Ricky Ponting: What he said, really meant and definitely did not

What he said:

“If you were averaging 35 when I was playing your dad would go and buy you a basketball or a footy and tell you to play that.”

Ricky Ponting illustrates that the standards of Australian cricket have dropped in recent times with an apocryphal anecdote.

What he really meant:

“If you’re not averaging 40+ in Shield cricket, then you might as well pack it in.”

“Hmm, I wonder what I would have aggregated if we were playing T20 then.”

What he definitely didn’t:

“Now that explains why Australian rules football is more popular than cricket. ”