The Ashes, baby!

[Sweder]

I don't hate Ponting at all. In fact I rather like him.

My mistake; by 'here' I meant England in general rather than RC.
Gore Vidal said something rather ugly about it 'not being enough to win - others must fail'; that seems to apply doubly to Ponting so far as much of the English media is concerned. Actually I'm in agreement with you EG; the man stood very tall at the end of today's match, and should be applauded for that and his leadership by example. The sting of defeat will no doubt spur him and his team on to greater efforts; England beware.

I wouldn't consider dropping Pietersen for a second. He's put in some very ordinary shifts so far, but this just convinces me that he owes us some heroics

Nothing against KP - he's a proven match-winner - but he's clearly carrying an injury.
The Aussies kept stealing cheeky singles to him because they know he can't move very well and I'm certain the injury restricts him as a batsman. It's widely known that he's injured so he can't use a runner (unless Ponting agrees, which is unlikely) and it's debatable that England could replace him in the field for any length of time for the same reason.

The injury has lingered for several weeks. I'd be amazed if he was fully fit for Edgbaston. England need to think about a replacement.