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Adelaide, Dec.2 (ANI): Australian captain Ricky Ponting has fond memories of the Adelaide Oval, which will be the venue of the second Ashes Test against England from Friday, and is hoping that the media bashing that he has copped after the Gabba Test will reduce with a better performance from his team and himself.

Ponting has scored five of his 39 Test hundreds at this ground, and says that he always loves to come back.

“It’s one of my favourite places to bat, and once you’re in, then it’s one of the best places to bat in the world,” Ponting said.

“Venue-wise, it’s a nice place to come and I’ve always said that once I finish playing, if I ever come back to watch a Test match then it will be at Adelaide. The new stand looks terrific. You can always appreciate the beauty of different venues around the world and this is certainly one of them,” he added.

Meanwhile, Ponting has come in for some media stick this week.

Labelled ‘Clueless’ in one newspaper, he then had to contend with his former teammate Shane Warne saying that this Test was crunch-time for the captain.

“At the end of the day it was a draw in Brisbane,” said Ponting.

“People probably expected us to push a bit more for the win, but give England some credit for the way they fought their way out. We come here at nil-all and looking forward to another challenge,” the Daily Express quoted him, as saying.

When Australia beat England in Adelaide in an extraordinary turnaround four years ago, life was much easier for Ponting as captain. He simply had to throw the ball to Warne or Glenn McGrath and wait for them to do the damage.

These days, wins are much more difficult to come by for Australia, but Ponting says he finds the challenge much more absorbing.

“When you’re not expected to win and there are doubts around you, like there is now, it heightens everyone’s instincts and makes you work that little bit harder, makes you stick together and achieve something special. That’s certainly the feeling I’ve got around my group at the moment. We know we were a bit off our best last week but the end result was a draw. We come here hoping to play a lot better than we did at The Gabba,” Ponting said. (ANI)