Victorious Ponting buries the hatchet with England coach Fletcher by Cricketarchive Staff Reporter

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Player:

RT Ponting, DAG Fletcher

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DateLine: 20th December 2006

 

Australian captain Ricky Ponting says he has buried the hatchet with England coach Duncan Fletcher following his team's crushing Ashes victory. Magnanimous in victory, Ponting said he sought out Fletcher after Australia took an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-Test Ashes series to regain international cricket's oldest trophy at Perth's WACA ground Monday. "I've got no hard feelings between Duncan and me," Ponting said after the win. "There were a few a few months ago, but there's none now. I went down into their rooms and shook all their players' hands and then I went back to ours and had a beer."

 

Fletcher and Ponting clashed during the last Ashes series in England when the Australian skipper was run out by substitute fielder Gary Pratt in the fourth Test at Trent Bridge. Ponting, who had complained about unsporting use of substitute fielders, unleashed a four-letter tirade at the England coach after he smiled at the batsman as he walked to the dressing room following the dismissal. Ponting was fined 75 percent of his 12,500 dollars (9,750 US) match fee for the outburst. "Looking back now, that might have been the moment when it became clear England were going to reclaim the Ashes," Fletcher later said in his book "Ashes Regained". Eighteeen months on, Ponting has been hailed for his leadership and tops the Ashes batting statistics with 524 runs in three Tests. Fletcher is under pressure to retain his jobs after his selections were blamed for England's defeat.