Ponting Pays Fletcher Tribute

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Ponting - praise for Fletcher.

By David Clough, PA Sport, St George's

Ricky Ponting believes Duncan Fletcher can walk away from his England coaching job with justifiable satisfaction - despite the run of moderate recent results which led to his resignation.

Ponting's Australia fell foul of Fletcher's team when they surprisingly won the Ashes two years ago, before the his side regained the urn Down Under with the first 5-0 whitewash in the series for more than 80 years.

That landslide defeat was followed by England's unlikely Commonwealth Bank Series success against Australia and New Zealand - before a most disappointing World Cup campaign ended with a nine-wicket humbling against South Africa on Tuesday.

Ponting, preparing his team for a semi-final in the tournament next week, nonetheless recalls Fletcher's triumphs as well as his disasters.

"The England team under his coaching achieved a lot of good things," said Ponting.

"He's obviously done a lot of things right around their group and their team - I think he could probably walk away being pretty happy with what he has achieved with that England team."

Ponting's most infamous confrontation with Fletcher came after the Aussie captain was run out in the Trent Bridge Test of that epic 2005 Ashes series and left the field admonishing the England coach.

The Tasmanian is nonetheless prepared to credit former Zimbabwe player Fletcher with having done much hard and effective work for England.

"They caused a huge upset winning the Ashes in 2005 and were the second-ranked Test nation for quite a period," Ponting said.

"He took them from wherever they were - fifth or sixth on that table - to number two, so he's obviously achieved a lot of good things."

Ponting gleaned from those England players who earned Australian respect that Fletcher was much appreciated by his own team.

He said: "There have always been rumours coming out of their camp that a lot of players liked the way he operated and the way he worked within their team.

"He can be pretty happy with what he's done."

Despite the 2006-07 debacles for Fletcher's England, Ponting was surprised when he heard the coach was calling it a day.

"I guess there had been a bit of speculation about that over the last few weeks - and probably even after the Ashes series back in Australia - that they may replace their coach," the Australia captain said.

"But I'm a bit surprised he's stood down."

Michael Vaughan, the man who led England on the field to their 2005 glory but has since struggled with career-threatening knee injuries, is to remain in charge as he tries to re-establish his captaincy credentials in both forms of the game.

Developments on that score - as well as who replaces Fletcher - will be a source of interest for Ponting.

"There was a bit of talk that both he [Fletcher] and Vaughan were going to make some sort of statements," Ponting noted.

"But it looks like Vaughan's decided he's going to keep pushing on in one-day cricket.

"It will be an interesting few weeks now to see who they come up with as their next coach."