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Ricky Ponting bristled at suggestions from former Australian captains that he let England's batsmen off the hook by not enforcing the follow on.
Ian Chappell and Steve Waugh argued that letting England field for a while gave the tourists time to gather their thoughts before producing a much-improved effort with the bat second time around. But skipper Ponting said he made the decision on what he thought was best for his team to win the test and he was "more than happy" with it.
Only one other captain in test history - England's Les Ames in 1930 - had chosen not to enforce the follow-on with a bigger lead than the 445-run first innings advantage Australia had. Ponting would have faced severe criticism had England saved the match, but he saw no reason to second guess himself after Australia wrapped up victory yesterday.
"I felt the bowlers would have been better to have a break at that stage of the game," said Ponting, who batted into the fourth day before setting England an insurmountable 648-run victory target.
"The wicket was only going to get harder to bat on, the weather looked good going right through the game, so those cracks [in the wicket] that were pretty predominant on the second day were only going to get worse."
- AAP
