Captains Diary 2008

It was one thing for the Aussie cricket team to become world champions; staying No. 1 is a whole new ball game. 'When the Australian team talks about playing aggressively, we are committing ourselves to playing hard. there's nothing given and there's nothing asked to be given.'- RICKY PONtING, OCtOBER 6, 2007the Australian cricket team's program for 2007-08 was as hectic as ever, featuring the ICC World twenty20 and matches against Sri Lanka, India, New Zealand and the West Indies. As well, many of the Australian players were involved in the inaugural season of the Indian Premier League. Yet when the season began, no one could have imagined it would generate the headlines it did.Much of this coverage came from the acrimonious battles between Australia and India, both in a one-day series in India and then in the tests in Australia that followed. Ricky Ponting was confronted with a series of controversies that none of his predecessors as Australian captain had faced, and now, in Captain's Diary 2008, he explains his side of the story. Many players, including Ponting, who are more used to being treated as heroes, were suddenly cast as villains. Did they really deserve the level of criticism that came their way?the Australian team has changed greatly in the past two years. Having lost a number of champions in 2007, a few more stars - most notably Adam Gilchrist - retired in 2008, and here Ponting pays tribute. He also traces the astounding rise of twenty20, and offers his view as to where this exciting new form of cricket might take the game he loves.