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Now ... the good news

Source: Sixty Minutes (Australia) - July 3, 2005

INTRODUCTION:

After all we've seen and heard about Shane Warne in the last few days — after all the other disasters in England — here's a refreshing change. On the eve of the Ashes series, good news about Aussie cricket, two of the most genuine blokes you're ever likely to meet. First, captain Ricky Ponting, who's had to confront some pretty frightening personal demons. Then his deputy, Adam Gilchrist, who's had his private trials too. But in both cases, they've come out on top thanks to the quiet strength of two people you don't hear about all that often — the two women who taught them the real meaning of cricket.

STORY:

LIZ HAYES: You know what?

RICKY PONTING: Lost sights of that one.

LIZ HAYES: You went straight over the trees. You didn't take the corner. You took the shortcut. On the eve of his greatest cricket challenge, Australian captain Ricky Ponting is unwinding.

RICKY PONTING: I'm actually cracking a sweat at the moment. All this pressure from the camera.

LIZ HAYES: I know. Well, unwinding as much as he can. Ricky takes his sport seriously, any sport. It's been that way ever since he was a kid, growing up in the suburbs of Launceston. I don't think we're playing that hole yet. Is it true that even as a kid you were hitting, like, centuries and they changed the rules so other kids could get a go at the bat?

RICKY PONTING: Yeah, there are all those sort of stories going around, I guess.

LIZ HAYES: But I can see all the other kids just hating you. Like, "We want a go."

RICKY PONTING Yeah, you're probably right, actually. But for me, I never felt that I was being selfish or doing anything like that. I was just out there trying to the do the best I could. And I just love batting so much. I just always had a bat in my hand.

LIZ HAYES: He's Australia's all-conquering captain — tough, talented and fiercely competitive. But the Ricky Ponting I met was also modest, shy and accommodating. Dare I say it, he was a bit of a snag.

RIANNA PONTING: He's so cute. Um, I don't know, he's wonderful. He is a flawless character. He's perfect.

LIZ HAYES: There's no such person.

RIANNA PONTING: No, he is.

LIZ HAYES: They've been married for two years and Rianna Ponting is still very much smitten by her catch. Rianna met Ricky at a Melbourne restaurant four years ago, but at the time, she didn't quite know what she was getting herself in for. And when you were told this was Ricky Ponting, did that mean anything to you?

RIANNA PONTING: Ricky who? Because my brother is a big cricket fan and my family are big cricketing people, so I should have known, but I learnt quickly.

ADAM GILCHRIST: Jump down here?

LIZ HAYES: Four thousand kilometers away in WA, I find Ricky Ponting's right-hand man — Adam Gilchrist. Slaying dragons with son Harry. Could it be true — I've found another snag?

ADAM GILCHRIST: Where is he? Is he there?

LIZ HAYES: I read he is a sensitive man, emotional man.

MEL GILCHRIST: Very sensitive and very emotional. Adam is not one to ... if there's a few tears behind the eyes, they'll come out, definitely, and I really, really like that about him.

ADAM GILCHRIST: Good work. Get ready.

LIZ HAYES: Mel and Adam Gilchrist were childhood sweethearts. Twenty years on, the couple have two children — Harry and their latest addition, nine-month-old Annie.

ADAM GILCHRIST: Are you ready, Harry? It's going to be tough with those bikkies in your mouth. Good stop. Well done, mate.

MEL GILCHRIST: He's very emotional, and probably since I've had the children, even more so. Times apart and having to say goodbye, it never gets any easier and we both don't hold back there, do we. There's always lots of tears. But I think that's good in a way too because at least you're letting it out and then you can just ... Adam focuses on what he's got to do and I focus on getting things organised to join him on the tour.

LIZ HAYES: Adam Gilchrist and Ricky Ponting are two very different people. Ponting the perfectionist. And the casual Gil. Deadly with the gloves. And explosive with the bat. Together this odd couple of cricket has made Australia the number one cricket team in the world. Ricky Ponting began playing cricket at his dad's club in Launceston when he was 10.

RICKY PONTING: If it's coming at your body, step inside the line of the ball.

LIZ HAYES: At the time he was the age of these kids, he was already a rising star.

RICKY PONTING: I'd sort of made a decision at a very young age, I guess, as most young Australian kids do, that all I wanted to do was play cricket for Australia. And sport was everything and probably still is everything now.

