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Thursday, June 5, 2008

The Australian cricket captain Ricky Ponting opens up to RALPH about trying to pick a winner at the greyhounds.

Greyhounds: It's like anything; you can’t go in completely blind and pick a dog out of a field and think it’s going to win. You’ve got to know a bit about where they’re boxed, what sort of early speed they possess, and try and predict how the race is going to be run. That’s the key to gambling, which I’m not saying I’ve been successful at. For me, the greyhounds are just an interest away from cricket.

John Howard: He's a nice guy. Quite often when we’re playing in the summer he’ll come down and say g’day to the boys, and hopefully congratulate us on playing a good game. He’s a terrific cricket supporter, and it’s great to see him down in the change rooms from time to time.

Touring the Caribbean: The overall picture of the Caribbean for people who haven’t been there is that it’s a lot rosier than it is. At the end of the day it’s still a Third World country. It’s pretty run-down and there’s a lot of poverty. But it’s a good place to go. Crowds over there enjoy their cricket, there’s no doubt about that. There’s really a party atmosphere in the West Indies. They turn up with their rum and Coke, have a bit of a drink, play their music and dance around the stands, all that sort of stuff. You do see lots of crazy things in the crowds around the world.

Drinking piss: With the way the game is now, there’s just no room for it. You just don’t go out drinking and partying like you used to, because before you know it you’ve got another game coming up. And because you don’t do it very often, you don’t recover very quickly, so that side of the game’s died off a lot. If we play well enough to win this one, we’ve got a six-week break at the end, so the guys will get a bit of time to celebrate.

Heroes: I absolutely idolised all the players as a youngster. I had every cricket book going around, every magazine. When the game used to be in Launceston, I’d be there at eight o’clock in the morning waiting for the players to turn up, and I’d leave at seven o’clock when they’d all gone home. David Boon and Kim Hughes were my cricketing idols. Boonie for obvious reasons, being from Launceston, but Kim Hughes, I used to love his flamboyant play; he played with a lot of flair. I think anyone who plays cricket at the highest level should try and be the best entertainer they can. That’s what it’s all about.

Friendships: The best thing about being in a team is the mateships you create over a long period of time. This summer with the test matches was unbelievable, but at the same time it was pretty sad and I couldn’t keep the tears out of my eyes on the last day in Sydney, knowing that it was the last day I’d be playing cricket with Justin Langer, Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne and those guys.

Chris Ryan


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