Every player in our squad should be able to gain a huge amount from working with Ricky Ponting. Whether you are a youngster or a more experienced player, you should make sure you get something from a chap like that.
The greats of the game are not given those labels just because of the runs they score or the wickets they take.
You’re given that status because of what you can offer to a group of people, and everyone you talk to about Ricky always speaks highly of the kind of man he is.
Clearly, he is a wonderful player, too. I’ve played against him before, at international level and in county cricket when he spent time with Somerset in 2004. He always struck me as a guy who loved the game.
Whether he was batting or fielding, that quality always shone through, and it is apparent from the way he carries himself that he is a winner. As stand-in captain, I’ll certainly ask him his thoughts and tap into what he knows, but I also have to try to do things my way if I believe they are right.
It’s the same for the rest of the squad. We can’t rely solely on Ricky Ponting to win matches for us. He’s a wonderful asset but we can’t expect him to do it on his own.
Ricky was due to make his debut for us in our Yorkshire Bank 40 game at Derbyshire today, but we have to keep in mind that it’s about 11 players, not one.
I’m thoroughly enjoying the day-to-day duties of captaincy but I’m quite an emotional character, and sometimes I find it difficult to control those emotions.
I’m not a very good loser and when speaking to the group after a defeat, it’s important not to say simply: “That was rubbish”. It’s about trying to find a way to improve or correct something.
It’s about taking stock of a situation, then stepping out of it for a second and making sure that when you step back in, you express the right ideas.
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I’m convinced we’re very close to getting things right and hopefully in a few matches’ time, I will have been proved correct.
