Watch Out

For Ponting that has seldom been an issue. He remains one of the world’s leading batsmen and, of course, the most successful Test captain. He does not have an unblemished record, having lost here in 2005 and to South Africa at home, but starts with a clean slate and the knowledge that he was able to lead his team to a revenge win in South Africa earlier in the year.

I like Ponting a lot as a player and as a person. He has fronted up and dealt mostly very well with the demands of leading Australia, apart from the odd lapse from grace, such as the rant after being run out by substitute fielder Gary Pratt at Trent Bridge four years ago. He gets on with the game and just plays whatever cards he has been dealt. Ponting’s challenge is to keep his new-look side on track and I suspect that his mistakes of 2005, such as bowling first at Edgbaston, will make him better prepared for this campaign. And while the home team will be drawing their inspiration from memories of the 2005 triumph, Ponting has already made it clear that he has had his revenge for that setback (let’s not talk too much about 2006-07 and the whitewash) and that this is just the start of another challenge.

DAVID GOWER PICKS THE TOP ASHES TONS

1 Ian Botham

118, Old Trafford 1981

The 149 at Headingley always gets remembered but this knock was, as Ian admitted, a better one technically. It took only 102 balls (a strike rate of 115.68) and included 13 fours and six sixes. More than once, a helmet-less Botham hooked Dennis Lillee off his eyebrows into the crowd by the station. It was brilliant, spine-tingling stuff.

2 Kevin Pietersen

158, The Oval 2005

The atmosphere was extraordinary and Pietersen produced something equally extraordinary. He was lucky when Shane Warne dropped him, but the bravado was immense and his shots, hooking Brett Lee for six the most vivid example, were just awesome. Without him England would probably have lost the day and the match and not won the Ashes.

3 Steve Waugh

108, Old Trafford 1997

Steve was not one to be cowed and his spirit and determination were on full show in this innings. It was a day for bowling but Waugh battled his way through and kept his side in the game in a situation where England felt they should have been in complete control. The Aussies got the first innings lead and Steve added another hundred in the second innings.

4 Michael Vaughan

183, Sydney 2003

This was a simply beautiful innings, at a time when Michael was at the peak of his powers. It was all made to look ridiculously easy with the ball caressed away through the off side countless times, and hooked and pulled to the leg side boundaries almost as often. For an Englishman to go to Sydney and play like this is sheer bliss.

5 Adam Gilchrist

102*, Perth 2006

This was an incredible display of hitting. Admittedly, he did come in at 365-5, but it was the definition of adding insult to injury. It lasted only 59 balls, just failing to pip Viv Richards’ century against us in Antigua in 1986 as the fastest Test hundred.

In picking these innings, my criteria were quite straightforward; I was looking at hundreds made from the time I began playing Test cricket in 1978 to the present. They are selected in order of preference and are all special not just for the numbers involved — indeed, I have ignored many innings that were numerically superior.