Peter Roebuck, writing in the Age, praises Ricky Ponting for his performance in the first ODI against South Africa, and feels the start to the new year for the Australian captain represents a welcome departure from a forgettable, and highly controversial, 2008.

Perhaps he senses that this team belongs to him, that he can put his imprint on it, that it is not too late to recover the livewire seen in his early years. He began as a young captain surrounded by players of vast experience and high calibre. He had not built the team so much as inherited it, and several of the regulars were his seniors. Not until the withdrawal of Matthew Hayden was he completely his own man.

He had a rotten year in 2008, moving from the craven SCG Test to the calamity of Nagpur, where even the Hallelujah chorus criticised him. Hereabouts he was an outstanding batsman but a stubborn, unimaginative captain. On this evidence he has put that behind him.

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