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"Ponting holds the edge over Waugh, judged on those rare occasions in the past decade when the opposition has been able to dictate terms to Australia," Chappell said.
"Whereas Waugh ran out of attacking ideas quickly in those situations, Ponting works feverishly to dismiss opponents rather than waiting for them to make a mistake," he was quoted as saying by the Sydney Morning Herald.
Chappell, who led Australia in 30 Tests between 1971 to 1975 and is regarded as one of the game's greatest ever captains, blamed the 2001 Kolkata defeat against India on Waugh's "fatal mistake."
"Despite having both Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath at his disposal, Waugh opted to play a waiting game as VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid piled on a 376-run partnership. It was a fatal mistake."
Chappell said in similar situations Ponting tries to provoke the opposition into making errors.
"Ponting has improved his captaincy after making some mistakes in the losing 2005 Ashes series, while Waugh's style
never changed much."
"Ponting ... has continued to grow and learn as a captain and while he only equalled Waugh's victory record, he has surpassed him as a captain."
If Ian Chappell's comments were based on fact and not his well known dislike of Steve Waugh and his petty jealousies of the public's recognition of the Waugh brothers as greater cricketing siblings than the Chappell's his comments would have value. As such they are a poor reflection on someone who himself contributed well to the game but has merely descended to petty jealousy over reputation. His well known support of Shane Warne who bears a huge chip over being passed over for the captaincy for Waugh makes these 2 a self admiration duo. Steve Waugh's strength of character in his silence is exceeded only by John Buchanan's who is similarly harangued by this pair primarily due to Buchanan's rather obviously needed advice to Warne to lose some weight during his test playing days. Chappell may be right but it would need to come from someone of regard and character in this area to hold any weight.
I don't think so.
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