Ponting's Positive Spin

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Ricky Ponting - confident of future

By Myles Hodgson, PA Sport Cricket Correspondent, Barbados

Ricky Ponting is confident Australia can overcome the gradual break-up of their great side and continue being a force in both formats of the game in the future.

The Australia captain has already said farewell to Justin Langer, Damien Martyn and all-time greats Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath from the Test side who have dominated for the last decade.

After becoming the first side in history to claim three successive World Cups with victory over Sri Lanka on Saturday, Ponting watched McGrath finally say goodbye to international cricket by bowing out as the player of the tournament.

Other players like 35-year-old Adam Gilchrist, 36-year-old Brad Hogg and 35-year-old Matthew Hayden are unlikely to make the next World Cup being staged by India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in 2011.

But despite losing some of Australia's great players of the modern era, Ponting appears revitalised by the prospect of helping to build a newer, younger side capable of challenging for the Ashes in 2009 and the next World Cup.

"I'm not worried about that at all," confessed Ponting.

"We've had Justin, Shane, Glenn and Damien Martyn leave the Test team at the end of our summer and I'm actually looking at it as a more exciting time in my career to tell the truth.

"You're obviously disappointed about losing the greats of the game, but when you get younger guys in and around the team it's a really exciting time."

Having become the first captain this century to lead a side to an Ashes whitewash this winter, Ponting's next bid for history could be to become the first captain to lead three successive World Cup-winning sides if Australia win four in a row in four years' time.

Before then, though, Ponting is relishing the opportunity to mould a new side and become a guiding force to the next generation as players like Steve Waugh, David Boon and Mark Taylor were to him during his formative years.

"For me it's going to be a real challenge, and it's going to be a real challenge for the senior players to make sure they elevate their games and drag the younger guys along with them," he explained.

"I remember when I first came into the side in 1995 I had some excellent senior players to sit back, look at and admire and watch the way they go about their cricket - that's the example we need to be setting for the younger guys when they come in.

"I fully expect us to win every game we play, it doesn't matter what the make-up of the game is and when we get some of the younger guys coming into the Test and one-day side in the next few months I will still expect us to win.

"I know the quality of those players is absolutely first class. Our domestic cricket at home is very strong and I've seen a lot of the young players play so when they do come into the side I'd like to think our performances won't drop off at all."

Australia's success over the last two years, which has also included victory in the ICC Champions Trophy for the first time, was the result of two years' hard work and self-examination in the immediate aftermath of their shock 2005 Ashes series defeat.

"The big thing that happened in 2005 is that the bigger-named players in the team didn't have the kind of series they would have wanted to for a number of different reasons," he admitted.

"What it did do is make sure we never took anything for granted in the game, you just can't afford to do that and that's been very true during this World Cup as well."

He added: "We've been playing great cricket but it can come to an end pretty quickly in a game and we all know that.

"We kept challenging ourselves and kept working extremely hard on our games and our skills and maybe that was one thing we learnt from 2005 - make sure when an opportunity comes up you test yourself whenever you can to make yourself a better player.

"We've done that for a long period of time now and we've probably set benchmarks and standards for ourselves, not only with our match play but also the way we prepare as well, which is second to none."