To stand in a room at the team hotel with all the players and support staff and listen to Ricky Ponting say this will be his last Test made me feel numb.
Ricky struggled to finish what he was saying and we were all equally emotional.
I felt the same way at my press conference after training and struggled at times to talk about him.
Ricky is the last player in the team who began before me. He has been such a huge presence in Australian cricket it’s going to feel strange walking out to play Sri Lanka next month without him in the team.
I believe that Ricky is one of the greatest players ever to represent Australia and the best batsman I played with.
He has done so much for cricket not only in this country but around the world.
As far as I’m concerned his greatness is not just measured in statistics and achievements, as magnificent as they are.
Greatness to me is longevity. To be able to ride the highs and the lows and he’s certainly done that.
There are so many moments in matches, so many highlights which show what a great player he was, but for me he exemplified the model cricketer with what he did off the field.
Every day he turned up to training wanting to get better. Ricky Ponting never just went through the motions. Of all the hundreds of training sessions I spent with him I never saw him waste a moment.
He left no stone unturned to be the best player he could be day after day and it showed in his performances.
He did so much the world never saw.
The time he gives his team mates, the advice he offers, the help he gives you at training, he picks you up when you are down, he gives you a kick up the backside when you need a kick up the backside.
As a leader I learnt a lot from him. The one thing that sticks in the front of my mind is that Punter always said to me you’ve got to make sure you’re leading from the front and scoring plenty of runs.
He made it clear that was the easiest way to earn the respect of your tea mates.
That’s the one thing he did as a captain. He was always one of the best performers.
His dedication to the game of cricket is unbelievable. He loves the game as much as anyone I’ve played with.
To me Ricky’s as much Mr Cricket as Mike Hussey. Not only does he know who’s performing well in international cricket, he knows how my club team has gone on the weekend.
A lot of people has asked me what it was like becoming captain with Ricky still in the team after long and success leadership career.
It’s been great. He’s supported me like no other.
He’s always been there for me whether it’s on the field or off the field.
There hasn’t been one day where there has been any sort of discomfort. It’s been the opposite.
I think our friendship has grown throughout my career. Being vice-captain under him for a couple of years certainly played a big part in that.
He gave me a good insight into what it was like to captain Australia. His door is always open and I think out friendship is well and truly beyond the game of cricket.
Cricket will be the poorer if Ricky does not stay involved somehow.
Cricket Australia must do everything in their power to keep him involved for as long as we can.
For all that he has done Ricky deserves a fairytale finish. It would be great if he walked out and scored a hundred where he made his Test debut 17 years ago, Australia win the Test match and we go back to being the number one team in the world.
Ricky’s retirement has given us more inspiration to give him the farewell he deserves.
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