LIZ HAYES: By the age of 20, Ricky was playing for Australia. But his private life began falling apart and after a number of incidents came the well-publicised brawl at a Sydney nightclub.

RICKY PONTING: I feel that I've let a lot of people down.

LIZ HAYES: You fronted up with a couple of black eyes and said, 'Yes, I do have a problem with alcohol.'

RICKY PONTING: Yes, just the one black eye.

LIZ HAYES: Sorry, that was unkind, wasn't it.

RICKY PONTING: As I said, the best way for me to deal with it was to front up with it and admit it and get on with things.

LIZ HAYES: And get on with things he did, reinventing himself as a model sportsman. But he says much of the credit for getting his private life on track must go to Rianna. Have you ever seen him flustered?

RIANNA PONTING: When he has to empty the bin, he gets quite flustered, but not in cricket, no.

LIZ HAYES: He's not good on the home duty?

RIANNA PONTING: No.

RICKY PONTING: I'm used to having someone else doing it for me in a hotel room all the time, so when I'm back at home with those sort of duties to do it's...

RIANNA PONTING: Baby steps, Liz, baby steps.

LIZ HAYES: Baby steps. Resistance?

RICKY PONTING: Yes.

LIZ HAYES: They're clearly besotted with each other. Rianna has put her career as a lawyer on hold to accompany Ricky on tour. It's this devotion that Ponting acknowledged when he famously blew Rianna a kiss in the middle of a Test match.

COMMENTATOR: She has been a great influence on his career.

LIZ HAYES: He's a pretty tough bloke out there on the field, but clearly's a bit of a softy.

RIANNA PONTING: He's a bit of a softy, yeah.

LIZ HAYES: Isn't he?

RIANNA PONTING: Yeah.

LIZ HAYES: Who would ever have thought?

RIANNA PONTING: I don't think he looks that tough on the field, though, either.

LIZ HAYES: Don't you?

RIANNA PONTING: He's so short compared to those big fast bowlers, I don't think he looks too imposing.

LIZ HAYES: Like Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist grew up in a sports-mad family, and from a young age, was a talented all-round sportsman. Is it true that you wrote in a friend's diary that you were going to play cricket for Australia?

ADAM GILCHRIST: Oh, yeah, yeah.

LIZ HAYES: That was something...

ADAM GILCHRIST: I was a bit of an idiot — a bit up myself, I think. I was actually signing autographs and going around and giving them out to people saying, "Hang on to that, I will be famous one day."

LIZ HAYES: It was at high school in the northern NSW town of Lismore that the gawky teenager with the big ears met his future wife.

MEL GILCHRIST: There wasn't really that love at first sight, so to speak, but we just became really good friends, didn't we?

ADAM GILCHRIST I was a real geek. Mel said I was too sporty.

MEL GILCHRIST: Shiny tracky pants and shiny green tracksuit top, it wasn't such a good look and no hair product either.

LIZ HAYES: Adam and Mel have faced many challenges together. But undoubtedly the biggest came just after the birth of Harry.

ADAM GILCHRIST: Oh, shot!

LIZ HAYES: Gilly was on tour in South Africa when he learned of a malicious rumour posted on a website, claiming Harry's real father was cricketer Michael Slater.

MEL GILCHRIST: It was a horrible time. It's probably the hardest thing I've ever had to go through.

LIZ HAYES: After scoring a tenacious century, he squatted down on the pitch and cried.

ADAM GILCHRIST: We knew it was total rubbish, just something that you can't imagine why someone would start that. But, again, for me also, I was relatively used to and comfortable with life in front of the public's eyes but this drew Mel into it totally unwarranted and no reason for it. So it was really difficult

ADAM GILCHRIST: What I couldn't comprehend, as I would look at this little baby, five weeks old in a cot, is how anyone could be so cruel.

LIZ HAYES: While Shane Warne battles his marriage break-up, both Adam and Ricky have drawn great strength and inspiration from their marriages. Together, their partnership is about to face the most anticipated Ashes series in decades and the campaign is already off to a bumpy start. We are now facing another Ashes tour — we're not going to lose that.

RICKY PONTING: Let's hope not.

LIZ HAYES: Are we?

RICKY PONTING: Let's hope not, no. I really think if we play at our capacity, I think we'll win.

