Ponting: At the Close of Play by Ponting Ricky

Author:Ponting, Ricky [Ponting, Ricky]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2013-10-21T06:00:00+00:00

Team song

‘Underneath the Southern Cross’ is a song that every Australian Test cricketer looks forward to singing. It’s the victory song blustered out by the entire team as part of an in-house celebration after winning each and every Test match. Rod Marsh came up with the idea and started the tradition of leading the team in singing the song. Rod handed on to Allan Border the job of leading the song. When AB became captain, it was decided that the team song shouldn’t be led by the captain of the team, so David Boon was chosen by AB to take over. Boonie led the song in my first three Test matches when we beat Sri Lanka 3–0 in 1995–96. I will never forget that experience and I didn’t take long to catch on what the song meant to the team. It was a motivational tool for winning and it definitely made the victory even sweeter. Boonie retired at the end of that summer and he chose Ian Healy to continue the tradition. Heals retired just before the 1999–2000 Australian summer, and I remember very fondly the conversation he had with me when he asked me to take over the role of team song leader.

I was still very young and it was a huge thrill for me to be given such an important team role. I tried to do things a little differently in my time. When I first came into the team, we used to sing the song pretty early on after the end of a winning game, but with the introduction of recovery sessions and other post-game activities, I endeavoured to push the time back to sing it much later after the end of the game. I also looked for opportunities after series or significant wins to get away from the traditional dressing-room environment and go to different locations outside of the ground.

When I became captain, I didn’t hesitate in choosing Justin Langer to replace me as team song leader. For me, he encapsulated everything the song stands for. A selfless team-mate who worked hard each and every day to be the best that he could. He treasured every Test match he played for his country and wanted to share success with his team-mates, who meant the world to him.

Lang has always said that having that role was one of the very best things to have happened to him in his career. He led the song through a golden era of Australian Test cricket and put his own style on it. It was a great time, and my memory is full of classic renditions of the team song.

Mike Hussey took over from Lang and led the song for the rest of my career. The last time I sang the song was after the third Test against the West Indies in Dominica in April 2012. At the time, I had no idea that it would be the last time I sang the song, but it does stay front of mind for me as it was the last game that our trainer Stuart Karppinen was with the national team.

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