Captain's Diary 2008: A Season of Tests, Turmoil and Twenty20

'When the Australian team talks about playing aggressively we are committing ourselves to playing hard. There's nothing given and there's nothing asked to be given.' - RICKY PONTING OCTOBER 6 2007 The Australian cricket team's program for 2007-08 was as hectic as ever featuring the ICC World Twenty20 and matches against Sri Lanka India New Zealand and the West Indies. As well many of the Australian players were involved in the inaugural season of the Indian Premier League. Yet when the season began no one could have imagined it would generate the headlines it did. Much of this coverage came from the acrimonious battles between Australia and India both in a one-day series in India and then in the Tests in Australia that followed. Ricky Ponting was confronted with a series of controversies that none of his predecessors as Australian captain had faced and now in Captain's Diary 2008 he explains his side of the story. Many players including Ponting who are more used to being treated as heroes were suddenly cast as villains. Did they really deserve the level of criticism that came their way? The Australian team has changed greatly in the past two years. Having lost a number of champions in 2007 a few more stars -- most notably Adam Gilchrist -- retired in 2008 and here Ponting pays tribute. He also traces the astounding rise of Twenty20 and offers his view as to where this exciting new form of cricket might take the game he loves.