LIZ HAYES: And this is what it's all about — the Ashes. And if Ricky Ponting's team can retain this sacred cricket trophy, then it will be Australia's ninth consecutive series win. That's the longest winning stretch in the history of this contest, which dates back to 1882. Don't you feel a little sorry for the Poms?

ADAM GILCHRIST: No.

LIZ HAYES: Not even a little bit?

ADAM GILCHRIST: I never have and, you know, maybe if we win this one, given the hype around it, I might feel sorry for them. But I tell you what — as I say, I don't want to be a part of a team that loses the Ashes, so there's a strong desire burning inside to go out there and play well.

LIZ HAYES: To win the Ashes, the Australians will use every tactic at their disposal, including sledging.

RICKY PONTING: Yeah, sledging. I mean gamesmanship is the way we like to speak about it.

LIZ HAYES: There's a fine line creeping in there.

RICKY PONTING: Yeah, there's a fine line there.

LIZ HAYES: What is the fine line? What's okay and what's not?

RICKY PONTING Anything personal. Personal is not okay.

LIZ HAYES: Okay.

RICKY PONTING: And swearing is not okay on the field.

LIZ HAYES: So what is acceptable?

ADAM GILCHRIST: Again, a tough one to define.

LIZ HAYES: Have you got an example?

ADAM GILCHRIST: I've been called "big ears" on the field by opposition. I don't find that overly off-putting. But I could say that that's abuse, personal abuse.

LIZ HAYES: On sledging, Ricky and Gilly agree. But on walking, well, that's where they differ. During the World Cup game two years ago, Gilchrist thought he was out and walked even though the umpire ruled in his favour. To some, this just wasn't the sort of uncompromising cricket Australians play.

COMMENTATOR: He's walking, he's walking.

LIZ HAYES: What was the reaction of your team?

ADAM GILCHRIST: Yeah, people say, "What did they say to me when I walked into the change room?" It wasn't what they said. It's what they didn't say. There was just a total silence.

LIZ HAYES: Did he do the wrong thing?

RICKY PONTING: No, not at all. There's no right and wrong thing to do with walking and not walking in the game of cricket. I mean, I'll sit right here and tell you that I'm not a walker, but Adam decided that that's the way he wants to play. He wants to be a walker, and that's fine.

LIZ HAYES: Calling him a walker sounds like it's almost a four-letter word.

RICKY PONTING: Yeah, no.

LIZ HAYES: "You're a walker."

RICKY PONTING: Yeah, yeah, it sounds a bit funny, doesn't it?

ADAM GILCHRIST: Suppose it's just like the hype around the English team at the moment. Do you remember people being as excited?

LIZ HAYES: This Ashes series will be the last for several of Ricky Ponting's key players, among them Adam Gilchrist.

MEL GILCHRIST: Go the Aussies, hey.

LIZ HAYES: After 10 exhausting years on the road, Gilly's thoughts are turning to becoming a more regular fixture around the house.

ADAM GILCHRIST: One day in the future, it might be the other way. I might be looking after the kids and Mel will be back into that.

LIZ HAYES: Could you do that?

ADAM GILCHRIST: I'd have a go at it.

LIZ HAYES: Would you?

ADAM GILCHRIST: Yeah, definitely. Definitely.

LIZ HAYES: A house dad?

ADAM GILCHRIST: What I would say — anything that I've accomplished in cricket would pale in significance compared to the job of, sort of... I've done a little bit of time with the two kids. One is bearable, but two at a time, you've got to get your timing right.

LIZ HAYES: For Ricky Ponting, there's a few good years yet before he retires to the golf course. And in the meantime, there's the unfinished business of the Ashes. Have you ever seen the Ashes, by the way?

RICKY PONTING: I've seen the Ashes and held the Ashes, but...

LIZ HAYES: But?

RICKY PONTING: As much as I've tried to smuggle them out of the country, I can't get them out.

LIZ HAYES: Do you reckon we should be allowed to?

RICKY PONTING: Look, there's no doubt about that. We definitely should be allowed.

LIZ HAYES: They don't trust us, do they?

RICKY PONTING: They don't trust us, no. But if we happen to win on this time, I'll certainly be doing the best that I can to get them back here, that's for sure.

Reporter: Liz Hayes
Producer: Hamish Thomson