Ricky Ponting, meanwhile, has announced that he will retire from all cricket in October and the game will be losing one of the most outstanding batsmen in history - but not one of the great skippers.
I have never rated his captaincy at all and he was largely to blame for Australia losing the 2005 Ashes series by deciding to bowl first at Edgbaston and not opting to open the bowling with Shane Warne at Trent Bridge.
The only reason Ponting had a terrific record as leader was because he had Warne, Glenn McGrath and some other fine cricketers in his side - but that should not detract from his record with the bat which, in both the Test and one-day arenas, was phenomenal.
He, Greg Chappell and Allan Border have been the three best Australian batsmen of all time, while in modern-day reckoning, I would put probably put him behind Brian Lara but on a par with Sachin Tendulkar.
