Australian counterpart Ricky Ponting said after Australia's series win: This is as happy as I've been in my whole career as an Australian player.
While South African skipper Graeme Smith admitted after Tuesday's defeat that his battered and bruised team had been "outplayed in every facet of the game", his ecstatic Australian counterpart Ricky Ponting said after Australia's series win: "This is as happy as I've been in my whole career as an Australian player."
With the Proteas confident of dethroning the world champions after their comprehensive 2-1 series victory Down Under the last time around, the daggers were out for Ponting, his future as captain in serious doubt ahead of the Ashes in England next summer.
Describing the two-year period when his world-beating side, following the retirement of Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden lost to India and South Africa, as the "worst in his cricket life", a beaming Ponting said: "We played some amazing cricket over the past couple of weeks and a level of cricket that everybody outside of our dressing room thought we weren't capable of.
The Australians won by 175 runs at Durban and 162 at Johannesburg, following which Graeme Smith has a broken hand a second time (compelling the selectors to bring back out-of-form vice-captain Ashwell Prince as leader), Neil McKenzie has lost his Test career for the time being and Morne Morkel been sent to purgatory.
Inexperienced side
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That's the way: Ricky Ponting (right) celebrates with Peter Siddle on winning the first Test against South Africa at the Wanderers in Johannesburg on March 2. pic/AFP |
The feisty Australian captain rates the achievement of the most inexperienced side in 20 years at par with the 2006-07 Ashes in Australia, when his team humbled England and the World Cups.
"I'm not putting it above any of those but if you look at our group of players that we were bringing away on this tour, there'll be a lot of people around the world who didn't think this was achievable.
"To have a number of debutants and a number of inexperienced guys in the side, it's something I haven't been accustomed to in the majority of my career as captain", Ponting said.
The touring Australian squad had a wet-behind-his-ears 20-year old opening batsman in Phil Hughes, three bowlers playing their first full series Peter Siddle, Ben Hilfenhaus and Doug Bollinger and a new No 6 in Cameron White.
Lavishing praise on man of the match Philip Hughes, who is being hailed here as a future Don Bradman, Ponting said: "I didn't really know him at all before (this tour). I hadn't played a game against him. I'd seen a bit of him on the television, heard a lot of good things coming back about him from his New South Wales team-mates.
"But what I've seen over the past couple of weeks has been extremely satisfying. I had a good chance to bat with him a couple of times and it's been a lot of fun. We enjoyed ourselves. To have these guys come in and enjoy this immediate success is excellent."
Ponting said he would "keep an eye" on Hughes, but he seems comfortable the youngster knows what he is doing.
They came out all guns blazing in the second innings in Jo'burg. I got to spend a bit of time with him then," Ponting said.
"I made sure I was around him and the bowler when a few of the verbals were being taking place just to see how he was handling it.
"Every time he would just look at me with a smile and tell me that he was loving it. That's what Test cricket is all about."
