, Smith joined Don Bradman (6), Neil Harvey, Jack Fingleton and Matthew Hayden (4 each) as Australian centurions in four or more consecutive Tests, a streak Smith started during the 1st Test at Adelaide. 

Smith also became the first Australian skipper to open their captaincy with three consecutive centuries, and the second batsman since Jacques Kallis against West Indies to score a century in every match of a Test series. During the 2014–15 Border Gavaskar Trophy Test Series against India, Smith set a record for the most runs (769) scored by an individual in a series against India, surpassing the previous record held by Don Bradman. Smith also went on to play a major role in the tri series following the Border-Gavaskar Trophy which had teams like India, Australia and England. He scored a century just in time to secure a place for Australia in the finals of the tournament beating England and becoming a match hero and successfully capturing the tri series by defeating England again in the finals as a skipper. 

In the ICC Cricket World Cup being played in Australia, Smith has been impressive playing his 2^nd World Cup scoring blistering knocks of 72 and 95 so far and taking one of the best catches of the tournament. If Australia manage to win the 2015 World Cup then it could usher in a new era for both the Australian Cricket Team and Steven Smith.

 If Steven Smith continues in the form like he is in, he might have a spot already booked for him in the all time cricketing greats. Being compared with Sir Don Bradman, Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting so early in his career, Steve Smith definitely has the class to back it up. As hyped, he might end up his career being the all time Australian great.

Indrajit Bhattacharjee
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